MelaniePenelope

MegaFood Kids Nutrient Booster Powders

Disclaimer:  I received this product for free from Moms Meet (momsmeet.com), May Media Group LLC, who received it directly from the manufacturer. As a Moms Meet blogger, I agree to use this product and post my honest opinion on my blog. The opinions posted are my own.

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We received the Mega Food Kids Nutrient Booster Powders, some recipes, and this awesome reusable canvas bag to try and get a feel for the brand. Unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to donate to this program because of all the medical issues Team Odette has been facing lately, but perhaps that is exactly why I chose to devote some time to it Wednesday morning!

Developed in 1973, "MegaFood has been committed to making products that use real food from family-owned farms to make a real difference, and has produced some of the most effective and award-winning supplements available today. A pioneer in the natural products industry, MegaFood was one of the first companies to make their FoodState® vitamin and minerals from scratch starting with farm fresh whole foods. MegaFood continues to innovate by manufacturing more than 36 individual FoodState Nutrients™ using their proprietary Slo-Food Process™, all in their own facility in New Hampshire."

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I looked through the recipes provided in my kit, and also here on the website, for inspiration. I wanted to use the Kids Daily B-Centered powder, to help them get centered and focus on the day ahead of us. As homeschoolers, it's important to me that we focus on what needs to be accomplished each day and not lose interest in the learning process!

I gathered some ingredients I thought might befit a delicious smoothie the kids would actually eat, to be blended up in my trusty Cuisinart food processor. Aside from the Kids Daily B-Centered Powder, I grabbed a big ol' fat platano from Hawaii, a carton of Oikos Vanilla Greek Yogurt, and some Agave for sweetener. I have some chia and/or some ground flax seeds somewhere, but I couldn't locate those, so I also dumped in some oats for a little extra texture.

I made a quite large portion of smoothie, so that everyone in the family could try a healthy-sized portion, so I also added about four scoops of the relatively flavorless powder. Time to blend!

I pretty much just left the Cuisinart on instead of pulsing for a good five minutes, to make sure everything was well-blended and the oats were a little chopped up. Worked out perfectly.

The girls wanted to try theirs first, so I poured them each a large mug of the smoothie with a lime wedge for garnish. Turns out, at least in my opinion anyway, the lime really added quite a lot to the deliciousness of the already-tasty plantain and yogurt smoothie. YUM!

Sophia went first, and she liked the smoothie quite a bit. Down the hatch for her!

Chloë gave the smoothie a thumbs-up, and I agreed with her. Personally, I'm on my second mug of smoothie right now!

Jack gave the smoothie a go, and while it wasn't his favorite, let's just say that it's extremely difficult to please this kid! 

I can't wait to make more of the MegaFoods Kids vitamin recipes, like this one:

Mango Turmeric Sorbet,

and there's so much more here to explore in the recipes! I'm excited to explore all that these supplements can do for my kiddos!

There is so much goodness here, and I'm thankful to be a part of it. Thanks, MegaFoods!

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Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

 

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Fin.

Sunday Stealing: The Martial Arts Meme

Link up here if you want to play along today!

Cheers to all of us thieves!!

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Sunday Stealing: The Martial Arts Meme

Who was the last person that you held hands with?

That would be Hubs last night while I was, yet again, in the ER for pain meds.

Are you loud, outgoing or shy?

I'm definitely extremely shy.

Who are you looking forward to seeing?

This is more of a "what" than a "who," but I'm sticking with it anyway: I'm looking forward to our next visit down to Key West, where we'll visit The Key West Butterfly & Nature Conservatory. I'm really looking forward to it!

Are you easy to get along with?

Nope. I'm definitely a difficult person to love. :(

Have you ever given up on someone, only to let them back into your lives? Why?

 

Of course I have. Why? I don't know. Part of it was that I was lonely, I guess. Another part was that I needed help paying the rent at that time. I'm not proud. :\

If you were ill, which TV doctor or nurse would you want to take care of you?

I am, and I've said a billion times I need Dr. House to diagnose my illness!

Does talking about sex make you uncomfortable?

NOPE! My kids could tell you that! ;)

Who was the last person that you had serious conversation with?

That would be a four-way conversation with Hubs, our showjumping daughter, Sophia, and her trainer, Dani. More to come in the near future about that talk! ;)

What was the last text message you received about?

