McCrenshaw's Newest Thoughts: About Me

Yeah, I know... About time I did something like this. Well, I'm going to take it in little steps. I'm hoping that what I've heard is true and everything tagged as "about me" will end up here.

I've had a pretty weird life. But, I can't complain - it's gotten me to where I am and where I'm going. Here's me right now:

I have been married to my husband since Leap Day 2008. Next year will be our first "official" anniversary. We've known each other for many, many years. We started actually dating in late 2005. Before then, we were friends - no flirting... nothing. We were pretty surprised when the mutual "liking" thing happened. We've been through a lot in the nearly six years we've been together. He was a pretty hard drug addict and I really had no clue until nearly $1,000 disappeared! He was that good at hiding it. Since then, he's slowly but surely pulled himself out of the hole he was sinking into. We went through replacing one drug with another, more lying & stealing, and quite a bit of yelling and screaming. he still has some relapses, but they are in the form of drinking a beer or something. Nothing devastating, but still a shocker to me when it happens. Through all of this, I've learned a ton about the psychology of an addict, about many different drugs and their affects of people, how to tell when the most convincing story is a lie, and how to be patient. He is the funniest and most caring guy I know.

I have two sons. The oldest isn't a huge part of my blog because , at 13, he prefers to remain anonymous. He knows that I will sometimes post photos or stories about him, but I try to keep it to a minimum for him. He considers himself to be a "nerd", although the definition must have changed since I was a kid! He's actually pretty cool. He's popular with everyone, from every clique, and has a ton of interests. His main hobbies are reading, running, drawing and creating graphic novels, and (of course) playing computer and video games. He aspires to become a graphic artist. I'm not sure of the job title, but he wants to work as, "One of those people who develops what game characters will look like, their personalities, and their powers." He's starting high school the day after Labor Day and I'm so proud of him and a little apprehensive for him. You see, he's a year younger than his classmates. He was homeschooled until he was 6. When he said he wanted to try out "real" school, we had him tested. I did not want him bored to death, "learning" things he already knew. He tested into advanced third grade with kids TWO years older then him. We decided on placing him into the advanced 2nd grade class - he needed to learn how to follow rules, etc. since he had been unschooled until then. This kid is full of empathy and has some great critical thinking skills that will get him through life. He's also got a very mature and sarcastic sense of humor that tends to blow right over his peers' heads until he explains himself.

Little Guy is featured in my posts often. He is completely opposite of his brother. This boy is like the Tasmanian devil in Loony Toons cartoons! He's full of energy and constantly tearing things apart to see how they work. He wants to be grown up very badly and will offer to help to "big people things" as often as possible. He has an amazing vocabulary (started talking early) and even has his brother's sarcastic sense of humor. Although we made sure to not put him into gender roles, he naturally has gravitated toward cars, trains,planes, and especially monster trucks. He is also my little naturalist pal. He can already identify most of the plants in our neighborhood and the woods behind out home. He loves shocking visitors by grabbing a leaf from one of our herbs in the garden and popping it into his mouth. I can't tell you how many times I've has someone frantically calling me because, "He just ate something! I think it's poisonous!!! What do we do?!" Yeah, that's his sense of humor! He's also a stubborn little boy. If he has even an inkling that I don't want him to do something, he's doing it. It can be really tough keeping my cool and I find myself yelling more and more until I read yet another post from someone that reminds me that yelling just won't do any good. I'm trying hard to be a positive parent and, some days, it actually works!

I'm the family photographer. This is the only close-up I have of myself. It's from Dec. 2010!

Now to me... I really don't know what to say. I'm a green mommy, though I can't say that I'm one who has absolutely all natural products and foods in my home. I'm slowly learning more each day and my family and I are making changes on a continuous basis. I try my best to parent with understanding. Sometimes I just go off the handle, but I do not spank or institute any punishments that could harm my children. I really try to hear them out before I jump to conclusions about their behaviors. I think that, if a child has a chance to say his piece, he will be more willing to listen to hiss parents' reasoning, too. They may not like it when I do not allow their ideas to come to fruition, but at least they know they've been heard.

I have been taking online classes

Other than all of that, I love reading, learning, making my own everything, creating, and nature. My family always comes first. I think of it this way: If we had a terrible tornado that completely destroyed out home and everything in it, what would be my biggest concern? Is my family OK?! That's it. Money, things, even food & shelter can all be acquired in some way - you can't get people back once they're lost.

Oh, and one more thing. Since I am not working and am a student and mom, we have almost nothing. Even a budget is out of the question. Student loan stipends come in, the bills all get paid (both the late stuff and paid ahead), then we order pizza delivery with what's left over. Seriously. Extras are bought by way of my doing online surveys and entering giveaways on blogs. We have no car and I'm glad. My husband was in an accident a week before we were married which totaled out car. We decided not to replace it. We're saving money on obvious things like gas, insurance, and maintenance. We're also saving because we cannot jump in the car and head to the store whenever we want. I can't recall how many times we've hit a store just for something to do and ended up buying crap we don't need. Beside saving money, there's the obvious impact on the environment we have by reducing our carbon footprint and not relying on petroleum products. We're also healthier - we walk everywhere. Little Guy's favorite park is a mile away - two miles round trip - and he walks there and back on his own, with lots of running and playing in between!

That's it for now. More to come when the mood strikes me!