100 Random Thoughts

I saw this over at Island Sparrow and thought....hmmmm...maybe I should look at how many posts I have done. Well, lo and behold, it is exactly 100. So, I am going to post 100 random thoughts.

1. I am random only in my thoughts. I used to be very spontaneous, but now I like order. I used to be called a "free spirit", mainly due to being an artist I guess, but that has all changed. It changed when I began working with teens. I realized how much order creates calmness.

2. I don't like high heels. Give me easy comfortable shoes any day. But...I do have a bunch of fancy shoes, that sit, alas, forlorn and abandoned.

3. I look for beauty all the time in nature. Today I saw a vole when I was at work, scratching his way through a garden looking for food.

4. I grew up with alcoholic parents. I abhor a victim mentality. I got over my upbringing long ago thanks to God's grace.

5. I have two brothers and one sister. I am in the middle.

6. I love hiking, but my recent marriage has introduced more pizza than I am used to, so I huff and puff a bit more.

7. I really believe in researching exactly what I believe in.

8. I have three children, and they could not be any more different from each other.

9. I hitchhiked to Berkeley California when I was 16.

10. I picked up a knack for art when I was very young. I got lazy about it when life got hard. I am now getting back into it. I especially enjoy watercolor, acrylics and printmaking. My favorite class was a printmaking class where we handset type, illustrated, and created limited edition books of poetry, called chapbooks.

11. I was the best reader in first grade. So much so, that one day I pretended I didn't know the words, just so I could feel what it was like to be like some of the other kids.

12. I enjoy learning all wildflowers on walks, which in most cases I forget over the winter, and have to relearn each spring. I know the more common ones though.

13. I almost stepped on a rattlesnake last year.

14. I used to think God was just out to get me. That was when I was an Armninan. Becoming reformed made me feel like a new Christian.

15. I told people that I had read the Bible before I got saved. The night I got saved and someone said to turn to the book of John, I asked the person next to me what page it was on.

16. I mostly taught myself how to play the piano. I started when I was 15. I have been in two different church worship bands. I hold on to those kinds of things very lightly though. God gives and He takes away.


17. My mother once shaved my head when I was in sixth grade. She was trying to make me look like Mia Farrow, but she was drunk and my hair got shorter and shorter.

18. I try to go out somewhere far from lights during meteor showers, so I can see all the shooting stars.

19. I participated in a black gospel choir that included many different churches.

20. I have lived in over 40 places.

21. I got pregnant in high school as a senior. My oldest daughter is now 32.

22. I was into Native American spiritualiy, Indian spirituality (new age) and just about everything when I was young. I totally avoided Christians. Nothing ever felt right though. The day I prayed for Jesus to enter my heart, was the day I knew I would never be into anything else. I was 21.

23. I actually used to sew.

24. I did without T.V. for many years.

25. When I was a child I loved to sleep outside. My brothers and sister would fall asleep and I would look at the stars half the night and wonder who God was.

26. I am the only Christian in my family (parents, brothers and sister).

27. We stay in youth hostels sometimes when we travel. They are the best deal around, and sometimes the most beautiful historical structures. We are staying in a lighthouse far from towns later this month on the Pacific Coast.

28. Once when some friends and I camped out by some hot springs, the sun started to rise over the far mountains. Birds started singing, coyotes started howling, and frogs started croaking. It sounded like a symphony. When the sun was fully above the mountains, all became quiet.

29. One of the best dates I had with my husband was on a boat, whale watching. We actually heard pilot whales echolocating against the boat.

30. Once I startled a raccoon when I was camping. He must have practically stumbled upon my sleeping bag. He screamed and ran away.

31. My children are absolutely beautiful, and we get in lively intelligent discussions. I am so thankful for their distinct personalities.

32. I used to be terrified of the wicked witch of the west. I had to leave the room when she entered the picture in The Wizard of Oz. I still put a pillow over my face during suspenseful movies.

33. My oldest daughter shares my dry sense of humor.

34. My middle child shares her father's very good and very competitive softball skills.

35. My son shares my artistic bent and my tendency to write poetry.

36. I have this weird desire from God to work with teens.

37. I would rather grow flowers than vegetables. Ideally, I would like to have room for both.

38. I hate to admit it, but Texas can be nice to explore.

39. Thinking about Texas, what's up with the Marfa lights anyways?

40. The best meal I ever had was on a ranch in Nevada. Boy...do they eat well. Steak, beans, salad, french bread, potatoes, veggies, strong coffee. Those cowboys really needed all that food though for the work they did.

41. Another fun date. Lobster shack in Maine.

42. To Kill a Mockingbird is the only successful book into a movie I have ever seen.

43. I used to be in love with Atticus.

44. Before I was five I lived in tiny mining towns throughout the middle of Nevada. You know the place...America's outback? The mining towns were a few tacky houses stuck in the middle of alkali, scraggly sagebrush, and lots of dust. Buckets moved from the mine to some mysterious place on lines overhead. My brother told me never to walk under those buckets because they would suck me up and I would be gone forever. I believed him. I was about 3 or 4 years old. We left the mining towns when my step-father began to have bad dreams about being buried in the mines.

45. Ugh. I need a second wind on this writing deal.

46. Great date #3. Walk the freedom trail in Boston.

47. I once rock climbed and then rappelled down a 230 ft. cliff.

48. I cooked for a Christian outdoor ministry and hiked more than the instructors who took groups out hiking. Well, maybe I exaggerate a little.

49. Nevada is high and dry and very dark in places. Great place to look at stars.

50. I want to hike around Mt. St. Helen's.

51. When I was a teen I painted my room lime green, soon after, a willow tree began to grow between the wall and the molding.

