Since I have many newcomers to the various social networking sites I use, as well as to this blog,I thought it might be timely to offer 100 Facts About Me:
1. I was born in the basement of the church ministered by my grandmother. She was a nurse and assisted with the birth. She lived in the church basement. A flood washed at the bridge to the hospital where my mother was to deliver and my father was on the other side of the washout.
2. I was born at exactly 12:00 noon EST. The noon whistle blew as my body slid out of my mom’s. My mother swore to this even though my birth certificate says 12:06 PM.
3. I have six children: five boys, one girl [Joe, David, Joshua, Delena, Dylan, and Nathan]. There is a ten-year gap between each set of three and my daughter is child #4.
4. I am a licensed minister and can legally perform weddings.
5. I have held many professions in my life, including librarian, every restaurant position a person can hold, Lamaze childbirth instructor, medical front office work, medical transcriptionist, preschool administrator, police data entry (I did input on the tickets and incident reports), telephone operator, environmental protection assistant, mail carrier, and I also spent several months working with a team on a top-secret jet design for NASA called the AFTI-F16 with a ground collision avoidance system and terrain following. I started working when I was sixteen and “retired” at thirty-seven, then re-entered at forty-five. I am a now best-selling author, life coach, instructor, and website designer.
6. My husband is fifteen years younger than I am. We got married on his birthday because I figured he would never forget the anniversary that way.
7. My first husband and I married in 1978, divorced in 1991, remarried in 1994 and our second divorce was final in 1996.
8. I named my daughter Delena for my cousin who was my partner in crime when we were children.
9. My first son, Joe, named my third son, Josh. Paul and I did not have a boy’s name and did not know the gender of the baby before he was born. Joe was reading a story with a character named “Joshua” in it and suggested the name. He was four at the time (Joe, not Josh). Had he been a girl, he would have been named Dorothea Ruth. David would have been Amber Nicole. Joe would have been Christina Leah.
10. Only my first two children were born in hospitals. Josh, Dylan, and Nathan were born at home and Delena was born in a freestanding birthing center where I worked at the time.
11. At age 41, I became the oldest in my line of family. Both of my parents and all of my grandparents have died. It is a special kind of loneliness to have no one there when you turn the other direction.
12. My first son was born when I was sixteen and that experience initiated an amazing course of events that led to countless adventures. No regrets at all. I had David when I was eighteen and Joshua when I was twenty.
13. I have conceived using very nearly every form of birth control available before 2000 and in a couple of instances, while using three different forms of birth control.
14. I am adamantly against the circumcision of babies. This comes after extensive (and at the time, unbiased) research on the subject. Only one of my sons is circumcised and that was because I acquiesced to the wishes of my (then) husband (it did not happen again).
15. The paths people take to find God/Goddess and how spirituality affects human lives is a subject of tremendous fascination to me. My own spirituality is primarily Pagan; Witch, to be specific, with influences from my Christian background, which I cherish. I took the best from it and left behind the parts that did not work for me. I have also incorporated practices from other faiths, such as the Native American Sweat Lodge and many Eastern Religion and Druidic beliefs. I honor any path a person takes to the sacred if it works for them. Mine works beautifully for me and I am blessed to have a thriving relationship with the Divine.
16. Four of my sons are musically gifted and I am definitely not even in the slightest. Several of my children are gifted artists and I have no talent in that regard at all. My daughter even has a degree in art.
17. I literally sobbed when Mr. Rogers died. His is the only celebrity death to cause me to feel tremendous loss. Usually, I just think, “Huh, bummer” and move on.
18. As a military wife from 1978-2000, I lived on Air Force bases on Guam, in England, in New Mexico, in Idaho, in Southern California, and in Northern California. I now live in a tiny, extremely remote, mountain community called Grizzly Flats, California.
19. I am not afraid of heights, but I am afraid of falling, which makes me uncomfortable walking down inclines.
20. I have never seen “Old Yeller,” “The Color Purple” or several other movies because I refuse to watch a movie that is designed specifically to make me cry.
