Little Known Facts

In response to being called out on my friend Tina's blog, I am answering some information about myself, though most of my readers are immediate family, so this may not be as revealing as one might think.

Four Things About Me
Things you may not have known about me...

A) Four jobs that I have had:
I can't narrow it down to 4. Here's 4 periods of my life and the various and interesting jobs I held during them. Am I an over-achiever or do I have ADD?:
1. Jr. High/ High School- Sheldon, IA:

• Paper carrier for the Des Moines Register at age 14- one of those 5 am, 7 days a week deals (money which actually paid for our wedding rings only a few years later!)
  
• Lifeguard for the Sheldon Indoor Pool
  
• Pharmacist's Assistant at Family Drug
  
• Checker at Hy-Vee (grocery store), including a summer doing night shift. All the commercials about working night shift at a grocery store are pretty accurate.

2. Undergraduate USD- Vermillion, SD:

• Checker at another Hy-Vee (no night shift this time)
• Housekeeper at the Comfort Inn (cheerleaders have the second worst rooms to clean up. Obscenely overweight guy who used the sheets instead of the toilet was the worst)
• Front desk worker at the same Comfort Inn. Extreme step up in the world of hotel workers.
• Singer/ Dancer at the Red Garter Saloon at Valleyfair! Theme park South of Minneapolis, MN. Perks included free admission to the park (as long as we didn't wear our costumes), and getting to work in any other area of the park for the same elevated pay rate, so I also worked in wardrobe and the IMAX theatre.
  
• Staff and eventually head honcho at Sheldon High School Summer Theatre program (5 summers)
  

3. Graduate School- UNC- Greeley, CO (I did all this while a full-time graduate student):

• Graduate assistant- recruiting, rehearsing & directing my very own collegiate choir.
• Receptionist- MIRROR student newspaper.
• Music Reviews- MIRROR student newspaper.
• Advertising Manager - MIRROR student newspaper (I spent a lot of time there)
• Children's Choir Director- First United Methodist Church, Greeley
• Adult Choir Director- First United Methodist Church, Greeley
• Private Voice and Piano lessons (started in 1994, I'm still at it 12 years later!)
• Model (short lived, unsuccessful career. Photos all destroyed. Don't ask.)
  

4. Life after college:

• Music/ creative arts associate at Hanfield United Methodist Church (nice new webpage!)
• Voice teacher - Indiana Wesleyan University
• Voice & Piano teacher - my home
• Crisis Pregnancy Center peer counselor (volunteer, but I thought of it as a job)
  
• Independent Jewelry consultant- Premier Designs jewelry
• Soon to start: Voice teacher - University of Sioux Falls.
  

B) Four movies I would watch over and over:

1. Far and Away- I know it's old, but I'm sentimental and I love the story.
2. When Harry Met Sally- same reason.
3. Phantom of the Opera-at the risk of ruining theatre attendance, I wish more musicals would make productions like this.
   
4. Pirates of theCaribbeann - mmmm... Johnny Depp. 'Nuf said.
   

C) Four (OK Six) places I have lived

1. On a farm outside Lake Andes, SD
   
2. Sheldon, IA
   
3. Vermillion, SD
   
4. Greeley, CO
5. Marion, IN
6. Sioux Falls, SD
   

D) Four TV shows I love to watch:

1. Lost
2. Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
   
3. American Idol
   
4. I'd really rather read than watch TV, so to add to the list,
   

Four Books I've Enjoyed Lately:

1. The O'Malley series by Dee Henderson
2. "Death Match" by Lincoln Child
3. "I Am Not But I Know I AM" by Louie Giglio
4. "A Heart Like His" by Beth Moore (a study on the life of David. Also available as a group study)
   

E) Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Orlando, FL- the whole Disney/ Epcot/ Universal thing with my family when we were all grown. Great memories
   
2. Matt's grandparents' place in Ontario, Canada
   
3. Black Hills, SD (see earlier post from June)
   
4. Vacations have been limited to going home to visit family from IN, and now, going back to IN to visit friends. Next summer is our 15th anniversary. We really need a real vacation, don't you think? (We'll accept donations)
   

F) Four websites I visit daily:
I don't visit much daily. I do try to keep track of my friends' blogs, including Tina's, Kyle & Adela's and Matt's (good to know what he's pondering every once in a while). Mostly, I visit my bank's website, the weather channel, maybe look for recipes online... Not very exciting, I'm afraid.

G) Four of my favorite foods: This year, I have developed a new love of cooking. It's interesting that I make most of my favorite foods.

1. Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas (recipe courtesy Grandma Georgie)
   
2. Thai Chicken Pizza (Recipe courtesy Martha Swift)
   
3. Ice cream in the peanut butter/ chocolate category
4. Mediterranean Steak Salad (Recipe courtesy Pampered Chef)
   

H) Four places I would rather be right now:…
This seems like negative thinking. Why would I want to be anywhere but right here in my own living room with Maia in bed (key element to my rest) and Matt & Xander playing cards on the floor a few feet away? I guess if I had to choose...

1. Living in our own house here in Sioux Falls with 3 bedrooms... but I don't see this happening in the near future.
   
2. A real vacation would be nice. See "E" above.
3. I like dressing up to go out and do anything, attend a concert, participate in a concert, go to dinner, go dancing... just getting dressed up for a night on the town is fun. (hint, Matt) :)
4. Worship conferences/ big events are always a lot of fun. Haven't been to one in about 2 1/2 years.
   

Four Interesting Facts About Me
This isn't part of the original list of questions, but this is information that wasn't covered elsewhere.

1. I've had 4 concussions in my life: 1.) hitting head on ice on my birthday at Grandpa Eitemiller's (probably about age 5 or 6- I don't remember, I had a concussion!) 2.) Falling from the top of the ladder of the high dive to the cement, age 8 or so; 3.) Nasty bicycle accident (age 15) in which I ran over a cat (we think) and went head first over the handlebars, went to the hospital, etc.) 4.) Heck if I can remember what the 4th one was... I know it happened though. How did I graduate on the honor roll?
2. I intentionally dyed my hair purple when I was in my 30's.
3. Matt & I started dating 18 years ago. Before most kids that are going to be this year's high school seniors were born. I don't feel that old!
4. Aside from two brief forays into Canada, I have never been outside the continental US. I've never even been more than a few feet over the Continental Divide (we did go up and visit while living in Colorado). Sounds like time for a trip to Europe... :)
   

I am supposed to tag four people. I'm not going to. If you think this is fun, you can send me your answers via email (mattnamy@sio.midco.net) or post it on your own blog.