Tagged

My friend Jen from Life Crafts & Whatever tagged me in a post about answering eleven questions (about 2 months ago - sorry Jen!).  Then my friend Erika did the same with a different set of questions.  So I'm combining it all here into one post.  (And 22 questions is a lot, so I'm going to weed out any that my answer would be so boring to that you'd all fall in to a coma.)  These things are sort of the blog world's version of a chain letter and you're supposed to tag other blogs when you're done.  Unfortunately Erika and Jen managed to already tag everyone in my blogiverse, so I'm just going to ignore that part.


I would like to preface everything here with a disclaimer, though.  It is a well documented fact (just ask my husband) that there is something in my psyche that refuses to pick favorites.  For many years I thought maybe this was some sort of defect.  Everybody has favorite everything.  Food, movies, song, etc.  But I like lots of food. And movies?  Impossible to decide.  Song?  I can't even tell you my favorite type of music.  So questions like these stress me out because I'm afraid I'm going to be held to my declared favorite forever.  Probably tomorrow, or later this afternoon, I'd pick different answers.  But I am going to answer these questions anyway.  Just for you all. 



1.  How did you decide to start blogging?
Um, I think I just got tired of remembering to email funny things my kids did to the grandparents, so I decided to put them all in one place online. Oh no!  I remember now.  I started it 'cause I have an Etsy shop and people promote their shops through blogs.  You can see it's worked fabulously.  Even I forgot this was for the shop. 

2.  What would be your dream job?
Writer, definitely.  Can you imagine if people paid you just to chatter in print?  Heaven.

3.  What is your favorite movie or book?
Can't possibly pick a favorite movie.  But one of my very favorite books is Pride and Prejudice. 

4.  Favorite food?
At this very moment it's the wings and cheesy corn we have every Friday night.  The meal is so good it's worth punching someone in the face and stealing their serving of it.   

5.  If you had an entire afternoon free, who would you want to spend it with?
Medman.  We've been married thirteen years, but he's still my fav.  Nothing fancy.  Just find somewhere pretty to sit and talk. Preferably somewhere tropical.

6.  What is the most significant goal you have achieved to date? 
 Uh, do other people have an answer to this?

7. What is your dream vacation?
Spend forever seeing the entire world.  I'd start in Ireland.  No, Italy.  No, New Zealand.  No, Bora Bora.  (See the problem with the favorites?)

8.  When you go to weddings, do you dance or sit like a bump? 
The way I see it, the world is split into two groups of people.  Sitters and Dancers.  Now the Dancers have pop culture on their side.  They have hit songs like, "When you get the chance to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance."  And I'll give those dancers the benefit of the doubt that they mean well when they keep harassing us sitters to get up and dance.  Because for a dancer they aren't happy unless their dancing.

But dancers, please listen closely for a moment.  The sitters aren't sitting because they are sad or scared or shy.  They are sitting because they would rather sit.  Really, it is more fun for them to sit and chat and watch the dancers than actually go dance.  So please leave us alone and let us be happy without justifying ourselves.

And dancers, please remove the "like a bump" from questions like this.  Perhaps switch it out for "like the contented, well-rounded, secure people that you are."  Thank you.  You may now continue to shake your booties. 

If I were to write a hit country song it would go like this, "If you get the chance to sit it out or dance...you're probably somewhere with good food and hopefully a chocolate fountain...I hope you eat." 

9.  If you were going to volunteer for an organization, what would it be? Ronald McDonald House.  When baby Jack was in the hospital for months in Kansas City (three hours away from our house) the Ronald McDonald House let us stay on the very edge of the hospital property.  We could walk from our room to Jack's NICU in minutes.

The house was gorgeous.  It was huge and had everything we needed.  Hundreds of kind volunteers fed us dinner every night and provided a beautiful house with a playroom for Dalton who was only 15 months old.  Living in a hotel for three months would have cost all of our collective arms and legs. RMH provided us a loving home away from home for dollars a day.  Really people, it's a fantastic charity.  Support them whenever you can.  Next time you are in the McDonald's drive through, drop your change into the little container below the window that is for the Ronald McDonald House.  Heck, stuff a twenty in there.

10.  Favorite celebrity or sports star?  
Ok, not only do I not have favorites, but I don't really follow celebrities.  I know, lots of you are shaking your heads, but someone has to be uber famous for me to know who they are.  And sports stars?  Well, some of them are nice and all, but when they screw up they tend to do it big so I try not to get too attached.  

And they are just allowed to get away with such low production in their jobs that it's annoying.  Take baseball players.  If they hit a third of the balls pitched at them they're doing well.  Let's see a show of hands, how many of the rest of you would still be employed if you only were successful at one third of the things you tried?

How about if I only fixed one third of the meals people wanted around here?  Wiped a third of the poop off Liam's butt?  Only washed a third of the laundry? Oh wait, that's been working out just fine for years.  Still, my point stands.  
 

11. What did you want to be when you grew up... when you were 6?   
Astronaut. 
 
12. What's the most challenging part of maintaining a blog?  
Are these things supposed to be maintained?
 
13. What is the best vacation you've ever taken? 
Oooooh this is a hard question.  We've had some great ones.  The one that I have the strongest memories of was when Medman and I went to Puerto Vallarta for a week.  It was in August (the very hot, very stormy, very much off season) and it was fairly spur of the moment.  I saw an ad online and spent the evening telling Medman about how we should go.  I had him excited about it too until I mentioned that the trip would be booked through Travel By Bob.  It was a harder sell after that.


But we did go and it was a great week.  Time almost stopped as we hung out in a mostly deserted resort (Sometime I'll blog about The Embarcadero.  Let's just say it was...lovably quirky.  Really, the whole trip is calling out for a set of blog posts) and sat on our balcony watching the most amazing thunderstorms every night.  Oceans, swimming with dolphins, night time cruises, bartering with the locals.  (You'll agree with me that this trip needs a set of blog posts when you know that of all this the "bartering with the locals" part is what is going to send my husband into gales of laughter.) Seven days of heaven.
 
14. What is something about you most people would never guess? 
My degree is in rocket science.  (Hmm, it suddenly sounds a little sad that no one would ever guess I was a rocket scientist. I wonder what that says about me?  Or what I think of rocket scientists?  Or what I think of everyone else...) It is of no help to me in my daily life except that I get to always be the definitive answer on whether someone is speaking truthfully when they say, "Well, it's not rocket science."  As you can imagine, my skills are not needed often.
 
15. What is the song that is stuck in your head and you want to share just so other people have to suffer too?  
Belle sang "Ladybug on a Pushlight" tonight, so that one's in my head for probably the next week.  I have no way to share it, though.  If you see one of my kids, ask them to sing it for you.  You'll thank me.