I have a very special giveaway and a very special request, both ongoing. If you have a moment, please check them out here.
Whatever my mystery itchiness is, it has subsided almost completely, which is just awfully nice. There’s nothing like being itchy to make you value NOT BEING ITCHY. So that’s great. But, despite multiple visits to multiple doctors, the mystery itching remains mysterious. I’m meant to have allergy skin testing done next week. It had to be put off until I could take a course of steroids to repress my dermatographism, which is a big fancy word for the fact that if you scratch my skin, it makes a welt that stays there for a bit. Good for playing tic tac toe on a desert island, not so good for scratch testing.
Still, I’m kind of fine with not knowing what was causing it, as long as it’s gone!
I have SO MANY barely started posts swimming around in my brain! I wanted to share the trip, and do the giveaway, but other than that I’ve been swamped with all these doctor visits, and making the yearbook for our homeschool group, and Jack’s 12th birthday party (Clash of Clans!), and trying to get school planned and curriculum ordered and our affairs in order before we leave for two months in Chicago . . . in less than a week!
But rest assured that posts answering all the questions you asked about trips and trip planning, responses to pop culture phenomena of the past month, thoughts on potty training and introducing solid foods and following manufacturer’s instructions, an update on our Nissan NV, plus that birthday party and reviews of all the movies I watched on the planes are all coming. Someday.
But for TODAY, here’s Answer Me This!
1. Do you have a land line?
Yes and no. We HAVE a land line, but we don’t have a plan on it. It’s active, and we can accept calls on it, but we just pay per use for outgoing calls. So, we mostly only use cell phones for outgoing calls, but it’s there if we need it.
It took me FOREVER to remember to stop making outgoing calls on it.
2. What is your least favorite food?
I tend to have strong preferences for particular foods in the moment, but don’t tend to dislike particular foods in general.
However . . . mayonnaise is gross and pretty much ruins an otherwise tasty sandwich. I also do not like chocolate ice cream. And I’ve never tried any, so I guess I can’t be sure, but I have a strong suspicion that I don’t like anything in the genre of spreadable or potted meats.
3. What’s on your summer reading list?
I’m really excited to read the second and third books in the The Last Policeman
series by Ben H. Winters.
I read the first book and really enjoyed it. The premise is clever: What’s the point of solving murders if we’re all going to die soon, anyway? Detective Hank Palace reminds me a lot of Detective Chief Superintendent Foyle, which is a very good thing. The writing is smart, the characters are interesting, the mystery is mysterious, what more could you ask for?
I’ve got book two, Countdown City
, on my desk right now, and the good folks at Quirk Books are sending me over the third and final book in the trilogy, World of Trouble
, any day now. I’m really excited to read it. It’s available for pre-order now, and will be released on July 15th.
I’ve also got two interesting looking books in iBooks that Ignatius Press sent me that I’m planning to read over the summer:
and The Rising
is the story of nine-year-old C.J. Walker, who can raise folks from the dead.
Both have great Amazon reviews and are from a publisher I know and love
!
As I prepare for homeschooling next year, I was blessed to get to read Teaching From Rest by Sarah of Amongst Lovely Things.
It’s an excellent resource for any homeschooling mama, whether you’ve been around the block a few grades or it’s your first time to the rodeo.
Sarah has keen insights, presented gently, on how to make homeschooling a success for you AND your children.
Also in the stack are The Power and the Glory
by Graham Greene for my Ladies’ Book Club, Brideshead Revisited
for Haley’s Carrots Classics Book Club (I’m late but I’M GOING TO READ IT!), and whatever Jane Austen is up next in the Motherhood and Jane Austen Book Club. I should find out. (typey, typey, typey) It’s Emma
.
4. Is there something that people consistently ask for your advice on? What is it?
Ever since baby number four or so, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about pregnancy and childbirth and baby-raising. One of the reasons I started ye olde blog was to be able to dispense that advice more efficiently.
5. What’s the most physically demanding thing you’ve ever done?
Well, I ran a marathon and have given birth sans-medication to all the babies, but lots of people have done those things. I wish I had a better story. Like surviving a shipwreck or escaping from the Nazis through the Alps or holding my hand on a truck for a really long time. But I don’t.
6. How do you feel about massages?
I really dislike them. I would rather do any of the things in number five than have a massage. Including the Nazi one.
For next week I’m tagging:
Elizabeth from A Mom on Wheels. Post to check out: Mom on Wheels and Papa Bear – The love story endures tragedy
Ann-Marie from Ulczynski Update. Post to check out: My attitude towards helpfullness. . .
1. What’s something you intended to do today, but didn’t?
2. What’s your favorite grilling recipe?
3. What movie did you see most recently?
4. Would you say your tendency is to over or under react to medical situations?
5. Do you squeeze the toothpaste tube or roll it?
6. What are you doing for Father’s Day?
Next week’s installment will go live at 10pm Pacific Saturday night, and will be open until 10pm Wednesday night.
