I love the cutesy little box over on the right that has a few short sentences about me. Like I should be able to sum up what I want the internets to know about me in just a few short sentences. If I only wanted the internets to know a few short sentences about me, I wouldn't be blogging. I feel like those who chose to blog, chose to put their stuff out there for the internets to view, ALL of their stuff. So here's the real "About Me":
I'm an over-sharer. I do not have the patience to slowly make friends, to do the little "oh do I call her or does she call me, its been a week and I haven't heard from her, do I call?" dance. I didn't date well before I got married, I don't date well to make friends. I'm gonna talk too much, share too much, way too soon. That's just how I roll. Life is way too short to slowly put your toes in the friendship pool. The flip side is yah, sometimes I think I've made a great friend(s) when it turns out I haven't or I didn't play their game right or they weren't ever into me. Oh well. After I get over the initial butt hurt, (because seriously people there's always butt hurt when someone doesn't chose you and those of you who are going "no, I never feel that way" have never really been rejected by someone so either you've never put yourself out there or you're surrounded by yes men...), I acknowledge that things happen for a reason and move my happy butt on.
I have a handful of friends and I'm okay with that. I've always only ever had a handful of friends. I was never a social butterfly. My friends have always been a wide variety of personalities, even though there are a few of them. I think that friendship shouldn't take work; you should be able to pick up where you left off even if it's been months since you talked last. I'm lazy. I don't need friendships that require maintenance. I have so many other things in life that require maintenance (kids, The Husband, dogs, aquarium...crap need to change that water, backyard, car, house, and so on...), that I need my friends to be mellow and not high maintenance.
I suck at small talk. I can only ask you about the weather and your cat so many times before I just don't know what else to say. And after years of moving around all of the time and finding myself in "meet the new people" situations over and over again, I've learned I'm an introvert. Meeting new people and reaching out to new people and putting myself out there, stresses me out. I would much rather just hang out at home with my book and my quiet and avoid all of that stress. But I do so love conversing with others (see shares too much above) who speak in complete sentences that don't start and end with 'MOM!!!". So I'm still working on finding a stress free way of handling that.
I believe that Military Personnel, First Responders, and Teachers should be the highest paid jobs, most sought after jobs in the nation. I believe anyone willing to risk their life to save mine should be considered a celebrity. And current "celebrities" should be paid what an E2 with no dependents living on base is currently paid. I also believe that teachers should earn some type of bonus based on an end of the year evaluation completed outside of school by their students and their students' parents. I believe that state testing should happen twice a year: at the beginning as a bench mark, and at the end as a "oh hey, we kind of need to work on that" and the teachers of the grade should be the only ones involved in the creating of the test; no administrators, no state board of something fishy, but just the teachers who know the potential of children are endless when they feel safe and cared for.
I have no firm opinions about anything that the news tells me what I should have opinions about because I don't have any faith in any media outlets. I don't have much faith in my government. I don't have much faith in the billionaires and the random government handouts and medical insurance. I'm neither strictly Republican or staunchly Democrat at this point. I'm neither harsh conservative or freeloading liberal. I have faith in God and hard work, so there's that.
I'm a firm believer in things happen for a reason. Good reasons, bad things, bad reasons, good things. They all happen because God's got a plan for us. More often than not it's never the plan we had for us. I was going to go to college, travel the world, get married no earlier than 25, buy a house, get a dog, have a kid no earlier than 28. I attempted college, got married at 19, had first baby a month after 21st birthday, in a foreign country, bought a house while preggo with third and final kiddo, who I had one month before my 29th birthday. The Husband was going to make Army a 30 year career...10 years later, we were running for the hills (and our sanity). God puts us where He needs us, when He needs us to be there. Truly understanding that is the biggest test of my faith.
I enjoy a routine, but can't handle a schedule. I need the flexibility to take a Mental Health Day (classier way to say a lazy day). I get nervous when I have to commit to someone else's schedule. To-Do Lists make me freak out. I love organizing things, but then I just pile stuff up until the pile falls over and then I put it all away in my neatly organized stuff that's sat unused for the last 6 months. I have no fewer than 6 alarms set on my phone to remind me of when to wake up, when to get the kids from school, when to get the kids from school on early days, and when to give them medication but I only really use the wake up alarm. See also OCPD.
I've accepted I will never be in fashion, skinny, PTA President, up to date on current political events, understand those current political events, a scholar of everything, or anything else society seems to think that I need to be. I'm a jeans, tshirt and converse type girl. I got my first grown up real leather purse a few days ago and my first impression: it smells like Macy's. Because you know Macy's is where they sell real leather adult purses. I'm slowly learning how to drink alcohol that isn't masked with a fruit and/or comes in a beer bottle. I'll probably still be working on this for many years to come with my lightweightedness when it comes to alcohol. But I'm okay with that. I'm okay with learning this at home, and declining alcohol while I'm out. I'm okay with being the designated driver, always have been.
