[How long did you wait in line to vote?]

No line at all. I walked right in, voted, and walked out.

 

Of course, I had to walk 1.3 miles to the polling place and back, so from my front door to voting and back to my front door was a total of an hour and five minutes... not including the stop at the coffee shop on my way home. :D (I am very happy that my dh was able to pick up his new-to-us car today.)

[How do you deal with a crisis?]

Generally I plan and talk (the talking helps me think things through). If the issue is severe (like when our ds was admitted to the NICU) or it is one in a long line of cosely-timed stresses (lost job, followed by surprise pregnancy, followed by burst water pipe), then I will often have an hour-long crying jag before proceeding into the planning and talking cycle.

 

Dh researches but shuts down and doesn't talk much at all for a day or two. He has to absorb before he enters the talking phase. Those first 24-48 hours after a crisis can be stressful when we are trying to balance his need for quiet and my need to talk. :D

[s/o beards thread]

Mine has both, but he keeps them clipped to 10:00 shadow scruffiness... otherwise it tickles. :lol:

[Your favourite kids movie? We're a How to Train Your Dragon family!]

anything directed by Hayao Miyazaki (although Ponyo, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro are my absolute favorites.... and Howl's Moving Castle... oh, and Kiki's Delivery Service) :D

 

Megamind

Emperor's New Groove

Wall-E

The Secret of Kells

Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

The Incredibles

 

 

 

[What magazines do you read?]

The Atlantic

National Geographic

Smithsonian

Mother Earth News

Above Rubies

Healthy Cooking

["mother's helper"]

I used a mother's helper when I was pregnant with our second; I was told not to go up and down stairs for the last two months of my pregnancy (I was allowed to go down in the morning and up to go to bed), and we lived in a 3-story townhouse, so I needed a hand occasionally to get things done. Our mother's helper was a 13 yo girl who was the daughter of a friend of ours. She lived with us for three days and got our laundry caught up, ironed, cleaned the whole house, made lunches and dinners, and played with our oldest (who was 18 mo at the time) and took her to the park a block away every afternoon. She was amazing! After that long weekend, she would come occasionally to iron, change the sheets, and take oldest dd to the park. I couldn't have gotten along without her.

 

My dd worked as a mother's helper when she was 9. She would go to a neighbor's house when the mom wanted to do outside chores or focus on getting bills paid. Dd would go over and just play with their 4yo and 2yo and get them snacks or lunch. Their mom was home the whole time and was available if needed.

[How many threads are you subscribed to?]

None. I use the milovaný method.

[Safe Sports?]

Well, I was going to suggest fencing, but I guess I'd better not. :lol:

[Here's a positive s/o: What's the happiest thing you've learned?]

That having a conversation with a person you helped create is really one of the coolest things on the planet.

 

I remember the first time ds and I had a real conversation, not just me talking, but him having his own thought out non-toddler response and opinion. He was 3 or 4, I think. It was one of those moments that gives you the chills.

 

This. Definitely.

[What is the bitterest truth you've learned?]

That the mundane tasks take up the majority of life.

 

No wonder TV has so many commercial breaks... it hides the uninteresting, boring bits. :glare:

[How do you do stockings?]

When I was growing up, my family's tradition was that when we all came downstairs on Christmas morning, we could open our stockings right away. Then we had to eat breakfast before opening any of the wrapped presents. Isn't that a sadistic tradition? I guess it was because we had a large family, and unwrapping could take a long time.

 

This was our tradition growing up as well. (Except all of our stocking gifts were wrapped in all the gift wrap scraps leftover from the tree gifts.) Dh's family tradition was to open stockings on Christmas Eve, sleep in late Christmas Day, have a HUGE breakfast, and open wrapped gifts after eating. We've tried to combine both traditions: adults open stockings Christmas Eve (some stocking gifts are wrapped, but most aren't), kids can open stockings as soon as we get up and we eat a light breakfast while we open stockings (biscotti, fruit, tassies, etc), then we open tree gifts after breakfast is all cleaned up.

[If you're dressing up, let's see your costume. :)]

Apparently, I have no flattering pictures of my boys, but here we go anyway:

 

 

 

ds11 - Darth Maul (sleepy and sans light saber)

 

 

dd14 - Vampire

 

 

dd15 - Sherlock Holmes

 

 

ds8 - Soldier (because, as he put it, "It's easy. I get to wear my regular clothes, but I get to carry a gun!"

[The trick-or-treaters need to get here already!!!]

We just moved into a HUGE apartment complex near lots of other HUGE apartment complexes and housing developments. It's the first time we've ever really lived in a neighborhood, so we ran and got two huge bags of candy on our way home today (since we'd already eaten most of the huge bag we'd gotten earlier in the week :blushing: ) so that we would be prepared... and NO ONE has come by. It looks like most people around here go to church or town sponsored events.

 

Guess we'll be eating candy for awhile. :D

[Cary Grant love]

Bringing Up Baby is my favorite. Philadelphia Story and Arsenic And Old Lace are in a close run for second.

 

"I'll be with you in a minute, Mr. Peabody!"

[Terrified, Please Pray]

Done. :grouphug:

[HE GOT IT!]

Congratulations! :party:

["More people are born on Tuesday than any other day of the week."]

No Tuesdays here.

 

Dh: Wednesday

Me: Thursday

dd15: Friday

dd14: Friday

ds11: Friday

ds9: Monday

[My first (and last?) baby name thread]

You could just go ahead and name him Rowan. Keeps the Faulkner link to the name.

[Anyone still using their AC?]

Here. Hopefully this is the last day, though. The temperature is supposed to drop 20-30 degrees over the next 24-48 hours. Ahhh...

[Grits....]

When I eat them at home (I prefer oatmeal, though) I eat them with brown sugar and milk. A friend of mine makes an amazing cheese grits casserole, and I could eat grits all day long if they were in that casserole.

[Grits....]

Oops. Double post.

[Favorite iPhone Apps for a 12yo boy]

Plants vs Zombies (yes, it's as stupid as it sounds, but it cracks my son up)

Starwalk

C25K or Nike+

Minecraft

 

ETA: there are three iTouch users in this house and we LOVE Tuneband for protecting and wearing our iTouches.

 

Thank you!

[If your travel time to see your ILs is 4-5 hours 1-way, how often do you go?]

Twice a year: once around Thanksgiving or Christmas then again in August for the county fair. :001_smile: Now we live 20 hours away... we haven't been to see family in about 3 years. They try to get here once a year, though. Much easier for two people to travel than for 6 people and a dog.

[Favorite iPhone Apps for a 12yo boy]

My ds11 (soon to be 12) has been saving his money to buy my iPod Touch from me when I was able to replace it with an iPhone (thus not having to carry my iTouch and and phone). Well, I was just gifted a phone so he'll be getting the Touch, but we've decided to just give it to him for his birthday loaded with some games and music so he can play with it right away.

 

We've got the music covered, but I'm looking for some good games to put on it for him. He likes to pay Angry Birds, anything Lego, Presidents Vs Aliens, and Stack The States & Countries. Any other ideas? Anything free or low cost would be great!

 

Thanks!

[Praying people]

Thank you for giving us the gift of praying for her and for updating us. I will continue praying for her, her family, and all those who care for her. :grouphug: