Blogaversary Questions - Set #1

As promised, the answers to your questions - the burning questions that keep you up at night when you're thinking about me...... which is just weird, by the way, so stop. The only person allowed to stalk me right now is Jax and only because she does it so well I don't have time for anyone else at the moment.



These first questions are from Miss Wisabus, a fellow Oklahoman and someone I wish I could be more like.

She asks:
What is your Myers-Briggs type? Do you feel like this is an accurate representation of your personality?

I am an ISFJ. (The first time I ever took this test, I was 18 years old and I took it on paper. Yes, PAPER. With a pencil.) Nearly 20 years ago I was an ESFJ. I have become much more introverted over the years. I used to absolutely crave to be the center of attention and at the heart of everything. Now, I value my alone time, my quiet getaways and just being, rather than doing. I like to think that it is a totally okay change. However, my sister sometimes calls me the Unabomber. Hey, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to live in a secluded cabin in the woods with nothing but high-speed internet, my laptop and some sweet tea. Nothing at all.

If there were no obstacles at all, nothing holding you back, EXACTLY what would you be doing right now?

I would be a stay-at-home mom. Oh wait, that’s what I am soon to be again. Obstacles, schmobstacles.

That’s why I turned in my notice last week at work – to stay at home. I haven’t been happy at my job for awhile now. I am entirely too nice and spineless to work in an office full of women. I can’t handle the emotionality of all that estrogen fluxing all over the place and when someone hurts my feelings or takes advantage of me, I just slink off to the bathroom to cry rather than address it. Paul wants me to stay at home, the kids want me to stay at home and I want to stay at home, therefore, I have decided that Quirky Loner Stay-at-Home Mommy Blogger/Writer is the perfect job for me. And ideally, the book will come along shortly. That whole “if you build it, they will come” thing is hopefully going to work for me, except I’m not building a ballpark for dead ball players, I’m just writing a book.

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The next question is from Melessa, another Oklahoma blogger and someone I have met in person and let me just say.....I think she is just about one of the sweetest people to ever walk the face of this earth.

She asks:
Your kids have great names. How did you and Paul choose them?

First let me say that we deliberately named our kids the shortened versions of common longer names on purpose. Most Abigails don’t go through life being called Abigail – they are almost always called Abby. And Samuel is always shortened to Sam. Katherine? Yep, Katy, Katie or, because we’re odd, Kady. So we just saved everyone the trouble and shortened them from the get-go.

Abby’s name was chosen when I was in the 5th grade. I had to undergo allergy testing – you know, where they poke your arms with bazillions of needles and inject you chock full of stuff to find out how you’ll react or if you’ll just up and die - and the gal that was doing the poking on my arm was named Charm. I thought Charm was the bomb and she had a daughter named Abby. I decided at the tender age of 11 that if Charm had a daughter named Abby, then someday I, too, would have a daughter named Abby and I would be as cool as Charm. Turns out, I’m only minorly cool, but my daughter has a beautiful name and she’s cool enough for both of us. Her middle name is a combination of my mom’s middle name and Paul’s mom’s middle name. Lea and Ann – thus, LeAnna. She has asked me before why we just didn’t call her “LeAnn” and my answer is always, “Uhhhhhh….” Get it? Le-Ann-Uh. I slay me.

Sam was very nearly Baby Boy Hoover. When we were like, two seconds pregnant with Ab, the boy name we picked out was Kaden. Well, she was a girl and in the meantime, between pregnancies, the name Kaden suddenly became the most popular boy name ever and we didn’t want to holler for our son on the playground and see ten little boys come running, so we didn’t recycle that name. There were many, many fights over our son’s name, most of which ended in me crying and him slamming a door. I’m telling you, we didn’t want to name him the wrong thing and we both felt very strongly about getting it right. He and Paul’s nephew are the last two male Hoovers in the family, so we wanted to name him something that was sure to make him eligible to get married and lots of male children to carry on the Hoover name. (I know, our minds, they work strangely) One day, I was watching my second-favorite soap opera, One Life to Live, and our son’s name was chosen. At the time there was a character on the show named “Sam Rappaport” and even though I had watched the show every day and ol’ Sam Rappaport was on there every day, for some reason that particular day I really liked his name. When Paul got home from work that night I said, “What would you think about naming him Sam?” He thought for a second then said, “I like it. Sam Glenn.” Glenn is Paul’s middle name, as well as my mother’s maiden name. It was never argued about again.

Kady was the only one of my kids that I didn’t KNOW beyond the shadow of a doubt what gender she was. With Ab and Sam, the ultrasounds only confirmed what my mother’s intuition had already told me. However, with Kady, the ultrasound was iffy and my intuition was broken or something and I really wasn’t sure what would be emerging from my vagina on or around New Year’s Day 2002. We still really liked the “Kaden” we had never used for Sam, but were still hung up on the popularity issue. Paul suggested we just turn it into “Kady” for a girl. (If she had turned out to be a boy, she would’ve been a Jake.) I like the unusual spelling and really thought her nickname would be Kady-Did. Turns out, she’s a Kady Bug instead. Her middle name, Dawn, is my middle name. We ended up naming our dog Jake.


Stay tuned for Set #2!!