Tag! I'm It!

My sister-in-law, Michelle, has tagged me. If you are "tagged," you have to write a blog with 10 weird, funny, random things, facts, habits, or goals about yourself. Then, you choose 10 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. So, here goes:

1. I never do chain-letters or e-mails that require you to send something to 10 of your friends. I usually don't want to be forced to do whatever the letter or e-mail wants you to do so I don't do it, and I don't subject my friends to the same fate. That being said, because I love my sister-in-law, Michelle (and I don't mind doing the first part of the e-mail), as a compromise I am writing the 10 things about myself, without e-mailing others.
2. I am absolutely intrigued by word origins. I guess that I feel that knowing the origin of a particular word gives it deeper color and meaning. One example is the word "encourage"- "cour" comes from the Latin word for heart, so the word means to give heart to someone. I love that!
3. I was born without one of my adult teeth (I don't know what it's called, but it's the one right next to the front right tooth).
4. I love canned peas. I know that it's a veggie that a lot of people don't like (Jim hates them), but I love them. I once ate a can of peas (cooked, of course) for a snack. Yummy!
5. I have never been able to do a cartwheel. I just can't get the rhythm and balance of it.
6. I re-read books that I love. Jim gives me a hard time about this one, but I always tell him that we watch movies that we like over and over, why not books (and with books it's better because there are so many details about the story and about the characters that you can't possibly catch it all the first time)? Chances are, if I've read a book once, I've read it three or four times.
7. I love kitchen gadget stores. My basic philosophy for kitchen tools is that simple is usually best (nothing beats the functionality of a good wooden spoon), but I can't help loving all of the different devises that people have dreamed up to prepare food, from garlic-mincers to strawberry-slicers.
8. I get really nervous about making and receiving phone calls to/from people I don't know very well. You'd think that I'd be old enough to not let it bother me; most of the time it's not that big of a deal to talk to the person, but I am still so uncomfoprtable that I don't make the phone call unless I absolutely have to.
9. I have to really concentrate when I get off escalators or people-movers. I have no problems getting on, but I guess I have trouble anticipating the right moment to get off so it requires my full concentration.
10. I love to look at classic cars. I am not the typical connoisseur though because I really don't know that much about cars, but I still like to look at them. I think that my favorite car to date is a silver 1936 Merecedes-Benz that Jim and I saw in a car museum in Reno, Nevada. It is a sweet car.