Tagged?

Ruth from MacCarthaigh Family tagged me today. I have never been tagged before. Wow. Does this mean I’m a real blogger?

Favourite person (outside family)....ummm. That’s very tricky. If I say one person, then another gets hurt. How about this…my favorite Bible teacher is Colin S. Smith. You can listen to him here. I have drawn great strength from his teaching.

Favourite food... fruit. I love watermelon, but it isn’t quite in season yet. The grapefruit was amazing this year. I also really like chocolate milk. I know it is a beverage, not a food, but when I’m busy I have it for lunch rather often.

Quirks about me... I like to be alone, but I hate being lonely. I like to study up on homeopathic and naturopathic remedies—I’m particularly big on arnica, tea tree oil and gentian violet. I have extreme anxiety when I am getting ready to go on vacation.

How would the person who loves you most describes you in ten words or less... (Shawn says) intelligent, questioning, wise, beautiful, temperamental, occasionally volatile, studious, loving, critical. (I hope he means critical as in a critical thinker and not as in a nasty nit-picker…)

Any regrets in life... yes.

Favourite cause/charity... Wycliffe and other organizations that translate the Bible into languages that don’t have it, and into unwritten languages.

Favourite blog recently... I get a lot of good, helpful homemaking hints off Tammy’s Recipes. Even though she’s younger than I am.

Something you can't get enough of... back rubs. Back rubs are irresistible. I love a really deep, therapeutic massage.

Worst job you ever had... I have worked so little—every now and again the government sends me a statement of my life earnings, and I think I’ve made less than $10,000 in my entire life. Such is the fate of a stay-at-home mom who started having babies at age 23. Probably my worst job was waitressing at a small diner in the town where I grew up. I also waitressed at a Chinese restaurant, but that was not as bad. The diner was really creepy, and the boss was disturbing.

What job would you pay not to have... cat vet. I have a severe phobia of cats. Oh. I should have listed that under “quirks.”

If you could be a fly on the wall, where?... I would never want to be a fly. Period.

Favourite Bible verse right now... Psalm 86:4—“Bring joy to your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.”

Guilty pleasures... You ask me this right after you ask about my favorite Bible verse? OK. Here goes: Taking a really long, really hot shower. Also eating a Hershey’s Symphony bar with toffee and almonds.

Got any confessions... I have been really crabby lately.

If you HAD to spend €1,000.00 on yourself, how would you spend it?...I’m not sure what that translates to in dollars. I would probably take one of my daughters (or both, if that’s enough money) and go visit my parents. On a plane. So we wouldn’t have to drive 1200 miles. Yes! Or I might try to buy some nice clothes, or hire a shopper to buy them for me, because I hate shopping, which shows in my wardrobe which has not been updated for years.

Favourite thing about your house... I really like my kitchen. I also like the brick path that Shawn built me from the driveway to the front door.

One thing you are bad at... Calling people, anything associated with the telephone. Also keeping track of appointments. And handling stress . I am awful at handling stress. Oh. I was supposed to give ONE thing. Ooops. I guess I’m bad at following directions, too.

One thing you are good at... reading aloud.

If you could change things about your circumstances, what... well, if it isn’t a sin to say so, I would like to live closer to my parents so my kids could have a close relationship with their grandparents, and so I could see them often and care for them in their old age and send over my strapping boys to help my dad plow up and plant his garden.

Who would you like to meet some day... C.S. Lewis. I always wanted so badly to meet him when I was a child reading the Chronicles of Narnia. I love his “voice.” I was devastated when I learned that he was dead. Oh well, there’s always heaven.

What makes you feel sexy... Candlelight; soft, impressionistic piano music; a full moon; a flattering, fluttery dress; my hair coming out nicely, which doesn’t happen often—I’m not sexy. Really.

Who is your real life hero... Jim Eliot. He was Elisabeth Eliot’s first husband who was killed by the Auca Indians. He said, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what He cannot lose.”

What is the hardest part of your job... as a mother, finding the balance between being a servant-leader to my children and teaching them to be responsible for their own stuff... I mess up every time, usually by doing things for them that I shouldn’t and then yelling at them. Also, it used to be very hard that I got no sick days. No.such.thing. But now my awesome kids can actually take care of ME when I am sick.

When are you most relaxed... In front of the fire, wrapped in a quilt, sipping a hot mug of tea and not needing to be anywhere other than at home. Also when the house is clean, as long as it’s not being messed up again.

What stresses you out... packing for vacations, stress in my kids’ lives (music auditions, big tests), cooking for company, big messes (especially those that involve toxic substances, like oil based paint). Also heavy traffic.

What can you not live without... Well, Jesus, of course. And my cranberry tablets that keep my bladder in order. Also dentil floss. I love freshly flossed teeth.

Do you agree or disagree with the recent article that reported that blogs are authored by narcissists... Well, I didn’t read the article. I think a lot of bloggers are like me—people who are shy and introverted, and would rather communicate with the safety of the computer between them and the world than face-to-face. Is that narcissistic? I think it is more in the category of a crutch to enable avoidance.

Why do you blog... I do it because I like to write. Before I started blogging, I would just compose all these random essay-type things in my head in the shower. Now when I have a thought, I have a place to write it down. I have tried journaling, but I prefer blogging because having the threat of possible readers sometimes helps me self-edit a little better. In a private journal, I am too undisciplined in the crummy, self-centered thoughts I will allow myself to write out. I also blog as a discipline to have something to hand down to my kids someday—a memory of who their mom/grandma/great-grandma was. I would love it if I had a “blog” left from my own grandma!

Another confession in addendum: I don’t know how to tag. I am sorry if this is breaking the rules. Here is a list of some blogs I check on, instead (since I don’t know how to put them on my sidebar). Feel free to visit them. I hope. Actually, I am kind of a lurker and most of them would not know who I was if you said I’d sent you there. Amy of Amy’s Humble Musings is a very gracious person who actually sometimes emails her commenters, even though she is a total blog celebrity.

A Patchwork of Blessed Moments Makes a Quilt of Grace

Amy’s Humble Musings

MacCarthaigh Family

Laundry and Lullabies

Rocks in My Dryer

Scott and Lori

http://thepioneerwoman.com/(this is not what I would call a Christian blog, but she is funny and she has some good recipes—she also has like 100,000,000 readers)

Watch the Sky