Monday LIsticles - It's All About Me

Today, I'm once again joining Stasha at The Good Life in her Monday Listicles.  The topic for today:  10 Ways That You Are Different or the Same as Your Younger Self.  My first reaction was, "You mean besides the wrinkles and extra jiggly flesh, right?"  Surely she is.  Listing all of our old lady features would just be depressing.  So, here are the other ways that I am the same and different than my younger self.

1.  In high school, I looked like this at all times.  Seriously, people were afraid that I was going to wear white sweats on my wedding day.

I have no idea why I posed in a way that made me look like I was picking a wedge.  Forget the stupid grin on my face. 

Pony tail, always.  Running shoes and athletic shirt, always.  My attempt at spiffying up my look was the shorts.  Notice that the pink running shirt totally matches the pink/blue/green plaid shorts.  I was so completely clueless about fashion, what fit, what looked good on me or together, how to do hair.  I was a hot mess.  You can read more about it here. 

Not saying that I'm a fashionista now, but I at least know how to look a bit put together.  I purposely get my hair cut too short for a pony tail so I won't be tempted.  I have real shoes, many even with heels, that I wear daily.  I don't leave the house unless I look something like this:  (keep in mind that I had a four year old holding a camera phone take this)

One thing hasn't changed, though.   I rarely wear make-up.

2.  From the time I was little, I have been obsessed with learning the lyrics to my favorite songs, and it seems that the more complicated the song is, the more I want to learn it.  When I was little, we didn't buy the cassette tapes (yes, this was waaaayyy before the CD was invented) of my favorite bands.  I had to tape them from the radio.  And then, since I didn't have the cover or the internet, I spent hours and hours typing out the words.  On a typewriter.  Type a few words, rewind, make sure I had it, listen, pause, type, rewind, relisten.  Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" really gave me a run for my money.  But by golly, I was going to be able to sing those songs the right way!  These days, I am all over Train's "50 Ways to say Good-bye".  Fortunately, I don't have to type out the words.  Memorizing them is plenty hard enough.  And as always, the songs need to be sung at the top of my terrible voice while I dance myself into a sweat.

3.  I used to be afraid of all animals, and actually petrified of dogs.  To the point that if a strange dog came anywhere near me, I would freeze in that spot and tears would roll down as I prayed that it would just go away.  My best friend had a cat, and I made her close the bedroom door when I spent the night so the cat couldn't get in the room.  I would never sit on furniture unless my feet were up, fearful that the cat would grab at them from underneath the chair/couch.  We had endless animals growing up, and I was leery of every single one.  Well, except the duck.  There is nothing scary about a duck.

And now, I live on a freakin' farm.  I wrestle dogs, pigs, and chickens on a semi-regular basis.  I have dealt with bats, mice, opossums, raccoons, birds, and snakes without crying or screaming.  Maybe some cussing, but no screaming or crying.

4.  Back then, I worked out every day for two hours.  Now, unless you call laundry a work-out, I do nothing.

5.  I always did and always will (I hope) love learning new things and going on "adventures".  I babysat for our Jewish neighbors a lot.  Many, many times I would stay well after the parents returned home to practice learning Hebrew, help them get ready for holy days, and try their different types of food.  I also babysat for different neighbors (the rich neighbors) with whom I first went horseback riding and water skiing.  If people would ask me to go do something, I'd always answer, "Sure!"  (Legal things only.  My dad was high up in the police dept., so no one ever asked me to do anything illegal.)

I still like to try new things.  Hubby and I love taking vacations in which we have no agenda.  We simply get in the car and drive backroads, stopping whenever we see something that interests us.  We once went south, made it to New Orleans, where we went on a three hour tour, had lunch, then headed back north.  I love doing stuff like that. 

6.  I have always been and hopefully always will like to laugh.  A lot.

7.  I always have and probably always will have no trouble stating my mind.  I have my dad to thank for that.  When I was 18 I was called for jury duty.  The city I come from isn't all that big, so most of the lawyers knew my dad and knew that he was a policeman.  That meant I was dismissed more than once.  One man, though, asked me point-blank, "You are 18.  If you disagree with other jurors who are old enough to be your grandparents, will you be able to say so?"  I replied, "You said you know my dad.  I'm a lot like him."  For that jury, I was picked.

8.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.  I love math, especially algebra.  It was always my favorite subject in school.  In college, it totally saved my GPA, being that math classes were 5 credit hours, as opposed to the endlessly boring geography 3 credit classes.

9.  My mom was a very picky eater who didn't really cook, ergo, I was a picky eater who didn't know how to cook.  In our house, we ate a whole lot of canned corn, canned carrots, canned spinach, and mashed potatoes from a box.  Then I married Hubby, whose mother cooked a wide variety of foods from scratch.  I learned bits and pieces, but it wasn't until I had kids that I really got into cooking for real.  Now, there are few foods we eat from a box or can.

10.  And lastly, from the looks of this list, I still enjoy talking about myself.  Apparently, I tend to be a touch egotistical.

How about you?  How do you compare to your younger self?  Besides the wrinkles and jiggles, of course.

Have a lovely day!