Questions, Questions, Questions

I'm finishing up the last of the questions. It's been what? Three weeks now? Why yes, I do procrastinate sometimes.


Laski asked:

Who did you most admire as a child? And now, today? Give us the whys . . .

When I was a child I loved my great grandma. She was one fun gal. Stubborn, headstrong, independent, do-it-yourself-or-die, and horse crazy. Apparently the apple didn't fall far from that tree. She came complete with a sketchy history that involved a lover, running off to the Wild West, and a fatherless daughter. Nobody ever knew the story and she took it to her grave. She was like a living novel to a little girl.

Now that I'm older and wiser, I still admire her. Her can-do attitude surely must have trickled down to me and has seen me through many a tough situations in the 15 years we've been married. With ancestors like that you cant' throw in the towel. Stiffen the upper lip and keep on keeping on.


What was your most favorite toy you had while growing up?

That's easy. Breyer horses. When we couldn't be out riding our real horses we were inside playing with toy ones. Or running around on our hands and knees being horses ourselves. Yeh, we were obsessed.


Drink of choice? Any drink . . .

Starbucks rawks the drink world. (My favorite hot is Peppermint Mocha, and my favorite cold is a Mocha Frappuccino, no whip.) I drink water when I can't have Starbucks. Yeh, I'm wild like that. Although since I'm dieting, my drink of choice now is decaf tea. It's satisfying and curbs a ravenous appetite. I love hot tea.


One thing you CAN'T live without that resides in your kitchen and/or medicine cabinet and/or make-up bag (we know your low maintenance, so I'm eager to hear this!)

Hand cream. Of all the things that I could choose, I have a deep seated need for this. I think it's my incredibly dry skin that screams out for it. I have lotion stashed in a kitchen drawer, the computer desk, my purse, my sewing room, in the bathroom and at my bedside. I have issues apparently.

And weirdly enough, I cannot go out of the house without lip gloss. I can stay at home for a week and never once think about needing it, but the moment I get in the van to go somewhere I suddenly have to apply the stuff every 15 minutes or so. Weird.




BluePaintRed asked:

With Micah being such a full time job (albeit the sweetest job in the world!), do you ever consider adding more to your brood or was he meant to be the stopping point anyway?

Awww, thanks for the sweet words about my dear boy. You’re a gem.

You know we have the one lone daughter followed by those 3 boys. After the 2nd boy we debated long and hard on whether we wanted 4 kids or not. We never did have a magic number in our heads on when we’d quit, but both knew when we’d be done. (Thankfully it worked out for us, that could have been ugly.) We both really, really, really wanted another daughter and decided that 4 kids was well within reason if we could have one more chance at pink and lace. We also decided that even if God chose to bless us with yet another son we’d be done.

A wise friend once told me that when you can hold someone else’s newborn and ooooh and aaaaaah and hand it back thinking “boy am I glad I’m out of THAT stage” you know you’re done having kids. We’re there. And I have no regrets or guilt.



Just Jamie asked:

If you had to wear the same outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be? (Hopefully not an orange jumpsuit...)

Although I love orange, jumpsuits are not meant to be worn by humans. What was the person thinking that invented those? It's no wonder they save it for prisoners - it's all part of their sentence.

I love, love, love capris and a sweatshirt. Capris are the miracle clothing that flatter so many, and sweatshirts hide a multitude of fat rolls. I'm so low maintenance and unclassy that it scares even me.

Of course, this would be during optimal weather. Obviously one cannot wear a sweatshirt in summer, and around here winters are a bit too harsh for capris. That may be why I love this outfit - I have such a limited window to wear it.



imbeingheldhostage asked:

Do you have any regrets for "missed opportunities"? You know, like the love that got away, the job you didn't take, the thing you wished you said but didn't?

You know, I have few regrets. I love that. Thanks for making me realize that my life is everything I ever wanted.

My biggest regret is not going to Hawaii. I had the trip planned in great detail when we were in Alaska. But then I got pregnant with Becky and would have been 8 months when we planned to go. I don't think the military would have allowed us on the hop, but if we would have made it to the land of beaches and sun I'm sure a well-meaning tourist would have shoved me in the water thinking I was a beached whale.

I also regret putting carpet in the downstairs. My love affair with soft footing is over.

And IF you weren't already living your dream (and mine), what kind of alternate life could you see yourself in?

I'm glad you said alternate life and not alternate lifestyle.

If I would have chosen a career for myself, I would have been a vet. The most fun days were when the vet came to the farm and did surgeries, or helped deliver a calf, or something else majorly spectacular to a child. I loved watching and learning. Funny, though. As a kid you just don't think about working 7 days a week and being on call in your off-time. Not unlike being a mom, I guess. Only the pay is better. But I always knew I wanted to be a SAHM and could never justify 8+ years of college just to learn all sorts of neat vet stuff. (I'm also glad that Sam was on board with the whole SAHM thing, because that may have been a major issue.)

Of course, this was after the jockey phase. I was seriously going to attend Hawkeye Hill Racing School in California and race thoroughbreds. I'm not sure what happened to that dream.




Michelle from Big Blueberry Eyes asked:

What was your favorite vacation?

Well, it wasn't Hawaii.

I think my favorite one wasn't really a vacation at all. When Sam got out of the Air Force 12 years ago we were stationed in Alaska. Becky was just a year old and we'd nearly finalized the flight information to move back. And then we woke up one morning and said "hey, why don't we do something spectacularly stupid like driving back to Pennsylvania? And we'll take the scenic route."

And that's exactly what we did.

We spent 3 weeks on the road seeing things I've never seen before, visiting family and friends along the way and driving across the country. In that one trip, we took a ferry to Washington, toured Seattle, saw the redwood forest, drove down the Pacific Coast Highway, went to Disney, saw the Grand Canyon and visited my grandmother, Sam's brother, friends in Oklahoma and my cousin in Missouri.

And Becky was good as gold in the back seat of the Cavalier the entire trip. In fact, she was cutting molars and we didn't even know it until we hit Ohio.

That is a trip that I'll never forget. Not exactly a vacation, but there are so many memories.