1,000 Post!!

Maybe. Kinda?

Okay, I really don't know. So, it dawned on me, after I wrote a couple of drafts and went to check on how many more posts I had to go 'til I hit a grand and when I checked I saw I was at 1,001. Eh?

Then I realized that Blogger counts ALL posts...even drafts...and who knows how many of those I have hidden in the depths of my blogger dashboard post keeper thingamajig.

So, this may be my 1,000 post. Or maybe not. At the very least, it's close...and that's good enough, right?!

That's what I thought! (Gosh...great minds think alike, huh?!)

Well...I had a much bigger turnout of questions than I originally thought I would, so it looks like I'll break this Q & A thing into two smaller posts, rather than one ginormous, bore you with all the minutiae of my life, post!

First up, the personal questions...I'll tackle the blog related stuff next time, deal? (UPDATE: Let's make it three posts...personal, professional, blog...m'kay? Loads of questions!!)

Alright...(random pics thrown in for eye candy...)

Danna asked:

"What's your favorite book?"

Well Danna, I've got a lot of favorites. Pretty much every book I read becomes my favorite within a few chapters...I pour myself into the book and devour it. DEvour it. As in, life stops...I don't eat (well, okay, I do...), I don't sleep (well, maybe a little), and I don't breathe (okay, flat out lie there...) until it is done.

Then, I promptly close the book, declare, "THAT is the best book I have ever read!!", a immediately forget everything that it was about. Couldn't tell you a thing (well, alright, maybe I could tell you a tiny bit about it...but certainly wouldn't pass any tests on it...).

My latest favorite book? (Only 'cuz it's the last book I read...) The Pioneer Woman's "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels". Her love story reminds me a lot of my husband and I. Country boy sweeps city girl off her feet and changes her thinking about living in the country.

:)

Linda asks:

"Have you always had such a good sense of humor? Does it run in your family or something?" and "Are you naturally blonde?"

To the blonde part: Yup...just enhanced by a fabulous hair dresser! And...I never, ever get offended by blonde jokes! In fact, I love them!

Good sense of humor...well, in my family, I'm the boring one. Between my mom and my brothers and my dad? (And uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents...) My sense of humor is NOTHIN'! Seriously, my big brother should've been a comedian...it just. doesn't. stop. with him!

I guess that pretty much answers the second part of that question..."does it run in my family". Yeah, I guess so...I just got the short end of the deal!

Jolene asks:

"If you could give one piece of advice, what would it be?"

Don't take life so seriously. Enjoy it. Laugh at it. Live in it. Life is too short to be wasted on worry.

And tell your loved ones you love them.

Oops, that was two pieces of advice. Oh well...bonus, I guess! ;)

Emily asks:

"If you could have dinner with yourself at age 18 what would the 3 things you'd make sure you told "younger you"?"

1. Don't worry what people think about you. Most of the time they aren't thinking anything about you, because they are much too involved in their own life than to worry about what some teenager is doing/thinking/wearing/saying.

2. Don't worry about what people think. :)

3. Everything is going to be okay.

And, I'd end it on a hug.

Lisa @Pulsipher Page asks:

"What are the top 10 moments of your life?"

1. Mr. Wonderful/Marriage

2. The Pal

3. The Belle

4. E. Dubya

5. Hambone

6. Baby Girl

7. Graduating from college as a single mom.

8. Seeing my kids happy.

9. My bestie telling me my marriage is an inspiration to her.

10. Our family vacation to the Black Hills.

I hope you don't mind that I used each of my kids as a point! They all deserve their own spot, right?!

Heather asks:

"How much do you love your new camera?"

*stretches arms as far as they can go* THIS much!!

My new camera (which I don't think I ever posted about...) is a Nikon D7000. After upgrading from my D40, I am LOVING it! I will admit...it was harder to get used to than I thought it would be! It's more sensitive to light, so that took quite a bit of getting used to...but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!

So, yes. I LOVE it.

Bird asks:

"What is the hardest thing for your family of 7 to do? Travel? Grocery? Anything!"

Travel is hard...when we decided to have a big family, we knew we'd be sacrificing the smaller things in life; family trips to Disney, yearly vacations, fancy cars and expensive toys. But the joys we reap in raising our brood FAR outweigh anything we've had to sacrifice.

There is no way I'd ever do it differently.

Sure, a fancy house or a family vacation to Disney would be amazing, but nothing, NOTHING. at. all beats rising to the sleepy smiles of the little people I helped create, or their spontaneous hugs, or the sticky kisses, or the chaos of having 10 little (okay, two of those 10 feet are rather big) feet running around and making this house a home.

Church can be difficult, depending on which mass we choose to go to. One thing we've found that seems to help, is that the closer we sit to the front, (generally) the better behaved our kids are.

Put us in the crying room, and all hell breaks out. Plop us in the front pew, and it's like we've got angels (with crooked halos) sitting with us.

Oh, and yes, grocery shopping is a nightmare. Which is why I try to do it at night when I can go by myself!

Ememby asks:

"Is your life now, what you pictured it to be in high school? How is it the same/different, etc..."

Hmmmm...interesting. You know, I can't really remember picturing my grown up life back in high school.

I always knew I wanted to be a mom. Check.

I thought I'd be a stay at home mom. Uncheck.

I wanted 4 kids. Sorta check. Or, check plus! ;)

But, other than that, I don't really remember details. I probably never thought I'd be married to a country boy. I also probably never thought that a certain country boy would make me a better person every single day.

I never thought I'd live in the country. A one acre lot used to feel big to me...now the 8 acres we have feel crowded and small.

I never thought I'd drive a minivan...now I can't imagine driving anything but, and I shake my head at people who think minivans are "lame". Seriously dudes...minivans = best invention ever.

dkmissie asks:

"If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be?"

Are we talking magical travel? Like, I close my eyes, tap my heels and I'm there without ever having to set foot in an airplane or deal with any TSA pat downs?

'Cuz if that's the kind of travel we're talkin' about, then we're good. If we're talkin' standard travel, ugh. I dunno. Florida? No customs, short plane ride, no bumpy landings. *urp* Makes me queasy just thinking about it.

Magical travel? Oh yeah, now we're talkin'.

Tahiti? Turks and Caicos? Bora bora?

I'd love to vacation in one of those little huts that are on stilts above a turquoise ocean with a white sandy beach. Mmmmmm...yeah. There. With a fruity drink with an umbrella in my hand.

Uh huh. Now we're talkin...

And, for now, we'll finish with Sandy. Naughty Sandy who asks:

"If you peed on a stick right now and it turned up *positive*, what would you say?"

*THUD* <------ that's my body hitting the floor after I fainted.

Then, after I came to, it would probaby be a couple of, "Ohmigawd, ohmigawd, ohmigawd"s...followed by a few, "this'll all be alright"s...then a big, hearty, cleansing sigh as I begin to imagine feeling the tumbling of a new life in my belly, the joy of nursing another babe, and the smell of a newborn's fuzzy head.

Yup. It would all be okay... :)

(Now, ask me that same question after we've 'de-babied' our home...and I may have an entirely different answer!!)

Okay...are your eyeballs bleeding from all the reading? If I'm going to be completely honest, this may be more than 3 posts, or, I may have to pick and choose some questions, 'cuz I can't seem to be able to answer ANY question with a quick, short, concise answer.

Stories. There's always the stories...and they make for long answers!

Cheers to 1,000 (kinda, sorta, maybe, at least we're close) posts! Thanks for reading along!