An Interview With the REAL Aunt Becky

Language alert - there may or may not be some grown-up words used in the following. Read on at your tender, innocent ear's ears's ears' mind's risk.

Aunt Becky is having a contest, and this is part of it. Feel free to go enter and completely screw my chances of winning (not because you're mean or anything, but because my entry into and contest is just ensuring SOMEONE ELSE will win. Lottery winners owe me...big time)

1) Dave and I have a long-standing feud over cheese in a can. He thinks it’s food of The Gods while I think it’s probably Of The Devil. Your take? Oh, dear. I have to cop to guiltily enjoying E-Z Cheez type simulated food products...especially on Pringles. The shame. Place a little slice of Slim Jim on top and you have Redneck hordeuvres whorederves horseoveries appetizers. It has been a few years, though, since I've indulged.

2) Is there any way you can think of to make the elder Gosselins go away? I AM ALL EARS. Have we figured out how to create tears in the space-time continuum? No? How about wormholes? Still working on that? Perhaps a portable hole...? No? Dang - I'm fresh out of ideas.

3) Who is your ridiculous “I can’t admit this to anyone in polite company lest I be banned from life” crush? I don't know that I have one...I have a rabid fangirl crush on Mike Rowe, but that's hardly mortifying. I DID once have a crush on a cartoon character...does that count??

4) If you could fuck it all and pursue your dream (assuming, of course, you were going to be GOOD at it), what would that dream be? I can't really pin it down...there are several things I would do if I could make a life of them - write, sing, and/or photograph. All three would be brilliant.

5) They say “living well is the best revenge.” I think they are wrong. Do you? I think revenge is a waste of time. Getting on with life is a better solution for me, because it doesn't feed the drama.

6) What is the most humiliation you've experienced in public that you’d be willing to admit to The Internet? On a flight to France (when I was all of 13 or 14), the stewardess got so pissed at my continued requests for more peanuts (because 4 nuts to a foil pack is so filling, how could I want more?) on my brother's behalf (because he threatened to kill me if I didn't go up and get him more to eat - who the hell brings teenagers on a ninety-hour flight without feeding them frikin' breakfast first??) that she brought an entire plastic garbage sack full of peanut packets, dumped them on my lap, and loudly declared that THIS should satisfy the little American piggy and I should not ask her for anything else. I could have happily crawled out onto the wing and finished the flight there. My brother ate the nuts and grinned the whole time.

7) Are you honest with The Internet? Like, if I came over to your house tonight (heh)(I’m coming over, yo)(heh) would I be surprised at who I found? You might be surprised to note that I bear no resemblance to the flower I use for my picture...but other than that, Casa de Crazy and its denizens are just as depicted in the Blue Nowhere...sometimes more so. Come on over - I'll make pigs in a duvet!

8 ) If you could have one talent that you don’t currently possess, what would it be? Hmm...I was going to say convince people to pay me for my art (writing, music, photography), but that sounds sad. Also, I'd really like to be able to play the fiddle. Sooo...I'm going with fiddle.

9) There’s not always room for Jello. Is there? Not always...but it does have its place.

10) What’s your guiltiest of the guilty pleasures? Whew...I dunno...Krispy Kreme doughnuts? Lindt Lindor Truffles? Movie Theatre popcorn? Starbucks? Sushi with K? Longhorn with Mum? There are so many...and I'm an Aquarius...we suck at picking just one thing...

Interview? Moi? Oh, alright.

My friend Rachel over at Waxing Moon was good enough to hunt me down and ask me ever so sweetly if I would play along with this whole interview thing. I was hesitant at first - you may not realize it, but I'm actually quite shy. Still, she begged so prettily, I had to relent! There are rules to this game, and they're posted after the interview if you'd like to play, too.*
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1) Reading your blog, I get an image of a funky, crafty, musical, baking homeschooling house. In what ways do you interweave or integrate your role as a homeschooling mother with that of a musician and craftsperson?

