Symptomatic.

I am light-headed.  Like all the time.  My ankles are slightly swollen.  I am craving chocolate like a madwoman.  On top of the heartburn, my midsection is rapidly expanding.  AND most annoyingly, I cannot for the life of me remember one single thing.    While I am back from hiatus, my brain, quite obviously, is not.

If you think these symptoms could only mean one thing, you’re wrong.  I am NOT pregnant.  I just don’t sleep enough and I’m seriously eating way too much brigadeiro.  (Have you tried that recipe yet?!?)  But I could really do without the pregnancy brain.  At least if I were carrying a child, I’d have an excuse for getting all the way to the store only to realize that my wallet was at home (but thankfully I had my credit card “safely” (eyes rolled) in my pocket) and then proceed to purchase several items, only to leave them in the cart in the parking lot while I sped away thinking about how I had misplaced my diaper bag at one of a variety of stops.  But I have no excuse.  My brain is just fried.  Apparently (and no one warned me of this) pregnancy brain doesn’t go away after you have your second child.  Instead it turns into “scattered mom brain.”

Anyway, about a millennia ago I was tagged with two awards that I forgot to judiciously put off passing on.  So I’d like to do that now.  Of course, this means subjecting you to more tidbits of my life, probably more than you’d like to know, so, if you’d rather, you can skip right to the cutest photo ever at the end of this post.

First, Big K, little a passed on a fun game of “8 Questions” tag.  Thanks!  She’s got a seriously cute blog, and she’s a fellow midwesterner.  Cool.  

I’m supposed to answer her 8 questions, then make up 8 of my own and pass them on to 8 bloggers.  SO, here’re my answers:

Who was your mentor growing up?  What about now?

I had the fortuity of having many inspiring people placed in my life.  Four pop into my head right away, but I could go on and on.  Three are the same to this day, but the fourth when I was younger was definitely my high school drama teacher.  He was AMAZING.  He was easy to talk to, genuinely loved his job and all of his students, inspired everyone to be better, not to mention was a theatre genius.  And the other three?  My mom, my sister, and my bf El.  Couldn’t have made it through my formative years without them.  Or these years for that matter.

If you had a shopping spree at one store, which store would it be?

Oh geez.  That’s rough.  Um.  Target.  Old Navy.  Hobby Lobby.  St. Vinnie’s?  Yes, it’s a thrift store, but just imagine all the ridiculously cool things I could get there with a SPREE.  I know it’s more than one.  Take your pick, I’d accept any.  Are you offering, by the way?

If you could own any pet, what would you have, and what would you name it?

I used to be insistent on getting a monkey when I was grown up, but now that I AM grown up, and can barely take care of the monkeys I already have running around, I’ll stick with the pet I already have.  Boring I know.  A male cat named Delilah.  Don’t judge me.  I was told he was a she.

If you could start any business, what would you start?

Well, my sisters and mom and I have been wanting to start an etsy shop for a while now, but I’m totally intimidated by the whole prospect.  How do you deal with shipping?  Business tax?  Legal mumbo jumbo?  Getting the word out?!?!?  I’m overwhelmed.  Which means, I usually hide.  Any suggestions?

But really my dream?  OK.  I want to create a huge indoor park.  I want it to be just like an outdoor park with grass and flowers and trees and simulated sunlight.  I want a bike trail and a walking trail, a fountain, a big pretty pavilion, a playground and a wading pool with a sprinkler.  I want the walls to be painted with huge bright happy murals (by my ridiculously talented sister, obviously) and I’d like to sell vendor spots to people who will provide healthy snacks and drinks.  I’d let people sign up to use the pavilion for events.  And the crowning glory would be an amphitheater where we’d have local bands play and local theatre troops put on their shows and host workshops in the summertime for kids and teens with different themes - acting, crafts, music, karate, etc.  Sigh.  It would be lovely.  Why do I want to do this?  Because it’s so freaking cold here.  There are (no exaggeration) maybe 4 months where we can play outside and really enjoy it.  The rest of the time, I drag the kids to the park in the gloom and wind and we miserably try to keep our body warmth up.  I get depressed in the winter.  I know there are others like me who could use a simulated summer!  Not to mention the obesity problem in this area.  (which, let’s be honest, probably has something to do with the frigid dreariness).  But I have NO IDEA what steps I would even take with this... it’s a nice dream though.

