I’m 41 today!!!
Who woulda thought that would ever happen?? And why-oh-why does 41 seem significantly older than 40?
I’m having a little fun today for my birthday. I’m sharing 41 things that I think may or may not have something to do with my slob problem. Absolutely nothing scientific here, but they’re just things I wonder as I stumble upon more and more Kindred Spirits on this crazy thing called the Internet. I’m amazed at how many things that don’t seem related to cleaning that so many seem to have in common. If you want to play along, leave a comment sharing the numbers of things that you have in common with me! Or just click away and roll your eyes at how strange I am!
I had this big idea to create a list of 41 things and see which ones others “with my issues” have in common. It was really fun at first and then my mind went blank. But I’m publishing it anyway. (And I’m adding in a few affiliate links.)
1. I have curly hair. (REALLY curly.)
2. I don’t straighten it. I just don’t see the point when I’m perfectly fine with curly hair.
3. I love to travel. LOVE to travel. Like, if I don’t travel for a while my heart starts aching.
4. One of my favorite things about traveling is saying I’ve been there.
5. My love language is Quality Time.
6. I love to read.
7. Even though I write non-fiction, I don’t read it that often.
8. As a child, I firmly believed I’d been born in the wrong time period. I was sure I’d have thrived in the times of hoop skirts and horses.
9. As an adult, I got over that “issue” when I realized I’d have probably been the maid instead of the Lady of the Manor.
10. My immediate thought when I see someone do something “cool” is that I could do it too. I have to consciously remind myself that I am not, in fact, capable of doing backflips. And I never have been.
11. After I finished Kindergarten, I could not understand why it wasn’t possible to immediately begin teaching Kindergarten.
12. My childhood dream was to own a junkyard. (Really . . . )
13. In school, I never completely finished reading an assigned novel. (Until I was the teacher.)
14. I generally allow myself 15 minutes (not including shower) to get ready to leave the house.
15. My husband and I identify couples we’ll get along with by throwing out lines from Seinfeld to see if they know what we’re talking about.
16. I love to read. Oops. I already said that.
17. I find it almost impossible to follow a recipe exactly the way it is written.
18. I see absolutely no point in following a recipe exactly the way it is written.
19. I like peach cobbler, but I don’t eat the peaches. (Much to my husband’s horror.)
20. I get ideas like “I should write a list of 41 things for my 41st birthday,” and then around number 20, I wonder why I thought this was a good idea.
21. I could eat Tex-Mex food for almost every meal. I only don’t because my husband complains when we’ve had it four times in one week.
22. I know how to spell y’all correctly.
23. I can make myself cry.
24. My parents claimed knowing #23 is the reason they never gave into my pleas for a puppy.
25. I think they just didn’t want a dog.
26. I’ve never been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD, but I think I could be if I wanted to be.
27. One of my favorite unexpected things about blogging has been finding out that people other than my family and friends think I’m funny.
28. I often throw this fact into conversation when my husband doesn’t laugh at my jokes.
29. When I was in college, my mother bought me a package of 200 washcloths for washing my face.
30. I choose to consider #29 a beautiful example of a mother understanding and embracing her daughter’s reality rather than enabling her Slob Issues.
31. One of my biggest pre-parenting fears was that my kids would not have any personality.
32. If you know them, you know this was a pretty ridiculous fear.
33. I can’t think of any more things.
34. I worry that I’ve shared too much and now I won’t have any more fun stories to relate to cleaning.
35. I’m okay with ending a list of 41 things at number 35.
36. #35 probably has something to do (psychologically) with my slob problems.
THE END
If you want a birthday post with more introspection and pontification, read this one from last year.
Wait. I think I can do this:
37. Words with four or more syllables make me happy.
38. I thought about finding and linking to posts related to these random things, but I didn’t.
39. I did, however, add my affiliate link to a few of them.
40. I really love that things like adding Amazon affiliate links lets me justify spending full-time hours on this crazy blogging/podcasting/youtubing/e-book-writing thing I do.
41. I love hearing about readers, so tell me a random fact about you!
--Nony
Happy birthday! Things we have in common: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 14, 15, 20, 22, 35. Love the fact that you didn’t make it to 41 things. 41 is a lot!
