I'm painfully behind on blogging.  Reading them, writing them, responding to them.  Everything about them.  Here's where I combine two tasks into one.  First, the Incognito Mom- who is an amazing local chick who I am dying to drag out for a night on the town one of these days? yes? maybe? as soon as the weather breaks and the snow melts? leave the boys at home and go? tagged me to list seven secrets about myself.  That's hard for me to do.  She knows that's hard for me to do.  But I think I came up with seven things I've never shared here.

Second, Katey.Leigh at Let.It.Be gave me this:

If you don't read Katey's blog, please start now.  Do you ever run across someone younger than you and get all sappy because you wish that you had it together that much when you were that age and wish that person could see how well they are doing?  Or get proud for someone because you know that by the time that person is the age you are now they are going to be set?  That's how I feel about Katey.  She's pretty damned amazing.  I'm tossing her rules out the window and doing the seven things instead.

1  I like to name my plants because they are living things that I take care of.  I have three juniper plants out back and they are all named Jennifer.  Growing up in the seventies, you were always surrounded by at least three Jennifers, so this is perfectly acceptable to me.  I also have a heather out there, and her name is Fatgirl.  My rosemary bush is named Mantha and the lavender is named Queeny.  Inside I have a kalanchoe named Josie.  Because I bought it at Trader Joe's.

2  I don't shave from the knees down from about my birthday (August 15th) til about Memorial Day.  I caved the other day because I was so bored.  The razor gave out about 65% of the way through.  I don't know why I stop shaving.  I always have, even as a teenager.  It just seems so pointless.  I wear knee socks all winter long anyway.  No one ever really sees it.

3  I've held things in my hands that are priceless to some people and worthless to others.  Classified documents.  Heroin.  Babies.

4  Sometimes I want to kiss my cat with tongue so I can show her how deeply I love her but I'm guessing that non-verbal, inter-species message wouldn't really translate.

5  I'm actually a very good drawer, but only in pencil or Pilot V5 Pen and preferably on index cards or manila (it's something about the "drag" the combination of those utensils and those papers give to me) and please don't ask me to draw anything too large because I like drawing tiny perfect things to comply with my tiny perfect world vision.

I'm a "micro" person when I get inside of my head.  Twerking the "macro" gives me a case of the ickies.

6  I took a Color Test yesterday.  The reason I'm telling you is that I thought the results were disturbingly accurate:
Occupational Category: Creator
Keywords: Nonconforming, Impulsive, Expressive, Romantic, Intuitive, Sensitive, and Emotional

These original types place a high value on aesthetic qualities and have a great need for self-expression. They enjoy working independently, being creative, using their imagination, and constantly learning something new. Fields of interest are art, drama, music, and writing or places where they can express, assemble, or implement creative ideas.

Creator Occupations: Suggested careers are Advertising Executive, Architect, Web Designer, Creative Director, Public Relations, Fine or Commercial Artist, Interior Decorator, Lawyer, Librarian, Musician, Reporter, Art Teacher, Broadcaster, Technical Writer, English Teacher, Architect, Photographer, Medical Illustrator, Corporate Trainer, Author, Editor, Landscape Architect, Exhibit Builder, and Package Designer.
Creator Workplaces: Consider workplaces where you can create and improve beauty and aesthetic qualities. Unstructured, flexible organizations that allow self-expression work best with your free-spirited nature.  Suggested Creator workplaces are advertising, public relations, and interior decorating firms; artistic studios, theaters and concert halls; institutions that teach crafts, universities, music, and dance schools. Other workplaces to consider are art institutes, museums, libraries, and galleries.

2nd Best Occupational Category: Persuader Keywords: Witty, Competitive, Sociable, Talkative, Ambitious, Argumentative, and Aggressive
These enterprising types sell, persuade, and lead others. Positions of leadership, power, and status are usually their ultimate goal. Persuasive people like to take financial and interpersonal risks and to participate in competitive activities. They enjoy working with others inside organizations to accomplish goals and achieve economic success.

I never told anyone but my 8th grade science teacher, who actually encouraged me to do it after he accused me of tracing diagrams of mollusks and worms and frogs out of college textbooks because he didn't believe that I drew them myself, but when I was little I used to want to be a Medical (well, Veterinarial) Illustrator.  I envisioned me working all by myself- I HATE working with others- and drawing tiny little pictures of the insides of dead things and traveling all over the world to universities and publishers to sell my pictures to textbook companies.  
Instead I told the guidance counselors I wanted to be a cartographer, and they told me it was a long-dead profession so I gave up the dream and went to school for social mapping instead.  
I never told anyone what I really wanted to be because it sounds like something that would come out of the mouth of a very disturbed child.

7  I was a very disturbed child.  But I never killed anything, set fire to anything, or wet the bed.