• I'm a Christian, a mom, stepmom and wife first and foremost.

    I try to be durned great at all of those roles.

    I have trouble being a "submissive" wife.

    I tend to be goofier than my kids - at times.

    I have books on every flat (and not so flat surface) in the house.

    I am an absolute geek and nerd.

    I am a master of sarcasm.

    I am very reserved.

    I enjoy wine a bit much

    I read more than most people brush their teeth.

    I like my solitude a bit too much for many.

    I have an incredible repertoire of mean/confused/aggravated expressions.

    I don't like sweets.

    I love horror - movies, books, personal stories, whatever.

    I will fight for my kiddo to the end - try me.

    I would be a life long student if I didn't have to work for a living.

    I can kick your butt in trivial pursuit!

    I hate drama.

    I love the smell of books.

    I have a strong desire to take books and hug them and even consider kissing them when I get a new one! (geek alert)

    I blog about nothing ness, randomness, mommy ness and books.

  • Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket

  • Quote:

    "Read me a book and I’ll be entertained for a day, teach me to read and I’ll have a nervous breakdown when I realize I can’t read every book I see.”
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  • 101 Things About Me

    I decided to do this ‘101 Things About Me’ thing because I read some others and I felt like I was having wine with the folks who wrote them. And durn it, do I love wine. 1. I am blessed.
    2. I am the oldest of 3 children.
    3. I am the only girl.
    4. I have 3 step brothers and 1 half brother in addition to my birth brothers.
    5. Because I grew up with so many boys, I received boy toys as gifts.
    6. I didn’t have a birthday cake until I was in my twenties.
    7. Prior to that, I had had two birthday parties.
    8. I started cooking the family meal at 12. All of it. Every day.
    9. My mother used to take in foster kids.
    10. Edited due to my new found love of people.
    11. I love my family something fierce.
    12. I am pro-choice and have experienced the horror of an abortion.
    13. I have experienced the horror of a rape.
    14. I have battled a bi-polar disorder for at least 12 years.
    15. I have been depressed severely enough to seriously contemplate suicide.
    16. I imagined my funeral, and the sadness of my family members and decided I couldn’t do that to them. I lived for them for a few years.
    17. I am a natural redhead. I dye my hair various shades of red because I bore easily.
    18. There are angels. I do not doubt that one bit.
    19. And ghosts. I know this.
    20. My Mom's Mom and I have a very special bond.
    21. I also have a very special bond with my stepmom.
    22. Marriage is not all sunshine and flowers. In fact, I would say it was freaking hard work.
    23. I have never seen my husband cry. Edited to add: Until seeing The Time Traveler's Wife. And then it was more of a I Heard Him Crying incident.
    24. I don't think I'll ever be too old to hear my Dad say he's proud of me.
    25. My husband is my #1 fan. And I am his.
    26. I had a loooooooong life before marriage came along. Sometimes I’m cool with that. Sometimes I'm not.
    27. I didn’t become a Christian till my late twenties.
    28. I loved to climb trees when I was a kid.
    29. My best friends growing up taught me to kiss – on a tree.
    30. My right foot is bigger than my left by a size. Both my second toes are longer than any of the others.
    31. I won 3rd place in a spelling bee in 6th grade without studying.
    32. I like the smell of gasoline.
    33. I have a scar in my right eyebrow. I tried to fly off the table and busted my eye open.
    34. I don't plan ahead very well. Actually, that's not true. I plan ahead just fine. It's the execution of the plan that is often the problem.
    35. I have a crush on Joaquin Phoenix. My husband thinks he is ugly. Obviously, I do not.
    36. I take physical, spiritual and emotional comfort from the presence of books. 37. I prefer eye glasses to contact lenses.
    38. If I could afford it, I would spend the rest of my life in school.
    39. I watch very little TV, and yet will still pay for digital cable so I can watch The Tudors. Edited to add: we no longer have cable but I do Netflix The Tudors and True Blood
    40. I have a hard time comprehending the fact that some people don't read for pleasure.
    41. I don't write as often as I should.
    42. I can hold a grudge for way too long.
    43. It is tremendously easy to annoy me. Some people do it by merely existing
    44. I am cynical and suspicious by nature.
    45. Halloween is my favorite holiday.
    46. I dislike being asked to provide the name of my favorite song, film, book, etc - because I find these things change moment to moment.
    47. I prefer to be barefoot.
    48. When a film based on a book comes out, or a movie remake is released, I feel the need to read the book and/or see the original film version, regardless of whether or not I plan to see the remake.
    49. My brain is my own worst enemy; especially when I'm asleep.
    50. Someday I'd like to open my own bookstore.
    51. I readily admit to being a geek. Also a dork, and possibly a nerd - although somehow I fear being bad with numbers precludes me from being a nerd.
    52. I can become bored with a job very easily.
    53. I prefer to be continually challenged.
    54. I am fan of horror fiction (books, film etc) - and my tastes run the gamut from classic suspense to full-on, gorey slasher stuff.
    55. I always have a thing for vampire fiction.
    56. I have a fairly dark sense of humor.
    57. I am a caffeine fiend. Pass the Diet Coke please.
    58. I hate getting gifts. Its very awkward for me.
    59. I have been stalked – in real life, not just online.
    60. I’m messy but not dirty.
    61. If left alone, I can read an entire book in a day.
    62. I constantly re-read books.
    63. I have never lived by myself.
    64. I love Diet Cherry Coke more than any other type of soft drink.
    65. I am Cherokee on my mother's side and Cherokee-Irish on my father's. All told, I am ¼ Cherokee.
    66. I think most dolls are incredibly creepy.
    67. I have four holes in my left ear, five in my right, one in each nipple and one Monroe piercing.
    68. I have three tattoos.
    69. I have plans for at least four more.
    70. I can’t drive a standard.
    71. I can blow bubbles inside of bubbles with bubble gum.
    72. I have long, complicated, vivid dreams nearly every night.
    73. Like Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird”, I don’t remember ever not knowing how to read. (According to my mom, I actually started to read when I was three years old.)
    74. I hate driving in the rain, especially at night.
    75. I am very impatient.
    76. I have always believed I will die before my 35th birthday
    77. I detest having my picture taken.
    78. I am a dedicated mother.
    79. I can be a good liar.
    80. I cry too easily – but not about my own situations.
    81. I wish with every fiber of my being that I lived next to the ocean.
    82. When I was in elementary school, I made a daily trip to the HS via short bus to take part in a gifted class and learned French.
    83. I can’t speak any foreign language today.
    84. I quit the gifted class because the teachers treated me funny.
    85. I secretly wish I could sew my own clothes.
    86. I puke when cleaning up a child’s puke. Or hearing someone puke. Or thinking about it.
    87. I don’t understand Monty Python movies.
    88. I despise shopping.
    89. I despise malls and crowds.
    90. I have sleep apnea and sleep about 12 hours a day.
    91. I did inhale.
    92. I dislike girlie things.
    93. But I used to want to be a ballerina.
    94. Much to my daughter’s amazement, I can do a cartwheel that ends in the splits.
    95. My gym teacher urged me to take gymnastics. My mom refused.
    96. I talk to myself in my head.
    97. I am not very observant.
    98. I want to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy.
    99. I love red wines.
    100. I wish I were crafty.
    101. I take medication. I hate it.