Hubs was asking me to let him into the back in the ER last night, so he could accompany me to Task, aka the lab.

Do you believe in luck and/or miracles?

Yes. I believe in miracles, and I believe in luck - though I do also have to say I believe you make your own luck.

What good thing happened this summer?

Sophia's broken wrist healed so well, the bone was stronger than before and it was as if the break had never even happened! I credit the massive amounts of milk she consumes. 

Also, we worked with Carvana to get a new-to-us Crossover SUV/minvan, which I completely love!

Convince us why we should or should not believe in life on other planets?

#BecauseScience.

Who was your first crush on?

Matt Dillon in The Outsiders - and I was very young.

Favorite part of your daily routine?

Every morning when he wakes up, Jack will come out of his room and immediately come straight to me and give me a hug and kiss, saying, "Good morning, Mom." He's normally my grumpy, hard-to-please kid, so it's a very warm spot in my day when he's being so sweet.

Do you like your neighbors?

We live in a townhouse community for now, so some yes and some definitely not!

What’s your worst feature?

I don't know, but I apologize way too much and annoy the hell out of people with it. I can't stop, though! I'm kind of a Nervous Nelly, and I hate it. I have no confidence and am always afraid to piss people off. Ah, well. #issues

Have you ever had trust issues?

Yup. That's exactly my trust issue ^^^ I trust too easily, and it frequently backfires.

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Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

 

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Saturday 9: September In The Rain

So I'm a day late and a dollar short. Yesterday was a crazy busy day, so I didn't get a chance. Oh, well. Link up here if you want to play along, too!

Saturday 9: September in the Rain (1956)

Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.

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1) This song refers to "leaves of brown." Can you see any leaves outside your window? What color are they?

They are green, and they are giant palm tree leaves. I live in Miami, so we don't get beautiful fall colors much.

2) It also mentions whispered words of love. What did you say last time you lowered your voice?

Oh, I was talking to Hubs, and it was definitely too filthy to repeat here! ;)

3) Clearly this song is about a treasured romantic memory that took place in autumn. Think about your favorite romantic memory. In what season did it take place?

Winter; January 2, 2004. For our third wedding anniversary, Hubs blindfolded me, had my best friend and her husband babysit toddler Chloë and 9-month-old Jack, and drove me to the Virginia Beach Oceanfront to a resort room he had rented for the night. He had strewn yellow rose (my favorite!) petals all over the bed and leading to the jacuzzi bath, where he had candles of all sizes and and shapes lit and glowing in the darkness. There was a fireplace and there were also candles all over the giant suite we had. Well done, Husband. Well done.

4) This week's featured artist, Julie London, was famous as a singer and actress. Less prominent in her bio is her appearance as a "pin up girl" in Esquire magazine when she was just 17. What's in your résumé that you'd prefer to de-emphasize or gloss over?

That would definitely be my employment at a gas station. It didn't add anything but a paycheck to my life!

5) Julie recorded more than 30 albums and was named "most popular female vocalist" by Billboard magazine in 1956. If you could see any entertainer -- male or female -- in concert, who would you choose?

Well, right now, it would be Twenty One Pilots with Sophia. That's her favorite musical duo, and I kinda love their music, too. It would be her first major concert, and I would love to be the one to take her there! (Crap, I just checked their concert schedule; for the Tampa, Florida, stop on their world tour in February, 2017, it would be close to $600 for two tickets. Never mind!) :O

6) She became well-known to another generation when she appeared in the 1970s TV show Emergency! The younger actors credited her for keeping everything calm on the set. Who has a calming influence on you?

Usually, Chloë does. My oldest child is soothing and motherly to me when I'm in pain and my blood pressure is therefore rising. She also massages me and does everything in her power to reduce my suffering. KInd of cool of her, eh?

7) Her Emergency! costar was her husband, Bobby Troup, and the show was produced by her ex-husband, Jack Webb. Do you have an ex that you're on very good terms with?

Sure. My first long-term boyfriend, Ben, and I still keep in touch on Facebook, mostly. When we were in New York for my 20th high school reunion, my family even had dinner with him and his son. It wasn't strained much at all, between the two men.

