My interview...

In my continuing effort to dredge up some kind of interesting content for this blog, I jumped when my friend Chili posted a Q&A she received from a fellow blogger. Here is my interview....

1. Describe yourself as a food. Are you a bowl of spicy chili? A French croissant? A cup of rich hot chocolate? Tell us why you chose the food you did.

It didn’t take me too long to come up with this answer – a loaf of bread. Bread is a very important part of my life. I love the way it smells. I love to eat it. One of the best memories from my childhood is when my father would bake bread. We would slice it warm from the oven and slather it with butter-product and honey, then let it ooze into the bread for a few minutes (or speed the process up with 10 seconds in the 10K watt microwave we had). It was like candy. Yum! I also love to bake bread. Not in the bread machine. By hand. From scratch. With yeast and sea salt and real butter. There is something spiritual about bread for me. When I make it, I inject it with love and caring and hope and all those things I wish for my family and friends, the recipients of the bread.

So why bread? It might be the fact that simple ingredients that create a staple of our diets through a complex chemical reaction. It might be that I show love less through what I say and more in what I do and provide for my community. Or it could be because bread can be anything from a French baguette to a sweet apple bread with streusel to a coarse country loaf (anyone want to sing “The Scotman’s Kilt” with me?) And that’s me.


2. What's one thing about you that people who know you are surprised to learn? (For me, it's my love of action/adventure movies, for example; almost everyone is surprised that I'm not a chick-flick or historical romance fan)

Most people who have known me only in the last 8 years or so are surprised to learn that I lived for five years in Las Vegas. And that I love the city for what it is, but wouldn’t want to go back there again. Something about raising girls in a city where billboards feature scantily-clad women and risqué adults-only entertainment.


3. If you could go back in time and tell your ten-year-old self something important, what would it be?

So, let’s see. At 10, I was in fourth grade. Based on things that happened to me during the fourth grade, I would have to say, “Don’t worry so much about what others think of you.” I had a less-than-sympathetic fourth grade teacher, who made my life miserable while I was in her class (to the point that I believe my mother had a meeting with her, very unusual in my house). It tore me up that I thought she hated me. This would have been the perfect time to begin the lesson I am still learning today – don’t make your choices based on what you think other people will say. Do the right thing. Always.


4. What have you done in your life (or what are you doing - the verb tense is unimportant) that you are MOST proud of? Conversely, what have you done that you now wish you'd thought better of at the time?

Being a mom. Away and above anything, it is the most important thing I am (with wife a close second). My girls are still “projects in progress”, but I am so proud of them, who they are and who they will be someday. And I’d like to think that I (and DH) have a lot to do with that. They are wonderful children, and great people. Loving and caring, smart and funny and just a little bit rebellious (some days more than others).

I’ll cheat a little bit on the second part of this question. I was presented with a choice (actually I have been presented with this choice THREE times) and each time I chose another path. I should have gotten my degree and certification when I had the chance(s). Each time, I put off the decision for reasons that seemed logical at the time (transferring to another school, a depressed job market, being pregnant). So I put off getting certified to teach, and I wish I had thought better of it. It gets harder and harder as time passes to go back to school, and I wish I had done it when it was easier.


5. If someone walked up to you, handed you a thousand dollars and told you that you had to spend the money on YOU (not your house, not your kids or your husband - you can't fix your car or pay bills - it's got to be for fun), what would you buy and why?

For a thousand bucks, I could buy several things. I would buy myself a drum carder, and a new wardrobe. And a pedicure. The drum carder would make spinning easier, a new wardrobe so I could toss out my ratty clothes and buy some great new clothes that flatter, and the pedicure because pedicures are fabo! Or maybe I should take a graduate class (see #4). Hmmmmm...


If you would like to have your very own set of interview questions, leave me a comment and I'll send you your very own customized interview.