OK, Next Thing...

I suppose I should follow up with a marginally more interesting 10 Things You Probably Don't Know About Me.

1. I don't really like kids that much. My own excepted, of course. That is to say, I love my children, and I recognize the value of children, and I'm open to having many children. But really, I just don't enjoy the company of children until they get to be about 10 years old. Though I must say, my eight year old daughter gets more interesting every day.

2. I hate performing. This may strike you as odd if you've known me for a long time, knowing that I've been performing at every opportunity since I was about six years old. When I was a kid, there was never a talent show that went by without me in it somewhere. However, I would much rather not perform. The main reason I still do it, besides the fact that I now get paid for it, is that what's even worse than performing myself is hearing someone else perform it incorrectly.

3. Somewhat related to 2, and some of you know this: I suffer from near paralyzing stage fright. I actually thought I had overcome it, since I can now sing into a microphone and play the organ on Sunday without getting sick with nerves. However, I was called upon to sing alone, with a different organist, and I had to stand where everyone could see me. It was horrible. I never want to do it again.

4. I have no patience for perfectionists. And my husband is one. When I want something done properly, I'll ask him to do it, but I can't watch. It drives me crazy.

5. I firmly believe that if there are significant obstacles to a marriage, "But we *love* each other" is the worst reason to get married. I would never recommend marrying for love if there weren't more practical reasons to back it up. At the start, what you're feeling is not love, and it goes away. If you're left with nothing else, you're in trouble.

6. Half my friends think I'm quite liberal, the other half think I'm far too conservative. Those two words hold no meaning for me anymore.

7. My favorite people to hang out with are teenagers and women over 40.

8. I have no desire for my children to attend college, and don't intend to pay for it if they do. I don't think that a college education is necessary, and more often than not, it's nothing but a waste of time and money. A lot of time and a lot of money. I won't object if they want to go, but they'd better think it over carefully, because they're going to be the ones who have to make it happen.

9. Curriculum is wrong-minded. The whole idea of it. Well, that's kind of a bold statement, isn't it? I don't mean any offense to teachers, mothers who use pre-packaged curriculum, or curriculum experts or anything. Hmm... I can see this is going to need a post of its own. For now, I'll say I don't Believe In Curriculum.

10. About a year and a half ago, I realized that I am smart. I don't think I ever really knew that. Around the same time, I realized that I'm not really very smart.

Maybe now that I'm "Blogging," I can make a seperate post on each of these items. This is kind of a fun place to jot down my very random thoughts and expand on them in a way I don't usually get to. I just have to remember not to write anything I wouldn't want my mother to see.

Don't get all spoiled and expect a new post every day or anything, though.

OK, so, this is My Blog. If you're reading this, you almost certainly know who I am already, but I'll give you a run-down. I like small, manageable lists, and I love counting things, so this first post will be:

Ten Things Everyone Already Knows About Me

1. I am a Catholic, of the "follow-the-Pope-or-die" variety.

2. I am a mother, hence the "Mamma" part of the name. I have four children - three daughters, ages 8, 6 and 4, and one son, who is now 10 months old.

3. The Los Angeles Dodgers take up way too much of my time, attention and emotional energy. Hence the "Blue" part of my name. No, it's not for the music, not for the emotional lows, it's for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

4. I play the organ at my church, and teach a dozen piano students.

5. Classical music is pretty much the only thing I listen to.

6. TV is only for baseball and movies. I don't follow any network shows, usually because they're on too late.

7. I come from Northern Canada. No, I did not live in an igloo.

8. My children are homeschooled, as was I, for the most part.

9. I now live in Southern California, which I like very much.

10. I am not good at coming up with a sentence starter other than "I." I tried and tried, but everything else seemed pretty artificial for the most part.

So that was pretty dull. Later on, I'll do a "Ten Things You Probably Don't Know About Me," which may be marginally more interesting.