I don't know that I make a conscious effort at blending things...I think of everything as an opportunity to teach - teachable moments, I've heard them called - rather than setting aside any one time for set lessons. Music is integral to our lives (have you ever heard a three-year-old sing "Honky Tonk Badonk-a-donk"? One of my fondest musical memories of the Evil Genius' third year!). One of the many reasons I home-school is because I am a musician - and while I am not in high demand, I do occasionally have to travel during the regular school year. Home-schooling means the Evil Genius can travel with me without worrying about attendance or missing vital schooling.

Baking is actually useful on several fronts - it makes my house smell good, makes our friends happy when we bring them the results of our day in the kitchen, and it's a fine opportunity to teach nutrition, chemistry, fractions, basic math, and housekeeping skills while we're at it.

As far as crafting goes, he sees me and wants to play, too, so I try to find ways to let him express himself that mimic what I do - for Yule, T gave him his own digital camera that clicks and downloads pics on the computer, so now he can learn about focus, composition, and cropping.

Ultimately we dance, we sing, we play, and we learn every day, as unconsciously as breathing - which is pretty darned nifty, if you ask me!

2) From waking until bedtime, what is your favourite kind of day? What would you be doing, and with who?

Oh, my...this is a tough one. I love my Evil Genius, and we have some terrific days together...but I also value my alone time. I have to split this answer, I think, if I am to answer fully.

A favorite kind of day with Bird starts with sleeping in, waking gently, and having a nice cuddle. We play, wrestle a bit on the bed, and he quizzes me about whatever questions the fairies planted in his head while he slept - "Mommy, will you tell me about...?" This past Tuesday he wanted to know what a Democrat was, a Republican, Social Security, Welfare, and Income Redistribution, as well as what the President does, the branches of the military, and Congress. Whew. We have breakfast, run errands, maybe go to the Nature Center, come home and catch a nap, maybe bake or play some games, and if it's a really good day I can wrangle him into writing practice! A good day with the family is just us, together, doing as we please, no schedule, no stress.

Another favorite day is the rare (very rare) day I have for myself. A day when I wake when I wake, eat when I eat, and do as I please without worrying about feeding, clothing, or entertaining anyone else. The days I spend at the gallery are good days - I get to be creative among creative people, and how awesome is that??

If you're talking about a fantasy day, it would involve me, Mike Rowe, and a lot of getting dirty and then getting clean again. Heh.

Really, you shouldn't ask an Aquarius for a favorite anything - we can so seldom answer definitively!

3) If you had the power to go back in time and spend an hour with one historical person, who would it be? How would you spend the hour?

Oh...heh...well, I can't think of just one. Einstein, for a chat about physics and time. Eleanor Roosevelt, and I'd chat about anything she liked. I wouldn't mind spending an afternoon with Walt Whitman, out in the woods, just...being. Meeting Buddha would be insanely wonderful. Van Gogh - just to speak to him, have tea, and see how he observed and interacted with his world. Right now, though? I'd go back and ask the founding fathers a few questions, get some clarity about a number of issues that lawyers, rights groups, and constitutional scholars can't seem to agree on.

4) What does the colour purple speak to you of?

The movie? Fine acting, some lovely scenery, and some amazing music. The color itself? Spirit, spiritual energy, and sassy older women who don't give a fig what anyone else thinks of them.

5) If someone gave you a gift, and it was the finest thing in the world you could ever be gifted, what would it be?

Hmm...I think answering this question would require me to live a static life - otherwise my answer would change from moment to moment - maybe an endless supply of yarn, always the right color, weight, and length for the project at hand? A never-ending supply of fabric, always just what I wanted? Prosperity that meant I always had enough and a bit more besides? Maybe. Maybe health, fitness, grace, strength. Maybe confidence. Definitely love, friendship, trust, those things that friends give freely to each other, asking nothing but the same in return.
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Here are the instructions if you wish to be interviewed by me:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me".
2. I will respond by e-mailing you five questions (I get to pick the questions)
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions. (Please include a link to my blog with your answers, so people can follow along.)
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions. I will post a list of those who have agreed to an interview so everyone can follow along.
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I interviewed Devil's Ivy and she's given some brilliant answers - head on over and take a peek!