As of today, here are 100 things about me:

1. When I grow up, I want to be the curator of a “Little House” museum.
2. I read my first “Little House” book in the fourth grade. I didn’t own a complete set of “Little House” books until I was in high school, except for West From Home, which came out when I was in college.
3. I visited my first “Little House” site in 1993. I went back two months later.
4. My birthday is April Fool’s Day.
5. I share a birthday with Laura’s teacher, Ven Owen.
6. When I was little, my brothers told me I was born a goldfish and our parents took me to a magician and had me turned into a little girl, and if I was bad, they would have me turned back into a fish.
7. I don’t have a cell phone. I don’t want a cell phone. I don’t have an answering machine on the house phone, and I don’t answer the phone more often than I do.
8. I have neither cable nor satellite dish. I have one television and it’s off most of the time.
9. I buy every issue of Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion and American Art Review. I buy them because I don’t want those to get messed up in the mail. I’m not so picky about the rest of my magazines.
10. I go to the public library at least once per week. I love libraries.
11. I love earthworms. I do not take them to the library. If you dare me to kiss an earthworm, I will probably take you up on it.
12. I wear overalls about 99 percent of the time. I say I’m dressed up when I wear North Face hiking pants.
13. I always wear a gold Elsa Peretti heart and an antique gold locket, even with my overalls.
14. I had my ears pierced in college because I wanted diamond earrings, which I’ve never gotten.
15. I met my husband in graduate school at Georgia Tech. We’ve been married 23 years. We were married by the same minister who married my parents.
16. I look just like my grandmother but nothing like my sister.
17. I usually write with a fountain pen.
18. I can’t sing. I can’t carry a tune in a bucket with the lid on, but I sing anyway.
19. I use my good china, crystal, and silver.
20. I don’t buy garbage: plastic bags, paper towels, paper napkins, or disposable anything.
21. I recycle.
22. As long as I live and breathe, I will have a compost pile.
23. My two favorite gifts my husband ever gave me were a truckload of llama manure and three cast iron frying pans. He didn’t give them to me at the same time.
24. I wear Birkenstocks.
25. I knit all my own winter socks. I love to knit; I hold my yarn the wrong way but it works for me.
26. I am a tartan-privileged member of Clan Gunn. Aut pax aut bellum.
27. My maiden name should be Poole. My father’s mother died, and her parents adopted him and changed his surname to theirs. My middle name is after my mother’s sister. I tell people my first name was inspired by the Nancy & Sluggo cartoon, but I actually have no idea where it came from.
28. You know that part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets where Tom Riddle waves his wand and “Tom Marvolo Riddle” becomes “I am Lord Voldemort”? My name is nansie and when I wave my wand, the letters rearrange themselves and spell: insane. I have been known to point that out to people when they tell me, you know, that I’m insane.
29. I ran a printing press during summers while in college.
30. Penny and I have the same research style: leave no stone unturned and dig as deep as it takes to find what we need. We listen to Harry Potter books in the car, and talk LIW out of the car.
31. I saw the first Harry Potter movie twenty times in the theater.
32. I hate big houses.
33. My dream get-away house would be a new one-room schoolhouse (I want insulation and double pane windows!) on a quarter section in South Dakota.
34. I am a Montana master gardener.
35. I was a majorette in high school.
36. I play the oboe and recorder. My oboe’s name is Bob. My recorder’s name is Dearest Esmerelda.
37. I don’t use credit cards.
38. I never took typing, but I taught myself as I transcribed Pioneer Girl. Some fingers wander.
39. I’m near-sighted and I’ve worn bifocals for the past three years.
40. I love John Denver songs. After he died, I couldn’t listen to his music for two years.
41. I scream like I’m being murdered when I see a bug. Well, actually it’s when I see a roach, ick. Lack of roaches is one good thing about living in Montana!
42. Some of my nicknames over the years include Clean Baseball, Psnaarf, Kumquat, Lily, Pooh, and Molly. My nieces call me Auntie.
