Sun and Rain - Family style

OK, so I am blogging for a second time this week. I have to do this in honor of the sun and rain in my life...Heather and Jen. Jen, you really aren't rain, but I trust you will understand!

Let me begin by saying that I have a biological sister that is my best friend. She is always there anytime I need her. She and I have very different personalities...she is like my Dad and I am more like my Mom. In fact, my husband calls me RJ (Rose Junior) because he claims I am just like my Mom. So, when I am having a RJ moment, I know that my sister will be able to rationalize with me. However, I also know that when I need to be passive-aggressive (PA), my sister can hang with me better than the rest of them. With all that said, I always thought I really wouldn't care if I never had a sister-in-law. Then I married Josh and with that came sister-in-laws. I have three sister-in-laws, but for the purpose of this blog, I will be picking on two of them!!

I will begin with Jen. She lives in another state and I don't see her often, but she is one of the funniest people I have ever met. She has a dry sense of humor and she makes me laugh every time I am around her. She is a very sweet person and when you are with her in a group, she is pretty quiet. Little did I know, she is just soaking in what is going on around her...soaking and assessing. As you get close to her, and she is comfortable with you, there is a side that comes out that you would never believe was there. I thought the only person in the world that could understand my PA was my sister...until I met Jen. This is my favorite quality about Jen and I know that I can say whatever I want about someone or something...and she could easily top it! So over the years she has become a confidant of mine. I can call her, IM her, text her...and be the biggest brat...and she doesn't care. She won't judge me and if I am lucky, she will join me! What I found is she is probably more passive-aggressive (which we diagnosed together) than me. Can you imagine my happiness when I found this out about her?? How could I have been so lucky to have her end up being my sister-in-law?? Together, I think we are easily the "rain" of the family and that could not make us happier!

Then there is Heather. Oh Heather, our little positive ray of sunshine. Imagine Jen and I as "rain" and then there is our sunny Heather! Jen and I always know that if we act like ourselves around Heather, she will always interject with the ray of sunshine. Heather is, hands down, one of the happiest, most positive people I have ever met. I don't think I heard her say a bad thing about anything or anyone for the first 5 years that I knew her. Heather will never admit it, but I can only imagine what she was actually thinking about Jen and me! We must have been the worst possible pair she could have been stuck with for sister-in-laws! We are not sunny and positive all the time, so this must have been incredibly difficult for Heather!! Luckily for us, Heather's husband can be a lot like Jen and me, so that help wear Heather down over the years!  Anyway, I used to worry about what Heather would think. I would try to be on my best behavior, be "Positive Polly" with her when we were together and try to always think happy thoughts. Then one day I decided that wasn't fun and I would just be me. Since then, I give Heather a hard time about everything! It's in a nice way (or so I think), but while she is being sunny, I am there to "rain" on her parade. She is my favorite person to tease because she takes it. Just check out her Hawaii pictures on Facebook. I made comment after comment. I made so many comments that her other "friends" on FB asked her who I was and why I was so mean to her! I found this to be super funny!  I wish I could of heard Heather trying to explain/defend me to her friends. Makes me laugh thinking about it!!  Poor girl!

So, this teasing was a lot of fun for me for many years...until lately. Which is why I am writing this post today. I think Heather has decided she is ready to dish it back to me. In the last month or so, she has started posting "pictures" on my wall. Let me share with you what I have received and what her explanation was for sharing it with me:

From Heather on my FB wall: "I'm not sending this to you because I think it's true...I just think it seems like something you want to pass along to someone else!"

Again, from Heather: "I'm not saying you can't cook or clean...all I'm saying is I thought of you when I saw this :)"

What do you think friends? I sense a little passive-aggressiveness in these posts. Is it possible? If I received this from Jen, I would laugh and move on. But Heather?? This is not the usual for our sunny little Heather! I will be honest though...I like it. No, I love it!! I knew there was a side of Heather that could be a little PA, tease and make fun! It just took a little "rain" to bring it out! 

I love these two girls and I wouldn't change them for anything. BUT...if we can get Heather to be a little passive aggressive at times, it just makes family time that much more fun...at lease for Jen and me!

Blogging...6 months and holding!!

So, I started this blog with full intentions on keeping up with it. But this thing called life decided to take over and here I am, almost 6 months later, writing a 2nd blog. So, I think the name of my blog was perfect; I am "Simply Irritated" that I added this little blog to my life. I really should be better about it like my sister-in-law, who brought on this irritating desire for me to suddenly blog. She is "happy" to post blogs weekly, if necessary. I mean seriously, she was road tripping with her 3 daughters to Texas, having dance parties with her kids in the car and probably blogging at the same time! If you don't believe me, check out Road Trippin...Gammel Style for further information.

I will say though, the last 6 months have been the fastest, most accomplished 6 months of my life. While I wasn't blogging, I was going back to school to complete my Masters in Elementary Education and Student Teaching. I dedicated 15 weeks, paycheck-free, to working in a 6th grade classroom in Douglas County by day and going to class by night. It was so fulfilling and I could not have asked for a better experience. I didn't think I would like being in the classroom so much, but in the end, I loved it. It was the best decision I could have made, even if it was a huge financial strain on my family. I figure I only have one life and I might as well be "Happy" at a job instead of constantly "Irritated" like I was for years.

I am now looking for a job in the teaching sector, but it is a tough time for newbies like me to find a teaching job. There are still layoffs happening, especially in the district I live in. I want so badly to teach next year, and I have applied to over 50 openings, and all I receive are IRRITATING FORM REJECTION LETTERS!! I have also applied for sales jobs and of course, I am being asked to interview for them since that is where my experience is.

So, I have to put this all in God's hands and hope that the right opportunity presents itself. In the meantime, I shuttle our kids from LAX practice, track meets, Dr. appointments and anywhere else their hearts desire! I am also my hubby's secretary since he cannot take care of certain things at work. Most importantly though, I am able to enjoy this time at home with Cade because I don't know if I will ever be able to spend this kind of time with him again!

I hope that explains my absence to my 3 dedicated followers! Hopefully I will be better at blogging, but if not, check back at Christmas time! That seems to be my current blogging schedule!

The Birth of a Blog...

Well, after a year of talking about it, I decided to start a blog! I thought it would be a nice way to begin 2012 and also a great way to "journal" the happenings in this Gammel household! I know it's not 2012 quite yet, but I have a free minute to get started and I don't feel like waiting!


I chose "Simply Irritated" as my title because it has been an ongoing joke for the last year. My sister-in-law, Heather Gammel, started blogging and called it "Simply Happy." After reading a few of her perky posts, I decided that I could be the devil's advocate to every one of her posts, which made me start considering "Simply Irritated." We would joke about it around other people, and had a pretty good reaction...probably because it is so true. She is Happy, I am Irritated...and neither one of us is hiding our dispositions!


Now, me being the worrier that I am (something we will discuss later, but is an irritating quality of mine), I worried about making my title all about being irritated. I thought, "I don't want everyone to just think I am unhappy and irritated at all times." But, in reality, I am not unhappy...but A LOT of things irritate me! I also thought, "followers (if there are any) will expect me write about what is irritating me all the time." I don't want to do that, so I am clearing that up now...I will not always be irritated. I will have happy (not like Heather happy) posts, but they will likely be lined with a note of irritation.


So, I am excited to start this blog and see if I really keep up with it. The New Year is bringing some new challenges and I hope I can share the details with you. In the meantime, Happy 2012...a little early! (Isn't it irritating when people start wishing you greetings early??)