Random Questions!

Random Questions, Fall 08: #5 Hot or Cold?

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

1. What do you set your thermostat on in the winter? A toasty 78, chilly 62, or somewhere in between? Is it different from night to daytime?

2. Has this changed over the years? Are you adjusting your heat use this year due to heat costs/financial frugality?

3. If you have kids, are they cooperative with dressing warmer for the chilly times or do they still prefer to be in the least clothing possible?

4. What is your favorite item of cold-weather clothing?

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1. Our thermostat is set at 66 while we're awake and at home, 63 when we're asleep and 60 when we're not home.
2. We've always had a pretty cool house in the winter, but over the last few years we made an effort to be frugal with this this.
3. Kabe is a go-with-the-flow kinda kid and pretty much wears whatever we lay-out for him or ask him to wear, with the exception of liking snow boots in summer.
4. Hands-down...my Uggs. Do shoes count though? If not, then it would have to be a fleece...quite possibly the sherpa one.

Random Questions

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

Fall 08, #2: Laundry

1. Who does the laundry in your house?

2. Are you/or they a sorter? What's your system?

3. Do you fold at the dryer? Dump on the couch? Not fold at all? (Psst, Karen K, I like your system, do share with the class.)

4. Do you have any "laundry quirks"? Things that *can't* go in the dryer, dry in a specific manner, hung on a specific hanger, only get washed by hand--no matter what the care instructions say?

5. Do you have any great tips for stain removal?!? Please share!

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1. Generally, I (Jen) do the laundry, however, if I’m falling behind and Adam is needing something, then he’ll do a load of what he needs or if people are coming over, he has a method to his cleaning madness and laundry is part of it. Yes, Type A personality and very random. =)

2. I am definitely a sorter and Adam is as well, however, we sort differently. When dirty, all things go into the hamper in one big pile. When it’s time to wash, I sort into the washing piles: bleachable whites, non-bleachable whites, dress clothes, colors, light towels, dark towels, sheets (I think that’s about it…although there is usually more than one load of colors and sheets).

3. When the dryer gets done I get to separate yet again because we are a highly un-dryer-able family. For the most part, everything of Kabe’s (right now) can go in the dryer, but non of my or Adam’s knit shirts (except old t-shirts) or blue jeans go in the dryer so we have one of those metal drying racks that sits in our bedroom so a ceiling fan can assist in the drying. The only time they drying rack comes down is if someone is going to look at our bedroom. For clothes that do get folded, I carry them to my bed or the living room floor or couch and sort them into piles. Kabe has to put his own away and Adam’s go onto our bed where he’ll place them on the floor that night when we go to bed and then leave them until he’s ready for the routine cleaning (refer to question 1…=).

4. Pretty much covered this in #3 and #4, except that all Adam’s dress pants are hung specifically so they have a crease and special grip hangers are used.

5. I LOVE Shout! Treated properly, it gets everything out. If I’ve ever had a problem with this not working (I’m having trouble recalling too many times, I know I’ve used Spot Shot (a carpet cleaner) and it worked miracles.

Random Questions

Fall 08, #1: Shopping!

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

For those of you just joining in, Random Questions are brought to you by my friend Randa Kay at Just RK. Have I ever mentioned that I love Random Questions?

My answers to these random questions are below the starry line. Feel free to leave your answers in the comment section of my blog or on your own blog, just let us know so we can come and read your answers!

1. How do you shop for groceries? Is it a family event? Always the lady of the house? Or is it the guy's job?
2. Women, does your guy go clothing shopping with you? Guys, what's your feeling about it?
3. Does Daddy have any preference about what the kid(s) wear? Hairstyles/hair length?
4. When you get home from the grocery store, do you rotate your canned items or others that you have duplicates of? (Like if you bought green beans but you still have a can in the pantry, do you take the oldest can out to put in the front to be used first?)
5. What about your parents? How do they shop? Do you see a generation difference?

1. It’s sort of random in our house depending on the need. We often do major trips together, with all three of us going, but if we’re pressed for time one or the other will stop on the way home. Because we both work, we don’t see this as a gender issue.
   
2. We don’t set aside time to actually clothing shop….it just occurs, usually when we least expect it and Adam is frequently there. He is my best critic and is awesome at picking stuff out. I do also like to shop alone though and sometimes with friends…depends on my mood.

