My Real Life

1. Is love at 1st sight possible?

I absolutely think so.

I don’t think love can be defined, and I think it happens for everyone in different ways, and I 100% believe that for some people, it can happen instantly.

2. How did you choose your pet’s name?

My very first dog was named Nellie.

I named her after Nellie Bly, the first female investigative journalist.

I SO wanted to be an investigative reporter.

Anyway, we had Nellie for one day and one night.

My Dad and I sat there with blood pouring out of our noses and realized that Nellie and our allergies weren’t going to mix.

So, back she went.

My next dog, Keebler, lived a long, happy life with our family.

My friend, Gail, and I named him while sitting in the back seat of my Dad’s car, on the way home from the pound.

He was in a cardboard box, and there were newspapers on the bottom of the box.

One on of the papers was an ad for Keebler Fudge cookies.

Keebler, it was.

I got Scooby Doo while I was in college.

I loved Scooby Doo when I was a kid, and decided that if I ever had another dog, after Keebler, his name would be Scooby Doo.

So, my roommate, DeeDee, and I went with Scooby Doo.

When Real Man and I got married, we also got a dog.

We named him Linus, as that was our favorite Peanuts character, but after one day, we decided he’d get beat up by the other neighborhood dogs with a name like Linus.

So, we changed it to Ben, because I had always loved the name.

So, Ben, or Bennie, it was.

Loved that guy.

3. What are you considering giving up (cable, home phone)?

I go back and forth about giving up our land line and just living off our cell phones, but I like having a central number for the family.

Cable?

Never.

4. How much do you pay your babysitter?

Um, with hugs and kisses?

Right now, our only babysitters are our parents.

We don’t go out much, so we don’t use them much at night, but they are huge helps to us in the morning, getting the kids on the bus, and after school, if I have meetings, getting the kids off the bus.

One of these days, soon, we know we’ll need to get an actual babysitter (of course, Monkey Girl is getting older) but right now, it’s grandparent-nation around here.

And believe me, we are SO grateful.

5. How “young” is old enough to babysit?

It really depends on the child.

I think I started when I was 11 or 12.

Monkey Girl would like to start and is going to take the Red Cross babysitting course so she can get going on it.

She’ll be a great babysitter, and would probably be fine now, but I think she can wait until she was 12.

Don’t forget to enter our Caption Contest!

1. What’s your favorite childhood snack that you still eat as an adult?

I’m going to go with Double-Stuf Oreo’s.

And can I tell you that I hate that “Stuf” is spelled like “Stuf?”

I don’t like the chocolate part of an Oreo, unless it is completely saturated with milk.

I LOVE the cream, though, and so Double Stuf is the cookie for me.

I would go with Archway’s Iced Spice cookies, but they don’t make those suckers anymore.

They make Iced Oatmeal, in a terrible imitation, but no more Iced Spice.

2. What food will you not eat the low fat version of?

Um, anything?

I kid, I kid.

I don’t know…The low-fat version of a lot of foods is dry and cardboard-y, but I’ll give it a try.

Ooh, I just asked Real Man and he reminded me that I won’t eat Low-Fat Triscuits.

I love the greasy, saltiness of real Triscuits, and I don’t want the low-fat or sour cream and chive or any other version of Triscuits than the original.

So, leave the Triscuit alone!

3. What’s your favorite way to cool off during the summer?

1.  Swimming in the ocean.

2.  Going to the pool.

3. Drinking an ice cold glass of water.

4.  Air-conditioning.

4. What’s your favorite summer read?

I like reading summer romance novels.

Nora Roberts and her friends.

Nothing too racy, stuff set at the beach.

Just easy reads that don’t require much thinking and whisk me away to more vacation in my head.

5. What are you doing to stay cool in this awful heat?

It’s not really too bad where I am.

We’ve been trying to stay outside as much as possible.

We can take the heat, and when it gets too much, we head to the pool or turn on the sprinkler.

1. What do you keep a stock pile of?

Toilet paper.

6 people in the house, 4 of them kids, 3 of them boys, 1 of them 6 years old.

The answer?

Toilet paper.

2. If Ben & Jerry asked you to invent an ice cream, what would it be?

Either something fruity and sherbet-y or something like a big container of frozen peanut butter with little bits of chocolate thrown in.

You’d need a chisel to get it out of the carton, but it would be worth it, because you’d have huge chunks of peanut butter in which to sink your teeth!

Heaven.

3. How do you blow off steam?

Dancing.

You’ll know if I’m in an incredibly good mood, or if I’ve had an incredibly stressful day by the music emanating from the kitchen.

Rockin’ dance parties in the kitchen, while I cook dinner, help to eliminate huge amounts of stress.

