15 Day Challenge, Day 14

Day 14: What did you want to be when you grew up? What are you now?

I wanted to be a number of things at different times in my life.

Throughout my whole life I've wanted to be an actor, but here's a fairly accurate timeline of other things I considered at some point.

In first grade, I fell in love with acting.
In fourth grade, I thought I wanted to be a stand-up comedian.
Until I realized you have to make up your own jokes and not just use other people's.
In fifth grade, I wanted to be teacher. I had moved to a new school and was often laughed at/bullied by a few of the kids. I thought if I were a teacher I could make a difference in that aspect.
In sixth grade, my love of art won me over. I wanted to be an artist. I loved my art classes and the freedom my teacher gave us to create. I once built a 4 foot tall paper mache tribute to Garfield. It was beautiful.
In seventh grade, I wrote a short story that my teacher loved so much she asked if she could copy it to read to her children. This is currently my most realistic dream - to be a published writer. One day people. One day.
In 9th grade, I had art again. Ms. Bondar, she was spectacular. I fell in love again with creating.
As a senior, I was ready for college as a theatre major, I thought I would run that department. Uh, yeah, this was my first lesson in "Damn, there are a lot more talented people out there than you realize."
I ended up choosing a closer school to my fiance, and focused on my basics. I had no idea what I wanted to be and hated that everyone asked me.
I didn't know. Things happened. I had to drop out.
After a couple of years, I went back. I had a full time job at the time, so I went 3-4 days from 6-9pm at night for 2 1/2 years to finish my BBA. At that point all I wanted out of life was a job that paid decent, a good boss, decent co-workers and something I enjoyed.
I'm lucky enough to say at this point I have it.
I help students at a university achieve their dreams, by either answering a question or finding a simpler route for them to take. (Among a multitude of other things, but this is my primary function) I remember what it's like to be completely frustrated and annoyed with my school, I try to make it as easy as possible for my students. I have a wonderful boss who adores Lillie like she's her own. And doesn't have a problem with us having a "Lillie Day" every now and again where I can bring her to work.My co-workers are generous and funny and slightly off their rockers (hey, they're pretty much all scientists, what'd you expect?) and I love them for it. It may not be what you dream about as a little kid, but as an adult I have to say this is by far one of the dreamiest jobs I've ever had.

15 Day Challenge, Day 13

Day 13: If you could go back and tell your 15 year old self something, what would you say?

Don't worry so much what other people think, ultimately you'll make the right choices that lead you to exactly where you're supposed to be at the exactly right time even if it doesn't always feel that way.
Make an effort to stay friends with people that are important to you more. You'll lose some great people along the way from it if you don't. 
Your thighs are not fat.
Be nice to people, even if some say you're too polite, you just never know what someone else may be going through that a quick hello, a smile and a how do you do may change someones day for the better.
Keep laughing. It will keep you young.
And last but not least, get a needle, some thread and a blanket. It's going to sound silly, but we need to cut the sleeves off an old sweatshirt and sew them onto a blanket.
You can laugh all you want, but I promise you this idea is genius!

