Top 10 Burning Questions Answered

I get a lot of emails with questions, which is great, but I have a hard time getting back to everyone.

So I thought I’d use today to reply to some of the more common inquiries….

1.  How do you get your kids to sit still in church?

This is my most commonly asked question…either here or in real life.  People see my kids sitting there and wonder what kind of robots I gave birth to.  Or maybe I am a robot.  Did you ever wish you had a Rosie like on the Jetsons?  Me too!  Oh, sorry.  Rabbit trail.

OK, the main tip I have for getting your kids to sit still in church is to practice at home.  Set aside time for sitting in Mommy or Daddy’s lap.  Make sure the other kids know that even though we will be talking and reading the Bible, the real purpose is to teach baby to sit still and quietly.  If baby fusses, everyone else should just act like nothing is happening and continue as usual while Mommy or Daddy deals with it.  Set a pre-determined amount of time and stay there no matter what baby does.  Soon he will learn that he has to stay still.  Then move on to church or other gatherings.  If you mean it, he will eventually get the message.

2.  I love your blog design!  Can you give me some tips?

No, no I can’t.  If it had been up to me to design this blog then you wouldn’t be asking me these questions.  You’d be sending me questions like, “Have you ever considered adding some color to this blog?”  All of the credit goes to my lovely blog designer at Simply Amusing Design Studio.  She’s A-Mazing!  I told her what I wanted and she made it happen beyond my expectations.  I can’t say enough about how great she is.

3.  How many kids do you have?

I find this to be a funny question since I have a picture on the blog of our whole family.  But since I get the question a lot, I will answer.  I have nine kids.  All birthed by me and I demand credit for every laborious second.  I say things like, “Jacob, you may be 18 and a semi-finalist in the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival, but I pushed you out of my body and I want you to take out the trash…..now.”

4.  Instead of training my own children, can you just come and live with me?

You wouldn’t like this.  I’m not the easiest person to live with.  I need it to be cold….I mean shivering temperatures.  I must have silent moments throughout the day and absolute blackness at night.  I like things neat.  Ridiculously neat.  I have been known to straighten the suitcase of a friend I was traveling with.  A picture that is slightly crooked will be such a distraction to me that I can’t hear the person talking to me.  I won’t eat brussel sprouts.  Ever.  Really….you don’t want me to live with you.

5.  Please show me that $38 headband from Anthropologie that you mentioned the other day!

OK, I have to make an awful confession here.  I looked it up and it is not $38.  It is only $32.  I’m very sorry for that false information.  I am not known for my memory.  Anthropologie’s website doesn’t have a picture of it, so I will show you another $32 headband that is similar.  But the one I wanted is black.

The good news is that we made our own for only ONE DOLLAR.  Seriously.  How can they charge so much?

In case you can’t see it with my dark hair, here’s a little clue….

6. What do you look like with no makeup and your hair not brushed?  How many wrinkles and gray hairs do you have?

OK, I have never been asked that, but since I just showed you that in those last pictures, I wanted credit.

7.  Can you share your paint colors?

The color in my kitchen, living room and dining room is Silver Sage from Restoration Hardware.  The color of my painted piano is by Olympic B58-3.  It’s called Alpine Valley and I got it at Lowe’s.

I’m sorry I don’t know the color of my nursery.  Too much paint has crossed under the bridge for me to remember.

8.  How is you dad doing?

Many of you have emailed to ask how my father is doing after his open heart surgery.  He is doing well.  He’s feeling more like himself every day and is even getting a into a few home improvement projects.  Thank you all so much for caring.  You really are an amazing group of friends.

9.  Can you give me tips on how to grow my blog?

I can tell you what I did, but if you want real help I’d suggest subscribing to ProBlogger.  They have great tips and I learn something new from them in almost every post.  Unlike here, where you will learn nothing.  But these are a few things I like to do….

a) Connect with the people that comment.  When I have a new commenter I try to either send an email or comment on their blog.  I like to know who you are.  Some of you are as crazy as me, which makes me feel better.

b) I also do some of the home decor link parties about once a month.  If you don’t write about home design, there are parties for everything….even just “getting to know you” parties.  I like these parties because there is no wild music or pressure to drink beer like the parties I went to in high school.

c) Link to other blogs in your blog.  It’s nice.  It’s polite and if it helps your friends grow it will help you grow too.  Blogging is about helping each other.  I have really, REALLY enjoyed getting to know my blog friends.

10.  What kinds of vitamins do you take?  How do you get it all done?

I wrote a post on how I get things done a while back.  But since I still get the question all of the time I will add a few thoughts.  I am very organized.  I was not organized as a child or as a young bride.  Really, it was bad.  I just decided to change my ways and now I am very neat.  I do have some charts and plans for how we will spend our day, but it is mostly due to my children being kind and trustworthy and well behaved.  I cannot stress this enough.  If your kids have been trained to occupy themselves then you can get a lot done.  I am able to work, uninterrupted, for long periods of time.  Spend time teaching your children and following through on those lessons and you will be able to get more done.  Really.  It’s amazing.

There you go, your top ten questions answered.

I hope you know how much I appreciate that you have any interest at all in what goes on in my brain.  It means a lot.