Q & A- Part 2

It's been a while (like 7 months!) since I did a question and answer post.  I wanted to make this a regular feature of my blog, but I haven't done it since May.  I was thinking it was more like October, but apparently I cannot keep track of time in my brain at all.  

So, I went through all of the comments since May and compiled as many questions as I could into this post.  Here we go!

Q. Sherry asked if I caught Elliott in a sneeze in this picture:

A. You know it, Sherry!  It was perfectly timed.

Q. Valerie asked how old my brother is, after I wrote a post trying to find a date for him.

A.  He's 33.  He'll be 34 in June.

Q. Jeannette asked if she had ever told me that her mom shares Spencer's birthday.

A.   Ummmm. NO!  I did not know that.  But I do now.

Q. Cathy asked if I got my missing stuff back from Maine when I left my retainer there on my trip last summer.

A.  Yes.  Jess's mom mailed it to AZ and I got it 2 days after I got home.   I still can't believe I left my retainer in a different state!

Q.  Cathy asked if the movie "If I Stay" was good.

A.  It was, meh.  Not the best, not awful.  Just, meh.

Q. Sherry asked if most of my dermatological issues (freckles/moles) are on my face and neck.

A.  No- My whole body is covered.  It's a terrible combination of genetics and growing up in Arizona.  I now have to go to the dermatologist for a complete check twice a year.

Q. Sherry asked if I would like to re-do my wedding since the invention of digital photography and pinterest.

A.  I do wish I had some of the pictures that I see all of the time now.  But I have no interest in re-doing my wedding.  Mostly just because I'm too old.  Ha. But my boys and their wives had better watch out when they get married!

Q. Jeannette asked if this pumpkin was real or fake:

A. At the time I thought it was real.  But now that I look at this picture, that pumpkin seems a little too perfect.  I'll check again this Halloween.  If they have the same pumpkin out I think we can say with certainty it is fake. 

Q. Jeannette asked how many "theme" years I can get the kids to agree to for Halloween costumes.

A.  I think Spencer will be on board until he is 11.  After that, starting with age 12, he will refuse.  Elliott will probably refuse the same year, although he will only be almost 8, just because his brother is refusing. 

Q. Jeannette asked what I was going to do about the title of the blog once Elliott turned 3.

A. I put a new title on there a few weeks ago.  Nobody has said anything about it, although I didn't ask for specific feedback.  I'm just kind of testing it out.

Q. Jeannette asked just how tiny the Yoda body was for such a tiny Yoda head (that I found in the washing machine).

A. We never did find the Yoda body, so I still can't tell you!

Q. I wrote a post about going to see the show Walking With Dinosaurs.  I asked if people could guess how the big dinosaurs were moving around.  Jeannette guessed gremlins, Sherry guessed animatronics or real genetically engineered dinosaurs, and Cathy guessed robots.

A. If you look really closely under this dinosaur you will see a small, grey, electric car.  There was a driver in that car driving the dinosaur around.  

Q.  Sherry asked if I would share the recipe for Chilled Strawberry Soup

A.  Of course!  THIS is the link to the recipe.  I did everything the same, except I used half and half instead of cream, just because I already had it.

Q. Jeannette wanted to know where I got Elliott's shirt for his pirate party.

A.  I'm pretty proud of this and surprised I haven't shared it before now.  I bought the front "patch" on etsy for less than $5.  It came with free customization so the person who sold it added the Elliott and the 3.  Then she emailed me a digital file of it.  I downloaded the image, printed it on transfer paper and the ironed it onto a $2 shirt I bought at a craft store.  I did that for all of our shirts for the party.   Total cost for all four shirts was less than $20! 

