My name is Jen. My husband Paul and I met in November of 2007, married in December 2008, and we had Nathan in February 2009.
So we are newlyweds with a new baby and a new family and trying to figure it all out. It’s neat being a mommy… When I had Nathan, I learned very quickly that I had entered into his world, not the other way around. Paul and I have dodged poop bombs, nearly drowned in streams of pee, and I learned how not to put a diaper on (click here to read that story.) I am the one of the many subjects of my little benevolent dictator and a source of entertainment for my husband.
I graduated high school in 1999 with Honors. After I graduated high school, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up, so I worked some odd-and-end jobs like factory work, fast food, and waitressing while I ruminated over my impending future until I finally enrolled in college a few years later. I initially wanted to be a teacher. Then I changed my major to journalism, then to creative writing, then to English, then to Psychiatry, then to Social Work, then to Psychology… Just when I thought I would never figure out my life’s calling, I stumbled upon Graphic Design and fell in love. I graduated college with a degree in Graphic Design and then landed a job working for a small, local advertising agency as their graphic designer/marketer/project manager/web designer/web developer. I then got fired from my job because *gasp* get ready for this one, folks… I got pregnant. I didn’t have the energy, however, to pursue any legal options. I was too busy puking nonstop. Now, I am a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM) who writes in her spare time in an attempt to keep her sanity. Still dying to know more? Here’s 25 more totally random facts about me.
We have four cats… Andrew is our obese lovable Special Needs orange Tabby, Turbo is our 30 pound Maine Coon kitty who likes to play in water, Meeper is our cat who’s afraid of everything- even the sound of a gurgling stomach, and Kayli is our fat sausage-link-look-a-like kitty who rivals Meeper in the fear factor. All four of our cats are rescue kitties, and all four of them keep us laughing with their own individual neurosis and antics.
We live in a small house that my husband’s great-great grandparents built (click here to read about it) in a very rural area of Tennessee with giant, science-experiment-gone-awry bugs (here is a story about my encounter with one in particular.) I don’t like giant bugs or anything slimy, creepy, or crawly. I am a total girl in that regard.
I am mildly obsessive compulsive.
Ok, fine, I admit it. It’s a tad more than mild. I am diagnosed OCD.
I don’t like germs, clutter, tufts of cat fur lying in conspicuous places, socks on the floor, dust bunnies, haphazardly placed refrigerator magnets, condensation on cups, light clothes in the dark pile or dark clothes in the light pile. I like disinfecting wipes, a clean dirt barrel in the vacuum cleaner, non-chapped lips, my family, and fantasizing about my ultimate rise to world tyranny.
Welcome to my world, NathanRising.