January 15, 2010

Feelin' the Love

Girls, girls, girls! (and the handful of men that put up with my silliness) This has been such a fun week. My love tank is full thanks to all of your comments and the beautiful conversation we've had. Hugs, hugs, hugs!

Let's keep this conversation going...
#1. What is your biggest pet peeve?
#2. Favorite dinner that you make on a regular basis?
#3. Favorite author?
#4. What is your hardest time of day? Best time of day?


Today I will start the daunting task (okay, if I'm honest it's totally fun) of answering your questions from Tuesday. If you still have a question, feel free to ask. There were several "big topic" questions that I will save for next week and answer in a full post (i.e. parenting, faith, marriage, schooling).

Sarah asked if you could live anywhere in the world, cost not a factor, where would it be? Hmm... I would say one of three places: #1 would be on a ranch (with lots of ranch hands to help with the hard labor) near Jackson Hole, Wyoming; #2 in the mountains of NC on a ranch with a view #3 Maine in the summer, Germany in the winter. We can dream, can't we. :)

She also asked what magazine do you usually read from cover to cover every single time?
Southern Living. I love the home and garden photos and tips, recipes and travel tips.

Her last question was what is one vice that you have? One? Only one?
Well, I have friends that get tons of stuff done when the kids go to bed. One of my dearest friends cleans like a mad woman after 8pm. Obviously we are not related, because at 8pm, the kids go down and so do I ... onto the couch for time with my hubby or just to veg. If my "chores" aren't done by the time they go to bed, then it doesn't get done. Period. Oh, and I have my p.j.'s on, so if you ever drop by after 8pm, be prepared to be welcomed in flannel. Ooh la, la!
We have kept our kids' bedtime at 8pm because I need it. This is my time to rejuvenate. If my kids are up, then I'm not as good of a mom the next day. We do allow our older 2 to read until 8:30 sometimes, I know, we're wild like that. Before you get all judgy, we're not rigid. We believe in a fun movie night, slumber party, whisper and giggle night. Everyone knows their limitations and 8pm is mine. This is also time for my secret snack.
Another vice? A very messy closet floor.

My friend Amber asked if you could be a candy bar what kind would you be? That's what I love about that girl... it's all about the sweets! I would have to say a Take-5... so many layers, so rich, so sweet. A little crunchy, a little salty, a lot of chocolate.

Rachel asked what moment in life would you relive if you could go back in time? I would say the birth of each of my children. There is no other day like it.

CPQ wanted to know if I have any exciting ideas for breakfasts. Bwaaahaaa! When I really want to stir things up for my kids, I pull out the raspberry Toaster Strudels rather than the typical frozen pancakes, cold cereal, or instant grits. My oldest has finally learned about the finer things in life from moi and we enjoy homemade crepes together about once a week. My mom does have several great recipes, so go visit her and ask for her Strata recipe and her Apple Omelet recipe. They're divine.

Don't forget to answer the questions for today.
Hugs!

21 comments:

Terri said...

#1 pet peeve~ rude people, like when you are in line up and people are crabby about waiting. That poor cashier is doing the best they can and rudeness doesn't help. I also don't like unfairness, I would count jelly beans for the kids Easter baskets!
#2 Chicken and dumplings, yum!
#3 Francine Rivers, I can't put her books down once I start.
#4 Hardest time of day, early morning. Best~I think I must like 10:00am, that is when I think, okay, time to get going on something.

Dawn said...

i am a huge fan of the early bedtime! we have slightly lost "our" this past year- my son finally decided that at age 12 (& now 13) 8pm was a tad early for him, so he is usually up til 9pm. my daughter? even at 16 she is ready for bed at 8:30- sometimes sooner! good for you for sticking with the early bedtime... time with hubby and a well deserved snack has to be the best way to end a looong day!

so, onto my answers..
1. i don't know if i have a permanet pet peeve. but two that i am living right now are: people who do not make their kid park the car while they are learning to drive and instead pull into the quick drop off lane at school, then get out and switch drivers! and... those comment boxes on blogger that trick me into thinking there is no weird word to type- and then just as i am clicking out of the blog ta-da! out pops a preview and fill this in! i have lost more comments that way...

