About

My name is Katie, and I am an educated wife and mom who wears a lot of hats. I mean that figuratively of course, because only my mother actually insists I look good in hats, but I don't really believe her about that.

Here is a list of things I used to be:

1. A lot nicer
2. A ballerina
3. An English teacher
4. A certified gemologist
5. thinner

Here's what I am now:

6. A little nicer
7. A recovering ballerina
8. Still an English teacher, but just to my kids, other people's kids, some relatives,strangers if I have the nerve, and Facebook friends if I know them well enough.
9. I let the gemology hobby go, as it was primarily necessary for a part-time job I held for seven years, but if you think I'm looking at your jewelry when we're talking, I am. I probably know more than you want me to know about it.
10. Recovering my thinner self with a new dedication to healthy lifestyles every time the sun comes up. I have a lot of baggage from #2 that I put off dealing with for a couple of decades, and have reached a new maximum point of disequilibrium with my self-image issues. I'm working on it.
11. I love science, math, literature and am a classic life-long learner.
12. I hate almost nothing. I just think hate's a bad thing.
13. I strongly dislike a laundry list of items including ALL logical fallacies (yes, I have been accused of being a Vulcan before), any main entree made with cooked fruit, and most wine. Don't tell me I just haven't tried the right wine. I probably have.

14. A wife to my husband Jason for the last 19.5 years. I don't believe in soul mates and we didn't just get lucky. We choose our married life every day and have committed to do so for as long as we live. And that's the short version of what I have to say about that.

 (We also joke that State Farm pays the winner.)








15. A mom to four ridiculously fabulous kids, ages 17, 15, 11, and 4.

I blog about things that are important to me, because frankly, I have a lot of opinions about things. Also, sometimes I just THINK I have a lot of opinions of things, and after I've written about them, I often find new perspectives which impact my previously held opinion. I do write about some personal things because writing things out really is cheaper than therapy. (No, I am not suggesting that writing a blog is a replacement for actual psychotherapy. I've had "real" therapy, and let's just say, I'm a fan. If you need it, get it.)

I have tagged my posts with four basic labels: Marriage and Family, A Catholic Perspective, Society Matters and Junk Drawer. I toyed with the idea of blogging without bringing my faith into it, but it's simply not possible. It's just inextricable, and I have to write about it sometimes.

Oh yeah. I called my blog "Nice Little Tantrums" because that's what my posts either are or are about. Ok. I know. I'm not really having tantrums in the classic sense of throwing myself down on the floor and kicking and screaming until I get my way. But I find there is some root of either injustice to expose or misunderstanding to ponder in pretty much every thing I write.

I'm not a technical wizard so my blog looks a little 2005, but I learn a little more each day and hope to bring it up to at least 2009 eventually. I'm 41, so 2009 was basically yesterday.

In case we sound a little too Pollyanna to anyone, my blog is a testament to one of my favorite sayings:
the mess is always somewhere.