how cute?

 this is my sister and i, circa…84 maybe. i like to classify this as my pre-ugly stage, that is right before i had to get the brown framed plastic glasses that matched my freckles…that stuffed dog, affectionately known as, “dog” is still with my sister to this day, he is much flatter now and his eye balls have worn off, the tinker toys in the background got mixed in with the lincoln logs and fisher price weblo people and i think were just recently sold at a tag sale. my sisters chubby cheeks gave way to a svelte young woman, where as i continued for the next 20 years to gain chubbiness! all in all things were good then and great now and i wouldn’t change anything for the world! love you sis!!!

Read Full Post »

the 25 things about me part 2…

so, i did do a list on facebook, because i was tagged by a few people, then the people who i tagged, tagged me back. so instead of doing another list on facebook and tagging people, i will come up with another more random list post it here and it will show up on facebook, but i wont have to tag anyone. (see how tricky i can be…) here goes;

• i think bullets look better than numbers
• the music i listen to reflects my mood, for instance, if i am in a bad mood you will most likely find me listening to ‘break stuff’ by limp bizquit very loudly
• my first job was at kentucky fried chicken, i never liked fried chicken but every once in a while i have an urge for chicken strips dipped in cheese
• one of the cooks at my first job would call me ‘gin and juice’ i have a strong affinity for that song as well (not sure what mood that goes with)
• my dad never liked mashed potatoes, so we NEVER had them growing up, only until i worked at kfc did i find the wonder that is mashed potatoes.
• i have VERY picky eating habits, sometimes i wonder how i ever gained a million pounds, i also wonder how on earth my mom and dad found the patience to deal with the picky-ness
• i want to know at what point in your life do you decide not to care what other people think and start doing your own thing
• as much as i find it annoying that nick will only wear certain things to school, i can totally relate, i did the same thing
• sometimes i wonder if the excessive watching of friends that goes on in the house will somehow shape how nick looks at life (not a bad thing, its just funny)
• i used to chew my nails, all the time, my mom was always saying ‘get your fingers out of your mouth’ to this day a few of my finger nails grow really funky if i let them get too long-its annoying
• i also think the pokey black hairs that grow on my chin, overnight, really need to stop growing. i hate them!
• i always thought that acne was the curse of being a teen, i understood that it wouldn’t completely go away when i was in my 20s, no one deserves it in their 30s!
• i cannot wait to get married!

Read Full Post »

Thank you Mike…

so my good friend Mike sent me some questions that are awesome! i knew he would he has a talent for words. so in an attempt to answer them in the best possible way, here we go!

1.Name a favorite blogger you don’t know personally and explain why you like him/her.

my favorite blogger who i do not know personally would have to be Mandy from small town girl. i forget how i found her blog, but the minute i read it, i was instantly impressed and thought that we had a lot in common, turns out we do. she was the first person to interview me and now its like i have a bff internet friend, it is pretty cool.

2.If you were best friends with a cartoon character from the 80s, who would it be?

Great Question! and an easy answer for me at least, but he might be from the late 80s. my best friend would be Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes. part of me thinks hobbes was actually real and part of me totally understands the imaginary friend. i had on in kindergarten whose name was sara and she unfortunately got hit by a car. it was tragic, but she got lots of good gifts at the funeral. i even named my dog Hobbes after that comic strip.

3.If you could have a reunion with someone from your past that you no long keep in any kind of contact with, who would it be and why were they important to you?

that is a toss up, so in a two part answer an alive person and someone who has passed away. the first would be mrs. gordon. she was my social studies and language arts teacher in middle school. my middle school was very small and very cliquey, mrs. gordon saw the torment that people would put other people through and somehow make you feel better about yourself. and when we were in 8th grade we had a living through american history course where we started our own country, it was her that initially planted the seed to pursue history. the person i would want to reunite with who has passed away was my softball coach joel hall. he passed away at a very young age and was that adult who was so cool and believed in everyone who played for him. he played double a ball for a while so that probably elevated his podium in my book.

