Answer Me This: "The Fox," Grapes and Grandparents

Happy Sunday! I'm going to skip any mention of my weekend because I don't want to say anything unattractively, uncharitably unChristian. It was... Interesting. So for now: Answer Me This, as always hosted by Kendra.

1. What’s your favorite thing on YouTube?

I am not a big YouTuber. I know some people use it for everything, because there is a YouTube video for just about everything, but I never really think to check it. I would say that since I have "The Fox" by Ylvis bookmarked for my awesome toddler who loves awesomeness, I'm going to have to go with that.

2. Who taught you to drive?

My parents, mostly, but I did take lessons from a driving instructor. My mom was the worst to learn from because she was always grabbing at the "oh crap" handles and slamming her foot into the floorboards as if she had access to a brake. 

I'm a better driver than she is. 

3. What’s your favorite thing to cook?

Mashed potatoes! I make SUCH good mashed potatoes. My favorite other thing is cooking a whole chicken in the Pampered Chef Deep Covered Baker, because you can go from raw chicken to cooked, juicy chicken in like half an hour in the microwave. 

4. Are you a hugger or a non-hugger? Why?
I'm happy to hug you but I'll rarely initiate. I guess that makes me a hugger who doesn't assume you're a hugger. :)

5. Where do you pray best?
During the quiet times at Mass. That seems like a narrow window, but that's when I pray without thinking too hard about it, which is, for me, the best praying.

Saying prayers with my daughter at bedtime has gotten hilarious. We wait at the end of most lines of the prayers we say (the "Our Father," a "Hail Mary," "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep," "O Angel of God," and the prayer to St. Michael) so she can fill in the last word. It's only been a couple of months and she already knows the final word to almost every line, and she probably knows more but if we wait for her to offer them we'd be there all night. So last night:

Mommy: Hail --
Keira: Maly,
Mommy: Full of --
Keira: Grapes!

"Mary" has always come out "Maly" because she has a very active tongue when she speaks, but "Hail Mary, full of grapes" is new and cracked me up. You could see where it makes sense to her as the end of the line concludes with mention of fruit.

6. When is the last time you saw/spoke to your grandparents?
I had all my grandparents until April of 2012. Since then, both my mom's parents and my dad's father have passed away. So I spoke to my maternal grandmother last in March-or-so of 2012, my dad's father about the same time (he had been in care in a nursing home with dementia borne of nigh-30 years of Parkinson's disease and hasn't remembered any of his grandchildren in years [and I realize that sounds like a poor excuse, but I lived several states away and he couldn't do phone calls, so...]), and my mom's father around Christmas 2013. My dad's mother is the only one still standing, and it's been about a month since I saw her at my cousin's wedding.

"Answer Me This": Shakespeare, Bare Feet and Spike Lee.

Happy National NFP Awareness Week! I bet 90%+ of y'all reading this are more than aware of NFP already, so spread your awareness around!

I find myself unexpectedly with a block of time because my husband took our daughter to early Mass and then down to his parents' so he could finish a project for them that he started yesterday, so I'm going to join up with Answer Me This for the first time in weeks. Check it out over at Kendra's!

Hooray!

1. What’s something you've won and how did you win it?

I was an award-winning actress in high school, which makes me laugh whenever I think of it. I played Viola/"Cesario" in Twelfth Night when I was a junior in high school and I got an award from the PA Drama teacher's whatever-whatever. I forget what the award was actually called. It came with precisely $0 in scholarship money, and meant largely nothing.

I also won "Funniest Girl"  (from my peers) in my class of graduating Chemical Engineers (University of Delaware, 2005, yuk it up!) AND was a part of the team that won the best senior project award (from my professors). That was a good night.

Aside from that, I've never won so much as $10 in the lottery. 

2. Do you save old greeting cards and letters, or throw them all away? Why?

I tend to save everything for a time and then I go on a tear and throw mostly everything away. I keep the stuff that is really personal and sweet: notes from my husband, cards that people bothered to actually personalize, etc. 

3. When you’re at home, do you wear shoes, socks, slippers, or go barefoot?

I'm almost always at home because I work from here, so I live a barefoot life. Always. I wear socks as infrequently as possible, and my "shoes" are 99% of the time really flip flops. As a result, I always keep up with my pedicures.

4. Who’s the most famous person you have ever met? 

I never meet anyone famous, which is funny because unlike most people, I can totally play it cool. A few years ago my in-laws took us to a resort for my father-in-law's birthday and Spike Lee was there. We ran into him and my brother-in-law shocked me silly by being completely unable to stop gawking. So I guess I met Spike Lee that one time?