And now I am laughing because when I saw the end I thought it was over. You went back and finished it. Hahahaha
1. I am amazed you could come up with so many. I never can.
2. Same age. I could have written a lot of these, esp. the travel one (and the curls).
3. I’m a new reader and this is my first comment.
Happy birthday, Dana! I love your blog, podcasts… And you inspire me to declutter.
Happy Birthday! I am once again reminded that we have twin brains! LOL! Thank you for your honesty! I hope you have a fabulous day!
I love your blog! You are so much like me that you are really inspiring me to try to deslob myself. Like you, i just get no help from organizing advice from naturally organized people. I completely ignore all my FlyLady emails. My random fact is I love Apple Crisps and Apple Dumplings. But I eat the ice cream, the filling, the topping, the crust….but never the apples. When I used to order them at the restaurant i worked, it completely perplexed the cook. Your peach cobbler reminded me of that!
Oh yes, I definitely eat the ice cream on top!!!
Your comment made me laugh because I think I could have wrote it myself! Lol
Happy birthday Dana! You’re so funny and fun in your posts that you come off very ageless. It’s one of the reasons that you’re so easy to relate to!
So for my fun fact. For the first time in the 5 years that hubby and I have lived together we finally have a real, grownup bed! With a box spring and frame and everything! So now I’ve gained four under the bed storage boxes worth of (organized!) Storage space and I spent 6 hours organizing our bedroom 🙂 all the stuff that didn’t fit in my container has left the building (literally). I’m so glad that I found your blog last year. Its really helped me to focus on the root of my problems instead of just combatting the side effects.
Happy birthday (for the 3rd time today) 😀
We have #5, 6, 13, 16, 20, 22, 26, 32, and 37 in common.
I totally disagree with #34.
THANK YOU FOR WHAT YOU DO!!
Happy, Happy Birthday!! I understand about teaching Kindergarten 😉 my sisters didn’t like to always be the students! Also, my birthday is Feb. 3rd & I’ll be 42. So we are close in age. 🙂 thanks for all your openness & helps. I can’t believe someone knows how I “work”! Have a great day!
Happy Birthday Dana! We have the same first name and are the same age. And yes, I also have a slob brain, just didn’t know it actually had a name until I found you blog. You make me laugh and inspire me to not allow my slob brain to completely take over our house! Although I certainly am a work in progress.
Happy Birthday! It is a great day for a birthday…I hit mid-30’s today. :). Maybe this is why I read things you write and it could be my own diary. Have an amazing day!
Happy Birthday!!!!!
You can get ready in 15 minutes???? I am amazed! And jealous! 🙂
I loved your random list; I LOVE lists of any kind.
First happy birthday! But also, #22! THANKYOU! It’s so annoying to me when southerners don’t spell y’all right!!!
NO SOUP FOR YOU!!
In my mind I could totally be a Hollywood movie star… if I didn’t have a fear of failure… 🙂
Happy Birthday!!!
Happy belated birthday!
Mine was yesterday also (48), and I also love to travel and have curly hair! 40 was no issue for me – mostly because I was actually early for something for once and had my nervous breakdown at 39, after realizing it was my last year in my 30’s (and therefore “young” I guess) … so it made 40 easy! 😉 50 may be another story…
Well, to my amazement, we really have nothing in common except slobbiness. Oh, and the fact that my husband never thinks I’m funny but everyone else does.
hahaha do you ever do this? I do it ALLLLLLL the time….. forget what I actually intended to say and have to go back and say it later when I remember that I forgot!
I ACTUALLY thought that my (ex) husband and kids were the messy ones. Hmmmm, I realize now (after living alone for 8 yrs) that I may have been a contributing factor.
Happy Birthday! I left you a review on your podcast as a small gift 🙂 Thanks for your tips and encouragement. I love reading and listening to your stories.
Oh thank you!!!
Well the first thing we have in common is being born in January of 74! 🙂 And I LOVE to read, have curly hair, kids that are jam-packed with personality, and slob issues…obviously, or I wouldn’t be here! I counted about a dozen things in common. But mostly I just enjoyed reading your post! THANK YOU for all you do! And Happy Birthday!! 🙂
Happy Birthday Dana! I hope you had a great day! I had several of your list that also applied to me. Of course that’s in addition to my slob tendencies. 🙂
1. More times than I’d like to admit, I walk into a room and forget why I went in.
2. I worked full-time as a Credit Union receptionist for 13 1/2 years until last August when I became a SAHM for the first time (our oldest turned 12 in November).
