All About Kimberly

Sailing Along the Life of Single Parenthood

Tag Archives: pr blackout

Blogger Bingo – Task 8

My latest Blogger Bingo Post….
Task: Do a post on what you wanted to be when you grew up and what you actually are now!

Growing up I think I changed what I wanted to be on regular basis. I don’t remember there ever being a constant thing. The one thing I knew was I DID NOT want to be a teacher! Both my parents were teachers and that was a HARD job!

The first thing I can remember wanting to be was an astronaut. I was in Kindergarten when the spaceship Challenger blew up with teacher, Christa McAuliffe. At that age I didn’t understand there were multiple teachers – I only knew mine and that a teacher blew up in space. I was devastated and my parents had to explain the situation to me. Somehow during that experience, I decided that I wanted to go into space, I wanted to be an astronaut. This was probably the one career dream that I hung onto the longest. It wasn’t constant; it would come and go, but it lasted through about 4th grade or so I think.

After that I really don’t remember knowing what I wanted to be for a long time. There were brief thoughts of being a lawyer, a website designer, a banker, a college professor, and a business owner. All of these were fleeting thoughts though – never lasting more than a month or two. To be honest, even when I got to college I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life. I somehow stumble into a couple business classes, and I felt at home. Business was soon declared my major, and I finally started enjoying college. Before that it had just been “more school.” I still didn’t quite know what my role in the business world would be, but I was looking forward to discovering my place.

Then I was close to finishing. I had lined up those last few semesters – knew what I needed to take, and then two things happened. I started working with the debaters at my old high school, and I got pregnant. Somehow those two things came together, and I realized I had written off “my calling” years ago. I realized I LOVED working with those high school debaters. I actually looked forward to those very early Saturday mornings that I would get up and go spend the day with them at tournaments. As I was coming to this life altering realization (but still fighting it), I realized I was having a baby. This brought forth a lot of soul searching and one of them was about my future career. I realized that I did not want to be a part of that business world I had dreamed of just a year before. I did not want to go live in a city (which would almost be necessary to gain any kind of job or amount of successfulness with a business degree) and I did not want to work 60, 70, 80 hours a week. I think even then I knew I would ultimately be raising this baby on my own, and I wanted to be home and a part of her life. Then I started really thinking about how much I enjoyed my time with those students, how if I was a teacher I’d have the same school vacations as this baby, and I went in to find out what I needed to do to change my major.

But I was too far along. Changing my major was going to take another year of school. I was about to have a baby. I needed to graduate – not stay in school even longer. So I investigated and found out how to become a teacher after I had my degree. I could start teaching and take my education classes at the same time. It worked, and I’ve now been teaching for 9 years. I’m so thankful for my daughter for so many reasons, but I do think that one of the reasons she was given to me was to lead me to the right career. I know the pay isn’t the best….the salary from that business career would make raising two girls on my own easier, but I know that I’m where I need to be. I love my job. I love my students. I love the connections I make. I love that I know I make a positive change in our future. The one thing I always knew I didn’t want to be is the one thing I love.

Blogger Bingo – Task 7

“Everyone has a “twin” out there, we want to know who your twin is. Do people say you look like a celebrity? Fictional character? Your father? Do a post and side by side compare you and your twin.”

This is my next blogging topic for MomDot’s Blogger Bingo, and it might have been the easiest post so far because I know for sure who my twin is….or maybe who my twins are, and I think you’ll agree by looking at this picture we took on Mother’s Day a few years ago – this was my mom’s gift that year – a 3 generation picture of her, myself, and my daughter Cameron. What do you think? You see a family resemblance?

Blogger Bingo – Task 6

I warned you that today would be full of posts as I played catch up on Blogger Bingo and so I’m going to continue giving you an insight into myself as I blog about the topics that Trisha at MomDot has picked for the different bingo balls. I was excited to see this topic because it’s something I’ve thought about many times.

“Tell us about your dream home. Is it a condo in new york? A town home in Boston? A sprawling mansion in Connecticut? Feel free to share all the amenities you would choose and even pictures of some examples of what you love.”

My dream home would be here in the woods of East Texas. It would sit on a large piece of acreage – at least 150 acres. It would be a large farm house – bigger than I need, but so much room – enough room for a growing family. It would be two- story with a basement. I’ve always dreamed of a house with a basement even though they aren’t really an option here, but some of my happiest childhood memories took place in my grandmother’s basement during our yearly visits. Our basement would be the center of the family not a place with piled up storage. It would have large rooms – with room for everyone to pile in the same room and be comfortable. I actually have the floor plans drawn somewhere. The outside would also be large and welcoming. The back porch being larger than the front – with room for a full set of furniture, a cooking area, and a large in ground pool and playground – a place we’d spend hours of quality family time. That would be my dream home.

