Five Things

Pooks tagged me with this meme. It's called:

Five things you don't know about me and probably don't care to know about me.

(These are things most people in my tiny part of the Blogosphere don't know about me, although real-life friends and family probably do.)

1. My childhood was ... exciting. Mom was a multiple personality, Dad was an alcoholic. Both were abusive. Off and on, I've spent decades in therapy and have been hospitalized more than once for severe depression.

2. I have familial hypercholesterolemia, an inherited disease that causes extremely high cholesterol levels. When I was 30, I had to have my abdominal aorta and femoral arteries replaced. I was lucky it didn't affect my heart. My brother wasn't so lucky. He had a quadruple bypass at 40, and died at 49. He never smoked, and he exercised regularly. I take 80 mgs. of Lipitor a day.

3. I have joined neither the Democratic nor Republican parties, but think of myself as an Independent. (In Texas, you don't have to register with a party.) The last Republican I voted for, in a Presidential race, was Nixon. In the last elections, I voted straight-ticket Democratic for the first time. Apparently, a lot of people did!

4. For some women, it's shoes. For me, it's handbags, although I've never paid more than $60 for one in my life. Not that I wouldn't want to! I just can't justify it, no matter how hard I try. Hm. The $1,200 Versace, or groceries and a car payment? But, that doesn't stop me from indulging in a little online handbag porn from time to time.

5. I get silly happy over some of the most mundane things - a quiet evening at home with Tomcat is bliss, cooking a meal for friends is fun, gardening on a nice day is heaven. Oh - and blogging. :)