Monthly Archives: March 2010

’cause

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Bear with me for a moment while I indulge in a memish moment. Stolen from my usual supplier, Jen @ Stuff Jen Says.

  1. How far away is the last person you kissed?
    a couple of feet away sitting at the kitchen table assembling a puzzle. He’s a pretty handsome almost four year old. :O)
  2. Last person you were in a car with?
    the kiddos – I took them to an impromptu play date at a local coffee shop
  3. Who was the last person you talked to?
    probably the almost four year old I mentioned in question #1 – we talk a lot
  4. Have you seen anyone lately that you don’t get along with?
    Um, I don’t see people. I’m basically a hermit. Also I don’t know anybody here well enough to dislike them (unless bad drivers count?)
  5. What was the last movie you watched?
    New Moon. I know, I’m like the last person on Earth to watch it, but we finally got it through our Netflix queue and watched it this weekend. I suppose I liked it a tad bit more than Twilight but it of course didn’t hold a candle to the book. I shouldn’t even be surprised of course given that the actors playing the main characters annoy the fershizzle out of me. I really don’t know how they are going to come close to pulling off the awesomeness that was Breaking Dawn with all their apathetic posturing and lack of personal hygiene. And yet I know I’ll see it – and Eclipse of course but let’s be honest, Eclipse was just that book between New Moon and Breaking Dawn.
  6. Do you like rain?
    I like flowers so I suppose rain and I are not exactly mortal enemies. But I tend to stay indoors when it comes around as we’re not exactly best buds either.
  7. How long do you take in the shower?
    Fairly short – rarely more than twenty minutes but more likely closer to ten. And when I try to indulge and take a longer shower, it usually ends up being shorter somehow.
  8. Do you like your hair long or short?
    Yes.
  9. Best friend or close friends?
    Could I have both please?
  10. Where would you like to be right now?
    On a warm beach (I’m gonna go with Jen on this one – that’s exactly where I’d like to be. And if Mickey Mouse happened to be up the street, you know. That’d be cool.)
  11. Have you ever thrown up in public?
    Unfortunately, yes – while in the process of boarding a plane – literally like right on the line between the plane door and that big hallway thingy.
  12. What was your favorite subject (or specific class) in school?
    English of basically any variety but especially creative writing and/or poetry
  13. What was your least favorite subject (or specific class) in school?
    Math – if English made me feel really, really smart – well math made me feel kind of like a complete idiot.
  14. What is your favorite color shirt to wear?
    Hmmm either red or brown I think judging by the things in my wardrobe.
  15. What’s the closest thing to you that’s green?
    The newest Spellman Files book which has been taunting me for a week or so while I attempt to finish the two books currently on my nightstand.
  16. Write down some lyrics to the song you’re listening to.
    the only thing I’m listening to is my baby cry…. brb….
  17. How many pets do you have?
    That would be zero (oh the baby is fine now btw)
  18. What made you laugh today?
    Stuff I’m sure… like this post.
  19. What were you doing at 7:00 this morning?
    Trying to come to grips with the fact that it was morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep.
  20. If you could go back one month and change something, would you?
    No thanks – nothing really comes to mind that I’d think needed changing.

Top 5 Pictures From March

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I’ve been making it a habit to post my Top 5 favorite pictures from each month (here are my top 5 pictures from January and February). So here are my favorite pictures from the past month…

Going my way? on 365 ProjectSomething about the texture / color of this picture just really does it for me. His face is a little posterized (or some other technical word) but I dunno… I like it.

A Picnic Lunch on 365 ProjectThe light in her eyes… that look of wonder (she’s really just watching tv – shhhh…) Those delectable cheeks… gah.

Accidental Art on 365 ProjectThis artsy shot of what was technically an “oops” moment on my part from stacking two of his art projects when they weren’t really dry yet, turned out to be a pretty good thing where this picture opportunity is concerned.

Happy Baby on 365 ProjectHere eyes are just blue blue blue in this shot. You know I cannot get enough pictures of this little lady – and I love her retro jammies.

The Safe House on 365 ProjectI spent a lot of time getting eye rolled by my husband for taking a billion pictures of this glass at The Safe House during our day trip to Milwaukee. Who’s rolling their eyes now?? Shut up, I love it.

Where I've Been, Why I'm Back PLUS Pictures!

