I think the easiest way to sum me up is with the word “eclectic.” Or maybe “scattered” would be more accurate.
Whatever, I am obsessed with interested in a lot of different things. I used to have different websites for them all but finally gave that up and combined them all into one – this one.
This site is about the overall me. All of the parts put together (well, okay. Maybe just most of the parts. Each section has a little blurb in the box on the right hand side, describing it and how it came to be, so you don’t get lost. Expect to see new topics crop up as I become obsessed with interested in something new.
This is the place where I get to just be me, however illogical or weird that may be, and also where I get to play. Expect to see things change around here quite often – colors, icons, layouts, etc. – as I try out new plugins, themes, and graphic elements.
Some basic stats:
- Born, raised, married, divorced and lived in California for 37 years, then moved to Texas in 2004 to be with the boyfriend I met on the Internet (yes, we’re still together).
- Love to cook, bake, surf the Internet, play with my cats and read.
- I’ve been called “weird” and “different” and “eccentric” but I’m far from the weirdest person I know.
A fun game that went around Facebook a while back unearthed a lot of little details, so I’ve updated that and pasted it here. Enjoy!
25 Things About Me (as of 2011):
- I can play the first half of The Entertainer on the piano as long as I don’t think about it. If I think about it, I can’t play any.
- I will never understand how anybody could find me intimidating, but I have been told several times throughout my life that I am.
- I am 44 years old. Some days, I feel ancient. Most of the time, I barely feel adult. I still haven’t decided what I want to be when I grow up. Well, that’s a lie. What I really want is to be independently wealthy.
- I am a native Californian, born and bred. I lived there until I was 37, when I moved to the Houston area to be with a man I met on the Internet.
- The only things I really miss about California are my friends and the sushi.
- I never learned to cook until I moved to Texas. Now cooking is an obsession for me. Amazing how much your life can change.
- When I moved to Texas, I intended to continue playing SCA (medieval re-creation group), which dominated my life for over 17 years, but ended up not. I’ve only been to one event in 7 years. I miss it. But what I miss is Caid (aka Southern California), really. Ansteorra (aka Texas) just isn’t the same.
- I can correctly spell almost any word instantly, even if I’ve never seen it before. I only very occasionally miss one.
- I can type 115 words per minute.
- I currently have
65 pets – 3 cats, 1 ferret, and a dogand a mouse(the mouse has left us). I used to have more ferrets, but one by one, they passed away and now only one is left
. I love me some fuzzy animals! I had to live without my cat for a few years once. I will never do that again. Must have a fuzzy animal at all times. - I have never experienced a desire to be a mother – literally never. I’m that weird freak woman with zero maternal instincts. So, what happened? I hooked up with a guy who has sole custody of his son, and the son has ADHD, Bi-Polar Disorder, Oppositional Defiance Disorder, was abandoned by his mother as an infant and because of this was spoiled by his grandparents (AND he’s a teenager!). Consequently, he is the equivalent of about 5 difficult children. Not only do I now have to be a mom, I need to be Mom Extraordinaire – but I’m definitely not.
- I read voraciously and very quickly. I always have a novel around and will usually finish one every day or two, unless I’m busy and don’t have time to read.
- I am an atheist living in the Bible belt. Eek.
- I have a weird nervous habit – I type ALL the time. My fingers type out words I hear, see or think on whatever surface is handy. Most of the time I don’t even realize I’m doing it (my theory is that this is why I can type so fast – I’m practicing literally all the time!).
- I have never had a nickname that stuck. Everybody always goes back to Valerie.
- If I could afford it, I would attend culinary school just for the knowledge.
- My goal in life right now is to get to the point where I can afford to have a cleaning service clean my house once a week.
- I lost 35 pounds a couple of years ago and then gained it all back. Sigh.
- I had hair down to my butt for about 20 years. I finally cut it to just below my shoulders in 2008. Welcome to the 21st century.
- I think I am smart, but lack any fun or artistic talents. All of my talents (spelling, typing) relate to business skills. Boring. I envy artistic people.
- I was raised in the desert. When I became adult and moved to Orange County, I swore I would never live in a really hot place again. Now I live in Houston (almost as hot as the desert, but a lot more humid). Ugh (the things we will do for our men!). I think the ideal place to live would be Seattle, WA area (or similar). Never too hot or too cold, and beautiful all year.
- I have extremely vivid, technicolor, strange dreams every single night and usually remember all or most of them. Sometimes, I dream so energetically that I am exhausted when I wake up. In some of the dreams, I am myself, but in some of them I am both myself and someone else, sometimes I am a man, sometimes I am a child or an old person or an alien or an animal. But I have only once dreamed of flying – which is one of the most common dreams people have. I have had one clearly lucid dream where I was able to consciously control what was happening in the dream. I was being chased by a bad guy (you know, one of those dreams where you can’t run or scream no matter how hard you try). I got frustrated so I said to myself, “this is my dream – I’m changing it.” I visualized a table with a gun on it, picked up the gun, shot the bad guy and went on to have a nice, relaxing dream. Wish I could do that again.
- I speak very quickly – but live in the South. It’s a problem.
- I have high blood pressure and cholesterol. Heart disease runs in my family. Even losing 35 pounds barely budged the BP (yes, I’m on medication). I worry that I will die of a sudden stroke or heart attack without warning at any time – just like my mother.
- I had a VERY hard time coming up with 25 things to say about myself.
For a while, I had a Paranormal Romance Book Review site called Digigirl’s Library. This section holds the remains of that site, which includes reviews by me as well as some guest reviewers.
Other reviewers no longer participate, but I occasionally add new reviews myself (’cause I still read A LOT!), and no longer restrict the genre to romance.
Science Fiction made real! Every day, I read another article about some amazing breakthrough, and yet I often feel as though I’ve heard about this somewhere before…
That’s because Science Fiction really has a knack for predicting the future. Books, TV and movies – they’ve all done it. Sometimes they get it really, really wrong, but sometimes…. they get it right.
We are lucky enough to be alive while these incredible discoveries and inventions are being made. I find it fascinating, so this is my chronicle of watching science fiction become reality, as well as other geeky-girl stuff I find interesting!
5 YEAR PLAN – LIFE MAKEOVER. We woke up and realized we were in our 40′s, struggling from paycheck to paycheck, not loving where we live – not really living. So we decided to change it all.
For a while we had a blog about our Life Makeover called “5 Year Plan.” This section has articles from that site plus new stuff added as the mood strikes. It is still our goal to sell everything, find our dream location and move there, but it’s doubtful we’re going to make that happen within the original 5 year deadline.
I did some freelance website assistance for a while, helping people build simple website using the WordPress platform (like this site). These are articles about using WordPress from that website. I may add more, as the mood strikes.
I am still sometimes available for freelance WordPress help, so if you are looking, drop me a note and we’ll talk.
I like to say I'm eclectic, but maybe scattered would be more accurate. 
