Happy Birthday to Me!

40 years ago today a little red-headed girl came screaming into the world. According to my dad, he said "Hello beautiful" and I responded by screaming. I don't think I've slowed down or quieted down much since then. I have an incredible life, a wonderful family and fabulous friends. While I wouldn't mind someone suddenly dropping a million or two in my lap, I can't think of too many things in my life that I would change. As promised, I'll answer all the questions I got in the responses of my last post.

From JuliaS: what is one quirky thing about you that most people probably don't know, but would likely laugh themselves silly if they did? I have allowed a friend to take a picture of me wearing my bra as a hat.

From MrsGamgee: If you and your family were snowed in (like I am in danger of being today), what would you spend the day doing? In between getting kids in and out of snow clothes, there would be the requisite snowball fights and at least one batch of homemade hot cocoa. Other than that, I would spend the day stitching (either cross stitching, crocheting or quilting).

From Barb: What do you see as your dominant social personality? (i.e. shy, outgoing, funny etc) friendly and outgoing - I use to be shy, uncertain, and awkward but I got over that...LOL

From rys: What stupid and pointless thing drives you crazy, to the point that you HAVE to stop whatever you're doing and fix/change it on the spot? Sadly, one of the things that drives me the craziest happens in a situation where I CAN'T fix it. It absolutely drives me nuts when a teacher erases a board but doesn't erase it all the way. Those little chalk marks left behind make me want to jump out of my seat and re-erase the board for them. How ridiculous is that? I am so laid back about most things but for some unknown reason, that trips my trigger.

From Pundelina: What are the number 1 best and worst moments of your life? The number 1 best moment of my life is a shared honor. It's a tie between the day I said "I do" and became Mrs. Cruz and the moment I heard Gabe, my miraculous post-IF baby, draw his first breath and let out a wail. The absolute worst moment in my life was when we lost our daughter. We thought we had solved our IF problems. We had seen her heart beat. And, three weeks later, my favorite ultrasound tech looked at me and said "I'm so very sorry. There isn't a heart beat."

From Soralis: How do manage to blog, comment and run a family? Honestly, it's a combination of factors that let me do everything. First of all, I have a fabulous hubby who absolutely rocks when it comes to doing things around the house. He cooks. He cleans. He even does laundry. Secondly, my older kids really are very good about helping with things. Sure, they bitch and moan about it. But, they really are great with things. Third, my house is FAR from being pristine. My sanity comes first and that often means blogging and crafting before housework. Finally, I read really frickin' fast and that helps let me read and comment on a lot of blogs.

From Dora: You are coming to BlogHer, right????? Yes!!!!!! My parents absolutely rock and the are buying my BlogHer tickets for my birthday present. Now I just need to find a roommate to split the cost of a hotel room with.

From Beautiful Mess: What is the craziest thing you did as a teenager? I'm not talking about crazy teenager "I stayed out last curfew" stuff, I'm talking JUICY stuff. Spill it sister! ;o) I suppose you want juicier than stealing street signs. I had my very own stop sign on my bedroom door. Hmmm, does going to spend the weekend with your out of town high school boyfriend (at his parents house of course), telling them we were going to see a movie we had seen over the summer, and going to this little grove of trees at the local golf course to boink each other senseless count? If it doesn't, I could tell you about the time I had a one night stand with my ROTC squad leader in college or the time I paraded down the main quad of the Duke Campus in full Rocky Horror Picture Show regalia - 4 in strappy stiletto heals, a blue teddy, and fishnet hose.

From MrsSpock: What is the craziest thing one of your boys has ever done? I think I could write a book on this one alone. For some of these, I won't tell you which kid did it because they would die of embarrassment. Once, my kids were running naked through the house. One of them had used markers (washable thank God) to completely decorate his face. The other one was attempting to color his privates with a crayon. A different time one of them put on moon shoes and only moon shoes and bounced through the house stark naked. There was Gabe's dancing on the toilet incident. Or the time (a few years back) Joey decided to pretend to be a dog and, while on all fours, he went up to my dad and sniffed his butt.

Thanks for the questions and the birthday wishes. This was fun. And, if there are any other questions that come up over the course of the day, I'll add the answers here.