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I have fantastic news for anyone who’s been lamenting as of late about my seriously scarce presence here in bloggy land. Anyone saying, “Geez, Jen, are you sure you blog alot, because you didn’t post anything between Wednesday and Monday. Also – if you are taking pictures everyday, how come your daybook was ALL TEXT? LAME.”

As you might be aware, my computer and I have been having a bit of a … nuclear war, you could say. Mostly regarding the internet but really so much more complicated than that. And we thought we’d figured it allllll out – we’re running Linux instead of OS X which has Dan doing happy dances around the living room and I’m using wired Internet instead of wireless which meant rearranging furniture for three hours but happily ending up with a layout that is so much much better than I would have guessed.

Except it still didn’t work. For a couple days, nothing really seemed resolved and everything was effected. Picasa was slowly losing it’s marbles and I’d long since given up hope of finding mine. I was researching the cost of a new computer. And then this morning Dan ran some new diagnostic doo dad and found out… IT WAS HIS FAULT. At least the last two days or so were. The wireless DID need to go bye bye and OS X wouldn’t have fared any better – it was just a small mistake in setting up the IP addresses – and once he fixed it. Everything magically transformed into awesome.

So now everything is working perfectly and I could technically maybe move back to OS X but I am so tired of moving files around and readjusting and unpacking and installing – it’s almost as exhausting as moving halfway across the country and you know what? Everything works. Why mess with that? So for now, I’m staying put on my little hacked out Linux running iMac and I’m just thrilled. So thrilled that I’m now going to end this terribly long ramble with several pictures of our recent day trip to Milwaukee because. I. can.

doing man stuff

This was the first display that he saw at the Children’s museum – all gears and motorcycle stuff and man grunting. One of many really awesome things he got to do there. The Milwaukee Children’s Museum is in a word terrific.

doing baby stuff

They even had a little “pre-walkers” area where BB was able to get out of her stroller and crawl about.

she is very pleased with herself

Which of course she loved.

one of these kids is not like the others

Outside the museum, MM decided to inspect this statue up close. From there we headed to our last destination, The Safe House. This place is just too cool. It’s a popular spy-theme restaurant that provides “Crafty Concoctions and Incredible Edibles to hungry agents on R & R.” The whole experience of getting into The Safe House, the meal, the ambiance – it’s just so terrific. If you are ever in Milwaukee, you really have to eat here.

agents : do not look here

This little spy hole just begs little agents (and bigger ones) to take a peek. But all you’re going to see is…

you might be horrified by what (fat) you see

Which would be useful if someone snuck up behind you.

and with one last sip our mission was complete

And my artsy shot of the day. So much fun. The next time we stop by, I might be tempted to wear a trench coat and sunglasses.

Daybook: March 29th

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My apologies for the total lack of pictures in this post. Picasa and I are having a bit of a fist fight right now – we’ll see how long this continues. I’ll hopefully post the pictures I’d been planning to post here in a day or two when something on this stupid computer behaves for me.

Today…

Outside my window: it looks to be a fairly lovely day. It was frigidy cold this morning when I went out for my morning “run” aka gasping hobbled semi-jogging stint. Sunday morning my husband and I decided to start waking up at the ridiculous wee hours so we could each take a turn going for a run. Which means he’ll be even skinnier in a couple of weeks and well, here’s hoping some good comes out of it for me, too. Right now I’m doing “interval training” where I walk for a bit then run for a bit, and so on. Mainly because I can apparently only run for about 30 seconds at a time before nearly collapsing. So sad.

I am reading: Never Tell Our Business to Strangers by Jennifer Mascia which I’m reading to review at Mommas Review next week. I think I’ll even make that deadline as I appear to be reading at a good pace. This time next week I might be able to pick up Eat, Pray, Love again and continue reading about her time in India and so forth.

In the kitchen:

  • Monday: Spaghetti with jarred sauce and garlic bread
  • Tuesday: Mexican Rice Bowls
  • Wednesday: French Onion Soup
  • Thursday: Breakfast For Dinner: Pancakes probably
  • Friday: Fish and couscous with mixed veggies

I am really excited about: MM’s birthday party in two weeks. Friday morning Dan and I went shopping for his present and party supplies while he was at his YMCA class. I’m very much torn between trying to keep it simple and inexpensive but also incredibly memorable and awesomely fun. I might actually pull that off.