43. I usually carry a knife. When I hike, I wear a buck knife.
44. I am allergic to everything except shrimp and horses. Being around cats unmedicated turns my eyes into red jello.
45. I am a night person. I usually go to bed after 3 a.m.
46. I think naps are wonderful.
47. My favorite foods are yellow squash, cabbage, and turkey. Turkey is the reason I’m not a vegetarian.
48. My favorite thing to drink is water.
49. My favorite perfume is Mariella Burani. Second favorite is Chanel No. 5.
50. I am a loner.
51. I make excellent vegetable soup. I make excellent Brunswick stew.
52. I majored in art in college and architecture in graduate school.
53. I drive the speed limit because I am a cop magnet and speeding tickets ruin my day.
54. I love soap. Receiving soap as a gift makes me very, very happy.
55. I love baths. I’ve been known to take three per day.
56. I have tarot cards, runes, and a crystal ball. I know how to use them.
57. My comfort food is Cheez-It crackers.
58. I love maps, although I was known to get directions totally confused when driving before I started using a compass.
59. My favorite smells are basil, sweetgrass, and the ocean.
60. I am a snowboarder. I ride goofy. I ride a Burton twin 149 cm. board. It is orange.
61. I hold a grudge.
62. I wish certain people would leave me alone and prairie psychos would get lost in the slough.
63. I absolutely adore my mother. My father died in 1988 and I miss him every day of my life.
64. Because of Pollyanna, I collect crystals.
65. I am not a big fan of Christmas but I love Halloween.
66. I used to make a lot of money as a calligrapher.
67. I’ve never been to a high school or college reunion and I have no intention of ever attending one.
68. I was responsible for the empty toilets full of magnolia blossoms on the dorm porches during Alumnae Weekend at Agnes Scott College in 1977.
69. Cindy has been my best friend since 1974. We were in each other’s weddings. She is a year younger than I am but she married Russell before I married John. She has no children, but I keep telling her that Ginny is all hers if she wants to experience the joy of putting a child through college.
70. I always take baths by candlelight.
71. I am an organic gardener.
72. I wish I still had a waist.
73. I don’t mind it at all that “Little House” movies or television shows deviate from the books, if they bring people to the original series. I think the spin-off books are a waste of good trees.
74. I have known two wonderful dogs in my lifetime: Bunny (peekapoo) and Georgia (Alaskan malamute). I don’t think I have another dog in me.
75. If I need to remember something, I write it on my arm with a Sharpie.
76. I have a foul mouth.
77. I love to read. I love books. I love bookstores. I love used bookstores.
78. I think it’s silly to spend a dollar for a bookmark. I’d rather use the dollar for a bookmark.
79. I am buying all the “Little House” dvd season sets. I wish I was buying Star Trek: The Next Generation as well.
80. I was born in Atlanta, Georgia. I moved to Jacksonville, Florida in kindergarten. I moved back to Atlanta for college. I now live in Montana.
81. My favorite kind of ice cream is chocolate chip, unless I’m in Montana and then it’s “Cinnamon Griz.” Least favorite is butter pecan.
82. I saw the Beatles in concert in 1964. I was in the 4th grade and my father took me!
83. I despise being given cut flowers of any kind for any reason. When I die, I want my ashes to be plowed under at the Ingalls Homestead, so flowers would really be a waste of time. Manure would be nice, though.
84. I didn’t get my drivers license until I was a senior in college.
85. I love Chinese food.
86. I can write backwards as fast as I can write forwards. I used to take notes backwards in college.
87. I am scared to death of balloons. The easiest way to get me to never speak to you again is to shove an inflated balloon in my face to see if I’m really scared to death of them.
88. I love the ocean and I love palm trees. I love to look for shells on the beach at sunrise.
89. I am very crafty. I love needlework. I love to watercolor.
90. I set an archery record in college that hadn’t been broken the last time I checked.
91. I love to walk. I carry a walking stick or a cane when I do.
92. I have decided that it is okay to not like certain people and I don’t have to apologize for feeling that way. Life is too short to get along with everybody.
93. I have two children. I spaced them five years apart so they wouldn’t be in college at the same time. It never occurred to me that Ginny would graduate early.
94. I am a hopeless romantic and I need romance and affection like I need air and water.
95. I don’t care that my hair is going gray.
96. I have a horrible temper.
97. I love snow. I love rain. I love the wind.
98. I love to look at the stars.
99. Everything is because of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
100. I’m hoping that life begins at fifty.