September 24th, 2003 - Tuesday

Q & A

This month's Wordgoddess had us pair up with another member to ask and answer questions. My interviewer was Say-Say, and here's what she wanted to know.

1.) What are 3 books you're dying to read right now?

That's a timely question since I'm really in the mood to read and yet I can't seem to get myself to concentrate on anything. I'd really like to re-read my favorite book, which is The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. It was fantastic and changed the way I look at the world. Unfortunately, I lent it to a firend and haven't gotten it back yet. Maybe I should ask her about it. I hope she still has it!

I'd also really love to read the new Harry Potter book but I don't have the spare cash to go out an buy it in hardcover. Unless someone wants to share the love and send it my way, or the stupid crappy library here gets more than one copy (it's reserved into 2004!), I'll just have to wait until it comes out in paperback.

Finally, I'd really like to read Ender's Shadow. I have it, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I loved the first book, Ender's Game and really enjoyed the rest of the series. I need to make time to read it, but considering my lack of attention span, I wonder if I should just re-read something light and fluffy to get back into the reading mood. Maybe I'll read Judy Blume's Summer Sisters. Now THAT's light and fluffy.

2.) If you were given 1 million dollars to do some reality tv experiment where you had to be absent from your family for a year, would you do it?

Absolutely not. All the money in the world couldn't pay for missing out on seeing all the little things and big things that I know Hayley will be doing over the course of the next year. I would miss my family way too much to leave them for any amount of money. Trying to justify that a million dollars would make it all worthwhile would be like saying that I was trying to buy them. Also, I wouldn't participate in a show with them either - things like that newlywed show with the incredibly dumb Jessica Simpson or The Osbournes may be really funny and entertaining to watch sometimes, but I'm not interested in being a part of something of that sort. Even though it may sound funny, what with this website and all, I value my privacy way too much. Even for a million bucks.

3.) What is your favorite dish to cook?

It depends. As far as ease of cooking with the end result looking like it was a big effort, I'd say my Drunken Chicken. Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with cream of mushroom soup mixed with about 1/2 a can of water. Place chicken (legs, breasts, whatever floats your boat) on top. Toss in chunks of chopped onion. Cover with even more soup and water mix. Bake for half an hour at 350 degrees. Dump in as much white wine as you'd like and bake another half an hour. Server on rice or pasta. Deeee-licious.

It requires a little more effort than that, but I also love making my lasagna. I make the sauce with about a pound of browned ground beef, two large cans of tomato sauce, and a small tin of tomato paste with garlic. Once it's well mixed and simmering, I toss in frozen vegetables, garlic, Italian seasoning, and - this is the secret ingredient - about 1/4 to 1/2 a jar of sliced olives with the juice. It sounds so weird but it's really the key. I usually throw in a bit of grated cheddar as well. Once the sauce has simmered for at least an hour, I assemble the lasagna with the noodles. I use cottage cheese instead of ricotta. Then I top the whole thing off with a ton of grated cheddar. I made this for several occasions, including Hayley's birthday party, and everyone seems to love it. Yum.

4.) What do you imagine Hayley being like in 10 years?

Let's see. She'll be 11 by then. Eep. I see her as being (okay, I'm her mother, so what do you expect...) a very intelligent child. I imagine her as being strong-willed. Right now, when she's determined to do something, she's going to do it unless you physically stop her by removing her. When she wants me to read a book to her, she'll shove it right in my face over and over while grunting until I do so. If I don't want to re-read it right after I'm done, I need to hide it quickly. I don't see that changing. I think that when she's 11 she'll still be just as determined - in a really positive way.

I also see her as being someone who needs to be regularly challenged by her schoolwork, but who also needs guidance and support through it. That's why I'd love to look into charter school options so she can have a combination of homeschooling and being in the social setting of other children who want a good educational challenge.

I can also see her as being someone who enjoys change but thrives on regular routine underneath it all.

All of this is, of course, assuming that the personality traits she exhibits now are permanent ones.

5.) Where do you see yourself in 10 years?

Insane? Okay, no, not really. Because I'm really interested in the possibilities of part-time homeschooling, I like to see myself as having a flexible job. I'm not a career-driven person; my career is now my daughter and I want to reserve most of my energy for her rather than some corporation that doesn't really care about its employees anyway. Whatever job I end up in, I need it to be something that is enjoyable and makes me happy while providing me with some income. It needs to be something where I don't have to worry if I need to call in because I have to stay home with a sick child and if it could be something that allows easy telecommuting, that would be great.

I also hope that I can see myself living in a house rather than a freakin' apartment. If not, I'll settle for renting an upper duplex, as long as it at least feels more house-like and I don't have to share the building with five zillion other people with their damn cooking smells seeping into my bathroom via the air vents.

Ideally, by then I'll also be the mother of two children, rather than just one. I'd really like to have another baby one day.

As long as I'm happy and my family is happy, I look forward to ten years from now.

6.) Do you plan on having more children?