15 Day Challenge, Day 12

Day 12: Bullet your whole day.
 9/28/11

• Lillie woke up at 5, heard her talking on the monitor. I pretend to ignore her in hopes that she'd fall back asleep.
  Success!
• Alarm goes off at 6:05a.m. I hit snooze.
• 6:10. Snooze.
• 6:15. Snoo..never mind, I hear Lillie kicking her crib. Quietly mutter to myself my child has the legs of an ox as I drag myself through the house.
• 7:00. Lillie just said buh-bye to dad, waved and somehow managed to shove a banana in her mouth all at the same time.
  Loudly tell my daughter she is crazy talented. She smiles.
  Yep, she knows it too.
• 7:30. Drop Lillie off at Pap Paw's Daycare. Tell him she studied, but still won't point to her ear in front of Dad when asked.
• 8am-12pm. At work.
  Look at newly installed fish tank, talk to co-workers, answer emails, say hello to facebook, answer phone call from Alfred where he keeps repeating everything I say in a way that is both hilarious and frustrating at the same time.
• 12pm. Work-out. For some reason there's 3 very slim, blonde girls in my locker area while I'm changing talking about Abercrombie & Fitch.
  Totally didn't realize people still shopped there. The large amount of perfume that wafts out of their store when I pass it always causes me to feel slightly nauseated.
  I feel this has confirmed that I am old.
  Sigh.
• 1pm-5pm. Back at work. I carefully place my Doritos on my turkey sandwich and munch away while replying to emails. Look at fish. Look at facebook. Look up. Husband is standing in my doorway waving and looking smug.
  Awesome surprise.
  I show him the fish.
  {After typing this, I realize I have a problem with staring at our aquarium.It's just so damn soothing though.}
  Work.
  {Take break, facebook stalk}
  Work.
  {Take break, update blog}
  Work.
• 5:30. Pick up Lillie. She smiles and claps when she sees me. I feel my heart jump a 100 times with joy. Become slightly annoyed that something so small has such a firm grip on me.
  We visit with the family, talk about Halloween plans and Lillie's birthday. Lillie points to her ear immediately when asked Where's your ear? I get excited to go home and show Dad.
  Maybe tonight will be the night!
• 6pm. Home at last! Dad pulls in right behind us. Lillie and I venture to the mailbox to check the mail. I let her hold it on the way back to the house.
  She immediately throws it on the ground and points at it.
  Yep, mom agrees. Bills suck.
• 6:15pm. Dad gets on the newest edition to our household, a golf cart, {no, neither of us play}to go visit his dad. He tells me why. I don't hear him because I'm repeatedly asking Lillie,
  Where's your ear?
  Where's YOUR ear?
  Where's your EAR?
  WHERE THE HELL IS YOUR EAR?
• 6:20pm. After Dad giving mom a slightly crazy look, Lillie finally does her ear trick. Whether purposefully or accidentally does not matter at this point. She did it.
  Officially the smartest kid ever.
• 7pm. Lillie finished eating her dinner. Watermelon for dessert. Juice is everywhere.
  How is it in her hair?
  Wait. How is it in MY hair? 
• 7:15pm. Bath time! I stick my feet in the water and splash the kid. I can't tell if she likes it or hates it.
  Doesn't matter. I'm doing it anyway.
  Muwhahaha.
• 7:35pm. Try to read Lillie a book. She crawls away and finds small pieces of dirt to eat. I silently think I should take back my officially smartest kid ever.
  Nope, she just did her ear trick again.
  Title of smartest kid is back in her grasp.
  She yawns. Makes me yawn. Sticks fingers in my mouth.I pretend to eat them as I turn out the light and put her in the crib.
• 8pm. Kid in bed. No husband. I sit on the chair and play Words With Friends while chicken finishes defrosting.
• 8:15pm. Don't know what I'm going to do for dinner. I google chicken. Decide to bake it. Preheat oven and look through fridge for things to stuff chicken breasts with.
  Hello, green beans, corn & cream of mushroom.
  Beat chicken flat. Season. Throw ingredients in it. Roll it up. Put it in oven.
  Husband walks in in an awesome mood. 
• 9pm. Best dinner ever. Tell husband I may make a blog about it.
  He says it won't beat our frito pie recipe.
  He's probably right.
• 9:30pm. We finish watching Modern Family. Confirm that it is capital A.Awesome.Alfred puts his arms over his head in a circle and asks me what he's holding.
  It looks ridiculous.
  He looks serious.
  I can't stop laughing.
  Finally, I calm down enough to try to guess.
  All I have is ball.
  This goes on for 20 minutes before he tells me it was nothing. He just wanted to see if I'd actually try to guess.
  We laugh hysterically and realize it's way too late and we need to be in bed.
• 10pm. As Alfred walks into the bedroom I have a pillow in my arms shaped into a circle over my head.
  I feel pretty confident about my hilarity in this.
  He takes one look at me, turns off the light, and hits me with the pillow. Eventually, we manage to fall asleep through the laughter.

