Who Am I and Who Are You? Yes, You!

I have another post in the works but since I was tagged by the wonderful and funny momma, Martha Stewart Doesn't Live Here, with this light and lively Who am I? Who are You? I thought I'd play along first. This is a little game recently brought back to life by some pretty awesome bloggers like My Daily Jenn-ism and Menopausal Mother and more if you check them out and then simply follow the yellow brick road. It seems some smart lady blogger condensed the old version a bit, or I probably would have passed  on this. Let's face it, answering 45 questions about myself for free and not in relation to health care is CRAAAZY talk in my busy world. Heck, even in relation to health care it's crazy talk.

So anyway, if I ever write a book like every other mom blogger in the world is doing, here's my personal bio for the last page where you read all that stuff about the author!

1. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?
Pittsburgh, PA. About 10 minutes south of the city. And yes, like every other person from the Burgh I was born and bred a Steeler fan, which is a birthright passed down maternally. My Philly bred, Eagles fan husband has no say. See ...

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER SOMEONE?
I was. Or so the story goes....After my dad got kicked out of the delivery room for threatening the doctor because my mom had been in labor FOREVER, he left and was watching Charlie's Angels. My mom was convinced I was a boy. Even after finally having a c-section and coming around she said I wasn't her baby because she had a boy! I was supposed to be Justin Mathew. Anyway, my dad came up with Jaclyn after Jaclyn Smith. Marie is after my mom's late Aunt Marilyn. (It's a Jewish  tradition to name your children after those who have died...like in many other cultures)

And so it was... Justin Mathew turned out to be Jaclyn Marie!

3. IF YOU HAVE CHILDREN, HOW MANY DO YOU HAVE?
I have 2 beautiful PITA's. PITA #1 is my 3 year old daughter and #2, my son, will be 2 in a few days! I'm not ready for my baby to not be a baby anymore! I also had two for sure miscarriages and another very early one, though the doctor thought it was a false pregnancy, I know my body well enough, I was pregnant, even if just for a couple weeks.

4. HOW MANY PETS DO YOU HAVE?
One dog who is king PITA of the house! Well, aside from the husband of course. I have a boxer who will be 9 in May. He's had issues since I got him as an adorable pup. He's on Prozac. Yes, Prozac. It helps. He's nuts, but he's my nut

And, since starting this post I received word that we were approved to adopt this sweet girl, Nellie!

Should have her in about 10 days. I'm very nervous to make the leap to two doggy's but I figure it's a better move than a 3rd baby!






5. YOUR WORST INJURY?
I don't get hurt. Really. No broken bones or stitches...ever. (knock on wood, right ?!) I would get sprains as a kid and act like I broke my ankle! If I skinned my knee I wouldn't bend it to walk for weeks! Seriously. Having a baby puts pain in a whole new perspective. But injury, nothing to note.

6. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
Nope, not really. Nothing like this anyway!

 

I am good at things like yoga. Sometimes I can surprise myself with my creativity or thinking outside the box, like making a homemade kite out of paper and pom poms because we were out of string and the kids up and decided they wanted to go fly kites... and it was raining. Things like that. But I am in NO WAY talented in the artsy arena. So again, nothing special to note in the talent department. I feel boring.

 

7. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE THING TO BAKE?

Probably muffins. I like muffins. Homemade of course. That's not sarcasm. I have issues with premade cake and muffin mixes. Mainly because I use whole wheat flour, honey and applesauce instead of sugar and oils when I bake. 

 

8. FAVORITE FAST FOOD?
I loathe fast food. I work extra hard to eat healthy. As healthy as I can anyway. I'm not perfect by any means. I eat fast food if it's the most convenient, like when on the road, but I don't like it and feel crappy after. I also grew up on fast food so I have some fast food issues!

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
I used to want to. Not so much anymore. I have more of a fear of heights than I thought I did.

10. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
Their aura. It's the yogi in me, what can I say? I have this feeling when I meet fake people. I get an uneasy feeling and well, I just don't enjoy being in their energy space. I notice if people make eye contact too. Mainly because I've been doing a rather crappy job at the whole eye contact thing since having kids. I tend to keep my eyes on them at all times and forget I'm talking to someone and should probably look at them from time to time. Reasonable enough. But since I got so used to that, I realized I do it even when my kids aren't with me!

11. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
I cut an onion today and the tears were pouring out!
Seriously, I have a hard time crying. College peeps would LOL if they read that but for many years now, it's true. An honest to God good cry, it's been a long time. Can't recall even. I cried at my Pap's bedside and after he passed and a couple times after thinking of him. I tear up about once a month but no real tears. TO be honest, it sort of sucks. A good cry is good for the soul.

12. ANY CURRENT WORRIES?
Um, I'm a mom. Nuff said.

13. NAME 3 DRINKS THAT YOU DRINK REGULARLY?
Water, Coffee, Wine. In that order.
Though I don't drink nearly enough water and it's always a goal of mine. Yes, I stress over my lack of water consumption. And when I say coffee, I tend to go for for the latte sort, so I guess technically I drink more milk than wine.

14. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE BOOK?

Team Edward!

When I find a good book, or I should say a book I like, I can't put it down. I tend to procrastinate starting a book for many reasons and excuses. I've been in a book rut lately, with MANY on my to-read list. That said, I like easy reads. I LOVE the Harry Potter series and Twilight, Hunger Games and Girl trilogies. I mean LOVE in that I get completely obsessed with them. I ignore my kids, housework, everything... even have the book in front of me while I cook, eat and use the potty. I would put them down to shower and drive, though considered getting them on CD for those purposes.