So, please, answer this week’s questions for yourself in the comments. If you have a blog, answer the questions there, link back to this post, and link your blog post up below. Thanks for playing along.
1. We have a plan that is similar for landline too.
Our oldests can be left home alone, but does not have a cell phone yet.
Perhaps I haven't been following your blog long enough to know, but what's in Chicago??
My husband's family is in Chicago. We lived there for two years, and when we moved away, we started coming back for summer visits that got longer and longer and now are the whole summer. We stay with my in-laws and the husband commutes back and forth because he's still got to work!
Kendra, I'm so glad to finally join this link up. Also, I hope that advice on traveling comes soon, and to add another question: who did you call to get your son to receive First Communion from the Pope? Ignatius offered to have me read Tobias' Dog, too but I declined because I just read the setting of depression era without realizing its a retelling of my favorite book, Tobit. I'll have to find the email now and reconsider the offer.
If it's a regular Mass you need to contact the Pope's Master of Ceremonies (Fr. Guido Marini, I believe). If it's a canonization Mass, you need to contact one of the groups advancing the cause of the new saints.
Thanks Kendra!
I have been having a mysterious itching as well! I can't take steroids because I am recovering from breast cancer. So, I am still itching. 🙂
You might have them check your liver. In two of my pregnancies I had bad itching and it was b/c of my liver. Probably can happen non-pregnant as well. Good luck!
I didn't think about mayo! Yuck! I mean, it's not my favorite. Thanks for tagging me . . . (What does that mean?) 🙂 And I will have to check out Tobit's Dog.
It just means I'm requesting your participation next week, and helping other folks find your blog!
I heeeear ya. I've always found Mayo absolutely disgusting. (My parents don't understand me.)
Country Girl's Daybook: Jesus, Photography, Fashion, & Food
I'm reading Tobit's Dog right now. It's pretty good.
Glad your mystery itching is gone.
Looking forward to the How We Roll posts, especially because I am curious about why your kids don't have their own beds!
I might be the only weirdo who likes mayo because how else would you make tuna salad? And wow you are one busy lady: yearbooks, packing for another vacation, and a birthday party?!? I read The Power and the Glory recently for my book club and it was excellent. Definitely in my top 10.
Spread mayo on your itch and it will go away.
Glad your itching is better! I am praying for the special intention for your friend.
Hope you have a happy Pentecost!
We are celebrating father's day today because we are all together so are getting a jump on the holiday. Grandad birthday is also in June so nice to spread it out.
Grandad hates messages and I loooooove them. Can't get enough in Asian countries..
I'll take some of these book recommendations to my ladies book club
They came up with some pretty awful ones from Warwick book store in La Jolla but like the ladies.
Jack party was amazing event for 12 yr old boy in all of the planning and execution. Well done Mom and Jack.
I will miss them in the summer but happy for the Tierney and the fun they have
Mayonnaise is the WORST. Seriously, so gross. We took a trip to England (wedding present that we didn't take advantage of until we already had two kids…) right after we found out we were expecting another (well, 2 others…) and the morning sickness had just started. So of course THAT is when I find out that in England they put mayonnaise on EVERYTHING and they DO NOT TELL YOU ABOUT IT!
Here I was ordering a safe-looking veggie sandwich with cheese, and it comes with a layer of mayonnaise LITERALLY half and inch thick. I just about vomited right there on the table. Seriously, what the heck? I'm still angry about it. And the thought of it still makes me nauseated.
Mayonnaise: Satan's condiment.
These are so fun!
1. Yes landline, but I've been meaning to downgrade our plan. That's a great idea to only accept incoming calls.
2. I've never liked olives. All my siblings love them and would even get cans of black olives in their stockings at Christmas as kids. Yuck! (Sorry, olive lovers! I know there are lots of you out there!)
3. Thanks to Jessica's WWRW, I've got a stack of kids books that I'm previewing so my kids can read them (or not). Thumbs up for "Mr. Tucket" and "Frecklejuice" so far. Also starting "The Power and the Glory."
4. Mostly kid stuff. Except when I'm hanging out with all those Catholic moms who have more kids than I do!
5. Probably giving birth, although I was on the crew team in college and did some pretty grueling long rows.
6. Massages = thumbs down.
One of my husband's best friend from law school loves to talk about craving (and consuming) mayo by the tablespoon-full while he was stationed in Afghanistan. For obvious reasons, he doesn't eat mayo anymore.
I do, though! Mayo makes the humble bacon sandwich decadent and delicious instead of just weird.
Also, did somebody say Chicago? I'm extremely pro-Chicago.
I'm so glad to hear someone else say they don't like chocolate ice cream! My people think I'm SO weird – but it's just too rich for me. Vanilla based all the way. But I do like mayo, in moderation. My sister, however, hates it – that commercial with the squeeze bottle of mayo makes her actually gag if she sees it!
My mom works at a Catholic bookstore (and spends a decent percentage of her paycheck there too), picked up Tobit's Dog and said it was an enjoyable read. Interested to see what you think too.