Monday, May 19, 2008

Word.

Du-huu-huuude. You all asked waaay more questions than we ever expected. Because there were so many great ones, we'll have to take a couple days to get through them all.

Heather asked: Being new to your blog, in 5 sentences tell me what I need to know about the people behind the blog and what is the ONE post that I have to read here?

And then just for grins and giggles...

you favorite movie of all time?
your favorite television show of all time?
best concert you've ever been to?

Honey Bunch: Five Sentences? Sassy and I are sisters. We grew up in a very large and very close family. We also grew up in a cult. Now we are married with kids of our own. We are very cool.

The one post you need to read...this is a tough one. I think the post you need to read by Sassy is
Moving on Faith. And her college story because it will make you laugh hard.

Favorite Movie of all time is probably Baby Boom or Fargo. I could watch them anytime anywhere.


Favorite Television show of all time: Dude. That's a tough one since I'm such a tv-aholic. I loved Seinfeld. I loved Sports Talk. I loved 90210. I love LOST and Top Chef and pretty much anything on BRAVO.


Best Concert would be one of the Lilith Fair concerts we all (the girls in our family) went to. Probably the one in Chicago. Sitting on the grassy hill and seeing Natalie Merchant for the first time ever. I heart her.


Sassy:


Good question. I have to say HB summed it up with what this blog is about. We talk a lot about mothering, marriage, working and faith. And sometimes about butt cracks.

Sister HB has done some good posts on the Mommy Wars and her struggles with raising an only child. Click on the guilt label and you'll get those. But I think the best one is the post about taking off those
"coats" you wear.

Favorite Movie I'm going to have to go with the movie
Smoke Signals. Its wonderful! Love it! Love Sherman Alexie and all his writings. Would run off and marry Sherman Alexie, along with any white woman who ever heard him speak. Ok, so maybe not that. But he is so funny he could be a stand up comic.

Fav TV show is most of the shows done by Joss Weadon. Buffy, Firefly and Angel. I also really loved Twin Peaks, even though is scared the spit out of me.

Best Concert was probably Tori Amos's Choirgirl Hotel or the Natalie Merchant concert where Natalie herself spoke to me. She told me not to be afraid (I'll tell the story someday). But when I'm feeling fearful about life I say to myself "Natalie told me not to be afraid." and I try to listen to her.

Valarie wonders: What is your favorite childhood memory?

What color is your car? (I know random, but we need to know these things)

Are either of you a neat freak?


Is there any certain thing that you obsess over?


Whats your favorite food in the whole world?

Honey Bunch:

Ok. One of my favorite childhood memories involves the cult. We we were at a retreat in Wisconsin Dells and our whole family was walking out to our car at night. It was Fall and it was chilly. I could see my breath. I was either riding on my dad's shoulders, or my brother Billy's. I can't remember. My family was talking and I was singing "Baby It's Cold Outside" with my dad. Just a cozy memory that I love.

Our Tahoe is Silver and our Subaru is Red.


I would say I'm a bit of a neat freak. I'm not insane about it, but I do get crabby when there's crap laying around that doesn't need to be.


I obsess over having an only child. I want to avoid making him think life is all about him, I want to make sure he develops friendships that he'll have his entire life since he won't have siblings. I hate that when Tom and I die, there will be nobody with whom he shares a history. I hate that a lot.


I love yummy salads. They are my favorite thing to eat. Why or why am I not skinny???


Sassy:

Fondest childhood memory is, well I can't think of one. But one that I remember fondly was one time when I was naughty at church and I was supposed to get spanked when I got home. That was the worse. Having to wait. And I'd try to be all sweet and nice, thinking maybe they'd forget. Oh, they wouldn't. It was probably part of their plan, lulling me into a false sense of security. Then you'd be home, going about your merry way, and they'd order you outside to pick a switch (a thin tree branch). Not only did you get spanked, you got to pick the tool of your punishment!

Anywhoo, she was getting ready to spank me, and really, I couldn't be expected to just stand there calmly while she came for me. So my posture broke and I RAN. She chased me. I scrambled over beds and ran circles around her and for some reason she started laughing and I started laughing and we were both laughing too hard for her to spank me. I didn't get that spanking, but I assure you, that was the only time.

Car, fun bright orange Aveo hatchback and a tan-ish mini van.

