(Ahem) ... Me Me Me Me Me ...

Here are just a few random thoughts about me:

1. I was a chubby baby. Chubby enough, my dad says, that whenever I sat up, my legs would turn blue. But I slimmed as I grew into a toddler and managed to maintain a healthy weight until about a year after I was out of high school. The pounds have crept on gradually ever since. Well, until, that is, I started going to Weight Watchers. The second time. (The first time I went, I went with a friend, and we would spend just enough time at the meetings to be weighed, and then we would run down the street and have some pizza or greasy fast food. Ah, the memories.) But this time, so far, I've lost 60+ pounds. I am very, very proud of this, which is why I listed this first.

2. I have been learning to knit. I checked out a book at the library to learn from, but it proved a little too challenging. One of the steps for casting on the yarn, the book says, is to "knit" the yarn onto the needle. I thought, "Now, if I knew what it meant to 'knit' the yarn onto the needle, I wouldn't need this book." However, when roaming through a bookstore recently, I came across a marked down copy of "Knitting for Dummies." And now I know what it means to "knit" the yarn onto the needle. I still can't make a sweater, but I'm getting there.

3. I have been improving my house for five years now. I removed wallpaper from one bathroom and the kitchen and painted the walls, and have started working on the ceiling. I know that doesn't seem like much for five years' work, and it's a little disheartening to realize that that's only a fraction of what needs to be done. I'd be further along if I worked on it more often.

4. I have flown only once in my life. My husband and I went out to Washington state a few years ago to visit some of his family. I was nervous about going, so my husband tried to reassure me by telling me that he'd be sitting beside me, holding my hand the whole time if I wanted him to. Well, we had purchased our tickets at an online discount site, assuming our seats would be together. They were not.

5. The book I am reading right now, "Solar Storms" by Linda Hogan, is very good, but for some reason, even though the book is not very long and I am enjoying it, I have been reading it for five weeks now and I still have more than 100 pages to go. Normally, if I like a book, I finish it very quickly. I read the tiny type on the 543 pages of "A Prayer for Owen Meany" by John Irving, for example, in less than a week. Last year, I started keeping track of how many and which books I've read, which, for all of 2007, totaled 24. So far in 2008, I have completed one. "Solar Storms" will make No. 2. Someday.