25 Things About Me

probably more than you ever wanted to know

To commemorate surpassing 1,000 subscribers(!), I thought I’d share a little about me, at least, different things than you’re likely to see in my usual content. Truth be told, putting together any other article is easier than compiling this list. But since I like to read about other people behind the scenes, I’ll play fair and hope it amuses you.

In no particular order:

• I’ve lived in a school bus (for a summer), a single-wide trailer (with six other family members), a former private school (complete with a gym), and next door to a cheese factory (handy during cheese curd emergencies). All good times.

• I’ve been to 30 national parks… so far.

  

• I’m definitely the kind of person that absorbs energy from other people. I have to be dragged away from social gatherings.

• It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie.

• I occasionally do freelance proofreading and book editing. Getting to correct typos brings me great satisfaction, so you’d think my posts would be flawless. But alas.

• I may be one of the few people in the world who doesn’t think chocolate should ever be paired with peanut butter.

• Although we’d known each other for several years, my and my husband’s first “official” date was a steak feed at the Legion followed by a tractor pull also attended by his fraternity brothers and we still laugh about that.

• Soapmaking has been my longest-running crafting obsession. I turned it into a business for over 15 years, partly to justify making multiple batches every week.

  

• My parents once bought a house in a small town. Town busybodies spread the word that Maud’s grandson (my Dad) had come back and bought her house. The problem was that although we shared the same last name, we’d never even heard of Maud, much less had any prior familiarity with the town itself. A few years later, though, we found out that we were, indeed, distantly related to her.

• Some time later, I chatted with an older woman at church and when I told her my last name and the town I lived in, she said that as a young woman, she had rented a room in a house owned by a lady named Maud. Yes, my house. As it turned out, Maud wasn’t looked upon with fond memories. She had a reputation for being a snoop and for spying on her tenants. Maybe that’s the reason my branch of the family didn’t hang with Maud.

• I can’t whistle.

• I am a Christian—Reformed Baptist for those who like denomination labels.

• You can take a girl out of Wisconsin, but it will only increase her love for Kwik Trip.

  

• Let’s just say I’m not known for my athletic abilities.

• Or a keen sense of direction.

• And especially not for being useful in any medical situation where body parts and pieces that should be neatly tucked under a person’s skin suddenly aren’t.

• But I can gut a chicken any day of the week and it doesn’t phase me (as long as it’s not one of my pet chickens).

• I was homeschooled back in the early days, when few people knew what it was and parents were genuinely concerned that they would be reported to truant officers and put in jail.

• I have an uncanny knack for wearing sandals that fall apart in public—a wedding, Bass Pro Shop, church, guided tour through a cave...

• I taught myself to read before kindergarten with a Dr. Suess book.

• I have a rooster named Wayne (after John Wayne, naturally). He runs to me every morning and lets me pick him up. I never thought I’d ever be fond of a chicken, much less a rooster, but he’s a sweet boy.

  

• My Australian friend keeps me supplied with Vegemite because I love it so.

• Children with special needs have played significant roles throughout my life, and as much as I’ve tried to help them, they’ve given me more. And they’re SO much fun.

• My first car that I bought was a 1980 AMC Concord, burnt orange and brown, with the comfiest velvety burnt orange interior. I named him Oliver and yes, he was ancient when I bought him but still running when I sold him.

• My (current) favorite coffee drink is unsweetened cold brew topped with honey cold foam.

There. I do believe we all survived.

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I’m the co-author of A Housewife Writes and author of Two Years as an Amish Schoolteacher, available on Amazon. (affiliate link) I love history and learning about the lives of our grandmothers who loved their families and managed their households. I share their stories and wisdom that are still meaningful as well as ways of keeping a modern home in the spirit of past times.