Q. Jeannette wanted to know what I did with all the leftover cake from Elliott's party.

A.  Well, there wasn't all that much left.  But Michael ended up eating it for lunch a few days in January.  Ha ha!

Q. Jeannette wanted to know how long Elliott's staples had to stay in.

A. A week.

Q. Jeannette wanted to know if I knew the color scheme of the wedding (gold and black) when I picked this dress to wear.  

A.  Yes, yes I did.  Although I didn't wear it to match.  I wore it because it's actually super comfortable, it's kind of wintery and I didn't need to buy anything to accessorize it.

Q. Sherry asked if I had seen the Christmas dog jammies at Target.

A. Yes, yes I did.  And I had them in the cart ready to go until my practical side yelled at my non-practical side and said to put them back.  

Q. Jeannette asked if Winston the elf has ever hid in the same place twice.

A.  This might be the longest, most complicated answer I give.

On December 11, 2012 Winston hid in this sleigh on top of the black bookshelves.   We all got a good chuckle.

On December 8, 2013 Winston was in the same spot, although the sleigh was facing a different direction and the decorations around the sleigh were different.  Didn't seem to matter.  Spencer noticed it immediately, stated (immediately) that Winston had already been there the year before and immediately let us know he was disappointed in Winston's lack of initiative and creative drive. 

Winston hid in the same sleigh for a third time on December 12, 2014, but the sleigh was in a totally different location in a different room and Spencer was not bothered by this in the least.  Maybe it helped that snowmen were hiding with him.

Q. Jeannette wanted to know if I tried to buy stamps at an automatic stamp machine or at an ATM because she had no idea you could buy stamps at an ATM.

A. At an ATM!  You can buy stamps at an ATM.  They just charge you about twice as much, apparently.

Q. Cathy wanted to know what this delicious looking dessert was:

A. I didn't make it so I don't have the actual name or the recipe, but it was a chocolate cake filled with peanut butter chocolate filling, frosted with peanut butter frosting and then chocolate ganache poured over the top with about a million peanut butter cups inside and on the top. 

Q. Sherry asked who this is:

A: That is Nick's friend Shawn.  I've met him many times throughout the years but I really don't know much about him.  His wife is a veterinarian, just in case you were wondering about that. Ha!

Q. Sherry wanted to know how we were going to take our picture in front of this wreath on the window and if we were going to be suspended from the roof (because she thought this window was above the garage).

A. Sherry, if you look closely at the right of the window, you will see the gate to the backyard and gravel on the ground.  And do you see that ADT sign?

Well, that's the same ADT sign in this picture.  This window is our living room window.  We're going to sit on the ledge in front of the window.  It's going to be spectacular and we'll all have fabulous clothes and everyone will behave and we'll get it done on the third try.  

Q. Sherry asked if Michael's (the store) still had these costumes.

A. I bought them a week before Christmas and have not seen them after Christmas.  Sorry!

Q. Jeannette asked how long I plan on doing monthly pictures with the boys.

A. Another complicated answer.  I will insist on it until they graduate from high school.  And even then, it's a grey zone with several possibilities. Spencer will be 18 years 8 months when he graduates.  Elliott will be 18 years 5 months.  They are under contractual obligation to do them until May of 2026 (Spencer) and May of 2030 (Elliott).  Then, there is no reason to not do them in June and July before they start college.  This is where it gets unclear.  If they go away to college I can beg and plead with them to take monthly pictures until they turn 19, which for Spencer would be 1 or 2 months of pictures, for Elliott it would be 5ish months.  If they are at ASU I can just meet them for dinner (what college kid would turn down a free dinner) and take a shot.  If they are at U of A I can send a local friend or grandparents to hunt them down.  

So, it should be as clear as mud that I plan on doing them until they are 19 and in college. 

Q. Sherry wanted to know if I knew how to download videos from my phone to the computer. 

A.  Try following these directions. As long as your videos are within the camera you should be able to find and download them.  If you save them in a separate file, try moving them back to the camera to download them.  Then you can delete them or move them back. 

I hope you have enjoyed this Q and A session.  I'll try to do another one sooner than 7 months from now.