About Me (no crayon questions allowed)

So Katie called on all her blogger buds to play along, and I am happy to oblige...because I always (correctly) assume that everyone is dying to know everything about me. So here goes...complete honesty...

1. Tell me something you really like about yourself.
This one's hard, because for everything I think of, there's a flip-side that makes me think "oh, well...that's not so great." So maybe I'm not the awesome person I thought I was. But surely there's go to be something! Let me think...okay, got it! This answer may be sub-par, but I like that I'm okay with my life being less than perfect...far less. What I mean is, I live in an environment where it could be very very easy for me to get swept up with "keeping up with the Joneses". I could easily spend my whole day focusing on having the kitchen redone in my perfect, treeless McHouse and getting the latest in stainless appliances and making sure the dining room is the perfect shade of red. I could obsess over the latest Volvo SUV and getting my adorable kids photographed every six months in their brand spanking new duds from a children's boutique. I could make sure I always have a steaming latte from Starbucks in my hand and a hot Louis Vuitton on my shoulder, and I could get dressed to the nines for my monthly MOPS meeting and lunch dates in order to show everyone how sleek my wardrobe is. I could do all these things, but thank God my mother gave me enough sense to realize what's important. And for me, part-time worker and full-time mommy, with a firefighter for a husband, most of these things fall by the wayside. And I can live with it...happily! I'm not saying I don't want things. I love getting new clothes. I'd give my right arm for new carpet and flooring all through my house, because whoever lived here before us obviously confused "carpet" with "litterbox" on a regular basis. But that will have to wait, and I'm cool with waiting. The truth is, I'm also cool with getting my handbags from Target and my clothes from Old Navy, I sometimes take my kids to Wal-mart to get their pictures taken, I live in a really small house that I prefer to think of as a cottage (but it has big beautiful trees), I don't even have a dining room and I pretty much hate coffee. But I love myself and all my crappy stuff. So there.

2. If life gave "do-overs", would you have many? Tell me one.
I would have oh so many. At least five pop into my head as I read the question. For most of them at least I can say I didn't know better. But for one I can't say that, and I feel a rush of shame every time I think of it. I've never told anyone, and I don't think I can bring myself to share now. I was a grown-up and I behaved very childishly, then I never came clean. Maybe one day I can, but not today...sorry folks. Just know that nobody got hurt. I just have to live with the guilt of having lied to someone for no reason...someone I see on a regular basis. And no it's not Mom, Chris, Mandy or anyone else that reads this blog, so you can all relax.

3. What would you like to be remembered for after you're gone?
Recipes. I want my descendants to stand in their kitchens and talk about me while they're making a dish that I've yet to perfect, but will someday. Like how my mom and I talk about my great-grandmother Meme for her awesomely good green apple stuffing. Or how my Gram could make a mustard vinaigrette better than anyone else on God's green earth, and we called it her "invisible dressing". Occasionally Luke's mom and I will bake together when there's a big family event coming up and a lot to be made, and she tells me about her Grandma Sokol who was a whiz in the kitchen, and that stuff is cool to hear. I want to be talked about like that when I'm gone, because being in the kitchen is like meditation or prayer for me. It relaxes me and at the same time excites me because I've realized that I can make really good stuff. And I want my family and all its future members to enjoy the product of my hobby as much as I do, so to have my name on a recipe, to have my granddaughter learning to make "Becky's pumpkin muffins" or something so that she can enjoy it too...well, that's a great way to be remembered.

4. Knowing what you know now, what one piece of wisdom would you like to pass on to future generations?
I have no wisdom, I'm young and stupid and a work in progress myself. I'll pull from the previous three questions, how about that? Three tidbits of advice are: the best things in life don't carry a price tag, honesty is always the best policy, and when making drop cookies, make sure you stir in the dry ingredients a little at a time for the best consistency.

5. Is your life
a.) harlequin romance
b.) an atlas
c.) a mystery
d. ) sci-fi
e.) other.
EXPLAIN your choice.
Other. My life is a cookbook. See #3 for your explanation. :)