Q&A, Part I

(I’m still a wee bit congested but I thought I’d post some of the answers I’d already written to your questions from several weeks ago. If you’re new here and are curious about anything else, feel free to leave it in the comments.)

L.R. asked, What is your favorite type of jewelry? I mostly use jewelry to accessorize. Other than my wedding and engagement rings, I don’t really have any valuable sentimental jewelry that I wear regularly.

I pick and choose current fashions that I want to incorporate into my wardrobe, and jewelry is sort of the icing on that cake. Well-placed jewelry can really pull an outfit or a look together.

With that in mind, and realizing that trends are constantly shifting, I usually keep to the fun but inexpensive stuff you can get at places like Target. (Although I do occasionally purchase jewelry from Ann Taylor or White House/Black Market and the like.)

(Also, I talked a little bit about jewelry in my Fashion Fiesta post last spring.)

From Brite – What music are you listening to? I recently got speakers for my iPod and so most likely I was listening to something like Plumb’s lullaby album, Blink. Very soothing. Of course now I’m listening to Christmas music. Hurray!!

RT asked: What kind of activities do you like to actually *do* with your kids? What kinds of activities do you really try to avoid doing?

Madeline is constantly begging me to color with her and I finally bought a huge box of crayons with colors that I actually like. I mean, one can only handle so many Large Washable Crayons in 8 Bold Colors.

(And this way Beauty doesn’t look overly jaundiced because we now own a ‘peach.’)

So we color a good bit. Sometimes we’ll pull out the scissors. I tried the glue stick once and that quickly shifted to the Things I Do Not Like To Do With My Children category.

I also like to sit and play Play-doh with them sometimes and we read together randomly throughout the day.

I like to take just one child with me on my errands or to the store and they love to be singled out. I also LOVE to tickle my kids. Cannot help myself. They love it.

(I also love to smell their heads after a bath. But I doubt that’s what you meant.)

I’ve mentioned a time or two how much we love our local children’s museum. I actually like taking them there. I think that’s the mark of a good kid place – the parents enjoy themselves, too.

As for things that I try to avoid. Right now, we don’t bake together. Andy lets the kids help make breakfast in the morning and I always have to leave the kitchen before I burst a blood vessel. Maybe when they’re older but I cannot handle someone blowing in the flour even one more time.

From Mer: What have you been reading lately that you’ve enjoyed…or what’s a movie you’ve recently watched that you’d recommend? For the last several months I’ve been reading through the Outlander series. They are very long but worth every minute.

(Also, there’s a review here.)

From Trina: What do your kids eat? Mine are so picky, their taste buds are limited to chicken nuggets, cereal, PB sandwiches and sometimes bananas or apples. I can’t get them to eat what I cook. Do you have this problem?

Each of my kids has at least two veggies that they like. So I rotate all those and sneak spinach into their food. I’m still mostly sneaking in all her veggies for Adelaide. The ‘big kids’ I can bribe… i.e. “you may not have ____ until you eat three bites of green beans.”

I’m a big fan of requiring at least one bite of each item on their plate before I will give them seconds on the things they like.

If desperate, just plop a container of ice cream down on the table and tell them they can’t have any until their dinner is gone. Works like a charm. :)

Also – my kids love fruit. I never have any issues with that.

MK asked: If you decided to go to work full-time after the kiddos are in school, what would you do? Most of my pre-child experience was in a law firm. I’d go back to my old job in a heartbeat (I had a fabulous boss).

(I’ll stop there since this is already pretty long…stay tuned!)