Hello and welcome.
My name is Jenny Motley. This is my website.

I started writing here on August 21, 2006, after a really bad day led me to decide that the world is mostly an ignorant place that is CRYING OUT for the benefit of MY thoughts and opinions on the important issues.

Like how pizza is hands-down the best, most delicious, most versatile food ever invented, on the basis that it tastes good hot, warm, or cold, morning, noon, or night.

Or how the word “cancelled” should ALWAYS be spelled with two Ls, even though Merriam-Webster says it can be spelled with one OR two.

Also, how there HAS GOT TO BE a better system for child drop-off and pick-up than the one my kids’ elementary school uses. HAS. GOT. TO. BE.

And ultimately, I started this website because I figured it would be healthier for me to put my thoughts into words for others to read and enjoy, rather than take out my general frustration with life by nagging my husband, kicking one of my two dogs or two cats, screaming at one or all of my four kids, or ramming into ignorant soccer mommies in black Lexus SUVs. Or some such. I can’t be sure, 2006 was a LONG time ago.

Some of my favorite things are: pizza, the internet, doing 750-piece puzzles with my husband, shopping garage sales and thrift stores, taking pretty pictures with my Canon Rebel xS and my 50mm lens, organizing and de-cluttering, playing board games or Wii Bowling on “Family Game Night”, fast-forwarding through commercials, back rubs, four-day weekends, the spring season, and USING CAPS LOCK INSTEAD OF BOLD OR ITALICS WHICH I DO A LOT. A REAL LOT.

Some things that drive me crazy include: incorrect homonym usage, repetitive noises, slow drivers, cold weather, the car heater on Panel instead of Floor, pets that would rather pee on the carpet (looking at YOU, Kiki), low talkers, people who spell the word “cancelled” with one L, and the child drop-off and pick-up system at my kids’ elementary school.

Oh, and ignorant soccer mommies in black Lexus SUVs. Unless that’s you. I’m crazy about YOU.

In case you’re interested, here is the abridged version of my life story (so far):

I was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1971, when the Camelot was a four star hotel and Memorial Drive was nothing but soybean fields south of 61st Street.

I was DEFINITELY a child of the 70s. We had our birthday parties at roller skating rinks and bought our 45s of Bee Gees songs at TG&Y for 98 cents. I fell in love with the movie Grease and saw it eight times in the theatre. Go Greased Lightning.

In the 80s, I donned poofy bangs and Guess jeans (didn’t every girl?) and I met Angie, the cool chick who would become my BFF. I wanted to be Mrs. Rick Springfield and went to two of his concerts hoping he would see me across a crowded arena, fall instantly in love, and propose. Never happened.

In ninth grade, I discovered I had a passion for writing which was encouraged by my awesome English teacher, Mrs. Schmidt. After graduating high school in 1989, I moved away from my hometown for the first-time-ever to attend Oklahoma State University and enrolled in the Pre-Med program (the first of my twenty or so majors).

In 1992, I became a mother for the first time. The pregnancy was a happy surprise, a shotgun wedding ensued, and eight months later a new Jake entered the world. I was SMITTEN.

Two years after Jake arrived, Jenna followed and turned our world pink. Our family was complete. That is, until 1998, when I finished nursing school, started my career, and realized that my husband and I were better at friendship than marriage and we divorced. I became a twenty-seven year old single mother of two. SEXY.

I met Rob, the man who would turn out to be THE ONE, in late 1998 at a club. Cheesy, huh? I wish it had been more romantic, but, hey, it was dollar margarita night at The Brink and it had been a while since I had been on a date, so a muscle-bound, blue-eyed Marine Corps corporal looked pretty good to me. I guess I did it for him too since he asked for my number and called me after the standard two-day waiting period.

Rob and I married in January of 2000 and almost killed each other the first year we were married. When things calmed down a bit (Prozac: It’s a Good Thing) we added Emma to the family in 2002. She was very planned, highly anticipated, and madly loved. And with that, my uterus was closed for business.

OR SO I THOUGHT.

Katelynn, born in 2004, was the wonderful surprise we didn’t even know we wanted. The end result of forgetting to change my birth control patch on time (let THAT be a lesson to you), Katelynn has brought nothing but smiles, giggles, and butterfly-tummy-joy to all five of our lives.

I did the stay-at-home-mom gig from the time Katelynn was born until all four kids were in school full-time, the fall of 2008. Then, I went back to work as a nurse in an Outpatient Care Unit where mostly I love the people I work with more than the work itself. It has taken my entire adult life for me to understand that that’s the best one can hope for from a job.

Rob left the Marine Corps in 2003 and joined a local police force. He is an awesome police officer as well as an awesome husband and father.

And we are still crazy about each other. We still make each other crazy. We still have the cocktail napkin I wrote my phone number on that first night at The Brink. And, when we have a bad day, I sit in his lap and put my head on his shoulder and say “Tell me someday we’ll have the house to ourselves.” And he does, adding, “But it will be very quiet.”