Dream vacation spot?

I would LOVE to be able to travel all over the world!!  Italy would be the dreamiest of dreams.  The art!  The architecture!  The theatre!  The history!  The romance!  But right now, I’d take somewhere warm.  The Caribbean?  Can you tell it’s freezing here?

If you started a charity, what would it be for?

Oh, wow.  This is a hard one.  Well, the things I am most passionate about are creativity, education, and inspiration.  So I think I’d want to start something for underprivileged (or not at all privileged) kids where where they can be linked with mentors of all different creative pursuits so they can be educated and grow their interests and maybe make connections that will help them in the long run.  Or something.  I should think about this one more.

What's on your Christmas list this year?

a laptop and a DSLR.  But I won’t be getting either of those.  Honestly, I haven’t really thought about it.  Some good books?  Some crafting supplies?  I’ve got it!!!  A WEEK WITHOUT CLEANING AND LAUNDRY!!! 

What are/would you be for Halloween?

We always try to dress up together.  This year, bug is Robin, the Boy Wonder, mr is Batman, I am catwoman (minus the pleather) and mini is The Penguin.  I’m hurriedly working on costumes and will show you when done.

PHEW!  That was long winded.  

Sorry, there’s more.  I’ll try to be brief.  Fly Away Home tagged me with the Happy 101 Award.  She’s got a cute blog, too, with some great ideas!  

I’m supposed to list 10 things that make me happy and pass it on to 10 bloggers.

I don’t want to repeat anything from last time, so I can’t list the obvious ones.  But:

Yellow

Glee

Long showers

Date Night (once a week, with the hubs!)

Smiles, from anyone, but especially mini and bug

A triumphant craft attempt

When a sewing project looks just like I pictured it (Yea, Robin’s vest!)

Sunflowers

Seriously hilarious gems my son bursts out with on a regular basis. (for example:  

“bug: what's that?
me: it's a special picture of a baby in a mama's belly.
*PAUSE*
bug: did the mama eat that baby??”  or 

“bug: my shoe is black!
me: no, it's navy blue.
bug: Yep. and maybe black, too!”  or 

“me: bug, do you have something to say to Daddy?
bug: happy birthday Daddy! (hands him some bark from a tree) Here's some wood, I got it for you.”)

Chocolate (ok, that’s a repeat, but honestly???  Come on.)

And now, I must bestow this upon others.  I think I have, for the first time, actually picked the right amount of blogs per awards.

goes to:

And you guys get to answer THESE QUESTIONS:

Cat or dog?

Sandals or tennies?

Watch a movie or read a book?

Cherry pie or chocolate cake?

Batman or Superman?

Coke or Pepsi?

Who wins in a fight - David Bowie circa ’83 or Trya Banks, circa... now.

If you had to describe yourself with a color what would it be and why?

Alisa from DoodleDaisy

Terrell from Frou Frou Decor

Morgan from Meet Virginia

Melissa from Oh, My Darling

BJ’s Mama from For What it’s Worth... Or Not

Bree from My Crafty Crap

Kimbo from A Girl and A Glue Gun

thank the person who gave it to you.

answer their questions.

write 8 of your own and send them on to 8 people, letting them know.

and 

goes to:

Lisa from Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Kris from Everywhere Orange

La-Dee-da Creations

Michelle from Michelle Made Me

Amanda from The Hand My Down House

Carrie from The Rowdy Stroudy’s

Jackie from House of Sarager

Thank the person who gave it to you.

List 10 things that make you happy.

Pass it on to 10 people and let them know.

Have fun, guys!