Take me OUT to go dancing?

I’m relaxed for a week.

I love to go out dancing, but haven’t been in forever.

Except for Mark’s wedding, and that was awesome.

4. What would you do if you had an hour to yourself anywhere within a ten mile radius of your home…no kids, no hubby, just you?

I’d probably wind up going hiking.

There’s a little trail with BIG rocks to climb up, in the town in which we used to live, which isn’t too far away.

There are other, more challenging trails that I enjoy, but not within a 10-mile radius.

I love that trail, because I love the rock climbing.

It’s physically exerting

Monkey Girl loves to go on that trail with me, but if I had the hour to myself, I’d go alone because there is something to be said for being able to go at your own pace, and being able to listen to the ground under your feet and the animals around you.  Sometimes it’s nice to be able to be in my own head, without having to actively listen to someone else, as my career and my life at home seriously revolves around active listening.  I’m good at it.  But sometimes…I just like to be in my head, with my thoughts.

5. When you were 16, what was your curfew in the summertime?

Um…I have no idea.

I think, maybe 11 or 12?

I wasn’t doing anything that would cause my parents to need me to come home early, so I’m not really sure.

Kim? Erin? Michaela?

A little help?

1. Would you grow your hair out to donate it?

Been there, done that, would be more than happy to do it again.

2. What song makes you think of summer?

California Girls by the Beach Boys

Summer in the City by the Lovin’ Spoonful

Both of these automatically bring me to the summer, no matter the actual season.

I know I’ve already led you there, but let me redirect you to my friend, Shane’s, blog, in which he outlines “Summer Lovin’ and the Songs of Summer.”

3. Are you a flip flops or sandals kind of person?

Both.

I love my flip flops, but I don’t love plastic-y, cheap flip flops.

I have Addidas flip flops that have a gel-like cushiony foot base.

I love them.

However, I love my sandals for dressier occasions.

Strappy sandals, sandals with heels.

Love them.

My favorite shoes are my trail walking sneakers, but I enjoy my flips and my sandals, as well.

4. Favorite summer treat (ie ice cream, snow cones, etc)?

Dairy Queen large chocolate cone with rainbow sprinkles.

I have actually dreamed of these cones.

5. Do you do something special for the father of your children on Fathers day?

I can’t answer this question on the grounds that Father’s Day is two days away and the father of my children reads this blog and I wouldn’t want to ruin any surprises the monkeys or I might have in store.

However, I can safely say that, in the past, we have made him breakfast, bought him lovely gifts, and tried to let him chill and relax for the day.

As for this year?

My lips are sealed.

1. Did you do anything special for your kids on the last day of school? Or did you parents do anything special for you?

Our last day of school isn’t for another week, and I’ve never really done anything special for the kids because their last day of school is also always my last day of school.

Although, that night is the first sleepover night of the summer, and they get to start their later, summer bedtime, and we usually have a family movie night that night, so I guess that might qualify.

However, those are things we usually do on Friday nights all year, so maybe not.

Except that, it being the first night of summer vacation ups the fun quotient.

So, yeah.

Or, no.

Who cares?  It’s summer!

2. What’s your favorite summer tradition with your children?

I don’t have a summer tradition with my kids, and these questions are starting to make me feel like a bad parent.

We go to the beach every year for vacation, so I guess that could qualify.

This year, however, Monkey Girl has already begun outlining some of the trails she wants to hike with me, so I’m hopeful that this could become a new summer tradition, because I am SO into it.

Love to hike, love my girl.

3. What was your favorite thing to do during the summer as a kid?

Play.

I’d go to the pool with Erin all day.

or

I’d ride bikes and climb trees with Gail all day.

or

I’d play on the playground all day.

or

It would rain and I would lay around and read books all day.

I played when I was a kid.

All day, every day.

I didn’t watch tv.

We didn’t have a computer.

I just played.

And it was awesome.

4. How old were you when you were married? Were you a Bridezilla?

I was 26 when I got married.

I don’t think I was a Bridezilla, because I consider myself to be fairly laid back, but I’d need Kim, Erin, or Michaela to chime in here. (My sister-in-law was my Maid of Honor, but I don’t think she reads the blog.)

Or, I guess, Real Man could chime in, also.

But, I’ll say again, I think I was fairly laid back about the wedding.

Except when it rained on the wedding day and we had to change our venue for pictures and we were so late to the reception that we missed the cocktail hour and I never got my potato pancakes dipped in applesauce or my mini-hot dogs, which were ALL I could think about all day.

I mean, other than how happy I was to be marrying the love of my life.

Other than that…pretty laid back, I think.