And that's a somewhat typical day in my life.

15 Day Challenge, Day 11

Day 11: What is your favorite movie and why?

Grease

 This has been my go-to movie since I was a pre-teen dancing/singing in my living room, repeating the script word-for-word, and talking incessantly about it with my friends.
It's quite the guilty pleasure.
From the cheesy lines
Kenicki :"A hickey from Kenicki is like a Hallmark card. I care to give the very best."
Danny to Sandy: "You can't just walk out of a drive-in." 
{insert my add-in line here 'No, you have to drive out!' Oh, man, am I hilarious or what?!}
Rizzo: Peachy keen, jellybean.
{A lot of times if you ask me how I'm doing this is my response}
Sandy: "Tell me about it, stud."
If you don't know this line, I simply can't help you.

to the great outfits

to how much older kids looked back in the day

to  the songs

Greased Lightning!

Careful, this one does have a couple NSFW songs and definite NSFW innuendos! I love how I would sing the words as kid without understanding the meaning behind them and now I'm like "Holy crap, they want to do what?"

And Summer Nights

When Alfred insists on making fun of me, this is the song he chooses to mimic.
In a falsetto, of course.
I could seriously go on with the songs, I know them all by heart.
Even the ones in the prom scene sung by the band.
When I was 12 or 13, the 20th Anniversary of Grease came to the movie theatre. My friends and I, of course, went. We sat at the front of the theatre, on couches that they had brought in, and sang/talked the whole movie. Now, looking back, I'm fairly certain we pissed off a great number of folks.
I also was fortunate enough to go to the actual play with a friend from middle school who had an extra ticket. It's one of the best memories. We sang all the songs from the audience, which I was surprised to learn at that time that the words were actually different from the movie version (less vulgar), and afterwards when we met the cast they recognized us at the kids singing with them.
Again, I didn't realize then, but do now, that this was probably fairly annoying to them.

Oh well, you live. You learn.

Whenever I'm down and out. I pop her in.
Whenever I want something that I know I love. I pop her in.
Whenever I want just some background noise. Yep, pop her in.
I have her on DVD now, but for the longest it was VHS. 

And now, after writing this post I'm fairly certain I'm going to be watching this tonight.
Yep, thanks 15 Day Challenge, you've successfully ruined my hopes of finishing the laundry.
{ha, yeah, right.}

15 Day Challenge, Day 10

Day 10: Give a picture of 5 of your favorite famous people and explain why you like them.

In no particularly favorite order, here are 5 famous people that I absolutely stop clicking through the channels if I see them on.

Lady Gaga

Photo Courtesy of Facebook/ladygaga

Any one that knows me, knows I'm a fan of music. One-hit wonders, R&B, country, pop, boy bands, you name it, I listen. And I love hearing about new artists/songs from different genre's from other people.
As a result, I'm a jammer. No, not just a slight bob of the head to the beat of the music, but a full body roll with an extension of whatever is closest to my hand as a microphone singer.
I know this is ridiculous, yet I continue to do it.
I'm also fully aware I sound like this on a good day.
But I love Lady Gaga's message. She's against any type of bullying, recently discussing this issue with our president. As someone who's been on the receiving end as a young child, bullying can be pretty devastating. So having someone as well-known and famous be an advocate for you - I think it's pretty great. I'm also in love with the fact that she often cries at her shows when performing for her fans. She makes me believe that I'm awesome, no matter what because baby, I was Born This Way.

Reba

I have been a die-hard Reba fan for as long as I can remember singing to the radio. She's been in country music as long as I've been alive, she's always there for me when I don't know what to listen too. She's a great actress, a writer, a natural redhead (I'm jealous as I'm not one and wish I were), funny, beautiful and rocked the hell outta the perm in the late 80s, early 90s.

My gawd how I wanted her hair!
I just love her. She's almost part of my family in my head. Seriously.

