Tandemonimom's Lens-O-Matic

10. I will always choose the chocolate. Always. Unless it has raspberry flavoring.

9. All four of my children were born at home, assisted by the same midwife.

8. After an engrossing book I find myself talking in phrases from the period I was reading about, or in an accent from the book.

7. Almost all books are engrossing.

6. I saved my own gallbladder from surgery!

5. I frequently get lost on the freeway.

4. My father once lowered me into a well to fish out some trash that had fallen in. sliiiiimyyy

3. I should have majored in linguistics. Instead I majored in elementary education with an almost-double major in English. (I had more than enough English credits, but was short in math and science for the English major. Yes, the English degree required more math and science than the education degree did.)

2. My sister is my very best friend in the world.

1. Everything is interesting. Everything! Well, maybe not economics.

BONUS! "Tandemonimom" because I tandem-nursed my close-in-age children.

10. Toffee tastes better with milk chocolate, for some reason. Everything else: the darker the chocolate, the better!

9. I wore braces a couple of years ago to straighten my one sticking-out tooth. (It was on the side, most people never noticed.) Very unpleasant.

8. I really enjoy using ellipses when I write ... but only in grammatically correct fashion!

7. Ellipses are the three dots that indicate dropped text ... or a pause. I worked as a proofreader and production editor for several years before staying home and having babies.

6. I still proofread a lot of my husband's work communications. My friends and family affectionately refer to me as their Grammar Police. At least ... I hope it is affectionately ...

5. I cracked my tailbone at age 12, falling out of a hayloft.
... Hauling hay with my dad and siblings, what did you think I was doing?

4. The caffeine in chocolate doesn't phase me, but a half cup of coffee and I'm wired for three days.

3. I love collecting quotations about almost anything. "There is much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge." (Bertrand Russell)

2. I think about chocolate entirely too much.

1. I'm 43 years old, but I feel 42! And after all, 42 is the Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything ...

10. In-n-Out fries and chocolate shakes, but Fatburger burgers.

9. Pet Peeve: people who don't include some sort of contact info in their Christmas greeting card! I may (or may NOT) still have your address, but what about phone, email, website, Facebook ... whatever!

8. I ... I ... I organize my shopping cart. There, I said it!

7. I hate naps. Really, really hate them. I am always SO groggy afterward for a couple of hours! They are occasionally, however, a necessary evil.

6. My mother's mother's mother was Beulah Gage, a direct descendant of Sir Thomas Gage, who was in charge of British forces in the Colonies at the time of the Boston Tea Party. There is still a Gage family home in England with Gages living in it ... and it has public days, too!

5. I prefer really good, dark chocolate, but will take almost any form of it in a pinch. Best chocolate chips: Sunspire Organic Semi-Sweet. Absolute silky chocolate heaven.

4. My husband is a direct male-line-only descendant of Alexander Peden (and therefore my sons are too), also known as Peden the Prophet. Scotland is still dotted with plaques indicating "Peden's Pulpit" in places where he preached outdoors because he spent his life on the run from the Anglican church who wanted to hang him.

3. Pet Peeve: "unnecessary" quotation marks.

2. Favorite tea: burdock tea with honey. Favorite chocolate beverage: RAW milk with Trader Joe's Midnight Moo Chocolate.

1. I started reading at age five and haven't stopped for any significant length of time yet.

10. My husband is even less interested in sports than I am! Back when we were starving college students, we won a grocery store drawing for a Superbowl party - HUGE platters of meats & cheese, lots of sodas and chips, etc. When we went to pick it up they asked us who we thought would win, and DH and I looked at each other and replied, "Who's playing?" We ate off that food for two weeks!

9. I have tons of fun creating designs for t-shirts, tote bags, and all kinds of stuff over at Zazzle. I make designs on Twilight (legally!), book lovers, homeschoolers, humor, and lots more stuff. My daughter also sells several designs celebrating her fantasy art.

8. For some reason that escapes even me, I like to take pictures at my kids' sleepovers. AFTER the kids are asleep! I think it started when I got up one morning and saw a boy sleeping peacefully, kneeling on the floor, face planted in the couch. Too funny to pass up!

7. I really hate talking on the phone except with family or very intimate friends. Facebook and email are my much preferred method of communication!

6. I learned to drive on a stick shift. When I was about 5, my dad would let me shift for him, so I learned to watch for him to hit the clutch. He would also let me sit in his lap and steer, but of course my limbs were too short to do both! One or the other. By the time I was old enough to reach the pedals, I knew how to drive a stick and could drive it on our farm and - sometimes - the back country roads.

5. I was in high school civics class when Reagan was shot. I don't remember where I was when John Lennon was shot, but my husband chose to marry me anyway. Thanks, honey!

4. I've never really grown up. For instance, we have lots of tile in our house, so when I have socks on to keep my feet warm, I "ski shuffle" across the floor without lifting my feet and then SLIDE to a stop.

3. I was four years old during the first moon landing. We were visiting my grandmother in Memphis and my parents made me stay up and watch. I was SO bored and sleepy, but I remember it! Hence, I made my 7 and 5 year old kids come in and watch the swearing-in of both Biden and Obama. The older kids watched the 15 minutes beforehand as well.

2. I am starting my older kids (13 & 11) on Squidoo as an alternative to writing book reports and essays. Should be interesting! The 13yo has her first assignment chosen: bomb sniffing rats!

1. I first decided to homeschool long before I had children. In fact, the biggest factor in my decision to homeschool was some of the classes I took to obtain my elementary education degree, and some of the students in there with me.

Many thanks for
SquidAngel blessings from

Thanks to tagsforkids for his angelic SquidArt.
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