more questions

Do you send Christmas cards? Am I a terrible person for just not caring enough to do it?

I come from a family that not only sends them, but designs really cool ones, gets them printed up and sends them to just about every country on the planet (Dad is crazy friendly). But I… I can’t do it. I have a strange phobia of the post office and stamps and such. Not getting stuff, love it, but I can’t send it. I could go into why, but mostly I’m insane. I have loving, wonderful friends who send cards, gifts, lots of thoughtful things, and who love me for my inability to get my crap together and send anything ever. I don’t like this about myself at all, but have to accept that I can’t work on this yet since I’ve got all those other things I need to work on like housewifery (blah) and parenting. And to my loved ones who love me anyway - I LOVE YOU!!!!!  I’ll figure out how to be as awesome as you someday…

What is the one article of clothing you can’t live without?

My magic dress. It’s MAGIC. Put it on and I look like my waist goes IN again. MAGIC. (I promise someday I’ll get around to taking a pic of it)

Who handles the finances in your house? Any tips?

Oh, that’s hilarious. Before we moved to Brasil (first year and a half o’ marriage) we had separate accounts and I shared his account as well and it worked out great. I was working and took care of some bills with my account and the big stuff, but having the little bit I earned as a small pool was awesome. Also, I got paid in cash a lot (violin teaching) and since I am SOOO responsible, you could actually walk over our house and find small piles of money everywhere. I’m nuts, I may not have much money in the bank but if I can see it, I feel rich. $40 in the bathroom, a hundred or two in the silverware drawer… at one point Husband decided to collect ‘em all up and found over a thousand dollars. Yeah. Then we moved and I haven’t had a steady income since, so one bank account. But those days were kind of awesome. Now, since he’s the responsible one (comparatively) he does the thinking. I pay the bills because he’s trying to teach me how to be responsible. heh. We haven’t had the power turned off… yet…

Fun stuff! Ask away!

Ask me anything

GPOYW - escapee edition. I couldn’t take Wisconsin anymore so I packed the kids in the car this morning and headed to Iowa to visit Husband’s sister and company for a few days. Just a 3 hour jaunt, but I did it with 2 kids. All by myself. WonderGirl is in cousin heaven and I feel all empowered and spontaneous. It may not be New York, but they have a Target. Yessssss.

formspring.me

What’s your ideal house?

My opinion is evolving - as is the needs of my growing brood. Having a ranch style was fantastic with WonderGirl learning to crawl and walk. I just kept the door to the basement door closed and the house was her oyster, and I in turn didn’t need to be a paranoid freak all the time.

I like the ranch we’re in now well enough, but it’s kind of small. Not really, but we were spoiled with all the room in our last place, and I’d like a little more space to breathe. If I could design a perfect place for my family now (which these kids keep growing, so who know what will be helpful in the future… padded cell for me, perhaps?) - maybe I’d like these features added:

* Self-cleaning. Hey, they make self-cleaning ovens, why not just extend this to the rest of the house?

* Nice big garage. At least 2 car, 3, preferably. We gots a lot of wheeled things. 2 snowblowers, even.

* Open floor plan - so it’s not compartmentalized a lot between the living room, kitchen dining room and such. I love being able to be fiddling about in the kitchen and make sure my kid isn’t painting all over the family room with chocolate pudding.

* Walkability to parks, grocery, etc. It’s a pipe dream since I’m a suburban goddess living in the middle of farm country, but it’d be nice. Someday.

* Nice big entry from the garage - none of thse tiny rooms or hallways. I’m usually schlepping a carseat and a kid, dragging a screaming kid, a diaper bag, trying to get shoes and jackets and anything else about me somewheres - it would be nice to have a decent mudroom. We have a small hallway now that is also the pantry AND the laundry - I feel like I’m squeezing myself through a toothpaste tube trying to get into the house.

* Big ginormous master bedroom and bath (the place yesterday had one of those shower ROOMS with 2 showerheads - man, it would be like showering under a waterfall!!) next to the kid’s rooms. And plenty of rooms for all the guests who are DYING to experience cow country.

I may just continue to think out this list and keep sharing… but that’ll do for now. Oh, and NO GNOMES. Crazy lady across the street had gnomes that were checking me out all the time -shudder-

What’s your favorite flavor? And why?

Cilantro. What can’t it do? Every time it hits my mouth, my mouth gets all surprised that such an amazing taste could exist, yet it doesn’t overpower anything. For out anniversary we went out for sushi and had this aMAAAAzing roll that had raw tuna, avocado, lime juice and cilantro… aahhhhhh … the lime broke down everything so it was so soft and gahhhhh… can’t finish this, drooling all over keyboard…

(oh, and dark chocolate with raspberry win for the fav sweet flavor)

What one thing do you most regret in life?