3. I am now a SAHM to my stay-at-home kiddos (daughter-2, and son-8, who attends online school.
4. I always thought that as a SAHM i would be able to keep the house cleaner and more organized since I’d be home all day.
5. I was wrong.
6. Once my husband and I had decided for me to be a SAHM and do our version of homeschooling, I saw our son sitting at my old desk attentively, finishing his work early in the day, and the three of us enjoying stress-free afternoons.
7. I was SEVERELY delusional!
8. I also had overlooked…um…just like walking into a room-I’m not sure where I was going on that one.
That’s a good stopping point.
The End
Oh how I love #s 5 and 7!!
First Happy Birthday Dana! I am a January baby too. I have many of the these you listed in common. Your peach cobbler thing made me think of Chocolate Covered Cherries but I never eat the cherry. Here is one thing about me. Even though I have a slob brain that misses most messes, I can’t stand the spoon and fork drawer to be out of order. The whole house could be a wreak but if my spoons and forks and knives are all facing the same direction, I’m okay. Crazy huh!
Oh my goodness! I love how you bring a smile to my face every single day! As a fellow slob – and it makes me so happy that there is at least 1 other person like me out there – we would get along so well with your list of 41 – I turn the big 4-2 next month so I can relate so well. Happy Birthday! And thank you for the chuckle this morning!
Happy Birthday to you!!! You and I actually have quite a lot in common. The curly hair thing, loving to read and the fact that I am the most cluttered person I know, LOL
Love your blog!
Happy birthday!
First off, happy bleated birthday!
I loved your list and can relate to several things on it. 6, 8, 9, 10(especially crafty things), 12(I wanted to be a train conductor), 14(I allow 15, usually take 20; therefore chronically late for everything), 15(we do this with The Big Bang Theory quotes), 17(ABSOLUTELY!), 18(people who follow them to the letter make me nervous), 18, 20, 21, 22, 29(confession time- Once, when I was single and moving from one apartment to another, I moved 2 GARBAGE BAGS of socks).
I love that you share your “slob brain” struggles and let the rest of us know that we are not alone.
I recently decluttered a kitchen storage cabinet! Threw out a few things, and donated plenty more, including one of those electric grills (similar to the ones endorsed by that boxer guy) that was a wedding gift 10 years ago and has been used a total of twice. It was a proud moment for me. LOL
Since I discovered you a few months ago, I quickly realized we were kindred spirits. Anod I just realized – we have the same birthday!!! I turned 38 yesterday. Hope you had a good one!
matched you on #1, 2, 6, 22, and 23
I adopted a dumped Christmas puppy back in the late 1970’s who could not hear
Great post and Happy Birthday! I love those peanut butter cookies with the kiss in the middle but I don’t eat the kiss.
#26 I can relate…my mom actually bought me a book about adult add and since like you I don’t read allot of non-fiction and since aperntly I might be add I read about half of it.
Oh and I have to follow the recipe exact or it will be my fault it taste bad, if I follow it exact I blame the recipe! That and I bake more than I cook and well if you dont follow those recipes right bad things can happen.
Happy Birthday! I didn’t realize I was a total slob until I had kids. I had the delusion that I was neat and tidy because I spent every Saturday cleaning up the disaster I made during the week. Once I had kids, I no longer had that much free time. Who knew 🙂 You have helped me realize the value of doing what I can. We are having a party tomorrow and fit the first time, I didn’t have to clean like a crazy woman to be ready. I just did my daily tasks. Yay!
Random fact: I love banana splits, but I am allergic to bananas, so I always order them without bananas. I get some strange looks when I go to Dairy Queen!
Hi, Dana!
Happy Birthday!!! 🙂
We have so much in common, and I’m not positive exactly where you live, but I think we might be neighbors! Well, neighboring towns, at least. I’m totally with you on the peach cobbler thing.
Random things about me:
1. I almost decided to take French in high school. I finally decided to take Spanish instead, and in Spanish class my senior year, I met the guy who would become my husband. We’ve been married almost 19 years, now. 🙂
2. I really want to learn to play the violin.
3. The whole container concept never really clicked with me until I listened to your podcast. Thank you for helping me understand.
