I'll look back gratefully my recovery from a broken back.

Look, Mom, I can lift this laundry basket!

There were times I was worried that I would never recover, but I'm almost there :)

What do you think you'll remember most from the last year?

I love to sleep with a towel over my eyes...

sleep or type? sleep or type?

Tri Trang Beach, Phuket

If I want to fall asleep, I try to think about restful things, like lying on the beach, all warm and sandy and listening to the waves.

If I am embracing my insomnia, I blog.

You can't sleep. What do you turn to in hopes of falling asleep or embracing your insomnia?

This is more a grocery list than a scavenger hunt...

hot fudge sauce
It is one of life's necessities.

a pan of brownies, warm from the oven
It may take some work, but they must still be warm!

Heavenly Hash ice cream
This is all we would need. Get out the bowls!

You're in charge of the scavenger hunt. What do the hunters have to find?

If I could fly, I'd be a hummingbird.

They go so fast!

Hummingbirds fascinate me :)

If you could be a winged animal, which type would you be?

I like to drool over the stuff at Tiffany's.

Diamonds, emeralds, sapphires, silver and gold!

What's your favorite place to window-shop?

The day my brother saved from a killer goat!

When I lived in New Hampshire as a child, my brother and I used to catch the bus every morning for school. we would walk down the hill, across a bridge and back up another hill to wait in the front of the neighbor's house. The neighbor had a goat for a pet, which was always tied up, until they went on vacation and it chewed through its' rope.

It chased me up onto the neighbor's porch where I tried to shoo it away with my bright red poncho (which just seemed to upset it more). I was really scared and my brave younger brother, seeing me in distress, got the goat's attention. The goat chased Matt down the hill, across the bridge and back up the hill to our house, where my mother, hearing the commotion, came to the door. She had to beat the goat over the head with a broom to get it to go away!

Share a favorite family story.

I think life out there came from the same place we did, so...

...they would look just like us...or maybe like a distant cousin :)

UFOs have landed! And their occupants look a lot like...

I love lilacs. I love the color, but even more, I love, love, love the way they smell!

Have a favorite flower? Tell us about it.

I think I'm coming down with something...

Hot apple cider seems to really sooth my sore throat.

What's your favorite cold remedy?

Pale Azure

Stan likes me in light blue, so maybe I'd try a year of looking like a cornflower. If I did, I might need to buy these beads and accessorize...:)

If you had to wear one color for the entire next year, which would you pick?

My next birthday party's in a ballroom at the Plaza Hotel.

Since I will be dancing the night away (see Aug.21st post) I might as well do it somewhere classy.

Not only would it be a lovely place to do some ballroom dancing, but if someone else is footing the bill, I'd have to stay for a couple of weeks with my family and tromp around one of my favorite cities :) We'd stay in The Royal Plaza Suite, which, btw, is bigger than our house. Maybe it would need to be three weeks...

Pick a crazy spot to have your next birthday party. Someone else is footing the bill.

I'll sleep on the bus all the way to the beach.

I'd like to feel the sand between my toes.

The beach is ALWAYS nice.

You just found a bus pass on the ground. It'll get you somewhere within 50 miles and back – where do you go?

I really don't care as long as I can...

...Fly something...a fighter jet for the Navy, a helicopter for the Army, Air Force One, a super star destroyer for the Marines (you didn't know they had those?)...as long as it leaves the ground.

I'd LOVE to be a pilot!

If you were drafted into the military but could pick your branch, which would you choose?

I'd like to eat Bassett's Allsorts well into old age.

Lately, no one is selling these in my town and I'm sad, sad, sad.

It would have to be Bassett's Allsorts. Especially the chocolate ones. I also like the coconut ones...mmmm. I'd probably give away all the ones covered in nonpareils at Halloween to unsuspecting kids(can you tell I don't like those ones?) but keep the rest for myself!

You've just won a lifetime supply of candy! Which type do you pick?

'The Book of Mormon' is true.

Did you know that The Book of Mormon mentions Jesus Christ every 1.7 verses?

I've learned so much about the Savior's atonement from 'The Book of Mormon'.



For example, Alma 7:11-12 some of my favorite verses -



"And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.



"And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities."



Knowing that Jesus suffered for all my pain and sorrow, as well as for my sin, comforts me and gives me hope.

I'll take a tattoo of a big heart JUST for a week

A big "Amy loves Stan" kind of thingy with hearts and flowers and ribbons and birds - you know what I mean - right across the small of my back. And, no, I'd never get one permanently. I think I'd feel like I was never totally clean and completely naked and that would be a bummer!

If you could get any tattoo for just a week, what would it be?

Rhumba, Tango, Waltz!

Stan and I just signed a contract with our local Arthur Murray studio and 8 days before our next lesson, I broke my back. Right now, dancing is the last thing on my mind, but by my next birthday, the brace I have to wear and my worries about healing should be well behind me.

With my muscles limbered up, a few more lessons under our belts and my sparkly silver dancing shoes back on my feet, we should be ready to dance the night away!

What would you like to do on your next birthday?

You just HAVE to listen to 'I Dig your Wig'.

I <3 The Ben Vaughn Combo.

I Dig your Wig by The Ben Vaughn Combo

M-Motor Vehicle by The Ben Vaughn Combo

Jerry Lewis in France by The Ben Vaughn Combo

Name three songs by the same artist that you'd recommend to someone who's never heard them.