8) Julie was a chain-smoker since she was a teenager and in the 1950s recorded a jingle for Marlboro cigarettes. Yet in the 1970s, when she saw Bobby Troup's health negatively effected by smoking, she pressed him to quit. Tell us about a time you found yourself in a "do as I say, not as I do" situation.

Now that Chloë is 15 and old enough to get a driver's permit here in Florida, she critiques my driving when I am technically breaking the rules. ;) I'm always saying, "Oops, yeah, don't do that..." Heh.

9) Random question: You have won an all-expenses paid trip to an exclusive resort in the Hawaii. When you get there, you discover that the private beach is bathing suit optional. Do you swim nude?

I have, but I would definitely not in this situation. No way, not without some serious plastic surgery on my post-gastric bypass body! People would be disgusted and leave!

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Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

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Art Projects: String Art

This next project I want to showcase will have us caught up on Art for now, though the girls are working on another one that I'm hoping they'll finish by the weekend. If you're anything like my girls, you spend a lot of time YouTube-ing (which I do not) cool and interesting videos. I did not know that String Art was such a thing right now, but they were so excited when they learned that we were going to be doing this.

While we weren't going to get anywhere near as technically involved as this beautiful Red Rose, I was surprised to find that there would be a few challenges ahead as this project rolled out.

I pulled our instructions directly from this tutorial over at honey & fitz, though we changed up a couple things per her suggestions. The first was that I bought two packs of cork tiles to save a little money over the bigger rolls of cork, since I would only need three per kid (they came in packs of four tiles) to get to the right thickness. Jack opted out of this project.

I figured we'd need two, three coats max per kid of white paint, forgetting entirely how porous cork is. I had given them the choice of paint or natural cork, and what color paint, but both chose to do white backgrounds just like the tutorial showed. Fine, but they needed four layers of paint each and still weren't happy with the final look before I urged them to just continue on with the project.

Lefty Sophia just has to do everything backward, y'all!

Finally, that last coat was on and dry. Beyond tacky, actually dry. My girls did not want to wait that long, but I would not let them continue until no paint came off to the touch. My word, the impatience here!

Instead of a word or a picture, the girls each opted to do their first initial. I let them pick out the font, size and all, and had them cut out the letter after I printed it out. Then they used linoleum nails to tack the initial in place.

The linoleum nails went in easily. The girls didn't even need their dad's rubber mallet after a while, I don't think.

Chloë's finished nails, ready for removal of the "C" template.

She declared the paper removal to be a "satisfying" task.

Sophia chose a much different font than her older sister's, and I was hoping she would separate the parts of the "S" the way her font did, but I didn't push. She didn't want to.

Chloë was ready to start stringing. I told the girls to just relax and enjoy the process, stringing up, down, back, forth, however the string "told" them to go. And so she did.

Sophia was still tacking away...

... but at last, she finished. Sophie found the "satisfying" part to be patting all her nails after the "S" template was removed. Also, is it just me, or does my 11-year-old still have cute little baby hands?

I also told the girls that if they just didn't like how something looked, to unstring it and redo that section. Or the whole thing. No pressure, no hurry, just go with the flow. And so they did. Several times.

Sophia planned this to be her color palette, but she grew very frustrated with this project. It turned out not to be, shall we say, her medium for arting. She just found a lot of difficulty with this one. So she strung, unstrung, restrung, unstrung, continue ad nauseum.

Chloë chose a rainbow color palette - my girls like their rainbows, like their mama - and mostly stuck to her plans.

Chloë's final work, pre-frame.

Sophia, who had given up on this project for several days, was finally pushed to finish. She turned in her work with a note that read, "I tried" and a sad face. I'm sorry she did not like the project as much as I'd hoped, but I guess you can't win 'em all! She does want hers framed, though, so that's good! 

We finally found a frame that was perfect for Chloë's "C" at Michael's tonight. That was before Sophia told me she wanted one, too, so I still need to get hers. 

Like the honey & fitz post suggested, I bought the Velcro Command Strips for the kids' String Art, but we might save those for another use and just put up nails for the frames. Don't know yet. I do love the Command Strips, though...!

