Tag...I'm It!

Mel and Mark tagged me. Ok, so I suppose this was bound to happen sooner or later, so here goes:

(and by the way, Marshall's main quirk is that he is chronically slow, and notoriously busy, and I fear that if I ask him to participate on this particular blog, or any blog at all, it will be 2008 before it actually posted. So I will be posting solo here.)


A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.



1) My entire family calls me Kaki. (pronounced just like "cocky," but with a different meaning.) Let me explain. When my 9 year old nephew, Zack, was learning to talk, when he would try to say "Krista" it came out "Kaka." Although that name stuck for a few years, if any of you know any Spanish at all, you have realized how unflattering that sounds. So- it eventually got modified to Kaki- and that has stuck. I can't remember the last time someone in my family called me Krista.


2)The only thing I can think of that really grosses me out is abc gum ("already been chewed" gum.) And that is saying A LOT when you consider my line of work. I can change a grown man's diaper, clean up blood, empty colostomy bags, pack a deep infected wound with gauze etc. etc without batting an eyelash, but if I step in gum in the parking lot on a hot day- watch out! (Just thinking about it now is making me gag...!) I don't know exactly where this gum aversion came from, but there have been several times when I have actually paid people to clean gum from the bottom of my shoe. I don't even chew gum much anymore because even the thought of my own gum (even while it's still in my mouth) makes me sick. Go figure.


3)I have an unusually large tongue. So large, in fact, that when I was a baby, my mom really and truly thought there must be something wrong with me, because it was too big to fit into my mouth. All of my baby pictures look so awful- just a little troll with a huge side of beef hanging out of its mouth- not attractive. She took me to the doctor, and he said, "no, there's nothing wrong with her- she'll grow into it." And I did. Although to this day it still remains freakishly large, but at least now I can keep it in my mouth.



4)I have never seen any of the Star Wars movies. Or Rocky movies. Or Footloose. Or a single episode of Seinfeld. But I have seen The Neverending Story about 1 million times.



5)I really envy people who can play the piano. I took lessons as a kid for several years, but drove my mom crazy because I refused to practice like I was supposed to. She kept threatening to sell the piano, but I didn't take her seriously until I came home from school one day and the piano was gone. (I just found out recently that my parents used the money from selling the piano to help pay for my brother's mission, so I take some measure of comfort in that, but still...)I would have never admitted it back then, but to this day I have major regrets about quitting. I have since tried to plunk out a tune or two when the opportunity presents itself, and am sad to say that I can no longer even read the notes. My new goal (I would call it a New Year's resolution, but I hate those- how stupid. Just make the change now, don't wait until Jan. 1st!) is to start taking lessons again- I have even contacted a piano teacher I found on Craigslist about taking some lessons. No regrets!


6)My house is almost always clean- but my car is always a pigsty. I have no idea why. I would use the excuse that I have 2 kids, and I just don't have time, but that's just not the reason. For some reason, I take no pride whatsoever in having a clean car. At any given moment, you will find numerous and varying articles of clothing, (mine and kids) stray diapers, wipes, 2 or 3 cups with varying levels of melted ice/dilute soda inside, empty water bottles, stray Skittles, crumbs, M&M's at different stages of decomposition, baby blankets, random toys, crayons, etc. etc. I could go on and on...you get the picture. For me, it is nothing but a means to get from point A to point B, and likely no one but me, Marshall, and our kids will ever ride in there. Same with our house, though- it's not like we have company all that often, but I still feel the need to keep it clean anyway. Why that feeling doesn't transcend into wanting to keep my car clean, I can not tell you. But it drives my husband crazy. The other day, he picked up a drink out of the cup holder and took a drink, and rested it on his lap for a second. Upon lifting the cup for a second drink, there was a ring of chocolate on the leg of his tan work slacks...oops. What...you mean it's not cool to wear ground up Teddy Grahams on the leg of your pants at the office? Who knew??