Not sure I really wanted to know the answers to all of these…

Today I am interviewing none other than the lovely Courtney,my 9-year old spitfire. Here’s her answers to some questions about little old me.

What is something Mom always says to you? “I love you!”

What makes mom happy? “sleep and relax, I don’t know!”

What makes mom sad? “when me and my sister fight.”

How does mom make you laugh? “By making funny jokes”

What was your mom like as a child? “A good kid, I don’t know!”

How old is your mom? “36″

How tall is your mom? “5’5″”

What is her favorite thing to do? “Read books”

What does your mom do when you’re not around? “Read, take care of the dogs and sleep.”

If your mom is on TV for something, what will it be for? “Singing on American Idol”

What is your mom really good at? “Um talking and singing.”

What is your mom not very good at? “Dancing.”

What is your mom’s favorite food? “uh-oh. Why are you writing ‘uh-oh’? oh shoot. um, i don’t know, uh, SALAD?”

What makes you proud of your mom? “her singing?”

If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? “Scooby Doo”

What do you and your mom do together? “Shop!”

How are you and your mom the same? “We have the same nose.”

How are you and your mom different? “Our hair color.”

How do you know your mom loves you? “You say ‘I love you’ and we snuggle together.”

Where is your mom’s favorite place to go? “MALL.”

What does your mom do for a job? “Work on the computer.”

Elise’s Ramblings

I recently signed up for the Great Interview Experiment over at Citizen of the Month. Basically, you sign up on the list. You interview the person before you, and you get interviewed by the person behind you. I was given the privilege of interviewing Elise from Elise’s Ramblings:

1. Elise, what is your favorite movie of all time and why?
There are too many. I’ll say Meet John Doe with Gary Cooper and Barbara Stanwyck. I love how John Doe’s speeches rally the country to care for one another.

2. If you were forced to replace one character in that movie, which one would it be and who would you replace them with? Why?
I couldn’t change a thing. This movie is so well put together, that if you removed one piece it would all fall apart.

3. Would you rather be able to stop time while you slept, or never need to do laundry ever again? Why?
Laundry. Absolutely Laundry. Any mother can tell you why. It’s endless!

4. What is the weirdest thing you have ever eaten?
Crickets

5. What is your biggest pet peeve?
People who throw cigarette butts out their car window. My world is not your ashtray.

6. Name one of your favorite things about someone in your family.
My husband will help just about anyone all they have to do is ask, and sometimes not even that.

7. If you lost your sense of smell but could only pick 3 things that you would still be able to smell, what 3 smells would you pick?
The Ocean, My house, My daughters head

8. What possession do you value most?
Family photos

9. Tell about a time when you got into big trouble with your parents.
How long do you have… After high school I moved to Europe for one year with the promise I would go to college when I got back. When I came home I dropped out of college. My mother was furious and I moved out of her house because of it. I don’t think we talked for about 6 months.

10. If you had to move out of California and could pick any other state you wanted, where would you live and why?
I actually have thought about this, and am totally stumped. Maybe Austin Texas, if I have to stay in the states. Internationally I’d head for Australia.

Make sure you all stop by Elise’s site and say hello! Thanks Elise for letting me interview you!

Food, High Heels, and Intelligence…and why my husband is not a good babysitter.

Today’s interview questions come from Helen at Feeding Five for Fifty and So Not Mom-a-licious.

What food would you eat if suddenly awake at 2am and hungry?
I could be admirable and say I would eat a bowl of cereal or have a yogurt, or even eat a piece of fruit.

But I would be a big, fat liar.

My snack food of choice is the Schwan’s vanilla sundae cone. Completely full of calories, but oh so yummy.

What food do you eat for comfort?
Again, see above. The vanilla sundae cone cures all.

High heels or sneakers?
I love high heels– absolutely love them. I have several pairs. But I never really wear them. I am so self-conscious about my height, and I am only a couple inches shorter than my husband when barefoot. So to add a few inches of heels to the mix, and I tower over people. I am almost 5’10″ WITHOUT SHOES ON, so imagine adding a funky pair of 3-inch heels. I settle for pumps instead, and wear them almost every day to work.

When I am not working, I still don’t wear tennis shoes all that often. I tend to stick to loafers such as the Eastland Syracuse — (my favorite pair of casual shoes!)

Intelligence or humor?
I think in any situation, a healthy combination of both is a must. While intelligence is fine and dandy and gets you farther in life, there’s just something about the ability to find humor in any situation that makes a great person.

Now for So Not Mom-a-licious:

Have you ever “accidentally” fallen asleep while your kids occupy themselves, only to wake up from that little snooze to realize it’s been wayyyyy too quiet?

I got a good laugh when I read this question. Normally I am a very light sleeper, and I am not able to sleep through anything. BUT, when I take my migraine medicine, I am down for the count. I have awoken from a headache-y stupor on a few occasions to a bathroom sinkul of Kleenex wads, and one time my youngest daughter actually shoved a Q-tip in my ear when I was sleeping, and I had to go to the doctor to get the cotton end removed, because it GOT STUCK IN MY EAR.

