Julie in Australia asked, “I am wondering whether you take time to yourself? You give me the impression that this is not a “need” in your life in so far as you obviously love spending time with the boys each day and your husband. However, how do you unwind? Do you enjoy time by yourself or do you find the time with your family is where you find yourself re-energised”

Oh yes…I am an introvert through and through. I very much feel the need for alone time each day. I spend a lot of time with people and I love it…but it does make me tired. 

I never get tired of my husband because he just isn’t home enough to get tired of. ;)    But my boys? I don’t need NEARLY the breaks from them that I used to need when they were all teeny tiny at the same time and hanging on my legs and hanging on my sleeves and hanging on my…well…you know…when they were nursing. {ehem}

When they were all little bitty, any quiet time I could get was wonderful and so, so needed. Now that they’re older and not so dependent on me, I don’t feel quite the need to “get away from it all”. Do you hear that, Moms of Little Bitties? It will get EASIER!!!  Wahoo!

All that being said…I do still need to have some down time each day (if possible) to just “feel the quiet”. I need to be able to have some time to not answer any questions or make any decisions or work anyone through an argument with a brother.

You might be happy to know that my “down time” is almost always my blogging time. My blog is my hobby, business, ministry and “down time” all wrapped up in one! How great is that?

When I’m writing…I am all alone in my own little writing world. Well, all alone except for all of you…but bless you…you are all incredibly well behaved and quiet. 

This usually happens for me in the afternoons while the boys have their reading time/play time/TV time. Sometimes I have a little more time after the boys go to bed and if Matt is working the late shift.

Crazy as it may sound…whenever I happen to have the entire house to myself (like if Matt’s at work and the boys are all playing at a friend’s house)…I almost always choose to work on my website or ebooks or articles. Part of that is because I always have work waiting for me and emails to answer…so a quiet moment means uninterrupted and guilt free work time. Plus, I LOVE it. Every once in a blue moon, I let myself read a good Christian fiction novel.   

I used to feel selfish because I needed some time to unwind all alone with everyone “out of my face”. I believe that if we take the “me time” idea too far…it does become selfish. But…if you are the kind of person (like me) who needs quiet and alone time to re-gain your energy…that’s not selfish. It’s smart.

So…what do the rest of you do for “down time” whenever you happen to have some?

Jen B asked:  Where did you get your mad cooking skills from? Were you always a wonderful cook?

I’ve just ALWAYS loved cooking. I was always looking through cookbooks and cooking magazines and experimenting with recipes when I was growing up. 

I come from a long line of wonderful cooks. My mom was a great cook. Both of my grandmothers were good cooks. My aunts are all wonderful cooks. 

My mom enjoyed cooking (although maybe not quite as much as I love it and consider it to be a hobby). I loved cooking with my mom and with my grandma. I shared more of my cooking memories in this post if you’d like to read more.

And no, I made many cooking mistakes back when I was a beginner (still do of course). Did I ever tell you about the first time I made gravy for Matt on our sixth month dating anniversary? He had to spread it onto his meat and potatoes with a butter knife. I am SO glad he married me anyway.

Kathy Shaner said:  Speaking as one who had years of the single life with a great career, then marriage at 40– I wonder what career you would have pursued if you’d gone that direction? Maybe I should know this after reading all about Laura, but I don’t. What ‘outside’ interests have captured your attention and might have launched a career if you hadn’t built a life with your wonderful family?

I got a degree in Elementary Education and taught first grade for a very short time in a Public School before our oldest was born.

Growing up, I always told my mom that when I grew up I wanted to be a mom, a teacher, a baker and a hair cutter person.

How great is it that I now get to be everything I always wanted to be when I grew up?! (Never in a million years though did I ever dream I’d also have a website.  That might have had something to do with the fact that computers hardly existed yet…)

I suppose if I would have continued in a career, I would have continued teaching school. That all seems like another life to me now…the days when I taught school. Good memories…but I’m so, so happy with what I’m doing now. Although, I will say…I miss having a janitor. :)

Becca Banana asked:  What do you wish you had known about marriage and/or parenting before learning lessons the hard way?

Oh my goodness sakes…how long do you have?

