Hi! My name is Jenn, and I'm a 28 year old married and babied chick. In addition to a husband, an eight year old daughter, and a six year old autistic son, I also have six cats, a few fish, and one snorty little Pug. I work from home doing a variety of writing and even some web design. I love blogging, digital photography and web design. Kitty.nu has been around for several years. Once upon a time it was home to my personal blog (you can find that over at 
Two Mondays ago, I received my first speeding ticket.
Last Monday, Dan’s key broke in his car ignition.
Today, I most likely lost my job (I don’t know why, and I did nothing to instigate being terminated, and for now that’s all I’m saying publicly).
I just…cannot…with life right now. Last Friday I finally spoke to my doctor about the worsening anxiety and depression I’ve been dealing with over the past few months, and my inability to repress things any longer. He prescribed me 50mg of Zoloft once per day, 90 1mg-strength Lorazepams to take as-needed (today was definitely one of those days, but I held off until now because it was just the kids and I, as Dan was working and is now at his brother’s house), and a 4-week follow-up appointment. Therapy isn’t off the table, except…I know what’s wrong. I can tell you exactly what is having me spazz out. But unless I have a genie or a magic wand, I can’t make those things disappear. I’m coping as best as I can, but the hits keep on coming, and I’m running out of strength to keep withstanding them. 
Yesterday we (Dan, myself, the kidlets) went over to his aunt and uncle’s house to help celebrate Dan’s sister’s college graduation. I remember attending her high school graduation four years ago, and now here we are, four years later, celebrating her graduating from college, and moving on to graduate school. She’s worked hard and has done very well for herself, and we’re all very proud of her. Then there’s my brother’s high school graduation, which is coming up at the end of this month, I believe. The group home he’s living at is having a celebration for him this Thursday, which I hope Dan remembered since I put it on the calendar. I also hope that my mom doesn’t attend, because if she does, things will be awkward – especially if Dan is with me. :/ I hate to say it, but it’s true…and it sucks for my brother, but that’s just how it is. In any case, I’ll be there, and I’ll hopefully have something special to give him for his high school graduation.
With so many graduations taking place at this time of year, it’s no surprise that graduation gifts are on a lot of individuals’ shopping lists. I have a few ideas floating around in my head. My brother really likes music, and already has a TV, so the LCD TV idea we did for Dan’s sisters when they went to college is a no-go. But since he does have such an interest in music, and has even discussed starting a band with a friend of his, I’m thinking about getting him a newer iPod, since he has one of the really old ones and its battery is starting to suck at holding a charge. Another idea is a set of excellent mackie speakers. Speakers might be the best option, since my brother can always use his Nintendo 3DS or his PSP as a music player. Speakers, on the other hand, would serve a better purpose, as he could use them to enhance the sound quality of audio playback on his laptop, or even his desktop.
If all else fails, a great gift idea is money – a gift card or even cash tucked inside a card is always a pleaser!
Friday 5: Mottos
1. The motto of the Brownies is “Lend a hand.” If this were the personal motto of someone you know, who would it be?
Jason for sure. And Amanda. And my husband! ♥
2. The motto of the Olympic Games is “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (“Higher, Faster, Stronger”). If this were the personal motto of someone you know, who would it be?
Probably Dan, and even me. We keep pushing ourselves to do more, and do more better.
3. I don’t think it’s a motto, but Apple, Inc.’s tagline for some time has been “Think different.” Grammatical iffiness aside, if this were the personal motto of someone you know, who would it be?
My 17 year old brother. He has a unique approach to things with his thought processes.
4. Here are some food-related marketing slogans: “The incredible, edible egg.” “Beef: It’s what’s for dinner.” “Got milk?” What would be a cool marketing slogan for something you’ve eaten in the past twenty-four hours that doesn’t already have one?
Cheese: more is better.
5. Here is a very long list of cool Latin phrases. Which will you adopt as your personal motto for the upcoming week?
We’ll go with whatever motto there is about focusing on the positive, because loading that Wikipedia page crashed my browser. 
I’m really excited about my plans for tomorrow: photographing a wedding with Amanda. Her friend is getting married (hence the wedding), so she is photographing everything, and asked me to pitch in. This will be my first “professional” shoot, and my first wedding, but I’m not worried about things going wrong. 
Amanda is the primary photographer, and even though I didn’t have experience with photographing rehearsal dinners or engagements like she did, we both have detailed lists of things to photograph, and there will be plenty of opportunities for us to photograph things outside of the list. With weddings you want to photograph all the wedding stuff, with rehearsal dinners you want to photograph everything down to the rehearsal dinner invitations, etc.
I’ve got tomorrow’s itinerary printed out, tomorrow’s outfit mostly picked out (black skinny jeans, comfy flats, some type of cami, and a black cardigan), my camera battery is charging now, and my camera bag is packed with all of my lenses and other accessories. Whoo!
I recently switched my cell phone from a traditional rubberized case (that only covered the back and sides) to a green and blue leather folio-style case. The biggest advantage to this case is that it closes like a wallet does, and has slots on the insides for a couple of cards. I’m carrying my license, debit cards, and car insurance cards in mine. But this means that when I’m running quick errands I may not necessarily have my store loyalty cards with me. They’re either on my bulky keyring (which I may have left in my purse), or in my regular wallet. So today I’m making it a goal to login to Key Ring App and make sure that I have all of my store loyalty cards added. This way I can give the cashier my phone to scan, or I can read the number to her. An extra step, yes, but it’s worth it for de-cluttering!
So Dan and I have been drooling, completely and utterly lusting after, wishing on a star for, a Lovesac Sactional. But at prices of $2,000 and up, well, that’s not happening anytime soon (we first discovered Sactionals in 2009, ha!). So tonight we were sitting here giggling over what our acquiring of a Sactional would be like (since you can buy individual pieces):
- Ottoman
- Armless chair
- Chair with arms
- Love seat
- Chaise lounge
- Couch
- Sactional!
I completely lost it over ottoman. I’m still snickering.
Wife Swap is a show I watch pretty regularly, and if it has taught me anything, it’s this: I would never be eligible to appear on the show because I am not interesting enough. For Dan and I, everything from our personalities to how we manage our household to how we raise our children is all too moderate. There’s nothing “extreme” about either of us. We don’t have screaming children who stomp on floors and scribble on dressers; we don’t have nineteen dogs plus a goat housed in our living room; all of our bedrooms have walls; and we wouldn’t let our daughter at the age of twelve years old to put risque photos on the internet.
The downside of this realization is that we’ll never earn $20,000 (I read in a few places that $20k is the average a family is paid to be on Wife Swap) in exchange for switching families for two weeks. But the upside is that our house is neat and clean, and our children won’t require incarceration and/or therapy as adults. I’d say that’s a pretty nice silver lining.