Now my husband, on the other hand? Sleeps like he’s dead to the ever-lovin’ world. I can carry on entire conversations with him, and he actually responds– yet wakes up and doesn’t remember a darn thing. Need proof? See HERE. and HERE. I know… it scares me too.

One day he laid down in bed after having worked all night. The two older girls were home (at the time, they were maybe 9 and 7) and I was at work. They played very well in their rooms, but decided they wanted to paint each other’s nails. They went into my bedroom, and he not only gave them permission to paint their nails, but also told them where in the bathroom I kept the box of nail polish. He also talked about a few other things, none of which he remembers.

Needless to say, the next conversation took place when the girls went running through our bedroom to the master bathroom. To get TOWELS. My GOOD BATH TOWELS. To wipe up the BURGUNDY NAIL POLISH that spilled on my BEIGE CARPET.

My husband’s response? *roll over* “Hope you’re having fun!” *roll over* *Snore*

And the spot on the carpet? Still there, but thankfully the new owners of that home get to deal with it.

I just covered it with a rug.

Paper or Plastic? Pets, Career & Retirement… oh, and Black Friday

Today’s interview questions come from Noelle of Elastic Waistbands and Comfortable Shoes and Mae Rae of In & Out of the Bubble.

Noelle wants to know:

1. Paper or plastic? Or are you green?
I am a bad person. I do not use reusable grocery bags. I always opt for plastic, and I almost always try to reuse them. They are great for using as garbage bags in my bathroom wastebaskets. They are great for doubling up to use for scooping out the cat litter box. They are wonderful for transporting wet swimsuits, too! We currently have three bags FULL of plastic grocery bags in our kitchen closet, and they only get thrown away if they are ripped or have a hole in them. I have made it a goal of mine, though, to switch to reusable bags for grocery shopping. Eventually. I swear.

2. If you could have any animal in the world as a pet, what would it be and why?
I’m going to be lame and just say a dog. There is no animal I would rather have for companionship than my two dogs. They are lovable, loyal and they get excited when I come home everyday. They follow me everywhere in the house, which may or may not be because i am the keeper of the treats. But I really do love the little stinkers.

3. What would be your dream career?
If you read me “About Me” page, you will see that as a child, there were things I wanted to be when I grew up.

A teacher. And a trapeze girl.

I think the trapeze girl idea came from some show that used to be on. Some Circus of the Stars thing? Does anyone remember something like that coming in the late 70s/early 80s?

Seriously, though– I have always wanted to be a teacher, and it has nothing to do with the summers off thing. Although, that would be great, right? I was always very specific with what type of teacher I wanted to be. I wanted to teach first grade, and I wanted to be a math teacher. I have no idea why, other than my favorite teacher in elementary school was my 1st grade teacher, and I can still to this day remember her teaching me math. I am a math nerd now, so she must have done something right!

4. What would you like to do when you retire?
I hope to be able to travel with my husband, shop with my daughters, and spoil my grandchildren rotten!

And Mae Rae’s questions:

What makes you get up at the crack of dawn to go shopping?
Now that almost all of my kids are teenagers, I don’t have to buy any more toys. There are no Barbies, Bratz dolls, or Elmo toys to fight the crowds for on Black Friday. Funny thing is, for the last several years, there has not been one single thing that we HAD to go out and look for on Black Friday. My mom, sister and I and spend Thanksgiving night poring over the ads (while eating pie!), deciding where we want to go first, and what we want to look at in each store. To us, its more the fact that we are doing something together than the actual shopping. We enjoy the occasional good deal, we relish the people-watching, and we laugh about the crazies that come out of the woodwork for this one day of the year. It’s a bonding thing we have as a family. It’s just fun for us.

This year, we started our shopping on Thanksgiving Day. We managed to shop at Bass Pro Shop, K-Mart, and Michaels on Thanksgiving night. We attemped to head over to Toys R Us for their midnight opening, but ended up leaving because the line to get in the door stretched at least 3 city blocks. Were we upset? NO! We got to go home and sleep for a couple hours, because there wasn’t anything we were dying to have. We just wanted to go to be able to say we did it!

I got back up at 3am Friday morning, and drug my 14-year old daughter with me. We were at Kohls by 4am when the doors opened, and we lasted about 10 minutes in the store before running away screaming deciding to try someplace else. We ended up heading to the mall, where we shopped at Younkers, JC Penney, Justice, American Eagle, and even TradeHome Shoes. We had pizza and garlic bread in the food court at 5am, and were back home for a nap by 8am.

And it was probably some of the best bonding time my daughter and I ever had. WE laughed over the people shopping in pajamas and slippers. We rolled our eyes at the crabby people fighting for bargains and DoorBuster deals. Bottom line, we had FUN.

After a fews hours of sleep, I was ready to head back out with my mom and sister. We hit Costco, Target, WalMart, and Cabelas. All in all, a successful Thanksgiving shopping weekend.

Was it worth it?
Considering I spent an incredible time with my mom, my sister, and my oldest daughter AND that I got almost all of my Christmas shopping done– it was SO WORTH IT.

Would you like to interview me? Just leave me your interview questions in the comments of this post!

Make sure you enter the Get Organized! Contest– ending soon.

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