Q & A Time

From time to time, I'll run into someone who'll say "I love your blog!"  or maybe they don't actually love it and they say "I read your blog!"  Haha.  And then they usually follow it up with a question.  Sometimes those questions are specific post related and some are more general.  So I've decided to do a little Q & A session.  I'll answer the most frequented questions here in this post.  I'm sure I'll do more of these in the future, so if you have a question that I didn't address here, please feel free to ask me.  You may not be the only person wondering :) So let's get on with it...

The most frequent question is:

Have you ever thought about being a writer/journalist?

The answer is YES :)  In fact, when I was in college at UT, I met with an advisor each semester in business school to select my next courses.  I was having a hard time deciding which area of business school I wanted to specialize in.  He looked at my transcript and said "Your best grades are in literature or English-based courses.  Are you sure you want to do business?"  But I was three years in and determined to go with an "all-purpose" degree like Marketing.  There's no money in English-based careers, I thought.  Goofy.  I know.  

But - I do love to write.  It's a way of decompressing for me.  I would love to get paid to write though.  People have said "oh you need to write a book!"  That's so flattering, but I'm not sure that I could be a novelist at this point in my life.  Most of the stories floating around in my head are more like episodes than novels.  I would actually LOVE to write in a weekly column for a newspaper or magazine (and I have a pretty awesome idea for a column too).  Here's a confession - I googled the editor of our local newspaper and wrote her name and email down.  It's tucked safely in my wallet because I haven't gotten up the nerve to email her yet.  Maybe someday I'll work up the nerve.

Where do you find the time to blog?

Well it's probably easier for me because I do truly love to write, thus I MAKE time for it; but it's still tough to chisel in a time block.  The "save" button is my friend.  Just at this point in this post alone, I've been interrupted about 6 times.  I'll start a post just to get my thoughts down, and then I'll save it and come back to it later.  Most of the time that I'm in front of the computer is during my lunch (a plus for working so close to home!) or after the boys are in bed.  On days like today (Sunday) when everyone is at home, I'll steal away for a few minutes at a time while daddy is entertaining the boys to get a post in.  But let's just say this - there is no blogging when it's just me and the boys!  What is it about a shiny computer with lots of buttons that makes all of their toys look so boring??  If I get the computer out, the boys drop what they're doing and hover.  They fight for who's going to get in my lap first and then push every.single.button on the keyboard.  WHY??  HELLO!!  THIS COMPUTER COST MORE THAN YOU DID!!

(And yes, I realize I could simply teach them not to touch the computer, but crap... I have to teach them so much already....)

It's so hard to find cute boy clothes - where do you buy your boys' clothes?

I agree!!  It is very hard to find boy clothes that aren't covered in puppies and dump trucks.  We do own a few dump truck tees (thanks Target!), but I try to limit them.  The sad part is, when you do find handsome boy clothes, you have to pay crazy prices!  

For jeans or pants, I love The Gap.  They can be expensive, but they usually do a buy one, get one half off jeans sale that I try to take advantage of.  For matching or coordinating outfits, I like Gymboree or Crazy 8 (see pic above).  They offer several different shirts and sweaters in the same color combos, which make it a breeze to coordinate.  My very favorite lines for the ultimate stylish little dude are Crewcuts and Mini Boden.  Those lines are very pricey (at least for my small-town budget) so I sign up for their emails and try to take advantage of their deals.  Crewcuts especially makes it easy - they will mark their "sale" items down an additional 30%, making their items within the same price range as Gap or Gymboree.  The items are generally still in season too!  Another great thing about any of these brands are their wearability and resale values.  I tend to spend more $ on Will's clothes, because I hope to pass them on to Brooks.  These items will also bring more in when I resale them two years from now at consignment.
For shoes, we often visit our favorite mom-and-pop shoe store Coggins Shoes for Kids in Roswell.  But if I can't make the 40 minute drive work, I order online from Piperlime.  Great customer service, free shipping and free returns!

These are just a few of the questions that I get the most often.  There are plenty more that I will save for another post.  PLUS - I have Desperate Housewives to attend to ;)