apparently I'm it

I'm notoriously bad at these meme things. I've only done two so far, but a not-your-typical-Mommy-blogger I read, Matter of Fact Mommy tagged me on this one, and since I bagged the last one she sent my way, I figured I'd better not let her down again, because I know she hasn't slept in weeks waiting for my responses on this one. Yeah.

Here we go:

What was I doing ten years ago? That would make it 1998... obviously... Well, I don't have the greatest of memories, but on this day, May 17, 1998, I was one week from my wedding, so I figure I was probably freaking out, binge eating and then being terrified I wouldn't fit into my dress. (Ah, to be that size again...) I'd say I was probably rechecking all the details for our small wedding for the 7,000th time and obsessing on what could go wrong. Oh yeah!! I was crazily checking any weather forecast that was available, because we were getting married outdoors, and I was terrified it would rain. Yes, so it was freaking out, overeating, obsessing, and general craziness 10 years ago. Basically just like any other day in the ten years since.

5 things on my "to do" list today: Well, let me just consult my handy-dandy typed to do list on the top of my personal clipboard. (The sad thing is, that one was NOT a joke... obsessing, remember?) The top five that were supposed to get done today:

1. make baby foods-- I cooked the sweet potatoes, and used some for dinner and put three packages in the freezer... apricots tomorrow.
2. catch up on my bloglines-- didn't read any today, or yesterday or the day before. Seriously, it's past overwhelming now that there are 134 posts to read. I may just scrap them all, and start over... lovely hubby and a friend of mine have been encouraging me to switch over to google reader, so that may piggyback on the catching up I have to do.
3. blog on MTE-- yeah! This one will be checked off soon. I haven't even looked at the other two blogs that I contribute to... that's for another day, I guess.
4. call urologists office re: bills-- yeah, the Big V was done four months ago, and the billing is all screwy, so I have to call an office and haggle on the bill for the procedure done on my husband's testicles. Does it surprise you to know that I've put this one off for another day?
5. S A P- figure out!-- this one has to remain top secret... at least for now...

Snacks I enjoy:

1. Chocolate. Next question, please.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Honestly, it sounds all typical and not very exciting, but...

1. I'd pay off all our bills. Mortgage, hubby's student loans, credit card.
2. Then I'd hook my parents up, BIG TIME. They'd be living a whole lot closer, they wouldn't have to work, and they could see their grandchildren just as it should be.
3. Then, I'd buy a really nice large vehicle, and I'd hire a chauffeur, and I'd never be forced to ask lovely hubby to drive us again. (No, I would not go back to driving school... unless I was able to spend half the cash on therapy to get over my insane phobia about driving...)
4. Then I'd lay the rest of the money out on the floor and roll around in it naked.

Just kidding.

I think.

5 places I have lived:

1. Bristol, CT
2. Plainville, CT
3. back to Bristol, CT
4. Farmington, CT
5. back to Plainville, CT
6. Plainfield, CT (that's just the first 12 years- and yes, we hit all the Plains CT has to offer)
7. then to college in Elmira, NY (four dorm rooms, plus one apartment with lovely-fiance-now-hubby)
8. sister-in-law's house in Landover, MD
9. 1st apartment in Laurel, MD
10. 2nd apartment in Beltsville, MD
11. 3rd apartment in Greenbelt, MD
12. and finally our 1st house in Greenbelt, MD. (Yeah, I know that's more than five... I've done a lot of living in places in my time...)

5 bad habits:

1. Chocolate
2. Biting my nails
3. Chocolate
4. Eating when I'm emotional
5. And... you guessed it, chocolate.

5 jobs I have had:

1. Babysitting-- my teenage summers were spent watching kids-- the two neighbor kids who were terrors, and the family with 5 kids are the ones that stick out most in my memory!
2. Factory worker-- yes, you read that correctly. The summer after freshman year in college, I spent 9.5 hours each and every day working in a lighting factory. The joys included checking recessed lighting shells for paint chips (and then using white-out to fill in any small ones... nice, huh?), putting together wires and other stuff I don't remember on the assembly line, and my all time favorite, sitting at a riveting machine punching holes in metal light things and then stacking them on palettes. Thousands and thousands of metal light things... must go suppress that memory...
3. Tutor-- in college I got paid to sit in the lounge of my dorm once a week for three hours and do homework while I waited for people-who-needed-tutoring to come find me. Two semesters of that. One student. One time. Ever. Good gig.
4. Office Manager-- for a small advertising agency here in Maryland. This was after a one-year stint as a preschool teacher, when I wasn't sure that I had picked the right profession. I decided to try out a workplace filled with adults rather than with four-year-olds. I discovered that the adults whined more often and were less productive than the previously mentioned four-year-olds. I left after five months.
5. Preschool Teacher-- for the last 9 years. I realized that the adult workplace was NOT for me, and I found an educational haven at the school where I spent the last 9 years with incredible little ones. Unfortunately, I also discovered that a preschool teacher's salary, even at a university-based laboratory school, simply cannot pay for child care for two babies. Fortunately, I then discovered that my education and attention and hard work can be put to good use right here at home with my own crazy kids. The pay sucks. The little bosses are freaking tyrants sometimes, but it's now the best job I've ever held. (Definitely beats the damn riveting machine!)

There you have it. More crap you didn't need to know about yours truly. And of course, it's supposed to be a short meme, but it's me who's writing the responses, so it goes on and on and on. I'm still not all that comfortable with tagging other people, so if anyone out there reads this and wants to jump on the meme bandwagon, be my guest and keep the love going with your very own post.