3. Adam definitely has an opinion on clothing and hair for Kabe, but we pretty much agree on it, which is great.

4. Food goes into the cupboard, but isn’t usually rotated…by the time we get around to purchasing more stuff, it’s usually bare in there and there isn’t a need to actually rotoate. =)

5. Both of our mom’s are stock-pilers and most-likely a rotaters. Thank the Lord my MIL doesn’t get the internet…she'd most likely shudder at this post. =)

Random Questions #9

This round is starting at the beginning again... just plain old random.

1. Are you a snapshot or portrait person? Let's see your current favorite pic!

2. What's the craziest thing you did last month? (You define crazy for yourself.)

3. What is your current must-have food or drink?

4. What is the last movie you saw and what did you think? Give us a review and rating.

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1) Definitely a snapshop person. Here's a shot of Kabe, taken this afternoon, playing in the yard.


2) Crazy, me? I'm such a stick in the mud....as I'm typing this I'm realizing I need a little crazy and a LOT of fun in my life. How 'bout some help girls?

3) How about a food and a drink? Food....Schwan's Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream. YUM. Drink ... Starbucks Brand Coffee -- Pike's Place Roast, made at my house - really strong. Mmmm - it's a good way to start my day. =)

4) We saw 'Kung Fu Panda' over the weekend. The movie ratings guy on the local Christian radio station gave it a 4 1/2 out of 5 stars for family friendliness, which would usually mean kids love it, but not a lot of content for adults/slow-moving. I'm glad to say, this movie deserved 4 1/2 stars! We enjoyed the movie, good content, funny, and great life lessons for any age about character, honesty, integrity, and perseverance. You can't beat that....I'd definitely recommend it to you ... and anyone else who'd like to know about it!
Kabe loved it too - he's practicing his Panda moves in the shot above.

It's your turn! If you'd like to play along, but don't have a blog, feel free to leave your answers in the comments section of this blog. If you do have a blog feel free to post them on your blog -- just leave a comment here so we can all check out your random answers!

Random Questions #7

Round 7--FOOD!! I've had conversations with a lot of people lately about eating, food, and how what we eat differs so often from what we *should* eat. It's a hot topic in our house with a kiddo that literally refuses to eat and a husband who doesn't like to eat. So share your thoughts...who knows how much it might help someone. Maybe me!

1. What does a typical evening meal look like at your house? (Be honest!)

2. What is your idea of a "healthy meal" if you were going to aim for that specifically?

3. What food(s) do you like now that you wouldn't have believed would be in that category 10 years ago?

4. Tell me about one of your best "food memories." (Maybe a date, or event, or just a great meal.)

5. If you have kids, what do your kids like that surprises you? What would they pick for their favorite meal?

6. If you had to give up two items from your personal menu, what would you miss the most?
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1. ‘Typical’ depends on what night of the week it is. On nights when we’re actually home for the evening, a ‘real’ meal is something like chicken with a vegetable and some rice, or spaghetti with garlic bread and a salad, but on busy nights we do fall back on boxed meals like hamburger helper and on game nights (twice a week right now…) we have lots of sandwiches, fruit and raw veggies/chips for Kabe and then Adam & I grab popcorn at the concession stand.

2. Grilled or broiled chicken with steamed broccoli

3. Broccoli! I would never have eaten as a child and I love it now! As an adult I started slow, first only eating it smothered in cheese and now, my favorite is steamed with a smidge of salt.

4. Hmmmm, food memory? Not sure about this. Probably not ready to dig too deeply into this one yet.

5. One of Kabe’s favorite meals is tortellini which is funny because it’s not something either of us grew up eating. Another of his fav’s is pesto which is even more hilarious as we make our own and it’s a pretty healthy spinach pesto…again, not something I’d have eaten as a child. He used to pick both of these as his favorite, but if you ask him right now, he would say what almost every American 7-year-old says: macaroni & cheese. Probably because I never make it for him.

6. Spaghetti and broccoli.

Random Questions #8

Okay – so here are the Round 8 Random Questions. Yeah, Yeah…I’m out of order. I realize I skipped Round 7. I will get back to them…sometime. We’ve been busy & sick & tired and crazy (in no particular order) at our house. =)

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

Round 8--Quirks--We all have our funny little things about us, so let it out! Tell about what makes you weird! Or maybe you just call it a "specific preference." :o)

What quirks do you have in the following categories? (Or tell on someone else if you want!)
1. Home (cleaning, order, furniture, yard, etc.)
2. Personal (get-ready routine, clothes/shoes, hate feet?)
3. Relational (high-maintenance proof, personal space, parental/spousal habits, etc)
4. Food (ways you eat, ways that annoy you about how others eat, can't mix foods, etc)

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1. Home—I don’t think I have much in this category. We both like the house to be picked up, but if I were transparent here (and I’m supposed to be, right??), then I would say that most of the time, stuff get’s strewn about and I (we) would be horrified if you were to drop by unannounced. I guess the biggest thing is that when things are put away, put them away correctly, in the right place/cupboard/stacking order, etc.

