Thursday, October 9, 2008

Inside The Actor's Blogger's Studio

It's that time again! Time for another episode of "Inside The Actor's Blogger's Studio."

Today, I have a very special guest.



Okay, well, it's not Mark Wahlberg, because as most of you already know, Shannon won't let me interview him.

Dreamy Sigh.

No, today's guest is an amazing mother of two adorable boys, and she is the wife of one adoring husband. She is talented in so many ways. She is so creative in every thing that she does (Click here to see how she made her son's birthday party special); she makes learning so much fun for her boys, not to mention the ways that she can save money. She has being frugal down to a fine art form. (Shannon really wishes that I could go shopping with her and take a lot of notes!)

Her blog posts range anywhere from funny stories, to helpful hints, to touching stories that will make you cry. (Click here to read about what Michele's family calls "Airplane Day." It is one of the sweetest stories that I have ever read.)

So without further ado, please join me in welcoming this amazing lady. It is with great pleasure that I introduce you all to Michele from the incredible "My Blessings From Above" blog.

(Standing ovation with thunderous applause.)

Michele, thank you so much for being a guest on my show today. I am really looking forward to getting the opportunity to learn a little bit more about you and your family.

So, with that being said, I will get started with the questions.

1. What is your favorite word?

Well, let's see? How about H*E*L*L*O??????? As in can you hear me? Is this thing on? I seem to say this word quite a lot here in our house and get little response from the three men~well ok two of them are little men~If the tv is on no one can seem to here me! Why is that? Can't men multitask? As in listen to me as well as the tv?Hello??????? I guess not!

2. What is your least favorite word?

Do I have to name just one? I have several! Anyways! Anyways? Here in NJ we say Anyway....say it with me people ANYway! Just like saying Walmarts! I'm going to Walmarts. How many Walmarts are you going to? We're going to Walmart, singular, just one! Oh and one more.... Ain't. As in I ain't got no money! Or I ain't going to do that. It drives me crazy I tell ya! My dh Larry is constantly saying ain't to the boys and I am constantly right behind him correcting him! Anyways my boy's ain't going to grow up with no bad grammar even if we are just out at Walmarts ! :-) (Okay don't throw tomatoes all you folks that say Walmarts and anyways...I still love you and promise not to correct you.....out loud anyway! I probably just lost all my friends for this answer!)

3. What makes you laugh out loud?

Well, at the risk of sounding conceited, myself. I am always telling Larry that I crack myself up. Sometimes I have such witty answers I just crack up. I've been told I am funny too....hey maybe they were laughing at me and not with me? Hey now! :)

4. What makes you cry?

Thinking of my brother who was killed in a car accident when he was 17....I still remember that time with sadness.

5. What is your favorite "country" word or phrase?

Ya'll! As in hi Ya'll or will Ya'll come 'ere. Oh wait a minute is 'ere a country word? If it is that would make two! Right? I am a Jersey girl born and raised, but I can say Ya'll with the best of them! Hey I am from South Jersey after all!

6. What sound or noise do you love?

The sound of my boys telling me they love me and their laughter, there is no sweeter sound.

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

The fan in our bedroom is makes this terrible rattling sound! It drives me insane.

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

Becoming a fighter pilot. Or flying a black hawk helicopter. I just love fighter jets! In another life I would have loved to be sitting in the cockpit of an F-14. I just think that fighter jets are magnificent. You know I have watched the movie Top Gun way too many times and I love watching Carrier and get excited when I see those jets landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier! Way COOL!

9. What profession would you not like to attempt?

Sewage Removal...... Can you say yuck, ick, ick, ick?!

10. What profession have you attempted before that not many people know about?

Well I was a blueberry picker at the age of 14 through 17 until I moved to the packing house~everyone wanted to work in the packing house and when I got "promoted I was something else let me tell you! I was the envy of all the lowly blueberry pickers, big stuff don't ya know! I also worked in a nursing home for about a year until I started working for the family physician as a medical assistant. I was in charge of the entire office both the front office, lab, working with the patients and taking EKG's. Many people don't know that I was so good at taking EKG's that the doctor I worked for had me schedule them at my convenience even when he was out of the office. When I was doing my training rotation at the hospital I was stuck in the EKG lab for several weeks, I was supposed to go on to phlebotomy but the gal in charge was out on leave so instead of sticking patients, I just tried not to cross the wires and shock'em! I learned a lot in the EKG lab. :)

