February 28, 2009

Confessions of a kleptomaniac

It seems like most of us learned that stealing was wrong the hard way. How many of you can remember being dragged back into a store by your mom and forced to tell the owner you stole a pack of gum or a candy bar? And I bet you all learned your lesson and never stole again, right? Well not so for me. I was seriously a klepto when I was a kid. My poor mom would get calls from my friend's moms wondering if I had "accidentally" brought their child's favorite little toys home. Sorry mom. The thing about stealing though, is that it also makes you lie to cover your tracks.

One time when I was 5, I was in primary and a girl in my class dropped her ring and it rolled. Oh how I wanted that ring. I spotted it while we were all helping her to search, grabbed it without being seen, and continued to help look for the not-so-lost ring. Later that day at home I was sporting my find and my mom asked where I got it. Apparently I was even better at lying than stealing and without missing a beat I told her my primary teacher gave it to me for being the best behaved that day. What and ironic lie. Good thing I was only 5 and not accountable for my actions.

I remember a few times where I was at friends houses and just "had to have" one of their small toys. I'm not sure why in my mind I thought I could just take it without getting caught. I thought I was so sneaky too. I figured that if I put them in my pockets I would be caught, so I would usually stick them in my pants. That backfired though when they would fall out my pant leg in front of my friends. I'm pretty sure I would make up some lie about how that happened.

Probably the most traumatic experience I had (and hopefully one where I learned my lesson) involved a squirt ring. My older sister had a squirt ring and so I just had to have one too. We were at the toy store with my mom and I asked if I could get one. They were only 5 cents, but she said no. Don't worry though, that didn't stop me. The little devil inside me told me if I want somethings all I have to do is take it. So I did. We left and walked over to the grocery store. I was trying my ring on and admiring it just as my mom turned around. She was furious and I knew I was in trouble. She told me to go back to the toy store and give it back. Looking back I'm not really sure why she would send a 6 year old by herself to return stolen goods, but I guess my mom trusted me. I left to grocery store, saw some dirt and decided the best thing to do was to bury the ring. Then I didn't have to face the people at the store and my mom would think I had returned it. Moments later, hands deep in dirt, I felt someone grab my arm. I guess my mom didn't trust me as much I thought. I was busted. She dragged me back to the toy store, all dirty and tear stained, and made me apologize.

February 3, 2009

25 Random Things

Because of my love-hate relationship with facebook, I decided to cave on the "25 random things" tag, but I'm putting it on my blog instead of facebook. So here goes:

1. I can feel storms coming 3-4 days in advance. I guess you could call it my super power. I get sharp pains in my bones, usually ones I've injured. It's more of a curse than a gift really.
2. Nothing melts my heart like a little kid speaking Spanish.
3. I would drop almost anything I'm doing to go water skiing.
4. I love new toothbrushes.
5. When I was in 3rd grade I had to go to tongue therapy. If you want more details, you'll have to ask. :)
6. One of my lifelong dreams is to go to every temple in the world.
7. For a while the BYU directory listed me as being a lifeguard at the MTC.
8. My face turns red a lot, but I'm rarely embarrassed. Any strong emotion brings it out- angry, nervous, when I laugh, etc.
9. I might listen to the Spanish station in my car.
10. I did a year long term of service with AmeriCorps (think PeaceCorps but domestic) and loved it! (Minus the barely-being-able-to-eat-because-of-the-low-living-stipend part).

11. I got teased for having big lips when I was in elementary school. I think I've finally grown into them or maybe people have just grown out of teasing. I'm not really sure. I rarely put anything besides chapstick on and I think it's because subconsciously I don't want to draw attention to them.
12.
I hate chili.
13. My great, great, lots of great grandpa was a Viking King. He killed a lot of people.

14. My roommate always tells me I have princess feet. I think that's her way to nicely say my feet are freakishly small for how tall I am.
15.
I'm from the actual city of Salt Lake City, not the surrounding suburbs. And no, that doesn't mean I live downtown.
16. I went scuba diving and skydiving within a couple weeks of each other.
17. I am a huge BYU football fan. If I could have season tickets to the games for the rest of my life no matter where I live, I would be happy.
18.
I hate birds. Except for quail. I really love quail. Especially little baby quail.
19. I had a stealing problem when I was little. I seriously was a little clepto.
20. I was in Ballet West's the Nutcracker when I was 12. I dreamed of becoming of ballerina when I grew up.

21. Thanks to predictive text some people call me Lipsti. I'll be honest though, it makes me question what I said in #11.
22. I was on the diving team in high school. I loved doing it because it scared the crap out of me.
23. I've swam with whales in Hawaii and sharks in Belize.
24. I wash my feet a lot.

25. I'm in a picture in chapter 44 of the Joesph Smith manual.