Questions and Answers

I’m such a procrastinator that I’m just now getting around to responding to the posts that were going around a couple weeks ago (or so) listing 11 questions and then tagging 11 other bloggers to respond. Since I’m late in responding and I think everyone’s pretty much over this tagging game, I’m not going to tag anyone since I think almost everyone I can think of was already tagged and responded to questions. Plus it’s hard to come up with 11 new questions. However, I still thought it would be fun to respond to the questions from bloggers who tagged me.

First up, Greta from Not Enough Patience tagged me. (Hi, Greta – I hope you had a great time at Blissdom.) Here are her questions, along with my responses:

1. What kids’ show do you detest, and which one do you secretly watch when your kids aren’t around?I can’t handle Barney. Through all three kids, we’ve managed to avoid Barney, and we plan to continue. But Yo Gabba Gabba? Is awesome. We have been known to watch it as a family, while the baby’s taking a nap. And I know I would have enjoyed the live show even without the baby there, though it was better to have him there to hide my singing and dancing along. It looks strange without a kid.
2. If you had to wear one outfit for the rest of your life, what would it be?If I weren’t going out in public, I would wear the outfit I sleep in every night: black American Apparel high waist leggings, an incredibly soft old Star Wars t-shirt, an old green fleece sweatshirt that’s too big, yet too short, and my Emu slippers (I’ve been considering linking up for Bloggers Worst Dressed in this excellent outfit actually). If I were going to leave the house, I certainly wouldn’t be fancy, but I’d upgrade to jeans and a t-shirt or sweatshirt, and my Emu boots.
3. If you could start over completely with a brand new Facebook account and ditch the one you have, would you have the same number of friends, fewer friends, or more friends?Probably about the same number. I like being nosy and seeing what people are up to on Facebook, and I basically treat it like it’s public, so I don’t post anything I wouldn’t want to be read.
4. If you could retire tomorrow (or if all of your kids were in school), what would you do with your days?I’d probably still work at something I like, something that seems terrible to anyone else like copy editing because I just enjoy that kind of thing. I’d be perfectly capable of wasting quite a bit of time enjoying some of my guilty pleasures, but then I’d be ready to do something again. If this were after my kids were grown up and out of the house and I had plenty of money, then maybe I’d feel differently and I’d want to spend time travelling to see them and my future grandkids. But if it were just today and I suddenly didn’t HAVE to work, I probably still would. I like working.
5. What toy from your childhood do you secretly wish you could still play with? The only thing I really remember spending a lot of time playing with was my American Girl doll, and that doesn’t sound like much fun to me now. Does the Super Nintendo count? Because I could play Super Mario Bros. and Zelda all day long.
6. What is your favorite movie of all time?The Sound of Music. No question. My girls ask favorite questions all the time, so I’ve thought about this one many times before.
7. If you could spend a week with any celebrity and couldn’t leave his/her side the whole time, who would you want to spend it with?Now this is a tough one for me. I love celebrity gossip as much as (or maybe more than) anyone else, but I prefer to observe from afar, rather than actually hanging out with celebrities. But I’ll say Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck because as I’ve mentioned many times before, I think she seems like a real person, and pretty casual. And I think our daughters would get along.
8. What is the first thing you would say to that celebrity?Um…hello?
9. Do you have any major regrets in your life?No. Of course things have happened that I might wish hadn’t, but Lee and I have had this kind of discussion many times in life. If you went back and changed something, even something bad, would you still be where you are today? I like where I am today, so I wouldn’t change anything that led up to this point.
10. If you could choose any (other) profession, what would it be?I’d be a copy editor, like I mentioned in the earlier question. But I actually like accounting (not in a weird way where I read about it in my spare time, but in the way that I enjoy my work), so I don’t really have a desire to change my profession.
11. What song do you crank up the loudest in your car and sing along to?I love to listen to my music really loud. My favorite ones that I always turn up a little bit more would be: Rilo Kiley, “A Better Son/Daughter,” Thao, “Bag of Hammers” and Liz Phair, “Mayqueen.” Or Party Rock Anthem.

My friend Rach from Life Ever Since also tagged me.  (You may know her as the host of my regular Friday Life’s Lessons posts.) Here are her 11 questions, and my responses.

1. If you had to leave the U.S. and move to another country, where would you move to and why? I don’t know! I’ve never been anywhere else. Just for fun, I’ll sayItaly because I’m part Italian and I think I’d love the food. But it’s hard for me to imagine living in another state, much less another country. (I guess I’m just not very imaginative.)
2. Are you an adventurous eater?  Do you like trying new foods? I don’t think anyone would call me an adventurous eater. I’m a bit picky. But I will say that I’ve expanded my horizons quite a bit since my younger days. I never used to eat salads. Or green beans. Or feta cheese. I do enjoy trying new recipes and flavors – if I’m confident they’re flavors I’ll like. But I still wouldn’t ever eat gross pickles, strawberry, watermelon, nuts besides peanuts, coconut, mustard…the list goes on.
3. What’s your favorite animal? A dog. A Corgi specifically. I’m not the biggest animal lover in the world though.
4. What was your first job? I’m not 100% certain if it was doing some work filing for a local doctor’s office or turning pillows at the warehouse where my mom worked. But it was one of those two. My first “real” (post-college) job was as an auditor for a large CPA firm.
5. Would you renew your vows complete with another wedding? Nah. Neither of us would ever feel a need to do that. And we already have three family weddings to attend this year – that should be plenty of weddings for us for awhile.
6. What one talent do you wish you had? Generally speaking, creativity. I can’t draw or sing or plan an instrument or write. I feel like most of my talents are very practical.
7. Do you let your kids jump on the bed? Sometimes. Definitely in a hotel. I’m not opposed to them jumping on a bed, as long as I know it won’t break.
8. What’s your favorite salad dressing? Homemade ranch dressing is the best. From the store, I love Newman’s Own Family Recipe Italian dressing.
9. Do you recycle? Yes. I’ll admit it’s much easier now that the city picks up our recycling than it was a few years ago when we had to take it somewhere ourselves.
10. What do you like on your ice cream? If I’m keeping it simple, just some hot fudge. But sometimes I’m in the mood to throw on some caramel and crushed up cookies and nuts and M&M’s.
11. Are you left or right handed? Right handed.

That’s it. Now I don’t have to feel guilty because I hadn’t responded to these tags. But I still feel a little guilty for not following all the rules and tagging 11 more people and asking 11 more questions. I’ll get over it though.