Interview questions

Babs at The Conversation Station got tagged with this Five-Question Interview and decided to share the love with all the rest of us. First of all, just let me take this moment to tell you about Babs just in case you haven't discovered her blog yet - people it's a MUST! The title of her blog tells you exactly what it is - a veritible station of conversation! She asks some really good, though-provoking questions and really makes you think. She's an amazing home-schooling mom, an artist and the coolest thing? She's an Okie!! Check her out, tell her I sent ya and join in the conversations!

Now, on to the questions she asked:

1. How did you start blogging?
I don't remember how or where I read the article, but I heard about Wil Wheaton's blog and read his first. The first blog I ever read was that of the adorable little kid in Stand By Me. I was intrigued, but wasn't convinced that just any ol' anybody could blog. So I, doing what any other 'net user does when they need to know more, Googled blogging. I read a few, decided that I, too, wanted the world to know what I ate for breakfast, how many times I yelled at my kids and thought that blogging might hone my severly neglected writing skills. I've been wracking my brain and for the life of me cannot remember just where I used for that first blogging experience, but I'll put it this way, it was NOT user-friendly! One had to have a firm grasp and extensive knowledge of HTML to even begin, so I got as far as a username and a password, realized I was outwitted and deleted the whole shebang. I ran to the corner with my tail tucked, my cheeks burning in embarrassment that I, the amazing ME, could not blog. *sob* I then told myself that blogging was something that only geeks did and eh, I had other things to do what with surfing and chatting and the like. That was in 2003. 2004 brought news of more bloggers, blogging and the somewhat secret society and dammit, I wanted to be a part of it! So again, I searched with the beloved Google and found one that said no knowledge of HTML was required. Enter "Kristin's Blog" on Tripod. How unoriginal was that title? Then one day I decided that simply being greeted by Kristin's Blog was boring and voila' - The Ramblings were born.

2. When we first started conversing, I believe you had a daycare. What ever became of your daycare?
Yes, Babs, there was a daycare. At one point during the latter part of summer I had 5 kids here during the day. Then I remembered that I really don't like kids all that much. JUST KIDDING. I had had a home daycare before I had children of my own and my house was set up specifically for the daycare. Well, now I have three children of my own who have their own toys and some things that aren't as sturdy and expendable as daycare toys should be. So after toy upon toy was getting broken, every thing in my house had been moved as high as it could be moved, and I was becoming more and more frustrated as the days went on, I downsized. That left my Kady, my nephew and one other little boy, Chandler. Then my sister lost her job and that left me with Kady and Chandler. Around Christmas I took on another little girl, but she didn't adjust to the whole staying with someone besides family situation of it all, and her mom and I kind of agreed that we'd thought of everyone except her in this great scenario. So back to the original two. And that is where we stand today. I have several friends who are planning on having babies in the next year or so and I'm hoping that by the time Kady and Chandler start Pre-K year after next, I'll have a wholllllllllle bunch of babies to help me adjust to the empty nest thing of having three school-age children.

3. How did you become interested in demolition derbies? When do you plan to enter another derby?
The Miami Elks Lodge sponsored a derby in 2002 and Paul and I, being the rednecks we are, loaded up the kids and shelled out $30 to see a bunch of people crash into each other. We sat behind My Neurotic Friend and when her husband, Mr. Neurotic Friend, said he'd like to try it I said I would, too. I asked if I could drive Powder Puff in his car if he decided to drive. He said yep and the dream began. That next spring we attended the next Elks sponsored derby and I all but took notes, preparing for the day that I would attempt to knock myself silly on purpose. Finally in the fall of 2003, a friend of mine was driving and said I could drive Powder Puff in his car, no problem. Mom was going to watch the kids, everything was set. Then, at the last minute my mom AND his mom decided to go to Tennessee, leaving him without a sitter for his baby and me without a sitter for my kids. He had done all the work and he deserved to drive, so I took his baby and kept her while he knocked himself silly on purpose. Fast forward to summer, 2004 when my husband was hanging out with one of the most well-known demo drivers around here, Hightower. I told Paul to ask Hightower if I could drive Powder Puff in his car and he said, "Powder Puff in my car hell! I've got a car she can have if y'all wanna do the work on it!" And the rest is history. The Elks usually sponsor a derby in the April and one again in September. April is fast approaching and I'm ready to start working on my car again! Okay, I'm ready to watch my husband work on my car again! I will definitely keep everyone posted!

4. Would you describe your life as a full-time mom as a stay at home mom or an on the go mom?
I've said it a million times, "For a stay at home mom, I'm sure not at home much!" Three kids with busier social schedules than I've ever had, means I live in my van most of the time. I don't know how working moms do it - I can't get everything done that needs to be done and I don't work outside the home!

5. Please describe a typical dinner time meal in the Diva household
I'm not sure if Babs wants to know what I fix for dinner or for me to just describe the insanity that occurs around my table, lol. So I'll do both. Our dinner time is usually at 5:30. Because Mr. Diva works at Wal*Mart and has the World World's Work Schedule Ever, he works a lot of late shifts. This means that the nights that Daddy is at the table the kids are ecstatic! On nights that he works late, I usually feed the kids something easy - sandwiches, popcorn chicken, mac and cheese, pizza, etc. ThenI'll throw something together for him and I later, like steak, burgers or a casserole. On nights that he's here for a family dinner I try to cook a meal that everyone in the family will eat. I guess it's a good thing that he's not here for dinner much, because our kids are such notoriously picky eaters that the same 5 meals would get really old after awhile! We are a pretty typical midwestern family in the respect that beef is our main meat and God forbid we eat chicken that isn't fried. Salads are few and far between for the general population around here, but Kady and I will eat salads for dinner quite a bit because we are the least picky of the five and we think that vegetables are our friends. The other three turn up their noses at the sight of most things green. And what I wouldn't give sometimes for a piece of fish that isn't dredged in cornmeal and deep fried... Dinner time is usually punctuated with calm requests at first that escalate to downright nasty commands of "Sam Glenn Hoover, sit your rear end down in that chair - both cheeks mister - or I'm going to superglue your buns to it!" and pleadings like, "Kady, it doesn't matter if your peaches touched your bread, they aren't toxic, I promise. For the love of God, would you just EAT!?" and "Abby, if you roll your eyes at your father one more time I cannot be held responsible for the wrath that will incur." Things like that. Always a laugh a minute.

And there you have it, folks - my Five Question Interview.

Here's the best part - the first five to comment get tagged and I'll then ask YOU five questions! See how much fun this can be? Of course, for me to get five commenters is going to be the task.........................Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?