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Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

 

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Art Projects: Paper Polyhedra

Hi again, y'all. The next Art project I'm going to showcase is a little more mathematical, the Paper Polyhedron. I wanted Jack to participate in this one, much to his chagrin, partly because I felt like he could use the fine motor skills, partly because it wouldn't hurt any of the kids to think a little more mathematically now and then ;), and partly because I wanted a set of three colorful balls to decorate our space. Hello, ulterior motives, much? Hee!

This post over at Relentlessly Fun, Deceptively Educational explains the project a little more in-depth than I plan to, maybe, but we'll see where it goes. It's where I got the template, anyway, for the 30 pieces needed to assemble this particular polyhedron, so if you plan on doing that, you'll need to head over there to download the PDF.

Chloë actually started cutting out her 30 pieces first, but Sophia was finished first and got right to assembling when she was ready. There is so much competition between these two girls sometimes, it's ridiculous, for everything from schoolwork quality and speed to music interests, to parental attention and time. It's frustrating, but you should know this, if you plan on doing this project with more than one kiddo: cutting the pieces is extremely time-consuming. It took them each a few days to find the time between other activities to cut their pieces out. Just don't make the same mistake I did and go out and buy 30 sheets of paper for EACH kid. DUH! I can read, I swear, but right now my logicker is broken while I work through whatever this mystery illness is that I have! It's only 10 sheets per kid, because each sheet will have three pieces on it. What was I thinking?! Oh well, now we have enough for two more if Rob and I want to get in on the immense amount of work fun, too.

Since my children are decidedly older than the kiddos at Deceptively, I wanted them to be a little more independent with this task. I gave them a few bits of information and then just let them go and do. Once Sophia played around with the first few joins, after learning that each join would have either 3 or 5 pieces involved with it, she was good to go. 

Sophia, who is not a fan of brushing her hair these days(!), was finished before I blinked twice. It looks so cool, doesn't it?! They're really pretty when joined up with a few polyhedral friends, too.

Chloë finished her polyhedron next, with as little involvement from me as Sophia had received. Love her color choices, too (bottom ball)! Chloë, by the way, is very specific about having favorite this, favorite that for everything. Or "best this" or "that," or whatever. So for this project, she had her favorite and second-favorite joins, including that 5-point wheel with the dark blue at the middle bottom of her ball in the photo. Kid cracks me up!

Jack, on the other hand - and maybe you can tell from his "angry eyebrows" - struggled quite a bit with this project. He's not great at cutting out such fine, detailed shapes as the scroll-y corners on these pieces, nor was he willing to just work and try to start connecting the pieces on his own. My patience grew a little thin after a while of trying to assist him, so his older sister kindly took over that task for me. She's really going to be a great mom someday I think, by the by...

When he was finished, I think all of us were relieved - but he did it! So go, Jack!

And voilà! Here are the three of my babes, happy to have completed what turned out to be a pretty cool project after all. Now, where shall I hang them...?

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Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

 

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Art Projects: 3D Hand

Another Art project we did at the end of August/beginning of September this school year: the 3D Hand. You can see lots more examples of this project here.

We have a ton of high-lighter markers. Where did they all come from?! I don't know. Anyway, Chloë sorted those out while I explained the project to them. Both Rob and I had done this fun one in prior Art classes of our own, so I was familiar with the details. I thought they'd get a kick out of it.

Sophia, my southpaw, jumped right in and got started. She's our resident artist of the family, so she wasn't concerned with the logistics. It felt like just another art style to her. Boom! She got it.

Chloë on the other hand, is our resident perfectionist. She gets that from our mother, who futilely tries to undo that personality trait. Trust me, it's not easy; to be one and to recognize it in your own kid is stressful and frustrating. Anyway, Chloë wanted hers to be just so. Just so. Sophia, on the other hand, recognizes that perfection in Art is not necessary to achieve, so long as the work is resolved. Sophie's was finished several days before her older sister's therefore.

Here is Sophia's 3D hand, of which she is very proud. I plan to hang a clothesline on my newly-vacant office wall, so that I can clothespin (and change the works) all the projects up throughout the year. That will happen this month, te prometo.

[Jack, whom we have given the choice to opt in or out of any of the art projects the girls do, selected "in" for this one! However, he didn't like his final work (I did), completed in all maroon and dark yellow, so he has squirreled it away and refused to allow it for public consumption. Fine by me; I feel like that is his choice, too.]