...cleanliness. Can I pass? Uh, my house looks like a constant hurricane. I am so bad at being neat. I hate mess however. I think, deep down, I'm a bit OCD and instead of bending to the OCD tendency I just stay away from cleaning, or tidying I should say. When I clean, I CLEAN. I tear the place apart and before you know it I'm color coordinating my closet and the dry goods cupboards. It drives JimmyEW insane.

And I also don't know what to do with clutter. There is no place for it. So it overwhelms me. I like to clean the kitchen and the bathroom because there are specific tasks I can focus on and complete without getting too distracted by some random photo album with pictures that need to be organized by year and then by subject. Yes, I do that too. I was cleaning the living room and I made the mistake of going over to the bookshelf...I was a gonner. When JimmyEW came home the living room was a mess but the bookshelf was spectacular and beautifully organized.


Obsess over? I think I obsess over past mistakes. They come play games in my head. I do work on ignoring them. The other thing is that I'm Worse Case Scenario lady. I have to anticipate any weird thing that might happen, any awful event, and know how I'm going to deal with it. Periodically I ask JimmyEW how to perform a tracheotomy...just in case.

Oh! And I just remembered I'm totally obsessing that I'm going bald. People assure me I'm not... but still...


I love chips and Salsa. Yum!

Beck was afraid of asking something dumb. She didn't: Favorite road trip songs?

Hats: yay or nay?


Honey Bunch: I don't really have favorite road trip songs. I'm sure Sassy does. I love to read during road trips. It's uninterrupted time to focus on my book. Unless I'm playing a game with Logan or something.

Nay to the hats for me. They just don't look good.


Sassy:

Reading in the car makes me puke. Sigh. Hmmm road trip songs all depend on the mood. I have a list of songs called "Songs for a Starry Night". I think Automatic for the People is a great CD. Oh, and I can't forget Easy Going Day from the Follow that Bird Soundtrack. Nothing like all four of the Sassy family singing that in harmony. Even Boogs. It's quite cute.

I like hats, but now that I'm afraid I'm balding I'm not going to wear them...just in case.



Saintseester asks: Why do you blog?

Honey Bunch: Good question SaintSeester. We started this blog on a lark. I was a blog reader, Sassy not so much. We decided to do it one night, the very next morning our first post was up and here we are. I do get a lot of creative fulfillment out of it.

And it has helped me to recognize some truths about myself and start making changes. That has been huge for me. But to be honest, I prefer to read blogs than to write. I am so curious about people and love to get to know them a little bit from what they write about their lives. That's kinda lame, isn't it?


Sassy:

Good question, I was thinking about doing a blog called "I Blog therefore I Am" to answer this and to ask all of you. I don't know why, HB was forever talking about Ree. Then on New Years Eve I was like, "Hey, lets start a blog." And she was all, "I was just thinking that." So we did. She calls it a lark, I called it Blogging by the seat of our pants. When I set up this blog I NEVER read another blog and just knew that you were supposed to update at least once a day (or so I'd heard). I knew a little HTML so was able to give us a more unique look than the templates blogger provides.

I think, in part, I wanted to process a bit about my marriage meltdown and see if maybe I had anything that would be helpful to people. I also wanted to practice writing a little, but I prefer to creative write than blog. And I guess I sort of thought people might be interested in what I had to say from time to time.


Catotonickid
made us think: If you could change one thing about today's society what would it be?

Who would you most like to sit down to a dinner with (alive or dead)?

What act of faith brings you the most spiritual satisfaction?

Honey Bunch: I'm so afraid my response is going to sound lame to the kid's first question. I'm just going to offer a simple change rather go into something really deep.

I want kids to play outside more. I hate seeing kids hanging onto video games, watching DVD's in the car on the way to school, watching TV from the time they get home until the time they go to bed, and being so connected to their computer. I think it's going to have a huge affect on how poorly they will communicate with each other as adults and how unfulfilling their lives will be without real relationships, sitting face-to-face with a friend over coffee versus IM-ing them from their laptop.


I would like to sit down to dinner with my mom's parents. I never had the opportunity to meet them and have always been intrigued by this couple who raised 16 children on a tobacco farm


The act of faith that brings me the most inspiration is simply believing. It's the hardest thing to do, but it makes the biggest difference.

Sassy:

Change? So many things lol. My degree is in Community Organizing (Social work Macro work) so I have the tendency to see everything as needing to be fixed or able to be better. But to choose one, I would put a stop to any and all victimization of children. I firmly believe it is the root of all evil. Others will say its poverty, and sure that plays a role, but I still would end child abuse/neglect over poverty. Do that first, grow healthy people and then work on the poverty.

