Blogging the Alphabet

The idea for this post was shamelessly stolen from Phantom Scribbler's blog, where Peripatetic Polar Bear mentioned that Phantom could probably blog on the alphabet, and she'd enjoy it. I have stolen the idea, brazen harlot that I am, and I'm not sorry about it. (See, Phantom, you aren't the only one who has lite blogging days...)

These are the things that make up who I am:

A: A is the first letter of my name. My real name -- my secret identity. It also stands for "amiable", which is something that I strive to be. I'm a relatively happy person, and I like to be surrounded by friends. A is also for acting, which is one of my loves. I haven't done any stage shows since my daughter was about 9 months old, but I love it, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if the schedule was a little easier on family life.

B: B is for baby -- my daughter. She's nine at the time of this writing, but she'll always be my baby. She is the light of my life, and I could not imagine a world without her. B also stands for blue, which is my favorite color.

C: C is for chocolate, another thing I could not live without. I like all kinds of chocolate, as is evidenced by the size of my ample ass.

D: D is for dorky, which I was in high school, and if I'm totally honest with myself, still am now. I like dorky music, according to JF and Offspring, including Duran Duran. This is often a source of much conflict over which CD to listen to, or which station to tune in on the satellite radio while in the car.

E: E is for education. Education is very important to me, not only because it is my chosen profession, but I constantly seek to educate myself by reading anything I can get a hold of. I am also very interested in my daughter's education, and I seek to help her broaden her horizons in any way that I can.

F: F is for friends. You all are very important to me. My IRL friends, and my blog friends. you give me so much support, and I am constantly amazed by you all.

G: G is for grateful. I am so grateful that I am still alive, and that I have a family that loves me. I often have to remind myself that I have so much when there are so many out there who would pray to be in my shoes. I try not to take people for granted.

H: H is for home. My home is where I am comfortable and safe. My home would be anywhere my family happens to be. H also stands for HumidityLikeABrickWall, which is the city I have grown up in, and where I still reside. JF hates it here, but it's not as bad as I used to think. JF is also a self-admitted social recluse.

I: I is for ice cream. This is another thing that I am rather fond of. (No wonder I'm a quivering bucket of excess flesh....) I is also for inspiration, the lack of which led me to this post.

J: J is for Juggling Freak, the man who changed my life. He taught me to trust again, and taught me that love is something wonderful. We have been married for almost 13 years, and I'd do it all over again in a second. Of course, he is stubborn as the day is long, and has the memory of an elephant, and can tell me the contrary and annoying things I say and do back to our first date, but he's mine, and he taught me that love means accepting someone's faults as well as their good points. He also gets points because he puts up with my crap.

K: K is for KLee. I have been known by this handle in one incarnation or another for about 14 years now. JF got me into bulletin boards back in the day, and "Kayleigh" was my very first handle, and that's been my moniker ever since. As some of you questioned me, it's also the title of a song by my favorite 80's band, Marillion.

L: L is for love, which I see displayed in so many ways every day. I see a lot of love from the blog friends that I've made in just a short time, and I have come to love you all for all the wonderful people that you are.

M: M is for Mickey Mouse. I am an avid collector of all things Mickey, It's actually quite sad for a grown woman. We take a vacation to Disney World every year, and it is my time to be a kid. I love everything about our yearly trip. M is also for mother, which is the best job I've ever had, not to mention the hardest.

N: N is for night owl. I am a total night owl. Night is my time to unwind. I use that time to get crafty projects done. With the heat and noise of the day put to bed, that is my time to spend in pursuits that my family doesn't hold as dear as I do. When I'm on summer break, I get into a total nighttime schedule, and it's a bear to reverse when the school year starts. I've been back at work for 2 weeks now, and I finally feel as if I'm not the living dead when I wake up.

O: O is for optimist. I am a glass half-full type of gal. Looking for the silver lining keeps me from being a complete and utter drag to everyone around me. JF can't stand my upbeat behavior at times, but then, he's my polar opposite. O is also for outgoing. I like to meet people, and I figure I can't be too shy if I'm willing to make an ass out of myself on stage. And I frequently do. :)

P: P is for play. Everyone must have something that ties them, tethers them. I love to play. I play all the time at work *and* at home, and I find that if I have fun with whatever I'm doing, it makes my life that much more enjoyable. P also stands for people -- the people in my life add greatly to my happiness.