21. I will not have a pet that I cannot take in a fight. If the pet suddenly loses its mind and goes mental and a throw down ensues, I am going to be the one to walk away. I have owned a turtle and a cockatiel who both wanted a piece of me and were hostile from the beginning, but I knew I could take’em if push came to shove. The turtle is still alive. The cockatiel had a stroke and died, likely from his anger issues.
22. The only condiments I ever eat are salt, pepper, and butter. No ketchup, mustard, mayo, relish, etc. Occasionally, I will eat light BBQ sauce.
23. I do not like foods that are a spoiled something else such as buttermilk, sour cream, cottage cheese, yogurt, etc. I only like cheese when it is cooked, such as lasagna, pizza, potato skins, Mexican food, and such. Currently, I eat what a slightly relaxed Paleo diet and very rarely have sugar or sweeteners, grains, legumes, or dairy foods.
24. When I got married the first time, my mother and I took the artificial flowers from a local graveyard, kept track of the graves they were on, decorated the church, then later returned the flowers to their rightful places.
25. When I married my first husband for the second time, I wore black since we had poor relationship luck the first time when I wore white.
26. When I got married in 1978, I was terrified of people who drank alcohol. My mother and father convinced me that people who drink beat their wives and people who smoke, die of lung cancer.
27. I smoked for two years and then quit. I was not very good at it.
28. I am an avid supporter of the nationwide legalization of medical marijuana, but I am not a routine smoker at all.
29. I used to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation or Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reruns five nights a week.
30. I do not have a television service and anything I watch comes from online sources. No commercials in months now.
31. I never watch the news and believe it is a strong contributor to the rise in clinical depression and overall tension in Americans.
32. My youngest son has no middle name. David’s middle name is “Uriah” after my ex’s grandfather. Delena has two middle names, “Alexis” and “Katherine” because I couldn’t decide. When she was around three, for some reason, she would tell people that she had a long name because she was “sensitive.” My own middle name is “Marie.”
33. My first name came from my father mishearing the name of a ballerina named Caterina Valente. My mother wanted to name me Lydia Jane.
34. My father was in the same Army hospital in Germany as Elvis Presley.
35. My grandfather could not say “Katrina” and from my birth until 1994, my family called me “Kathy.” Several people from my hometown still call me Kathy.
36. My maiden name was Chapman and my first married name was Humphrey. My paternal grandfather was a direct descendent of the brother of John Chapman, the real Johnny Appleseed.
37. On a flight from Louisville to Dallas to San Francisco in 1978, I sat next to Mike Farrell from MASH (in coach, no less).
38. I have never flown anywhere first class, but it is on my bucket list. Flying is my favorite form of transportation.
39. Once, on Guam, we could not get a good parking place on July 4th to watch the fireworks over Tamuning Bay, so we crept stealthily onto the back lawn of the governor’s mansion, smoked pot, ate oatmeal cookies, and had a great view.
40. I rarely drink alcohol, only once a year or so.
41. When I was pregnant with Joe, I would get severely ill from things I saw on TV, like KFC commercials. I did not even have to smell it; just see it.
42. My mother couldn’t stand food smells when she was pregnant with Allen, my younger brother, and told me that toast and applesauce were what Jesus ate for breakfast. She could feed me those things without smelling anything cooking and I ate it voraciously given the Jesus connection. She craved strawberry ice cream with cherry tomatoes mixed in it.
43. My first little girl crush was Gomer Pyle. He was just so niiice. Later, I was a David Cassidy girl, not a Donnie Osmond girl.
44. I could never turn cartwheels, do round-offs or any other flipping upside down activity. It just didn’t happen despite many, many hours of backyard attempts logged in.
45. When I was ten years old, my brother, who was 4, buried me in river sand, which was fine, but then held a baby snake over my mouth and told me that if I yelled for Mom, he was dropping it in. The sand was heavy enough that it trapped me there for hours after he wandered off in boredom.
46. I graduated from High School a year early via GED. I now have a PhD in Religion with a minor in Psychology. I carried a 4.0 grade point average all through college.
47. I cannot swim or roller skate, despite a million boyfriends insisting they could teach me. I am also a terrible dancer. Grace is not one of my attributes, unfortunately.
