10 Things You May or May Not Know about Me

These kinds of posts were really quite popular back five or six years ago.  At that point, bloggers tagged one another — “You’re It!” and we’d all share bits of trivia about ourselves. I actually really loved reading those random fact posts.  So, it’s 11:15 pm, the kids are sleeping and I’ve got a backlog of 8 or 10 posts that “should” be written.  Instead, my Kindle is calling, so I’m going to whip out a really quick post and share a few random things about myself.

1.) I like to present our homeschool room to the world like this….

but it rarely looks like that.  It more often looks like this:

So yes,  I struggle to keep the house picked up… and even now that the kids are older, we still have to work *hard* on keeping books from creeping around and multiplying on every available surface! We’ve re-arranged the homeschool room since the photo above was taken, but believe me the books are most likely disorganized and scattered on any given day… just like that!

2. I sing in a community choir — and really enjoy having time to interact with other adults (and not talk about homeschooling!!). I also play the guitar (and sing folk music), but don’t get a chance to sit-and-strum as much as I’d like. Oh, and I also play the dulcimer and the oboe (as well as the piano… very occasionally!).

3. My Mom died two years before LD was born. I miss her and wish she had gotten to know my kids. She would be so proud of them! My Mom was a total go-getter;  she was a professor, camper, gardener and in a lot of ways I’m pretty similar to her. My Dad remarried a month before LD was born. She is the kids’ Grandma — and is so sweet/wonderful/carrying/tender with them! And of course many of you know that I have an older sister. She works full-time and homeschools her three kids.

4. I was in the Peace Corps (and taught English in a gymnaszium in Hungary). I lived in a small town in Hungary called Mako, which is near the Romanian border. I learned to speak Hungarian — egy kicset — a bit!

5. I used to be an avid backpacker. My best hikes were along the Appalachian Trail (long stretches of that), in the Wind River Range in Montana, along the Overland Trek in Tasmania (Australia) from Cradle Mountain to Lake St. Claire, and along the Annapurna Trek in Nepal.  Cool!  The girls (in particular) really want to start backpacking, but they are so slight I haven’t taken them out yet (just day hikes). I wish I had time to drag out an old photo to show you one of the treks I mentioned… but it’s now 11:40am — time is clicking away! Maybe another time.

6. I won a prestigious math award my freshman year of college… and then never took another math class!

7. I love bananas.  I really can’t start the day without eating a banana (and then having my cup of coffee).  If we’re out of bananas at night — I feel I need to rush to the store. Out of milk? Well, we can survive. Out of bananas? ACK! Panic attack!

8. We live nestled down among the hills and have a beautiful creek running through our backyard… frogs and toads sing from April through September. I *love* that!

This is a Northern Green Frog that took up residence in our little man-made pond. It’s been there for four months.

We now have about a half-dozen frogs that have taken up regular residence in our little man-made pond!!

9. I was an avid runner. I’ve run 6 or 7 marathons… and didn’t do too badly. My best time was around 3:25 — not a pro, but a reasonably fit runner. With all of my health issues ear/dizziness/vision/balance problems last year I wasn’t able to run… but *just* started running again for the first time this past week!!  It’s hard (not the legs/breathing part… but the fact that the entire world bobbles up and down when I run because of half my balance system was removed), but it feels glorious to be starting down the running path again!

10. I love blogging and really, really love and appreciate all of my readers!! You all have been *AMAZING*!! I’ve gotten so many incredibly nice (great, kind, inspiring!!) emails, messages, comments, and notes here and over on Facebook. And your support since I moved to from Parents.com to this new location last January has been incredible!  I have some pretty awesome things lined up simply because of all your support… I’m in contact with a scientist and will be purchasing a few of her amazing photos and I’ve been in contact with an artist to purchase a couple of her illustrations for a new packet I’m working on… and I wouldn’t have been able to even think about doing this without all of your support and the purchases you’ve made.  This homeschool community totally rocks!!

Well, I really need to hit the sack.  I’m a blogger… and of course could go on writing and writing and writing… but it’s now midnight… and my Kindle is now *definitely* calling my name.  What’s waiting for me on the Kindle at the moment? Well, I’m on the 4th book in the Ember Series and I’m also reading the Ranger’s Apprentice Series (DD started me on that!)… as well as some random other books (like a crock-pot cook book I’ve been browsing through).  So, until next time!

Have a great day and I will see you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! ~Liesl

(P.S. Yes, my name comes from the Sound of Music… and I *love* that movie!)