Ask Me Wednesday!!

Well, it's Wednesday again.  Thank God I remembered it!

First of all, thank you to all of you who commented about that dang show,  the name of which shall forever be banned from my blog ...... well, at least by me ..... you can write about it all you want.

I'm relieved that I'm not alone in my rage and revulsion.

For those of you who are burning to know how my doctor visit went today .... all 2 of you .....

it was OK.  

All of my meds have been tweaked and we both decided to ditch the Ambien, since it was having a "rebound" effect.  So yay for that.

Unfortunately ..... we were both shocked to see what my "medicated" cholesterol was.  She read the number, I said, "WHAT?!!?, and she asked, "Is this really your chart?!" and looked at it again.

It was higher than it has ever been ..... shockingly higher than it was 6 months ago.

In her words, "This is what you'd call a very bad result."

Yay for me.

Interestingly enough ..... stress causes an increase in cholesterol.   I am amazed that I have not dropped dead of a heart attack.

So we switched to another med and will check it again in 5 weeks.

Now on to more pleasant things ..... the questions..............

Melanie asked the first question:

How do Daughters #2 & #3 like their school?

Well, if I had to take a guess ..... I would say they love it.  Very much.  But I will let them respond (if they have time to read this ..... they are hugely busy right now getting ready for a show this weekend and next) by commenting and telling you themselves.

Oh .... and it's a pretty easy drive ..... only about 3 1/2 hours (depending on who's driving!).

Carrie came in next:

What did you feed your kids when they were toddlers?  My 14-mo old likes to eat hot dogs & chicken nuggets & French toast & refuses "real" chicken & ground beef.  I just feel like I'm feeding him "junk" when I give him those toddler foods every day ... how did you deal with this???

Trying to pick out the cobwebs here ....... and remembering waaaaay back when .....

All of our kids went to "real" food at a pretty early age in toddlerhood.  None of them seemed to really like the baby foods and I, frankly, couldn't wait to stop buying it, packing it every time we left the house, and just dealing with it in general.

And, though this is difficult for some people to do ..... they ate what we ate.  Jim and I were firm believers in "our home is not a diner and so you can't order something different off of the menu".  Of course, on the nights when he was out of town or gone for dinner, I'd make mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, fish sticks .... the regular "kid food".  All of you "mother earth" mothers should just stop reading this right now.  Really.

They all loved Spaghettios (which I hated because they stain clothes big-time!), hot dogs, baked Cheetos (also hugely messy ..... I learned, after one child, to strip them down to their diapers before giving them certain foods), peanut butter sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, McDonald's cheeseburgers ..... you know, all of the healthy wonderful foods that will most certainly give them reason to add a whole chapter in their books about how I poisoned their bodies ---- especially Daughter #1, who is now a vegetarian).  Many of them now do not like the foods they liked when they were young.

But when we were all together for dinner .... they ate whatever I fixed ..... or, in the case of one or two of them ..... they did not eat.   They never starved, interestingly enough, and most of them learned to try new things and to not always be so picky (most of them).

It's a struggle, I know.  But I'm not sure that any child has ever starved to death because they refused to eat what was put before them.  They seem to "come around" after a meal or two (or four).

That probably wasn't much help, Carrie .... was it?

Wendee asks:

How did you first know you really loved Jim when you guys were dating?

Ahhhhhhhh, I wish I could give you a solid, by the book, black and white answer.  But I can't.

We had a rocky start, but then started seriously dating after about 4 months of "regular" dating .  After 2  more months of really getting to know each other, really getting closer, really feeling excited about seeing each other every single day (our senior year in college) ..... he took me back to my sorority house one night, we kissed  (for the sake of my children I won't say we made out or anything like that), and he just said it.  He said, "I love you".  And I just knew, in that very instant, that I loved him, too ..... and told him so.  Neither of us had ever said that to another person we dated.  Neither of us had ever truly been in love before.  But we knew.  I don't know how we knew ...... we just knew (well, yes I do .... God let us know).