I'm with HB, I'd want to meet Mama Jean's parents. I never met them, they died before I was born. I don't have much of a feel for my grandmother, mostly because she had 15 kids so I don't think even my mom has a feel for who she was. But my grandfather, he seemed so wonderful and kind. I'd like to have had a chance to know him.

Act of faith...I guess the faith is faith itself. Like HB says, believing. Just having the faith that all will be as it should and not to worry about tomorrow. I also do find fasting helpful if I very distressed. I don't do that often, but it helps me to focus on the issue and work it out. I hope that answered your question kid.

And Ashlee asked: I would still like to know which one of you was in the "pokey" :0) Fess up!

What is your funniest memory?


Didn't Kelly date that dumb guy who wanted to be a singer too? I liked Brandon best. :0)


What is your biggest pet peeve?

Honey Bunch: Ashlee, we will take the pokey answer to our graves.

My funniest memory involves my brother Early. I was about 4 or 5 years old and we were riding our bikes in the garage. It was very nice of him to be playing with me since he is 5 years older. Anyway, he must have gotten bored and he said "Man, I'm all pooped out!" and I laughed until I had a stomach ache for the first time in my life. It was the funniest thing I had ever heard.


I don't remember Kelly dating a singer. Hmmmm. I went back and forth over who I wanted her to be with. Brandon was the safe choice, but she loved Dylan passionately. There was always a spark there.

In the spin-off she's going to be a guidance counselor at the high school. How cool is that?


My biggest pet peeve is when moms act all superior because their kids go to a private or Christian school. I can't stand that attitude.


Sassy:


Guess you'll never know who has a mugshot.

My funniest memory is referenced above, my college story. That one still makes me laugh hard.

Never watched 90210 and to this day complain loudly when I have the bad luck to happen by HB's house on a Saturday morning. If I do have to watch it I probably didn't know who was dating who because I was too busy trying to figure out why Donna looked so weird. Was it her nose? Something was just weird about her. I was more of a Twin Peaks/X-files girl.

Pet peeve? I hate when someone will pay a gazillion dollars for something they could get for a lot less. I can't help it. I just keep thinking about all the good things they could do with that money and all the suffering and poverty in the world. I'm talking like spending a $100,000 on a birthday party or nearly $1000 on a stroller.

what? You want to comment? Just click on the itty-bitty words below that say "Gimme Some Sugar". Can you see them? Good. We can't wait to chat with you.

10 comments:

Jen said...

Whoa, you sisters have been BUSY. Interesting answers!

saintseester said...

Great answers; this was good coffee reading.

Ashlee said...

Thanks for answering MOST of my questions. My curiosity is still peaked, but I guess it will just have to suffer. :0)

Melissa said...

Oh dear - that was, um, fun? Interesting? Thought-provoking?

Heather sent us over - you guys are her blog of the week - and I'm so glad she did!

Valarie Lea said...

Wow, you did get some good questions.

Oh and Sassy, I am the same way on cleaning. I want it to be clean, but if its too messy, I tend to just shut down and not do anything. If I have one room real clean I might just stay in there all day just so I don't have to look at the rest of the house. I know I am weird. :0)

Anonymous said...

See, lots of questions! You should have done this a long time ago...lots of fun! Can't wait to see the second and maybe third posts with all of your answers!

AnnG said...

Heather - from Desperately Seeking Sanity, invited us to check you out as one of her favorite reads! I can see why! You are now on my favs.

Woman in a Window said...

Sassy, I loved the image of your mom chasing you over beds laughing but trying to want to beat you...I'm so glad she let her laughter overtake her that once

Honeybunch, I'm so with you on the more playing outside. Even when I'm feeling nuts if I can just convince myself to get outside and breathe deeply, everything turns out alright...

Anonymous said...

Love it! This is such a fascinating glimpse into you two and your ideas about the world. Nice work gals =)

Btw, Honey Bunch - I totally agree: Communication is key in all aspects of life, and there's nothing 'lame' about that.

And Sassy, really interesting answer to the Faith question. I fast on occasion too and you're right, it really brings me clarity and a fine point focus on whatever issue I'm trying to work through. Mind, I have been known to turn into a seriously crabby PMS monster if I try it at the wrong time of month so I'm a bit more careful about it now.

Beck said...

Look at all those answers! Awesome.