Wednesday Hodgepodge

March is National Women's History Month. In that vein, who are there women who've been influential in your life? How so?

1. My Grandma Alice. She passed away a little over a year ago and I miss her a lot. She was just that grandma, you know? She fixed family dinners, was a strong Christian church-going woman, let us spend the night with her every Saturday night, gave me sage advice when I was a woman myself.
2. Gwen Schnorrenberg. Gwen was a pastor's wife at a church we attended in Oklahoma. She was an example of what a true Biblical wife and woman should be.
3. Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Ever since I read The Aviator's Wife by Melanie Benjamin I have been affected by Anne. She wrote a book called Gifts from the Sea which I read every year. What a strong woman in the midst of tough life circumstances.

In what ways do you think women have it easier than men?

I can only speak for myself, but I get to stay home with my children every day and teach them and not worry about the financial issues of our life and how we will survive. I get to depend on my husband for that, and he has the huge burden of taking care of all of us. I know I definitely have it easier than him.

What do you need most right now: faith, love, hope, or peace? 

Happily, I have an abundance of all of these things at this place in my life. I guess if I had to choose one I would say peace.

Do you have a  collection? If so, what do you collect and why?

I do not have anything that I continually collect at this time. But, I do have a collection of roosters in my kitchen. Back to my Grandma Alice, she had ceramic roosters in her china hutch in her kitchen that she gave to me many years ago. I have added to those and made my kitchen theme "roosters" ever since. I never grow tired of it, and it makes me feel close to her. And I lied... I guess I do continually collect because I bought Rick a rooster coaster for his desk in the dining hutch area of our kitchen and just this weekend I bought some rooster fabric to make a little curtain to go at the bottom of our microwave cabinet to cover some baskets.

Plaids, checks, polka dots, stripes ... your favorite?

It's a close race between plaids and stripes, but I am going to go with stripes.

In what ways are you the same as your childhood self?

I can remember laying in my bedroom listening to music for hours. I had a special relationship with my bedroom. I just liked to be there. It was my own place. (Well, except for the half that my sister occupied, but you get the point.) At one time I remember a friend of my parents' saying that if I just had a mini-fridge I would never leave my room. That was true. I am still the same way today. I could literally just live in my bedroom. Now I don't necessarily need a mini-fridge, but a coffee pot might keep me there for days on end. It's my happy place. It's my own place. I can go in there and read, watch some t.v., sleep, and just be. It think this is why I have been so excited about getting Brynne a real bedroom created in our basement. Everybody just needs their own space.

You're a contestant on the TV game show Jeopardy. What category will you ace?

I am a "jack of all trades but master of none" kind of person. I don't have one thing I am really good at or know a lot about. I guess if I had to choose one it would be something about television shows. I have always been a big t.v. watcher.

Insert your own random thought here.

I mentioned a couple of questions back about creating a bedroom for Brynne. The poor girl has just never had her own space. When she was born, we didn't have room for her so her crib was in the dining room until she was sleeping through the night and then we moved her into Eli's room. In a rental house while ours was being built, she shared a room with Kyndal. She did have her own room at our newly built house, but had always shared with someone so wanted to sleep in Eli's room with him. We got him bunkbeds and, although, she still had her own room she slept in his. But she wasn't really of an age to appreciate her own space so never played in her own room or anything. When we moved to Missouri we moved into a 3-bedroom house. With no choice, she shared a room with Eli again. That's been 3 years and she is now 10 years old. She is at that age where she desperately wants her own space. We have one of those unfinished icky basements. There is one little room that is actually a room with a dropped ceiling and walls. But we have always called this room the "meth room" because we are pretty sure it was designed to cook something by the previous owners/renters. (The story behind our house is another long story.) About a year ago we painted the walls and concrete floor, threw down a rug and put Brynne's bed and dresser in there. But, honestly, it looked like a basement room and she didn't want to spend time there. I don't blame her. A couple of weeks ago I came up with a flooring solution and some decorating ideas to make it more bedroom-worthy for a 10 year old girl. About $250 later she had a perfect bedroom for her. She is loving it and has hardly left it unless she has been made to. Remembering how important it was to me to have my own room, which I never did, I have been so happy for her. She told me that it is the best thing that has ever happened to her.