I Was Tagged (or Where Did February Go?)

Oh, my. The lovely Mari tagged me all the way from Australia, lo these many weeks ago! Sorry, Mari - here you go, and thanks for the tag!

The rules:
A. The rules are posted at the beginning
B. Answer the questions about yourself
C. Tag 5 people, let them know in a comment on their blogs that they have been tagged.

What were you doing 10 yrs ago?
Hmm. In the winter of 1998 I had been living in San Francisco for about 6 months. Downtown, on the top floor of a modern building with a view of the Bay. (Which sure beat the mouse- and roach-infested place we'd been in when I was in grad school in Boston!) I was finishing my Clinical Fellowship Year at a private practice in Palo Alto, on the Stanford campus, and planning my getaway from that job the moment I completed my requisite 10 months there. Matt and I didn't really know many people and were living a fairly reclusive, quiet life together despite the tumultuous El Nino year weather. You couldn't exactly say we were taking advantage of the city. In truth, I did not fall in love with San Francisco until we'd been there about a year.

Snacks I enjoy:
1. Chocolate
2. Kashi Go-Lean bars
3. Apples
4. Pretzels
5. Chocolate

Five things on my to-do list today:
Wait. For today? I'm a little scared of my to do list right now, frankly. But I'll buck up and face the facts here.

1. Pay bills, for God's sake! (Turns out bills didn't stop coming just because I took two trips last week)
2. Call the Northwestern intern who will be working with me next quarter (whoo hoo!)
3. Write up my notes from the SCERTS workshop in order to share them with a colleague and perhaps with you, dear Wonderwheel readers!
4. Clean up this total mess of a house.
5. Figure out when we're going to take the car in for repair. Or delegate this job to Matt. Either one.

Things I would do if I became a billionaire:
The thing is, I've thought this over and I don't think I'd actually change my life all that much if I were a billionaire. Now, Matt might feel differently and so maybe I'd find myself living on a tropical island or in a flat with maid service in Paris. But if it were up to me, here's what I'd do:

1. Not charge my clients - ever! (Take that, insurance companies!)
2. Pay off our condo
3. Buy a new car (something smallish and hybrid)
4. Buy really good health insurance for my family and extended family
5. Make sure our parents and grandparents live as comfortably as they want
6. Travel everywhere!
7. Pay our nanny what she's worth
8. Donate to our church
9. Hang out at Benefit more often
10. Give the rest to Barack's campaign

3 bad habits:
1. Not enough flossing
2. Stress-eating
3. Reading all of your blogs on my iPhone when sitting in traffic or at a red light

5 places I have lived:
1. Middletown, Connecticut
2. St. Paul, Minnesota
3. Boston, Massachusetts
4. San Francisco, California
5. Chicago, Illinois

Jobs I have had:
1. Babysitter (from age 13 to age 25)
2. Cashier at Lyman's Orchard (with a broken collarbone in a sling)
3. Nanny (for one miserable summer outside of Boston)
4. Deli girl at RC Dick's on Grand Ave. in St. Paul (for a total of 3 weeks)
5. Preschool/Toddler teacher (ran my own class of 12 toddlers - picture that one!)
6. Speech-Language Pathologist (aaah, sweet relief!)

Things people don't know about me:
Hmmm, what haven't I told you? Not much...

1. I am an amazing sleeper. I turn off my light, close my eyes, and - that's it. Until the kids wake us up in the morning. Matt doesn't usually bother asking how I slept anymore because it's a ridiculous question.

2. I have a brother who is 14 months younger than me. We've had a very rocky relationship and have been completely estranged from each other for more than a year and a half. You don't have to tell me how terrible that is, it's not my preference, believe me.

3. I get stuck in a rut with music. I can listen to one single CD in my car for, oh, maybe 7 or 8 months straight without tiring of it. I'm just starting to come down from a "Once" soundtrack high that definitely lasted at least 7 months. Before that it was a mix I made for my friends after a weekend together last year, and prior to that it was a Norah Jones CD. I'm pretty sure it was Allison Krauss before that. (As an aside, just yesterday someone did a Google search of "what make up colors does allison krauss wear" and ended up at this blog. Endlessly fascinating.)

4. I have never once colored my hair more permanently than doing a henna treatment or two in college. No highlights, no dye. Not as a teenager, nor as an adult. I am not opposed to doing so when the day comes that I deem it to be necessary, but thus far I appear to be taking after my father who went grey rather late.

I am going to honor those who bravely came forth during my delurker week or are brand new readers this week by tagging them:

Wishful Mommy
KAL at Autism Twins
Goodfountain
Cindy at We All Fall Down
Kristen at What Grows Around