48. I am an excellent cook. I mean truly excellent. I wrote a book, Goddess in the Kitchen, on the energy we instill into food and how to manifest change through what we cook, plus some of my favorite recipes.
49. Five of my six babies slept with me until they were a year old and some longer. All went easily into their own beds when it was time.
50. I have very little body hair and only shave my legs maybe once a month.
51. I have spent many hours sleeping on the back of a motorcycle. I have slept standing up before. I love sleep. I am very good at it.
52. I once went two months without swearing just to see if I could. Then I missed it (a lot) and resumed. I learned from the experience that while rampant swearing is crass, one must not discriminate against words as they each have inherent value. I love all words for the most part, but do dislike a few like “signage” (it’s just signs, people), “wordage” (they are just words, people), or “staycation.” I will not even acknowledge the broken words people use like “supposably” and “irregardless.”
53. My grandmother-in-law lives in the same condo complex as Oscar de la Jolla.
54. People who are afraid of balloons scare me a little.
55. At a Burger King in Sacramento with Delena, I saw a man screaming continuously at his own reflection in the back of a CD. He was pretty pissed.
56. I burn through five to ten (depending on size) candles a week.
57. My favorite incenses are “Dragon Cloud” by Birch Bay Aromatics and “Campfire Jam” by Grateful Dead Incense.
58. I love several different kinds of music, but gravitate mostly to classic rock, classic gospel, and new agey stuff. My current jams are “Once More With Feeling,” the soundtrack of the musical episode of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and Santana, “Sacred Fire.” My favorite college class was “Intro to Rock and Roll Music” with Professor Eifertsen.
59. I was twenty-five years old before I ever went on a roller coaster, despite many visits to theme parks that had them. My first was “Space Mountain” at Disneyland.
60. I started an apprenticeship as a midwife in 1982, but had to leave the program when my ex got orders to England for three years.
61. Out of three weddings and six children, I’ve only ever had three showers. One was a baby shower given by my cousins, one was a baby shower given by my coworkers at the preschool and one was a baby shower that, my mother-in-law brought with her from New Jersey after Nathan was born (presents only, no people). I have only had one birthday party in my adult life, put on by my beautiful coven in 2002. I could not stop crying the whole time. I do not inspire parties in people.
62. I was a newborn, my parents were at an auction and a woman there offered to buy me for $10,000.
63. I am the only member of my birth family (mom, dad, 2 brothers) who has never weighed over 300 pounds).
64. I am very challenged in the raising of houseplants. I have killed all but one struggling little pothos and a (for reasons unknown) thriving umbrella plant that keeps outgrowing its pot. Everything else dies. Quickly. The Witches who trained me in East Anglia, UK were frustrated at my inability to distinguish herbs and flowers from one another.
65. I cannot say the word “Chernobyl” without first thinking hard about it and working syllable by syllable. If I just try and say it outright, it always comes out “Cherbonyl.”
66. By my second year of living in England I had developed a British accent so strong it took me six months of American living to lose it and get my southern accent back.
67. While in England (1982-85), I became quite an ace at darts. I never had to buy drinks at the pub because I would win them all in games of darts. I was even on the pub dart league.
68. I have two tattoos: a butterfly on top of my left wrist and another butterfly on my left boob, both done by Doug at Berdoo Tattoo in San Bernardino, California.
69. In the mid-late 1980’s, my ex and I were in a motorcycle club called “The Roadmasters.” I was one of only two female members in the history of the group and my nickname was “Tits.” >:<
70. I have read Tarot cards for over thirty years. I have written one book on the subject and I am really good at it. I am called the Barbara Walters of Tarot readings because I tend to make my clients cry, not on purpose, but only because the information I receive tends to be very moving. I rarely remember what happens in a Tarot reading I give.The message is for the client, not for me.
71. My favorite flowers are calla lilies and roses.
72. From 1991 – 2000, I lived in twelve different homes, six from 91-94 and six from 96-2000. (I hate moving house)
73. I literally have hundreds of books; probably over a thousand. I have a passion for books that is unbelievable. My husband just sighs and builds a new shed.
74. Although purely speculative, I am 99.5% sure that if I were really, really rich, I would still shop at thrift shops and garage sales. I am perfectly willing to put that theory to the test.