I really want to make: something lemon-ish like these creamy lemon crumb squares from the Pioneer Woman or this Lemon Curd Tart by Patent and the Pantry; or some vegan chocolate ice cream like this recipe at The Messy Vegetarian Cook.

This weekend we: took the kiddos on a day trip to Milwaukee Friday afternoon. We went to the adorable children’s museum (very decent admission price for a very awesome museum) and had lunch at The Safe House which was just too too much fun.

We also: rearranged furniture in our living room so that my desk is now next to Dan’s on the wall so I can use wired Internet instead of wireless. Sadly it’s still running slow (I think my computer is possessed) but I like the layout better – it’s much more open – so even if this doesn’t end up fixing the many problems of Jen’s Sad iMac, we got something out of the three hours of labor that went into moving everything.

Some other links I think you should click:

One last thing I want to tell you about before I go: I got my DS!! The tax money came and as promised Dan let me get my little DS Lite and a couple of games. We got Scribblenauts which is so cute and fun and Dan is hooked on it (whose DS is it anyway?) and Professor Layton and the Curious Village which is my personal favorite. Both get rave reviews everywhere I look. At some point I want to pick up a Harvest Moon game also and maybe Brain Age 2 and Super Mario Bros. for Dan. But not anytime soon as we’re cheap (sometimes).

Nightstand: March

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Well kiddos, another month has come and gone and it’s time once again for the What’s On My Nightstand carnival hosted by 5 Minutes For Books – my monthly reminder that I’ve become a very, very slow reader and I’m starting to get more books on that old TBR list than I could ever hope to actually read. I long for the days when I will read for more than a half hour or hour at night before bed. Anyway…

I’m currently reading:

Eat, Pray, Love is a book I think many of you have heard of and likely have read before – I am quite late to the game on this one. I had just finished reading about her adventures in Italy and was beginning to read about her time in India when I received a copy of Never Tell Our Business To Strangers to review at Mommas Review in two weeks. So even though I was quite passionately adoring it, I had to put down EPL temporarily and devote my attentions to NTOBTS as it’s no small book and it’s not an “easy read” in the way that EPL or my usual light fluffy read would be – still it’s a very fascinating book and I am enjoying it, although I think my deadline has made it feel more like homework unfortunately. I’m not sure I’ll finish it on time but I’m sure as heck going to try!

Anyway…

This month I read:

  • Easy on the Eyes by Jane Porter – Finished March 5, 2010 – I’m a big fan of Jane Porter. Her books are always so addictive, lush with detail and characters that are so three dimensional. This book dealt a lot with inner and outer beauty, self confidence and self love, learning to trust and learning to throw away past notions and embrace the future. It was, in short, really really good.

And yeah, that’s it as I had to put down EPL last week and start a new book, I clearly won’t be finishing any other books before the end of the month, but looking forward to the future, after I’ve finished the above mentioned books, I’m hoping to read the following… Obviously not all of them, but…

  • Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll – I’ve been looking for a copy of this book for a few weeks now, desperately wanting to actually read it – I sort of skimmed it half heartedly and then watched the original movie when I was supposed to read it in college (I know, very naughty of me). But now I find myself much more interested but also not wanting to commit to buying it and also looking at my current bookshelves of books yet to be read and yeah, we’ll see. I kind of want to pick it up as an audio book as I’ve been wanting to try audio books again but haven’t yet figured out what format I want to listen to them on – I’m not in the car very long and at home there is always noise from the kiddos going on, but that doesn’t stop me from thinking it could be a fantastic idea and good lord, moving on…
  • Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously by Julie Powell - If I don’t read this soon I think I might need to slap myself silly as it’s been on my “I swear I’m reading this next” list for longer than I can remember now, but…
  • The Lightening Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book One) by Rick Riordan – This just came in the mail and I am quite anxious to read it as I’m hearing rave reviews and if that wasn’t bad enough, yesterday I also got …
  • The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz - I huge puffy hearts ADORE the Spellman series and I have a feeling it’s the book I’ll likely actually read next because I don’t think I’ll be able to resist it for long.

daybook: march 22nd

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canvas prints from Kenneth Brown's Sweet Stitches collection

Today…

Outside my window: it’s calm and clear with blue skies. We had some snow over the weekend but luckily there was very little accumulation. It looks to be fairly warm this week with highs in the mid-fifties and no rain predicted. This makes me happy. Hopefully the weather will stay nice this weekend for our trip to Milwaukee (either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning, weather depending).

