About Me

It has recently been brought to my attention (Thanks, Matt) that I blog primarily about Avery and not as much about myself. So - here are some tid-bits about myself.

1. I LOVE to read - I get caught up in a book so easily, hours can pass without my even realizing it.

2. My favorite holiday is 4th of July. This is mostly because as a child we'd always spend it with my grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins at the lake cabin near Detroit Lakes. Grilling, swimming, tubing behind the speedboat, staying up late playing Pinnochle...there are so many great memories.

3. I have birthed two children without an epidural. (The first was purely by chance. The second, by choice. And I realize to many of you, this is a strange inclusion...but it's a motherly thing of pride for me.)

4. As a child, meatloaf and canned peas were a staple in our home. Both of which made me gag. Today, I can stomach my own meatloaf, but do not come near me with canned peas.

5. I love trees. If there is just one thing I would change about North Dakota/Minnesota it would be the addition of more trees. (Second would be the nasty winters.)

6. I have never lived anywhere more than 45 minutes from my hometown: Arthur, ND.

7. I am a tough person. It takes a very serious situation to cause me to break down.

8. Taking #7 into account, I get very emotionally attached to pets. When our childhood dog, Gypsy (an ever-curious, good-hearted, & VERY patient Golden Retriever) died, I think I cried for a week. Seriously. Also, I had to put my teenage pal, Payton (the friendliest - and most responsive - cat I've ever met), down when he contracted Feline Leukemia. Matt and I took him, with his withering little body wrapped in an old bath towel, to the nearby vet's office. I remember sobbing all the way home, his dead little body still wrapped in that towel, enclosed in a medical supply box. I hugged that box tightly, repeating: "It's just not fair" over and over again.

9. I'm very handy. My father never had any sons, so there were never "boy tasks" in our home. Anything was fair game to everyone. I can replace caulking and points on 50+ year-old storm windows, drive a stick-shift (at this point it'd be pretty rusty though), drive all sorts of farm machinery, lay shingles, change the oil on my vehicle, etc. Farm life definitely promotes independence.

10. My love of English can be credited to my high school English teacher, Mrs. Nyberg.

11. I love coffee; plain black, mochas, iced lattes - you name it, I love it.

12. I remember when I told my first lie. (Terrible, right?!) The whole family was sitting in the living room watching television and I told my mother I wanted a piece of gum. She said "No, it's too close to bedtime." I left the room, snuck into her purse (she always had spearmint Trident, and her purse always had this aroma of mint and tobacco), took a piece of gum, and returned to the living as though nothing happened. If you're familiar with spearmint Trident, you know you can smell when someone is chewing it from about a 6 foot perimeter. My mother asked me: "Megan, did you take a piece of gum from my purse?" Me: "No, Mom, I didn't." Mom: "Spit it out in my hand NOW." Me: (spitting the gum out) "Sorry Mom." -- Not an especially evil lie, but I couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 at the time. Shame on me.

13. I have seasonal allergies so bad that sometimes my eyes swell so badly that all I have are little gunky slits to see out of. (Pleasant mental picture, right?)

14. I have ALWAYS wanted to learn to play guitar. (I just got one, so hopefully soon I'll be serenading you all soon!)

15. I have never traveled out of the country - unless you count Canada, which I don't.