You Wanted To Know...

I'm back from my busy week - another big one is coming next week (the reason's within the answers here) so blogging will continue to be a bit sparse.  So, here are the answers to your questions.

Kelsey said...

What do you eat when you don't feel like cooking?

Oh gosh.  I keep a frozen pizza in the freezer for days when there's truly no other food in the house and we do Pasta and Italian Sausage for a quick meal.  But no cooking nights - sandwiches, cereal, or leftovers.


Meredith said...

What's your favorite book?

All time favorite is To Kill a Mockingbird.  Most recent favorite is The Help.

Tell me about going back to work--are you excited? Nervous? Elated?
I'm not really sure yet.  Nervous for sure.  Definitely not elated.  But I know that right now this is the right choice for our family and we have a great daycare situation lined up.  I'm excited for the daily interaction with people, again, but I know that being away from Thomas will never be easy.


What kind of cell phone do you have? Do you like it?
A Blackberry Curve.  It's fine, but I'm too dependent on having internet access on my phone.  I deleted games from it when I realized I was paying more attention to my phone than real life, and when I'm not working in a career that requires having a smartphone, I'll go back to a basic cell phone.

Amanda Sevall said...

How long is your project list for your house? (Ours is really long and always seems to grow rather than shrink!)
The actual project list has dwindled becuase we've reached the "How much more do we really want to put into this house" point.  Must-dos: Put a fence up between our side yard and our neighbors' side yard.  Repair the ceiling from a flood we had a few months ago. And maybe banquette seating in the kitchen.

If this were a long-term house for us, I'd finish the basement, re-do the powder room, improve the front landscaping, put built-ins in the office, add crown moulding...  The list would never end!


What has been your favorite DIY project to date?
I loved making thenailhead trim headboard with my sister-in-law.  It was the first idea I had where I saw an inspiration photo in a catalog and recreated the look on my own without any guidance from other blogs, etc.   
What is your favorite room in your house and why?

I love our living room, it's our main living space and I'm proud of the fact that it's comfortable and attractive (to me, at least).  But I really love Tommy's room right now.

Mrs. 5C said...

I feel like I should know this, since we've chatted so much, but I don't actually know what you do for a living! (but of course, you don't have to say if you don't want to!) :)

I work in Marketing.  Internet Marketing is my passion -  I love trying to solve the puzzle of SEO, social media, e-mail marketing, etc.  My current job is heavier on traditional print, email and sales marketing.

Julianne Hendrickson said...

Were you and Mr. B planning on having a baby or was Thomas a surprise?!
He was a very happy surprise.

How do you feel about going back to work? Did you always hope to be a working mom or would you rathe be a stay at home mom?
Growing up, I wanted nothing more than to be a stay-at-home mom, then in college I nannied for a couple that had started their own business and watching them my ideas started to change - I liked the idea of balancing work and family, and their three boys were some of the best behaved, most mature kids I've ever met.  And then I chose a career that is always changing - it doesn't rely on one constant skill set - and if I stayed home, I'd be looking at completely restarting a career down the road rather than just returning to work.  That's a sacrifice I'm willing to make, don't get me wrong, but for now we're going to do the dual income thing.  Ideally, I'd love to find a part-time option at some point, but part-time's not an option in my position right now.


Erin said...

Did you have a 'To Do Before Baby Comes' list and what was on it?
Yeah, but it was more financial.  Financially I wanted to live on only one income (check), have minimal debt (our mortgage and Mr. B's car which will be paid off this year - check), and to replace my VW beetle with a family car without having a car payment (check).  I abhor car payments and vow to never have another one ever, but that's another post.  The only other "must" before baby was to go to Italy together - we bought our tickets one week before we found out I was pregnant, so we just squeezed that in there. 


yeoldesandwichshoppeva said...

I love the board and batten in Tommy's nursery and am contemplating using that style in my dining room to lighten up the room. What size boards did you use? How high up the wall is it? Do you have any tips for smooth installment?

Thank you!  We installed the battens directly over the drywall in his room, so if you're going to do true board and batten, visit Kim's tutorial.  We used 1/4" lattice from Home Depot for the battens (so that we wouldn't have to replace our existing baseboards) and a 4" wide flat board for the plate rail.  It's 6 feet tall in an 8 foot tall room.  We painted the battens and the wall separately and then attached them to the wall.  Mr. B says that the easiest was just using a nail gun attached to an air compresser and nailing the battens into studs whenever possible.  We used wood filler and only needed to touch up the paint after installation instead of painting the whole thing.


Kiersten said...

What's different, better, more challenging, etc., than you expected regarding motherhood?
Different: Breastfeeding was much more difficult than I expected.  I seriously dismissed all the people who told me "It's really hard" thinking, "Ummmm, how hard can it be? It's nature.  And why is everyone telling me it's hard? Be positive peeps".  It's hard.  It took me 5 weeks not to dread the next feeding all day long and to feel confident that I was getting him enough food.  And then, at 5 weeks, it just clicked.  I look forward to feeding him, I know he's getting enough food and I really enjoy the time we spend together while he's nursing.  I'm so glad I stuck with it - through screaming, back arching nursing strikes, latch problems, and pain.  Breastmilk is great for the budget :)...and the baby.  I also didn't expect him to show his personality so soon - he started smiling around 6 weeks and I was smitten.  All of a sudden playtime was interactive and fun and I loved it.


