Answer Me This

 Where have I been lately asks no one?  Well I'll tell you anyway.  My last post knocked the energy out of me for a few days.  It was cathartic to write, but wore me out more than I had anticipated.  Once I'd recovered from that, I dove into prepping for next year's schoolwork and I managed to hot glue two of my fingers together and spent some time nursing my burns.  They didn't make typing feasible.  Since then I've composed a number of blog posts in my head, but can quite decide whether to focus more on the deep, dark, yucky stuff or the light, fluffy stuff.  For today, I'll avoid that decision and link up with Kendra for a round of Answer Me This.

1. Any big plans for the summer?
Nope.  Three summers ago, I was determined to not get to the end of the summer feeling like we'd missed doing some of the "summer" things.  I bought a big sheet of posterboard and made up a pretty calendar for June July and August.  I scheduled in all the things we wanted to do during the summer.  It was color-coded and had symbols for different types of activities and almost every day had something scheduled.  The first week of June I had jury duty.  No big deal.  I just moved a couple of things onto other days.  Plenty of summer left.  No need to panic.  The second week of June a family member became very ill and all of our summer plans went out the window.  I was stressed out because none of my plans, save for one barbecue, could be carried out.
Thankfully, I learned my lesson instead of trying harder the next year.  Now Jon, the girls, and I make a list at the beginning of the summer of all the things we'd like to do.  When we're looking for something to do, we consult the list and choose something.  Mostly we just play outside a lot.

2. What is the strangest thing you believed as a child?
We had a bathroom that was accessed through the bedroom I shared with my sister.  Between the end of the bathtub and the wall was a small closet.  At some point in my early childhood, I became convinced that a man lived in that closet.  When the closet door was opened he slid under the bathtub (there was a small opening in the wall on the bathtub side of the closet that supported this theory).  I spent many days and nights afraid that he would pop out of the bathroom and chase me or that I wouldn't pass the "feather" test that he performed each night while I was sleeping (loooong story that makes me seem weirder than many of you already know I am).  My mom had little tolerance for my belief in The Man in the Closet.  That hit an all time low when I became convinced that the new male employee at the local Ben Franklin store looked exactly like both The Man in the Closet AND the scary man from an episode  of The Love Boat.  Despite my pleas, she refused to call the police and forbid me to discuss it anymore.
What can I say? I read a lot of mysteries at a very early age and watched a few shows that were probably not appropiate for my age and imagination.

3. What is your favorite amusement park ride (can be a specific one at a specific park or just a type of ride)?
Well, since watching people swing on backyard swingsets makes me nauseated, I don't really do amusement park rides.  Boring, I know.


4. What's on your summer reading list?
I just finished In This House of Brede and am struggling to find another book that measures up to that one.  Jocelyn and I are reading Beezus and Ramona together.  She and I can both relate to Beezus, having been blessed with Ramona-like little sisters.  I have Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography on hold at the library.  I'm currently number 11 in line so I should get to read it before the summer is over.  If I can earn enough Swagbucks to buy them for free (no book budget for me), I want to read The Little Oratory and Abandonment to Divine Providence.  Otherwise, I plan my summer reading like I plan the rest of my summer, which is not much at all.
5. Have you ever fallen asleep in public?
I don't think I've fallen asleep in a large group of people.  I did, however, fall asleep once while watching a movie with my future sister-in-law and her husband the weekend I met them.  Jon and I had traveled to Wisconsin to visit them and I was used to going to bed early because of my job.  While watching a movie, I fell sound asleep with my head thrown back and my mouth wide open.  There was probably drooling involved.  The worst part was when I woke up.  When I'm woken up late and night, I don't completely wake up and tend to either repeat myself over and over or think everything is really funny.  That time it was the latter.  I still feel embarrassed thinking about it.  Fortunately, I married into a polite family and they will likely never mention it again.

6. What is your favorite smell?
Freshly mown grass because it means the weather is warm.  During the long, dreary winter, I make do with the scent of freshly baked bread.

I see some of the people linking up with Kendra are also doing the What I Wore Sunday linkup too.  I won't be doing that for several reasons.  1) I own exactly 2 summertime church outfits so that would get really boring really quickly, 2) Despite diet and exercise, I still can't shake these extra 30 pounds (thank you perimenopause), and 3) I saw a five year old at church today sitting a few pews up wearing the exact same outfit.  I'm not yet sure how I feel about that.  I'm trying to convince myself it makes me seem more youthful, but it's not working.....

Hopefully, I'll make a few decisions this week and get back to blogging more consistently.  In the meantime, go read Kendra's answers at Catholic All Year.