The Former Frog, Chronic Fatigue and Getting an Education

Posted on March 4, 2008 by sarcasticredheadedgeek

I thought about blogging three different blogs for each separate topic today. Then decided to heck with it, no one reads this and this is written for me anyway, so I can do whatever I want.

The Former Frog

Apparently, my husband used to be a frog (think in the frog turns into Prince Charming kind of frog).  He never used to help around the house cleaning, organizing, gardening, cooking dinner, doing dishes, doing laundry, helping with the kids, none of that.Somehow, when I got him he changed into a prince. 

He works two jobs. He is in a band that practices at least once a week and, here recently, has shows about once a week.  He does all the laundry.  (And I do mean all of it.  I rarely have to do laundry and when I do, it’s because I feel like it, not because I have to because the kids are wearing dirty socks for the third day in a row.) He helps with dinner in some form or fashion every night. (Sometimes, that might mean just keeping me entertained while I cook, sometimes its keeping the kids entertained when I cook, sometimes its stirring stuff for me, sometimes it’s actually cooking dinner.)  He picks up the dirty clothes off the floor that I leave behind.  He does the yard work and helps me with gardening.  He spends time with the kid reading and playing.  He helps critique my schoolwork. He keeps the kids off my back while I do schoolwork.  When I need to study, he moves everyone to another room and asks for quiet.  He plays games with them so they aren’t constantly chiming in with “Mom/Jenifer, can we have X? Can we do Y?”

Did I tell you how busy the frog is?  He goes to sleep around 8:30 PM.  He gets up around 2AM.  He goes to work his second job.  He gets done there around 6AM and comes home, showers, spends a little bit of time writing on his short (and long) stories and then heads off to his regular job where he works from 7:30 – 4:00 PM, getting home around 4:30.  Granted, he doesn’t have much time to do all the stuff above, but somehow he does it. AND manages to play drums for a really rocking punk band every week.

(If you would like to know WHY he does this, please refer to one of my previous blogs regarding how much money he makes an hour.)

If I get tired after doing schoolwork and don’t get around to doing the dishes, he doesn’t complain. He does them instead.  If I want to spend time on here or out with friends, he takes care of what I normally would have done – and doesn’t complain.  If I am simply feeling lazy, he tells me, “Put down the dish towel/mop/broom/pots and pans and let me take care of it.”

I really am proud of him and I respect what he is doing for our family.  I am thankful he turned into a prince for me. J  

Chronic Fatigue

I am always freakin tired. Always.  I could go to sleep every night at 8:00 PM, sleep till 7:00 AM and still be exhausted.  I yawn all day.  I complain all day about how tired I am.  Now, it very well could be explained away that I work a full time job, go to school full time and play mommy to three beautiful girls.  Did I mention helping with homework, attending parent teacher conferences and working at the school?  Oops… I digress. This isn’t about my great and wonderful accomplishments (rolling eyes).  This is about fatigue.  Back to it. 

