Tag, I'm it!

Marcia and Amanda have tagged me to share 7 wild, wacky or obscure things about my life. A lot of you know me so well because I'm a "wear everything on my shirt-sleeve" type person. I once heard that if you tell your real age you'll tell people anything & I 'm just like that in real life. So, I suppose I need to get my blog going and I'll indulge you. Here comes the seven:

1) I wanted to be an actress since high school but I never took drama. In college, I thought it would be cool to take drama but found out that I get severe stage fright so bad that I can't remember my lines. I was good at making up lines but they don't really want you to do that. It changes things and messes it up for the other actors to follow you. I did find out that I'm a great prop mistress and a lot of things behind the scenes.

2) I attended a Bryan Adams concert once on a date. It was fun but I felt guilty the whole time because I knew that I didn't like the guy as much as he liked me and my mom informed me before I went that I was leading him on. I'm sure the guy hates Bryan Adams' music now because I told him that afterwards and you can just imagine how well that went over with him. It's ironic fourteen years later that I married Jared who loves B.A.'s old school '80's music. I also have a hard time listening to him without thinking of this 'oh, I had to be so honest' incident.

3) In sixth grade, my teacher decided it was vital that we learned to play chess. The class champion was a kid named Bart. I decided one day in my cocky 6th grade attitude that I could take him on. I ended up wining the match and it made Bart really mad. So, we kept having re-matches. I kept winning and Bart just didn't like that. I was the only one who could beat him but I never won enough matches to be considered the class champion as he was. I just messed up his perfect record which annoyed him. Bart went on to bigger & better things like winning State in the chess club in high school. My glory was limited to 6th grade with chess.

4) I earned a "Ducktorate" degree from Walt Disney World. I worked there for a college co-op program & they gave us the option to take classes about film making & animation. It was fun & I learned a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. My favorite class was screen writing. The only problem was that I wrote a version of "It's a Wonderful Life." I still remember the teacher pointing that out for me in front of the class. I hadn't seen the movie yet at that point in my life. I made sure to watch it and it's my Christmas tradition to see it each year. It's one of my favorites now.

5) One of my first memories that I can recall is when I was about four; I was getting ready and excited to go swimming in a little inflated pool that my mom set up for me. On my way out, I stepped on a bumblebee and it stung me. Ouch! It really hurt. I still don't like going barefoot outside to this day.

6) Posters I've hung in my room before: Donny & Marie Osmond the one in which they are wearing purple socks and yellow outfits, Dorothy Hamill wearing her blue ice skating uniform, Brian Boitano wearing his civil war like ice skating uniform, a black & white poster of Marilyn Monroe and a typical cowboy poster of, you guessed it, George Strait. I actually found some of my posters online. Anyway, I'm not much into posters anymore.

7) After thinking a while, I asked Isaiah what he thought one cool thing about me was and he said "because you feed me." When I prompted him for something else he said "because you're nice to me." I think that's pretty cool too. I do like to eat food and I'm glad to hear he thinks I'm a nice mom today. Needless to say, I'm flattered. I'll tell you something from when I was his age now - I loved watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood back then and I wanted to be just like Henrietta Pussycat.

I'm going to tag:

Bonnie

Sam

Hopie and Jared

Lindsey

Jan

Trenda

Let us know 7 things about you if you want to.

The rules:
1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Thanks for reading! I think I'll start writing my "100 things about me post" before my 100th post. In between making my toddlers lunch, feeding the baby, & potty training Gracie that took a while for me to write but it was fun after all.

Focus on Reading

I've been having a bit of trouble focusing on reading or similar tasks lately. I'm sure a lot of that has to do with having a 5 1/2 month old baby boy, 2 toddlers and 3 school-aged children. Ya think? So, this past week when I started reading Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and remembering what I've read - I was ecstatic! It takes a bit to get through a chapter because of distraction but I'm glad of it because I'm actually reading.
I've realized that I love to read. I read Jane Eyre a long time ago, in high school, and I remember liking it then but now I'm really enjoying it with my more mature eyes that I have now. Things are different somehow, more rich and expressive to me.
When I read this exchange between Helen and Jane, I could really relate with Helen's daydreaming. I felt like that must have been my cause for not focusing on what I've been reading. Here's the exchange quoted from the text I have, pg. 69:
Jane asks Helen:
"And when Miss Temple teaches you, do your thoughts wander then?"
Helen replies and I love this:
"No, certainly, not often; because Miss Temple has generally something to say which is newer than my own reflections: her language is singularly agreeable to me, and the information she communicates is often just what I wish to gain."
Oh, I'd like to be described as such. I know I have friends that are worthy of this description and I'm grateful for that. I love learning and listening to what others have to say of value.
Well, when I finish reading Jane Eyre, I'll post a book review on 5-squared. If you can't wait until then, feel free to check out Jane Eyre and read it for yourself.

Poetry Selection in print!

My poetry selection has been printed in the Sunday newspaper. It's pretty exciting and I wanted to be sure to post the link for all of you to read the poem this week. I hope you like it. I know I did. Be sure to read to the bottom and see what I've been up to. It will be up until Thursday.

Check it out here, if you haven't already:

Poetry : In Praise of Dandelions

Introduction

I've been literally dreaming of this blog for way too long. If you can't sleep because you're dreaming about writing blogs then I better just start my personal blog and write it! Tonight is a perfect opportunity anyway because my 2 yr. old isn't asleep yet. So, "ToyStory"is on for her and I feel like writing. Oh, don't worry even if she was asleep I might be writing because I feel like writing a lot lately. I just haven't been very good on following up on that urge. I have a lot of ideas swimming in my head all the time. I just need to focus and get it on the page. In the past, some of my best work has been done in the wee hours of the night when I think too much and can't sleep.
Are you wondering what a "jflamingo" is yet? Well, it's me! I made it up when I decided on what to name my first e-mail account. My name is Julie hence the "j" and I love learning about flamingo's hence "flamingo."
A few things you could know about me already is that I'm an alright wife to Jared and a reasonable mother to our six children and I like that there is never a dull moment around my house. What I also like besides motherhood is that I have other hobbies and interests which add color to who I am. That's vibrant!
On this blog, I'll share my thoughts or another word for that would be my "reflections," on life and what I like best. Or not. We'll just see what happens.
For now, welcome to "Reflections of a jflamingo..."