Chloë had hers completed the same day, but she didn't like it because she felt that one couldn't see the hand well enough. On Tuesday of this week, I asked to see it again. We decided together that she could darken some of the edges, as Sophia had done, to make it "pop" more to her liking. She appreciates it better but feels like it's still too difficult to see her hand here. What do you think? I think she did a great job, personally, for having stressed over it so completely.

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I hope you're enjoying our homeschooling Art show for this year. There is much more to come; I just haven't had a chance to throw it up here on Ye Olde Fashioned Blahg!

Fin.

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Art Projects: Modern Tin Art

It's been a while since we started homeschooling - this is our 7^th year! And don't believe for a minute that I don't revamp our plans every single year, if not monthly. If not weekly. Daily. Heh. It's always being evaluated and re-evaluated for what works and what doesn't work.

That being said, Sophia is my artsy child, and Chloë is pretty crafty in her own right. Jack doesn't much care for anything Art-related, so I let him opt out of whatever projects don't interest him in favor of doing something else school-related.

This is one project that interested all three kiddos.

We basically used this recipe from Piikea Street's blog to do this project. I used our ChromeCast to project my computer screen with the directions on it onto our big screen TV, and just scrolled down as they all completed each step of the process. It worked well, and I plan to use that technology frequently throughout this 2016-2017 year. We followed the directions for this one pretty close to the letter, though of course I let the kids make up their own designs. Sophia liked the project so well that she decided to make the mini one (bottom left) for her Littlest Pet Shop critters' studio. It's always obvious when she likes a project: she wants to do more of it on her own!

So now, all that's left is to decide where and how to hang their obras de arte!

Fin.

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Sunday Stealing: The Mad Hatter's Meme

Hey, everyone! Link up here if you're playing along today!

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Cheer to all of us thieves!!

Sunday Stealing: The Mad Hatter's Meme


What’s the meaning or inspiration of your blog’s title? 

No great meaning here. Smellyann is an old childhood nickname bestowed upon me by my sister, and the "Strikes Again" part refers to the fact that I had a previous incarnation on a different platform.

What do you consider your biggest strength? 

My emotionality, my sensitivity, my ability to empathize with everyone.

What do you consider your biggest weakness? 

My emotionality, my sensitivity, my ability to empathize with everyone...!

Tell us why we should like your favorite band. 

That's completely up to you. I'm not trying to convince anyone, nor do I even know whom I would consider that to be! ;)

Who is your favorite model of all - time? Why? 

Favorite model? Am I in an alternate universe where I'm supposed to have one?

Does it bother you when people talk about their pets? Why? 

Nah, of course not. I love animals dearly.

Tell us about your favorite holiday. 

It's (US) Independence Day, and I love everything about the Fourth. The pomp and circumstance, the lights, the flashes, the booms of fireworks. The coming together to support one same cause. The food, the family, the fun. I love it!

What was the last fabulous meal that you ate? Where were you? 

I haven't been eating all that well lately, so the best last meal I could think of happened in January. Rob and I were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary in Fort Lauderdale with the kids. We splurged a little. Tons of fun.

What’s your lucky number and why?

64 has always been my number, ever since I was little, like before school-age. I don't know why, but I love that it's made up of 4, a perfect square, times 16, another perfect square, and is itself a perfect square! (Yes, I'm a nerd.)

What are five things you hate?

Racism, people smoking where they're not supposed to and especially in my air, slow drivers in the fast lane, slow drivers making a right-hand turn in front of me, and mustard

What are five things you love?

My zany li'l family, my pups and our other pets, new school supplies, getting a great deal on something I need, and Kosher dill pickles

Tell us a secret you can because other than us, who’ll read this anyway? 

I have nothing exciting. I secretly listen to my husband's music in the car, though I claim to hate it to his face. ;)

What is the favorite body feature of yourself? 

Either my lips or my eyes

Is there a tattoo that you want? If you don’t have one, gun-to-your-head so you have to get one, what would it be? 

I really don't want one, but if I had a gun to my head, I'd probably have something representing the ocean, like a wave, my kids, like their initials, and hubs, like a heart. I don't know how to incorporate all that into one tattoo, though.

What do you love about yourself? What do you hate about yourself? Who is someone you miss?

