SPOTLIGHT ON.....Ms Zelda! « Back to Group Discussions

[Knitting Mama]

Ms. Zelda, this is your spotlight thread! 

People can ask you questions, and you can answer (or not, your choice). Or you can just share if you want to. It's up to you!

To get the ball rolling, here are a few starter questions!

1. Backstory! Tell us about you, where you came from, how you got to where you are now. 
2. What are you craving right now?
3. If someone handed you $1000, no strings attached, what would you do with it?
4. What's your favorite type of soup?
5. Talk about your house a little-- are you happy where you live? Best part about your house? Worst?

[Knitting Mama]

Bump for Ms Zelda to seeeeeeeeeeeeeee! 

[Knitting Mama]

Bump!

[intime0]

Ms Zelda????

[MsZelda]

omg! sorry! I'm here, I've just been out with the stomach flu for the last few days! Okay, I'm going to look at these questions now....

[MsZelda]

1. Backstory! Tell us about you, where you came from, how you got to where you are now. 

ohhhh ... this is fun! I'm from deep woods Northern Ontario - I grew up on a farm with no power/ running water - my folks were "back-to-landers" if that means anything to you.

I have moved a lot and travelled internationally a great deal in my 20s. I did my undergrad in Montreal and travelled to Africa, South East Asia, Europe and China for adventure and work. I was (and still am, though less obviously so) a bit of a free spirit, and did my share of backpacking / hitchhiking / camping in the backcountry before I realized my own mortality in my early 30s. I went back to school a few years ago and did a PhD, married my DH and had a sweet baby girl. Since then, I've worked on and off in research but would like to stay home for a while after the next babe comes along. 

2. What are you craving right now? 

I just ate a huge lunch of orzo-feta salad and a roast beef sandwich picked up at a local gourmet shop. A real treat - a celebratory lunch after hearing baby's heartbeat for the first time today!!!

In general, my appetite has been terrible for about 3 weeks. Too much nausea.

3. If someone handed you $1000, no strings attached, what would you do with it?

I would use it to go and visit my cousin in Florida. I miss her and worry I won't get to see her again (she has cancer and has been fighting it for a few years but things look pretty bad)

4. What's your favorite type of soup?

I love my own carrot / ginger soup and a great curry coconut pea soup that I make pretty regularly. I also love Amy's soups in a can esp. her veg / barley one. I love most soups.

5. Talk about your house a little-- are you happy where you live? Best part about your house? Worst?

I do love our house. It's an little old victorian fixer-upper that is less fixed-up than I would like. I love the fact that the kitchen is open to the dining room and we basically live in those rooms during the day. The worst part is the half-bath off the kitchen which I call the outhouse because it has very little heat and often smells like a dead mouse. Oh yes, we have mice. I have been battling them for months and am losing. 

Sadly, we will be moving this spring or summer, so I am already feeling nostalgic about our sweet little house. 

 

[LilyTiger]

What area is your PhD in?

Do you plan on homeschooling?

What kinds of hobbies to you have when you're not working?

What was your favorite place to visit?

By the way, the Northern Ontario thing really hit for me.  We have a little cabin on a lake out past Sault Ste. Marie and it's inaccessible by road (you have to boat or snowmobile/ski in) and only has propane.  And an outhouse.  I love it more than anything!

[MsZelda]

My PhD is in Literature (20th Century American) - but my dissertation was more of a cultural history of a little literary review

I don't think I have the temperament to homeschool unless I had a great extended community that I could do it with. I am realizing I am a pretty social being that enjoys having other people around (hence ... the problem with research)

Hobbies ... what are those again? just kidding ... but I have definitely let these slide since having my daughter. The few things I still do daily are cook (which I LOVE when I have the time to do it properly), knitting and reading. I also love live music, dancing, hiking, photography, camping, canoeing .... but I don't do these things nearly as much as I'd like to.

Favourite place to visit? I probably have the fondest memories of Laos but that was a long time ago and I think it was the time of my life as much as the place. As for more recently ...Hmmmm ... we have been to Cuba twice and I really love the culture there. I would love to spend more time there when the kids are older and we can really explore the country. 

You are so lucky to have a cottage in N Ontario. Do you get up there very often? It is truly wild up there and so beautiful.

[LilyTiger]

We get up there at least once a year for a few weeks.  Unfortunately, this bambino is due right in the middle of our usual vacation time.  I might try to get up in early May while I can still get in and out of the boat (yikes!), but black flies are a problem around then.  It is completely beautiful though.  Last year we saw a moose, a fox, a beaver, and bald eagles (they have a nest on the other side of our lake) and we can sometimes hear wolves at night.  I love it.

I would love to go to Cuba!  Damn these pesky U.S. travel restrictions.  We honeymooned in Colombia and it was gorgeous.  I can't wait to travel with our kids.

[MsZelda]

black flies ... oh yes ... they are infamous up there. I grew up with so many bites that my hairline was often a line of scabs all spring and summer. Seriously. The cool thing is that I barely react to bug bites as an adult. My DH has an extreme reaction to blackfly bites (swollen, red, painful, itchy) while I hardly notice them. I think I must have built up some kind of tolerance.

[intime0]

ON sounds nice, except for the flies. LOL

Have you been to Singapore when you were visiting in SE Asia?

