34 things...

So.  Another year has passed and I'm the big 34 today.  Woah.  I still have problems thinking about being 34.  When my mom was 34, I was 9.  I thought she was ancient.  Makes me wonder if she still went out and was stupid like I am.  Ya know?

So anyway, here are 34 things about me that you may or may not have known.  I stole this idea from a blogger who also had her birthday this week, also only has boys and actually turned 34 as well.  I'm nosy and love to know stuff, so I'm assuming you do too. :)

1.  I always wanted to be a lawyer.
2.  I can't watch a scary movie.  At all.  No psychological thrillers, no blood/guts, nothing.  It's not worth the nightmares I will have.
3.  Coincidentally, I consider myself a scaredy cat.  I will dart up the stairs after turning off the lights, I will flip switches in a new room before turning off the lights in the one I just left, etc.
4.  I am irrationally afraid of sharks.
5.  I love trying new recipes and tweaking them to my liking.
6.  I failed my first driver's test.
7.  My middle name is after my great-grandma.  I wish I would have had a daughter to pass the name on.
8.  I love organizing but hate cleaning.  Doesn't work well.
9.  I am the youngest of three kids.
10.  I married a man who is the oldest of 5 kids.
11.  Hiring someone to clean my house has changed my life.
12.  I alternate between wanting to squeeze my kids so close versus throttling them for being kids.
13.  I have a temper. :)
14.  I love to plan a party or dinner.
15.  I would much rather watch someone open the gifts I gave them than open my own.
16.  In a perfect world, I wouldn't work outside the home but the boys would still go to daycare.  And I'd get to keep my cleaning lady.
17.  I am a book-aholic.  I love to read.
18.  It makes me cry to see how grown up my kids are getting.
19.  I can be a little weepy sometimes.
20.  I'm trying to like red wines, but my  heart remains with a good riesling.
21.  I love the fact that by decorating cakes, I can be crafty but not fill my house with a bunch of stuff.
22.  I've passed my cleaning genes on to the boys.  This could be bad.
23.  I hated my birthday in high school because it was always over girls state basketball and so people would be busy or out of town.
24.  I could eat soup every day and be happy.
25.  I get migraines when my eyes get strained.
26.  I love decorating for Christmas and want to cry when I have to take it down and pack it away again.
27.  I'm happy we built our house the way we did, but I'd like a different shower now.  Oops.
28.  I could use more kitchen storage for my cake stands.
29.  My first car was an old red Datsun pickup we called Ugly.
30.  I was engaged once before I met my now-husband.
31.  I may be the only person on earth without an ipod or mp3 player.
32.  I love blogging and reading others and finding out that I have so much in common with random women out there.
33.  Pinterest is awesome but who has time to do all those things?
34.  It doesn't feel like I've been married for 8 years already.

That wraps it up.  It was kind of hard to come up with 34 things if you can believe that.  I'm kind of random.  :)

I fought the law and ... I won

Well, maybe I shouldn't say that I fought the LAW per se, but more like a determined Target employee.

I'm about to reveal something that I don't believe I have ever shared with anyone.  Not even DH knows this one.  Ok, so I may have told a friend after a few Morgan Diets, but I don't recall and so I'm going to say that IF that has happened, it doesn't count. :)

So in the summer before 8th grade, I was at the mall with my mom and sister.  We had a set time to meet and I was wandering somewhat aimlessly - at Dayton's or JC Penney's eyeing the Guess? and Girbaud jeans that I knew my mom would not spring for.  I finally started through Target (which at that time was attached to the mall in Grand Forks).  I had no money.  I had no ambition.  Maybe I wanted to feel pretty, I don't know. All I know is that somehow, I ended up with a compact of compressed powder in my hands and a pounding heart as I eluded capture. 

I guess I should clarify.  Or maybe you figured it out.  You are a smartie after all. 

I got it in my head that if I took it OUT of its packaging, no alarms would go off and it'd be easy to pass off as if I had carried it INTO the store with me.  But I didn't.  Oh no, I sure didn't.  And seriously, my heart is pounding now even admitting this!  20 years have passed and I still am nervous to say it out loud! 

Enter one determined Target employee.  I was in some of the clothing racks and kind of had my hands in where the clothes touched each other - very hard to see.  But I guess he saw.  I don't know what, maybe it was the guilty face.  Or the fact that the packaging I removed had fallen to the ground.  I don't know.  All I know is that he gave me a look.  And I freaked. 

Enter my stealth evading of capture.   I walked calmly, if quickly.  Weaving in and out of clothing racks, areas of the store and I did catch sight of him a couple of times.  Until at last.  I passed through to the promised land - the courtyard of the mall.  Out of Target.  No alarms.  No bells.  No whistles.  No employee chasing me out of the store.  I totally won. 

And I am SOOOO happy that Target is no longer attached to the mall in Grand Forks.  I can shop in peace when I'm in town there.  No worries that the dedicated Target employee will recognize me and chase me down now!  Muah ah ah ah. 

The guilt.  All for what - $4.59 Covergirl makeup?  Such is the life.