2. Personal--I do have a definite order to my get ready routine and although I wouldn’t call myself high-maintenance, I’m not exactly low-maintenance either…I just fit in-between.

3. Relational--I have always thought myself to be a people person, but the older I get, the more I realize that to be false or at least to be changing as the more I get involved in technology, email/facebook/texting/blogging/instant messenger etc. the less I find the need for actual face-to-face and/or phone communication. I would much rather type you than call you.

4. Food—Okay, this one is pretty easy for me! I like my food hot and not touching. I don’t like condiments of any kind, except ketchup and then I’m selective about brands. And yes, that means mayonnaise and miracle whip…I don’t eat it or any form of it or most foods that are made with it, unless there is so little of it in the food you can’t taste it. I don’t like salad dressings of any sort. No – none. Typically, I don’t like chucks of food, for instance, tomatoes, I don’t like tomatoes raw in pretty much any form except salsa and then, I don’t eat the chunks…I’m a dipper not a scooper because I don’t eat the chunks. I like raw carrots but not cooked ones – cooked carrots taste like crayons smell…yeah weird – but that’s just how God wired me. I could probably go on & on with this one, but as you can already see, I’m rather ‘quirky’ (lets say…) with food. =)

Random Questions #6 -- RetroPost

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

Round 6-- Truly random!! I've just got some weird stuff bouncing around in my head today, so enjoy!

1. How's your closet? Do you use all the same kind of hangers? Wire, plastic, or wood? Do you hang everything in the same direction, like all shirts facing the same way?

2. Are you a channel flipper or a commercial watcher? OR do you get up and do a quick task during commercials? OR are you a DVR addict who never watches a commercial because you never watch shows as they actually air?

3. Have you ever looked at your house after a holiday and truly debated just packing a suitcase and walking away?

4. How do you keep your kids, especially the under 2 crowd, calm during long road trips? Ever considered a "travel nanny"?

5. Do you notice typos in other blogs, articles, or even handwritten notes or cards? Or let your brain skim the text for the concept and skip the details of spelling and grammar?
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1 - The hangers in our closet are quite the assortment. When we purchase hangers we buy white plastic, but we do have some wire from the dry cleaners and are constantly weeding them out. Clothes are hung in sections, shirts, jackets, pants, skirts, etc., with summer stuff in a separate section, all clothes are facing the same way. The worst part is the floor. Adam -- quit reading this part.... I have TOO many shoes. I straighten them frequently but they get messed up easily and are strewn about. Of course, I need them all. =)

2 - We are DVR addicts so mostly we ff through commercials. I find it difficult to watch a 'real-time' show because I dislike commercials so much. Kabe, on the other hand, really likes commercials, and even when DVR'd will play & replay them. Total pop-culture kid.

3 - Totally had thoughts about walking away both before and after decorations go up. I have a really hard time decorating my house for it's day-to-day use, so when Holiday decorations comeout it's totally painful for me. Not because I'm against decorating or dislike it -- I adore all those gorgeous houses and am in awe of people who can create those looks - I'm just not good at it. What I do doesn't look good and it actually hurts my insides and makes my stomach hurt. Ugh - typing this is giving me indigestion.

4 - I don't remember having a problem with Kabe traveling when he was under two. He's always been what we consider an easy traveler.

5 - I am by no means a copy editor, however, I do consider myself a decent speller so it drives me crazy to see spelling errors, especially common ones (there/their) and in spite of my best efforts find myself picking them out in my head. I don't go through the church bulletin or anything like that though. =)

Random Questions - Round 5

The Random Questions process

~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.

~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.

~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.

~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

Round 5--Travel! It's almost springtime, and we're all thinking about where we'd like to go for a little R & R.

1. Do you prefer traveling by car, train, plane, or boat?

2. Are family vacations or yearly vacations of some kind a part of your regular schedule? Where are some places you've gone?

