If you're bored.

Sometimes I think about the fact that this blog is titled "Me and Mr Jones," and 99% of my posts are not about myself and my husband. Sponsorship is the most important thing in my life right now, and it's definitely the biggest thing I have to talk about, but I do want to keep calling this a personal blog, rather than just an advocacy blog. Personal posts are probably going to be few and far between, though, because there's really not much going on in my personal life! I stay home during the day, work short shifts at the library in the afternoon, and watch movies with my hubs when we're both off work. The end. When we are parents, though, and have more of a life, I'm sure there will be  more to talk about!

So I'm going to try to rejuvenate this blog with more personal posts. And since tomorrow is my 26th birthday, here are 26 things about me.

1. I have never really liked my birthday. When I was a kid, we celebrated it with my extended family on Derby weekend- early. Then, my birthday is usually really close to Mother's Day weekend (this year, it's on Mother's Day.) When I was little, I kind of felt a little neglected on or around my birthday (and the fact that I didn't have birthday parties like the other kids didn't really help.) Now that I'm older, and still pretty childish at times, I throw my own birthday parties. I just have my friends over for dinner and movies, but it's still important to me. And we always have a lot of fun and I laugh so much that I make myself sick. 
2. Birthdays still aren't that exciting to me because I thought by this age, I would be a parent. And I haven't finished my degree and I'm still working the same part-time job I've been doing for 9 years. Getting older is frustrating, especially when life is going much differently than you expected. 
3. If I could have any animal as a pet, it would be a walrus. Second choice would be a red panda. 
4. I've had pets since I was born, and I'm still not 100% used to living in a house without dogs. We were supposed to have a dog by now, but our yard isn't fenced in, and Brandon comes from a family that believes dogs should stay outside. And I can't live with that. I mean, I will cry during a movie if it shows a dog outside in the rain. If I ever get Brandon to the point where we could have a dog and keep it inside, I would like a big fluffy one. Maybe a chow chow, but they aren't all that cuddly (even though they look like they would be.)
5. I'd really like to live on a mini farm. Our house is nice, but we both would like to have a bit of land. We want to be able to host family get-togethers at our home. Brandon wants space to play basketball, badminton, and other outdoorsy games, and I'd like a big backyard with room to roam. Maybe a few goats to keep the grass trimmed. And trees. The trees we have now just serve as a barrier between our property and the noisy freeway. Also, we can't really have many people over because there's nowhere to park! Spending time with family is important to both of us, and it's hard to do that at our house. Maybe someday we'll find an affordable place on a quiet street with plenty of room for cars and basketball and stuff. 
6. I love superheroes. I don't know what it is about them. I love the part about fighting for justice, and it's made extra exciting by superpowers or awesome gadgets and sweet costumes. Sometimes I just get in a mood where I need to watch all my superhero movies. Batman is my favorite. Even if I'm not watching a Batman movie, just seeing some really cool Batman stuff (like a particularly awesome costume, or a piece of Batman jewelry) makes me a little giddy. When I was watching Parks and Recreation on Netflix, I thought the character of Ben was pretty annoying, until he bought himself a Batman costume on "treat yourself" day. It was the best one I'd ever seen, outside the actual movies. And that makes Ben ok in my book. 
7. So many things about high school were terrible (for everyone, not just me), but there is something special about the euphoric feeling of being out with a friend or two late at night, riding in whatever car you could afford, and listening to some specific songs really loudly on the radio. There are some songs that just sound better at night, you know. Anyway, sometimes when I hear them, I think of how happy I was in some ways, and it makes me a little sad and nostalgic. Life is better now, but sometimes, things were fun back then. 
8. I didn't learn to drive until I was just about to start college. I went to take my permit test on the day I turned 16, and failed the eye exam. I went and got contacts (with an updated prescription) that afternoon, and even had time to go back for my last few classes at school, but I never made it back over to the testing place until right before high school graduation. And then I waffled about taking the driver's test until that fall. 
9. I still don't drive on freeways or in unfamiliar areas of town. It makes me nervous. 
10. Sometimes Brandon teases me about this. Like "if you want to be a mom, you need to learn to drive around town- what if the kid has a doctor's appointment? You can't always get someone to drive you." When I first talked to him about going to Tanzania, he asked "how are you going to do that when you can't drive around the town you've lived in all your life?" I said "well, I won't be driving there, will I?" Ha. 
