I've been tagged by Laura to tell 8 random facts about me. So, I've tried to think of some things that people might not know about me. You may want to break it down into 1 per day... its kind of long. Happy Reading!

The Rules: 1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts. 2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves. 3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (**if you'€™re a non-blogger, you can email them!) 4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names. 5. Don'€™t forget to leave them a comment telling them they'€™re tagged, and to read your blog.

8 Random Facts about Shauna:

1. I used to use the family video camera and my dad's hair piece for my own amusement. It all started when left alone one time in 5th grade. I planned a whole news show complete with different characters performed an our family dinner table. I even would stop the camera and change costumes for dialog between the anchors... one of which was a man with my dad's hair piece and a long brown ponytail (all mine) in the back. I even had a Marvin Zindler (God rest his soul) character named Herman Zipper, who wore a black cowboy hat and kleenex for grey hair and did a consumer report piece on a faulty water gun I had received as a birthday present. The coolest part was that I recorded myself on cassette tape going "Dededede dooo dededede" as news intro music and would get up to turn it on and off (as all real news anchors do.)---To this day, we can be watching an old home video and stumble across me re-enacting an episode of Full House or something.

2. Every morning Lily and I say the confessions that my parents used to do with us in our daily family bible study. (One about choosing to be happy, one about being all of the characteristics of love, and one about hearing God's voice.) Suzanne and I used to HATE that our parents made us wake up early to pray, read the bible, and say confessions together to start our day right... but now I think of it as one of those things that makes our family so special.

3. I'm probably the only person who owns Mannequin on DVD. It filled some sort of special place in my heart when I first saw it at a really young age. Its probably due to the genius use of Starship's "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" at the very end. This definitely influenced my very first c.d. purchase ever... which was "The Best of Starship" with classics like Sara, We Built this City, and Beat Patrol (which I would make up dances to in my room.)

4. After hearing someone mention that they consider certain little occurrences to be "hugs from God", I decided that anytime I hear a Van Morrison song... it is Jesus reminding me that he loves me. I hear them EVERYWHERE, in any kind of place, when I least expect them and they always make me happy. (Good thing I didn't pick Starship!)

5. My dream job is to be a children's book author/illustrator. I love children's literature!! One day, I'll figure out how to make that happen. I love children's literature!! Since 1st grade, I've been writing sories. Some of my earliest were a series about "Dorothy Dog"... goes to camp, has a birthday, has a baby sister, etc. At the time... I thought them completely original... but now they have a striking resemblance to the "Arthur" series by Marc Brown-- which were a favorite of mine at the time, strangely enough.

6. As some of you may know, I love to see people trip or fall down. What you may not know, is that while in college, I had an empty period due to mis-scheduling. I knew of a place by the ESB that had some seriously uneven sidewalks that I myself had tripped on occasionally. I would sit on a bench and do homework just to see different people trip. It was awesome! Everyone handles a fall differently. Some ignore that it happened, some look around to see who saw, some (mostly frat guys) try to play it off like a swagger in their walk for a few more steps, and my favorite were those who, when propelled forward by the uneven sidewalk, would keep the momentum and pretend like they had just decided to start running at that moment.

7. Being the youngest, I usually had to play by myself... which I didn't mind at all. But, it was always very nice to get to play with my older sister and cousins. We used to play house at my grandparents' and we'd all pick a husband. Suzanne always had Jon Bon Jovi and they would have Axl Rose, Bret Michaels, and Sebastian Bach of 80's glam rock fame. My husband was always... Ralph Macchio. They tired easily and this usually ended with me playing house in a room by myself-- just me and my imaginary karate kid and our cabbage patch children.

8. I've always hated movies with ships in them. I hate the chaos in all sea storm scenes... and if there is a ship in a movie... there is ALWAYS a sea storm scene. I think this all started for me with the beginning of the Swiss Family Robinson... I'd always fast forward through the storm straight to the part where they build the awesome treehouse and ride the ostrich.


I tag my brother in law, Mark... and I don't have any other blog friends that haven't already done this.

We've just returned from Lily's very first trip to Minnesota. She was perfect on the plane rides, set a record of sleeping 7 hours one night, started smiling regularly, and even outgrew some of her 3 month outfits while there. We had Lily baptized at Jeff's home church, had a wonderful shower at the Rohnes' house to introduce Lily, and I got to see northern Minnesota for the first time on a Horseshoe Lake vacation.


A few favorite things from our trip that I'll miss:
hearing things like "monsterella sticks", "chicken-munks", and "pocket kniTHe"
birch trees
having a constant supply of Jeff's mom's homemade sugar cookies
staying at the Amdahl's beautiful lakehouse
having someone to watch High School Musical II with
eating at the cleanest Arby's in America
needing to wear a sweatshirt in August
getting to go H&M in the mall of america
Jeff getting to play lots of catch
Jenni's homemade cheesecakes

....sad how many are about food.

Note: the video on the website is from our trip. Isaac, Jeff's youngest nephew, is shouting to the boy from across the street, who had come over to play. He was riding home to his house to go to the bathroom. Listen closely to what Isaac yells.

Guess who slept a whole night on her own in a bouncy chair...


Jeff and I were almost giddy when we put her down not 1 but 3 times and she stayed asleep. We're hoping this is not another fluke. Although, even laying in my own bed without a baby on my chest, I didn't sleep well. While Jeff dreams happily of cats and special children in our house, all of my dreams are like getting up to heat a bottle or checking on Lily to see that she's okay... which seem like they are all really happening. So, even when sleeping-- I feel like I am not sleeping. I feel like I've just come home from youth camp or a lock-in or something. My eyelids hurt and the thought of a nap fills me with glee... however, thinking of a nap is a futile effort.

My parents have taken a geriatric vacation to "Warshington". The first day my parents are gone -- Jeff gets sick, so I take the whole night with Lily. Day 2- Jeff needs to go to San Antonio for work and I notice Lily's eye is infected and have to take her to the doctor. Of all the times that I need my mom's help...
Things did get better though. Lily is growing up and becoming a little more even tempered every day. However, I am very glad my parents will be back tomorrow.


So... here is a formal apology to Team Motherboy. I should not have called you super annoying-- really, we were just jealous of your pop culture prowess. After such a comment, you seem like genuinely nice people and I am sorry for not cheering you on. Maybe this could explain why I have very few girlfriends. I'll try to keep the humor purely SELF deprecating from now on... you never know what people are google-ing.