Quirks and some other stuff...

Yesterday I was tagged by my Beautiful Bloggin' Friend Noelia. I am to write about 6 of my idiosyncracies. Yes, I know some of you (Miranda and Maggie) are thinking "What, ONLY six!" I made a list and thought about this a lot yesterday. So here goes.

6 Idiosyncracies of Me

1. I read the dictionary. I love words. I love learning new words and trying to incorporate them into my vocabulary. And no family function is complete in my family unless we have to get the dictionary out for something.
   
2. I count stuff. If I'm walking up the steps I have to count them as I go. Not for any reason just because I can, I guess. It's part of my need for order I guess. I like things orderly and tidy and predictable. I think the counting was worse when I was teaching. I used to count a lot of stuff then! Maybe it was a form of stress management. But I count how many grapes I eat or berries. Stuff like that. I can't just have a handful of something. I want to know how many it is!
3. I hate sock fuzz. I guess this has been going on for a long time. My mom says I used to have a hard time with socks and shoes as a child. I'd get the socks on and then the shoes and then I'd have to wiggle my foot around and take them off again because something wasn't right. I just can't have fuzz in my socks. And neither can my mom!
4. I like my friends quirky. Interesting. A little off center. Unique. Yes, I know, God created us all unique. But some people are just funnier and more interesting than others. I like those people. They make me laugh. And I think I like people who are just a little sarcastic and a tiny bit devious.
5. I love my blog. It's about as close to famous as I will ever be. It's like having my own column in the newspaper. The internet is like 1 GIANT newspaper. And even though my blog is like 1 single lowercase letter in the Sunday edition, it's still all mine. And a few people even read it! My favorite part are the comments. And the other people I've met by reading blogs! (Like Noelia!)
   
6. I don't like my food to touch and I don't like to touch my food. I'm okay with burgers and fries but I am definately a person who has to use utensils to eat. I don't want to handle my food! I would not do well in a place where they use their hands to eat. That's just not for me.

And that's it. There's more on the list I made but these were the ones that were most interesting and shareable! And now it's my turn to tag someone! So I'm going to tag Denise! She is a new bloggin' buddy! I met her through my circle journal group. You can visit her here.

And speaking of the Circle Journal, here is my journal! My word for the year is Fear. I decided on this word because I tend to worry about a lot of stuff and I also let those worries and fears keep me from doing things.
If you've never done a circle journal or seen one it's rather cool. Everyone has a journal and picks a topic. In this case everyone has a word. And then we pass the journals around, round robin like, and we each do a layout in each other's journal about that person's word. So when you get the journal back it's all about your topic. I'm really excited to get started on it!

And the 2P's challenge for today just happens to be about fears! Here it is: Are you afraid of anything? What are your fears?

Yes, lots of stuff. Things my mom calls "what ifs". What would I do if... such and such happened? I'm a planner. I don't like change. I like things predictable and structured. I'm not very spontaneous and if I do something spontaneous it's definately not crazy or weird.
I don't like elevators, heights, rotweilers, or cars with really dark tinted windows. If you've been to the Mall of America, I don't like the glass railings they have in the rotunda. Or the glass elevator. I've always been a bit afraid of the dark. I worry about car accidents. But I'm fascinated by demolition derbys! The thing about fear for me is that if I let my mind wander I worry about way too much stuff. So I try not to let that happen. I try to occupy myself enough so that I don't worry about all the "what ifs". Because the point of life is to live it. Not to worry about what happens when we live it. Or what could happen.
I had a policy in my classroom to not answer questions that began with "What if..." This was very popular after a fire drill! "Mrs. Holle, what if the fire was right outside the door and..." I understand where this is coming from. I do. But I didn't want my students to worry about the fire. I wanted them to be prepared and know what to do if it wasn't a drill. We prepare to live. We make a few plans to be prepared in case of something but we can't plan for every bump in the road. It's not possible. And it's not an enjoyable way to live. Life is a messy deal. Stuff happens everyday that we don't like, don't plan for, and don't know how to handle or understand. But there are lots of wonderful things that happen when we let go of all of those fears and just live it.

Happy Friday! I hope you all have some time for a little livin'!