one hundred things about c.l.beyer

1. I am Carrie Louise.
2. I first wanted to be a writer when, as a little girl, I read a biography about Louisa May Alcott.
3. The most memorable scene in that book was when Louisa’s dad made her and her sister take their bowls of soup to a poor family for complaining about the food.
4. I love to read Anne Lamott, Madeleine L’Engle, and C.S. Lewis.
5. I want to be a missionary and a mom to lots of babies.
6. There was a notice for a job opening posted on the library door today, and I almost drooled over the possibility of being a librarian.
7. My favorite root beer is Barq’s.
8. My favorite pop is root beer.
9. I’m from a part of the country where people call soft drinks “pop.” And there’s nothing wrong with it.
10. I get nostalgic thinking about wide open fields.
11. I was the best bunter on my softball team when I was little.
12. It drives me nuts when people don’t know how to spell “Isaiah,” and when they don’t listen when I tell them how: “a… i… a…”
13. I wish I took more artistic photos.
14. I can be frugal when I want to.
15. Being frugal gives me a sort of high.
16. I think we’re getting new neighbors today.
17. I could be pregnant right now.
18. But I don’t think I am.
19. I worry that that was too personal.
20. Unloving, critical people bother me.
21. I have a pimple on my forehead. Well, a pimple or two… or three.
22. I have four big sisters, but they’re all littler than I am.
23. Opa is my wonderful Serbian grandpa who was a Nazi in World War 2.
24. I know how to cook and clean and fold laundry better than most American women.
25. Texas taught me how to cook pretty good Mexican food.
26. I used to be an email-checking junkie.
27. Okay, I still am.
28. Suburbs drive me nuts. Maybe I’ll blog about that sometime.
29. I am in the middle of writing four novels, but I haven’t worked on them in almost a year.
30. In elementary school, I always got goosebumps when we sang the national anthem.
31. I still get goosebumps when I hear touching stories, but not when I hear or sing “The Star Spangled Banner” anymore.
32. There are 195 (now 196) posts on my blog, and I’ve been blogging since 2004.
33. I ache for American Christianity because so much of it seems superficial.
34. I wish I had a larger vocabulary.
35. I am reading Honey for a Child’s Heart right now, and it’s wonderful – a resource I’ll use all my life.
36. I love baking sweets but hate cooking supper.
37. My clean house gives me a high.
38. My house is dirty right now.
39. I want to run a coffee shop where people are addicted to the love they feel while they’re there.
40. Outside my family, I have two very good friends with whom I would feel comfortable sharing almost anything.
41. When people ask where I met my husband, I say we’ve known each other our whole lives.
42. My husband is sensitive, helpful, handsome, and driven.
43. To relax, I read books, watch movies, take baths, and accept massages.
44. I don’t like shopping.
45. I feel like a strong, accomplished woman when I mow our lawn.
46. I grew up on a farm in Kansas, but I didn’t have help out with the farming, except to hold piglets and cats while they were neutered.
47. I got engaged in high school.
48. I love chips and queso.
49. I like to support the little independent restaurants instead of the big, chainy ones.
50. I’ve been to Haiti, Mexico, and St. Lucia.
51. I’ve been to England, France, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Liechtenstein.
52. I speak a little German with a pretty good accent.
53. I hate pickles.
54. I’ve been in Colorado, California, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Florida, Georgia, Connecticut, Ohio, Indiana, Minnesota, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Pennsylvania.
55. My baby’s awake now.
56. I am so thankful when Isaiah wakes up happy.
57. My philosophy is to get rid of anything I don’t use, even if it’s in perfectly good condition.
58. My mom is almost perfect.
59. I love being in the mountains, but I’m a weenie about hiking.
60. My first car was a stick-shift red Ford Tempo.
61. In high school, my after-school pit stop was Sonic for Ched-R-Peppers with ranch dressing.
62. Growing up, we had desserts called Bear Boo Boo, Goose Gaggalie, and Boob Cookies.
63. I made Goose Gaggalie Monday.
64. My Bear Boo Boo never tastes as good as my mom’s did.
65. I have never made Boob Cookies.
66. I play the piano, trombone (used to, anyway), and banjo (sort of).
67. We had the best cat names growing up: Sugi, Olga, Dunstan, Godfrey, Hooga, Ooga, Big Dirt, Little Dirt, Pork, Beans, Reuben, Peter, Muriel, Beetrice, Something…
68. Music I love: bluegrass, Texas blues, hearty jazz (not elevator music), old country, classical, rock oldies, folk
69. Song that most recently was stuck in my head: "Wide Eyed" by Nichole Nordeman. Good lyrics.
70. I have had one traffic ticket in my life – for going 74 in a 60 mph zone.
71. I have worked at a home for handicapped adults, a lumber yard, two schools, an Italian restaurant, and a scrapbook store.
72. I have never made more than $10/hour.
73. I am currently learning how to shop grocery store sales wisely.
74. I have been in hospitals to get stitches on my face (twice) and have a baby.
75. Dar Williams’s music is playing right now.
76. I wish I could buy more books.
77. I would consider breastfeeding someone else’s baby if its mother couldn’t.
78. When I was a kid, I could stick my belly out really far. I used to act like it was bread dough rising; then I’d punch it down.
79. My dad used to ask us kids to scratch his back, but he didn’t like us to plug his nose.
80. I think Edith Pargeter and Annie Dillard have the most beautiful styles of writing of all the writers I’ve read.
81. Books I love: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe), Blue Like Jazz (Donald Miller), A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)
82. I have 23 nieces and nephews.
83. The Catcher in the Rye made me laugh out loud when I read it.
84. I would rather be a nun than the President.
85. I have emotional conversations with invisible people when I’m alone.
86. A few movies I love: The Spitfire Grill, One Night with the King, The Shawshank Redemption
87. I publish an Aberle family newspaper called The Genuine Giraffe.
88. Being a mother makes me feel important.
89. Recycling stuff makes me feel responsible.
90. In fourth grade I wrote and acted out a skit called “Always Pay Those Taxes” with my friend Anna Tennal.
91. One of my good friends from high school just moved 20 minutes away from me this week!
92. I am ridiculously fond of getting the mail.
93. My current car is a 2002 burgundy Honda Accord.
94. Kyle’s current car is a totaled 1995 tan Honda Accord that’s still running great.
95. I was driving the car when it was totaled.
96. But Kyle totaled his red Ford Escort two days before, and it’s not running anymore.
97. My sisters and I all have different noses. (That is, they don’t look alike.)
98. I have a beautiful nine-month-old son.
99. I have the most wonderful husband in the world.
100. I’m in a lifetime love affair with Jesus Christ.
     
     The End.
     
     p.s. Let me know if you want to see blog posts on any of these factoids.