So my regular doctor had suggested a sleep study in the past.  I never did it.  Then my shrink suggested it.  Quite a few times.  I didn’t do it.  Then my dentist suggested it (from the grinding of my teeth he assumed I have sleep apnea).  Keith suggested it.  Apparently, I not only grind my teeth in my sleep, I have night terrors, I snore, I stop breathing in my sleep. All that good stuff.  I scheduled an appointment for a sleep study. It was finally approved (good ole’ insurance companies and their approval processes) and I went last night.  If you really want to know what goes on in a sleep study, I will be happy to fill you in, but not on here. This is already too long.

So, I asked one of the techs who was wiring me up if she would be able to tell me in the morning what the study told her. She says “Nope.”  Then I ask the second one (because I’m sneaky like that) and she says “Nope.  But… if there is nothing wrong, you won’t have a second appointment. If you have sleep apnea, you will be called about a second appointment.”  This morning I was woken up at 5:45 AM and told “Hey, we will see you back for your second appointment in about two weeks.”  Woohoo. 

Yes, I really am happy I have sleep apnea.  See, this seems to be the answer to some elusive problem I have had.  And all the complaints I have can be attributed to sleep apnea.  (Wanna know what they are? Ask me. I will tell you.)

Now I get to have a CPAP machine to help me breathe at night.  Keith will find this very romantic, I know.  He probably will take over all the household duties because he will be so wooed by my loveliness in my mask.  The bottom line? I will have energy again. I can stay up late writing papers and not feel like someone has pulled me from the bottom of the Chickamauga Lake after having been shot and had cement blocks placed on my feet.  Woohoo for sleep apnea. 

Getting an Education

My friend Marcy told me a few months back that the key to getting your degree wasn’t getting an education but being able to jump through all the hoops the school provided. She is right. 

I got a call yesterday from my guidance counselor.  He needed to meet with me.  He had today or tomorrow available (What a notice, eh?).  I chose today since I was already going to be late for work due to the sleep study anyway.  He chit chatted with me.  He made small talk.  He asked what my grades were so far (A’s and B’s, thank you very much).  I think he just wanted to let me know that the school no longer is offering an education degree for high school education. They are still offering the degree in elementary education but I wanna teach high school! (Hear the whine? I need some cheese.)  

So I have a couple of options.  When I finish this degree I can a) choose to teach elementary school and go to school in regular classes at my current school– as opposed to my online education that I now receive, b) transfer to the other local college, major in English, minor in Eduation and attend regular classes – they don’t offer education classes online there or c) see if I can find a university somewhere in Tennessee that will allow me to satellite in via their online classes and finish my degree that way.  *sigh* 

 I honestly don’t see how I will be able to do anything other than attend “regular” college. I have never sat in a college classroom. I won’t know how to act.  I really don’t like this idea. I like being able to work around my regularly scheduled duties of Mom Extraordinaire, Librarian Supreme, VBS Leader, Terrific Wifie, Super Chickie Mama, Full Time Worker Bee and Goddess of All.  The way I am leaning right now is to attend the other college, get my English degree, work second shift and attend classes in the day.

Thoughts?

Filed under: Children, Christian Women, Cooking, Daddy, Evil Exes, House, Husbands, Life, Marriage, Parenting, School, Sleep Apnea, Step Parenting, Stepparenting, band, books, education, housework, job, library, money

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4 Responses

  1. Katrina, on March 5th, 2008 at 4:45 pm Said:

    Ok response one-I’m still wondering what the hell happened to Keith??? What kind of spell did you cast on him? Please tell me what it is!

    Sleep apnea? Or could it be depression related? Did it ever improve when you’ve been on meds? You always keep going no matter how tired you are and I don’t know how you do it.

    Now on to the third topic-I think you could pull off classes in the daytime/work in the evening, or possibly working from home (hsn.com is hiring customer service reps to work at home)…I couldn’t do it, but I’m lazy and easily distracted/frustrated.

  2. sarcasticredheadedgeek, on March 7th, 2008 at 10:49 am Said:

    Lol! I don’t know what I have done to him but its great let me tell you!

    Sleep apnea LEADS to aggravation of depressive symptoms. They are all inner-mingled. It has never improved. Hopefully when I have the second test (next weekend), they will put me on a machine and it will help.

    Thanks!

    What is hsn.com?

  3. Katrina, on March 7th, 2008 at 2:16 pm Said:

    home shopping network-they’ve got a big warehouse here but were hiring people to work/train from home. not sure if its local to here only or if they’re hiring nationwide

  4. sarcasticredheadedgeek, on March 7th, 2008 at 4:50 pm Said:

    Hmmmm interesting. I need to check that out.
    Email me if you know of something?

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