joannecando

I never know what to say in "About Me" sections, or in job interviews either. I am tallish, blondish, definitely a mom, definitely a wife. I love my family, I love my 100 lb chocolate lab. If I ever had free time or could get my oldest moved out of my craft room, I would scrapbook, make jewelry, paint, do metalwork and woodwork, or whatever other hands on crafts I could do. Since I don't have my room, and I homeschool my youngest, and, well, life, I read avidly, I teach, and I enjoy my home.

In my previous lives, I have taught everybody from kinders to college students. I love teaching, and I love having an impact on my students. I have moved to a little bitty town, though, and opportunities are pretty limited, so I am teaching at home. It seemed like a happy compromise. I have also been a newspaper designer and (sort of) journalist, a graphic designer, a person who created amazing looking art so that budding scientists would get noticed, and someone who dipped ice cream cones. I love that life has handed me so many amazing opportunities to be weird in different ways.

Also, I am pretty sarcastic. My daughter says sarcasm is my second language. I said it is my first.

The kind that makes noise. Honestly, I'm not really into reggae or metal so heavy it makes my fillings jump out of my head, but I can find something I like in anything else. My favorite, though, has to be big 1980s ballads.

The kind with words.

Truly.

Well, if I had to pick, I love anything by Terry Pratchett, Steven Kink, and Dean Koontz. I have read a myriad of books with snarky heroins (Stephanie Plum from the mind of Janet Evanovich) because they make me smile, and dug deep into my soul with David Foster Wallace and Don DeLillo, thanks to an amazing grad school professor.

But, my absolute favorite book ever... Howl's Moving Castle. I have the copy my mother read in 4th grade, and gave to me when I was in 4th grade. My daughter is now in 4th grade, but I don't know if I can part with it to give her. She can't keep her room clean enough to find it.

I used to watch every horror flick that came out, but that is long behind me. I love chick flicks, haven't seen much that wasn't rated PG in years, and enjoy a lot of movies. However, the films I like best are the ones that leave me feeling empty because it used up all my emotions, or make me really question my own existence or how I live my life. At this point in my life, I really don't have much time to spend watching things that don't affect me. My soul needs to be fed.

Also I watch Labyrinth and the Princess Bride at least once a year, just because.

In this life, I want to have an impact on somebody that makes their life better. I have a pretty good idea that it will be through something I write, but I can't be positive. I love to blog, but I haven't sustained anything in years. Memoirs come easy to me because my dad taught me to be a storyteller, but I have to believe that somewhere deep down is a really good book. I don't know what it is, but I keep writing down snippets of things that come to my head, weird thoughts from dreams, weird stuff my kids say and do. Somewhere out of all of that will come a story that will be shared somehow that will affect somebody to do something good. What else could you ask for in this life?