4.What’s the biggest challenge of being part of an insta’ family? 

i was just talking to kevin about something similiar the other day. when i was growing up, i used to joke that yeah i wanted kids, but i didn’t really want to go through labor, changing diapers or potty training, just give me back the kid around 11 or 12. well be careful what you wish for! there are two things that are a bit of challenge, the first being that we went from dating and having visits with nick to having him full time and being responsible for EVERYTHING overnight. just digesting all the changes at first was difficult, but realizing that our freedom as a couple had completely changed took a little bit longer, and at times i think we both look at that past. the other is that no matter how much i am there for nick, i will never be his mother, and that is fine with me, i will always be jen, but i have noticed at times when he is angry at the world that he will take it out on me because i am there so i just need to learn to be patient with that  and remember that its not me personally its all the other shit that swirls around.

5.What’s the biggest reward of the same?

and of course the flip side of all that is kevin nick and i have formed a wonderful little family unit. with all the ups and downs and bad progress reports and lies, the foundation that we have in place for nick is the most rewarding thing ever. i get to witness the everyday development of kid with a huge personality and great potential and do not know how any mom would give that up. plus we still get time for ourselves when nick goes to his moms and everything seems to work out just fine.

Thanks Mike those were great questions!

Read Full Post »

the interview…

since there is no school and no work and the outside world is one large ice-rink, i am going to attempt to answer questions from the lovely Mandy, who has more in common with me then she realizes. it also happens to be somewhat interactive so if anyone out there would like to play along, here are the rules;

1. If you want to participate, leave me a comment saying, “Interview me.” (And your e-mail address, please.)

2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. I get to pick the questions.
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Here are the questions;

1. What inspired you to start a blog and how do you find inspiration for your posts?  i originally started the blog because a few of my co-workers had one and i was leaving that job. the job that no matter how many times it made me upset was probably the first fulfilling job i had ever had. not to mention all of the people who i worked with made the transition of moving to the east coast a bit easier. they were like family and i thought this was a great way to keep in touch. then it changed a bit when before kevin and i moved in together the situation at nicks moms house turned very ugaly and we immediately had custody of his son nick. my blog went from “this is what my new job is like, to this is what its like to be a full time parent when you hadn’t completely planned that was going to happen right away.” it was a long term goal that i knew was coming, it just happened a little bit sooner then expected hence the “Insta family-just add water.”

2. What three songs have influenced your life in some way and why? two major songs are dave matthews songs, the first being tripping billies and the second being grey street. in what seems like another life both of these songs were relating to what i was feeling and what i was going through. now when i hear them its a subtle reminder of where i was and how far i have come. for instance in tripping billies there is a line “23 and so tired of life, such a shame to throw it all away…” i was 23 and tired of life and so glad i didn’t throw it away. and for the third i really cannot decide, my itunes library runs the span of Beethoven to Marylin Manson with a sprinkling of country and babershop. all of which have some significance in my life. when i first meet people i am more willing to show them pictures of my ugly phase before sharing the full scope of whats on my ipod.

3. If someone offered to give you a multimillion dollar home in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the US for the rest of your life (in which you could live having all of your utilities, taxes, everything paid in full)  but in order to get the house you first had to go live in a third world country without any of the comforts of home for two years, would you do it? when i graduated from college that is exactly what i wanted to do, and still do, so yes to the question, but even more important is i don’t need the motivation of something like an amazing house to go to the third world. first it was Kenya, then it was anywhere in eastern europe, then i decided it had to be bosnia, i wanted to teach english and work with all the women who had been raped during the bosnian war. it is still something i want to do, someday.

4. If you had to give up your sense of sight or hearing, which would it be and why? i would have to go with sight. i am practically blind as it is and becoming completely blind is still a real possibility. but i do  have a photographic memory and people around me who can describe things in perfect detail. so yeah sight would be my choice. i know i would not be able to stand it if i could see kevin and not be able to hear him say my name or that he loves me.

5. Do you have a life motto? What is it and why did you chose those as your words to live by? Treat Others as You Want to Be Treated. to me this is just a fundamental aspect of being a good person. everyone makes mistakes or says things they don’t mean but if everyone treated everyone else the way they wanted to be treated, can you imagine how different the world would be. i know its a tall order, so i am starting small and trying to instill that in nick. 

Read Full Post »