Questions

During the giveaway, I had you all ask me questions.

Jennie asked about kids and gardening.  I honestly haven’t gotten my kids to weed that well yet, but that’s one of my goals for the year.  So I don’t have many tips there.  I did spend a good amount of time last year showing them the different kinds of leaves, and learning which leaves “belonged” and which didn’t.  My mom always explained to me that a weeds are just regular plants that are growing in the wrong spot.  Like grass, for instance.  Grass is good, except when it’s in your garden.  From my experience, kids understand harvesting vegetables sooner than weeding.  Weeding comes later.  It better…

momof4 asked me what a good book would be for someone who wanted to crochet.  I’m not sure.  I’m one of those people who need someone right next to me showing me how to knit or crochet.  I just can’t wrap my mind around a 2 dimensional picture on how to do something like that.  My recommendation, if you don’t have someone to show you, is to make friends with YouTube.  Whenever I need to figure out a new cast on method for knitting, or what a half-double-crochet (hdc) is on a crochet pattern, I turn to YouTube.  It’s a great teacher.

Melissa asked how Knut and I met.  I’d love to dedicate a whole post to that to lengthen and over-dramatize  the fun of that historic event.

MamaBear asked how I got into homeschooling.  That takes a whole post as well.  I did post a bunch as we were in the process of deciding, but I think it would be good to reflect on that, and see what I missed before.  It’s good for the soul.

Becca asked if I had a favorite sewing project that I’ve completed.  Hmmm…that’s really tough!  Some projects turn out really well but give me so many problems that I can’t stand to look at them by the time they’re done.  There are some projects that were both a pleasure to put together and gave me a lot of satisfaction seeing it done.  I will say that I was more pleased than I ever expected with how “Silje’s Sweets” turned out.  Carolyn’s bag was probably a favorite too. 

Annalise asked me which names we liked but never used.  Since we have identical taste in names, I can see her alterior motive here. 😉  I liked her boys names (Bjorn and Haakon) although Knut didn’t like them until Annalise used them.  Then he actually said out loud “Those are so cool!  Why didn’t we use those?” (eyeroll).  We liked all the “Chris” names in Norwegian.  Kristian, (or Christian…we couldn’t agree on spelling), Krister, etc.  However, our kids have an Uncle Chris, and Aunt Kristin, and a great-aunt Chris that I’m very close to.  We just felt there were already enough “Chris'” in the family and didn’t want to add to the confusion.

The boy name Knut never let me use was Gustav.  Or Gustaf.  I had a great-grandpa “Gus” and thought that was a cool name.  Knut didn’t have a boy name list.  If he did I never knew about it.  He just mostly said “no” to the names I came up with.  The fact that David and Elias actually have names is actually pretty miraculous.

As far as girl names, we have so many that we both loved.   Knut always dreamed of having “Silje, Sonja, and Solveig” for daughters.  He was somewhat irked that we skipped Sonja in his name roll and went straight to Solveig.  In my heart, though, I’ve given that name to the baby that we lost through miscarriage, so that makes it ok in my mind.  (Knut and I never officially named that baby or even talked about it.  We were just so confused as to why Sonja just didn’t “fit” Solveig at all.  Even Knut agreed that she just wasn’t a “Sonja” even though he loved the name.  In hindsight, it was because that name was already taken.) 

I really wanted to name Solveig “Ingrid.”  Knut really liked the name, but thought it was too German sounding.  I know…ridiculous.  Ingrid is a very Norwegian name, don’t you think?  We also liked Marit, but that never made it to the top of the list.  Anne is my middle name and I always wanted to name a girl that.  However, with sister names like “Silje and Solveig” Anne just doesn’t seem to fit.  It was almost the middle name of both my girls, but I always changed my mind at the last minute.  We have tended to not name our children based off of our “favorites” but taken a list of our favorite names and waited to see what felt right for each child.  Solveig was not the #1 name for either of us, but she was so clearly a Solveig in both Knut and my mind that we couldn’t not name her that.

Names that we loved but were already taken by Knut’s family: Elsa, Maren, Peder, and Anders.  So there you go.

Sue asked what Candy first helped me create.  I have a terribly embarassing photo of me in the outfit she helped me make for my aunt’s wedding.  If I can dig it up I’ll share.  Mom, since I know you’re reading this, if you find a picture of me in the dress, email it to me, and I’ll post it.

Dawn asked when I have time to sew.  Yep, between 8pm and midnight.  That’s my happy time.  I suppose if you’re not a night person that may drain you.  I’m not a morning person, and my creative juices are a full steam ahead that time of night.  If I weren’t sewing, I’d be up watching t.v. or something.  Really, sewing only sacrifices my t.v. time normally.  It doesn’t take away from sleeping.

Do I scrapbook?  Heck, no.  I used to when I was in high school and college.  I just have no more room for crafting in my life.  I wish I could scrapbook.  I feel bad that I don’t.  I see so many moms scrapbooking and think that my kids’ peers will all have these cool scrapbooks, and mine don’t even all have baby books.  Sometimes it becomes a source of guilt for me.  Then I think about my mom, and I’ll ask to see baby pictures of her and she’ll say “O, here’s one.”  Generations upon generations have survived without having every part of their childhood documented.  That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t document, or it’s not fun.  I just don’t have to let myself feel guilty over it.

I have made photobooks online using snapfish or creative memories and have had them shipped to me in the mail.  Quick and without the mess.  My sister makes a little digital book every year, and I should do that.  Blogging is all I have time for at this time, though.

I’ll answer more later…