Blogger Bingo – Task 5

I’ve really enjoyed participating in Blogger Bingo so far, but my Internet has been shotty the last 48 hours so I’m behind. You’re going to see a few posts in a row today.

My next Blogger Bingo topic is to discuss:
“If there was a TV show or movie made about your life, who would play you and your husband? What kind of plot would it have?”

I have to say that this one has given me fits. I really can’t imagine. The shows I watch don’t seem even slightly about my life. I haven’t been able to think of not one that’s anything like my life. However, the actress to play me is an easy one – Reece Witherspoon. Why? Because I love her and I get to pick me right? Obviously there’s no husband role in my life, but if I could write one in – that’s a no brainer – Matthew McConaughey. Yep…his southern drawl would fit right into my life. :) The plot would be easy enough – set in the south in the country, a mom who never stops between working and running her girls around, tries to avoid drama, but it always finds her. I think it would be a mixture of the drama in a show like “The Secret Life of an American Teenager”(yep, I picked that one because my life is full of teenagers) and the comedy of a show like “Roseanne.”

PR Blackout Post 3: Moving Bug

Everyone I know is moving.  Ok, well not everyone, but a lot of people.  Whether it be just moving across town (or the county) or moving across the state, it seems that I keep hearing of more of my friends and acquaintances that are moving.  I even have a friend moving across the country to San Francisco and my uncle just moved to Italy.  This seems to happen ever so often, but after talking to one of those friends as she was searching for moving companies San Francisco, I realized that I’ve been slowly getting that moving bug.  I get it every so often.  Why?  I actually love WHERE I live for the most part. Okay, not really the location, and I actually can’t stand a few of my neighbors (our only communication in the last 6 years has involved the police), but I love that I live on the same property as my grandmother, my dad, and my great  uncle.  More importantly I love that Cameron can play in the yard without me having to be outside. I love that she can jump on her 4 wheeler at pretty much anytime and ride around the property. I love that she is growing up with a bond with these three older members of our family that she wouldn’t be nearly as close to if we lived anywhere else.  I mean she’s back and forth at their houses on a DAILY basis.  When I can’t find a particular outfit or toy of hers, I know that it’s at one of their houses and send her looking.  When something goes so wrong (like the loss of our dog yesterday), I love knowing they are all right there (and that my Dad was here to bury him).  So maybe I don’t love the location so much as the bond the location allows for all 3 of us with our family.

But back to the point – OUR HOUSE IS TINY!  And I do mean tiny.  Most of you wouldn’t believe the small house that we live in.  It’s 2 bedroom and 1 bath.  The bath is just big enough to fit a bathtub, sink, and commode.  Cameron’s bedroom is the size of (or smaller) than many walkin closets I’ve seen.  Two people can’t do anything in my kitchen without being in each other’s way.  The living room can only be set up one way or there’s not enough room to play the Wii.  Becka’s room is our loft and she has to climb a ladder to get to her room.  Yea, a ladder.  A straight up and down ladder.  Oh, and there’s no laundry type room; the washer and dryer are in the shed outside! Now with all that said, I love my house.  It was a graduation/birthday/Christmas gift from my grandmother.  It looks like a doll house. It was perfect for a single girl going to college, but it’s just way too small for our family of 3.  We manage, but I dream of a 3 bedroom (big dreams huh?) house where the rooms are just a little larger.

I get this bug every couple years.  Two times that I’ve gotten this bug, I’ve actually contacted real estate agent and banks, but I just can’t seem to do it.  First there’s the moving away from our family, and I know this may sound harsh, but at 73 years old, I know that my grandmother’s years are likely numbered.  My dad started having heart problems at 40 (that’s 10 years now), and my great uncle’s health is not great either.  Ok, they may all three outlive me.  I know that in my brain, but my heart says that I need to stay close and treasure every moment.  Then there’s the fact that my house and property are PAID for, and I just can’t bring myself to making a house payment.  I like knowing that we have a place to live no matter what!  Oh, and now Becka is a senior so college is just around the corner – college and a house payment? I don’t think so.

So the moving bug has hit.  Or maybe now that I’ve typed all this, I should put that in the past tense because I’ve already talked myself into dealing with what we have and being happy.  One day I’ll just add on to this house.