Spotlight on Jaimee! « Back to Group Discussions

[seraf]

Spotlight

Answer what you like, leave the rest.  Feel free to share more about yourself.

Fill in the blank

Hi! My name is _____. I am ______ years old. ______ and I have been together for ______ years. We have _______ kids and ______ pets. If I was at my favorite restaurant right now I would order _____ but we will actually be having _______ for dinner tonight. When I work for pay I ______.When I am home with the kids my favorite part of the day is _____. My hobbies and interests include _____, _______ and ______.


Favorite

Music:
Movie:
Book:
Season:
Household chore:
Cause:
Diaper:
Baby carrier:


If you could change one thing about _____, what would it be?

The world?
Your house?
Your parenting?
Your life?


What would your best friends say is your best feature?
If a genie gave you three wishes what would you ask for?
Do you have any pet peeves?
Where would you go on a dream vacation?
Where is the best place you've been?

Is there a question you would like to add or remove?

[Jaimee]

Hi! My name is Jaimee. I am 32 years old. Brian and I have been together for 14 years (married for 10). We have three kids and zero pets. If I was at my favorite restaurant right now I would order some sort of creative vegetarian dish (I actually don't like eating out very much) but we will actually be having bean pasta salad for dinner tonight. When I work for pay I teach/tutor mostly high school science and math. Before dd was born, I worked in rehab facilities for adolescent girls who were battling drug addiction, eating disorders, suicide attempts, cutting, etc.  They stayed in the residential programs for weeks or months at a time so I would teach them whatever school they were missing.  When I am home with the kids my favorite part of the day is after dinner when the whole family plays together then reads books and after bedtime, mom actually gets to sit down. My hobbies and interests include running, photography, reading/researching, teaching/helping others with charting (NFP) and cloth diapering, running co-ops, gardening, vegetarian cooking.


Favorite

Music: I don't to music that much, but when I do, I like classical, oldies, select pop, and celtic.  I listen to NPR in the car
Movie: Breakfast at Tiffany's, comedies like Zoolander, teenage comedies like Saved and Mean Girls, but mostly I watch my favorite TV shows on DVD like Friends and Sex and the City.
Book: The Mists of Avalon, Atlas Shrugged, The Red Tent, LOTR, Harry Potter Series
Season: Summer!
Household chore: Laundry
Cause: environmental causes and midwifery/birth causes
Diaper: bumGenius 4.0 and Romparooz OS
Baby carrier: Mei Tai with headrest and padded waist


If you could change one thing about _____, what would it be?

The world? Stop all the fighting so that we can learn to live together and with the earth peacefully
Your house? Move it into a different school district
Your parenting? More patience and creativity
Your life? More time to nurture myself- pursue my interests


What would your best friends say is your best feature? Maybe my knowledge and desire to share it with others
If a genie gave you three wishes what would you ask for? Peace, happiness, health
Do you have any pet peeves? Too many to list... I get annoyed pretty easily.  Clutter would be a big one.
Where would you go on a dream vacation?  Australia!!!
Where is the best place you've been? Costa Rica
 

[LunaLady]

Wow, Jaimee, I hadn't heard before about what you did for work before kids! That sounds like very fulfilling work. I bet you were really good at it 

[seraf]

All kinds of busy, you are.

What's your sign?

[Jaimee]

Christina, yes, it was extremely fulfilling and challenging.  I loved that it was always different and I was exposed to people dealing with things outside of my little sheltered world so that I could broaden my understanding.

Sara, I'm actually a Gemini/Taurus cusp.  So very communicative, jumping from one thing to the next, but also very solid, routine based, and responsible. 

[seraf]

LOL, you're my polar opposite.

Why do you move so often and how many houses have you lived in?

[Jaimee]

We move a lot because my husband is in academia.  I was born in Seattle and lived in the same house my entire childhood.  Then I moved for college to Bellingham where I met Brian.  We got married after we both graduated and immediately moved to Tucson, AZ for Brian's graduate program.  After he graduated, he accepted a post-doc in Austin, TX.  Then he got his first tenure-track position in Towson, MD (just outside of Baltimore).  And lastly, he accepted a better tenure-track position here in Champaign-Urbana, IL.

All in all, I have lived in five houses, four apartments, and 2 dorms.  That's a lot of moving!

[seraf]

That is a lot of moving.

My mom would rather move than do spring cleaning so I'm in my 31st house. My kids moved into house #7 before DD turned 2, so I swore I wouldn't move her again until she was at least 7(for an average a once a year) so I like to move vicariously through other people. Must be something in the blood. DS1 asked the other day why we never move out of state because, "It seems like it would be fun."

What did you like best about the layout of your favorite home so far?

[jbk21]

Alright Jaimee, so which P'hood wife are you most like?

[TalkToMeNow]

Originally Posted by jbk21 

Alright Jaimee, so which P'hood wife are you most like?

How about a show I know?!  I guess I need to start watching Parenthood!

What is the last book you read? Or, if you've been reading a lot, the last three?

Since you've been married for a long time (compared to me!), what do you think keeps things working? Or, how do you make it work?

[jbk21]

Haha Amanda, I think you'd love Parenthood!  

Fine, I'll ask another pop culture question, too  

Which celebrity do you find most attractive?  

Also, were there other sports or activities that you enjoyed pre-kids? 

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by seraf 

What did you like best about the layout of your favorite home so far?

Holy crap, Sara, that's a lot of houses!!  There are several very nice things about the layout of our newest house.  First, all our bedrooms are upstairs.  In our last house, the master bedroom was on the main floor and the others were on the top floor.  I did not like being separated from my kids.   This new house also has an awesome sized kitchen and the backyard is good sized and fenced.  Great for throwing the kids outside by themselves! 

Originally Posted by jbk21 

Alright Jaimee, so which P'hood wife are you most like?

Oh, probably Christina with a bit of Julia mixed in.

Originally Posted by TalkToMeNow 

What is the last book you read? Or, if you've been reading a lot, the last three?

Since you've been married for a long time (compared to me!), what do you think keeps things working? Or, how do you make it work?

I'm listening to Clan of the Cave Bear right now.  I used to be an avid reader and with kids, it has just fallen by the wayside.  None of them have "allowed" me to read while nursing or holding them. I did re-read the Twilight series when I was pregnant and needing some brain candy.  And I recall reading Nurture Shocked and Attached at the Heart last year sometime.  Reading is absolutely something I miss, miss, miss.
 

Marriage... that is a very big question.  We had a very rough patch when we hit seven years, but we made it out and things have been mostly great ever since.  I think the most important thing is not to take the other person for granted and to try your best to do little maintenance things to keep things loving.

Originally Posted by jbk21 

Fine, I'll ask another pop culture question, too  

Which celebrity do you find most attractive?  

Also, were there other sports or activities that you enjoyed pre-kids? 

Hmmm... I am so not a "I think he's so cute" kind of girl.  Never have been.  But there are plenty I think are attractive.. the thing is, I fall for characters, not the actors.  I'll have to think about that one.

Sports... running.  I did track and cross country in high school and a little bit of track in college.  Hiking.  Pre-kids I cooked for pleasure a lot more, scrap booked, sewed, read, journaled, gardened.  I still do all these things, but a whole lot less and with much less depth.