Quick Before I Get Sidetrack'd

1. Of your current hobbies, which would you choose to spend more time, money, and effort on? Why?

Reading. It is (and has long been) my favorite pass-time, but I don’t have as much time to read as I would like since we’ve had three kids in less than four years.

2. List two other hobbies/habitual activities (not chores) besides the one listed above that you regularly do now and didn’t choose in question one.

Umm…blogging and counted cross-stitch (although I am not currently doing it regularly, it is the only other hobby I can think of)

3. Why are you spending time on the above two hobbies/habitual activities at all if you really wanted to spend your time on the first one you chose? …or to put it another way, what are these two hobbies/habitual activities fulfilling that the first one doesn’t if you don’t want to put all your effort into the first hobby?

If I don’t blog it is often because I’m reading; especially when I get caught up in a really good book. I enjoy blogging on a totally different level than reading, though. Blogging allows for interaction with others, for one thing, but I also enjoy writing and chronicling what’s going on with our family.

4. Read John 3:16 in the bible… In what way does this passage affect you? What are your feelings towards these words, positively or negatively?

It reaffirms for me that God loves me on an individual and personal level; God sent Jesus because he loves the world, but also because he loves me. And it is because of my belief in Jesus that I have eternal life. I love the promises of the Bible because I know they are of God and that my God doesn’t lie.

5. M&M’s: nuts, no nuts, or peanut butter?

Usually plain M&M’s, although, I like the peanut butter ones a lot, too. In college I kept a bag of peanut butter M&M’s in my freezer most of the time for a quick between classes snack.

6. Putting away the feeling of pride being a bad thing; what secretly/openly are you proud about yourself?

I’m proud of the fact that I’m able to be a stay-at-home mom; that Matt and I have made that a priority over the conveniences (because that is what it would be in our case) of having a second income. Also, that we cloth diaper.

7. Given one room in the house to do with what you want, not changing the actual size of the room and with all the money you would need, what would you do, and be specific? (this can range from bouncy floor,walls & ceilings; to hard wood floor with wood paneling and purple ceiling with a chair; to nothing)

This was a tough choice between the living room and kitchen, but since I can’t change the size of the room, I would change our living room…install hardwood floors, take out the painted paneling and hang drywall then paint it a warmer beige or ecru, scrape the “popcorn” ceiling, change the look of the fireplace opening, add a nice comfy chair, convert part of our built-in bookshelves to a computer desk

8. What’s the next movie you’re going to see? Not what you’d LIKE to GO see, but the next movie you realistically are going to watch.

The newest Star Trek movie (next on our Netflix queue) or Julie & Julia (borrowed from a friend)

9. Use the keyboard only and make your best smiley/funny/cool face –> like this! 8^)

8-S

10. What makes you cry? What makes you pray? What makes you laugh?

My kids.

For more Ten on Tuesday fun head over to Roots and Rings.

Welcome to another edition of Ten on Tuesday hosted by Roots and Rings. This week’s questions are a bit all over the place, but you’ll definitely learn a little more about me.

1. If you were given an hour to use a $200 Amazon gift card, what would you buy?
I can’t even decide on what to buy with the $30 Amazon gift card I have, let alone a hypothetical $200 gift card. Hmm…probably some shoes and a few books, and maybe something for the kids (or maybe not).

2. Are there any fairly common foods that you’ve never had?
Brussels sprouts are the only thing that come immediately to mind.

3. What was your favorite way to use your imagination as a kid?
I loved to play with my baby dolls and to play “house”.

4. What’s your favorite state? Why?
I’ve got to say Tennessee here just because it is the state I’ve lived in all my life. It has three distinct and very different areas (East, Middle, and West), and I’ve lived in and enjoyed them all (although, East TN is definitely my favorite). A very close second would be North Carolina (at least the western part) because Matt and I love the mountains and the Asheville area.

5. If it was our culture to have our parents choose our spouses, do you think yours would make a good choice?
I think they would. They know me (and my strengths and weaknesses) pretty well.

6. What’s your favorite herb?
Tough one…It’s a close call between cilantro, oregano, and basil.

7. If you could have dinner with one celebrity, who would you choose?
I’m not much of a celebrity watcher, so I don’t really have an answer for this one.

