About Me...and Everything Else!

So, what's a Wikkibird? 

Wikkibird is the nickname my mom and dad gave me when I was a whee baby in my crib. When the sun came up, I'd apparently flap my little arms and kick my feet and go "Wikki, wikki, wikki!" when the birds chirp. 😄 It stuck, so I go by Wikki most days and a lot of my friends call me that. When I become a rich and famous author, that'll be stamped on the front cover of the book!

I grew up in Colorado. Moved to Texas, then back to Colorado. Moved to Virginia, then North Carolina, met my husband, then back to Colorado. Somewhere in there, I did some acting jobs, made a commercial and a little money, too! I moved back to North Carolina in 2015. Chances are I may move back to Colorado, but for now I'm happy in North Carolina with my husband, three daughters, and three cats.

I am the mom of a 9 year old daughter, who channels her inner drama-llama quite frequently, but wants to be an artist. I'm also a mom of twin toddlers, one of them we've affectionately nicknamed Loki. She's the God of Mischief reborn in my child, omg... You tell her no, not to do something, and she'll give you a smile and a grin and a calculated gleam enters her pretty hazel eyes and she knows. She knoooooooooows she's not supposed to do it and she does it anyway. It's a good thing she's cute!

By day, I'm a full-time Data Analyst with a school system. It's not the most creative job, but it pays the bills and I like the folks I work with. I look at suspension data all day and look for trends and pull reports for people. It allows me to daydream quite often and it's not very stressful. My creativity comes out in other ways, like how I decorate my cubicle or how I express myself through dress...or my hair!

At the moment I have hair purple-blue-pink hair and I've been told it's unicorn hair, so I suppose I'm doing something right. Little kids and adults both smile when they look at me. I refuse to dress my age. I'll be the "little old lady" with pink hair and combat boots!

I'm in school full-time going for my Office Administration degree. It's not necessary to my job and I don't technically need the degree, but it's more about saying I started and finished something. Often times I feel like I start something, but then never finish and I don't like that.

My mom died in January of this year. She'd had three strokes prior to this one and she died of complications related to it. It's the second time I've watched someone die right before my eyes. I don't recommend it. Aside from the nurse, I was the only one with her. She was only 65. Everyone kept saying that she was so young, so young. Yes, she was young. Very much so, but she was also so negative and bitter about a lot of things. I honestly feel that holding on to so much of that is what contributed to it. It's a lesson that I don't want to repeat. Her passing was a HUGE wake-up call. 

Since then, I have lost over 30 pounds. I am taking the time to take care of myself. I am taking the time to focus on me and my family. The weirdest thing, however, is that I have time. I have time to have time. I spent so much time and energy on her, that balancing everything else was a struggle and I didn't realize it. I used to spend a lot of time getting her groceries, taking her to appointments, bringing her over for "baby time" and other things. Not that any of that is bad, but now that she's not here it's like there is an empty void.

I'm a HUGE reader. I read a lot of romance, paranormal romance, and erotic romance. I stopped reading for a long time, but since the death of my mom earlier this year I feel it has become a necessity to escape back into the world of fantasy. I've actually be a part of a challenge with my best friend re-read a series that I fell in love with over a decade ago that is still going strong. It's the Dark-Hunter series by Sherrilyn Kenyon. My best friend, Brandi, had never read the series before and has fallen in love with the books and has also gone down the deep rabbit hole of interest and love for the series. It's been very helpful to escape with her! The books are full of magic and romance and the promise of a Happily Every After, which I feel everyone deserves. I highly recommend the series. Brandi and I plan to tackle a new series after we finish the latest book as we wait for the next one! 

Since my mom's death, I feel I've changed quite a bit. I have a "I don't give a fuck" attitude about a lot of things now. It's not so much to the point of not caring per se, but I also don't put up with a lot of the crap I used to. That unicorn hair? It's not that my mom wouldn't have judged me, but I would have been more reserved about doing it. She would have supported me in doing it, but I still would have felt this doubt about doing it. I spent so much energy on helping her (she'd had several strokes), that I hadn't taken the time to think about me. When people ask me now why I did it, I can freely say "Why not?" and they smile and nod. Because it's true. Why not? I also stand up for myself.

Another thing, a happy thing I've discovered, is that I've gotten some free time to WRITE. This is very important to me. I've toyed with some ideas for writing my own original work since before my first child was born almost a decade ago. Since my mom's death, a lot of ideas and inspiration has come. I'd like to think she's giving me support from "beyond the grave" in her own way. Once school finishes, I hope that I can dedicate more time to working on my books and see what Amazon can do for ME.