Ryan Reynolds

I don't know what it is..okay, yes, I do.
He's funny.

Ha! You thought I was going to say he had a rocking body!
I mean, that's true, but mostly I feel that he has a great sense of humor.
And nearly any woman will tell you if asked what's the number one thing they want in a partner? Someone who makes them laugh. I'm slightly addicted to laughter myself, which is why I married the man I did.
He feeds this addiction on the daily.
If Alfred were a celebrity, I'd imagine he'd be something of a Ryan Reynolds.

Neil Patrick Harris

My people, this really needs no explanation. He was Doogie Howser, M.D., for pete's sake! And now he's Barney from How I Met Your Mother. Two completely different characters and both nailed perfectly.What other man can convince you 'he's a bro' on a hit television show, while in real life openly gay and proud?
Not to mention, he can sing and dance. Emmy's anyone? or Glee?
Also, as I've mentioned before I'm slightly addicted to laughter and he totally does it for me.

Britney Spears

You can hate on my girl all you want, because I get it. Her awesomeness isn't suited for everyone. And she's had a few mistakes in her past that have been very well-documented for public consumption. But in my head, her and I are best friends for no other reason than I think she's someone who in another life would have fit very well into my friends category. We would have had play dates and complained about our husbands, went to rodeos, I would have been envious of her eyes, she would have not been envious of my giant feet, we'd talk crap about people who post ridiculous things on facebook...the stuff dreams are made of.
I don't think she's the best singer (neither am I), I don't think she's the best dancer (Lord, help me and my incessant running man), I don't think she's the perfect parent (here's looking at you Gwyneth Paltrow)...I just think she's a famous person who would probably do better in an unfamous lifestyle and I adore her for that.
I have high hopes that one day we'll both be shopping at the Family Dollar, run into each other and then have weekly date nights full of laughter and cheap wine.
A girl can dream right?

15 Day Challenge, Day 9

Day 9: Describe someone who fascinates you.

I'm actually going to take this down a different path.
For the parent's out there that read this, I think you should be able to relate to my fascination.And when I say fascination I'm referring to #3 (taken from www.dictionary.com)
Fascinate ([fas-uh-nayt]
1.to attract and holdattentively by a unique power, personal charm, unusual nature, or some other special quality; enthrall: a vivacity that fascinated the audience.

2.to arouse the interest or of; allure.

3.to transfix or deprive of the power ofresistance, as through terror: The sight of the snake fascinated therabbit.

Don't click on the links below if you don't want to become either violently ill or ridiculously enraged.
Parent's who will kill their babies.

I think the most recent and definitely well-publicized of what I'm referring to is Casey Anthony, if you're wondering where I'm going with this. I'm not really planning on discussing whether or not I think she purposefully killed her precious daughter, Kaylee, or if it was an accidental drowning that was covered up. I just needed you to understand the situations I'm referring to and not to abortion, which I know for some of you that you feel very strongly that the people who take part in this are indeed murderers.
Another blog, another day.

I think why I find these situations so fascinating/terrifying is because they seem so unrealistic to me. I absolutely can not imagine purposefully, or accidentally, hurting my daughter in any way or form that would or could result in her death.
I kinda physically just gagged when typing that.

I didn't understand these stories, these lives, prior to my daughter but now being a mom, it's like it's been amped up by a million. I dread watching the news, I've grown eyes in the back of my head, ears all over the place, and intuition in my buttcrack fearing that something, or someone, will hurt my Lillie.
I absolutely do not understand their thought process.
I know there's a lot of great out there, but when the bad gets so much attention it's hard not to focus on it and just be amazed at what people are capable of doing.

15 Day Challenge, Day 8

Day 8: What is one of your favorite tv shows? Explain.

Glee.
Oh, Glee.
Glee, Glee, Glee!

I totally just made a triangle of awesomeness up there.
Yep, I like/love/lust for that show that much.

