16 or 25 things about me

These things have been going around on Facebook and I've had several requests. I finally figured out how you're supposed to do it, (Thanks, Lana) but keep loosing the half-finished draft so I'm writing it here. I'm assuming the usual rule for minimizing the use of the word "I" is suspended here. We'll see how many I can get done before I have to take the

1. NEW PUPPY out to piddle. Ruby Diamond Doo Baby Ottie Gentry came home with us yesterday at 8 weeks. She is a purebred but unregistered border collie. I am hoping to train her to locate and herd my youngest child who wanders off frequently. If you're a mother, have you ever got to name a pet yourself?

2. New Job - I just finished my first two week pay period as a civil servant. A real perm. half time employee for IHS. I looked in my bank account to see if I got paid for it....NOPE! But I got paid for three of my six timesheets for November/December. So we're OK.
Those of you who have been praying for me to be sent to your isolated corners of the developing world please keep praying - my heart is there.

3. I have three daughters. Strong Heart (13) AKA "musician-in-me", Mover and Shaker of the Heavenlies (11) AKA "soaring celeste" and "Precious Lamb" (6) who has not yet named herself.

4. My family has one of the rare "unexplained clusters" of children with Down syndrome - my youngest daughter, my sister's oldest son, and our first cousin's daughter who is now an adult.
This is a blessing, for me especially since I was last and had good experiences to hold on to.
I feel like anyone else with a child with Down syndrome is automatically related.

5. We've lived in a house made of leaves and bamboo, without plumbing, and with scant solar electricity. We're considering doing it again only with felt walls this time (ger/yurt)

6. My husband and I met by my now mother-in-law's arrangement. Good call, mom!

7. My 13 year old has been taller than me for one year. She has been stronger than me for two.

8. I've delivered almost 800 babies, and still cry.

9. I sleep in the barn/shed/tarp-covered kennel during Lambing. My husband teases that I'd stay up all night to watch mice be born. He may be right. Dd11 (M&S) is right there with me.

10. I love wind surfing but haven't done it since we moved and left the board on the rafters in Deer Park.

11. I can spoil anyone's fishing luck. I love the idea of fishing, but after many years of optimism I've decided it's more efficient to just throw money in the water.

12. And while we're on the topic of water, I was given the name "Sibongile Mnisi" in Swaziland. It means "we are thankful" and something about "power over water".It specifically means "we were so thankful that your plane was able to land in that goshawful rain storm," and "we are thankful for the unseasonal rain (that you brought) so we don't have to carry water to our gardens this week."

13. My dd13 just cam up and made me insert periods in that last sentence. Just to give you some insight into her personality.

14. Three of four siblings in my family called Dr. G. (I'm messing with the time-space continuum here, Michelle, don't let me down.)

15. I'm an advanced theoretical cook. I own about one hundred cookbooks, which I read for pleasure, but we mostly eat steamed meat, steamed veggies, and steamed rice.

16. We have seventeen varieties of tea in the house, none of them from "variety packs."

17. I plant a garden every year no matter how inhospitable the climate, or poor the soil, or invasive the sheep. Last summer the sheep got in the garden July 2 and ate every tomato to the ground. I felt much less abused the next day when it SNOWED and killed everyone else's.

18. I've hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon (and back).

19. I own a pink coffee maker, a pink watch, a pink sheep halter and lead, and a pink set of scrubs. Pink is a defense mechanism to keep my older daughters (the euploids) from swiping my stuff.

20. I am a closet liturgist.

21. I took 2 months maternity leave with my first child, 1 year with my second, and 4 years with my third.

22. At my last job, the biggest commute risk was snagging a water buffalo's horn as I biked past them. At this job, the biggest risk is hitting a horse wandering through town.

23. I've been knitting a lace shawl from hand-spun cobweb weight icelandic wool for the last three years. I hope to have it finished in time for the fair.

24. We're still eating the nitrogen-packed bulk Y2K goods that people gave us when we returned from Cambodia. We never bought any for ourselves because we were heading off to a place where computers weren't that significant. It was nice to be able to buy some of the survivalist items tht were easily available then, like toilet seats that snap on to 5 gallon buckets.

25. Alas, I'm one short. Looking forward to hearing from you!