I am reading: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert and Never Tell Our Business to Strangers by Jennifer Mascia which I’m reading to review at Mommas Review hopefully in two weeks time.

Last night: we attempted to get Miss BB to “sleep through the night” whatever that means. We ended up moving MM to the toy room so he wouldn’t have to cover his ears through her protests (i.e. screaming, crying). This whole thing is simply no fun for me, when every bone in my body wants to spring from the bed and “rescue” her but I know how important it is to help her learn to put herself back to sleep. With MM, I had to go sleep on a different floor (we were lucky to live in a 3 story house) and after a couple nights he was sleeping through the night with no problems. I don’t have that option here so I’m trying to just be tough but… She stayed in bed from 8pm-3am and then I decided that hour-wise that was probably about as “through the night” as I should expect so I fed her and then put her back to sleep. Tonight I think I will nurse her if she wakes up closer to midnight in the hopes that I can then get her to sleep until the actual morning.

how could you not want to comfort her tears?

In the kitchen:

  • Monday: Baked Sweet Potatoes and a salad
  • Tuesday: Spaghetti with Sweet Potatoes
  • Wednesday: Grilled Cheese and Campbells Soup
  • Thursday: Spaghetti with cheese and black pepper
  • Friday: Fish and couscous with mixed veggies

I am really excited about: our trip to Milwaukee this weekend. It’s just a quick day trip but we’ve never been there and it’s always good to get out of town.

I really want to make: this raspberry kulfi recipe from The Kitchn and this quick recipe for strawberries dipped in sour cream and brown sugar at Sweet Savory Life. I’d also like to make my printer / scanner function just a wee bit more reliably. I think I am missing a driver for it or something.

This weekend we: did a lot of home projects like setting up the Kenneth Brown nursery goodies that I got to review from his Sweet Stitches collection for BB. We also framed some of MM’s cuter drawings / paintings and hung them above his bed. Took out a box of cardboard that has been here for too long and straightened up around various areas.

the girls side

the boys side

We also: did a lot of cooking – Dan made a delicious Gorgonzola and black olive calzone for dinner last night and I made these really great biscotti-like cookies and frosted some of them with a can of cream cheese frosting. Yum.

perfect for dipping in hot cocoa

Some other links I think you should click:

One last thing I want to tell you about before I go: we took the kids to El Cheapo Movie Theater (seriously matinée prices are $2.50 per person) and saw Princess and the Frog. I know MM’s probably seen previews for this on Playhouse Disney a lot so it wasn’t too surprising that he was excited to go. He did a great job watching the movie, eating popcorn with us and seemed to like it a lot. I was all silly proud that he remembered the name of the movie we were seeing from the time I suggested it yesterday afternoon to when we left the theater and he announced, “Wow, I really liked watching The Princess & The Frog!”

I thought the movie was very good – it was nice to see something in the traditional 2d format for once from Disney and the story was really good. It was Classic Disney at it’s best – and about time. The voodoo scenes might be a bit frightening for some kids but MM I think was too young to actually grasp the idea of why it should be scary and just enjoyed the movie plain and simple. It was a bit over his head but I don’t think he knew that.

my big big big kid

Awesome.

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If you haven’t listened to a Pomplamoose video yet (seriously?) you really should.

The Great and Powerful Wikipedia explains that:

Pomplamoose are an indie music and indie jazz duo consisting of multi-instrumentalist Jack Conte and vocalist Nataly Dawn. The band was formed in the summer of 2008.[2][3] The name of the band derives from the french word pamplemousse, meaning grapefruit.[4]

Despite the group’s presence being mostly through video uploads to YouTube and MySpace with few live performances, the collaboration has garnered significant fan support, with approximately 95,000 subscribers on their YouTube channel as of March 2010. The group first gained widespread recognition when their video performance of Hail Mary was featured on the front page of YouTube. The band recently produced the next studio album of Julia Nunes.