11. What is your favorite memory of being a mother?

The first time I became a mom! September 9th 2001! No that is not the birthday of my first son Justin, it is the day Larry and I received his referral! Both of my boys are adopted from Korea. I waited 17 looong years to become a mom! I am one of those old moms you know! We were in the process of waiting for our referral. We had been waiting since May. Our adoption agency holds an annual picnic. We weren't sure we were going to go to the picnic since we had no children yet and not even our referral. We were encouraged to go by some friends who go each year. The highlight of our day (or so we thought at the time) was meeting some new adoption friends Ruth and George in IRL that up until this time we had only emailed with. They also waiting for their first son. They had received their referral.& nbsp; We had a wonderful day getting to know them. After lunch we were chatting with the family who had encouraged us to attend the picnic, Gina and Jim. We had met at our first adoption meeting. Our homestudies were sent to Korea at the same time and they were waiting for their second child. After we chatted for awhile they moved on to chat with some other folks. About an hour later Gina came back to our table all smiles and very excited with our social worker in tow. Gina was so excited because they received their referral just a few minutes before at the picnic! Then Gina says to me that someone else was getting their referral too! Having the blond moment I sometimes have I said who? My social worker handed me Justin's picture!!!!!!! I was speechless...something very rare for me just ask Larry! Here in my hand was my sweet baby! Oh so far away, but oh so close to my heart!&n bsp; Larry was in shock! You could have knocked us over with a feather! Ruth ran to the car to grab their camera to take our picture! Our social worker had no idea we were going to be at the picnic since we had been so undecided on going. The referrals had come in the night before and she brought ours in hopes we would be there! I tell you we walked around the rest of that picnic like two clowns (and I don't even like clowns not one bit!) we had smiles so big! We just couldn't stop smiling! We had a two hour ride back home and were just bursting to tell our family. No one was home! Not my parents nor any of my brothers! They were all away and it was before any of us had cell phones, yeah it was the dark ages! My grandma was home and so were our best friends so we had someone to tell! I can still so vividly remember the excitement of that day!

12. What is your most embarrassing memory of being a mother?

It was when Justin was about 3. He and I were at the local mall just before Christmas. We had gone to pick up some last minute gifts and say hi to Santa one more time before he headed back to the North Pole to prepare for the big night. We stopped in the toy store for something. Well you know kids and toy stores, they do not want to leave! It was time to go and I told Justin we had to leave. Of course there were major protests. How many kids do you know that leave a toy store of their own free will! He refused to leave. I finally picked him up and started out of the store. Suddenly Justin starts yelling, "help, help she's taking me"! Okay, typical kid antics right? Picture a Caucasian woman wrestling with a little Korean boy! It sounded like I was kidnapping him! The cashier asked me if he was mine! I told her yes he was and boy was my face red! I thought oh great, from now on I am going to have to carry his adoption file around with me! It's a pretty big file people!

13. What does your husband do that gets on your nerves?

He sneezes 50,000, I mean 5 times in a row. Drives me nuttier than I already am! Oh and he is loud, I tell ya! He does it on purpose ya know!He does! I tell him all the time to stop and yet he still does it! Go figure!

14. What does your husband do for you that makes your heart melt?

He leaves me a note every single morning and has ever since we have been married. It is so sweet and I look forward to it every day!

15. If you could tell a complete stranger about what God has done in your life, what would you say?

He has blessed me beyond measure! I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful boys. He daily gives me grace even when I know I do not deserve it!

16. What is your favorite Bible verse and why?

"From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another." John 1:16
This is the verse we used on Kaden's adoption announcement. We have received so many blessings, the first being our wonderful marriage and the second our two boys.


17. Since we know that Heaven exists, what do you long to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

I've been waiting for you!

Michele, that was awesome! Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to answer all of my nosy questions.

(Another standing ovation with thunderous applause!)

And to those of you reading this today, if you aren't already a regular at Michele's blog, and you want to get to know her even better, stop by her fabulous "My Blessings From Above" blog, and show her some bloggy love.

Thanks for tuning in today, and just remember, you may be next......

I'm just saying.

15 comments:

diane b said...

What a great idea for a blog. Must go check out Michele's blog.

Tracey said...

With how close you are to Jamie Fox and Jennifer Lopez and the cast of friends....Mark Wahlberg should be a piece of cake!!

Mia said...

That....was....AWESOME!!! Michele is a treasure isn't she?

Weeksie50 said...

What a fun blog post!
Thanks for introducing me to her blog.. She sounds like a real gem.. I am on my way to check it out..

My Blessings From Above said...

Thanks Amy! I enjoyed playing along. I'm sure I'll be famous and in high demand now!:) After all look at those awesome bloggers that have been in the blogger's studio before me! Now I just have to hope and pray that I don't loose my loyal readers because of those words~Walmarts and Anyways...not tomatoes have hit me.......YET! LOL! :)
Love,
Michele

Cheffie-Mom said...

Wow! What a wonderful post! I'm off to check out Michelle's blog. I REALLY enjoyed reading this. Thank you for sharing. (:

Pleasant Living said...

Very interesting! You are so caring about others!

Liz Harrell said...

What a great 'interview' am going over to check out her blog now!

Dee said...

Sigh, this was so lovely, you always do such a goos job with your interviews.

And what a lovely story. I would have been mortified if I had been in her shoes when her son said she was taking him. Ag shame!

Pamela (His maidservant) said...

That was sweet and fun! What a neat lady!
Now, if you ever do consider interviewing a movie star....I vote for Matthew McConahay!

In His Graces~Pamela

Karma said...

what a cute post for an awesome bloggy buddie!

Half Gaelic, Half Garlic! said...

What a great interview...I am going to check out her blog!

Have a great night!

Lisa

Smiling Shelly said...

Hi Michelle! It was nice getting to know you...I loved your answers and I'll be around to check your blog out soon.

Amy - I just love your Inside the Bloggers Studio posts! Very creative idea and a great way to introduce us to other great bloggers out there. Thank you for these wonderful posts.

Luv ya!
Me

Smiling Shelly said...

Poop! I just noticed that I spelled her name wrong (my mother would kill me!!). Sorry, Michele (one L) THAT mistake will never happen again - this I ASSURE you! :)

Anyways....(HA!! Couldn't resist)

Denise said...

Hi Amy. Very enjoyable interview with Michelle. I'm gonna have to check her out. She sounds great!
Denise