Look at us, we're beautiful

During Me-Made-May, I discovered many wonderful blogs and have kept up a correspondence with some of the participants.  Unfortunately, I've gotten behind in my blog reading as well as writing recently, so I'm just now getting around to acknowledging that one of these blog pals, Sølvi of delfinelise, has gifted me with the Beautiful Blogger Award.

Thank you, Sølvi!  What a nice surprise.  As a recipient of this award, I'm supposed to tell my readers ten things they might not know about me.  (Obviously, if you're my friend or relative in real life, most of this won't be news to you!)  So here we go, in very random fashion:

1. I would like to learn to play a musical instrument, especially the mandolin.

2. When I first met my husband, sparks did not immediately fly.  In fact, I believe my exact thought about him was, "Who is that doofus?"  Heh.  Romantic, no?

3. My super-power is the ability to guess the circumference of someone's head.  This actually comes up a lot at my job, so it's very handy.  Kid heads are more difficult to guess than adult heads.

4. Two jobs I always thought I would hate: teaching, and working retail.  But now I have a job in a retail shop where I also teach (knitting classes), and I love my job!  Never say never. :)

5. I came to Atlanta from snowy central Pennsylvania in 1994 "to spend the winter" and accidentally ended up living here for the past 16 years and counting.  Oops!

6. The fact that I've now lived in the same house for 10 years is bizarre to me.  In the first 31 years of my life, I moved about 20 times.  My dad was in the Air Force, and then I went to college far away from where my family was living, so for those four years, I moved cross country twice a year.

7. The town where I went to college is the Christmas Tree Capital Of The World.  It's also the hometown of Jimmy Stewart of It's A Wonderful Life fame, so all in all, it was (and probably still is, but I haven't visited in years) a very festive place to be during the holiday season.

8. My original major was journalism, but my degree is in English with a minor in women's studies.  How did any of that lead to my working and teaching at a knitting shop?  Who knows?!  Life takes you in some unexpected directions (see #2, 4 & 5 above).

9. Despite my current reputation as a cat lover, I actually never had a cat until my early 20s.  When I was growing up, we were a dog family.  When I was on my own and longing for a pet, I "settled" for a cat because I couldn't have a dog in my apartment.  Now I can't imagine life without kitties.  I still love dogs, but cats keep finding us, so with our current four we are maxed out on pets.  Someday we'll have a dog, I'm sure.

10. My wheelchair's name is Fred.  The origins of this are hazy, but it goes back to seventh grade and has stuck with every wheelchair I've had over the years.  I also use "fred" (lowercase "f") as a generic term for wheelchairs, e.g., "That guy has a really sporty fred."  Also, people in wheelchairs crossing the street are "fredestrians."  Ha!  Yes, I crack myself up.

And now I bestow upon you all the Beautiful Reader Award!  Wear it proudly, and tell me something random about yourself in the comments.

Comments

[scg]

Hahaha.. fred... I love it... can I use it!! Love your attitude.

[Marco]

What's up with those Peanut's characters dancing? It's like Satan.

[Sølvi Elise]

This is the most entertaining answers I have read in a while! I love it that your fred has a name;-) and I would love to work in a knitting shop. It seems so uplifting to be surrounded by all those lovely colors all day!

[Gaidig]

Fredestrians! You crack me up, too.