krissingene's Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction W/O; Celebrating My 50th Review May 10 '04 (Updated Dec 17 '04)    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Books Mildred D. Taylor - Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: A Literature Unit From $8 Olivier Dunrea - Ollie From $7 The Bottom Line I refuse to reveal the measurements of the bottom line. So I've never hosted a write-off and am not completely sure of proper etiquette, but here's my first stab at it anyway, in celebration of my 50th review here at ePinions. Don't wait for an invitation and don't expect a cutoff; if you want in, you're gonna have to crash it. In my experience, truth truly is stranger than fiction in most cases, thus the Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction W/O - I want to hear about YOU, and YOUR strange quirks, nuances and habits. Explain just one really weird thing you do, or (for the really strange among you, and I know you're out there) make us a whole list. Just be sure, when you're finished, to leave me a comment here or email me at kcardwell@adelphia.net so I can be sure to add your user name and a link to your musings. I suppose that, having requested you to share your odd personality traits and such, I should share one of my own. You'd like that, wouldn't you? Hmmm... Well I do have a rather odd way of saving money. It's not my primary means of saving - that would be a nice, normal bank - but effective nonetheless. I save money by the letter - that letter being G. Remember on old paper currency, there would be a letter in a circle on the front left side of the bill? They're gone now, but the letter is still there if you look closely, stamped in a smallish print, still on the front left side. I don't know how many letters of the alphabet are accounted for on U.S. currency, only that, to me, any bill with a G is not real money. Whenever I'm handed a G in a pile of change (or whenever my husband or mother get them back, for that matter), they are quickly removed from the pile and stashed in my secret G hidey-hole, never to see the light of day again. (Why I chose the letter G, in case you're wondering, is because my husband's name is Gene. Were there to be R bills for my daughter Rachael, I'd dump his letter in a flash.) Okay, maybe they will someday see daylight again. In fact, I'll admit to having adopted this particular habit from my mother, who has been saving J's (for my stepfather, Joel) for years. She is more fastidious in her saving than I am to be sure - to me, a $20 would be hard to pigeonhole with the rest of my collection but to her, the denomination does not matter. Even if she comes across a $100 that is imprinted with a J, it goes into her stash. Once the stash has reached a certain ludicrous amount, out it comes. Interested in hearing what it's used for? In 1991, she bought her first brand new car. In 1995, she and my stepdad took a cruise to Alaska. In 1997, another brand new car. In 2001, they took a two-week tour of Europe, seven countries in all. ALL were paid for in cash, ALL using her J's. Now I don't claim to have anywhere near car or cruise amounts saved; in fact, were I to go through the pile I *might* be able to afford a nice dinner somewhere, as long as drinks weren't included. SOMEDAY, though, I'll have enough for something really big. I'm betting this will about the time my daughter starts high school and will absolutely die if she doesn't have a car and the latest $200 jeans... That's not my only brush with strangeness, although it'd take eons to share them all. I am very much a child at heart - after all, you can only be young once, but you can be immature forever. I intend to be immature for as long as possible. Ever walk past the toy section in Wal-Mart to find two dozen Chicken Dance Elmos boogying down the aisle simultaneously? That was me. My poor husband hesitates to walk with me through a store, afraid of what I might pick up and play with next. And now that we have a child, I have an excuse - just as I read reviews on toys before buying them for her, shouldn't I try them out myself, just to be sure? I have a collection of about 150 Cabbage Patch Kids - yes, the homely dolls that were the source of many department store fights around Christmas 1983. I had three as a child and wanted more - and when I was grown, I had them. At one time I had more than 300 but eventually ran out of room and thinned my collection to my favorites and the most rare. I acknowledge that once Rachael starts walking, they'll all be fair game - but for now, while her primary activity is still drooling, they are Mommy's dolls. I'm addicted to reality television. Is that strange? You be the judge. I like my cookies stale to the point of slightly chewy - crispy cookies are NOT for me. Anytime we bring some home, I open the package and leave it laying on the kitchen counter for a few days before touching them. Yum! So there you have a few incriminating details about yours truly - and now it's your turn. Have fun, make me laugh, and maybe, just maybe, learn that you're not so strange after all...! Brave W/O Participants: pippadaisy mommykd hugh_u_kidden ivplay jadzia66 cosmoandgunner Annie_Crane pnutmom badkittyM deenaf mizgnomer janteloven dpjohansen moonsista cecile1 goldmoon daniellebeeson Birdfeather laurashrti gwumpysmurf inthelilypond

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