This post is brought to you by the numbers 3 and 5

This, oh readers, is my 350th post. Whaaaat? I know, right?

Since this is post 350, and I'm 35 years old (ouch... that hurt a little) I thought I would commemorate this post by sharing 35 random things about myself. Hopefully you don't already know all of them.

1. Growing up my nickname was Binzer. I guess it was some guy on the show Vega$ and my sister Kim looooooved him- and therefore proceeded to call her baby sister after him. She still calls me- and is the only person allowed to do so- Bin. Seriously- if you try to call me Binzer, I'll kick you in the teeth.
2. I hate dusting furniture. First of all- just the name of the chore is weird. I'm like Amelia Bedilia- to me "dusting the furniture" sounds like going around and putting dust on it instead of taking it off. It should be called undusting.
3. I got in trouble all the time in elementary school for day dreaming. On all my report cards it said, "[Bakeshow] is a pleasure to have in class, but she spends too much time day dreaming."
4. If I wasn't getting in trouble for daydreaming, I was getting in trouble for talking. No matter who I sat next to, I got in trouble for talking. I could talk to anyone.
5. I was in a school wide geography bee in 6th grade. I was in the top three in my class and then the had a competition between 5th and 6th grade in front of the whole school. I was eliminated on my first question and ran into the hallway and bawled and bawled. A 5th grader won.
6. Once I punched a girl in the back. She was bullying me and I was too scared to punch her in the face so when she turned, I punched her in the back. I was- and still am- a coward. Especially when it comes to confrontation. It didn't hurt her- and luckily her bus came or she would have turned and beat the snot out of me. I don't even remember her name.
7. I have not missed a day in 11 years of writing in my journal. They say good girls keep journals- bad girls don't have time. Trust me- I have allllll the time in the world. It's a shame though, I lead such a mundane life. If I had something worth recording it might be more impressive.
8. (This one will come as a shock to you all- are you sitting down?) I don't take rejection well. If I truly care what you think, and you don't like me, or something I have produced, your negative opinion will speak louder to me than the 300 people who gave me positive praise.
9. I love turbulence on a flight. To me, a flight without turbulence is a waste. It's like a free roller coaster ride in the sky! I'm not at all afraid of crashing because if I'm in an airplane, that means I'm traveling and traveling is my favorite-est thing in the world so I know I'd die happy.
10. One time I broke my sister-in-law's finger. It was Thanksgiving and we were playing Lightening in the gym at the church. As she reached for her ball, I reached up with my ball to bounce hers away. Her pinkie got caught in between the balls and broke. She never did get it looked at so to this day her pinkie is crooked. (sorry, Lisa)
11. My niece Jenna was born while I was living in Irvington, NJ. When I called home that night to talk to my brother he asked how Jersey was treating me. My reply was, "I just heard gunshots outside my door. Don't tell mom, she'll get mad." And he never did. I didn't tell her about it until after I was home.
12. The first time I ever traveled by myself was a trip I took to see a friend in San Francisco. I was 22 and scared to death and I had a layover in Phoenix. When my flight finally got into Oakland it was about one a.m. I told her my flight arrived at one and she thought I meant Mountain time- so she didn't leave her house until one to pick me up. She lived an hour away. The terminal at the Oakland Airport closes at night (or at least it used to) so I had to sit out on a curb in the middle of the night in Oakland, California waiting for my friend. The very nice custodian kept an eye on me until my friend arrived.
13. When I was 15 I was in a city talent show. I sang "On My Own" from Les Mis. I was three weeks away from being 16. When the MC introduced me, he said, "Now this next girl, she's almost 16, but she looks like she's 28..." That really hurt my feelings. No one wants to look almost twice their age. So now when someone tells me that they think I'm in my 20's, I wonder what the difference is now that I look so young- as compared to then when I looked "old".
14. On my senior year choir tour, I sprained my ankle the last day. I was playing double dutch jump rope and -I'm not sure if it was on purpose or not- the person swinging the rope tripped me. Those in charge didn't want to spoil the perfect record of an entire tour without a trip to the ER so they wouldn't take me to be seen. The next day, I got off the bus and crawled across a parking lot to get to a phone. I couldn't walk at all and no one would help me (I was not one of the more sought after people in high school). Finally on my way back to the bus, the choir teacher and one other student offered to help me back to the bus. I was on crutches for two weeks and earned the "jump rope klutz" award at the choir end of year party.
15. If the icons on my computer screen at work are not in the right order, I have to close down all the programs and re-open everything in the right order. It drives me nuts to have them randomized.
16. I don't have a favorite flower. That's like asking me to pick a favorite food. There are just too many that I love. But I am quite partial to roses, fuschia (especially white and purple double petaled), hibiscus and bright blue hydrangeas.
17. Rapunzel is my favorite Disney princess. When we went last year and we were watching the parade, I started crying when the song, "At last I see the Light" started to play and Rapunzel's float went by. But I didn't go wait in line for an hour to meet her.