For those that may not familiar with it some background:
New Directions is a Glee club at McKinley full of misfits who simply want to make a name for themselves. Mr.Schuester is their teacher, a former Glee club member and student from McKinley, who has high hopes of making New Directions as awesome as it was from when he was in it.
They kind of fail miserably at first.
But then they're awesome.

It's set in high school, so we have cheerleaders (led by the amazing Jane Lynch as the track suit wearing Sue Sylvester who is hell-bent on ruining New Directions and Mr.Schue). We also have a lot of slushie throwing in the face, since the members of the Glee club are at the very bottom of the totem pole.
It's a lot of singing, a lot of great singing, with showtunes, pop songs, country, rap (Mr.Schue is notorious for this) and just whatever creator Ryan Murphy likes basically. It's turned me on to some really great songs and it's almost simultaneously overloaded my iTunes with entirely too many purchases.
I think I love it so much because I have not a single musical bone in my body and oh, how I wish I did.
I love the arts, no matter what capacity, and I think a lot of the shows have a really good message.

I also feel that my daughter knows how important this series is to me seeing as we discussed this before she was born.
See, she was due November 8 not November 16, a Tuesday I was looking forward to because Tuesdays are reserved for Glee.
Nothing else.
Not even babies.
Or so I thought.

I was scheduled to be induced the 17th. No worries.
I can still watch Glee and do a few last minute things to get ready to be a parent. (Weird to think this was nearly a year ago!) Well, Lillie-kins decided that the 17th was not okay and the 16th was a much better choice.
My water broke around 7am.
I told her that whatever happens, I can't miss Glee at 7pm because Gwyneth Paltrow was going to be on it and I just absolutely had to see it.
In the delivery room, I made sure I knew where the remote was and that it was clear at 7pm no matter what was going on that Glee would be on that television.
Well, when I was ready to push on this baby, it was around 5pm. And the doctor said,
"Now, you can push for 30 minutes or up to 3 hours."
I was not pushing for 3 hours.
We did 30 minutes and bam, I was a parent.
And you can bet your butt, that at 7pm the television was on Fox 44.
My daughter knows how to git-r-dun and keep momma happy. 

As a side-note I'm not really that crazy now about watching it when it comes on right away...

but only because we now own a DVR.

What a beautiful piece of technology that is.

:)

15 Day Challenge, Day 7

Day 7: Describe your relationship with your parents/siblings

Oh, this might take a while.
You see, I not only have my parents and siblings, but I'm also blessed to have my husband's parents and siblings to call my own. And I totally do.
Because we come from "broken" families, which is just a ridiculous way to say our parent's divorced instead of saying something much more positive like..
We come from an extended family of additional pieces glued back together to make one awesomely, unique item that we wouldn't trade for the world.
So, go ahead and grab you a bowl of popcorn because like I said this may take a while.

I'll start though with my side of the equation.
 My Mom

This is what 41 weeks pregnant looks like..
Me, not mom.

And this is what proud looks like.

She is one of the most generous, kind, hilarious, ditzy, beautiful, compassionate people I know. She's also battled with alcoholism nearly her entire life. A struggle I witnessed first-hand growing up, while working 2-3 jobs as a single mom still willing to spend her last few dollars to buy her daughter a pair of name-brand athletic shoes for track so she wouldn't be made fun of. Or helping me sneak out the house for my  first dance because her boyfriend didn't think it was appropriate at 6th grade to me go to one. All the while keeping it hush-hush with well-placed smiles and winks.
When people say it isn't a disease, they've never been around it. They've never talked to someone who struggles with it. They simply don't understand the downward spiral and how it affects every aspect of your life. She's also a victim of domestic violence. One night, it escalated. Her or him. The gun found him. She was sent to prison for manslaughter, and I lost my mom for nearly 4 years of my life. First boyfriends, getting caught for sneaking in late, proms, high school graduation, tears of sadness and joy as she dropped me off at my dorm on my first week of college..it didn't happen.
She's out now, and despite everything she's been through she's still such a warm-hearted spirit. While we both have our faults, she's never wavered in her love for me, Alfred, my sister or brother and definitely not in her first granddaughter, Lillie.
She's my mom and I love her more than words can express. Through her I've learned to appreciate what life hands me, the good or the bad, because through it all family is something you can always count on.

