Blog Tag(ged)!

She’s done it again. Barb has tagged me. This one’s pretty easy, though. Here are the rules:

1. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some fun.
2. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names and links to their blogs.
3. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Just so you know, all of the facts will be random. I cannot promise you will find them fun, but I’ll certainly try.

• When I was four, my mom had so often warned me about taking anything from “strangers” that, when our next-door neighbor offered to buy me a creamy whip cone from the truck that came by one evening, I told him no thank you, I wasn’t allowed to take food from strangers. Meaning him. He was surprised, since I liked to hang out with him and help him feed the squirrels and birds in his yard every chance I got, lived next door, and knew his name was Jack. My mom was totally embarrassed, but he thought it was kind of cute.
• My dad had a fairly serious car wreck when I was a sprite. Someone ran him off the road into a telephone pole and my mom (who did not drive) had to call upon the neighbors to take us to the hospital. Dad was okay after about 42 stitches in his head. Mostly I remember that the neighbor lady gave me a Hershey bar to eat so I’d behave myself. I still love Hershey bars.
• When I was growing up, my mom took seriously the responsibility to teach me how to cook. I much preferred baking to everyday cooking, and quickly learned to make all kinds of sweets and breads. By age 12, I could make eclairs. If you search through my blog, you will find all kinds of recipes for desserts!
• In grade school and high school, I was pretty much a nerd. My nickname, for most people, was “the brain.” I was the curve wrecker. Teacher’s Pet.  Brown nose-er.  The one who always got an “A”. Today, I feel lucky to have two brain cells to rub together. My kids are all smarter than me (especially Ryan, or as we fondly call him “Perfect Score Boy,” because he aced his ACTs). They think I’m an airhead, pretty much.
• I can recite “Primer Lesson,” by Carl Sandburg, from memory. Learned it in seventh grade, along with my bff, Patty. When she and I recite this together, we still do the exact same hand gestures Sr. Mary taught the class. It is hilarious. Even funnier: just two days ago, my son Sean told me I’d better “look out how I [used] proud words.” Direct quote from the poem. Hoist by my own petard!
• I can also recite from memory the first couple stanzas of the “Prologue” to The Canterbury Tales–in middle English. This is a good trick. My senior English teacher told us we would thank him for forcing us to learn this, but of course I thought he was insane at the time. Thanks, Mr. Price!
• Dennis and I met during our sophomore year in college. He was in the band; I joined drill team. We met at a party the first weekend of band camp, and I was looking forward to seeing him at the next practice. But apparently, not stretching out properly before doing 32 high kicks in a row is a bad idea, because the day after we met, I woke up to a thigh that was swollen to twice its size. Torn muscle sheath; fluid building up. No pain, but it looked bad. What girl feels like flirting when their thigh is super sized? Not! It took him forever to ask me out anyway. I talked about him so much in between that my mom asked me if I was “chasing after that boy” in an alarmed “1940s Woman” voice. Bottom line: it all worked out!

I don’t have seven people to tag, but anyone who reads this should feel free to play along. If you post seven random facts on your blog, leave me a comment so I can link it up here.