January 21, 2012
1. For the past 13 years, I have been diligently researching my families’ histories (maternal and paternal). I have gone back seven generations on both sides.
2. I always wanted to the play the piano. I used to bang away on my stepsister’s piano when I visited my dad during the summer. It would drive everyone crazy.
3. My first career choice was to be a nurse. Until I discovered that the sight of blood made me puke.
4. Over the past 25 years, my hair has been a range of colours from platinum blonde to black (including orange, plum, pink). I have now settled on chestnut with the odd streak of grey.
5. I won a commercial acting award at an International Model and Talent Competition in New York in 1985.
6. I modeled for a few years in the 80s… made some good spending money and had a bit of fun in the meantime!
7. My feet grew two sizes after high school. My butt has since followed suit.
8. After my parents broke up in 1971, I lived with my maternal grandmother in a small Saskatchewan town near the Mistawasis Reserve.
9. When I was young, my nostrils would wiggle when I laughed. Kids would tease me about it. So, I worked really, really hard to control it and I did! I think it only happens now when I have a little too much to drink. ;o)
10. I had lived in 5 different towns in Saskatchewan by the time I was 5 years old. Up until 2006 – when I moved to Alberta – I had ALWAYS lived in Saskatchewan.
11. After high school (in 1983), I went to University for six weeks and then dropped out. I only made it to one class.
12. I love creative writing; fiction and poetry in particular. I have had a few poems published in literary journals in the past few years. I finished a manuscript for a cheezy novel that has been rejected by every romance publisher in the Universe. #epicfail
13. I am obsessed with Jack the Ripper. I have read almost every book about the Ripper and when I was in London in 2009, I walked around the streets and followed in the Ripper’s footsteps… at night. Spooky!
14. In spite of the fact that I have experienced and done many, many things, what I am most proud of is being a mom… it is the thing that I do best… and I have never doubted it. I have two GREAT kids! Tanya (24) and Hayden (19).
15. We lost a son in a car accident in 1986. His name was Abraham.
16. I had a book published in 2008 on evaluating networks of researchers involved in federally funded research projects. Currently working on another one on innovation in oilseeds research due out in the fall.
17. I love doing crossword puzzles. Online interactive ones. The Readers Digest ones are particularly good.
18. I can cross one eye while keeping the other eye straight. My dad taught me how to do that!
19. I am moderately gluten intolerant.
20. I was Miss Teen Prince Albert. I went to Toronto and competed in the National Pageant in 1983.
21. My first car was a 1976 Honda Civic (blue). I paid $400 for it. It would start in the dead of a -40 Canadian winter. Very reliable.
22. I cried when I first saw Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch” at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1998. Not sure why. The scale… the lighting… it was just so fantastic!
23. While attempting to dive in the Great Barrier Reef in 2002, it took me 20 minutes to descend 50 feet… I had difficulty equalizing the pressure in my ears. They almost had to cancel my dive. But I made it and even took ANOTHER dive! It was a truly a magical experience!
24. Some weird things that I have eaten: raw octopus (Costa Rica), snake & alligator & ants (Australia), rabbit & bear (Canada).
25. My second cousin shot me with a bb gun when I was nine. I still have a scar on my upper lip.