100 things about me

1. I will be 40 this year. (yikes!)
2. My name is not "kardel".
3. I don't know why I decided to use that name and not my real name.
4. Maybe it is because I am afraid of the internet boogy man.
5. I wish I knew more about blogging and the internet.
6. I think of a lot of things to blog about, but forget them when I sit down to write.
7. My husband is 35 and our children are going to turn 3 and 5 this year.
8. I discovered this when I was looking at buying birthday candles for him and I realized that we could re-use them for the kids' birthday.
9. This post is late. It is actually my 105th post.
10. I am never on time.
11. People think I am funny when I am trying to be serious.
12. I spend most of my online time reading blogs.
13. I have read a bunch of these 100 things posts.
14. I never realized how hard they are to write.
15. I am half Norwegian and half Southern. I am a Norwegian Southerner.
16. I like grits and sweet tea.
17. I was born in Georgia.
18. I went to college in Mississippi.
19. I moved from Mississippi to South Carolina.
20. I swore that I would never go back to my hometown.
21. I don’t live in my hometown.
22. I work there. (Does that count as going back?)
23. I was married to the wrong guy for 8 years.
24. We didn’t have any children.
25. He had an affair.
26. Four months after we were divorced, I married his best friend.
27. They aren’t very close anymore, but they still work together.
28. We went on our honeymoon to Holland. (The Netherlands)
29. We were supposed to come back from Holland on September 12, 2001.
30. Then September 11 happened.
31. We got 5 extra days vacation after that.
32. I thought we were going to have to learn Dutch and get jobs.
33. But we didn’t.
34. Two years later, we had our son.
35. He looks and acts a lot like his father
36. Two years after that, we had our daughter.
37. She acts a lot like me.
38. I was 34 and 36 when I had my children.
39. I feel like the oldest parent of preschoolers when around other children's parents.
40. My mother was 36 when she had me.
41. My mother worked full time when I was growing up.
42. I planned to go back to work full time after I had my son.
43. When my son turned 3 weeks old I cried, because he was “growing up”.
44. I decided that day that I wouldn’t let him go to daycare.
45. Now I work part time.
46. I have been a registered nurse for 17 years.
47. That seems impossible.
48. I went to nursing school after my junior year in college because I didn’t know what else to do.
49. I never wanted to be a nurse growing up.
50. No one in my immediate family is in the medical field, except my husband.
51. My husband is a paramedic.
52. I always joke that I wanted to marry a doctor, so I married a ditch doctor.
53. Twice.
54. I worked in the Emergency Room for 8 years.
55. Now I work in Outpatient Surgery.
56. I like my job, but I miss the ER.
57. I have thought about going back.
58. Then I remember why I left.
59. This post is harder than it seems.
60. I have three older sisters.
61. No brothers.
62. I only talk to one of my sisters on a regular basis.
63. She is 12 years older than me.
64. We are nothing alike.
65. My best friend has been my best friend for 27 years.
66. That makes me feel old.
67. She lives in Connecticut.
68. I haven’t seen her in a few years, but I have rarely gone a month without talking to her.
69. Usually we talk at least once a week.
70. She remembers things that happened to me even if she wasn’t there and I remember things that happened to her even if I wasn’t there. We can complete each other’s memories.
71. We never talk about religion, politics or how to raise children, because we are polar opposites in those areas.
72. I like to watch boxing.
73. My favorite boxer is Ricky Hatton. He’s awesome.
74. I am deathly afraid of roaches.
75. It is because I had to look at their legs under a microscope in high school biology.
76. That is very gross, in case you were wondering.
77. I am afraid of heights.
78. I always wonder what would happen if I fell.
79. Ever since I had my children, I don’t want to watch movies, unless they are a comedy.
80. I am afraid of hail.
81. When I was in college, a hail storm broke all of the windows in my apartment.
82. While I was there.
83. I was terrified.
84. Summer is my favorite season.
85. I love to swim.
86. I was saved by the grace of God and the love of Jesus when I was 9 years old.
87. I thank God for that.
88. I did my first Beth Moore Bible study last fall.
89. It was about the Tabernacle.
90. I didn’t think I would like it and I didn’t. I LOVED IT.
91. I cried doing that study.
92. I cry at happy things.
93. I cry almost every week at church.
94. I like to read.
95. I would rather read a paperback than a hardback book.
96. I like fiction best, but also enjoy memoirs.
97. I am a disorganized person, but I wish I wasn't.
98. I like to keep everything.
99. This was really much harder than it seems.
100. I'm glad I'm finished.

Tell Your Blogging Story

OK, so I'm a day late and a dollar short. It's the story of my life. I seem to be late or last minute all. the. time. Anyway, I see that the Mr Linky on Chilihead's blog is still active, so I'm going to post this anyway.