2. tacos or anything mexican. i could eat it every night!

3. i'm not sure i have a favorite author? i love a great series though... and stick with it til i finish and find another

4. hardest time? the hour between getting home from work and starting dinner- i could fill my face with food or nap.
best time? early morning when the world (or at least my house!)is still asleep...

thanks for the fun!

Joy for the Seasons said...

We must be kindred spirits because I don't do a thing after my kids are in bed either! Ours are in bed by 8 or 8:30 and the older also read until 9:00 or so. But they are tucked away so I can have some down time with hubby.

Ms. Witi said...

#1. Without sounding mean...mine would be people who say or do some thing out of this world..I seriously wonder if they are for real. Some call it a lack of common sense but I wonder. I just wonder what is REALLY going on inside there heads.
#2.Once a week we have pancakes and scrambled eggs for supper. The kids love them so its one meal I know we will all eat together.
#3. I enjoyed Neta Jackson's books for awhile...Yada Yada Prayer Group.
#4.BEST EVER TIME OF DAY...morning!! From 5:30 AM to about 9 AM...I can get soooo much done. WORST ...between 4 and 5:30. That is my snack time, the rush of kids home from school, home work, (did I mention snack time? HA)planning supper, etc...

;-)

Carpool Queen said...

Girl, I was COUNTING on you for the breakfast stuff.

Back to the drawing board.

(Take 5's might be a good alternative to cold cereal, dontcha' think?)

O Mom said...

Your dream places to live sound dreamy and my pj's are on as soon as it's dark! :)

#1 when my kids try and talk/yell at me across the house. If I can't see you I can't hear you.
#2 I love mexican, so tacos nachos, enchiladas.
#3 Bodie & Brock Thoene, Grisham
(those are the only 2 I can think of right now)
#4 Don't know if I have a best/hardest time..........

The Buntens said...

We have the same 8 pm rule around here for the reason - to keep mama sane! My 9 yo does also stay up and read.

My biggest pet peeve is (just one, huh?) My family not picking up after themselves. If they would just pick up their own stuff, cleaning would be so much easier.

I make enchiladas and baked chicken a lot.

Can't pick a favorite author.

Hardest time of day is getting everyone off for school. Best time is when everyone gets home from school and for dinner...and then bedtime. :)

Amber said...

It is all about the sweets, baby. As it should be, I think.

This is mucho fun!! I'm so glad that we are having this little convo with eachother!! :)

Okay...
#1. We were BABIES when we got married. At 20..there was no moohla. So we went to Nashville, TN. Because it was close. And cheap. But it was great. I don't know that I would change a week in Maui for those nights in Nashville. We thought we were really splurging on the dinners at Hard Rock Cafe and were so grown up.

#2. That would mean that I cooked on a regular basis. I'm guessing that chicken nuggets and mac-n-cheese it not so much what you were looking for. I think my favorite meal that I do semi-regularly is when we bust out the pork chops with mashed potatoes and all the veggies. Just good ole food.

#3. Francine Rivers. LOVE.HER.

#4. Hardest time of the day is when it is getting close to lunch time, and I'm trying to yank the last few minutes of brain energy out of the boys. Something about those last 30 minutes are so hard for us. Easiest time? Hands down, first thing in the morning when the house is still quiet. Love the stillness.

Amber said...

Oh shoot. I read both of your posts together and got all confused on the #1 question. Okay...

SO..that #1 was my honeymoon.

My biggest petpeeve is not going to Nashville with the husband. My biggest pet peeve as a mother is whining. I would rather jab a fork in my eye than listen to that high pitched whine.

My biggest petpeeve in general is people who don't fold their towels like me.

Carol said...

This is fun, hope you don't mind if I chime in!
1. Biggest pet peeve, friends that are always late when we set a time for something!
2. Favorite Dinner, Alfredo with some kind of meat and veggies.
3. Favorite Author right now Diane Mott Davidson.
4. Hardest time of day 2-4pm I always get the munchies and I'm sleepy. Best time 4:30am when I wake up to about 10am I get a lot done!
Stop by and visit me sometime!
http://songberries.blogspot.com

wendy said...

