25 Random Things About Me...

After having about 10 people "tag" me for this challenge, I figured I'd take a stab at it ... coming up with 25 things about yourself was not as easy as I would have hoped .. and on top of that, about half way into the process I began to feel VERY narcissistic. Oh well, I did it finally, so I'm sharing it here as well as on my Notes Page in Facebook.


1. I've lived in Orange Co. California, home of Disneyland, owned a few stocks of Disney in my time and yet, I've never been to Disneyland.

2. Had the unbelievable opportunity of serving as the Celestial Room Coordinator in the San Diego Temple every Saturday Morning for almost a year ... that was the most wonderful experience!

3. My best friend Phyllis and I have known each other since we were 10 and been best friends since we were 11 ... that's a long time to manage to stay friends, especially since we happened to be roommates for about 10 years on and off.

4. I have green eyes ... it's one of my favorite things about me.

5. I like to remind myself that I come from a LONG line of very strong and independent women.

6. I did my first sleep over with a friend when I was 3 1/2 ... it was supposed to be for Friday night and my mom was going to pick me up on Saturday afternoon. I was having so much fun that I called and got permission to stay an extra night and the family I was with just brought me in to church and mom brought me a dress to change into once I arrived. Even then, I was intensely independent.

7. One of my family's nick names for me is "Suz" ... it comes from a combination ... my dad used to always call me "Sasparilla Susie" and my mom called me "Susie Sunshine."

8. Though my brain still thinks a lot of sarcastic comments, only my very closest friends actually get to hear those thoughts spoken out loud.

9. I'm the youngest of 6 kids and was somewhat of a tomboy in my early years.

10. I've never felt like my name fit me ... when I was a kid I wanted to change it to "Francis" ... so I could be called "Franki" (see #9 above). I'd change my name still if I could come up with a name that seemed to suit me better than Janette.

11. Friends and family often tell me when I call them that they were just about to pick up the phone to call me because they needed something from me ... kind of a sixth sense thing.

12. I've been in love with three men in my life ... but none of those situations developed into something deep.

13. I firmly believe that having had to deal with the worst situations I've experienced in my life have helped me developed the traits I like best in myself today.

14. I love to sing ... just about anything that catches my attention ... I hardly ever have the radio on in the car or elsewhere, because I don't really need it, I just sing to myself when I want music.

15. In the last 5 years or so, I've actually come to like vegetables! Yes, it's true .. even asparagus! :)

16. In the last 5-10 years I've come to the point where I prefer carmel and/or vanilla to chocolate (by far)...it's a sad sad day when your tastebuds turn you into an adult!

17. I'm in the middle of writing a Sci-Fi book -- kind of a futuristic frontier ... a couple of my writing friends have said that certain scenes are like a cross between BladeRunner and Firefly. I have several other story ideas turning in my brain as well.

18. The first word I ever wrote was DAD ... not that I meant to write dad, it was just at 3-4 years old I used to just string letters together and then ask mom if that was a word. This was all well before Sesame Street and the help with such things.

19. I learned all my letters very young ... 26 out of 27 of them I knew like the back of my hand ... but I just wasn't sure what elemenohpea looked like ... my brother tried to explain it to me L.M.N.O.P, which I think I responded to as "Yes, I know all of those, but what does elemenohpea look like?"

20. I didn't (REPEAT DID NOT) inherit the "cleaning" gene that runs so prevalently through the members of my family

21. My brother used to say that because I could sing so well that I didn't really belong in our family and so he would threaten to take me back to the jewish adoption agency in Chicago. (Nothing against adoption, jews or Chicago ... just his interesting combination of information I think).

22. In my very early years (pre-3 years old) I was easily coaxed into eating spiders by my siblings, etc.

23. One of the funnest vacations I ever went on was with my sister Theresa (just before my Senior year in high school) .. the 2 of us drove up to Montana to spend time with my sister Demaree and her family ... the many hours traveling to and from gave us the chance to really get to know each other and laugh ourselves silly ... we still share some of those private jokes back and forth.

24. I've taken college-level courses at the University of Utah, LDS Business College, Salt Lake Community College, UC-Irvine and Saddleback College.

25. I've lived in San Clemente now for almost 18 years ... at least double the number of years I've lived anywhere else (except Salt Lake -- where I think I lived 10-11 years). So yea, San Clemente is home for me.