How did you start blogging?
Actually, I started blogging because I read on the internet that you can make money by blogging. It gave the directions on how to start a blog and I started reading blogs just to see what I wanted to do with mine, you know, if I ever started one. I found some really funny "Mommy" blogs and some money making blogs. Those weren't funny, though. They were mostly boring and so I found myself going back to the funny mommy blogs over and over to read just "a little bit more". I so want to be one of those funny mommy bloggers because sometimes things happen when you have a toddler and a pre-schooler that you just can't keep to yourself.

Did you intend to be a blog w/a following? If so, how did you go about it?
I guess I didn't really go about trying to get traffic to my mommy blog unless you consider entering contests, Mr Linkys for memes or carnivals or book reading or what have you. I have left just a few comments on other people's blogs, but I tend to be a serial lurker. (This shows in my blog's web stats and the number of comments I get, by the way. Almost NO ONE sees this blog and those who do find it by mistake. And stay on it for "0 seconds". However you do that.)

What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?
I hope to one day turn into a really hilarious blogger. Like so many of the people whose blogs I regularly visit. I have not been successful because I am not naturally a funny person. My plan to achieve this goal is to keep reading these blogs and hope that some of it rubs off on me.

Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?
Some of my previous posts are very serious. That would be NOT what I am going after. However, I do keep my options open.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?
Good question. I am still on the learning curve and some of the things I still want to know are things like blog design, how to put things like video or other things in my posts and other of the blogging mysteries. Also, where do you find time to blog when there are so many great blogs out there to read? It seems like I am reading all of the blogs and then the whole day (or time to be on the computer) is gone.

Do you make money with your blog?
Despite it being the reason I started blogging, I have not made one red cent.

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?
No one that I know knows about my blog. Why? Well, I don't really know. I guess I wanted to have a certain amount of anonymity. If they find it, that's OK, but I don't think they will, because none of them are "computer" people and they may not even know what a blog is.

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?
I have no advice. I'm too new at it myself. I guess you should look at your motives for blogging and just do it.

My first meme!

I found this meme at Shalee's" Diner: Books, Books, and More Books
Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you’ve read, italicize the ones you want to read, cross out the ones you won’t touch with a 10 foot pole, underline the ones on your book shelf, asterisk the ones you’ve never heard of and color the ones you loved.
Did I confuse you?

Let me recap:
bold - did read
italicize - want to read
strike - won't read or read but hated it with a passion and if I could burn every copy so that others wouldn't be exposed to such terrible dribble I would do it and people should not be allowed to get paid for such awful writing
underline - own
* - never heard of the book
colored - loved it and would recommend it to others
If there is nothing done to the title, then that means I'm indifferent to it or I haven't decided about it yet.

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. *Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. *A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
12. *Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
18. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban(Rowling)
19. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire(Rowling)
20. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
21. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Rowling)
22. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
23. The Stand (Stephen King)
24. Ulysses (James Joyce)
25. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
26. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
27. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
28. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
29. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
30. Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
31. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
32. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
33. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
34. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
35. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
36. *Dune (Frank Herbert)
37. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
38. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
39. 1984 (Orwell)
40. *The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
41. *The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
42. *The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
43. *Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister (Gregory Maguire)
44. *The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
45. *The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
46. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
47. *The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini)
48. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
49. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
50. Bible
51. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
52. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
53. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
54. *The Blue Sword (Robin Mckinley)
55. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
56. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
57. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
58. *Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
59. Great Expectations (Dickens)
60. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
61. *The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
62. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
63. *The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
64. *The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrew Niffenegger)
65. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
66. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
67. War and Peace (Leo Tolstoy)
68. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
69. The Hiding Place (Corrie Tin Boon)
70. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
71. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
72. Les Miserables (Hugo)
73. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
74. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
75. *Love in the Time of Cholera (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
76. Shogun (James Clavell)
77. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
78. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
79. Redeeming Love (Francine Rivers)
80. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
81. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
82. *The Giver (Lois Lowry)
83. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
84 . *Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
85. Of Mice And Men (John Steinbeck)
86. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
87. *Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
88. Emma (Jane Austen)
89. Watership Down (Richard Adams)
90. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
91. *The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
92. *Blindness (Jose Saramago)
93. *Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
94. The Talisman (Stephen King)
95. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
96. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
97. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
98. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
99. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
100. Lightning (Dean Koontz)


Note: Thought this would be interesting to see how I compare with others. I am a fairly well-read person, though I don't remember if I have read some of these books. Most of these I have either never heard of or have no interest in. Also, in doing this, I found that I own some books that I have never read. Maybe I should start with those for my spring book reading.

Some of the books I wish had been on this list:
1. A Confederacy of Dunces (John Kennedy Toole)
2. A Separate Peace (John Knowles)
3. The House of God (Samuel Shem)
4. The Bridges of Madison County (Robert James Waller)
5. and 6. A Time to Kill and A Painted House (John Grisham)
7. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley)
8. All Over but the Shoutin' (Rick Bragg)
9. Other books by Nicholas Sparks (like Three Weeks with my Brother)
10. Other books by John Irving like (A Widow for One Year)