Sunday Sound Out

First off - to all the people who wrote something along the lines of, “A swimming party in December?! Are you nuts?!”

Yes, a swimming party in December. No, of course it isn’t outside. You can’t swim in ice. Don’t you have indoor swimming pools where you live? Swimming parties are popular around here. It gives us a taste of “summer” in an otherwise dreary time of year.

I accidentally rejected about a dozen comments when I hit the wrong button. If you didn't see your comment show up, I'm sorry. I didn't do it on purpose.

Thanks for the heads up about my blog, Brandi!

Thank you to everyone who wrote and gave me their best New York tips and to those who wrote to explain my pictures!

OK now for your questions...

Does your hubby do anything of this WITH you? do you allow him to?
Although my husband would be willing to help with my never ending “to do” list, I have a tough time delegating responsibilities because no one else does it THE RIGHT WAY!

Do you mind if I ask how many hours sleep you get each night?
Not nearly enough. Maybe 4-5 most nights. It usually catches up to me by Friday though.

Are you at the point where you can hire an assistant part-time to help you?
HA!

Is your fame (and I consider you far more famous than me, so, yes, you are famous)a blessing or a curse? Many of the items "to do" on your list are due to keeping up with the blog, and to promote your writing. So - was life better before the Ebay pokemon card sale or is it better after?
I figure it could be a blessing or a curse depending on how you look at it. I absolutely consider it a blessing. Not only has this given me some much needed income, but it’s given me a feeling of purpose. Yes, I have increased responsibilities now and sometimes it’s hard to keep up, but it’s all worthwhile especially when I get emails telling me that I've brightened someone's day like this one that just came in...
Dawn,
Let me just say that as the “7th Child” and Hubby of a mother of six (5 girls and 1 Boy), I think you are one of the funniest persons I have ever had the pleasure of reading about. I love to read your daily adventures. They bring a certain highlight to my somewhat otherwise boring day. My wonderful wife is also a stay at home mom, and temporary (well semi permanent) father since I am stationed in Diego Garcia, for the next year as a career Navy Sailor. Between my wife and your stories, I get my fill of laughter at how overwhelming the job of a Mother can actually be. Please keep up the great Blog, and Happy Holidays to you and your family.
GSEC(SW) Johnny (Shon) Pation Reynolds IV

By the way, do you have your Christmas tree up? We want to see pictures of it.
OK, here ya go. This is after I rearranged the ornaments so that fifty ornaments were not hanging from the same branch…

I think you forgot to pee in all that hecticness (wow is that even a word?)
You don't happen to be a procrastinator like me do you? But I have learned that I do better under pressure. What about you?
According to my spell check, hecticness is not a word. But it should be. And yes, I’m a horrible procrastinator! Like you, I work much better under pressure. If I have three hours to get somewhere (for example: my plane!) I will be late. If I have five minutes to get there, I’ll be on time.

Do you find it helpful to transfer that list to paper? Or does it just make it more depressing?
I always make lists on paper. I’ve officially turned into my mother.

Don't ya just love the holidays??
YES! I really, truly do! I sometimes have to remind myself what it’s all about and step back from the craziness, but I love Christmas!

Hi Dawn, I've got to know... do you get the kids all dressed up and take a beautiful picture in front of the Christmas tree with everyone looking perfect for your Christmas cards?
I’ve done both the “try to get the perfect picture” and the “pick the least hideous one.” This year, I just picked a picture from our trip to Florida. I’ve lowered my standards considerably. We no longer have to be coordinating. We don’t have to be smiling, hair in place, make-up just so. In fact, we don’t even all have to be looking in the general vicinity of the camera. At this point, if we’re all at least partially in the picture, it’s good.

Hey let me know as your arriving in New York are you humming the song "New York, New York"?
Well I wasn’t until you brought it up. Gee, thanks!

You didn't pay attention to one bit of my advice, did you?
Well, no. Rick, your suggestions on my “to do” list were such a typical guy’s response. And you’re a total enabler as far as my procrastination problem goes.

Maybe a Sunday question: What's a typical day in the life of a mom of 6?
My blog about sums it up.