11. Since I went to Africa, I think about travel all the time. I want to go back to Tanzania, but I also want to go other places, too. I wish we had the money so I could do it. I'm hoping my next trip will be to India. 
12. I have a fascination with a few specific countries, and India is one of them. It started when I saw movies like "A Little Princess" and "The Secret Garden." There's something super white about the fact that my first exposure to this glorious country was through novels and films set during colonial times, but that's the way it is. I love the food, the clothing, the colors, the music, the dancing, the holidays, the spiritual aspects (though I don't follow the same religions), the architecture and art. Just love it. 
13. I also love food. Which opens me up to being picked on because of my weight, but honestly, sometimes I just can't eat because of some health issues I have. Food is fascinating to me. I love reading about it, watching it on TV (in competitions like "Top Chef", not just slow-paced cooking shows), and trying new things. I will try just about anything, except food that used to be a body part. My library system has a few thousand cookbooks (I've searched), and I have read at least 85% of them. Sometimes, if things are slow at work, I'll generate a list of every book with the 641 call number, and check to see if I've missed any, or if there are any new ones that just haven't appeared on feedly yet. My favorite things to make are desserts, because they make people happiest, but my favorite ingredients are onions, mushrooms, cheeses (all kinds), and, recently, cranberries.
14. Politics are exciting to me, except for the part with all the lying, cheating, and lobbying. I'd like to be a senator if I didn't think my super-powered moral compass wouldn't just explode and I'd wind up having a nervous breakdown. 
15. I use pinterest a lot. Primarily for planning the rooms of my future children, and staring at food. 
16. Speaking of my future children, I love toys. I'm glad that I have friends with kids now, because that means I get to buy toys for them. Sometimes, if I'm shopping at Target early in the morning, I just check out the toy aisles my myself. I miss being young enough to play with toys and shop for them without it seeming weird, and I think one of my favorite things about eventually being a parent is playing with my kids. Because I basically am a big kid. 
17. This year for my birthday, I had to ask for sheets, because mine had a big rip in them. And I got sheets. And I was excited about it. And that's how I know that I am old. 
18. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night with what I think is a great idea for a freelance article, and I'll even get up and make a few notes so I can work on it the next day. By breakfast, though, I've changed my mind. I don't know if it's because I'm second-guessing myself. Or maybe I realize that whenever I get published (I've written a few pieces that got printed in the paper, usually under a pseudonym) I obsess over online comments. And that's no good. 
19. Sometimes, when we have a long car ride and Brandon says he doesn't want to listen to the radio (or we're out in the country with no radio signal), I sing, for my own amusement. I know lots of songs, but I usually need accompaniment to remember the words. The songs I know by heart, with no background music, are almost entirely Disney classics, and "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Plus lots of David Bowie. 
20. The last time I rode a ferris wheel, I pulled a New Testament Bible out of my purse and held onto it with my eyes squeezed shut. 
21. Speaking of ferris, my first real life celebrity crush was Ferris Bueller. Adorable. Prior to that, as a very, very young child, I kind of wanted to marry Kermit the Frog. 
22. I admire Jim Henson so much that if we ever adopted an infant, and Brandon gave the OK, I would name a son Henson. At least as a middle name. I mean, when such a large portion of your childhood revolves around one person and his ideas and creations, they can become sort of a hero. 
23. The only time I've ever touched alcohol is when someone gave a puppy a glass of beer at a picnic, and I took it away from him and poured it out to replace it with water. 
24. My Barbies used to have Motown concerts when I was a kid. Teacher Barbie played the part of Diana Ross, because she had the prettiest eyes. And I assumed Diana did, too.
25. If someone brought me a fuzzy duckling right now and asked if I wanted to keep it as a pet, the answer would be an emphatic "YES." Baby ducks are the cutest. Grown up ducks are ok, too.
26. I'm hoping to get a lot done this year- specifically, pay off my smallest student loan (and my Tanzania loan) and get enough money together to get some furniture in one of our spare bedrooms (hello, IKEA) so we can hopefully start filling out some applications and head toward parenthood. 

Thanks for indulging my weirdness. I hope you at least had a chuckle along the way!