Recently I loved reading How Yoga Works during my teacher training. I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Enjoyed a number of the classics like The Catcher in the Rye and also have yet to read many of them too, like Withering Heights. No, I've never read it. Nope, not lying.

15. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE A PIRATE?
Not really. I'm not into stealing. Though Izzy and Jake are pretty cool. They are the good pirates. And seriously, what girl wouldn't love to be stuck on a ship with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. Certainly not this one! But other than that, nope, a pirate's life is not for me. (Yes, I sang that in my head)

16. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Buy from me!

Young Living Peace and Calming oil.

Yes, the picture is a shameless plug for you to buy some oils from me! Message me if interested :)




Love lilac! Would love a lilac bush around the house somewhere.
Old school cologne, like Dakar and Polo. Reminds me of high school crushes and my husband in college. I'm sure people still wear these, I'm sure we have Polo around the house somewhere, but it's more the nostalgia.

17. WHY DO YOU BLOG?
To keep my self talk from driving me completely insane and to connect with others who are going through similar experiences. I do this for both support and to hopefully help others through being honest about how I am dealing with this thing called life. Before being a mommy I was a therapist (mental health), so it's in my blood to want to help if I can. I also love how we are all connected in some way and blogging often reminds me of that!

18. WHAT SONG DO YOU WANT PLAYED AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Hmmm. I'll have to come back to this one.

Okay, I thought about it last night and the first thing that came to me was Bob Marley. Anyone who really knows me knows he is my all time fave, though I rarely listen to Bob anymore...or anything other than a top 40ish radio station and kid toons. Recently while working on a playlist for a tot yoga class I was subbing for I realized how much I miss Bob and music in general. I need to put this new iPod to good use and start soothing my soul with some good tunes! So, I think I like this one for my funeral... that's if you do music at a Jewish funeral. I don't think you do for some reason. (click "this one" in case you didn't realize that, to hear my funeral song)

19. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
Just one? Not possible.
My anger
My difficulty with letting things go
Right now it's all the pains my body is experiencing for an unidentifiable reason.
I really dislike my acne.Does anyone like acne? It makes me self conscious when it's bad. I prefer to feel confident. I feel silly since I'm 35, not 15. It just sucks.
Battling waves of depression. (the post I was working on before I was tagged to do this)

20. FAVORITE HOBBY?
I don't really have a hobby like stamp collecting or scrap booking. I have made one scrapbook though and it turned out pretty awesome for a first timer, but they are WORK! I'd have to say yoga was my hobby but now it's my career, hopefully. So, I'm not sure it can still be classified as my hobby.
Ooooh, I do have an all girl fantasy football league. I think that can be considered a hobby. If so, that's my favorite.

21. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A FRIEND?
Loyalty. You don't have to agree with me but even if we agree to disagree, you'd have my back if someone else had something bad to say! Period.

22. NAME SOMETHING YOU'VE DONE THAT YOU NEVER THOUGHT YOU'D DO?
Everything I do is with purpose, intent or I believe I was meant to do it... BUT I guess I could say paragliding in Switzerland. It was over a decade ago and I always knew I would travel, though I can't say I imagined it or planned on that at the time.
That's part of why I no longer have a desire to bungee jump, skydive or anything else that involves flying high in the sky. I thought I was going to puke the whole time. Though, it was a pretty view.

23. FAVORITE FUN THINGS TO DO?
Prekid or now?

Kid fun... watching the kids sing and dance. Anything that makes their little faces light up with excitement. Amusement and water parks. Cooking out with family, playing yard games. Prekid and now actually.

Prekid.... Penn State tailgating and games. NOTHING compares to the energy of Beaver Stadium. Nothing.









24. ANY PET PEEVES?
Many. Shall I list them all?
Ignorance is #1. There's no excuse for it. There are endless avenues to learn whatever your heart desires. Or at least whatever you feel a need to comment on. Know about it first!
Wasting food, wasting anything.
When counters are left wet... or sinks and I lean in it.
Tailgating, that's more a road rage thing than a pet peeve. It's so unsafe people, geesh!
When my husband makes a comment but I know he wants to say something else.
Oh, I could write a whole post of pet peeves. I'll stop here.

25. WHAT'S THE LAST THING THAT MADE YOU LAUGH?
My kids. Everyday. Many times each day. I could share a few videos but if you read this long, well, I'm impressed and I won't force you to watch my short home video clips!

Stupid Facebook posts tend to make me chuckle quite often too. Actually, since it took me 3 days to do this post, this is what made me giggle last night. Not sure why, but it did.

And that's all she wrote folks! Geesh, I should have stuck with my more serious one! This took FOREVER.

Most of the bloggers I thought of tagging were already tagged. The rest...I don't know well enough or have won all sorts of awards and really know what they are doing with this blogging thing so I feel silly.....
Here's a couple I like who I follow on Facebook but I don't know them all that well. I've been bad at keeping up with anyone's blogs lately. Time, time, time... there's never enough of it! So, maybe they'll play along, maybe not. You should check them out either way. I think you'll like them!

Modern Mama Dramas
Mommy Unmuted
SooperDad Blog of Awesomeness (I love dad blogs!)

My followers can feel free to comment by answering their favorite question too! If you so desire.

Namaste and Good Night!! I'm so happy to be done with this post!