5. What is your favorite girl name?

I’m partial to classic names like Julia, Olivia, Emma, Sara, Madeleine, Lily and Anna.

And, I guess that’s the answer to that.

1. What were you scared of as a kid?

I believe we’ve covered this topic, ad naseum, but I will answer again.

Clowns.

Porcelain dolls.

End of story.

2. Do you sleep well in a hotel?

Like a baby.

In fact, sleeping in a hotel is one of the few times that I actually sleep through the night, undisturbed.

It’s like it takes some sort of responsibility off my shoulders, and it’s just enough to allow me to sleep.

All night.

It’s a beautiful thing.

3. If you could meet any celebrity, dead or alive, who and why?

Hmmm…tough one.

I’d love to meet Jennifer Garner.

I think we’d be friends.

I’d also love to meet Reese Witherspoon, just to see if we really do resemble each other in person.

I’d like to go back in time and meet Heath Ledger and tell him to clean up his act, otherwise, his little girl is going to grow up without him.

I’d like to meet Mark Wahlberg.

Just to stare for a bit.

I’d like to meet Billy Joel and have him just play the piano for me for a few hours.

I’d like to meet Stephen King.

I’d just be happy to sit in a room with him in absolute silence and be in awe of his talent.

And, although I don’t think he’s a celebrity by today’s standards, Lord, would I love to meet Mozart.

Like Stephen King, I’d be happy just to sit in a room with him, although I’d want there to be a piano so I could watch his mind at work.

4. It’s a hot summer day. Do you prefer to be pool side or at the beach?

At the beach.

Because that means I’m on vacation.

The pool is great, but the pool means I’m home.

I don’t have a beach down the street, so if I’m on the beach, I’m away from home, and that, my friends, is a lovely thing.

I don’t even mind the extra work that the beach is, with four kids.

I welcome it.

Because it means I’m on vacation.

5. What is your favorite summer dish?

Tuna noodle salad.

Especially because no one else here will eat it.

So it’s mine.

All mine.

1. Are you a napper?

No.

I have never been able to nap in the middle of the day.

That’s how I knew I was really sick, and should probably slow down and take care of myself this week.

5 naps in two days.

That’s so NOT how I roll.

2. What was your favorite subject in school? Most hated?

I loved math.

I loved math so much.

All the way through elementary school, loved it.

We did these math packets in 6th grade and it was a contest to earn points toward an ice cream party.

Couldn’t believe they were giving me a reward for doing something as fun as math.

I loved math with Mrs. Tribus, in particular.

Freshman year Algebra and Senior year Triogonometry.

My all-time favorite classes.

I love Algebra and everything Algebraic.

It’s why I loved teaching chemical equations in Science.

I hated gym.

Seriously hated gym.

I can’t climb the ropes, I can’t do pull-ups, I suck at the Presidential Fitness challenge.

No one picked me for their team and I really felt like kids were graded on their ability, not on their effort, but we all had to take the class, so that didn’t seem fair.

So, I started to cut.

And lie.

And that’s when I started to get A’s and met Real Man, so I guess it all worked out for me.

Great message to the kids.

I will say that gym class is MUCH different today…at least in our district.

I probably wouldn’t cut today.

Or at least, not as often.

3. Did you have the something old new borrowed and blue at your wedding? What were they?

Um…probably.

I’m not really sentimental, but my Mom is.

So, I probably did.

Ma…wanna field this one?

4. What one thing are you determined to do this summer?

Make sure the monkeys have fun.

They’ve, essentially, lost two summers in a row.

The summer of 2010, I was pregnant and sick, sick, sick all day, all night, every single day of the summer.

We didn’t do much of anything, and I felt really badly for it, but public vomiting just wasn’t high on my list of ways to spend time.

Last summer, we spent the summer packing and moving and it was stressful and absolutely no fun at all.

We didn’t even get to the pool, the past two summers, more than a few times.

So, this summer?

We’re hitting the pool, going to the park, taking day trips, running through the sprinkler, playing badminton, playing kickball, going hiking, going to the movies on rainy days, having ice cream for lunch, and doing whatever else their hearts desire (within reason).

5. Ice cream or Popsicles?

I live in a house of Popsicle people.

I, however, am an ice cream girl, all the way.

Popsicles are more refreshing, it’s true.

However, they aren’t as satisfying as ice cream.

A large chocolate cone with rainbow sprinkles from Dairy Queen is my all-time favorite ice cream.

And, if we’re talking sundaes, it’s the Friendly’s Reese’s Pieces Sunday with chocolate ice cream, hot peanut butter sauce, hot fudge sauce, and Reese’s Pieces.

Oh, summer…I’m so glad you are almost here!