Breaking the seal ...

~*~*~*~

*peers in tentatively*

So what do you think of my initial decorating? Too many pumpkins?

Oh, who am I kidding. There can NEVER be too many pumpkins!

Let's just get to know each other, shall we? I am Trina, and I hail from the part of Ohio where the glaciers receded, right on the the edge that separates the hilly Appalachians from the cornfield and soybean plains. It's a lovely place to live with four seasons and plenty of beautiful parks nearby.

My hometown has a very famous pumpkin festival, which you can learn all about here: http://www.pumpkinshow.com/ Seriously, you should go to that link and learn yourself up some. The Pumpkin Show is quite a wonderful thing! No bias here, of course. More on Pumpkin Show in another post -- it is coming up next month and I'm it will be the topic of many tired but happy posts.

Pumpkin kind of has a special place in my heart for one more reason -- hold on to your hats for this one. I conceived both my beautiful, talented, funny (again, a JOURNALIST's lack of bias here) during October.

Well, yes. During Pumpkin Show to be specific. Turns out pumpkin is a fertility enhancer in women, did you know? Any of the orange veggies, really, but the pumpkin really seems to do the trick for me. In fact, it works pretty well on loads of women in my county, because July -- ahem, you do the math -- is the busiest baby month of them all.

Gotta love that pumpkin!

So now you know I have two kids, my oldest son Avery is 12 and my daughter Audrey Violet is 8. Avery is a soccer jock and Audrey wants to be a kangaroo when she grows up. Isn't that nice?

I am a single mother, and the three of us get along very well most of the time and when we don't, well, look out for those posts in red letters, that's all I'm saying. This is hereby declared angry mother font.

Having bills to pay, mouths to feed, bacon to bring home -- I work, of course. By day, I am a super duper grantwriter. My technical title is DIRECTOR OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, but it sounds so dull. What I really do is put my hand out and ask people to support programs that make a positive impact on the lives of those in my community who struggle daily with food, shelter, and basic needs. I'm pretty good at it, too.

But I am better at what I do three evenings a week, and that is teach adult literacy. It's the best job in the world, right after being a mom, which is what I do 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, no matter if I am at a desk, presenting at a conference, driving in a car, talking on the phone, traveling far from home, or whatever other things I get into along the way.

Being a mom rocks my socks. I have great kids. (Remind me of this next time I post about breaking up a disagreement. I go to red text just thinking about it.

I have friends here at blogspot -- some from the online playgroup I have been a member of for going on ten years now. *waves to Kirsty, Janet, Trish, Missy and any other July2Kers out there* Hi, friends!

I am so pleased to join you! *throws confetti* Happy New Blog Day!