Random Stuff About ME!

I decided that since I have a small but loyal band of readers, I'd take some time to write Ten Random Things About ME That You Might Have Never Known. Yes, my ego is hug so this is all about ME, ME, ME!!

1. My real name is Mary Elizabeth, not Mary Beth as I call myself and just about everyone else in the world calls. My mother wanted to name me just Mary Beth but, for some reason, she felt that Beth was not close enough to an actual Saint's name, so she named me Mary Elizabeth. That's about as Catholic as you can get! But, for my entire life, she called me Mary Beth. So did everyone else. I learned that as my name when I was learning to write. My driver's license says Mary B. and not Mary E. My Social Security card says Mary E. and not B. It all gets very confusing.

2. I am still a punk at heart. I went through a time when I identified very much with punks. My wardrobe consisted of ripped jeans adorned with safety pins. I cut my hair super short and dyed it jet black, or red or a weird combo of colors that made it look like animal fur. I listened to the Sex Pistols, the Clash, and Iggy and the Stooges. But, just like my wildly eclectic hair color I was also into pure pop, some metal and prog rock! So that time in my life was very musically schizophrenic!

3. My favorite food is the potato. My husband might argue that it's really fried chicken but it's not. It has always been the potato in all it's blessed forms. I love them boiled, fried, mashed, baked, riced, sautéed, hash browned and tater totted. But my absolute favorite way to eat them is in the form of the simply wonderful potato chip. Keep your Cheetohs, Fritos and Doritos! I'll take a bag of Lay's Potato Chips every single time.

4. I'm ambidextrous. When I was in second grade and Sister John Denise was teaching us how to write, I discovered two truths. The first was that I was a lefty by birth. The second was that nuns hate lefties. So, I was made to put my left hand behind my back while we practiced making cursive swirly letter C's and O's on newsprint. Every single day at school, my left hand was banished behind me and I was forced to learn to write with my right hand. So, I did! I usually sign and write with my right hand now but if it gets tired I just switch to the left. I never lost the ability to write with my left hand because even though I used my right hand in school, I did all my homework at home with my left!

5. I wear glasses today because of what Sister John Denise did to me in second grade. This is true! When I was in my 20's I started to squint really bad and get head aches. I knew this wasn't normal so I was off to the eye doctor. After a thorough exam the doc asked me what hand I used to write with. I told him my right - most of the time - and explained the whole story about being ambidextrous. He smiled and told me that this explained my head aches. He said the muscles in my eyes were competing. Everyone is either right side or left side dominant and I was left side dominant, meaning I was SUPPOSED to be a lefty! The constant use of my right hand to write with was forcing my eye muscles to work extra hard and that was why I had headaches and why I would now need glasses. I had to have the glasses so I could strengthen that left eye! So, thank you Sister John Denise for thinking that lefties were sinister and not to be trusted! Geez!

6. I used to have a dog named Dudley. When I was a student at Parkside, I was staying at my oldest sister's house for a week while she was out of town. My other sister called me and asked me to take in a dog for that week. She is a hair dresser and she brought home a dog that one of her customers gave her. She didn't tell her husband and when he saw the dog he kicked it out of the house so now she needed a place for it. It was a supposed to be a temporary situation but during that week I fell in love with that crazy looking dog. I called my mom and asked if I could bring him home. She was dead set against having a dog but my dad heard me and talked my mom into it. Dudley was a goofy, skinny looking thing but he was my best friend for many years. He was there when my dad died and I cried into his fur. He lived a long time but in the end had to be put down. I still miss him.

7. I love to read! One of my favorite gadgets is my Kindle. I love it. I read all the time and usually have a couple of books going all at once. I'm just finishing up one now called "Yes, Chef: A Memoir" by Marcus Samuelsson. I've also started "Cloud Atlas" and just downloaded "A Year of Biblical Womanhood" and I can't wait to get into both of those! I read all of the "Hunger Game" books while in Sweden this year. Books speak to me in a way that I can't explain. I just love reading and once I start I have a really hard time putting the book down again. I can read for HOURS on end.

8. I'm a foodie. Hence the reading of "Yes, Chef: A Memoir" by Marcus Samuelsson. He's an interesting chef on many levels which appeal to me. He's born in Ethiopia, adopted and raised in Sweden (always interesting to me), and strives to infuse local flavor into his cooking. I learned to cook from my mother who was one of the all time great cooks in the world. She truly was. I watched as she seasoned and stirred and experimented with recipes and I learned. I try to bring a little of that into everything I make here at home. I love the anticipation of how my meal will taste. And I love dining out and trying new foods. I don't shy away from the strange or extraordinary because, often, those are the things that are truly amazing. I watch food programs on television. I can watched the Food Network all day long. I can name many great chef's and even tell you why they're great!

9. I have an incredibly high tolerance level. I can put up with a lot of crap from people without getting upset or taking it personally. I've always been this way too. I just don't have a short fuse! Some people view this as me allowing myself to be a door mat. No, it's not that at all. I don't just roll over and take it! I put myself in the other person's shoes. If someone is rude or short tempered or ill-mannered there is probably an underlying reason for that. They may be sick or had a bad day or got some bad news. Whatever! I always think that if I was in their shoes I would want and hope someone would show me kindness and patience and understanding and mutual regard. I really live by this. And, in my opinion, it makes everyone just a little more pleasant to deal with every day.

10. When I was about 9 years old, I stole something from a store. There was a JC Penney's store in downtown Kenosha and I went there with a friend. We got some candy at the candy counter they had there and then went and looked around. In the Girl's Section, they had these really "groovy" scarves. It was in the 60s and groovy was the rage! I so wanted one of those scarves!! It cost something like $6.99 which, of course, I didn't have. I told my friend I was taking one and I shoved it into my jacket and we left. We hit the street running and ran all the way to my house. In the backyard, I took the scarf out of my jacket and we just looked at it. We didn't say much. I told my friend I had to go inside so she left. I went in, making sure no one saw that scarf, and I crammed it under my mattress. For the rest of that day I was completely paralyzed with fear and guilt. Fear - because I did not want my mother to find out and guilt - because I was a good Catholic girl and I knew that stealing was wrong. I couldn't even bring myself to be in the same room with that scarf and that night, just before I got in bed, I took one quick look at it. It didn't look quite so groovy anymore. I laid awake for hours thinking of what to do. The next morning I walked down the block to see Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freeman was a mechanic that had his own shop right in the middle of our block. He was African American and my friend. He often shared his bag lunch with me, sitting on a barrel in his shop, as I asked him deep questions about life and he did his best not to laugh at this silly white girl from up the street. He was kind and smart and I loved him. I walked into his shop and asked him if he I could tell him something. He stopped what he was doing, opened two bottled of Coke, gave me one and said, "You know it..." I asked him, "If you knew someone who took something they shouldn't what would you say to them?" Mr. Freeman thought a bit and said, "I would tell them to take it back." And that's exactly what I did. I ran home and crammed the scarf back into my jacket and ran downtown to JC Penneys. I went straight to the Girl's Section and, looking around to make sure no one saw me, I put that scarf back on the shelf as fast as I could. Nobody saw me and I'm pretty sure no one ever even knew the scarf was gone! But an enormous burden was lifted off of me that day. I felt like a 100 lb. weight was gone! I felt free and happy and even a little giddy. I knew then I was never going to have a life of crime because my own conscience would kill me!

So there you have it. Ten Random Things about ME!