100 Things, Part 1

Have you checked out my "9 Random Things About Me" page yet?  You haven't?  Well, it's gone now, so you can't. 

Of course, there are two ways to look at that fact.  Either:

you missed your chance to get some sort of magical inside look at the wonderfulness that is Mindi

OR

you were spared reading an insipid and sucktastic page full of stupid shit that I wrote because I saw that people on other blogs had made one of those pages so I banged one out in 4.63 minutes.

You be the judge.

But since I am vain have no content today  am willing to sell out my friends and family for some comment crack love you all so much, I am taking Miss Britt's idea and starting a 10-part installment in order to create a new "100 Things About Me".  New installments should be along whenever I am bored or lacking for content each Monday

Please try to contain your excitement.

So without further ado, I present "100 Things, Part 1 - 10 Things About My Non-Husband/Kids Family"

1.  My mother is perhaps the strongest woman I know.  Quite a bit has been thrown at her over the years and she always lands on her feet.  She instilled in me a love of cooking, reading, needlework.  She never visits me because she says that I never invite her.  This is despite the fact that I tell her time and time again that she doesn't need an invite.  My in-laws who live 12 hours away have probably been here more often than my mother, who lives 40 minutes away.

2.  My father is gorgeous.  I have had quite a few friends over the years who have called him "a DILF".  He can also drink me under a table, although I can always tell when he is getting drunk, because he raises his eyebrows every 4th word.

3.  I consider my older sister one of my best friends.  This is despite the fact that she never fucking calls me (hey sis - if you are reading this, that's a HINT!).  We hated each other when we were younger.  I think that we even made a tape line down the middle of our room (a la Brady Bunch) at one point.  Somewhere along the line she became pretty cool....I think it was right around the time that she had kids and started drinking.

4.  My younger brother (from my mother's second marriage)is so smart it is scary.  You can ask him anything about history and he will not only tell you the facts of the event, but what books have been written about it.  Of course, he can be a bit Cliff Clavin-ish at times and he is NEVER wrong, but he is a blast to talk to.

5.  My 2 younger sisters (from my father's 2nd marriage, they are 16 & 18) are model-thin with huge racks.  For this I truly hate them.  Unfortunately, they are also great girls who will watch my three kids without complaint while my father drinks me under that table, so I love them too.

6.  My maternal grandfatherwas a wonderful man who didn't talk much, but when he did it was important.  He helped to liberate a concentration camp during WWII and NEVER spoke of it to any of the grandkids until the last time I saw him before he passed away

7.  My maternal grandmother looks very much like Barbara Bush and can be just as biting.  My all-time favorite line of hers was shortly after my mother found out that my (now) ex-stepfather was having an affair.  He caught poison ivy from working in his girlfriend's yard.  When Grandma heard of this she said "Well, I guess he won't be fingering her any time soon".

8.  When I was young, I begged my Aunt Jan to let me live with her.  She knitted blankets for her daughter's Barbies and my mom didn't....that was enough of a reason for me!  She compromised and let me stay with her for the summer between 6th & 7th grade.  After helping in her vegetable garden for a summer, I told everyone that my lifelong ambition was to grow up and be a green bean farmer.  Her husband is still pretty pissed at me that I had the nerve to get married on the first-ever running of the Brickyard 400 (he had tickets).  Actually, he isn't, but I will NEVER live that down.

9.  The recipe for my paternal grandmother's peanut butter and chocolate fudge died with her, and my sister and I are still pretty pissed off about that.  Since my grandmother died 10 years ago, my sister and I have each tried tons of different recipes trying to recreate it, to no avail.  She also taught us how to make bologna hats (you put a piece of bologna in the microwave for 30 seconds and the middle rises to form a hat-shape....then again, I was only 7 at the time and pretty stupid easily impressed).  She died of emphysema.  One would think that her death would get me to stop smoking, but like an idiot, I haven't.

10.  My stepmother is only 10 years older than me.  She married my father when she was 19 and he was 31.  They have had some rough times but have been together for (if my math is correct)almost 30 years.  She instilled in me a love of Bruce Springstein and Stevie Nicks....she was listening to them before they were "cool".

Well now, wasn't that thrilling?

Next up?  "My 10 Most Memorable Moments"