My kids come first and I will never apologize for that. I will spoil them with things that they don't need. I will provide them with things they do need. I will shield them from the craziness that is the internets for as long as humanly possible (we've already established a No FB until 18 rule--legal ramifications being the justification that's currently working). I will take a Mental Health Day to escape them every once in a while, not every weekend. I will never wear headphones while I'm with them. I have a very short amount of time to be engaged with them, to answer their questions, to learn their fears, to share my fears (to include bridges over large bodies of water & jumping spiders), to make them feel safe and secure. I will be sarcastic with them. I will try to survive them every day of my life. I will fail some days. I will love them always, even when I don't like them much. I believe that the largest legacy I will leave are my children. I will have days where I contemplate putting them on the curb and I will complain about that them because I've earned the right to.
I love my husband with a fierce and irritating passion. That saying about being friends before you date/marry, is true. But you should really loathe your spouse before you date. It adds a whole new dimension to your marriage. I have known The Husband for almost 18 years. I loathed him those first 2 years. Loathed. I loathed him for the potential he had that he chose to squander. I loathed him for the person he was choosing to be instead of the person he could be. I loathed him. But 2 years later, I had more patience with him and he had more maturity. And 2 years later, we were married, living in a foreign country, having a baby, figuring it out as we went. We work as a team. He's better at some things than I am, I'm better at others. But we work as a team. And when he starts slacking on something, I call him on it because I'm confident in us. And when I start slacking on something, he says nothing because he's afraid of me. Ha! No, he calls me on it. More delicately than I call him on stuff, but still there's a discussion had. :) No one person can be in charge in a marriage and just because the wife chooses to stay home doesn't mean she's a pushover or in charge of everything. We work as a team.
My house is surface clean most often. As long as you don't crawl around on the kitchen floors in white pants, you'll be fine. My house is comfortable. You are always welcome in my house, but if you get here after 7pm, I'll be in my pjs. I'm good with that. I'm not an amazing hostess; I'm a "here let me show you where I got this cup from so next time you're here you can help yourself, because I'll forget to" hostess. I won't ever serve BBQ on fine wedding china, mainly because I don't have fine wedding china, but also because I'm a beer in bottles and paper plate kind of person. Because I hate cleaning. :)
I lost my faith for the last few years. There's nothing like thinking life is gonna go one way and then having that door slammed in your face, and then another door and another door and another door, before you realize that your plan is not working and will not ever work. And it made me question everything and try to control anything and everything that I could control. It gave me OCPD. Obsessive Controlling Planning Disorder. Not a real live disorder, but what I've decided to call my desperate need to plan out every little thing, my desperate need to research everything. When things don't go as I planned, I have a freak out and start planning more--like I've got any control over everything. So, I've spent the last few years pretty bruised and broken trying to figure out how I can fix me, instead of just letting God guide me. So, yah I'm working on letting go and letting God. I believe that God hasn't changed anything over the last thousands of years, so "new" churches don't make a whole lot of sense to me. Also, having a Starbucks on site doesn't make me closer to Jesus. Coffee makes me closer to human, but not closer to Jesus. I believe that the biggest thing I can do for others as a follower of God is to love them--right, wrong, or indifferent, my job is to just love.
I like to go grocery shopping in the early morning with all the retirees/old people because they move slower than the headphones in, hurried/rushed, frantically searching 20 minutes before supper crowd. Therefore, they're a tad more understanding about my 4 year old's desperate need to push the cart/randomly bounce around the aisles. They think she's cute and don't attempt to run her over with their cart while scowling at me.
I have no current aspirations to go back to college to get a real degree and join the workforce. With the current going rate of student loans, combined with the fact that I've got 3 kids to help get through college (mind you, not paying for their college, but helping them buy Ramen), and that I'll be 20 years older than most of my competition, I haven't found a career that's worth all of that insanity that I'd love more than my current career. However, I do have my retirement "job" already lined up: the parking lot cart driver at VA/Military Hospitals. Volunteers make the world go around. My favorite "jobs" have always been volunteer jobs and sometimes no amount of college degrees make you competent at those "jobs".
My kids have chores to earns screen time on the weekend. This qualifies me for Mean Mom of the Year. I'm good with that. I've found that there are more and more kids with a sense of entitlement and lack of responsibility/accountability these days and I'd like to not contribute to that. I don't want my kids asking future employers how long before they get their work cell phone and expense account before they even have been offered the job.
So yah, that pretty much sums up me, in a lot more than 3 cutesy sentences.
