Well, HELLO THERE!

Thanks for all of the nice comments and emails. If I had known that all I need to do to get some of you to de-lurk was ask, I would have done so a long time ago! And all I asked for was a “hi”; your sweet words have made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. You are too kind.

It seems as though the “100 Things” list is making the rounds. I thought I’d take a stab at it. If it bores you to tears, I apologize in advance. I was just excited to have a blog posting idea handed to me. This daily posting can be a bit wearisome.

Without further adieu:

1. I love lists.
2. This should be fun for me.
3. But may be painful for you.
4. My first name has 2 L’s.
5. And my middle name is “Dian”, which is Diane without the “e”.
6. My mom has the same middle name.
7. I always said I would continue the tradition if I had a girl.
8. I did, my sweet baby girl Emily.
9. We had Graham first, and gave him Matthew’s middle name, Jonathon.
10. We gave Nathan the middle name Matthew.
11. If we had had a third boy, he would have been named David.
12. His middle name would not have been one of his Daddy’s names, so he might have felt shafted.
13. But Matthew’s “getting fixed”, so we won’t be having a David.
14. Unless we adopt a David.
15. Time will only tell.
16. Speaking of time, I hate being late.
17. I feel sick to my stomach if I’m late.
18. And it bugs me when people are late.
19. Unless you are Karen, because if you were on time, I might fall over in shock
20. We are going out for dinner with Karen and Travis tonight.
21.Travis has just finished his Masters (which he did on top of working full time as a teacher), so we are going to celebrate.
22. We are leaving all three of the kids with Matthew’s parents while we go out to eat.
23. This will be the first time I have left Emily.
24. I haven’t even left her with Daddy yet.
25. I’m not worried, and Matthew’s parents are excited to take her.
26. I might leave her with Daddy tomorrow while I go to Karen’s for an Epicure party.
27. Epicure is a food party.
28. There will be lots of food there.
29. I like food, especially finger food, which will be served there.
30. Appetizers are yummy.
31. Often when we go out for dinner, Matthew and I will just order a bunch of appetizers instead of full meals.
32. And dessert. Dessert is important.
33. Matthew is a HUGE chocolate fan.
34. I have always liked chocolate, but my love of it has grown with each subsequent pregnancy.
35. Now my love of it rivals Matthew’s.
36. I have to keep my consumption of it in check, as I still have a few more pregnancy pounds to lose.
37. I’m getting close to my pre-pregnancy weight, which makes me happy.
38. And my chest size is huge right now, which makes Matthew happy.
39. Matthew makes ME happy.
40. We laugh often, and much.
41. And never fight.
42. Except with our kids.
43. The boys are a riot…
44. and sometimes they SOUND like a riot.
45. I wish kids came with a volume control.
46. Or even a MUTE button.
47. They’re getting a bit of cabin fever.
48. And driving us a little crazy.
49. But a Diet Coke is a great form of self-medication.
50. And a quick prayer to God to help me keep my patience is a great form of sparing their lives.
51. I’m exaggerating, of course.
52. We might have a bit of cabin fever too.
53. So we’re really looking forward to going out tonight.
54. I already talked about that. Moving on…
55. I learned to read when I was three.
56. And not just occasional words, but paragraphs.
57. My parents would get me to read the newspaper to company to show off my skill.
58. I still love to read.
59. I don’t seem to have time to read books anymore.
60. So I have switched to magazines.
61. And blogs.
62. I could probably have more time for books if I didn’t blog.
63. But that would be NO FUN, now would it?.
64. We have a cat.
65. I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned her.
66. Her name was Millie when we took her in, but the kids just call her “Kitty”.
67. She’s pretty lame; she just sleeps all day.
68. But the kids like her, so that makes her worth having.
69. I love the colour red.
70. Not Santa Claus red, but the dark browny-red.
71. I also love blue.
72. Blue makes me happy.
73. So do my friends.
74. I feel like I have been blessed with more than my share.
75. I will share them with you, but won’t give them up.
76. I don’t like to mix my food.
77. I would be happy to eat off of a plate with a divider.
78. I hate the sound of cracking knuckles.
79. I am unbelievably ticklish.
80. If you grab the back of my neck I am completely paralysed.
81. My mom thinks it’s funny to do this to me.
82. Matthew has learned that it’s NOT funny, and if he ever does it again he will die a slow and painful death.
83. I’m not really Dutch; I just married into a Dutch family.
84. My maiden name is of Irish origin.
85. This is why I have auburn hair and pale (read: translucent) skin.
86. And I get freckles in the summer. I like them.
87. It’s taken me all day to do this so far – I only get a few minutes here and there between dealing with all three kids.
88. I’m listening to Sarah McLachlan’s Christmas CD while I write this.
89. No, it’s not too early for Christmas music, Honey.
90. Now I’m not listening to it. It ended while I was off nursing Emily and watching Oprah.
91. I’m not a huge Oprah fan anymore, but the cast of Grey’s was on, and I like them.
92. We’re taking the kids to see “Happy Feet” tomorrow.
93. It will be our first attempt at taking them to a theatre.
94. Please pray for us, that we (they) make it through the event alive.
95. I’m looking forward to eating some sour candy while watching the movie.
96. Sour candies are my favourite type of candy (peach fuzzies, cherry blasters, etc.).
97. I’ll also likely have a Diet Coke.
98. I probably drink too much of the stuff, but I enjoy it too much.
99. Even more than I like lists.
100. Which brings me to the end of this one. Tada!

Phew! Have a great Friday everyone…if you’re still here.