1. Biggest pet peeve - people who drive slow in the fast lane and never pull over where they should be. DRIVES. ME. CRAZY.

2. Dinner. . . one of my favorite (but don't make too often because of the fat & calories) is garlic chicken farfalle. Recipe is from beckyhiggins.com - click on recipes at the top and scroll down. It should be on there somewhere. I omit the bacon because seriously, you don't need it.

3. Love Nicholas Sparks.

4. Hardest time of day - being up by myself in the evenings. Hubs has a 7:30 bedtime because of his insane work schedule. Best time of day - once I get home, out of the traffic and rain. It rains a lot in OR and WA.

Sarah said...

1. I would have to say my biggest pet peeve are people who always have to "one up you" when you are telling a story. I am not a competitive person, so this makes me insane! For example, I could say something stupid like "it's really hot in my house today." And that person has to say "oh yeah? Well, it's 105 in my house." I mean, really, do even the mundane comments need a one-upper? It's bad enough dealing with the parents who have to constantly talk about their genius, Harvard-bound 2 year old when all I said was I'm so excited my daughter can say 1,2,3. I digress...
2. We love flank steak with caramelized onions (so easy to make in a skillet!)! Or, we also love pork chops with tomatoes, garlic, and crushed red pepper (also VERY easy)!
3. I probably spend more time reading decorating/design magazines than books lately. Although, I do LOVE Lee Strobel's books. I've always enjoyed Mary Higgins Clarks books too.
4.The hardest time of day is definitely 5-6:30pm. We call it Ella's "bewitching" time. She just completely falls apart every day at 5 o'clock and it lasts until my husband gets home at 6:30. I don't blame her...I usually start to feel tired and over the day at this point too.

Yes, 8pm bedtime is a must in our home for MY sanity. I go back and forth from being like you to being like your friend who cleans after 8 pm. It just depends on the week. I use to try and get everything done during the day, but Ella is sort of going through a clingy-Toddler stage and I literally can't even move the laundry from the washer to the dryer some days. So, by default, I sometimes have to do stuff after 8, just because of this phase of life.

Oh, and I LOVE me a good Southern Living Magazine to read!!

Sarah said...

Oops! In that huge, long rambling post, I forgot to answer my best time of day:
9:30am. Random? Nope! It's when the "Elmo's World" section of Sesame Street comes on and I know that I am pretty much guaranteed 20 minutes to drink a cup of coffee and get something done (or goof off!!).
I do really love playing with my daughter and don't want to disregard that. SEeing her sweet face at 7am is pretty special...BUT, I'd be COMPLETELY lying if I didn't say I get a goofy grin on my face everyday at 9:30!

Cathy said...

Wowza! Boy am I ever behind on your blog and look at all the fun stuff I've been missing out on!!!

I wanna play? Can I? Can I? Can I? :)

(Btw...you're my new Take-5 twinsie friend.)

#1 Petpeeve. You mean I can only choose one? Well, I'm with Amb on the kids whining thing. Drives.me.nuts. Also one-upers. When you're in the middle of telling a story and the one-upers interrupt to tell their "bigger and better" story.

#2 Fave dinner to make: my homemade lasagna, chicken fettucine, or tacos.

(Have a mentioned I'm not good at picking one thing?)

#3 Fave author: I love to read and I haven't read a Francine River's that I didn't LOVE.

#4 Hardest time of day: I like to refer to it as the witching hour. 4-5pm, afterschool, kids beggin' for food, me trying to fix dinner, daddy's not home yet, well...you get the picture.

Best time of day: mid-morning after my cup of coffee, I get my rear in gear and actually feel like I've accomplished something.

Hey that was fun! I'll try to catch up on all your other fun happenings now!

Unknown said...

#1 - biggest pet peeve on my mind right now is biased reporters. Drive me crazy!
#2 - I make spaghetti an awful lot, but I LOVE IT. I really like any kind of pasta and some weeks we have pasta 3 or 4 nights.
#3 - Lately I've been reading everythng by Lynn Austin - great Christian fiction author, writes mostly historical fiction from all time periods, and she's a GOOD writer. I find a lot of Christian fiction to be kind of hokey and goody-two-shoes. But not her.
#4 - Today it was definitely mid afternoon - 3ish. That's when I generally lose my motivation to work or I lose track of time and work right on through picking my daughter up from school.