Their videos mostly take the form of “VideoSongs,” a medium Jack Conte defines with two rules:

  1. What you see is what you hear. (No lip-syncing for instruments or voice)
  2. If you hear it, at some point you see it. (No hidden sounds)[5]

I first fell in love with their cover of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” – so utterly amazing (and my finding it was timed perfectly with Glee’s reworking of it). They cover songs from all genres – Michael Jackson to The Sound of Music. This new one? They’ve taken on a Lady Gaga song that I’m hearing a lot on the radio these days. It’s pretty great.

Spring Reading Thing 2010: Ready, Set…

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This is a sticky post – which means it’s probably not the newest content. If you’ve read this already – feel free to scroll down and see what’s new!

Spring is in the air and it’s time for one of Katrina’s legendary reading challenges – the Spring Reading Thing 2010 has begun! What I love about Kat’s reading challenges is the laid back atmosphere. You set the number of books you want to read and any other guidelines and then check in with your progress. It’s very much tailored to your needs and limitations and time.

What makes it different from just reading whatever you want, whenever you want? You are setting a reading goal and holding yourself accountable – and you get fellow challengers for cheerleaders. Plus, your TBR pile can get even bigger as you look through their reading lists and go, “Ohhh that book looks great! I want to read that, too!”

Anyway, I like to set challenges for myself that I know are unlikely but I’m keeping it relatively tame this spring with a list of SEVEN (7) books I’d like to read before Summer:

(for an explanation of the strike-throughs, see my edits below)

What books will you be reading this Spring?

- edit (the first of many, I’d imagine) -

It’s now April 20th – and one month into the challenge and although I’ve read 2 books since it started and just picked up two more – none of those four books are on this list. I don’t see how I can possible finish my actual challenge at this rate so I am going to list the books I’ve read and am reading and modify my original list a bit.

So far I’ve read:

  1. Never Tell Our Business To Strangers by Jennifer Mascia – Finished April 2, 2010 – This is the memoir of Jennifer Mascia who tells the story of a childhood on the lam, intricate family secrets and betrayals and the incredible power to love. It’s strangely relatable when you are not expecting it to be – and more powerful than I anticipated. I laughed, I cried… clichéd but it’s true. – full review -
  2. Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert – Finished April 16, 2010 – This book has sat on my bookshelf for years, waiting for me to read it. I can’t believe it took me so long, looking back – it is incredible. I loved every page, every paragraph. Gilbert is an incredible writer and her story was just as good – I almost can’t believe it’s nonfiction. I look forward to reading her other books. – full review -
  3. The Spellmans Strike Again by Lisa Lutz – Finished April 25, 2010 – I always love a good Spellman Files book and this one was no exception. Lutz’ series is like nothing I’ve ever read before and it’s quite an indulgence. Couldnotputitdown. Quite possibly her best one yet! – full review -
  4. Sweet Life by Mia King – Finished May 8, 2010 – This was my first Mia King book and I really enjoyed it – a good old fashioned chick lit book that made you laugh, cry, etc. It touches on a lot of topics that I think any mother can relate to and even comes with some yummy recipes! – full review -
  5. The Lightening Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: Book One) by Rick Riordan – Finished May 19, 2010 – This series is becoming very popular and I can see why. It combines a lot of very cool themes and ideas, some trendy, some slightly more novel. I think it’s a really cool way to introduce kids to Greek mythology and it touches on a lot of other cool, interesting things, too. Great for kids ; for adults, I would warn that it can feel a little predictable sometimes and in the beginning especially, it might feel really obvious that you are reading a book intended for kids, but it definitely sucked me in at the end and I plan to read Book 2 soon.
  6. Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat by Michelle May- Finished May 19, 2010 - I really enjoyed this book – it’s not necessarily new information but it’s definitely something I think a lot of people should read and know. This is not a diet book – it will not tell you how much of whatever to necessarily eat or do or not eat or do. It’s about relearning how to eat instinctively and to not feel guilty about your decisions. I’d definitely recommend it. – full review -
  7. The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan – Finished June 9, 2010 – I really enjoyed this memoir. It describes Kelly’s battle with breast cancer but also talks about that middle place in your life where you are both a child and a parent, and has a lot of stories from her childhood up to present date. Really beautifully written.