18. When I was less than a year old, my family did not have a dining room table. We sat on the floor of the dining room, picnic style. One day, while we were at dinner, the doorbell rang. It was our new dining room table being delivered. Everyone jumped up and rushed to the door to see it- and left baby Bakeshow all alone. I crawled around and ate, played in, or sat in everyone's dinner. Somewhere there is a picture of baby me covered in carrots and potatoes.
19. When I was baptized, my dad told me, "When you come out of the water, smile." I was very prepared for it. But my hair was long and in a single braid. After my dad said the baptismal prayer, he dunked me- I felt him bringing me up a little so I prepared to take a breath. I guess my hair floated up to the top and to be sure I was totally immersed, he pushed me down farther. So when I came out of the water, I couldn't smile because I was choking.
20. I used to have pen pals all over the country. I had one in Stockton, Ca, one in Palm Beach, Fl (which if I knew then what I knew now about crazy people on the Internet- I wouldn't have done it. Who knows who I was writing to..?) and one in Boise, Id (but I actually knew her).
21. I'm still a little bit afraid of the dark. I can't sleep if I have toes hanging over the end of the bed. I have to curl up and not touch any edges.
22. To Kindergarten Bakeshow, the greatest thing in the whole world was the sandbox. Every day I would hurry to do my seat work so I could be the first one to the sandbox. There was only room for four kids- so if other kids finished before me I was devastated. To this day I loooooove playing in sand. Even if it's just to run my fingers through it. And when I went to Hawaii, I made sure to take time to look at the individual grains of sand, to appreciate their beauty, and recognized the fact that I am probably the only human being who will ever look at that grain of sand.
23. I am a stickler for tradition, especially ancient tradition. When I was at school in England, there were certain doorways and patches of lawn that only Fellows and Graduates were allowed to walk through/on. It made me sooo angry when my American classmates disregarded the centuries old traditions of the school and showed them no respect.
24. Speaking of School in England' I once held the door open for Steven Hawking and his entourage. He is a fellow at Gonville and Caius (pronounced KEYS) College and was leaving at the same time as me so I held open the gate for him.
25. When I was little, I was scared by the movies The Hobbit (the Rankin Bass animated version), The Secret of Nimh, and Time Bandits. I'm sure if I watched these movies now I would laugh at how silly they are, but they caused many a nightmare for me (especially Time Bandits).
26. If time travel ever became possible, I don't know where I would go first. I would LOVE to go to ancient Egypt (hell, I'd love to go to modern Egypt), to Georgian England, Victorian England and Palmyra, NY 1830. I also think I'd like to go to the ancient America's somewheres around autumn of 33 AD.
27. I don't speak Spanish- but sometimes I dream in Spanish- or at least what my dream perceives to be Spanish. I also dream in black and white sometimes.
28.  My first job was working at Fred Meyer in the apparel department. I was 16 and made $4.80 an hour (that's a nice story, grandma). I worked there for eight years and worked my way through the shoe department, cashiering, service desk and finally ended as Operations PIC. I made $10.80 an hour when I left. So when people tell me that $10 an hour is a crappy hourly wage- it just baffles me because I had to work really hard to get to that point.
29. Most people know their cousins inside and out. I have some cousins that I have not met more than five times in my life and I don't have many cousins. I have some friends who have more cousins on one side than I do all combined.
30. I refused to eat rice until I was over 25 years old. I hated rice growing up. One of the reasons I left so late on my mission was because I was afraid I'd be sent somewhere they'd make me eat rice. My bishop at the time told me to humble myself, get over it and go. A few years later I did. The first time I had to eat rice was at an investigator's house- she surprised us with a dinner of rice and beans. As we said the dinner prayer, I said my own prayer that I'd be able to eat it and not gag. I ate it- it was wonderful- and I haven't been able to get enough rice since. I could eat rice everyday and be happy.
31. I have never had a Valentine, but I still try to celebrate Valentine's day. Even if it just means watching a sappy movie and eating popcorn and M&M's (my go-to movie food). But every year I get something from my mommy. No matter where I am in the world, she sends me a Valentine care package.
32. I bought a ticket to see Shrek the musical. I'm so excited that I can't even type that sentence without giggling a little. I've seen clips of some of the songs on YouTube and I think it looks so stinking cute.
33. Once I tried to watch the Superbowl by myself- just to see what it was all about. I fell asleep. So now, on Superbowl Sunday, I celebrate by watching football themed movies (ie We Are Marshall, or Remember the Titans).
34. My favorite word is "Indubitably" and I use it as often as I can. The best time ever was when I was at a party and the host introduced me to another guest, "This is my friend, Bakeshow. She likes to use big words." To which I replied, "Indubitably." It fit so perfectly and I was so proud of myself for being clever on the spot!
35. I look at the website Cake Wrecks every day. I always pray that one of my cakes won't appear on there- but then again, I secretly almost hope one does.

Whew! That was a lot to get through! Aren't you glad I chose only 35 over the 350 I *could* have done?