Love the questions! What fun!

Kellie said...

1. Pet Peeve - whining. I just hate it. I also need to add "not being thankful" to that pet peeve list.

2. Dinner - Hmmm.... well, ours is a joint effort during the school year around here. It is more of hubby than me, but we're together. Honestly, by days end it is something that is on our table and the family can be together to enjoy. I just love dinner around our table.

3. Favorite Author - Michael Phillips, Brock and Bodie Thoene

4. Hardest time of day - it varies on the day I am having. Usually it is the 4:15AM alarm that keeps getting hit by the snooze so that my body is ready to get up at 5:00 out of our Sleep Number bed.... my number being 30 so that I have to "crawl" out of bed. I guess I would have to say the end of the day, too, when I am exhausted from teaching and have to come home to help my own two with homework.

Best time of day - Again, it varies. I have learned to enjoy each part of the day the Lord has given me. Sometimes it is when I am teaching and the kids "get" it. Overall I guess I would have to say it is when I can finally come back home and be HOME.

We also make our kids get to bed by 8:00. They can read until 8:30 but I have to have that time, too. A lot of times I am grading papers but many nights I have fallen asleep on the couch right after they went to bed. lol Overall, if cleaning isn't done (except for laundry) after 8:00, it just doesn't get done. :)

Anonymous said...

I'm terrible at superlatives. So, I don't know that I have a biggest pet peeve. or favorite dinner...or favorite author....or hardest or best time of day.

But I enjoyed reading yours and everyone else's!

Samantha said...

#1. Hahaha I have a few... My biggest though has to be rude people. Why? Why do people have to be like that. I often wonder what their lives are like on a daily bases.

#2. in the summer anything on the grill. in the winter I'd have to say stew.

#3. I love to read and often enjoy the authors on Oprah's list. I also like to keep it light and funny with a little Sophie Kinsella. She cracks me up.

#4. My hardest time of day is morning. I am not a morning person.(I get up at 6:30am) yuck. I am a night owl;) I completly agree with you on the bedtime issues. My 3 are all in bed by 8:30pm and the little one goes at 7:15.

Kari Kounkel said...

#1. What is your biggest pet peeve?

Clutter in cupboards. Can't have it.

#2. Favorite dinner that you make on a regular basis?

Soup from whatever leftover meat I find in the meat drawer mixed with great love with all the veggies I find in the crisper.

#3. Favorite author?

Diana Gabaldon

#4. What is your hardest time of day? Best time of day?

The moment between sleeping and waking is my best moment. There is yet so much promise.

The moment between waking and sleeping is my worst. I struggle to sleep.

Fun exercise!

Gretchen said...

Ohh...pet peeve. I suppose today's pet peeve is folks in customer service jobs who don't like to serve...um...customers. Yeah.

My favorite thing that I make every Friday night is a trip to Little Caesar's pizza for $5.55 pizzas. ahem. If I must cook, and sometimes i must, I like to make lasagna or yellow spaghetti or pesto pasta with broccoli and chicken.

Best time of day? Morning. I do need the juice of the bean to be fully functional and aware, but generally, I'm quite chirpy in the morning.

Worst time of the day? Two: At about 2 p.m., my chirpiness flags sharply. And the dinner hour is also not my fave. Mostly because of comments from the peanut gallery re: the evening's cuisine, but also because that's just generally a hectic/busy time, wherein we're doing homework or running from here to there either immediately before or after dinner.

BTW, my husband and I are mourning the 7:30 bedtime. At ages 11.5 and 13.5, our children balk at going to bed before 9, but unless we have something going on, they do have marching orders at 9.

Gretchen said...

Sorry! I was lame, and didn't see the "favorite author" part of the question...

I cannot pick. But I do prefer fiction. My top 3 are probably: Dorothy Benton Frank, Charles Martin, and Lorna Landvik.