52. Great date #4. Tide pooling at Plum Island.

53. I fall. Lots of skinned knees in my life. Once some friends out of concern insisted that a doctor check me out. They thought something was wrong because how could someone fall that much? I told them it was my lack of grace.

54. I have never broken a bone.

55. My favorite time to hike is at dusk, but I read a book about mountain lions becoming more aggressive, and am rethinking my hiking habits.

56. I believe more conspiracy theories than I used to.

57. Best coffee ever. Camp coffee just as the sun rises.

58. Best granite ever. Yosemite.

59. Best times of the year...and the shortest. Spring and Autumn.

60. A few favorite scents. Lavender, lilac, coffee, rain, pine trees, sagebrush, popcorn, potroast, woodburning stoves in winter, roses, clothes from a clothesline.

61. A few wonderful sounds. Raindrops, thunder, ocean waves, acoustic quitar, piano, birds singing, coyotes howling and yipping, wind through pines, husband's low quiet voice singing, my grandkids laughing, my children's voices, worship, silence.

62. I work at a museum that hosts weddings. I make sure the place is intact after everyone leaves. My least favorite songs during weddings. YMCA, Macarena, Louie Louie, I Will Survive.

63. I know many people like songs from 1960's-1980's, but my goodness, many great songs have been written since then. I didn't like the top 40 then and I don't now.

64. Most underrated Christian musician: Phil Keaggy

65. Most incredible Christian musician: Phil Keaggy...although for interesting...Sufjan Stevens sure amazes me. He is self-taught.

66. Recent discovery: How much I like gracious, God honoring women bloggers.

67. Traits I enjoy about my husband. He is willing to follow me up trail and down trail just because he loves me. He constantly is searching the scriptures for how he can glorify God in his life. He has a great sense of humor. He is always looking for ways to be a better husband. He loves his kids and my kids dearly. He loves having the grandkids around. He made the decision to have my mother live with us, even though it is very difficult for both of us.

68. Things that are hard to get used to with my husband. He snores very loudly.

69. Water. I need to be near water. I live in a desert after all. Water is wonderful.

70. Resolved: to eat less pizza and fewer carbs.

71. Resolved: to read the Word more.

72. Resolved: to read more Jonathan Edwards and his resolutions.

73. Resolved: to walk more like I used to.

74. Resolved: to pick my battles.

75. Resolved: to be a witness for my mother.

76. Resolved: to be on the computer less.

77. Resolved: to visit British Columbia, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edwards Island.

78. Resolved: to go to Pastor's College( hubby's desire too.)

79. Resolved: to have a Sovereign Grace Church here in Reno.

80. Resolved: to get to 100 random thoughts.

81. Pet peeve. Advertisements and other venues that state something like...."less carbs" rather than "fewer carbs". If something is measurable in numbers, it is fewer...liquid, for example, is measurable as "less" volume.

82. My car started this weird rattling noise about a month ago. We are financially strapped so we tried to ignore the sound. It got louder and louder and happened at random times. It sounded grinding like a belt was falling apart. We were resigned to take it in to be fixed. My husband in a moment of brilliance happened to check the weather stripping around the windshield. It was loose. We taped it with duct tape. The sound is gone. Whew!

83. My cosmos and bachelor buttons have started blooming!

84. I am presently designing and implementing outdoor education at the museum where I work. It is a great job to have. Unfortunately it is seasonal. I can only work 6 months at a time. I will be interviewing at a Christian school at the Reformed Baptist church I attend. If hired, I will probably teach middle school.

85. I think that at least 100 random thoughts go through my mind hourly, but writing them down is hard. I think I struggle the most with random thoughts when I am reading the Word...I find myself wandering and have to rein myself back in. Does that ever happen to you?

86. Should I give up trying to reach 100?

87. This is like running up Heartbreak Hill in the Boston Marathon or that last push to the summit.

88. Remember to water my plants today.

89. I am considered the low maintenance person in my marriage, and my husband is high maintenance.

90. I am easy to please. A nice hike or a picnic on a shore somewhere is all I need.

91. Prized possessions: A thick lump of cobalt blue seaglass. A jar full of interesting rocks. Handmade books with poems. A very old purple bottle my mother found in a mining town. Family photos. My magnet poetry words. The coffee cups my kids gave me for Christmas. Letters and cards from my kids. A very old beat up table. My mother's old trunk. A wooden bird. My handpainted birdhouses. An old red leather chair I found at a thrift store for $20. My paintings.

92. Of course I include all my books as prize possessions.

93. I start teaching watercolor classes for adults at the local Arboretum this week. It will be great fun. We will bring snacks and the evening light will be beautiful.

94. It never ceases to amaze me that God chose me. I know how vile I am and how many times in my life I have bitterly failed. Grace is so amazing...beyond anything I can comprehend.

95. I have no problem with aging. I wouldn't want to be in angst ridden 20's and 30's again for all the tea in China.

96. Although, I sure would prefer to be in better shape. Hiking is a bit more effort these days.

97. I am scared of heights. One area that makes my husband feel, oh so manly, is when I need his assistance helping me walk across log bridges over streams.

98. Actually, I shouldn't say streams. We westerners congratulate ourselves with calling streams, criks, not creeks, and definitely we westerners do not have BROOKS, for goodness sakes!

99. Which reminds me. I live in Nev...aaaaaa...da, not Nev..awwwww.....da. Get it right! Even though the correct pronunciation in Spanish is the second one, do not insult a Nevadan by pronouncing it correctly.

100. Ok...for the effort I put into this for the couple of people who actually come to my blog once in awhile, thanks so much for perservering through this drivel. :)