75. If I ride backward in any vehicle for even a few minutes, I get sick. If I read while in motion, puking will ensue.
76. My 7th grade math teacher was arrested for kidnapping himself and later was convicted for molesting young boys.
77. I have seen every episode of “Dynasty” and “Dallas,” even the horrible last few episodes of Dynasty because it is one of the few American shows aired in England when I was there.
78. I loved “Doctor Who” before it was cool.
79. I used to wear a tiara when I delivered the mail here in Grizzly Flats. We had fifty-three mailboxes on the route.
80. I am deathly afraid of snakes. I am OK if they are contained behind glass and cannot get out, but if they are out of a cage, they terrify me. In Idaho, I was visiting my friend, Joan Gibson, and went to pee. I was cool until I saw the gigantic freakin python looking at me from on top of the bathroom light. The next thing I remember, I was waking up on her couch with a sore throat and a bad twitch. Evidently, the snake liked the heat of the light. Evidently, I never peed in her bathroom or went into her house again. There is absolutely no basis for my fear whatsoever. (I already had the fear when my brother tortured me with the sand and the snake from #45, which is why he did it)
81. Although my son, Dylan (#5), means the world to me, when I was almost to 10 centimeters dilated, I turned and grabbed my midwife by the lapels, pulled her face an inch away from me and screamed, “GET THIS THING OUT OF ME!!”
82. I have been in attendance of over 30 births. One was my grandson, Aiden.
83. I found out I was pregnant with Dylan during my pre-operative lab work to have a tubal ligation. As I said, pregnant on very nearly every form of birth control.
84. I do not enjoy being called “Kat.”
85. I did not believe faeires really existed until I moved to my current house. When I got here, the faeries instructed me otherwise and I now have several areas inside and out that honor them.
86. Disneyland is one of my very favorite places in the whole world and I absolutely grieve that I have not been there in forever.
87. I never wear clothing or shoes that are uncomfortable. I refuse to sacrifice comfort for fashion even a little bit.
88. My husband and I sleep in the same bed, but do not sleep under the same covers and do not cuddle when we sleep. We kiss good night and go to separate sides of the bed with separate covers.
89. I can still remember the name of every teacher I ever had from the first grade on.
90. My favorite soup is baked potato soup from Stuart Anderson’s Black Angus.
91. I did not own a pair of blue jeans until my freshman year of high school. During all of high school, I owned two pairs of jeans.
92. In 1977, I was at a 4-H speech contest in the county courthouse with my brother (the speech giver) and my mother. I saw a guy across the room who I’d never met and told my mother I was going to marry him. (I was 15 at the time). I married him in April of the following year.
93. I used to cry because I could not be in the Partridge Family.
94. I have a very heavy pewter statue of an ocean goddess on a shelf in my family room and I named her “Punani.” My friend, Georgia, once said, “Katrina, you could kill someone with your Punani.” I replied without hesitation, “I know, right?” That is how Georgia and I roll.
95. I miss Hamburger Helper Hash and Sizzlean.
96. I do not enjoy botanical scented dish soaps. My house does not have an automatic dishwasher and I have been without one for over ten years.
97. I did not see the house we now own until the moving van was pulling up to it with me driving behind it. I told my husband, “Go find a house for me” and he did. He did a great job. It was an awesome experience, as though he was giving me the house as a surprise gift. He chose wisely.
98. My “Christmas” tree and decorations come down usually the day after Winter Solstice, so when other people are still shopping, I’m done. After energy releases for a holiday, I like to move on. My favorite holiday is Halloween/Samhain. I love putting the year to sleep.
99. Each year, I work as staff at the GH Fan Club Weekend in Studio City, California. I have written three books about the event. I love the relationships I have formed with some of the actors and the event staff.
100. As of the writing of this list, I have authored a total of twenty-seven books including an erotic novelette under the pseudonym of Portia Price called All Hands on Dick: The Sexy High Seas Adventures of Captain Dick Ragged.
To learn more about Katrina’s life growing up in rural Kentucky, read the book Leaving Kentucky in the Broad Daylight.