Sara by the Numbers

My SIL Radioactive Em officially tagged me. Oh yes, it was totally official. I'm never one to respond to those emails I've gotten a million of, where you have to answer about 6,245 questions about your likes & dislikes, pet peeves, secrets, etc. I always feel like someone will think I'm dumb for my answers. But now that I have a blog and share all kinds of nonsense about myself with, um, the world, I guess I've officially let my guard down and if anyone is going to think I'm dumb, it's already happened.

So on that note, here's a mathematical & numerical look at me:

• I love math & numbers. I had a couple of math-tutoring jobs in high school, and did some free tutoring for my brother and husband when they were each in college. My official college major was math education (no degree) and at one point I wanted to teach high school math. I love algebra. If there is an occasion to make up an equation to figure something out, I relish that occasion. And, I would rather be paying bills and/or balancing the checkbook than any other household chore.
  


• I gave birth to 4 kids in 3.5 years. Yep. (And had one miscarriage amongst them.)
  

• I have 3 part-time jobs that assist in the finances of this household (we're fine without, but who doesn't enjoy a little extra green?). #1, I teach piano lessons (to 12 students). #2, I do a little accounting department work from home for my dad's company, as well as the company's quarterly newsletter. #3, I work one morning a week at Zoe & Lucy's preschool, which gives me 1/2 off their preschool tuition.
  
  
• I am equally divided on which side I sleep on at night; right or left (not which side of the bed, but which side of me). I have a little bit of a compulsive behavior which is that every time I get up out of bed, I have to lie down on the opposite side when I get back to bed. Even if I was just up a minute earlier. Maybe it's some strange inner sense of fairness... but I really can't shake it. It gets a little dumb when there are sick kids around here & I'm up 5 or 6 times a night... but I still always have to sleep facing the other way on my return. Sometimes I think, "drat; now I can't see my clock, facing this way" but it doesn't matter, I must stick to the system. It's my only slightly OCD behavior I'm aware of.
  
  
• I go on approximately 2.4 kicks, like mini-obsessions, each year. They're almost always good things but only last a couple months. Like exercising. Other kicks I've been on over the past few years: scrapbooking (bought all the supplies, and put together maybe 20 pages), genealogy (entered dozens of family names into PAF, where they still sit), obsessive house-hunting (before we bought this one), chocolate-eating (frequently revisited), politics (last year I voted in the Gilbert town council primaries - weird), online shopping, Ebaying (like finding random stuff around here to sell), book-reading.

• I have been to 12 countries. But most of them were for only a day so they barely count. Of course I do count them anyway.
  


• I am infinitely an optimist. Oh sure I have my bad days on occasion but generally speaking, I have a very positive outlook on life. My blog title might come to mind. Occasionally this might be a bad thing, since if one of the kids is sick, I'm always the one to say, "Oh they don't need to see a doctor; they'll be just fine." Often that's true but there have been a couple times when Hubs has suggested they see a doctor and it's turned out they needed a prescription or something. But generally my optimism is no hinderance, rather a help, in my life.



• Bonus item: one thing I like about myself and one thing I don't both involve my eyes. I like their green color. I don't like the way my left eye gets so squinty every time I smile.

So... there you have it! I'm supposed to TAG someone else now, so I tag my sis Kate and my good friend Laurie. If you haven't already done it :) AND - may I also use this opportunity to encourage my other sis JAMIE and my other good friend LEIGH to start their own blogs... the world will be a better place when you do!