The first 50

Okay, okay. I have sixty-eleven things to do, but I've caved to the pressure, at least in part. Here's my first 50:

1. If I was on death row, I’d request a warm slice of cherry pie.
2. I've lost my engagement ring, wedding band, and a replacement wedding ring. Losing the latter was one of the worst days of my life.
3. I think Gene Wilder is strangely sexy.
4. I was the state winner in the GI Joe American Hero Essay contest in 1980. I won a $25 savings bond which I cashed in to pay for a swimming trip I had a few years later.
5. Mormon pop culture icons make me uncomfortable.
6. I used to rock climb in college.
7. I've hiked all the major peaks on the Wasatch Front except Twin Peaks.
8. I can't eat visible fat on meat.
9. I don't like Afterglow or like-sounding LDS performers.
10. I'm allergic to shellfish.
11. Gobs of melted cheese makes my stomach turn.
12. I used to be able 40 pushups in a row, and I've made a new goal to do that again.
13. I'm very competitive. I race people on treadmills at the gym.
14. If I could get another degree, I’d try culinary school, creative writing, anthropology, or art history.
15. I want to learn to play the violin.
16. My biggest fear: being forgotten. When I was little my family was on a trip and we stopped at a park in Blackfoot, ID for lunch. Everyone piled into the camper except me, and my family had been on the freeway for an hour until they realized I wasn't there!
17. Another fear: running into ex-boyfriends while I'm in sweats and no makeup at the store.
18. I crack my knuckles.
19. I find politics intriguing and would like to be more involved once my children are older.
20. My secret dream job: developing healthy and fun school lunch menus.
21. Sometimes I hold Jane long after she falls asleep, even when it's really late.
22. I rode the Ulcer 100-mile bike race when I was 17.
23. I'm a terrible housekeeper.
24. Since it's rivalry week, I'll say that I'm a "U" grad and fan, although as I get older I like this less as less as I find it often brings out the worst in people... especially you smug, self-righteous BYU fans HAHAHAHA!
25. Sometimes I want to say, "bag it" and move my family to say, some remote island in the Mediterranean and live a simple, sunny life.
26. I've breastfed my baby in front of a statue of Mr. Darcy. I really don't know what that means.
27. My heroes are women to choose family first and resist societal pressures.
28. I love irises. They remind me of my late grandma Dorothy.
29. I've been to see Crosby, Stills & Nash three times.
30. My first car: green 1980 Honda Accord.
31. I taught swim lessons for 7 years but don't teach my own children to swim.
32. Anthony Hopkins is my movie boyfriend.
33. I've been told I'm passive aggressive, whatever that means.
34. I love thank-you notes, or any sort of real mail for that matter.
35. I've eaten half a pan of rice krispie treats all at once. I was just trying to straighten the edge.
36. I’m afraid that there will be an earthquake and I won’t be prepared.
37. Ending up with Ed I feel like I won the lottery.
38. Somehow I manage to eat some sort of chocolate every day.
39. I’ve always, and I means always, had big thighs.
40. Were I not LDS I suspect I would be a total lush.
41. I hate waiting lines - it’s so demeaning.
42. I love listening to rain fall while I’m lying in bed on a Saturday morning.
43. I think I have ADHD – for realzies.
44. I’ve read Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” over 10 times
45. Thick slices of watery ham product makes me gag. I’m leaving my family a specific menu to serve at my funeral dinner.
46. I’m not a very good listener; my mind wanders.
47. I have sixty-four cousins, just on my mom’s side.
48. Europe’s greatest gift to mankind: marzipan
49. My great, great grandfather was Jesse N. Smith – Joseph Smith’s first cousin.
50. I yearn to be different, to break free of certain cultural stereotypes. In other words, don’t judge 30-something women in a white minivan careening around the corner trying to get her kids to school on time. Look closely (but not to close – there’s no makeup) and you might see something different.