My Dad and Sandra

My mom and dad divorced when I was young and we ended up moving around a lot. We didn't see Dad or Sandra much from it. Which really sucks because they're both amazingly loving people. They've been together something like 20 years, which is amazing to me. They've figured it out. I hope Alfred and I can boast that number someday. Both my dad and I sing to ourselves, something I didn't realize until I was older. He's somewhat of a pack-rat, I have the same problem.
Even though we missed out a few years together, he's my daddy and he's definitely one-of-a-kind. I love him for it.

My Older Brother, Jeremy

Surprise!
It's true, I actually have an older brother that many of you may not know about. Technically, he's my half-brother (different mom) but trust me when I say he's all awesome. We didn't grow up together and in all honesty, if it weren't for facebook we'd probably know next to nothing about each other. Except the few memories of me stepping on his heels trying to keep up with him at Granny's house. But thanks to social networking we do, he was in the army and now he's learning how to build guitars. He finally met his niece last month and my husband, and it completely freaks me out how much he looks like my little (full) brother, and how much both of them look just like my dad. Our genes are strong.
My Little Sister, Amber

My first best friend.
The charisma just drips off this girl.She's the type of person that you meet once, for say 2 minutes, in the grocery store line and then 20 minutes later you're like "Damn, I wish she was my best friend. I totally should look her up on facebook and silently stalk her until we can 'randomly' meet again. Yes, that is what I shall do."

Photo Courtesy of  Courtney Tande,
who did a wonderful job capturing my beautiful sister and niece

Yes, she is honestly that awesome.She is beyond gorgeous, hilarious, caring, spontaneous (she decided to move to Colorado just because - who does that?!) and in less than a month will be blessed with a beautiful baby girl. There are no words to describe how much I miss and love her. And how proud I am of the person she has grown to be and is becoming.
My Little Brother, Richard

He is one of the most artistically talented people I know. He's been drawing since he practically busted out of the womb (from what my mom says was at a whopping 10 lbs!). He does his own tattoos, laughs with me at our twisted sense of humor and used to sing Pretty Fly for a White Guy at the top of his lungs with me.
And yes, we both knew/know all the words.

 He once swallowed a tack, turned blue and had a tracheotomy in our living room. I can still play that whole night in slow motion in my head. It physically hurts me to think I almost lost him, even now. I wish that he too didn't live states away from me.
Big Alfred & Betty
Alfred's dad and Betty started dating shortly after he and I started. So, they have 10 years going strong. I can call them at any time and know they'll be there, no matter what.

When we told them we were pregnant (they had been bugging us for years), we were on vacation together. Las Vegas for one night (not nearly long enough!) and then onward to a ski lodge. We ended up buying them key chains that said grandma and grandpa. They said thank you. We just sat there. About 2 minutes later Betty was like "Wait. Are you guys trying to tell us something? No wonder you didn't want to split a wine cooler with me!" It was a pretty great trip and they can't wait for the day when we can take Lillie on one.
Kathy & James