5. What has been your best work of art?

Without a doubt, it's this little piece of beauty. Soon there will be another little work of art messing up our lives in a big, wonderful way. (This picture is seven months old or so, but her beautiful face is the same. Now her hair is a complete mop.)

6.  What’s your strongest sense?

I'm pregnant, so it's obviously my sense of smell. I can smell everything, to the chagrin of my husband. Sometimes he walks into the house and I can tell him what he had for lunch because I can smell it on his breath from across the room. It is NOT GOOD.

In which I ask for prayers for others.

Oh, so silent for so long. I've been treading water, trying to get through this pregnancy without swearing off another.

For now, I've come to ask for some prayers. Friends of mine are going through a hard time, and they could use some intercession, and certainly some divine intervention.

St. John Paul II, St. Joseph, St. Monica, St. Priscilla, St. Rita of Cascia, St. Thomas More, St. Valentine: Ora pro nobis.

Help me, fellow mommies!

 The last couple of days have been a complete nightmare. Keira was sick over the weekend and as a result watched way too much TV. We know better because too much TV always has behavioral consequences, but when she's sick and just wants to watch Little Einsteins and we can't take her outside or anything, what else are we gonna do? Thanks to the fever on Sunday and state law that says she can't go back to daycare until she's without a fever for 24 hours, we had to scramble to make arrangements on Monday, because our family vacation starts on Thursday of this week and I have an epic amount of work to do before then.

My sister-in-law, who's recently sold her business and isn't yet working, graciously offered to come babysit. Unfortunately, Keira was a total beast to her and Michael had to come home from work at lunchtime, because I couldn't get away from my work. She was able to go back to daycare today and apparently she behaved fine while she was there, but from the moment she came home tonight it was wall-to-wall meltdowns.

She melted down about sitting down to dinner.

She melted down when Daddy asked her to put her toys away after her bath.

She melted down when Mommy took away her Sofia book in response to some unspecified other meltdown.

She melted down about nothing at all.

She smacked Mommy in the face and then sat in time-out, refusing to say "sorry," for fifty minutes. FIFTY. She kept trying to charm me into letting her out without her actually having said the word, because she's the most stubborn child who ever lived.

She had the mother of all meltdowns because Mommy said she had to say her prayers.

We had a couple of days of this a couple of months ago. We cut off the TV altogether and started saying her prayers before bed and her behavior turned around on a dime. But she hasn't had any TV since the fever died down, and we never, ever skip prayers. So now I'm out of solutions. We're big on follow-through so it's not that she doesn't know we're serious. But I -- and my pregnancy hormones, let's not forget that -- cannot take another day of this behavior.

So chime in. Let's hear your no-fail, can't-miss solution for absolutely miserable toddler behavior. Pleeeeeeeease?

"Answer Me This," Week ??

Phew. Little Munchkin has been battling a fever for three days -- low-grade until today -- but she'd been happy as a clam so we decided to take a risk and bring her down to my husband's aunt's farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains as planned, fever and all. 

Oops.

In my defense, I did vote against it. She had seemed a little more crabby this morning, but she woke up happy after a morning nap and so I gave in and agreed. She spent the first hour there happy as normal. Her Bella and Poppy brought her the little inflatable pool they keep at their house and some umbrellas to protect her from the sun and she splashed away happily. The second hour brought some serious sleepiness and attendant crabbiness because:

a) We left her pack'n'play at my parents' shore house, where we will be next week on vacation, to minimize our load in the car on the way down and because we didn't think we'd need it this week; and

b) I spent a lot of time training her to sleep in her crib. And only in her crib. Aside from her crib, she will sleep in her car seat, sometimes. Which turns out to have bitten me square on the rear end because sometimes you need a kid to put her head down and sleep, even if she's not in her crib.

So we left before dinner. She slept in the car in two half-hour bursts. By the time we got home, her fever had spiked to almost 104, when it had been hovering around 100 for two days. We gave her some Advil and a bath, then she took another half-hour catnap, and then she was ready to par-tay until a good hour past her normal bedtime. 

Commence demon-child meltdown during prayers. What the what? Daddy pulled out the calming skills he didn't know he possessed and she eventually went to sleep. Daddy is already asleep himself, about ten minutes later. I am not far behind, but first: Answer Me This! (There will be no graphic or pictures in this post because I'm exhausted. Sah-rry.)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. How often do you take public transportation?
Next-to-never, anymore. Back in my single, livin' alone days, I took an Alexandria city bus to work on the daily. Since my first apartment, I haven't lived anywhere that's particularly public-transportation-friendly. Also I started working from home alllll the way back in 2007 so I don't really have anywhere to go.