O'Hare has got to be one of the worse airports to deal with in the country - far too big, confusing, and UGH. I'm sorry.
Nah, I can find my way around O’Hare no problem, however I wasn’t terribly fond of LaGuardia for two reasons. One - I thought we were landing in water. Seriously, the plane was going down, getting ready to land and all I saw out the window was water. The land didn’t appear until about 2 ½ seconds before the wheels touched down. The other thing is - I think there must only be like 2 runways because we sat on the ground for a half an hour waiting our turn to take-off. When we took off, I saw a line of more than a dozen planes waiting behind us.

Yum yum on that treat delivery- who was that from? YOUR agent?
Actually, it was from my wonderful new friends at Guideposts!

Here's a question for Sunday...what is your hotel and where exactly is it located? What's your favorite thing about it?
I stayed at Morgans on Madison Ave. My favorite thing…hmmm, it’s a toss up between the shower that had both hot and cold running water, but not at the same time, and the fact that one of the elevators was broken, making for a long wait to get downstairs. LOL! Actually, it was a nice hotel and it was within close walking distance to so many cool things.

Just received this from a traveling friend of mine. Since you're staying in a hotel, you might want to check it out (or not - ewww!). DON'T use the glassware.
I didn’t watch that because I figure ignorance is bliss. I did however, take the phone and the remote control, wrap them in the bedspread, and throw them into the corner of the room because Mike Rowe told me to.

Oh Dawn, there is one sight you will regretfully miss, and that's the guitar playing naked cowboy!
Yes, we were told about the naked cowboy. In fact, I believe the exact words used to describe him were, “He’s built like an Adonnis. Really - he has the body of a Greek god.” Sadly, we did miss him.

Is that a ribbon around the Rockefeller building in that picture where you're looking up at it??
Nope, that would be cool though. Those are just flags in the foreground, so they look really tall.

Wonderful pics...I was wondering though..that group shot at dinner...what did you do? Just stop the waiter and say "wait, can you take a picture of this for my blog??" LOL...
Yeah, isn't that what you do when you go out to eat?

Did you really meet Edward Grinnan from Guideposts? Is he as "interesting" in person as he seems in the magazine?
I really did! I didn't spend too much time with him, but he seemed very interesting in person as well. He did tell a really nice story about the effect Guideposts Magazine had on a reader. In fact, I met a lot of really nice folks at Guideposts and I feel bad because I don't remember all their names.

I was thinking, "Oh no, what if Dawn starts cutting the publisher's steak!?!" Fondue was a wise choice.
ROFL!!! Now, THAT would've been pretty funny!

What do you do in order to get those very large photograph in your blog?
I dunno. Click on "large" when it asks what size photos you want to insert?

Did you have a chance to ride the subway while you were here?
Nope. I didn't even have time to pick any chewed gum off the railings.

St. Patrick's Cathedral, of course - are you too young to remember seeing the giant Sta-Puf Marshmallow Man stepping on it in "Ghostbusters"? And Bill Murray yelling, "Nobody steps on a church in my town!" Cracks me up, just thinking about it.
Ahhhh yes! LOL! Speaking of Bill Murray - the guy I sat next to on the plane coming home, told me that Bill Murray had been on his flight out to New York. Aren't you glad I told you that?

The gentleman who sat next to you on the plane - around my house, we refer to those kinds of questions as "If a monkey bit you.." questions (from an old episode of Wings, in which an extremely annoying customer asks Joe some dumb question about biting monkeys).
ROFL!!! I'll have to remember that! Joe (my Joe) asks those kinds of questions all the time!

You didn't post the picture I was most looking forward to seeing!!! The one of your daughter with whatever medium she had decided to paint herself with while you were gone! Surely she got INTO SOMETHING and painted herself? Yes? Please! You gotta give me something!!! You can't tell me you went away and your husband was in charge and your child did not get into anything blue or green or markers or food coloring or frosting or anything fun like that?
Well, I don't have a picture only because I had the camera with me, but fear not, she did get into something. My husband decided to patch some holes in the walls while I was gone. When he stepped outside to check the meat he was grilling, she put her hand in the joint compound and smeared it all around the place.

Did you get the snow globe???????????
Yeah. I give it a week until someone breaks it.