Welcome and Introductions: idgie310

idgie310

Welcome and Introductions

Sep 03, 2006 15:05

Welcome to any friends who might be visiting from the NFP board! As you can see, I don't update this thing very often. I will endeavour to do better about this, but y'all might have to nudge me.
Since some of you may not know me very well, here's a brief overview of who I am and the people you might meet in my journal. If you should decide to start at the beginning (2002), just know that my earlier entries are a bit less mature and I've changed quite a bit since then. So, without further ado, let the introductions begin.

Me -- I'm a stay at home wife and soon-to-be mom. Since Pentecost Sunday of 2004, I've been actively involved and a part of the Roman Catholic Church. I had my First Holy Communion that Sunday and was confirmed a little less than a year later at the Easter Vigil Mass of 2005. I grew up Southern Baptist and made a formal decision to follow Christ at the tender age of 6. It has taken me many years to fully understand what this decision means and I am always studying and seeking God's truth, but I think I'm starting to have a more full grasp of what it means to be a Christian. For many years, I thought I would be forced to grow old alone, but in the fall of 2003, I met the man who would become my husband! We were friends for a year, dated for approximately 6 months, got engaged, and were married in November of 2005. It's been nearly a whole year of marriage and I love him more today than the day I married him.
Eric -- My dear, sweet husband! He's truly the love of my life! He was born in Pennsylvania (where his family now lives) but has lived all over the country thanks to his dad's job in the Coast Guard. Eventually, his family settled for a while in Mobile, Alabama where Eric graduated from high school. He went on to Mississippi State University and got a degree in computer science. After college, he got in with a "bad crowd" that called themselves MCI/WorldCom, but thankfully wasn't scathed amidst the federal lawsuits and corporate downsizing and such. He actually left because he felt he needed more of a mental challenge and so, hooked up with his current job. After spending more time in Mississippi at his current job, he found himself relocated to Birmingham when the company moved its regional headquarters here. After having been away from the faith of his birth and childhood for a number of years, he decided to try and re-explore that faith. Praise be to God! He found his faith renewed thanks to encountering a wonderful priest and parish. Then, he found a friend in me....and well, as they say, the rest is history.
Miss or Master Peanut -- For now, this is how I am referring to our baby. I'm currently 18 weeks pregnant (well, technically 17 weeks, 6 days -- but who's counting one day?) with our first child. Peanut will remain gender neutral until birth. I could find out in two weeks, but I love surprises and want to be surprised this time around. Next time, we will most likely try to find out. Personally, I don't care what we have, just so long as s/he is healthy and happy. Some folks I know don't understand why we're not finding out Peanut's gender, but that's just something they'll have to continue to wonder about. As I said before, I like surprises and the bigger, the better! That's really all there is to it! So for now, our sweet little one will be referred to as Peanut!
Tigger -- This is our solid black male cat. He's very skittish around new people, but given several months' exposure will eventually come around and be friendly. He absolutely LOVES to be petted and will often headbutt your hand, arm, foot, or whatever part of you he can find while meowing for attention. Eric got him when he used to live in Mississippi and at one time, he weighed at hefty 24 pounds! The vet had Eric put him on a strict diet and now he's slimmed down to a svelte 15 or 16 pounds. It still sounds somewhat heavy, but he's physically a large cat, so it's really a good weight for him. I said above that he's "solid black" but that's not entirely true. He looks black upon first glance or when viewed from a distance, but when you see him in the sunlight or a bright lamp, you notice that he has really dark brown fur mixed in with his black. This is especially evident on his tummy which he loves to show in the hope of being petted.
Spaz -- As her name implies, Spaz is rather spastic. She is our delicate little gray female (btw, both cats are fixed!). She is the younger of the two cats and is just coming up on 3 years old. Eric got her after he moved to Birmingham but before he met me. Originally, he'd gotten Tigger and his littermate, Koshka (a black and white female), but Koshka got out of his apartment and eventually was run over by a car. Well, Tigger got extremely lonely and after Eric moved to Birmingham, he would stand and yowl at the windows whenever he saw a stray cat outside, obviously wanting a friend. When he jumped through the window screen of the apartment window, that's when Eric decided that he needed to get a companion for Tigger. So, enter Spaz. She was a year old when Eric got her from the Humane Society and very, very playful! She is still extremely playful. She loves to go ripping around our apartment at top speed, chasing after Tigger or some invisible playmate. Her name stems from the fact that unless she's curled up somewhere sleeping, she's always playing, getting into things ("Bad Spaz!"), or just generally causing mischief. Her coat is pretty much solid gray except for a teeny white patch under her neck and some barely noticeable lighter gray stripes along her legs and lower body.
Sparkle -- Sparkle is my 13 year-old black and white Cocker Spaniel. I got her for my 17th birthday and currently, she lives with my parents. The reason for this is basically two-fold. We have two cats -- one of whom gets very traumatized by dogs (Tigger) and the other of whom has never been around dogs. The second reason is a bit more practical -- we're only allowed 2 pets in our current aparment. There are other reasons too (she's old, takes loads of medicine, is incontinent, etc. and she's VERY attached to my parents, especially my mom), but these are the primary reasons for why she lives with my folks. The good thing is that we only live about 15-20 minutes from them, so I can see her whenever I want. I must confess that as much as I love our cats, I love Sparkle more. Part of it is that I've known her longer and have a deeper attachment to her. The other part of it is that until I met Eric, I'd never really been much of a cat person. I love our kitties a lot, but deep down, I guess I'm still a dog person in a lot of ways. Eventually, when we get our own place or a few years after, I'd like to get a dog to add to our family. For now though, I get my dog fix by loving on Sparkle lots. She is the sweetest little thing and even though she's getting to be a little old lady, she's still just as cute as she always has been. Her personality is why I called her Sparkle. Simply put, she has more personality in her little toenail than a lot of humans I've known. :)