3. What's your favorite travel memory? Maybe a trip as a kid, road trip in college, honeymoon? Could be good OR bad...

4. Have you ever traveled in the back seat of a station wagon, like the old kind that faced backward?

5. Where to you hope to go this year or the next chance you get?
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1. I prefer to travel by plane, but we usually travel by car as most of our time away involves trips to to see family, to meet family or get family and air travel just isn't conducive to that. I've traveled by commuter train to NYC from Connecticut and also the NYC subway. My little guy loves trains so I do see a short train ride (probably just commuter to Chicago) in my future.

2. Regularly scheduled vacations are not in our schedule -- yet. We live a ways from our family and use all our time off to see them at Holidays and in-between.

3. When Kabe was 6 months old we went on a vacation with another family to North Carolina for about a week. It was a crazy, fun week. It's probably one of my favorites because it's the only real vacation the three of us have taken that didn't involve family and it was the first time Adam saw the ocean.

4. We didn't have a station wagon, just a car, but I always had to sit in the middle in between my two siblings who tended to fight a lot.

5. We're thinking this is the year we use some of our time to get to Florida to Disney/Epcot and start doing some other vacations as well as seeing family. There are lots of places I'd like to go, spending time together with my guys is the key.

Random Questions - Round 4

The Random Questions process
~Choose one or all of the questions to answer.
~Either respond with a comment to this post with your answer or put up a post on your own blog for a full response.
~Don't forget to include any funny or interesting story to illustrate your answer in action.
~Be sure to leave a comment on this post to let us know where to find your post so we can come check it out!

Round 4--Media--How reliant are we? Make sure you don't miss #6.

1. How many TVs are in your home? All hooked up to cable/dish/etc? Have you gone HD?

2. Do you have any VCRs in your house still or are you full DVD?

3. How many computers are in your house? All hooked up to the internet? How many video game systems (i.e. XBOX, Wii, etc.)?

4. What age is ok to have a TV/computer/game system in the child's bedroom?

5. Do you have DVD players in the car?

6. The big one.... Would you be able to take a media/technology break, like a day without? How long could you do it?
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1 and 2) We have three tv's. One in the living room that has cable with a drv and dvd hooked up. One in our bedroom with cable (no DVR) and both a DVD and VCR hooked up, and one in the spare room that just this week was hooked up to cable that has only a VCR. The only tv that is actually HD compatible is the one in our bedroom. The other two need the hd converter or HD/DVR converter box. We do not currently subscribe to HD service.

3) We have one laptop at home and I bring my work laptop home almost every night. We have internet through our cable company (broadband) and it's wireless, connected through the spare room. We only have one gaming system -- a v-smile -- HA! and two plug and play games, all are in the spare room. Kabe also has a Nintendo DS (handheld game system).

4) At this point, we have decided that Kabe will not have a tv or computer in his room before he's out of high school: tv because we want to spend time together watching/listening to shows as a family, computer because surfing or chatting online should take place in a public area.

5) We own a portable DVD, but it does not remain in the car. We live 20 minutes from the town we travel to daily for work, church, shopping. The DVD player only comes to the car for trips that are longer than two hours and then, not always.

6) We have taken trips with no media usage (Like Christmas this year at my parents with no cable AND no internet....we watched some fun vcr tapes) and a couple weeks ago was on vaca and didn't turn the tv on even once before 5pm (for 4 days straight!). For me, the tv thing wouldn't be as hard as the internet thing...for Adam and Kabe, take away the internet, BUT DON'T TAKE THEIR CABLE!! =) Even though we wouldn't like it, and we might be chewing our nails, I think we'd survive. (Did I type that in my outloud voice?!?)

Random Questions - Round Three

In case you're joining in late, I'm taking part in 'Random Questions' put out by my friend Randa Kay. I find this found of questions by far the most interesting and of course, they are very timely. I almost posted about parts of this very topic this morning. Thanks RK!

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This round is focused on home life. I always find myself very interested in what others do when they're not "doing" anything. Weird? Maybe...but there's a reason reality shows are so darn popular!

1. What happens at your house in a given weekday evening? Who’s doing what? (Mom, Dad, and kids--together or separate.)

On a typical evening I get off work first so I go pick up Kabe and head home, begin dinner (of figure out what's for dinner...), homework, trying to get everything done before any of our reality/favorite shows start at 7pm. I am frequently reading and/or online, helping Kabe with homework, reading, snuggling, pushing him through night routines (bath, picking up etc). Kabe is usually playing with some sort of toy (Knex/Legos) or his Gameboy DS, puzzles, or coloring -- he's usually always doing something. Once Adam is down for the day, he's just vegging, most likely just reading the paper.

