Your Questions Awnsered

How did you come up with your boys' names?
When I was pregnant with Brayden I bought one of those baby name books and found it in there. At the time it was the first time I had ever heard that name and I thought that it was neat. It's Celtic and means wide open space or something like that. Nowadays though there are Brayden's everywhere I turn.

With Gage, I was gigantic and pregnant and couldn't sleep one night so I had decided to sit up and watch some of the quality television that is on at 3am. You know the deranged little boy from Pet Cemetery, yeah, that's where my baby got his name from.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Strangely enough, a choreographer. I have never taken a dance lesson in my entire life and am seriously deficient in the balance department. What was I thinking?

What's your favorite color?
Yellow. It's cheery and bright and misunderstood, as far as a color goes anyhow. I identify with that.

All time favorite band?
Hands down Led Zeppelin with Blue October coming in a close second.

Biggest Guilty pleasure?
I don't splurge on myself much, except when it comes to my bedding. And after chasing around two boys all day long I think I deserve a sanctuary of my own when I lay down to sleep every night. All of my sheets are 1000 thread count or higher and I have a fancy schmancy pillow top mattress and I have the best microfiber suede blankey around. Yeah, I'm a bed snob.

If B and G had been girls what would their names have been?
Brayden would have been Hannah and Gage would have been Ruby

Favorite food?
Chicken and Dumplings. It's a gigantic pain in the rump to make because I roll out my own dough for the noodles, but man oh man is it worth it!

Favorite book?
As cheesy as it is, Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas by James Patterson. I've literally read it so many times that my first copy fell apart and I had to buy it again. The idea of that book is so amazing to me and has prompted me to journal to my children as well. That book has, quite literally, changed my life.

Do you have any tattoos?
I have 3 tattoos! My first one was a crescent moon with a shooting star wrapped around it on my right shoulder blade (I'm obsessed with celestial stuff). My second tattoo was a heart on my left wrist. It's done in the mehendi style, only permanent obviously. The meaning behind it is very personal. Maybe someday I'll share it here, but not today. And my third one is a silhouette of a moose on my right forearm for my maiden name, Moose. My brother Ron has the exact same one on his back and when my other two brothers are old enough they will hopefully get the same thing tattooed on them somewhere.


What sort of a "farm" do you have?
Well if you want to be technical, we live on a farm, but we actually don't have any animals. Lame, right? We've only been here a year and wanted to start out slow, but unfortunately we never really even started at all. We have 42 acres of land and a big ol' barn filled up with various farm equipment. When we first moved in it was our goal to perhaps get horses here, but we haven't quite made it that far yet. I think maybe I'll do a whole post on our farm one day soon, just for you Chana.

Where on earth do you get your cute little flowers and such you use in your etsy pieces?
Honestly, most of them are either recycled from vintage jewelry that I buy from flea markets and such and take apart. What's not from those, are all bought on etsy itself from supply sellers.

How did you find out you have parathyroid disease and how do you manage it?
I'd been feeling sick for awhile and couldn't figure out what was wrong with me. Now let me just say that I'm not one of those people who go to the doctor when they feel sick, but rather one of those people who can't stand doctor offices and only goes after whatever symptoms I have get extremely worse and turn into something else differently. This is NOT advised! One evening I literally freaked out because I was so fed up with being sick all of the time and landed myself in the ER with a panic attack of epic proportions (I have pretty severe anxiety too). They did blood work in the hospital and the next day my family doctor called me into her office and told me I have an abundance of calcium in my blood, and the rest is history. At the moment I'm lucky because I can manage it simply with vitamins, but I'm still amazed at how much parathyroid disease can throw me off if I forget even one pill. Eventually I'm sure that I'll have to have the tumor removed, but at the moment I'm just not comfortable with having surgery, so vitamins it is.

Do you and Mike want anymore kids?
That depends on who you ask. I'd love a third child, but Mike says we're done. Right now, though, after two extremely touch and go pregnancies, I've decided to count my blessings rather than ask for anymore. I'm leaving it up to God.

Do you have a favorite movie?
Love Actually is my favorite movie. I have a serious thing for British movies and Alan Rickman.

How did you and Mike meet?
I was 17 and working as the clown in Burger King. Mike, who was 19, and his buddies thought it would be hilarious to walk through the drive through. They all got yelled at by the manager, and I was the clown who stuck her head out the window and gave them all their food. Later that evening, back when AIM was all the rage, Mike IMed me and the rest is history.

What is your favorite room in your house?
My craft room, hands down! Not only is it pretty much a wonderland for a crafter like me, but it's a space all my own where I can escape and get inspired any time I want to. It's pretty much my little slice of heaven on earth (because my version of heaven is pretty much a gigantic room of endless amounts of craft supplies. Seriously.)

What piece of clothing can you put on and ALWAYS feel like a million bucks?
I have this short sleeved, black, button down sweater that I got from JC Penneys like 2 years ago. I wear it pretty much all the time. It has these sweet little pearl buttons and just somehow instantly pulls all of my otherwise boring outfits together. I'll cry when one day it falls apart.

What are the top 3 Most Played songs on your iPod?
18th Floor Balcony - Blue October
Trouble - Ray LaMontagne
Maybe Sparrow - Neko Case

If you won the lottery tomorrow and could buy one totally impractical, selfish thing for yourself, what would it be?
A flat in NYC overlooking central park. One with a fancy doorman and an intercom system that you have to use to buzz people in. I've always wanted to live in NYC and at one point it was my dream to go to NYU.

Did you do your own blog design?
Yup, sure did. I get bored easily though and change it all the time. I seriously give this one another month before I re-do it all again.

What are your favorite blogs to visit?
Little Bit Funky
Whatever
eliseblaha

Thank you all for the amazing questions!

In other news, this hot chick down here and her family are visiting us for the next 5 days, so excuse any lull in blogging that may occur while I spend time with some of my favorite people on earth.