2. How many cousins do you have?
Uhhhhh.... I think the total is 33. That works out to 28 on my Mom's side and 5 on my Dad's side. My Mom is one of eight kids, she had seven, and two of her sisters have six apiece. Most have at least four. My Dad is one of three kids, and his two sisters had three and two, respectively. 

My daughter has five cousins, all on my side, plus something like four in heaven on her Daddy's side. 

3. Have you ever fired a gun?
Yes! If you haven't, you should -- it's way more fun than you think. Actually, it's been a while since I've been to the range, not since before Keira was born. Which is notable because I heard once that moms have the best aim (according to some military range instructor or other), and I'm interested to know if my aim has improved since my little one was born. I was supposed to go a couple of weeks ago with a girlfriend but I was sick and had to cancel, and we haven't rescheduled because she's CRAZY busy and I'm el barfo. 

4. Do you ride roller coasters?
Not if I can help it. I've been consistently motion-sick since way back. Also I'm not terribly fond of heights. Put them together and you get: No.

5. What's your favorite flower?
I'm between the stargazer lily and the peony. One is spear-y and elegant, and the other is fluffy and cheerful, so I guess it depends on my mood.

6. Are you allergic to anything?
Tree pollen. This spring has been brutal. Bah-rutal.

"Answer Me This" Linkup, Week 10!

Happy Father's Day, especially to my husband and to my father. Also to all the grandfathers and the godfathers.

Kendra at Catholic All Year is hosting a weekly linkup. She provides the questions, you provide the answers, and then you link up with everyone back on her page. It's a great way to get to know a little about your fellow bloggy travelers, as well as a chance to consider some things about yourself that you hadn't before. Join us! 

Kendra's answers, next week's questions and the linkup can be found here.

1. What’s something you intended to do today, but didn't?
I was supposed to hang out with my friend from high school. She lives about three miles away, and has for a year, and we've hung out about six times. She has no kids yet and you know how it is with your non-kid-having friends: you put all your energy into getting through each day, and while you could totally spare the energy for your friends you don't necessarily think of it. Meanwhile, she thinks having even one kid is totally overwhelming, so she doesn't ever suggest hanging out either. 

Every time it occurs to me to suggest that we go out for a drink after Keira's bedtime -- or, currently, for her to have a drink while I watch, pregnant and momentarily sad about it -- she's about to go out of town. Always.

So this morning, her husband was doing a Tough Mudder and my husband was supposed to take our daughter down to his parents' house, so we were both going to be just sitting around. We had big plans to get together. And then Michael was sick, so he didn't go anywhere, and I never heard from her either so we just didn't. Oops. 


2. What's your favorite grilling recipe?
Grill bread. You brush the outside of a big loaf of crusty bread with olive oil and then sprinkle on herbs and spices, whatever you want. Then, once the crud has been burned off the grill and you turn it off (or waaaaay down), you put the bread in and turn it a couple of times until it's grill-marked and warm. It's a total mess to eat but soooooo gooooood.

Alternatively, you can halve the loaf and load up the inside, then grill-mark the inside and the outside. Either way is awesome. I was trying to find a picture on the internet, but it turns out, upon consultation with my dad, that it was invented by my parents' neighbor and thus I'm revealing it to the wider world for the first time. You're welcome, wider world.


3. What movie did you see most recently?
Ummmmmmmmmm. That is an excellent question. The last movie I saw in theaters was Lone Survivor, I think. It was extremely upsetting but I think everyone should watch it anyway. I couldn't tell you what I last watched on TV or Netflix, because I watch more shows than movies.


4. Would you say your tendency is to over or under react to medical situations?
Under. Definitely under. It drives my husband crazy that I usually just try to wait things out. Early in this pregnancy, my allergies took me down like a wounded antelope and my throat was so sore I thought I might die (of dehydration, because I couldn't bring myself to swallow any water, not of drama). I got right on top of it and went to the doctor -- on a Saturday, even! -- to have a strep test because the last thing I wanted was to pass strep to him and to our daughter. My husband was amazed that I went to the doctor at all. Because usually I don't.


5. Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube or roll it?
Both. I start off squeezing and switch to rolling when rolling becomes necessary. 


6. What are you doing for Father's Day?
That is still up in the air. Since Michael's been sick and still is, and his father is also sick, we're playing it by ear. We'll see how everyone feels in the morning.