25 Things About Me

I'm new to blogging and commuting. I thought the two would go very well together, as while I commute to and from my new job in the big city (Des Moines) from Creston - where I live in southwest Iowa - I have lots of time to ponder.

I'm also a fairly new Facebook user. Yeah I'm 51, so kinda old to be jumping into all this techie stuff. But I'm peterpanish that way - don't want to grow up. Anyway...I tagged on some 25 things about me lists, but didn't know how to do my own. So I thought I'd blog a list. Just so you get to know me,

25 Things About Leslie
1. I have a freakish memory for details of my life - things that happened in my childhood. Not for things like grocery lists.

2. I broke my arm at Mrs. Lewin's nursery school (that's what they used to call preschool). We were playing boys chase girls and I, being the ninja that I am, climbed to the top of the slide and instead of sliding down, jumped and fell on my arm. The boys didn't catch me but the doctor did when he put the cast on it.

3. I have 3 sisters - the EE sisters: Susi, Cindy, Leslie, Betsy. All end in the E sound. Our father loved to make up new names for everyone, so we all had lots of nicknames. I find that I follow that pattern. That is how our cat Samantha became KiKi. Dad called me Lulu and Looseleaf.

4. Our Mom died of lung cancer at at 68. She smoked her whole life, and we were always trying to get her to quit. She thought she was too tough to get cancer. She was wrong.

5. We had a little strip of trees that ran the length of the block we lived on in Atlantic, Iowa. We called it "the woods". We spent many a busy day pioneering there and in our playhouse - a wooden structure our maternal grandfather built for us that was in our adjacent yard.

6. We had a dog named Jud, who was named after our dad David Judson. If you know me you might recognize that name - which is also our 20 year old son's name. Not many people name their kid after their dog. He was a full sized dachshund. Our son's name's origin is really from my ancestors though - Adnah David Bullock and George Judson Stewart.

7. I've just started doing genealogy research, and have found a couple distant cousins. I also found out I'm related to George Bush, like 7 generations ago. Hmmm this apple fell pretty far from that tree!

8. Our daughter Amy Elizabeth is 23, and is not named after any pets. We just liked the name Amy and it does fit her. Elizabeth is a family name - it's my sister Betsy's real name.

9. While we're talking about kids, I should mention our son Patrick George - who was born December 2, 1991 and died 6 days later. Patrick was named after my mom (Patricia) and Paul's dad. He didn't get to be part of our lives for very long, but he changed our lives in many ways.
He's buried in Atlantic in the Bullock family plot.

10. I think I grew up in the ideal town in the ideal time to grow up! We rode our bikes around the neighborhood, not wearing helmets, not worrying about being kidnapped. The neighborhood was filled with large (by today's standards) families and we had lots of kids to play with. Our dog Jud followed us everywhere. We spent summers at the Country Club swimming pool.

11. I am still good friends with people I've known for most of my 51 years - Robyn (Dad called her Robbie-Dob), Sally, and Christie Jo have been friends since nursery school and grade school. Robyn broke her leg at nursery school - I think Mrs. Lewin had stock in the plaster of paris company! Last fall I got together with many of my Atlantic homies for a long weekend - I laughed so hard my sides were sore. What cool people they turned out to be!

12. Our high school just started allowing girls to play sports when I was in high school. I was a tomboy - loved boytoys (real toys like GI Joe, guns, Johnny West and my cool Secret Sam spy briefcase). I have great memories of my days practicing basketball and softball and busrides to and from games around SW Iowa. I still dream about that stuff sometimes.

13. I love animals. I'm the type that cried more when "Old Yeller" died than when John Wayne died. I thought I wanted to be a vet when I grew up. I was thinking of the vet that got to save animals - not the slogging in the mud, seeing worms, putting pets to sleep kinda vet. So when I got to college - Iowa State University, I switched out of pre-vet studies as soon as I figured that out. Plus I figued out you needed straight As to get into vet school. I liked beer too much for that kind of gradepoint!

14. I went to ISU in the fall of 1976. I didn't pick my roomate out ahead, but ended up living on the same dorm floor (Shilling, Maple Hall) as a couple AHS classmates (see #11). My roomate was a junior from Illinois who I had nothing in common with whatsover. She was my antithesis. Still we got along great.

15. I met my very bestest college friend Vicki, my first weekend on my dorm floor. She asked me to go buy football tickets with her. We lived together 3 years, the last two with the rest of the Big 4. That's what our guy friends called us. We got along great and I wouldn't trade those years for anything. Jane, Sally (see #11), Vic and me. We all still stay in contact, along with our buddies Moose and Hauser - they were our flag football coaches our sophomore year.

16. Vicki and I skied in Colorado every spring break through college. Each year the group we went with got larger, reaching like 21 by our senior year. One year Vic and decided to take a semi-private ski lesson, and we signed up and found out we were assigned the instructor "Olaf" or something like that. We though he'd be a hunky Swiss guy. Instead he turned out to be like 80 years old - but he was pretty hunky for an old guy.

17. I met my future husband, Paul, the fall of my junior year. He was doing an internship away from college, so I'd met his roommates but not him. They lived in our same apartment complex - at 230 Campus Avenue in Ames.

18. I thought his friends were really hot, but didn't think much of him. That spring he organized a co-ed softball team and invited Sal, Jane and me to play. Vicki was no jock! I spent that summer in Ames and ended up hanging out with him quite a bit. Vic's boyfriend Fred (hometown sweetheart moved to Ames) played on the same team. Vic and I were groupies.

19. My first job was in Sioux Falls, SD. Paul was the only one to visit me there. That's when I began to love and depend on him. We got to know each other better, and I began to dress him better. haha.

20. We got married and began our lives together in Council Bluffs, IA, moving to Osage, IA for Paul's job with USDA Soil Conservation Service. I worked at a woolen mill in town - in the computer department. We made socks and gloves and I keyed in orders. Then we had Amy in 1985. Boy that was life-changing.

21. We moved to Creston in 1986 for Paul's job, thinking it would be a brief stop on our way up the ladder. Somehow, we met friends, had a couple more kids, got involved in the community and we stuck! Our little Catholic school is something special, and that was one reason we never left. The kids got a great education there. We met wonderful people and lifetime friends.

22. My career was somewhat compromised by following Paul's career and by being a mommy. That was okay though. In 1997, I saw an ad for a part-time recycling educator. I've cared about the enviroment since childhood. I hated my full time job at a factory planning product lines. So I took the job and it grew from there to a full time job. I thrived in that job and was passionate about it. I now work in Des Moines for the Department of Natural Resources doing solid waste planning and outreach.

23. Both our kids were active in sports all through school. Both attend(ed) ISU, and we like to go to football games to tailgate with our Creston friends and many others come for the food and companionship with other fans. It takes great internal fortitude to be a Cyclone fan!

24. I like to read and kayak (especially with Deb and Paul). I love my pets - we've had 2 dogs and 2 cats since we got married. Bucko, the evil kitty died in 1992. Moki the wonder dog was everyone's favorite. He had diabetes for 6 of his 13 years, and we gave him shots twice a day. KiKi - Samantha is really Amy's kitty. She has a brown and a green eye. Odie Pearl is our 4 year old mini black and tan wienie dog. She's a good girl - most of the time.

25. I feel so fortunate to have the friends and family I do. They support me in bad times and good. I know, this is too long. More later.