2. How are the chores divided up in your house? Who does what when it comes to laundry, cooking, cleaning, yard work?

Cooking - Jen
Weekly Cleaning - Adam (floors/toilets/vacuum/dust)
Laundry - Jen
Loading dishwasher - both
Unloading dishwasher - Jen (side note: he strongly dislikes doing this. I'm definitely not complaining about this, but I am doing a little experiment. =) As it stands right now it's been clean and full for one week now and every night / morning we've both been doing dishes by hand rather than emptying the dishwasher. We'll see how long this goes on. I don't mind emptying the dishwasher and actually love our arrangement. I simply find this humorous.)

3. How often do you have time with you just you and a spouse, even just a little time here or there? What do you do with that time--talk, work, plan, read, etc? (PG rated, please. HA!)

Kabe goes to bed around 8 - 8:30pm on school nights and we go to bed a little after 10pm, so realistically, we should have 1 1/2 - 2 hours most nights give-or-take. There are nights when we use it productively and have a good conversation or snuggle and watch a show or each read something, but sadly, more often than naught, he is in the recliner watching tv (the tv is on way too much) and I am on the computer (I am on it way more than I should be) or reading or knitting.

4. Compared to what you thought it would be like 10 years ago, would you say life in your home is...
~Nothing like you thought it would be.
~Kind of like you thought it would be.
~Exactly like you thought it would be.
~Better than you thought it would be.
Our relationship seems to go through periods where we're really connected and communication is great, life is easy -- in other words ~ better than I ever thought marriage could ever be (or at least a bit like the dream we thought marriage was supposed to be when we were planning to be married!!). In reality, right now, we're in this place where every situation, every communication we come to is from different angles where we strive to understand what the other is truly saying and frequently get it all confused. I know from experience that much of this would be alleviated by turning the tv off more and spending time together just talking, hanging out, dates, etc. I also know that even with all this, sometimes, it just takes time and as we are growing and changing, so is our relationship. It will all iron out and be better for it in the end as long as we both keep trying -- and we are. I guess my answer for this exact moment in time is ~~ Kind of like I thought it would be.

Random Questions - Round Two

Our theme today is internet/email use and habits. I would think we can all relate to this one, as if you are reading this, you probably know a little about how to use the internet. And if you're like most people, you rely heavily on your email. So join us!

1. What was the year and the circumstance of your first internet experience?

September 16, 1997 - We moved to the state we currently reside and I began working on the campus of the University where I still work. I was set up that day with my very own email account and the student hourly workers (college kids), taught me how to surf the net and use Eudora as well as a mac.

2. Do you leave your computer on and your email up all day long to be sure to catch any communication right away or do you check in only occasionally?

My work email is on all day, automatically checking email every 3 minutes. I also have my Blackberry close by to check my personal email and text frequently.

3. In this email age, do you still look forward to getting the mail (the kind the mailman delivers) or do you go two or three days between trips to the mailbox? Do you get "real" mail anymore or is it all junk due to e-banking and such?

We still do check for 'snail mail' every day, although my husband or son get it from the box. Alghough email cards and notes are nice, I still appreciate a 'real' card around special dates - birthday, anniversary, Christmas.

4. How would you rate yourself in relation to your internet use?
Use when necessary
Like to when I can
Must check in at least once a day
Lost without email/internet
Spend hours each day online
Addicted! - This is definitely me. We were out of town this weekend at my in-laws who don't have the internet and barely have access for our cell phones. I was going crazy.

Random Questions

My friend Randa Kay over at Just RK, has put up a few Random Questions and I've decided to participate. These are definitely random --- but here goes! Inserted here are the questions from her blog:

Here's the first round of questions...
1. When grocery shopping, do you arrange your items in the shopping cart nicely and in categories or just toss it in?
I usually just toss grocery stuff into the big part of the cart, separating cold and fragile (fresh fruits and veggies). I also separate things like fabric softener and soap that tend to give off fragrance -- I don't like my bananas to taste like my socks smell. Also, if I'm getting cards or bendy things, I usually put them in the top by my handbag so they don't get all smooshed.

2. When putting your grocery items on the nifty conveyor belt at the check-out, do you group them by category to make bagging easy or do you just put them up there in whatever order you grab them?
It depends on if I'm getting assistance from my very helpful 7-year-old. If I'm doing it, I tend to group all items that are alike together (4 cans of campbells soup, two dozen eggs, etc.). And like above, I separate the soap and fabric softener so they bag it separately.

That's a good start. More will come soon...the list is already pretty long! I'll post my answers tomorrow. Can't wait to see all yours!!!