And I’m currently reading:

The books I plan to read after I’ve finished my current books are:

  1. Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
  2. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer
  3. The Shop on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber

lighter stuff and heavier stuff

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Quite an interesting survey I found at Stuff Jen Says today – it’s starts off all light hearted and then sneak attacks you into some heavy topics. Hmmm…

What were you doing ten years ago?

Let’s see, ten years ago I was seventeen, dating my high school sweetheart, dreaming about my future life but honestly having no clue what the future had in store for me. I pretty much assumed I had it all figured out, I was a smart kid and I knew what I was about but truthfully I didn’t have a clue and didn’t really acknowledge anything that wasn’t happening 3 feet in front of me. Like most teenagers?

Five snacks you would enjoy in a perfect, non weight-gaining world:

  1. s’mores
  2. delicious French pastries and cappuccinos
  3. root beer floats (with ice cream?)
  4. expensive wines and cheese
  5. gelato (basically, can I go to Europe please?)

Five things you would do if you were a billionaire:

  1. Buy a house, like stat, with a large fenced in back yard with a swing set and tire swing; a massive, gorgeous kitchen with several family rooms and a large driveway (ideal for hosting bunco) and a library.
  2. Then I’d buy the houses on that street and a few neighboring streets and give them to friends and family so they could move here and be all neighbors and stuff and it would be awesome.
  3. Then I’d travel the world. And eat delicious European snacks.
  4. And like donate to charity and stuff…
  5. And end world hunger.

Three of your worst habits:

  1. not living in the present enough
  2. spending way too much time on the computer (sorry blogosphere, it’s true)
  3. letting myself get way too hungry before eating

Five jobs you’ve had:

  1. payroll assistant’s assistant
  2. sales clerk
  3. assistant manager
  4. editor (and by that I mean I’ve been an assistant news editor, news editor, managing editor and editor-in-chief, but who’s counting?)
  5. writer

Five places you’ve lived:

  1. with my dad
  2. with my grandparents
  3. in a dorm
  4. with my husbands family
  5. in my own apartment

Five things you did yesterday:

  1. took the kids to a play date
  2. got lost trying to get there
  3. had lunch at a coffee shop
  4. made French onion soup
  5. watched American Idol

Do you wish marijuana would be legalized already?

Not really. While I’m not convinced one way or the other about what would be best, it doesn’t really concern me personally. I think when you make things “forbidden” it can increase the appeal but I’m also not certain it should be freely available to anyone… Some would say it wouldn’t be that different from alcohol or tobacco which may be true, but I’m not convinced. People will do their vices in excess whether we “forbid” it or not – perhaps making it legal could allow them to better monitor it’s usage somehow? I don’t think there’s really any good answer here.

Do you think same sex marriage should be legalized?

Absolutely.

Should the alcohol age be lowered to 18?

No, I don’t think so. I recognize that plenty of underage drinking happens but I don’t think it should happen. Lowering the age limit in my mind says, “It’s okay to drink this young. We think you are mature enough.” Most of the underage drinkers absolutely are not mature enough and that’s a fact.

Should the war in Iraq be called off?

I think so, but I’ll be honest I don’t know enough about their current situation to make a blanket statement. I don’t like war and I’d be thrilled if there were no war but I’m not naive enough to see that as a real possibility. I wish there weren’t people over there, fighting and dying, but just pulling out wouldn’t necessarily end that. Staying there won’t necessarily make a difference either. I just don’t know. I think that the smart people who know what they are talking about need make a responsible decision that will salvage as much as they can and save as many lives as they can (foreign and domestic) but again, there aren’t always easy answers. Perhaps we could buy them flowers and say sorry?

Assisted suicide is illegal: do you agree?

In most situations, yes. This kind of thing is just not black and white and I’m sure there are compelling arguments for situations where it should not be. I think that a person ending their own life is a tragedy and the person put in the situation of being asked to help has a lot of emotional turmoil to be put through without legal action involved. I’d offer them support first.

Do you believe in spanking your children?

I’d like to think it could be avoided. We don’t spank.

Do you worry that others will judge you from reading some of your answers?

People will judge you, no matter what you say, no matter what you believe there are always people out there who think differently. I can’t spend too much time being concerned about that – and these are heavy topics, likely prone to make people feel passionately one way or the other. If anyone reading this feels upset in any way, I’m sorry – you are welcome to give your view point in the comments section below (as long as you do so in a family friendly, respectful way).