If you really knew me...

I'm enjoying reading folks's If You Really Knew Me posts and thought I'd jump on the bandwagon!!

If you really knew me, you would know:

I love working in law enforcement, even thought about going to the road as an officer.  I didn't do that, but I did do a short stint as an Animal Services Officer.  I loved it, only I had no personal protection.  Cops have guns, tasers, bullet proof vests.  What were we supplied with as Animal Services Officers?  Asps (collapsible night sticks), citronella spray (because the director had a theory that mace would just make mean dogs even more aggressive and citronella would confuse them...notice I didn't say I agreed with said theory), and the catch pole...a 5 foot long pole with a noose on the end to catch dogs or cats.  I loved the law enforcement side of it.  The education of how to care for animals, serving justice to owners who abused their animals, finding some sort of good from the cruelty cases.  Yes, they were tough, but it made me stronger.  Sadly, there is the unavoidable euthanasia side to it.  And, if you really knew me, you would know that I had to harden my heart to it.  I had to learn that it's part of it.  Not all animals can be saved.  It's a fact of life.  If people would neuter their pets, there would be far less euthanasia.  Anyway...I could write all day about that!!

Sexy isn't it? That's men's pants and men's boots,  I must say, I look pretty tall and lean! lol
Oh, and ignore the decor and unmade bed...I don't know

I forget how long I've had my industrial piercing.  I got it for a birthday either in 2005 or 2006.  I forget I have it.  Until someone looks at the side of my head and exclaims, "What is that?!" and it worries me!  Then I reach up and feel that it's my industrial.  You'd think I'd remember a huge bar through my ear...but I don't  

Oh yeah, I used to have really short hair and miss it!!

I love reptiles and fish...so much so that I used to work for a large pet store/supplies retailer as the live animal manager.  But, the retail word isn't for me, even in management.  I put in a good 2 years of effort and decided it wasn't for me!!

I have had 4 ear surgeries (as a child), knee surgery from dislocating my knee cap and chipping cartilage, a septoplasty because of a deviated septum...I don't know if it helped my breathing because my allergies are so bad that I still can't breathe lol, however I haven't had any more nose bleeds to speak of!  And, the largest scar comes from having a ulnar nerve transposition on my left arm...in layman's terms, my funny bone was relocated from in that groove in my elbow to the inside of my arm.  Prior to that, I had dealt with tingling (like my arm was asleep), in my ring finger and pinky all the way down that side of my arm into my elbow, for 8 years.  When it progressed to numbness and loss of strength it was time to do something.  One painful surgery and ugly scar later, no more issues!!  

Pretty gruesome, this was a week after surgery...pretty bruising huh?

I had braces in middle school...complete with head gear.  Moved states and changed orthodontists and got rubber bands instead.  2 years later, braces removed.  One year later, braces put back on.  Yup, braces twice.  

I wasn't an athletic kid, I started playing soccer on a whim in fall of 8th grade, loved it and decided to play on my school's first girl's team that spring.  That was all she wrote for me...I was a soccer player from then on, fall and spring of every year 8th grade through 12th!  Loved it.  I played defense, all positions but goalie. My mom still makes fun of my running skills...or lack thereof.  Apparently I ran still run like a duck.  I'm not graceful

My mom nicknamed me Grace as a kid...it stuck, any time I am less than a ballerina she calls me Grace.  

I'm super nervous about having a baby...better get over that in 4ish weeks huh?  holy moly