Hrm… I’d have to say it would be dating the… characters that I did previous to the Husband. To this day I only respect one of them and we’re still good friends, but if I never lay eyes on the others I’m good to go. Some lied, some were controlling, and some were just plain pansies. Sigh, I wish I hadn’t spent so much of my time and energy on them - and I know my poor mother does too. And having a daughter so like me, how can I teach her from my hall o’ losers? She’s 3 and her teacher at school just informed us she has a boyfriend. Excuse me while I go vomit.

Great questions y’all! Keep ‘em coming!

Ask me anything

questions, questions, questions

You bored?  Me too.  So, I’m being lazy and let you do my blogging for me.  Part of it anyway.  Go crazy, go anonymous, go ask me anything.

hello monday

How many other ladies out there have husbands who are obsessed with owning homes because they hate paying rent?  Oh, I’m sure there’s some logic behind it.  Logic not being my strong suit.  But since I hate rejection, I do not want to own another house, then (oh please oh please!!) have to move, and have to try and sell the house, all the while feeling like I’m dating again, wondering why nobody wants my action.  I mean my house.

We saw a pretty one today.  Super pretty.  But it has the “master on main” thing - I don’t want my bedroom so far from my wee ones - I mean, a 3 year old and a 6 month-er?  I want to hear them when they need me in the middle of the night.  That’s kind of my job.

Especially if they have to puke.  You wanna catch that sooner than later, I think.

US States As Countries of Equal Population.

Can you guess them all?  Click the pic and scroll down to comment #36 to see the whole list.  (via)

think on this.: How Vacations Affect Your Happiness - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

think on this.: How Vacations Affect Your Happiness - Well Blog - NYTimes.com

The largest boost in happiness comes from the simple act of planning a vacation. In the study, the effect of vacation anticipation boosted happiness for eight weeks. After the vacation, happiness quickly dropped back to baseline levels for most people. How much stress or relaxation a traveler experienced on the trip appeared to influence post-vacation happiness.

There was no post-trip happiness benefit for travelers who said the vacation was “neutral” or stressful.” Surprisingly, even those travelers who described the trip as “relaxing” showed no additional jump in happiness after the trip. “They were no happier than people who had not been on holiday,” said the lead author, Jeroen Nawijn, tourism research lecturer at Breda University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands.

The only vacationers who experienced an increase in happiness after the trip were those who reported feeling “very relaxed” on their vacation. Among those people, the vacation happiness effect lasted for just two weeks after the trip before returning to baseline levels.

I need something to look forward to.  Like GETTING OUT OF HERE.

You know you live in the boonies when there is an actual functioning milking station in the dairy section of the grocery store.

I give myself 6 more days before I go completely insane and start throwing blocks of cheese at random people. I. Need. Spring.

Unrelated, sweet new look, huh? Dang, the interwebs are cool.

Hem : Half Acre From the piano to the mando, the celeste, heck, even the clarinet, this song makes me happy and inspired to be a musician.

Hem : Half Acre

From the piano to the mando, the celeste, heck, even the clarinet, this song makes me happy and inspired to be a musician.

I wanted to make a get-better-soon vid for my friend, but the fact that I live in a non-stop crazy house muddled things. Also, this contains undeniable proof that I gave birth to myself.

my continuing adventures of being on the defensive

In an effort to stop the mad amounts of the Dude’s ear infections, I took him to a chiropractor this morning.  Lovely lady, she made him giggle.

Not that it’s hard to do,  but still cute to observe.

She asked a few questions about his health in his brief 6 months, including one of my favorites to be asked: “Have you been nursing him?”

“No.”

“Oh… no… why??  That’s really bad.”

I love that answer.  I do.  I could have left it, but you what?  Thanks to Morgan, (THANK YOU!!!) I know it’s not me making something up.  I’m not crazy.  “It’s called Dysphoric Milk Ejection Reflex.  My let-down triggers psychotic episodes.”

She wasn’t as dismissive or judgemental when I explained it, but she did suggest letting someone look at my neck because that might solve it all up lickety split.  Wacky chiropractors.

I know it’s the nectar of the gods, people.  I don’t need convincing.  I just need to be locked up in a padded room if I do it for the protection of myself and my family.  Good golly.

But thanks to Morgain, it did feel good to have a label.  I was treated a tiny bit less like an insane hypochondriac for once, and that was cool.

And the Dude adored getting felt up and cracked around.  He’s such a Dude.