misszoot.com

My name is Kim. This is me in the 10th grade, before I learned to embrace my curls. I remember thinking this was the best school picture I’d ever had made…EVER. I’m sure you can see why.

People of the blogworld call me Zoot – derivative of a childhood nickname. I’ve been blogging with that name since January 2004. I think the transition to “Zoot” went something like this: Kim to Kimbo to Bozie to Bozoot to Zoot. I answer to all of the above. I had been using the name Zoot on message boards long before I ever dreamed of blogging…so it seemed an obvious alias when starting my own blog. Since my kid’s friends always called me Miss Kim, I thought Miss Zoot was perfect. That is The Story Of My URL – The Most Boring Story In All of Blogdome.

I had my first child when I was 19, he is now in high school and we call him E around here. (We used to call him “LilZ” but since he’s bigger than me and driving? That seems silly.) I married Donnie when E was 8 and we immediately tried to add to our family. This is when we entered the period of life I kindly refer to as…Gynecological Hell. After several miscarriages, one D&C, a diagnosis of endometriosis, ovarian cysts, and uterine fibroids – we finally had two children. Nikki (currently age 6) and Wes (age 3). They used to be called “NikkiZ and AndyZ” but I have dropped that. I don’t use E or Nikki’s “real” names because they’re so unique someone searching would end up here. And those poor children do not want to forever be linked the blog where I talked so much about my uterus.

Along with the 5 humans in our home, we have two cats and two dogs. We lost one of our beloved dogs, Cisco, in November 2008. (Entry here.) I look back on that day as the start of the Year From Hell. We lost my Dad in March 2009 (Entry here) and I got laid off in August of the same year. I eventually went back to work at the same company and am there part-time currently.

I was born into a Catholic family and raised in Catholic schools. I wore hideous wool plaid skirts and/or jumpers for TWELVE years. I am grateful for this upbringing because it made me who I am today. However…that person is currently an atheist on most levels. I left the church long ago and abandoned my Christian beliefs along the way. I am still very spiritual and like to talk about religion and faith. It’s just that instead of church, I now worship at the alter of my DVR which allows me to pause live television. There is no greater miracle than that.

I proudly live in Huntsville, AL. It has every part of the South I love (food, hospitality, weather) with a nice mix of culture and science thanks to the huge presence of Rocket Scientists associated with Missile Defense and NASA. I like my tea iced and so sweet it’s toxic. I call shopping carts “buggies” and I often strike up conversations with people standing in line at the grocery store. I do call soft drinks “sodas” though – one of the few things that are NOT stereotypically southern. That and my political leanings: I’m a bleeding heart liberal staunchly supporting reproductive rights and marriage equality. A blue dot in a red state. However, I do not discriminate. One of my real-world BFFs – the one who I’ve been friends with for 16 years – is a conservative who votes republican and most of my family is right-winged and sufficiently ashamed of my left-leaning bumper stickers.

I tend to obsess over things not necessarily created for people of my age. I usually blame this on my children and justify my love by declaring these interests as my attempts to keep bonds with my children. THESE ARE ALL LIES. I actually shut down my blog for the last Harry Potter book. And I’ve been to all wizard and vampire midnight premieres for the movies attached to the books. I have stopped trying to deny how many cool points I’ve lost over the years. I also love every Young Adult fiction Sarah Dessen has ever written. If you want to see more of my reading habits, I finally set up a GoodReads page.

I am not very secure in my appearance. I know it’s hard to believe seeing my stylish look on the right here…but it’s true. I don’t wear makeup often because I still haven’t been taught how to apply it. Foundation and mascara on special occasions. You can see what happens when I try to dress up…that picture was taken 2 years ago! Just kidding. I was 16. And I borrowed that shirt from my Mom. And maybe I was drunk. Or possessed by some sort of Rayon-based demon. I’m not sure. Either way…to avoid such catastrophes as an adult? I tended to rely heavily on my converse all-stars and my love of solid color v-necks. Until, of course, my fashionista daughter started teaching me how to dress myself. I now like bright-colored tights, boots, and scarves. She had made me a new woman. I can’t wait until she can teach me how to do my makeup.

I started getting in shape with boot camp in October 2010. Then, in February of 2011 I thought I’d try to train for a pretty famous 10K around here. These two things combined made 2011 the Year Kim Got In Shape. I’ve found a great groove of running and fitness and I’ve never felt so good about myself. I’ve only lost about 20lbs on the scale, but the changes in my body go way beyond that number.

I currently like to take pictures. I also tinker with Facebook periodically. I also twitter. Feel free to hunt me down in any of those places. (However, I’ve become a little limited as to who I’ll accept as a “Friend” on Facebook due to photo theft of the past. I apologize for that.) Otherwise? My email is misszoot@gmail.com. I’m kinda crappy about responding…I’ll preemptively apologize for that.