I love my intelligence. I hate that I seem to be losing it the longer I'm suffering from this mysterious illness, or maybe I have early-onset Alzheimer's like Hubs suggests. I miss... me. :(

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Well that's no way to end things! So, here's my story about tripping over a frozen dolphin that several of you asked about from last week:

I worked in the Fisheries Biology lab as an intern at Mote Marine Laboratory in 1998.  We had a huge walk-in freezer for specimens, fish food, etc. It wasn't that huge, though, but apparently it was big enough for the Marine Mammal stranding team to get a dolphin and decide they could cram it in our freezer. (What was wrong with their own? I don't know.) I guess they'd gotten to the dolphin being stranded too late and it died. They'd brought it back to the lab and didn't tell anyone they "borrowed" our freezer. I got to work and hastily started to get some food for our mega tanks of snook, grouper, and whatever else we had back then. Instead, my right leg and knee unexpectedly encountered the sharp, frozen flukes of a dolphin I did not know was in there! I headed back to the office dripping blood all over. My lead scientist was pissed at the stranding team! We had to do a whole red-tape thing with paperwork, etc. It was all such a strange experience - I guess you all thought so, too!

Have a great holiday tomorrow!

Fin.

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Saturday 9: It's A Man's Man's Man's World

Hey everyone! Link up here if you're playing along today!

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Saturday 9: It's a Man's Man's Man's World (1966)

Since Labor Day was introduced to celebrate the American worker, we are highlighting the hardest working man in show business: James Brown. Unfamiliar with this week's tune? Hear it here.


1) Before he was able to support himself as a musician, James Brown shined shoes, boxed, picked peanuts and delivered groceries. He admitted he didn't enjoy any of those jobs. What was your least favorite job?

For a little while, between summers at graduate school, I picked up some shifts at a local gas station. Man, I hated that job. There was absolutely nothing great about it!

2) What job have you enjoyed the most?

I guess being Mom doesn't count, huh? Because this is definitely my favorite. But other than that, I have to say that working at the various grocery stores where I've been was a lot of fun. I met a lot of fun people and had some good times because of it.

3) James loved performing and in the mid-60s, played 335-350 dates/year. Do you have time off this weekend? Or will you be working?

Being a mom is a 24/7 job. ;)

4) With that grueling schedule, James spent a lot of time on the road. Do you enjoy traveling and staying in hotels? Or are you a homebody who prefers to sleep in your own bed?

I would love to be on the road - or at sea - every day of the year. I have a nomadic spirit, for sure.

5) While Millennials are the largest generation in the workforce, millions of Baby Boomers are still part of American labor. Do you think it's easy or hard for people of different generations to work together? Or don't you think age matters?

I think it's difficult. I'm finding a lot of the older generation, my parents' generation, that still work, are quite judgmental about what the younger generations have done and will do. I suppose that's normal, but in this day and age, when they lived in the 40s, 50s, and 60s, things are radically different and many older folks don't like it!

6) 72% of employers report that they give their employees sick days. Tell us about a time when you called in sick, but weren't. 

Guilty. I never drank beer much as a young adult. One time, when I worked at Mote Marine Lab - oh yeah, that was my favorite job, maybe?! Duh! - as an intern in Fisheries Biology, I had met a girl I later became great friends with, Melisa. Melisa, my roommate Shannon and I, went out to drink green beer and play pool on St. Patrick's Day - another something I never did and never have done since. (I'm not Irish.) Well, obviously, I drank far too much. I was hung over the next morning and, you guessed it, I called in sick to work. They were really worried about me and almost sent someone over to check on me!

7) According to the 2010 Census, 5.9 million Americans regularly work from home. Is working from home something you have/you would enjoy? Or do you benefit from interaction with coworkers?

I like both. I have worked from home on my own since joining the motherhood, mystery shopping and doing odd contracting work. I love it. It allows me the freedom to do the things I need and want to do while supplementing our income. 
 
8) 12% of workers report they prefer to report for work early -- before 7:00 AM -- so they can get more done. Are you a morning person?

Hell no. I'd rather work late any day of the week!

9) The NFL season starts on September 8. How do you think your team will do this year?

I don't really follow the NFL. I'm a college football fan, though. Go 'Canes!

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Thanks for stopping by!

Fin.

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