So there ya go.

And thank you, Wendee ..... very, very much for the memory.  

It. Is. Wonderful.

Marilyn asked:

How and where did Jim propose?

Sigh ..... also not a very black and white answer.  Towards the end of our senior year (about the time of our one year anniversary) he started looking for a ring, but didn't tell me.

We had talked about marriage for a few months and knew that we would marry ..... he just hadn't formally asked me.

Evidently he looked for quite some time and then became very frustrated because he couldn't find THE ring.

And so one day, while we were out shopping, he led me into a jewelry store and told me that had really wanted to surprise me with a ring, but he couldn't find the right one.  He wanted me to pick one out.

The very first ring I saw ..... I loved.  And when the guy pulled it out of the case Jim said, "That's exactly what I was looking for!!".

And so he bought it.

And then we went to my parent's house so that he could take my dad aside and formally ask him for my hand.  And then they both came in and we told my mom.  And then, a little later in the evening, he and I were alone in a room and he said, "You know, I never really proposed to you." And I said, "No, you didn't.  You seem to be assuming quite a lot."

He dropped to one knee and proposed.

And I said ..... "Of course."

Thank you, too, Marilyn.

My friend Julie very rudely asks:

How many beads did you come home with (from Mardi Gras)?

Well, we came home with many, many, many beads (none of which was earned by the way Julie is broadly hinting!!).

But alas, most of the beads were not truly MY beads.  Nope.  Not at all.

And ..... he will haunt me for the rest of my days ..... but I am nothing, if not truthful .....

Jim earned those beads.

Yep.

It seemed as if there were lots and lots of men on those floats who took quite a shining to him.

And I will leave it at that.

Except to say ...... he was NOT amused.

But the rest of us thought it was HI-LAR-I-OUS!!!!

RJ asked how long I'd be able to keep "The Dress" in the closet before my daughters will borrow it.

Well, as Daughter #3 has already indicated ... we are not exactly built the same.  She and her twin have amazing figures.  And they are taller than me .... by quite a bit.

So they will most likely not be borrowing it.

However, Daughter #1 (who is built like me) will most certainly be stealing it out of my closet as soon as she returns from Moscow in late May.

And .... still on the topic of "The Dress" ...... Nat asks what color it is.

It's black, though it did look blue in the second picture .... I didn't use the flash for that one, but I'm not sure why that made it look blue.

Harley's World ..... though this wasn't really a question ..... yes, I have seen "P.S. I Love You".

I decided to rent it a couple of months ago ..... felt I was ready to see it.

I loved it.

(And yes .... all 6 of them are Sweethearts!)

OK, it's now 5:30 and I have a meeting in an hour.

As always, I will check the blog when I get home and add any additional questions .... if you ask them.

Have a wonderful Ask Me Wednesday evening.

:)

UPDATE:

OK, it's 9:00 p.m. .......

Kim ...... I need you to explain what Mardi Gras is to our Australian friends.  I'm new to it so I don't know how to explain it.  I didn't grow up with it, either.

Wendee ..... No, Daughter #1 is not there yet, but she leaves in a couple of weeks.

UPDATE #2:

Susan:  I guess I didn't get the question about Son #2, but am glad that you saw his comment on yesterday's post. I am ..... so-proud.  Thanks for asking.

Harley's World:  Daughter #1 is in grad school at Harvard.  She is in a program called Dramaturgy, which is research and writing for  Theatre.  She loves to write and loves to research .... and loves theatre, especially ancient theatre (I totally take responsibility for this .... and for the love of theatre that Daughters #2 & #3 have, as I was a Theatre major).  Anyway, this program includes studying in Russia at the Moscow Theatre in the spring of their first year.  She leaves at the end of this month and will come back at the end of May.  I'm hoping to go visit her before she leaves.