Oops! I jumped the gun, didn't I? Yes. I absolutely want another one. Overall I don't care what gender the next one is, though I always liked the idea of having one girl and one boy. On the other hand, now that I have a 1-year-old, I'm used to raising a girl and wonder if I'd be lost and confused with a boy. Also, we have so many clothes for a girl now that it would be great to have another one to wear them all. As long as he or she is healthy, that's all that matters.

Truth be told, if we had an abundance of wealth, I'd love to have a ton of kids. But we'll probably stop at two.

7.) (Holy Crap!! Haley's b-day is the same as mine. She must be extra cool) What did you do to celebrate Haley's birthday? Did this past year fly by for you?

Hayley says happy birthday to you and hopes it was great!

Well, I detailed most of the birthday stuff over in the last entry, but to re-iterate, we celebrated her birthday with a gathering of approximately 20 adults and 5 children (not including us). How we stuffed that many people in our apartment I'll never know, but it was fun. It started around 4 and the last of the guests left at 1:15 in the morning so I guess it's safe to say that almost everyone had a good time. A few people had to leave early which was too bad, but I'd call it a success anyway.

And yes, the year flew like crazy. I know that time usually speeds up as you get older, but I had no idea that 365 days could go by in such a flash. I mean, this time a year ago, I was on my second day home with a new baby. I wasn't getting more than an hour of sleep at a time thanks to someone who had no concept of day or night, I was still learning to breastfeed a tiny being who laid across my lap, and I barely knew what day it was. Now I still don't get enough sleep but it's more my own night owl fault than anything else, I am now breastfeeding someone who likes to do headstands while she nurses (or her newest trick, which is to hum while she nurses!), and ... well, okay I still don't always know what day it is. If it weren't for the evening television line-up I wouldn't know what day it was, ever!

I'm sort of hoping that the year between age one and age two slows down a bit, but somehow I seriously doubt that life is ever going to slow down again. Sometimes it makes me cry.

8.) If you and George could have a night to yourselves, how would you spend your time?

Ha! Probably talking about Hayley, wondering what she was doing, and worrying that she was crying for us!

That aside though? Hmmm. I'd like to think our evening would be like this: We'd go to Pacini's which is my favorite Italian restaurant with a killer bread grill. I'd order escargots in garlic butter, a delicious pasta dish, and have something stupidly chocolatey for dessert. We'd share some wine with supper. Then we'd go see a movie since the last time we went to a theatre together was to see "Monsters, Inc." believe it or not. I'd say we're overdue for a movie date. It doesn't even really matter what we see. I'd personally love to see "Under the Tuscan Sun" but I know that's not his cup of tea, so we'd find something equally pleasing for each of us to watch. Our theatre is one of those crazy new ones that's the size of a small country, so they have all kinds of concession stands inside. I like to get those hot, soft pretzels and cheese dip.

Then I guess we'd pick up the baby if she was out, or come home to relieve whoever is on babysitting duty. It would have to be a fairly early evening, since Hayley still needs me to put her down to sleep

If it was sometime in the future, where Hayley no longer needs my assistance and can be put to bed by anyone, I'd like to skip the fancy stuff and just pick up some grub at a fast food place, and go to a bar to see George play. It's been SO long since I saw him play anywhere. Since I used to go see him every single time for over three years (one summer it was every damn weekend), it's weird to not go anymore and I miss it sometimes.

9.) Do you collect anything? If so, what?

Clutter? Does clutter count? Well, as far as actual collections where you make a point to go out and purchase more things to add to it, then no. I used to collect unicorn figurines (how girly is that?!) but I stopped years ago because I suddenly realized that owning 57 different unicorns is more than anyone really needs. Most of them are packed away at my grandmother's house, though I still have a few favorites in the bedroom.

We sort of have mini-collections so that they aren't out of control. In the living room we have a collection of cobalt blue glass bottles. I love them because in the afternoon they really pick up the sun. I also have a few teapots and that's something I'd really like to start collecting a little more seriously but I don't really have much space for that. Maybe if we get a house or a bigger place with more storage I can start displaying them in the china cabinet but right now I need that space for our wine glasses and stuff.

I guess that's about it. I don't know. You could say books I suppose, if you were to take a glance at our overcrowded bookshelves (four of them!) and the stacks of novels in the bedroom.

10.) What song describes your mood right now?

I guess the same song that I always like to listen to when I'm either in a good mood or in the need of a pick up, which is "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves. Actually, that's the same song that I included as my choice on the Wordgoddess CD that we just did a few months ago! Anyway, I'm actually in a very good mood today, so it fits me well. The sun is shining but we're definitely into Autumn now, so there's no icky heat or oppressive humidity. It's breezy and beautiful, I had a great weekend, and my baby is having a much-needed nap. Life is good at this very moment.

11.) If you were not yourself, and I was a stranger and I asked you, "What's Sherry like?", what are 3 things you'd tell me?

I would tell you that Sherry is: