Eight Things About Me

Paula has been a blogging buddy (and dear friend) for a long time, and because I love her so, I agreed to play along with being tagged with a meme that involves posting eight things which you probably don't know about me. Check out Paula's responses at www.paulaswalk.com .

Here are the rules: Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog. I noticed Paula already picked several of my favorite bloggers!!!

So, here are my 8 things (please keep in mind my 19 year old daughter reads my blog - so, it's a kid-friendly list):

1). My first name is actually Mary. The nuns in grade school insisted on calling me by my first name, even though my family called me Valerie. Hence, I still answer to "Mary", as I have friends from grade school who can't break the habit of calling me by that name.
2). My most favorite candy is anise.
3). I have an annoying habit of saying "like", "you know", "uh", "cool" - just like I was still a teenager. I still use the word "potty" - which is left over from when the kids were little.
4). My favorite movie is The Muppett's "Christmas Carol". The song "The Love is Gone" makes me cry every time.
5). I never wanted to be a mom until I was in my early thirties. In all honesty, I wouldn't have been a good mom, at all, up until the point where I finally accepted God back into my life.
6). I enjoy being in my 50's. I never thought I would because I thought it sounded so "old" - but this age brings so many opportunities and a certain level of respect. However, I'm still quite capable of carrying several grocery bags out of the store all by myself- much to the amazement of the young teenage baggers who insist on calling me "ma'am", followed by a worried "are you sure you can getall that"?
7). My biggest pet peeve is lying. Don't ever lie to me. It will take forever for me to trust you again. I may forgive - but I have a hard time forgetting. It has to do with being lied to all the time when I was a kid - and thus I have zero tolerance for it now. I can tell with 99% certainty when somebody is lying to me or making up a story so that I don't find out the truth about what they did - sometimes I confront them, sometimes I don't, sometimes I wait until they come clean. But don't ever think you're fooling me when you're lying or leaving things out of what you're telling me. Plus, my professional training has taught me how to trust my intuitions, and I'm usually right.
8). My favorite memory of my mother is dancing with her to the "Lawrence Welk" band when it was on television in the 60's. My dad wouldn't dance with her ever - so I was her reluctant partner. As much as I hated the dancing part, I loved seeing the laughter in her eyes and the smile on her upturned lips. It was such a gift to see her happy, if only for a short while.

Here are the bloggers I have tagged:

~Ann at http://annb1129.blogspot.com

~Shawnda at http://james127.blogspot.com

~Kevin at www.counselingkevin.com (come on, Kevin, you know you want to do this!)

~Barbara at www.beingbarbara.com

~Deb (Ukok) at http://innominepatrisetfilietspiritiussancti.blogspot.com

~Mrs. Diamond at http://preciousgemz.blogdrive.com

~Carol at www.alabamaimproper.com

~Hey Jules at http://macedwithgrace.squarespace.com/mwg-the-blog/

Let's have some fun with this! And thanks, in advance, for humoring me with your participation AND your answers!