Regarding marriage…I actually am planning to write a little series addressing some of these things…so if it’s okay, I’ll save that topic for a few weeks from now.

What I wish I would have known about parenting? What I wish I could change?

I really, really didn’t know that my kids would be naughty very often. I really thought my  household would always be blissful and calm and my children would always behave and be clean and never have crusty noses. I was very organized and on top of things (before marriage and motherhood) and my children were going to be practically perfect except for a tiny little episode that they might have once every six months or so. And only then if they were sick.

Because that didn’t really happen (not even close)…I was pretty hard on Asa (our oldest) and didn’t always respond to his challenging two year old (and three year old and four year old) normal behaviors the way I should have. I sort of expected him to “perform”, if that makes any sense.

I wish I would have understood then that parenting is constant “Godly character training”…not “create perfect people so everyone will think you’re a great parent” training.

Also, when we started homeschooling I thought I needed to be a Nazi about schoolwork so that I’d have the smartest kids ever. I almost made Asa hate school by the time he was six. I backed off a WHOLE lot, and by the time he turned ten, I had finally convince him that it really was okay to miss a math problem or spell a word wrong.

Our schooling is SO much more relaxed now. Guess what? They’re still smart. Go figure. Of course, “smart” is relative. ;)

More Learning about Laura coming up tomorrow…

This post is the first of several that will answer your questions here.  :)

Josette said:  You always make me laugh…so I am thinking your sense of humor is the same as mine (I could be totally wrong), just wondering what your favorite “funny movie” is?

I am SO SORRY that this is the most boring answer ever and surely not the one you were hoping for.

I can’t even think of the name of any funny movie. Although Veggie Tale movies always crack me up. Love the humor in those. I’m guessing that’s not quite what you meant?

Watching movies is one of my least favorite activities. I don’t know why. I don’t like sitting still for that long (unless I’m blogging/writing or reading a good book).

I’ve been racking my brain trying to figure out what my favorite funny movie is. I even asked Matt, “Hey, what’s my favorite funny movie?” Blank stare.  Yeah, he likes movies as much as I do.

Isn’t that pitiful?

Why don’t you all tell me what YOUR favorite funny movies are and maybe I’ll watch them and say, “AH!! That WAS funny!!!”

What great movies am I missing out on?!?

Sharon asked:  What skin care products and make-up (if you wear it), do you use? Where do you purchase it?

You can read about my favorite Soaps and Sundries here. Otherwise…there isn’t too much more to tell.

Here is my daily skin care routine:  I wash my face with Tropical Traditions coconut soap. I then rub on some Tropical Traditions lotion. The end.

On Sundays and special occasions, I go all out and wear mascara (just the gross stuff from Walmart). 

I used to never leave the house without make-up thinking that I could never get away without “having my face on”. Now (mostly because my husband really doesn’t care for me to wear make-up because he really – thankfully – likes my natural look) I just don’t wear it. I LOVE not messing with it. 

If any of you have any natural make-up products you’d recommend…do tell!

Dani asked:  What is your favorite vacation memory with your family and what are your vacation traditions? Especially in the car with FOUR boys.

Well, we have never actually gone on a vacation that doesn’t involve a family get-together of some sort. At this point though…those are the best kind of vacations. 

Every other year we travel to California to visit Matt’s family. We’ve been able to go to Disneyland several times thanks to Matt’s brother who works for The Mouse (that would be Mickey). 

It always cracks us up when we go to CA in the wintertime. Everyone there is wearing a long wool coat and apologizing that we had to come out for a visit “when it’s SO cold”. Yep, that 50° to 70° weather is just a killer on us Nebraskans. We hardly know what to do with ourselves without the wind chill factor.

Oh, and the day after Christmas several cousins always like to plan a trip to drive three hours to the snow!!!! ‘Cause wouldn’t that be fun to play in snow together?

Yes, I suppose it would if we didn’t have to “play in the snow” with a shovel in order to get out of our driveway on a regular basis. Couldn’t we just not drive to the snow and play together in the yard? In a t-shirt?

Other than those fine pieces of vacation information…I’ve got nothin’. Unless you count this trip… Yeah, that was a good one.

As far as traveling in a car with four boys…you can just imagine the musical numbers I must put up with.  Need I say more?