20 Questions

As I mentioned in my last post, Nico has tagged me in one of these fun Q&A thingies. Nico is kind of like the Stirrup Queens in our small Hypothalamic Amenorrhea corner of the infertility world, and has helped countless women recover from HA to get pregnant over the past few years. Many, many women out there are so thankful for the sage advice and comfort she consistently offers on our HA board at Fertile Thoughts!

So, for the questions and my answers.

Rule #1: the tagged person must write their answers on their blog and replace any question they dislike with a new question formulated by themselves.

Rule #2: tag 4 people to do this quiz; they cannot refuse (um, I don't agree with this--this is totally unmandatory). The tag-ee must state who tagged them.
1. If you have pets, do you see them as merely animals or are they members of your family? The only pets my husband and I have had since being married have been tarantulas--a total of three through the years. Pete has always been really fascinated with them and told me when we got married that I needed to be okay with having some. And they have to be some of the most low-maintenance and cheapest pets around, so I really couldn't complain. We no longer have any now, though--two died, and we sold the third when Pete finally had the tarantula thing out of his system. Considering that they were super boring and I forgot we even had them half the time, they were definitely in the "merely animals" category.

Growing up, our family went through two dogs and about 11 cats (most of whom died really random and tragic deaths--that's a whole 'nother story). While I loved our pets, they were definitely animals and not family members. The dogs were always outside dogs, and the cats...well, they kept dying, so how could we get too attached? Pete and I always talk about getting pets again when our kids are old enough to appreciate them and we're a little more settled in one place, but they will not be showing up in our family portraits.

2. If you could have a dream come true, what would it be? I guess two things come to mind. One, I would love to get another Master's in Counseling at some point in my life. (I know, dream big, right?) Two, I would love to have a family consisting of 4-5 kids about 10 years from now: 2-3 biological and 1-2 adopted. While further pregnancies sound daunting to me right now, I think the adoption process will probably be even more daunting and complicated. And the idea of bringing slightly older kids into our home and not being around through their infancy (which is probably what we would do, since that's where the bigger need is) is a bit scary. But I think worth it.

3. What would you do with a billion dollars? My husband and I have often talked about how we wouldn't want to change much about our lifestyle no matter how much money we made. Simple living is the way to go--we just happen to be forced into it by finances right now! And since we plan to live overseas, we don't have aspirations to buying a house anytime soon. That said, we would definitely benefit from having a bit more tucked away into savings, and perhaps starting a college fund for the kids. Then we would be faced with the major responsibility of trying to give the rest of that huge sum of money away in a responsible manner, which I hear is more difficult than you would think when you have that much to give away! Fortunately, we have lots of relationships in the non-profit world, so we could probably find people we know and trust to give to. (For example, Pete's sister and brother-in-law, who live in Bolivia and would love to open an orphanage there.)

4. What helps to pull you out of a bad mood? Usually, reminding myself of how self-centered I'm being and realizing that whatever it is isn't worth making others (ie, my husband) miserable. And praying for God to help me get his perspective on the situation.That's for the minor crabby mood. When I've really been depressed, it's taken a lot more prayer, time, conversations with my husband or others, etc.

5. What is your bedtime routine? Around 10pm--start thinking about going to bed. Usually turn on Scrubs reruns and watch for the next 1/2 hour. At 10:30, drag myself off the couch to go refill my waterbottle, then head announce to Pete that I'm going to brush my teeth (his hint to follow me soon). Go upstairs and brush my teeth, use the bathroom once or twice, put on lotion, change into pjs if necessary, turn on the fan in our bedroom, turn on a heating pad to put on my feet if it's cold (it shuts off automatically after an hour, don't worry), then lay in bed a few minutes chatting with Pete. Finally, we kiss goodnight, I laboriously roll myself over to turn the light out and gather the various pillows I need to sleep these days, and then drift off.

