Answer Me This, Vol. 2

Joining Kendra's Sunday link-up fun.

1. Do you hate happy clappy church music? No. I actually (gasp!) like modern praise and worship style church music. I also like old, classic hymns. I like anything you can sing to (I definitely subscribe to "when you sing you pray twice," terrible voice and all) and is not accompanied by overly-plodding organ. What I don't like is 1) really slow organ music that no one can sing to, and 2) 70s/80s church music that is all about loving each other (with nary a mention of God). Extra demerits if there is too much of a focus on bread or banquets or food. Those songs really seem to miss the mark in an important way.

2. What is your priority: eating or sleeping? Eating. Definitely eating. I mean, I appreciate my sleep, especially with two under two. But I feel like I can/do/should eat all day every day. 

3. What type of milk do you drink in your house? We drink (gasp! again) non-organic, usually store-brand, cow's milk. Charles and I drink 1%. Clare drinks whole milk. I would like to get on the whole-milk bandwagon. All my other dairy products are full-fat, but I just can't handle the taste of whole milk (unless it is in the form of a latte). Organic milk is just not in the budget, but we are milk drinkers. Especially Clare who gets a love a milk from my dad and grandpa (who worked for/with a local dairy for most of his professional life, which definitely keeps me team dairy).

4. What is a book that changed your perspective on something? The first thing that really comes to mind is when I taught To Kill a Mockingbird. It was the first time I really, really got what a poor job teachers (including myself, up to that point) do of selling books to kids. I have always loved the book, but I remembered how hard it was to get into from my own experience in 9th grade. I took a ton of time to introduce the book, to sell the book, to make sure that kids really, really understood everything that was going on in the book, the structure of the book, the themes of the book. Heck, I tried unbelievably hard to get them to learn the darn vocabulary from the book -- vocabulary was my teaching nemesis. I am honestly proud of my success on that front, which was proved when kids transferred to my class from other schools 2nd semester and complained about the book -- only to have my kids defending what an amazing book it really is. I learned a lot about kids, about education, and about myself from that experience.

Via

5. Who is your favorite saint? Where do I even begin? My Confirmation patron is Therese of Lisieux. I have a deep devotion to St. Thomas the Apostle, and have loved St. Thomas More since high school (ie before he was cool again and before being Catholic was even remotely on the radar). My husband and I, as a couple, have a devotion to Francis, Clare, and Dominic.

6. Introvert or extrovert? Introvert. Definitely an introvert. I've learned how to talk to people in uncomfortable settings, like cocktail parties. I can talk your ear off one-on-one, especially if you get to know me. But, oh, how I deplore group settings/conversations. Even with family, more than a couple of people can be too much for me and I tend to get very quiet in those situations.