8. What’s your favorite Disney movie?
Beauty and the Beast – My Daddy took me to see it in the theater for my 12th birthday.

9. If you had to listen to the same song over and over for 24 hours, what song would you choose?
That pretty much sounds like torture. No matter what song I chose and how much I liked it, by the end of 24 hours I’d probably be about ready to hurl myself off a cliff. (Matt suggested John Cage’s Four minutes, thirty-three seconds)

10. How do you order your steak?
It depends on where I’m eating. If it is a steakhouse, I usually order it medium-well; if I’m at a restaurant that just happens to have steak, I usually order it medium. Most places overcook their steaks.

There’s another fun set of questions at Roots and Rings for this week’s Ten on Tuesday. (Although there are 11 questions this week which kind of freaks the OCD in me out a bit)

1. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
I’m an ice cream kind of girl, so this list could go on (it’s hard to narrow to one favorite), but I’ll keep it semi-short: peanut butter and chocolate, moose tracks, cookies and cream (especially Blue Bell)

2. What is your earliest memory?
It would probably be of me flying to Houston with my Mema when I was probably 3 or 4 (right, Mom?). I remember us being on the plane together and it just being the two of us.

3. What is your earliest memory of a dessert?
This is an odd question. I can’t think of one from early in my life, but my first memory of cooking dessert would be in middle school when my best friend would come to the house and beg me to bake chocolate chip cookies for him.

4. Do you have any recurring dreams?
A few, but I haven’t had any of them recently. There was one (mainly as a child) where my house was on fire in a ring down the center of the house and I was on one side and my Dad was on the other and I couldn’t get to him. The primary one as an adult has been Matt and I (with some other people) running from a group of mercenary-type soldiers who are persecuting us. We hide out in this little room where we have to crawl through a hole and along a tunnel to reach it. I always wake up with my heart pounding. (could be related to the amount of reading I do about WWIII era Europe)

5. Have you ever dreamed about dessert?
Absolutely. Especially when I’m pregnant, but occasionally when I’m not.

6. What is one thing (aside from a cell phone or computer) that you cannot go the entire day without?
Talking to Matt.

7. What is one dessert you could go your entire life without ever having again?
I can’t think of any specific dessert (although I know there are some out there), but anything with raisins is high on my dislike list.

8. If you could go on vacation tomorrow, where would you go? (Assume someone else is footing the bill, but within reason…so “the moon” won’t work)
The beach (Caribbean or gulf coast)! There are lots of places I would love to go, but right now I just want WARM.

9. If you could have any dessert tomorrow, what would you have (assume someone else is buying it for you. Within reason though, no “gold sprinkled ice cream cones.”)
Hmmm…strawberry cake with strawberry or cream cheese icing (or maybe chocolate mousse cheesecake)

10. What was your first impression of your significant other? If you’re single, what was your first impression of your best friend?
Matt – I thought he was cute and very quiet.

my best friend – that she seemed like a nice neighbor and it was nice of her to ask about our new baby (Little)

11. What is your first impression of dessert pizza? (Personally, I think it’s weird. I love dessert but I don’t want any on my pizza.)
Before I tried it I thought it sounded bizarre and gross. Once I tried some I found out I like some of it.

For the last few weeks my BFF, Lindsey, and my wonderful SIL, Lu, have participated in Ten on Tuesday at Roots and Rings. It looks like fun, and I like this week’s questions, so I thought I would play along. (seeing as how I’m blogging semi-regularly again and all)

1. If you could open any type of store/place of business (money is no obstacle), what would you open?
A used bookstore would be an option since we don’t have a good one in our area, but the only real business idea I’ve had is for Lindsey and me to open a stroller and baby carrier “rental” company where new moms and moms-to-be could try out different kinds of carriers and strollers without having to make the financial investment that is generally involved in these purchases. We would also rent carriers and strollers for people who were traveling or only needed them for a short time for whatever reason. Our husbands laugh anytime we bring it up.

2. If all jobs paid equally, what occupation would you want? Why?
Right now I’m perfectly happy as a stay-at-home mom. At some point in the future, however, I would love to train as a lactation consultant or doula (or possibly both).

3. If you could be any animal in the world, what would you pick? Why?
I have no idea. Can’t say that I’ve ever really thought about it.