When I first met Alfred's mom, she greeted me with a huge hug like she knew me and I remember thinking,"Wow, what an awesome way to meet someone for the first time" and then she threw this bombshell on us-"How's your mom?"
Yep, she knew my mom and actually has pictures of me when I was little. The kicker is neither Alfred or myself knew this, and seeing as I used to live in Texas but moved and came back to the same area but had no clue we were like weird. Even then though, Alfred and I thought if we ever moved past the dating stage that it'd be cool to share that little story with our kids - and now that we have Lillie we'll be able too.
James I can't say enough good things about. He's PapPaw to our Lillie and keeps her while I work, he hates it when she's dirty (No cheetos!) and I can promise you if you're going to play any type of sport, you want him on your team. This man knows how to get the job done. Dirt, scraped knees be damned, he's getting that volleyball over the net.
Larry, Christi, Austin, Luke
& Anita and Parker
Alfred's the youngest in his family, the oldest is his brother Larry, probably the most technologically advanced person I know. He lost his wife, Christi, a few years ago in a car accident. There's not a day that goes by that I don't wish I knew her better. They have two sons, Austin and Luke - a couple of the smartest kids I've ever met. And now we have Anita and her son, Parker, in our family. Anita has one awesome sense of humor and fits in well with our family dynamic. We give her a hard time, I mean she can't help it she's from Are-Kansas.
Lisa, Steven, Kendall, Jack
Alfred's oldest sister and her family always getting a thumbs up in my book. We actually bought our home (at an awesome price) from them a few years back (and a great bedroom suite!) and if you're not being laughed at, they obviously don't like you.
I remember once years ago we went to get a pedicure, well, I kinda have big feet, and we were sitting there. Lisa, LaChrisa (see below) and me when the young man working on my toes said,
"Oh, you so easy to paint toes, they so big."
My eyes widened with fear. I picked my head up slowly, cautiously, hopeful that Al's sister's hadn't heard this and there was Lisa's face.
Lisa's face with the biggest smile EVER.
It was pretty much hilarious.
So, yep, I'm the one with the huge feet and I love it.
Which by the way, Lisa, how's the training going, if you catch my drift? :)
LaChrisa, Beau, Taylor, Taitlyn
Alfred's older, but not oldest, sister, LaChrisa. Probably the most like me as far as humor goes. We crazy dance, we plot out our route and run for great sales during Black Friday (walkie talkie anyone?) and she gets it when I complain about her brother. She's also a natural redhead, which I'm slightly jealous of, seeing as I love my hair red. (I actually am not sure what my real hair color is.) Her youngest daughter, Taitlyn, and Lillie were just baptised together.As someone who grew up without a lot of family around due to the moving, I really am grateful that Lillie has this wonderful family that cares and loves her so much.

And because this is my blog and I can, I have a couple other people to mention that are family. Blood or not.
Randy & Vicki
My cousins, who took my brother, sister and I in during a time in our life where we could have easily been lost in the system. We had some rough times learning to be kids, and them in a sense learning to be parents (I think about it now and they were in their late 20s like me with a 16, 13 and 12 year old - damn, they're practically saints!) I'm incredibly grateful to them for all they've done for us and continue to do. Especially now that they're Lillie's Godparents and are doing a rocking job at it.

Billy Joe, Jan, Janna & Jamie
I have literally known, been a part of, this family since in the womb. When we heard the news about my mom, this family was our family and let us stay with them for as long as we could (before we moved in with Randy and Vicki). Taking care of 5 kids, 2 starting high school, 2 in middle school and 1 in elementary I have no idea how they didn't lose their schmidt. Even through all our moves, the one consistent thought and friend I knew I always had was Janna. We've had our ups and downs, but I'm proud to say she's still one of my besties and will be forever. There's no doubt in my mind.

It was the 90s, give us a break!

Emilie & Justin
Our best friends.
Emilie is mine.
Justin is Alfred's.
Vice Versa.
Seriously, we are so close that at one point Emilie's co-workers thought we were swingers.
{Is it weird that I kind of think of that as a compliment?}
We have a date night every week (sometimes two), where we watch whatever, eat whatever, bitch about whatever (all in commercial breaks because we recognize that talking during our show is unacceptable). These date nights aren't included in whatever our weekend escapades may be. We have the type of relationship that if we are in the wrong about something, we call the other out on it, laugh about it and then move on. We talk practically every day. If we don't, the next day usually starts out with a text, phone-call, email along the lines of
I feel like it's been forever!

We recognize we have a problem. Don't judge us.
We have a hard time finding new friends because no one gets us like they do.
Sometimes we roll our eyes at each other, but we'll always be willing to shank a bitch for the other.

And that's my family. Slightly extended but fully wonderful.