I'd say the cat.

The house cats that wander in to my backyard are much more brazen than the shy Cooper's hawk we only see occasionally...

Animal face-off! Who would win in a fight between a house cat and a hawk?

I used to wish I was named "Victoria", because...

...it seemed so exotic. It had so many syllables! So many letters!

Now, I appreciate my given name - Amy - short, sweet and to the point!

Describe a childhood fantasy of yours.

I would give them a case of Nutella to take back with them.

I wouldn't have to explain once they tasted it :)

Aliens have landed! They're friendly, though – they want one idea to take back to their planet.

'The Wizard of Oz' terrified me.

Her green skin made it worse!

I still remember hiding behind the seats in the movie theater and whimpering until she went away...I think I was about four.

Name a movie that frightened you.

I don't get young girls dressed like pop stars.

What are their parents thinking!?!

I just don't understand why parents dress their young daughters in an overtly sexual way, or even why the let their older daughters dress themselves that way. Don't they want them to develop who they are on the inside instead of focusing so much on the outside?

I am trying to teach my daughters that their value lies in their character and intellect, rather than their lust-inducing powers. Every girl has that ability, but it shouldn't be where she gets either attention from others or her own self worth.

I think every time a woman uses her sexuality to get ahead instead of true merit, she objectifies and thus diminishes all women a little bit. And all those little bits add up to a lot.

What's something you can’t understand no matter how hard you try?

Once my powers of invisibility kick in, I'm heading to the beach.

I'd make any beach a nude beach, but only for invisible people...

...because I really hate tugging at swimsuits, but feel too shy to swim in the nude...at least with the possibility of spectators :)

Oh boy, you have invisible powers! Where's the first place you go?

Are you kidding?

A comedy, duh! With seven kids, five chickens (make that six with the one that wandered in from the neighbor's yard), a rabbit, a guinea pig, and a turtle - what else could it be? Although we do have some teen angst inspired drama occasionally...

If your life were made into a movie, what genre would it be?

I wish I could have gone with Thor Heyerdahl on an expedition.

I went to a lecture he a gave a couple years before he died at one of the Smithsonian Museums. I loved seeing one of the heroes of my youth in person!

What famous people have you seen in real life?

Point the getaway car to to Stan!

I'm sad and lonely - my sweetheart is out of town :(

All I'd need to spend it on would be room service!

The getaway car is waiting outside – where is it taking you?

What should I sell - lingerie or beads?

Maybe I'd have both!

I'd love to have a store...

I would either sell beads, because I could buy so many (but would I be able to sell them - that is the question) or lingerie.

I'd love to have a classy lingerie store where a girl would feel comfortable going to shop (it would be tasteful) and where she could take her hubby, too (I wouldn't have huge pictures of scantily clad women). I went to one once (in Las Vegas of all places) and it was so nice. The proprietor of Le Boudoir Boutique told me it was a lingerie shop for women. What a concept!

So, that's what I'd do in my own town. I'd have a lingerie store with class. It would be so fun :)

If you owned a store, what would you sell?

I'd love to hear the Sermon on the Mount.

I would love to see Jesus when He lived on the earth and hear a sermon of His.

I've often wondered what He really looked and sounded like.

You can time travel! What year or era do you visit?

The Staten Island Ferry is the best people-watching spot in the universe.

The ferry is where I met my biggest high school crush,

so maybe I am biased.

It has the perfect combination of seeing the same people every day and having fresh faces to gaze upon.

Romance, drama, sea breezes, foreign tourists, the Statue of Liberty, a snack bar...

the Staten Island Ferry has it all.

What's your favorite place to people-watch?

I can't travel without a good book...hey, even a bad book

Hey, kid, can I borrow that Fablehaven book when you are done?

I can't abide airports without something to read. All the lines, all the waiting...people watching can only take me so for before I am begging for something to read. The only problem with solving my boredom with a book is that it is tempting to get a quick book fix at other times I am bored...like red lights. Honk, honk!

P.S. the Fablehaven books definitely fall in the "good read" category!

What do you have to have with you when you travel?

The reason I NEED so many pairs of shoes...

...is to express complexity.

Today I wore running shoes most of the day while I ran (albeit in the car) kids all over town. As the mother of seven darlings, I do a lot of running.

But then...this evening, I put some heels on and went out on the town with my hubby/boyfriend and was anything but matronly.

Right now, I am winding down, relaxing and...barefoot.

Maybe I don't wear different shoes to exhibit to others as much as I wear shoes to help me keep track of what is going on and where I am supposed to be in all the craziness!

If the shoes make the man (or woman), what do your shoes say about you right now?

Hey, camera, when are you going to pull some weight around here?

My Pentax K1000 is the most useless thing in my house right now. It was my first "big" purchase. I took it to Israel as an exchange student. I took the first pictures of my first few babies with it!

Bu..u..t, ever since I bought a digital camera and gave up those trips to Walmart to pick up my pictures, I haven't looked back. I'll never use it again, but I can't, can't, cannot sell it, give it away, or give it up!

What's the most useless thing in your house right now?

Oh, for three more hours...

...to make strawberry jam! I have eight pounds of ripe strawberries in the fridge calling my name, but the bills (and being distracted by my weekly Plinky, OBVIOUSLY) is more urgent. Bummer.

There's never enough time, is there? What would you do with an extra three hours today?