4. If offered one “service” free of charge, which would you choose? (chauffeur, maid, personal shopper, chef, etc.)
Absolutely, positively, no doubt about it, it would be a maid! I’m good with cooking, laundry, shopping, etc, but I cannot stay on top of cleaning these days (could, just possibly, have something to do with having a newborn, but still) and it’s not something I enjoy most any time.

5. What is one habit, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t seem to break?
I actually have 2: popping my knuckles and biting my lips. I’ve tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to stop doing both

6. What is one thing that no matter how many you own, you still love to buy all the time?
If I had the money, this would definitely be baby carriers, as it stands right now, I’ve gotta say cloth diapers.

7. Out of all the game shows (past and present), which would you want to be a participant on and play?
I would love to be smart enough to be on Jeopardy.

8. If you could play the lead role in any movie that’s already been made, which movie would you pick?
ooo…I don’t know. Probably either Jo in Little Women or Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC Pride & Prejudice. I think I’m enough like both of those characters to pull it off (if I could act).

9. Name 5 things on your bucket list (things you want to do before you die).
I’ve never made a bucket list, but I would like to buy a house 100% cash down (which would only happen if we were totally debt free), see my children find their God-given purpose in life, travel Europe with Matt, move back to East TN or western NC, and drive an Audi TT turbo (6 speed manual transmission and convertible would be nice). Wow, that was much harder than I thought it would be.

10. Which one of your birthdays was the best? What did you do that day?
I can’t remember very many of my individual birthdays, but my 19th birthday is definitely pretty high on the list. That year my Mom, brother, sister-in-law, and oldest nephew (who was 9 months old at the time) came to Montgomery (where I was in college) to celebrate with me. It was the first time my family met Matt.

I saw this meme at Stephanie’s the other day and thought it would be apropos since we are in the midst of playing the baby-name-game. It’s all about our children’s names.

1. Do you have any cultural or religious naming traditions?

Not cultural or religious. Little’s first name is just a name I’ve loved since hearing it years ago; although, after we decided on the name we found out that Matt had a great-great-aunt (or something like that) with the same name. Boo’s first name is a family name (on Matt’s side) that has been in every generation dating back to the mid- to late-1500s.

2. Did you or your partner come to the marriage with pre-selected names?

We came into the marriage both with names that we liked individually and names that we both liked; however, none of those names show up on our children’s birth certificates.

3. Did you consider the sound of the first and middle and last names together? Did this make any sad eliminations?

Oh my goodness, yes. I make a huge deal (it could possibly be called OCD) about the flow of names. The first test for any name is how it sounds with our last name. We also consider how the first and middle sound together and how the three names sound as a whole. I’m quite particular.

4. Did you have veto powers?

Veto powers are held and very frequently used by both parties.

5. Did the baby naming cause arguments?

No arguments. It just takes us a long time to name our children.

6. Do you think it is easier to name boys or girls?

Neither! We struggled with Boo’s middle name until just weeks before he was born, and the wee babe remains nameless with less than 14 weeks until her due date.

7. Did you eliminate names because of people from your past or present who you don’t like or because a certain image comes to mind.

Absolutely! We both had certain names that this applied to, but Matt seems to have a lot more negative name associations than I do (at least with names that have been tossed out there). He is also quick to point out crazy nicknames, etc that might arise from the name or initials.

8. Did you / would you survey your children to get their thoughts on the name?

Little was just barely talking when we were naming Boo, so this didn’t apply. Now Boo is just barely talking as we name the wee babe. However, we have asked Little about what she thinks we should name the wee babe – at first it was always Annabelle (with the first “a” being a long vowel sound) which we quickly dismissed; lately she either says she doesn’t know yet or she makes something up that we quickly veto.

9. Did you tell people the name or possible names before the baby was born or were they “in the vault”?

We’ve always shared our names as soon as we’ve decided on them. We also share our “short lists” because otherwise people would drive us crazy asking (many of them already think we take way to long to find a name).

10. Did you use baby name books?

We’ve looked at them with all three children, but never found them useful; every name either of us suggests the other seems to shoot down. Mostly we just make fun of the names that are in there.

Let me know if you decide to play along with this meme; I would love to read your answers.

By the way – be sure to stop in Friday for a kid/baby related product review and giveaway!