6. If you are currently in a relationship, how did you meet your significant other? We both went to the same small, private, Christian college in East Texas. The year I started (I transferred in as a Sophomore), he was a senior and the RA of my floor's brother floor. Apparently, he noticed me pretty early on, but the first time I really remember noticing him was on a one-night camping trip we went on with a group of friends sometime in late September or early October. We were camping on this tiny island and played sardines over the whole island. He decided at some point that it would be fun to play the game while carrying a small tree on his back. I found this particularly amusing, and we hit it off that night. The next few months were very complicated, but we officially started dating by early December and have been together ever since.

7. What kind of books do you read? I try to alternate between reading "classics" and more modern lit. Having a Kindle definitely helps keep me motivated on the classics, since they're mostly free. As far as the modern lit goes, I try to stick with books that have won various prizes or that make a big splash in some way, just so I'll be sure they're really good before getting into them (I have a very low tolerance for poorly written and/or cheesy books).

8. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Living in a major city in China with my professor husband and 3-4 kids (the oldest of whom will be almost 10--scary!). Possibly homeschooling and/or teaching English literature or language (ie, TEFL) classes here and there. And speaking, reading, and writing fluent Chinese, of course!

9. What’s your fear? Of course I have occasional fears about tragedy striking me or my family, but I really don't dwell on these too much as those kinds of things are so completely out of my control. I'd say that if you really probe my psyche, the things I fear are chaos (being out of control of my life) and being disliked by other people.

10. Would you give up all junk food for the rest of your life for the opportunity to see outer space? Probably not. I'd love to see outer space, but I would hate to be so completely restricted in what I can eat.

11. What’s the first thing you do when you wake up? Put on my glasses, turn off the fan (it's remote controlled), and slowly swing myself out of bed.

12. If you could change one thing about your significant other, what would it be? Right now, I wish he were a little more willing and capable of cooking so I could still get a healthy, home-cooked meal without making it myself. He is definitely willing to provide a meal, but it would most certainly involve buying something frozen from Trader Joe's.

13. If you could pick a new name for yourself, what would it be? I definitely like my name (and no, it's not really Ceejay, but my real name is pretty uncommon and fairly google-able if you know anything else at all about me). When I was a kid, though, I was obsessed with the name Christina for a while and wished I could change mine. I think that was before I realized how common Christina is, or at least before I valued originality in names as much as I do now.

14. If you had to choose between six months of sun or six months of rain, what would you choose? As much as I enjoy the occasional cozy, rainy day (especially after the actual six months straight of sun we get out here from May to November), I would never survive with six months straight of rain. And I would definitely have to figure out another solution for my hair!

15. If you could only eat one thing for the next 6 months, what would it be? Even that thought makes me shudder...but I'd probably have to say some kind of sandwich on homemade, whole-wheat bread so I'm at least getting some nutrition (can I be that picky about it?).

16. What is the thing you enjoy about blogging the most? Getting to read everyone else's blogs and having online friends!

17. Do you prefer salty or sweet foods? Definitely sweet. I could go a long time without eating savory junk foods, but don't you dare try to take my chocolate or desserts away for more than a day!

18. What items are in your purse right now? All the usual...plus a homemade granola bar (for those sudden hunger attacks), a small plastic container of wheat bran, a small bottle of stool softeners, and some gas-x. Can you tell digestive issues have been my biggest pregnancy complaint?

19. If you had to choose between vacationing at the beach or in the mountains where would you go? I never thought I'd say this after spending the first 11 years of my life so close to beautiful beaches and so far from beautiful mountains, but I'd have to go with beach right about now. To be honest, mountain vacations have never quite felt like real vacations to me, even though I do enjoy the mountains!

20. What do you watch on television that you know you shouldn’t? I really don't watch much TV, so when I do watch, it's usually a show that I actually think is worth watching (like Scrubs, Modern Family, or House). I have spent the last year catching up on Mad Men episodes rented from the library, and while I totally think that's a show worth watching, my husband disagrees. All the adultery and male chauvinism makes him really depressed and angry. And I can't really blame him.

And now I'm supposed to tag 4 people. However, I have a feeling that most of you already filled this out because I know it went around the blogosphere a month or two ago. So, I'm going to cheat and say that you may consider yourself tagged if you are reading this and have not filled it out yet, because I simply can't remember whose blogs I saw it on and am too lazy to go back and look.