What are your birth plans?

What is your favorite part of pregnancy? Least favorite?

[MsZelda]

No - I never made it to Singapore. It was among the more expensive destinations in that area. I went to Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Laos and Malaysia. I also lived in SE China for a year working on a development project.

to be continued ...

[MsZelda]

About this birth ... good question. I really want this one to be more fulfilling than my first. While my daughter's birth was all natural, it was also very traumatic to me and felt more like a violent, terrifying experience than a joyful one. Something I'm considering is Hypnobabies, if I can get my hands on a home study course at a reasonable price. If anyone knows anything about this, I'd love to hear your impressions. Other than that, we will have a midwife and my DH will be there. While I've been at a few wonderful home births, for me, I prefer the hospital setting for the security and also, not having to deal with my own bloody sheets (!!)

About the pregnancy -.... my least favourite part has been the nausea. I thought I had it bad the first time but I think it may actually be worse this time. It's a real downer. I feel like I've been disabled for about 7 weeks and I am so ready to have my life back. Also, as above, the delivery was pretty awful last time. So ... I guess you might say I'm not one of those "I love being pregnant" women ... although I do remember a few glorious weeks of rubbing a hard round belly the first time around - I hope it will happen again soon.

I just realized that you are from Singapore, intime. How do you like the expat life? Do you know many other moms over there? I guess I should go and check out your blog ...

[MsZelda]

intime - just checked out your blog and it is really amazing - I like your writing style and sense of humour - very down -to-earth. I want to go back and read more when I have more time. 

[Sol_y_Paz]

What is your favorite movie of all time?

What is your favorite food for a snack?  For breakfast?  Dinner?

Do you have a cat or dog or any other animals? 

If you could go anywhere for a one week vacation right now where would it be?

[Knitting Mama]

What movies have you seen lately that you really enjoyed?

Have you ever spent time as a vegetarian/vegan?

What is your #1 hot topic and why?

What kind of car do you drive and do you love it or hate it (or are you ambivalent about it)?

What is your favorite TV show of all time?

If you had to choose one childhood toy you adored, what would it be?

[MsZelda]

Originally Posted by Sol_y_Paz 

What is your favorite movie of all time?

What is your favorite food for a snack?  For breakfast?  Dinner?

Do you have a cat or dog or any other animals? 

If you could go anywhere for a one week vacation right now where would it be?

movies ... I rarely watch movies these days so I need to think back. I love the Wes Anderson films (Rushmore, Royal Tanenbaums) and Terrence Malick films (Thin Red Line) ... but I don't have an all-time favourite that I can think of.

Food .. now that my appetite is coming back I could chat about food all day. Snack ... I love fresh fruit, esp. grapefruit, pineapple, oranges. For breakfast, I almost always have a piece of DH"s bread (he bakes all our own bread and is my hero) with just a little butter on it. Dinner ... hmmmm .. a few months ago I would have said steak and salad, but I've been less enamoured of meat since I got pregnant ... so I'd have to say something Thai like fresh spring rolls.

Vacation ... I don't mean to sound selfish, but I'd love a solo vacation almost anywhere. I could just use a week of no responsibilities, napping when I want to, reading in bed, etc. I'd be happy to stay in a cheap motel if it meant I could have some time alone.

[MsZelda]

Originally Posted by Cecilia's Mama 

What movies have you seen lately that you really enjoyed?

Have you ever spent time as a vegetarian/vegan?

What is your #1 hot topic and why?

What kind of car do you drive and do you love it or hate it (or are you ambivalent about it)?

What is your favorite TV show of all time?

If you had to choose one childhood toy you adored, what would it be?

for movies ... see above ... although we did rent Beginners a couple of months ago and I thought it was really good. 

I was a vegetarian from age 14 to 28 ... so a pretty long time. My sister and I started eating veg as kids because we had a lot of animals on the farm and didn't want to eat them anymore. I had a couple of breaks from the diet when I was travelling in Africa and it seemed like a better idea to eat the food that was offered to me. Then I became quite anaemic in my late 20s and started eating fish and some chicken and slowly became a fan of meat again. I just try to always choose ethically raised meat - we currently have a CSA with a local farm for all of our meat and a separate one for our veg and fruit.

#1 hot topic - good question. This definitely changes from time to time but I think lately it's been calm parenting / attachment parenting. I truly believe the early years are critical in building healthy attachment and that so many problems (addiction, abuse, depression) come from a failure to successfully attach. To that end, I take my job as a mom very seriously (that sounds heavier than I mean) and think about parenting a lot. One great site that I use as a resource is AHA parenting - it sends really helpful newsletters our regularly. 

Cars are not a big deal to me although safety is more important than it used to be. We drive a Subaru Outback which is pretty luxe for us - we just recently traded in a '99 Forester for it. 

TV ... well, I fell in love with the Mad Men series and watched all the seasons in one run a few months ago. Prior to that, the best show I ever watched was 6FeetUnder. 

Childhood toy .... I loved the homemade cabbage patch kid my mom made me (yes, it was sewn, but it came with adoption papers!) and I loved the Fisher Price play castle - which I recently bought again for my daughter from a yard sale. So much fun!

[intime0]

Ah thanks. I think I'm funny. LOL

Yes, expat in Singapore.  Only have one friend here though.