Q: Q is for quilting and quilling. These are two of my crafts that I find great relaxation in. JF is going to help me figure out how to post pictures, and I'll have to find some pictures of some of my projects to post. Quilting is like putting together fabric jigsaw puzzles, and I *love* jigsaw puzzles. Quilling is like paper filigree, and I make a lot of decorative pins/brooches to wear during the holidays. I also make a lot of Christmas ornaments for gifts this way.

R: R is for reading, which is another of my great loves. I read everything from pulpy, trashy romance novels to treatises on new practices in archaeology. I have spent WAY too much money in my life on books, and I can't seem to stop. I need a book intervention!

S: S is for singing. I love to sing, and I used to do a lot of musical theater. I sing in the car, in the shower, and everywhere in between. I can't seem to stop myself. It's in my blood.

T: T is for travel. I haven't been that many places, but I do love going anywhere I can afford to go. I have been all over the Southern US, and I spent almost a month in Germany when I was 18. I loved being in Germany, despite not knowing the language. (My language in school (chosen for me by my very tight-assed private-school teachers) was French.) Germany was an eye-opening experience for me. I loved knowing that I was standing where history was made. I visited the Gutenberg Bible museum, the Hofbrau Haus Beerhall in Munich, and made a side trip to Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. It was all gorgeous, and if I were wealthy, I'd go back in a minute.

U: U is for United States. While I love my country, and all the different people that make my country what it is, I don't like where's she's headed. I don't think that the US should be the world's policeman, nor do I think that that we have good, solid government these days. We are in such a tight spot because our fearless leader has chosen to stick his nose into another country's affairs, and we're losing far too many soldiers and wasting far too much money on people who don't want our help. Did we not learn anything from Vietnam? Why don't we worry about the millions of US citizens who can't afford healthcare? Why don't we clean up our cities before we go lecturing people about how they should run theirs?

V: V is for victim. I was once the victim of a violent crime, but I refuse to be labelled as a victim any longer. I *am* a victim no longer -- I am a survivor. I firmly believe that I did not succumb to the guilt and to the hands of another human because I was meant to pass on what I know. If I've helped one person, then what happened to me is made less painful. It will never be "okay" with me, but I will be able to take some satisfaction in the fact that my experience may help some other woman avoid hers.

W: W is for water. I have lived around water my whole life. I love to swim. I love to watch the rivers and oceans. It affords me a sense of peace. I don't think I could live in a climate where swimming wasn't possible. I would have to build a heated poolhouse so that I could indulge in a swim whenever I felt like it. (This would, of course, predicate my being extremely wealthy, so that I could not only afford to move, but could also afford a pool and a heated poolhouse. And, maybe a cute cabana boy to tell me I'm gorgeous, and worshop me from afar.....mmmmm. Huh? Was I drooling? Sorry.)

X: X is for xeriscaping, which is the process of conserving water to use in landscaping in arid or semiarid climes. If it gets much hotter here, I may have to resort to building a shower in every room so that I can shower off while walking from room to room. After a slew of days with heat in excess of 102 F, I can safely say that winter can drop a load on me tomorrow, and I'll be happy.

Y: Y is for yodeling. No, I don't yodel, but I couldn't think of anything for "Y", and I went to a movie today where yodeling was done, and it stuck in my mind. (An aside, for other parents, the movie was "Valiant", and it was great! Not only funny, but also teaching history without being treacly.)

Z: Z stands for zero. A lot of the times, zero is the credit I give myself. The number I rate myself. I have to try harder to like who I am, and I have to give myself greater credit than zero. I don't really like me a lot of the time, but I'm trying. With my wonderful family to help me see reasons to like me, it gets easier every day. Zero is also the number of ideas I had for a post for today before I read Phantom's blog and totally swiped the idea from PPB. (Thanks, Bear! We always said you were an inspiration, and you are, in more ways than one!)

Thanks for reading this far, for those of you that stuck it out. Those are the ABCs of me. I would love it if some of you stole this stolen idea, and did ABCs of your own. You are all fascinating to me, and I would love to get to know more about you.