37 Things About Me on My 37th Birthday

Today is my 37th birthday, so here are 37 things you might not know about your favorite blogger:

1. I'm never sure how old I am. I was halfway through this post before going "Wait... I am turning 37, right?"

2. I'm a closet free-range parent. I'm not preaching on the street corner about it, but I love the idea of letting actual risk instead of worst-case scenario fear inform my parenting decisions.

3. I don't understand herbal tea. It tastes like grass clippings smell.

4. I think the new Ghostbusters is the best movie ever.

5. Ironically, I think the original Ghostbusters from 1984 is the worst movie ever.

6. Phillip sucks at making sure people leave me alone when we've agreed this is my undisturbed writing time. I've been in here for 10 minutes and three kids have already come in to say hi or ask me where their soccer shinguards are.

7. I drink maybe three carbonated beverages a year, all of them root beer.

8. I love Amazon Prime.

9. I don't ever want a dog. They smell, they ruin your furniture, they're expensive to feed, they lick disgusting things and then kiss you, you can't go anywhere without getting a sitter for them, and you have to clean up their poop.

10. I realize these are all reasons people give for not wanting kids.

11. I have 6 kids.

12. I'm obsessed with cookie dough smoothies.

13. I have Reynaud's Syndrome, where my fingers and toes are hypersensitive to cold. They often turn white and go numb, especially in the fall and winter.

14. I've been told that I parent like someone from two generations ago. I take that as a compliment.

15. My laptop background is a picture of a bird we call Harriet the Male Guinea Fowl (it started wandering around our yard last summer and I thought it was a female turkey so the kids named it Harriet, later to find out it was neither female nor a turkey.) I'm not sure how Harriet came to be my wallpaper and I'm not sure how to remove him, either.

16. As a writer, I brainstorm better and faster with a pen and paper than I do with a computer.

17. I have one and only one game on my phone called Drop 7. I started playing it when I had a million hours a day to kill during pregnancy bed rest in the hospital with #5.

18. My favorite saying is "Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without."

19. I don't use my personal Facebook account. It only exists because I need one to run a Facebook page for my blog.

20. Sometimes I drive to the high school and back four times a day. I can't wait for my high schooler to get her license.

21. I once got mad at my extended family for turning on the Olympics because I'd decided my first baby wasn't going to watch any TV. First-time mom crazy is real, guys.

22. I have 7 tabs open on my Internet browser right now. That's less than normal.

23. A box of foam panels has been sitting in the corner of our bedroom for 2 years. We plan to make decorative panels to absorb the echoes in our living room, but by the time we get around to it, it's likely all the noisy children who live here will have grown up and moved away.

24. I grind my teeth in my sleep. (I've been assured my mouthguard makes me look incredibly attractive.)

Bonus fun fact: I HATE taking selfies.

25. Phillip and I once applied to be foster parents but found out on the day of our home inspection that I was pregnant.

26. I've been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for 19 years and it was the best decision I ever made.

27.  I hate decorating. Some people do and redo the rooms in their houses for fun, but what I'd like is to pick a paint color and never have to think about it again for the rest of my life.

28. I'm terrible at staying in touch with people. My best friend from college has sent me a weekly email for the last 15 years and if I'm really on top of things, I manage to write back once a quarter. Thanks, Kim, for not giving up on me!

29. I've never carried a credit card balance.

30. Our kids keep breaking things and we have three actual glasses left in the house.

31. Removing ticks from children is a completely normal part of my life. We live in New England, and we have daily "tick checks" from April to August.

32. I met my husband when I was 15. This morning, my 3-year-old brought me this picture from the nightstand and asked "Who's this?"

33. I don't get what's so great about Harry Potter.

34. I wear a dress or skirt to church, and since I feel like I'm always at church events I wear pants the rest of the time. As a result, my not-church friends are always shocked if they see me in a skirt even though I feel like I'm constantly wearing one.

35. The household chore I mind the least is laundry.

36. I say "thank you" out loud to drivers who wave me in front of them in traffic. They can't hear me.

37. I'm almost positive that I am, in fact, turning 37.

And with that, I'm off to attempt birthday lunch with a friend at an actual restaurant with my 3- and 5-year-old in tow. 

If my life were a movie, Morgan Freeman would be doing a voiceover right now telling you that this is not going to go at all how I think it will.

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