The Truth, The Whole Truth, And Nothing But The Truth

Boy this mono is knocking me for a loop. I just woke up, it's almost 9 am, and I feel like I need a nap. I'm just exhausted all of the time. I can't afford that right now. This is the busiest time of year for me. Besides just being a mom, a wife, and owning my own business, I have a TON of things I'm involved with at W.'s school. And when I say TON, I mean a TON! So I need to get better, and fast!

Anywho....thank you all for commenting on my last post. Your thoughts of well wishes were so sweet! I also want to thank you for asking some questions, as I said, my blogging material is very limited right now. So let's get crackin'.

1. The first questions come from my friend at The Fritz Facts.

"How did you come up with your characters for your doodlekids?"

I began my business designing all sorts of different note cards. I kept thinking I wanted to add some sort of signature character to my line. One day, on a rare occasion that my daughter let me put her hair up, I gave her piggytails (as she calls them). She looked adorable. I began sketching and alas the character with the piggytails was born. The light bulb went off and I began changing the hairstyles, etc. Before I knew it I had a bunch of designs. I added them to my collection and they became my best seller. I then decided to just concentrate on my Doodle Kids® and started their own website.

"If you could devout more time to any one thing what would it be?"

I can only pick one? Wow, that's hard. I need more time for EVERYTHING it seems. Right now I think if I could get a little extra time, I would take some for myself. Moms know that we are usually the last person we take care of. I would like to lose weight and get healthier. I would like to be able to find the time to work at that more than I am able to right now.

2. Laura at Lunatic Fringe, the lovely lady I stole this idea from, asked me this next set.

"When did you have your "Mommy Momment" the moment when you suddenly realized yep, you are a mom!"

We had a really rough beginning with W. He was born with a congenital heart defect. He had open heart surgery when he was only 5 days old. I was scared to death. Holding him while he was attached to wires and tubes completely did me in. I was a lot different 10 years ago. A mouse, really. Very quiet and not one to speak up. I knew I was a mom when one day the doctors came in and in doing their rounds they spoke about my son's case. They talked in front of me as though I weren't there. Normally I would have let something like this go, but something in me woke up. I gained my voice, the voice for my son. I looked at them and said, "Now, again, explain that to ME and in terms I can understand." I had a child now I needed to protect and care for. It was a turning point for me, I never saw that mouse again.

"What part of your no-kids life do you miss the most?"

I sometimes miss not being able to be spontaneous. It's not easy just picking up and going when you have kids. Everything has to be planned.

3. Jamie at BlondeMom Blog wants to know:

"When did you start turning your doodling into a business?"

It was by accident about 3 years ago. I needed a birthday card so I decided to make one. The card got a lot of compliments. I thought, hmmmm....I've always loved to draw and maybe I can make some money with this. It's such a stress reliever for me to draw and I love creating. The money isn't flying in yet but I am very proud of what I have accomplished. Just the mere fact that I am sticking with it makes me feel great.

4. Here is a great question from Slackermommy.

"Do you have any regrets about your life?"

I think everyone has some. There are definitely things I would like to go back and change. But I guess those mistakes made me who I am today. I didn't have an easy childhood, my father was very abusive. I do regret not standing up for myself, but even more so I regret letting his abuse continue to haunt me even after I was no longer a child. I am a very strong person but it took me a long time to let that strong person out.

5. Daydreamer at Candid Yammering asked me this:

"What's your favorite 'comfort food'?"

It depends on the time of the month!! I love popcorn, in all it's salty goodness. And if it's getting close to Aunt Flo visiting, well add me some chocolate in the form of Tollhouse Pie! YUM!

6. The wonderful Maria at Just Eat Your Cupcake wants me to reminisce.

"What was your best friend's name in high school and why were you friends?"

I actually had 4 best friends. We all stuck together throughout high school. We all seemed to drift between each other in closeness at different points and times, but for the most part the 5 of us were very close. Tami, Dana, Bev, and Jackie were all in my wedding. We went through so many ups and downs. So much fun and so much sadness. We've all moved on with our lives and periodically will cross paths. I am still close to Dana, mostly. Though they are not a big part of my life anymore, I will always love them.

7. The almost a mommy again, Valerie at Adventures In Parenting inquires:

"What is the one thing you would do over again to make it right?"

I would go to school after graduating high school. I don't know if it would necessarily be college, but I would have liked to have gone to art school. I didn't have the confidence back then to do it myself, I wish I would have.

8. Momo Fali's has a very fun question!

"What was your grossest Mommy moment?"

I'm sure if I really think back I have a thousand gross Mommy moments! One that stands out has to be the time T. was only about a year old. I put him and W. in the bathtub together. I remember washing W. and all of a sudden he started yelling, "EWWWWWW!!" I looked over at T. and see that he had pooped in the tub. It was also not exactly solid. It got all over him and his brother. Needless to say, bath time was not FUN time that day!

9. And last but certainly not least, Leigh at General Ramblings wants to know:

"Where do you get your ideas for post?"

Lately, I steal them! LOL Seriously, they usually just come to me. My kids are such a great source of entertainment for me. Usually it just takes a few minutes with them to come up with some great material!

Thanks everyone for helping me out. I hope you enjoyed my answers. If not...to heck with you! Just kidding, I love you all!