What is #AskAwayFriday?
#AskAwayFriday was created by the amazing Penny from Real Housewife of Caroline County, as a way to connect with other bloggers with a great Q & A session of 10 questions and 10 answers, between two bloggers!
This is a wonderful opportunity to get to know others while allowing others to get to know you and of course there is also the added bonus of making great friends along the way. Participating in #AskAwayFriday each week is also a great way to build your blogging community.
Drop by and welcome our fabulous #AAF hosts:
Tamara from Tamara Like Camera,
Tiffany from Mrs. Tee Love Life Laughter,
Christy from Uplifting Families,
Stacey from This Momma’s Ramblings
and Echo from Domain of the Mad Mommy
This week my buddy is Bernadyn Nettles from B is 4.
Bernadyn or just “B,” is a busy mother of two who blogs about nearly everything from parenting, DIY projects, recipes, reviews and giveaways. Make sure you visit her blog at b-is4.blogspot.com to read her answers to my questions. Below are the questions she gave me.
1. As a mother of five children, what one piece of advice would you give to new parents?
Just one piece of advice? I don’t think I can narrow it down to just one. Treasure the moments while your kids are little because they grow up way too quickly. My oldest is turning 18 next month. Those 18 years flew. I wish I would have documented more of what she said and did when she was little. But I learned and started this blog. Here I am able to share stories, photos and videos of my younger children. That way I will never forget these moments when Little Bear is eighteen.
Try to spend at least five minutes a day with each of your kids individually. I do this every night when they go to bed. I pray with them, tell them something positive about themselves, give them a kiss and tell them that I love them. Every night I give Goose a good night hug. These small things will mean so much to your kids as they get older.
2. Do you and your husband have any upcoming Valentine’s Day plans?
We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. We don’t give each other gifts or cards. Maybe we will have a date night. But we go out on a date once a month. We want to see American Sniper while it’s still in the theaters.
3. I enjoyed your post on your local library, the library is a favorite place of ours to take the kids, to especially for my youngest who isn’t in school yet either. What are some of your children’s favorite books? Do you remember what your favorite children’s books were to read at their age?
Goose loves anime and she has been reading mangas. If you are not familiar with mangas, they are Japanese comic books. They are unique because the pages turn the opposite direction as American Books.
Kitty is reading the My Little Pony Friendship is Magic chapter book series. I think there is another chapter book series that she is reading from the library at school too, but I need to check her back pack to see which one.
Parrot reads all the time. His favorite books are non fiction science or nature books. He is mostly reading books about oceans and animals that live in the oceans or near the oceans.
My two younger boys don’t read on their own yet. We have a ton of children’s books and they don’t have favorites.
4. That’s amazing that your magazine is the top health magazine for parents! Where do you see the magazine in the next five years? Is there anything you would like to do differently with it?
Thank you! In the next five years? I have no idea. Maybe I will raise 10 grand so I can transfer it over to wordpress. I would love to raise enough funds to turn it into a print magazine. It is unlikely I will be able to do either one.
5. If you had one whole weekend all to yourself, what would you do?
I would go to a hotel room and work on my book. I’d spend as much time as I could writing. When I’m not writing I’d take advantage of the gym at the hotel or swim in the pool for exercise. Then on Sunday morning I would find the nearest cathedral or church and attend mass.
6. What is your favorite family activity?
My favorite or my family’s? Those are two different answers. My kids and husband love to travel, go to the park and sit around playing video games or watching television. I love to travel but hate sitting around. My favorite activity to do with my kids is praying or attending mass together as a family. Little Bear is still learning how to behave at mass, but the other kids are pretty good. I love praying together as a family. My children are very strong in their faith.
7. What is a blogging tip you have for any new bloggers?
Just one tip? My best advice is to try your best to build a community with your blog. Write posts that encourage conversation and encourage your visitors to leave you a comment. Then comment on as many blogs as your free time allows. From past experience I’ve noticed that about half of the bloggers that you leave comments for will visit your blog and comment back within about a week. When my magic jar is full I am able to comment on at least 20 blogs a day. Ten of those return to either this site or my professional blog and comment back. I try to respond to all the comments that I get and visit the blogs in return.
I am hoping that when Little Bear starts school I will have enough time to comment on 100 blogs a day. But, that is very time consuming!
8. I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year but I did make some goals in all areas of my life. Some I’ve been good at sticking to so far and others I need to work on to stay on top of them. Have you been able to keep up with your goals this year so far? Any advice for sticking to them?
Nope and Nope. My life is crazy and busy. All my goals for the new year have been put on the back burner due to lack of free time. It stinks! I want to go for a run or workout every day. I tried waking up before the kids to run, but it wasn’t fun running on the slippery sidewalks during the cold and dark winter months in Chicago. I need to come up with a better plan. I want to pray more, but am finding the only time I have for the Lord by myself is during mass on Sundays and late at night when I am lying in bed just before I fall asleep. I wanted to comment on blogs every single day, visit twitter every single day, write in both blogs every single day, work on my book every single day, but again my lack of free time is preventing this. I don’t think I can set goals because I am just setting myself up for failure.
My family comes first. I have three kids that go to mental health therapy on a regular basis. Taking them to and from their appointments takes up a huge chunk of my time. Chris is out of town every single week from Tuesday through Thursday, so I am a single mom during that time. My kids are also in after school activities. Then there is dinner, groceries, laundry, housework, birthday parties to plan. Goal setting just isn’t working anymore for me.
9. If you could spend one whole day with someone, passed away or alive, who would it be and what would you do all day?
This is a tough one. I have no idea. Maybe Jesus. I would love to spend a whole day with Him. What would we do? I think I would have ton of questions for Him. I don’t know what else we would do.
10. What is something on your bucket list that you want to achieve within the next three years?
Publish my book.
Thanks for swapping with me, Bernadyn! Make sure you visit her blog at b-is4.blogspot.com to read her answers to my questions.
I still have all my Fridays open in February. Care to swap with me? E mail me at [email protected] and we can arrange it!
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