Happy Birthday!
I am not sure how many we had in common, I wasn’t counting, but I had more uh-huh’s than Nah’s.
I finished up Giving God the worst of Me this morning. I laughed I cried, well sobbed actually. You know the (mostly) good kind of sobs.
Anyway, thank you. Thank you for being obedient to Christ. Thank you for all you do. You are a huge blessing to many.
I so wish I would have found you (and your blog) much sooner! I can totally relate to the “blindness” you have mentioned….I just don’t notice the clutter (usually). I could never understand why it was so difficult for me to follow the plans of naturally organized people, but now I know that it is how my brain is wired and I have to work with what God gave me. By the way, I really enjoyed your e-book “Giving God the Worst of Me”. It was straight from the heart and I appreciate your transparency. (A word with four syllables-yay me!) A random thing about me is that I am a fraternal twin and I had fraternal twins and my twin sister had fraternal twins! How weird is that? Three sets of twins in one family. (To be honest I think my daughter might be a little afraid to start a family when the right guy comes along. lol) Keep up the wonderful work you are doing for us right-brainers who would rather plan a party than finish the dishes every day. 🙂
Love your description of us! So completely true!!!
Oh, and happy birthday too!
Happy Birthday!!
LOL— I was afraid my kids would have no imagination. Silly me! Also, am amazed at how many can’t spell y’all. And I also “allow” myself 15 minutes to get ready— then freak out when it takes longer because my hair won’t cooperate, or some such thing. #29 is simply hilarious, and I am totally with you on #s 5, 6, and 10.
Mostly, though, I want to agree with Misschris. “Giving God the Worst of Me” is one of the best things I’ve ever read. It was worth reading again. Have you written any memoirs of your work in Thailand? That is something I always thought I would like to do… and experiencing it through your eyes would be almost like being there. I would love to hear more about that. 🙂
Wow. Thank you so much for the feedback on the e-book. I have dreams of so many different things to write about!!
I love pickling. But I’ve been in a funk lately, so only the chickens are getting fermented food these days. (They stink less if you feed them fermented feed.)
Happy belated birthday! We have 3,4,5,6, 8, 10, 11, 14, 22, and 40 in common. 9 is SO true though so now we have that in common too, thanks for bringing that into perspective for me 🙂
A random fact about me – I have straight hair but badly coveted curly hair my entire life until the day my husband told me he prefers straight hair. I’ll never understand that because curls are BEAUTIFUL but I quit fighting it and learned to embrace the straight!
Happy Birthday to you!! In our family we feel birthday’s are a special day so I hope you have a very special day! I just found your site this week and find it very comforting to know there are so many “slobs” in the world I have been so embarrassed about my house for years and its all in my head because in my head I want this perfectly clean house but I have to let mt brain in on the reality, this house is never going to be that clean while I have children, dogs, cats, guinea pigs, a husband, haha and to be honest myself included lol. I tell my husband its a work in progress and I see things getting better a little at a time. I have taken so many things out of this house and every time I go through things I always find more things we don’t need. Thanks alot for making this blog and showing us the truth behing all the media created “make-up” of how our houses should look!
Loved this!
#9-ROFL! I know, right?
#15-My husband and I recite “Psych” and “The Office” references to each other. Or whole episodes. Whatever.
#22-blew.my.mind.
#26-I believe in you.
#27-just realized I should start a blog.
We have ten of those things in common. I didn’t list which ones! Thanks for sharing your journey to bring me along for the ride. So many of your old links go to dead websites, it’s a wonder you’re still blogging away. Makes me believe there IS hope for improvement at my house, since I no longer have anyone living there to blame but me!
I have a “geographic tongue” which makes my tongue look like a map. It is seen even better after eating strawberries, which I also think I have a mild allergy to. Tingly tongue.
In the same ‘vein’.. I have this birthmark that’s like the reverse of a birthmark. I call it, the “tornado” cause it’s a lighter splotch of skin on my midsection that’s in the shape of a tornado. But you can only see it if my tummy tans. Which hasn’t happened much for many years, which made me forget about the ‘tornado’. LOL