-I have one brother who reminds so much of the Joker from Batman. I should also say that the Joker is my favorite villain and now I get why. This brother has a habit of being so much fun when he wants to be and super funny but at the same time terrifying. Watch out if you cross him because he doesn’t only physically punish you he loves to psychologically torment you. I hated when he was home because I was always his target but when he finally moved to the basement I did enjoy hearing his crazy laugh through the vents that gave me chills but also meant he was off tormenting someone that wasn’t me or genuinely having a good time. I could never figure him out. To this day he stumps me and I never get him. I do think with age he is starting to reflect on his behavior and feels bad because he does ask for hugs or just talks more than ever before and it’s nice but I am still on edge when I am left alone with him. He does treat all of my kids very nicely so I can’t complain there and when I ask them who did they enjoy their time with the most it is always him that they say
-I enjoy doing things backwards, reading the ending of the book first, finding out the ending of a movie, any and every spoiler is a delight to me. I like counting backwards and I like spelling backwards if I have the time.
-My friend recently complimented my penmanship and I am still on cloud 9 even though it happened months ago. I have always hated my writing and this is probably why I have like a million different ways to write so to get complimented on the one I don’t like and it is my “lazy writing” really made me super happy. I didn’t show it because I still am very much a little kid and don’t know how to process my emotions or feelings but I can still hear her say it over and over in my head and I love it
-I have lots of fears and things that cause me panic, but my main triggers are parking lots, car washes, and any fast food place with 2 lanes. I hate driving in general but parking lots when it is super crowded cause me meltdowns because I just want to park and most people want the closest spot. I don’t care to park close I just want to park and get out of the car as soon as I can. Car washes have gotten a lot better now since they have that move up and tell you when to stop and the machine moves as opposed to the car moving but sometimes I accidentally get into a car wash where you have to align the tire with the machine and put the car in neutral and I always panic I am going to miss it and have to reverse and mess up the line and make people wait because of my incompetence ugh I hate those types of car washes. 2 lane fast food drive thru like McDonalds I despise most of all. I always pick the wrong lane and I end up getting frustrated because I feel like an idiot picking the wrong lane and in my irrational thought process I feel everyone is cutting me. I love the one lane fast food place and never mind waiting so I tend to go to those food places more if I am driving.
-I love Chicago in the fall and am sad I am missing it. The Midwest in general has such a beautiful fall that if you haven’t been you must come to experience it just once
-I have a friend I miss a lot and get sad she isn’t around anymore. Sometimes when I am on my daily walk and randomly sit on a bench just to think and appreciate nature, our song always comes on and I get giddy with the coincidence that maybe it is her with me and she is reaching out
-Every year there is an album that has me listening to it on repeat. Last year it was Alexander 23 Aftershock, this year it is my beloved Kim Taehyung aka V from BTS Layover. I am obsessed with this album and wish it came out on Vinyl because I can only imagine how amazing it would sound on it. His company did him a huge disservice not promoting it but they have always been blah towards him. I listen to his album at least 3 times a day, I can’t get enough of it!
-My birthday this year is quickly approaching and I am super excited. I know Dan has been shopping already for gifts and Logan may have told me what it was and of course I will act shocked and happy when I see it but ahhhh I can’t wait for the day to come
-You always hear about the love you have for your kids but I know I never really thought it to be true. My parents loved me as best they could and knew how to but rarely really showed it until I got way older so I didn’t know about this love little kids would get from their parents. Anyways, now that I have my own I see it and feel it. I see it in the way that my kids take everything from me and I am ok with it, for reference I LOATHE sharing, I rarely ask to borrow anything because that means I have to share something in return. It is a big thing if I let you borrow something or touch anything of mine, me and my brothers never shared and if you took something from us you would get beat up and a lesson would be taught to not touch what isn’t yours. But here come my kids and they take everything!!! They ask most of the time to see something or use something but they really do get free reign of everything that is mine which is funny because Dan loves sharing his stuff and they rarely take his stuff. My jewelry, my expensive makeup brushes, my limited edition toys, they just ransack it all and play with everything. The only peace of mind I get is that they do put everything back the best they can but ugh I get sad when I see a special toy of mine opened up. Dan loves to comment that toys are meant to be played with but I beg to differ and my limited edition toys are just meant to be stared at and loved through the box lolol. Of course, I can’t say no though when one of the kids wants something of mine or wants to color with my expensive markers but ugh sometimes I think why can’t I just say no and there, no sharing, but seeing them play with my stuff or create something so beautiful from my art supplies really does touch me. It is annoying in my head because a part of me feels like I am going against me and the other part is trying to convince me the kids are part of me so I am technically not sharing just extending my stuff to other parts of me. Although, I must say there is always an exception to my crazy and it has always been the elderly and little kids. While I don’t share my true valuables with strangers I have learned to happily share with my friend’s kids and don’t mind which is super shocking to inner Janet.
-I often am shocked how genetics are so strong and how they mold us. Sometimes I just feel we are all just a copy of a copy on repeat. I think of my oldest, he looks just like me and has my charisma and love to help but that’s where we are similar stops. My middle has my smarts and my love to create with our wild imaginations but he doesn’t really look like me. My youngest, definitely has my crazy and love of daydreaming, he adores cuddling with anyone where I only like cuddling with close people to my heart, he is also the only one that has my skin color but his facial features are mostly Dan. When one of them does one of my crazy quirks, like Scott my youngest spacing out and in a trance I am shocked that something I do that feels just me is in fact not and that means someone in my genetic line also spaced out like us and I wish I could ask any relatives to see who else is like me.
-I have a weird obsession with people who smell like food. I love LOVE LOVE LOVE the smell of food on me and on people and watch out if you smell like meat around me because I will stay by you the rest of the night to creepily smell you. Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money to buy meat so we ate a lot of eggs and beans which were delicious but man the mouth watering smell of meat always made me bananas. I’ll never forget in 2nd Grade being partnered with a girl and when I went to sit next to her I instantly smelled pork chops, ahhh everything about her smelled of pork chops, her hair, her clothes, even her book bag!!!! I instantly thought she was super rich to be able to have that much meat daily. I would shove people out of the way just to stand behind her and smell her hair. I know so damn creepy but this was only meat exposure besides the gross school lunch which I of course ate but it never had a good smell. We ended up becoming best friends and she would always invite me over to her house, my parents hated having me go over people’s houses so I only went every couple of months but omg when I went over it was heaven. Walking in instantly I would smell that so so amazing pork chop smell. I remember her mom being self conscious about it but I would always reassure her that I loved it and if I could make a perfume it would be of this exact smell. She always made me pork chops and Puerto Rican rice when I was over and she was always so happy to see me eating all of it and asking for seconds lololol. My bestie ended up transferring schools in 4th grade but we stayed in touch and are still friends to this day. Whenever I would visit her and her mom in Chicago her mom still made me my favorite meal and let me take leftovers home!!! My bestie recently moved to California after a nasty divorce which I am super sad about but I plan on visiting her and her mom next year in California! I am very lucky that we have remained in touch!
In high school I met people who hated that their clothes smelled of the different foods and spices that their parents made at home and I never understood why. I again love smelling food on me and I loved being able to tell which spice they used or think they must have had an amazing meal the night before. I remember my mom leaving my clothes outside to “air out” so I wouldn’t be made fun of but I had to tell her and still tell her to leave my clothes alone because while my brothers were embarrassed by it I loved it. I still love smelling my mom’s cooking on me and while my whole family thinks it is super weird at least now when my mom starts cooking she lets me help her so I can really have that food smell on me.
Adventures of Janet 