Random Facts

I was tagged today and had to come up with 25 random facts about myself. I actually enjoyed doing it and thought, "Why not share some of my 25 random facts with everyone on my blog?" So, here it goes...

1. I was born Mary Catherine Ney. When I was little everyone called me Mary Catherine. When I was in kindergarten and was learning to write my letters correctly they would make us write our names over and over again. One day I went home and told my parents that I was Mary from now on because I was sick of writing Mary Catherine. I can still tell when I see people that knew me when I was little because they call me Mary Catherine and everyone else calls me Mary.

2. I married my wonderful husband Vic Colvin in 1994. We were married two days after my 19th birthday. We are just about the only ones from the crowd of friends we had from 1994 that got married and are still married. Everyone else is divorced.

3. Vic and I have four children. Victoria Rae (14), Aubrey Leah (12), Brady Ney (10), and Megan Suzanne (8). I also have a step-son, Nolan (19). I will never forget the time that I had a student ask me what my kid’s names were. I rattled off Nolan, Tori, Aubrey, Brady & Megan. She looked at me funny and said what are their last names? I told her Colvin. She looked at me like I was crazy and said, "All of them?" OMG! I about fell over. In her world everyone had different last names. Sad!

4. Growing up I lived in the same house my whole life. My parents moved there like four years before I was born. My dad still lives there. When they purchased it it was being remodeled because there had been a house fire on Christmas where someone had put a cigarette in with the wrapping paper and the fire killed a family of five people. Someone else had died in the house by falling down the basement stairs.

5. I was raised in the Presbyterian Church in Parsons, KS. We had hardly any youth though, so I went to Chi-Ro and CYF at the First Christian Church with my best friend growing up, Jennifer Baugher. Now that we have moved to Cherokee we have started going to the Pittsburg First Christian Church and we really enjoy it.

6. I had two brothers. My brother, Mike, was 11 years older than I was. He was tall and very skinny. He battled drug and alcohol addiction pretty much as long as I can remember. He died seven years ago in Austin, TX. I have another brother, James, which is five years older than I am. James was a computer nerd through high school. ;-) He was co-valedictorian of his class. He went to the US Air Force Academy and became a pilot. He currently is teaching pilots to be flight instructors in Texas. He also has other "jobs," but in his annual he is listed as "masked" which means they are classified and so we have no idea what else he is really doing.

7. I have a very loud laugh. When I get started I have a hard time stopping. I know it drives some people crazy, while it makes others die laughing with me. :-)

8. When I was a sophomore in HS my mom came home from parent teacher conferences very excited. She said it was the first year ever that my teacher had not said that I talked too much! LOL Hey, talking is what I love!

9. I am a reader. I love to read! I have always read. I still remember starting out on the Baby-Sitter Club books when I was in the fourth grade and collecting them all. I had advanced to VC Andrews books by the time I was in 6th grade. Today I read just about anything. I try and read children's books to keep up with what I do...TEACH! I love The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane! It is a must read and a very fast one too. I enjoyed The City of Ember very much this year too. But, I was consumed by the Twilight books over Christmas! My favorite genre is definitely mystery. One of my favorite authors is Mary Kay Andrews. If you haven't read her books you need to! Just Fun Books To Read!

10. I've worn glasses since 5th grade. I know that my eyes got so bad because of all the reading I would do.

11. I was a Parsons High School Homecoming Queen.

12. My father was a principal and my mother was a teacher.

13. I'm thankful for my sisters-in-law. Pam and Kelly have always been very kind to include me. They have opened my eyes to a genre of movies that I never thought I would adjust to...Scary!

14. My mom died in 2001 of colon cancer. She was my best friend. Sometimes I sleep extra late in hopes of having a "Mom" dream.

15. I cut my own hair when I was in preschool. The best they could do to fix it was cut it like a little boy. This was two weeks before my dance recital. I told my mom it was because I was hot.

16. We had a Gran Torino when I was little with the arm rest that folded down in the middle of the front seat, and I ALWAYS got to sit on the arm rest. Now you won't find me in a vehicle without a seat belt. Funny how things change.

17. I love Christmas!

18. My first teaching job was teaching LA to sixth graders at Royster Middle School in Chanute. Ashley Lopez was one of my favorite students and little Corey Kepley always told everyone he was the teacher's pet. I would love to know whatever happened to my favorite pathological liar and my entertainment, Josh Conine!

19. I love watching my husband coach baseball. He has such a way with the kids that it mesmerizes me. He just relates with them so well and he is a true teacher of the game. Never does he claim to know it all and listens to everyone’s ideas. He amazes me!

20. I wish I could lose a lot of weight...Vic can say he wants to lose weight and drops 10 pounds like that. I can say it and struggle for 6 months and finally give up because my three pound loss doesn't seem worth the effort.

21. Both of my maternal grandparents died of cancer. (One pancreas and the other lung.) My paternal granddad died of cancer. (Brain) My paternal grandmother died of heart disease. I'm not thinking things are looking too good on the heredity front.

22. I enjoy working on my our family tree. I've done a lot of research and have a lot filled in. Last I looked I had over 1300 people in my tree. Most of this wouldn't have been possible without the terrific memory of Vic's Grandma, Grandma Walls.

23. My cat's name is Millie. We call her Millie Cat and Milsbie. We all love her very much! (Truth be known when the kids found her she weighed one pound. I told the kids they couldn't keep her, and when they persisted to pester me I told them to ask their dad knowing he would say no. Ha Joke was on me. He told them yes, and thank goodness he did!)

24. I have my bachelor's degree in elementary education and my master's in history. I would like to go back and get my master's in library media when I can afford it.

25. My family is my joy in life. My children keep me young and I love my husband more and more everyday.