Better: Sleep!  We got Tommy into a routine pretty quickly and he sorted out his days from his nights really well because of that.  I cannot complain.  At 10 weeks he's almost sleeping through the night - some nights he wakes me up at 3:30, others he sleeps until it's time to wake up for the day.  I've never once (since we got home from the hospital - the hospital was a different story) felt like I was just getting by or in survival mode because I wake up relatively well rested.

More Challenging:  Making big decisions for him - and blocking out the opinions of others.  Tommy's having surgery next week for craniosynostosis - deciding to go through with the surgery, and then weighing the pros and cons of the available pediatric neurosurgeons was so much more difficult knowing that Tommy doesn't actually get a say in it.  I knew that parenting came with tough decisions, I just didn't expect them to come into play this soon.  


lauren elizabeth said...

As a fellow grilled cheese lover I'll give you a superficial question to answer :) what kind of cheese is best (I sound like dwight on the office) and which bread? White, wheat, ciabatta, challah?

Mmmm.  I love all combinations, but for my go-to I stay pretty classic.  I like extra sharp cheddar on sourdough with tomato slices! 



Leigh said...


What is your favorite website to visit? What food do you hate?

I spend far too much time on Google Reader and Facebook, but my favorite website is cohomefinder.com.  I could look at houses for sale in Colorado neighborhoods all day.  Nerdy, huh?

And I hate Lasagna.  And most soups.



Kim @ NewlyWoodwards said...

I'd love to know about your job. What would your dream job be?
I work for an enterprise security software start-up that was just sold to a major corporation.  I do front-line marketing for the sales team - tradeshows, email marketing, etc.  I've never worked for this big of a company before, so going back as an employee number rather than a name will be fascinating for me. 

My dream job has nothing to do with what I currently do, it's just my "one day I'm going to do this" dream.  I want to own a pool company with my sister.  Both of us have pool management, lifeguarding and coaching experience, and we've both worked for pool management companies and I think we could rock this job.  Not just manage the maintenance of pools, but the staffing, etc.  My sister and I grew up swimming together - we drove to and from early morning swim practices and meets for years, lifeguarded at the same pool (in different years), tested water levels together...there's just something about pools and my sister that make me happy.

Will you come visit me? (I'll buy wine and we can go to IKEA.) I'm not sure that this is the kinda question you were looking for, but I thought I'd throw it out there. ;)
Yes, and you don't need to bribe me with wine and IKEA to get me there.  Although, now that you mention it, those sound good, too.  I'm on my way. Seriously, the second I can come up with a good reason to drive that direction on I-80, I'll let you know.


longbrakeliving said...

What's your favorite paint color?
In my house, Benjamin Moore Powell Buff.  It's a perfectly warm neutral.  I really love Restoration Hardware's Silver Sage, too.

How much does Mr. B help with home improvement projects, and how much of a say does he ave in what you do?
If it involves a power tool of any kind, Mr. B's usually involved.  Because I'm a clutz and he doesn't really trust my appendages near power tools (neither do I).  As far as decorating goes?  I don't ask permission.  I think having to ask permission to change something in our house is creepy (and I feel the same way for him - he doesn't have to ask "permission" to go out with friends, golfing, etc. Just check the calendar, if it's free, feel free to make plans).  That said, I do consult with him on big purchases and projects, and he gets veto power on room arrangements, etc.  And I talk about my ideas a lot, so I generally have a sense of how he feels about an idea I have before I start it.

Also, Casco seems well trained, how did you and are you training him?
Hahahahaha. I send him to my dog whisperer of a mother-in-law's house.  Kidding - sort of.  Casco is a good dog - he knows commands and listens to them a lot and is really gentle with kids.  But he does have some issues - barking at dogs that walk by our house, occasionally reacting to a dog we see out on a walk.  And when he gets some freedom, you'd think he'd never learned the word "come".  Casco takes off to his girlfriend Lucy's house everytime he gets a chance to make a break for it - I don't think we'll ever full get him off leash trained. 



Danielle said...

What makes you cry real tears?
My original answer was "What doesn't make me cry real tears?", but that's not really accurate.  I'm a crier, but analyzing it there are definitely triggers.  I cry for big things - death, serious injury, truly scary situations.    And I cry when I'm feeling personally attacked - but only the first or second time someone attacks me (verbally, emotionally).  After that, I become very stoic - I keep my distance and detach myself from the person and situation.

What do you want to be doing in 40 years?
Hopefully both B and I will be retired, or semi-retired and we'll be travelling and spending time with family and grandkids!   And maybe running a pool company in the summer :).

Anonymous said...


I'm interested to know why you are so open about your own identity and Thomas's, but not Mr. B's.

Because of my job, I'm all over the internet as it is.  And I accepted being googleable and stalkable when I accepted my first job out of school - I don't share anything TOO personal, and in general I check political opinions, truly personal information and anything related to family interactions at the door.  I'm not naive, I know that it would take about 30 seconds to figure out who we are (that's not a challenge), but Mr. B's name isn't disclosed for search engine reasons more than privacy.  The last thing he needs is for a potential employer/client/professor/etc to google him and come upon my crazy blog.  He's got big career dreams, I aspire to check pool chemicals and hire teenage lifeguards for a living.  We've got different privacy needs.
 
Thanks for playing friends!  That was fun.