Got Questions? I've got answers!

Wow, y'all came up with some good questions! I had fun answering them and I think I answered them as thoroughly as possible. Because of that, this post is INCREDIBLY long and if you anyone reads all of it, well, then you my friend, are incredibly bored!

So, here goes... ENJOY! Oh, and if you asked a question, consider yourself tagged! I'll be checking around to see if you do my challenge!

Stormi asks:
“If you had to vote for a democrat, whom would you rather vote for?
Hillary or Obama?”
The answer to that my friends would be Hillary. While, Hillary is a socialist leftist, I believe Obama is extreme socialist FAR leftist.

Now, my question to Stormi is… what makes you think I haven’t already voted for Hillary? I “Rushed the Vote: Operation Chaos” back in March and voted for Hillary in the Texas primary.

Anna asks:
“What is your favorite junk food that you are secretly eating and not blogging about?”

Aha! Anna must think I am not as well behaved in my eating as I boast about on my blog! And… she’s right. While I do have a tendency to stick to my diet more so than not, I do take a bite here and a nibble there of forbidden foods.

• Cheetos – They are always in the house and I will eat 1 or 2 (seriously!) when the girls eat them for lunch. I literally eat one or two, then close the bag and put them away. If not, I’d sit there and eat the whole bag.
• Cookies – IKEA sells some yummy imported crispy thin coffee flavored cookies and when I go to IKEA I buy a pack. I eat 1 (or 2) a day (sometimes not). They are soooo good.
• Coffee with hazelnut cream – I always drink coffee in the morning, but lately, I’ve been enjoying a cuppa in the afternoon. It seems to curb my afternoon hunger. But, is it junk food? Probably not… but, the hazelnut creamer I use, is. Randy calls it “synthetic lubricant,” since it is non-dairy. But, it has 30 calories per tablespoon and I use at least 3 tablespoons – so that makes 100 calories per cup – give or take! YIKES!
• Popcorn – I love, love, love popcorn. So, at least once a week, I’ll air-pop a ton of popcorn and then I add 1-2 tablespoons of REAL melted butter. I then add butter-flavored salt (no calories) and shake it up. Mmmmmm!

Heidi asks:
What is your favorite dessert, and why?
This is so easy… it’s Crème Brule’. I have a fabulous no fail recipe for crème brulee if anyone is interested. I could eat my weight in that stuff.

What is your biggest vice?
Vice? I don’t have any! Ha… well, at least not the traditional vices like smokin’, gamblin’, and drinkin’ etc., at least, not any more!

My present-day vice would have to be Internet usage. It’s terrible. I spend many a fruitless hours on this stupid computer.

What denomination of church do you attend, and why?
My family and I attend a non-denominational church. Randy and I were both brought up in an Assembly of God church, which is a full-gospel charismatic Holy-Spirit filled church. We found that in the current church we attend. We love our church, our pastor, the praise and worship, the children’s ministry, the adult ministries, everything about it… we love.

Heidi, when we lived in Minnesota, we attended River Valley Church in Apple Valley with Pastor Rob Ketterling. We loved that church and in the event that we move back to MN, we’ll definitely be heading back there.

Leigh Ann (LA) asks:
What is your biggest regret in life?

I’ve thought long and hard about this one… (Thanks, LA) and while I have a lot of mini-regrets, I have to say my biggest regret in life is not getting a college degree that gave me a skill. Having a criminal justice degree gives me no real marketable skill and looking back on that now, it is a huge regret. I am not sure what I would do, if I could do it all over again, but I do know that I would graduate with a skill – Computer Scientist (shout out to Angie), Engineer (shout out to Randy), Teacher (shout out to Kristi and Amanda), Nurse (shout out to my mama), Architect (shout out to Heidi), Accountant (shout out to Cyndi and Sheryle).

Erica asks:
What's your middle name?
Ouch… I hate that question… it is Larenda. Not sure where that name came from. However, I’ve since met a Lorinda and she actually likes her name. Imagine that?

Have you ever felt like "Erica" was really a boys' name with an "a" tacked on the end? And how much does it annoy you when it's spelled with a "k"?
That thought has never occurred to me. I will say I have never liked my name. I don’t consider myself to be an Erica. Not sure what I would name myself if I could, though. And, yes… I don’t like ‘Erika’ at all and it seems as if most people spell my name like that. It is annoying.

Cyndi asks:
Knowing what you know now would you do something different?
Yes, of course.

• Would have never moved to Minnesota (sorry, Heidi!)
• Would have enjoyed Denmark more.
• Would have convinced Randy in our High School years that we would be getting married and it would have saved us 7+ years of miserable relationships.
• Would have gotten a worthwhile college degree. (See above)
• Would have only had 1-2 years of young adult rebellion, instead of 3-4.
• Would have gone away to college, rather than stayed at home and attended the local university.
• Oh, the list is long… but I think those are the highlights…

Would you make the same choices and or decisions?
Yeah, I guess I would.

• As much as I did not like moving to Minnesota, we would have never had the opportunity to live in Europe.
• And as much as I missed living in the U.S., I would have never have met my dear friend Charlotte, nor would I have had the opportunity to live in another country.
• Had I married Randy right out of college, we’d now be married nearly 14 years and that totally boggles my mind. I’m glad we had miserable relationships before we re-connected because it taught us how to truly love one another.
• Since I’m not currently working, I guess it doesn’t matter that I have a college degree in Criminal Justice. Besides, I know for a fact that my friend Cyndi has no plans of going back to work anytime soon and she has a skill, so even if I had an actual ‘skill’ I likely would not be using it.
• The young adult rebellion helped me to “get it out of my system” so to speak. I’ve heard of countless times when a couple marries too early and then they divorce because they felt like they ‘missed out’ on their youth.
• I miss having the real college experience, but my folks paid for it in a time when money was tight, so I’m lucky to have gone to college at all.

So, wasn’t that fun? Now, in effort carry out the fun, I tag Stormi, Anna, Erica, Heidi and Leigh Ann.