Blog feature: Jogging with Fiction

So I decided to feature a new blog once a month every month.  Are you excited?

Each month I will pick a blogger to answer some questions and include a sample post about a topic of their choice.  In addition to the feature post, I will include your button on my blog for a month (I can do a picture of your choice if you don't have a button) with a link to your blog and the feature post.

To enter you have to be a loyal follower and let me know that you're interested (contact info here).  Super simple, right? Awesome.  Let's get started.

This month's feature blogger is Kari from Jogging with Fiction.  Let's get to know Kari a little better.

Tell us a little about yourself:
Hey kids, I'm Kari and I have an addictive personality. Once I find something I love, whether it's a favorite lunch, a good song, jogging, reading, etc., I will eat it, listen to it (you get where I'm going with this) without end. For example, I've pretty much eaten the same lunch, with very little change, since high school (I'm 25). I really like repetition, it's comfortable and makes it extremely easy to plan a routine. You do earn a bit of a reputation as a crazy person, though.  Luckily, my husband (of six months now), Mike, doesn't seem to mind my mania, but it does certainly makes for some interesting situations and some entertaining stories. And, at heart, I am a story teller. My blog is just a small public display of my crazy.


Why did you start blogging?
I started blogging for a couple of reasons.

1. My mom has always told me (usually after relating one of my more ridiculous encounters) that I should write a book one day. Since I'm not entirely sure I could write a book entertaining enough to sustain a reader for more than a couple pages, blogging random life vignettes seems to be one step closer to my mom's goal. 

2. I love to laugh and make other people laugh. 

3. My lovely friend Kat (of this blog) is very adept at peer pressure. :)

Now take it away Ms. Kari.

You know how everyone has "go to" stories? Like, if you're friends with someone and you spend enough time with them, you know what story they're going to tell at parties to someone they've just met? Here's mine:

I used to babysit a lot. Like, I had no life on weekends and in the summer chose to nanny over a more traditional teenage summer job in retail or waitressing. However, it seems like some of my more traumatic babysitting moments are all clustered at the beginning of my babysitting career. Like the time I "lost" the kids because they all decided to hide in the bathroom cupboards. Or when I threw out my back carrying around a particularly pudgy baby.

The worst experience I ever had was when I was 13 and babysitting for three kids, the youngest of which was not yet two. We'll call her Chelsea. Chelsea was napping while I played with the other two kids in the play room. After about a half an hour, Chelsea started wailing, so I went to investigate. As soon as I got to the hallway outside of her room I noticed a particularly powerful odor (some of you parents reading this might already know where this is going).

Apparently, babies reach a certain age where they are dexterous enough to disrobe and curious enough to make a mess. Anyone following me?

I walked into Chelsea's room (at age 13) and was confronted by the biggest, smelliest mess I've ever seen. Clean up required a bath, two loads of laundry, and bleaching the crib and walls. I was horrified. Oh, did I forget to mention that I'm a bit of a germaphobe? Because I am. 

I cleaned everything up by the time Mr. and Mrs. were home. When I told them what had happened, Mrs. replied, "Oh yea, she does that sometimes." Handed me my usual rate and took me home. 

I like to tell this story for a couple of reasons. One, because it's funny, but two, as a educational lesson for parents or anyone who might one day become a parent. You might think that something is routine, but think back to when you were 13 and watching someone's kids. Would you think that 30 minutes of scrubbing a bio hazard out of a 1 yr old's hair was normal? If this ever happens to a babysitter I hire, I'm not entirely sure, but I think I might just hand them the checkbook and tell them to fill in an amount they think they deserve.