Eleven

The lovely Amber at Making the Moments Count tagged me in this meme and I am happy to participate. It's like über-Quick Takes!

The Rules:

1. Post the rules.

2. Post a photo of yourself along with 11 random facts.

3. Answer the questions given to you in the tagger’s post.

4. Create 11 new questions and tag new people to answer them.

5. Visit the people you tagged to let them know.

That's me with my MIL, Vicki. Sadly, it's the most recent picture of me I have. My hair's a bit shorter now.

11 Random Things

1. Almost every night, I nurse Gabriel to sleep while watching an episode of Walker, Texas Ranger (gotta love DVR). I have a weakness for watching Chuck Norris kick butt, and I think Clarence Gilyard is very cute.

2. I love barbershop quartets, and enjoy watching YouTube videos of the international barbershop quartet competitions. Like this one:



3. I'm a sucker for good mystery novels, and I'm working my way through Sue Grafton's books at the moment. I'm currently on "M is for Malice."

4. I also love the "In Death" series by J.D. Robb (a.k.a. Nora Roberts). I own almost all of them.

5. I was named after two relatives: my uncle Joel and my great-grandmother Anna.

6. My middle name is boring. It's Renae. (No offense to any readers named Renae/Renee out there...) My mom said she picked it because it sounded nice with JoAnna.

7. When I was confirmed, I picked St. Anne as my confirmation saint. I kind of regret that now, because her name is already incorporated into my first name, so she was already my patron saint anyway. If I could do it again, I'd pick St. Catherine of Sienna.

8. Collin picked St. Gabriel as his confirmation saint, hence why our littlest has his name. :)

9. I am a total name nerd. For several years, I've belonged to a message board devoted to critiquing and discussing names.  I'm not very active there anymore, due to time constraints, but I still love a good name discussion.

10. I think we're going to get a pet fish fairly soon. Collin's dad found an aquarium at a garage sale and bought it for us. We'll probably go with him the first weekend in May to pick one out and get all necessary supplies. I can guess who is going to end up getting to clean the tank (sigh) but I am going to make the kids help me.

11. My favorite ice cream is Ben & Jerry's Half-Baked. Half cookie dough, half fudge brownie. Mmmm.


Amber's Questions

1. If you could have gone into any profession (apart from being a mom), what would you have done?

Right now, I'd love to get a Master's in Catholic Theology. I've always wanted to get a Master's in Library Science. I worked in a library in college (circulation desk clerk in the science library) and I absolutely loved it.

2. What are some items on your bucket list?

Travel to Italy and see the Vatican; go on a Catholic Answers cruise. (Or, take a Catholic Answers cruise to the Vatican and kill two birds with one stone.)

3. Do you have a favorite color? What is it?

Blue, any shade. 

4. Did you read the Hunger Games? Have you seen the movie? What did you think?  (I have selfish motives behind this question)

Yes, yes, and I thought the movie was very well done. I didn't like the shaky-cam at all, and there were some parts of the book that didn't make it into the story that I was kind of disappointed about, but otherwise I thought it was excellent. 

5. What places, foreign and local, have you visited? What were your favorites?

The only other foreign country I've visited is Canada, although if it's ever safe we do want to go to Mexico since we live so close to the border. Locally, I love Kartchner Caverns. They're absolutely amazing. The Grand Canyon was impressive as well.

6. Did you attend college? Why or why not?

Yes, I went to the University of Wyoming for two years, and then I transferred to the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and completed my undergraduate degree there. I have a B.A. in English and a minor in Technical Communication.

7. What are some things you are passionate about?

Catholicism, the human rights of unborn children, natural childbirth.

8. Do you read parenting books?

Occasionally. I like Parenting with Grace by Greg Popcak, and pretty much anything from The Sears Library.

9. Any book/movie recommendations?

See my random facts above! I recently bought the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary Concert and it's terrific.

10. Serious or funny?

It's not either/or, it's both/and -- depending on what's called for in a given situation. ;)

11. Preferred music genre?

I was a big country music fan as a teen, but not so much anymore. These days I mostly listen to classical, showtunes, barbershop quartets, some Christian music. I'm rather eclectic. I love Jonathan Coulton.

 I'm too lazy busy to do the new people/new questions part, so anyone who feels inclined can steal Amber's questions for this meme. :)