Last week’s Open Line Tuesday was a smashing success. I am so lazy, my favorite part was how so many of you answered one another’s questions without any need for my intervention. We’ll do it again this week (I’ll post in the morning) but for those of you who asked me questions that didn’t get answered, I’ll address some of the simpler ones here:
Did your kids like “fake potatoes” – aka mashed potatoes in a box??
They love them. Not as much as the “real thing” I suppose, but they are definitely a re-buy. Especially since so many people wrote to tell me how great they are in casseroles and soups too.
When you have a large family and come from a large family, how do holidays work?
As our families grow, we have a tendency to stay put for holidays. Our own gang is crazy enough at Christmas and Easter — no need to add travel to the mix. We Beans usually stay home and host Dan’s (much smaller) family on holidays.
No one in my family lives in a gigantic house. My parents still live in the split-level ranch that they raised all 9 of us in, and it’s smaller than the home I live in now. Extended family gatherings are much more likely to take place in the summertime or the fall when we can use outdoor space.
Did you make banana bread the other day or did those black pieces of fruit go into your freezer for another day?
Neither. I did not make the banana bread and the blackness had turned to whitish gray in places — I could not bring myself to save them any longer and threw them away. I am, however, an eternal optimist. A fresh bunch of bananas is currently rotting ripening in my pantry.
Can we see a wedding picture?
(It turned out OK for us, but I really don’t think they should let 11 year olds marry)
Can you fold a fitted sheet?
You mean, properly? Do people really do that? Why would I want to do that? So that my linen drawers will think I am a good mom?
Most of the time, I think I deserve a medal just for washing the sheets. Truth be told, I usually wash sheets, dry them, and then put them right back on the beds they came from. No folding required!
What do you do for Easter baskets?
I would like to say we do less candy and more small toys, pencils, holy cards, and bunny things, but small toys, pencils, holy cards, and bunny things times 8 kids turns out to be a major investment. So we do some cute “stuff,” maybe a family present like a DVD, and then … plenty of candy. The nice ladies I met in St. Louis gave me a head start on this year’s sugar binge — they gave me a tin filled with those evil Robin eggs. How did they know?
What is your favorite song at the moment?
Not an all-time favorite, but I find Colbie Caillat refreshingly innocent and sweet. She says, “A great song should lift your heart, warm the soul and make you feel good.” Here’s one of hers that I think does that:
Okay, enough. My husband tells me this post is already obnoxiously self indulgent as it is, and despite the navel-gazing photo, I truly do try to avoid that kind of thing around here. Readers’ deeper questions about homeschooling, balancing kids’ activities, and marriage I will address in individual future posts.