5 Things

This morning I rolled out of bed and like every good mother, I checked my Blogger Dashboard first thing. I was excited to read through the awesome Colleen's post at Martin Family Moments about 5 things most people wouldn't know about you. Imagine my surprise when I saw my name among ladies she tagged to play along! I was soooo excited because A. Colleen is an awesome blogger and mom and blogger friend and B. because I have never been tagged in a post like this before!!!! So a huge Thank You shout out to Colleen and here we go...5 things you may not know about me...


1. I was named after my father. I was the 4th of 5 girls in my family.(And thought to be the last...surprise little sister came along 17 months later...) I guess my sweet parents gave up on a son, so decided to name me after my dad. His name is William Joseph, hence, Billie Jo. That's it. Billie Jo. I have no middle name. And while I love the fact that I am named after my father, I have had some issues with it through the years. Namely, getting mail addressed to Mr. Billie Jo, having several different spellings...Billi Jo, Billi Joe, etc. And finally having no middle name. I still have memories of trying to convince my teachers that I was not supposed to put "Jo" in the box for "Middle Name" on those horrid Standardized Tests in Elementary school. So to spare my own children this trauma I lovingly gave them the easy to pronounce, easy to spell, gender specific  names of Madison, Peyton, Rhett, and Flynn. ; )

2. I am  a total recluse homebody. For real. I am most happy when I am home with my family, safe and sound. I prefer to stay home and seriously only leave when I have to...like going to the grocery store and Mass. This may translate to some as  bit on the creepy side, but really...I just like to be home. And I am a simple person. I just prefer to spend time with my family. And my Blogger friends.

3. I once had a cat named Chelsea. And Chester. The same cat. Steve got me the cutest kitten when we were first married and I named her Chelsea. She was adorable. When we sent her to the vet for her little operation, Life's Most Embarrassing Moment Number 1 came when they informed me they could not preform the said operation, because in fact Chelsea was a male. Yep...that would be me...not knowing that her cat was indeed a male. So we renamed her Chester, but honestly it didn't stick, and we stilled called her/him Chelsea until we had to give her/him/it? away to a sweet family who did not have a baby that terrorized it.

4. I have a secret addiction...to cereal. I could live on it. I swear. Well, that and coffee...But seriously...I love cereal. Currently I am eating Kashi Blueberry Morning and Life Cereal, but sometimes I go a little crazy and break out the Lucky Charms. Yes, I eat Lucky Charms. At age 43.

5. And lastly....I knew the minute I met Steve that I was going to marry him and spend the rest of my life with him. For real. I was babysitting for his older brother in an upstairs apartment, and Steve came up the stairs ...I was standing there holding his niece Katie, who is now a beautiful, married, young nurse...I was wearing a light blue denim skirt, a peach shirt, and a big peach bow in my hair. Don't judge please...it was the 80's... I still remember looking up at him as he was looking at me. I knew. He would be my life. And this of course was a week before I left for college. And there were no cell phones, or Internet, or twitter...And we made it. We talked on the phone once a day at 11:00 P.M. when the rates went down. He worked and saved money. I studied and studied. We were married 6 weeks after I graduated. And lived happily ever after!

So that's it. Your life is complete. And please go visit these awesome ladies and find out 5 things about them...I am tagging Kelli, Kathleen, Cindy, Tara, and Elizabeth. Have fun!