Q&A

First, the most important part. The winner. Congrats Jenny!

What is your favorite store to shop at?
It all depends on what I'm shopping for. If it's work clothes, I like to frequent the Ann Taylor Factory store at the outlet mall just down the road. I do really enjoy Target for the day to day stuff.

Tell us about your date nights, if you haven't gone on one for awhile, where would the two of you go if given the chance?
Mike and I try to have date nights every now and again. To be totally honest, we had one a couple of weeks ago and neither of us wanted to go anywhere or do anything. We were both just exhausted from a long week. The kids were at grandma's and we just sat on the couch, drank some Coors Lights and chatted about how guilty we felt for not doing anything.

Do you like your job and do you think you'll stay in HR forever?
I do really like my job, but like everybody else, there are parts that I would like to not have to do, like sit in on terminations. The nice thing for me is that the company I work for is huge (23,000 employees) so I don't have to do recruitment which I did before and just didn't really dig. As far as staying in it forever - I don't have any plans for a career change. It would be pretty awesome though to own my own store somebody. I have no idea what I'd sell or what services I would provide.

If you were granted three wishes what would they be?
Other than the happy, healthy, world peace etc wishes, I would wish for:
1. Metabolism that allowed me to not have to think about what I throw down the hatch
2. The money and ability to travel the world with my kids
3. And at this very exact moment, I would wish for my children to get along with each other for more than 10 seconds during an entire day.

What is my favorite room in my house and why?
The family room. I like the paint colors, I like that it is big enough to have a lounging area and room for the kids to play. It just suits us well.

Where did you meet your hubby?
Mike and I met at St. Cloud State. We had a mutual friend who worked in my dorm my freshman year. We met a few times before really hitting it off the fall of my sophomore year.

What is your favorite thing to cook for dinner?
I don't know that I have a favorite thing I like to cook, but the first thing that jumped to my mind was a go to recipe that is quick and easy and that my kids also like. I take a box of penne noodles and cook them - drain and put back in the pot over low heat. Then I add a bag of spinach, 4 or so Roma tomatoes, olive oil (I have no idea how much, enough to keep things moist) and a carton of sundried tomato feta cheese. Stir it all up so that the spinach cooks up and the cheese melts a little. That's it.

What was your best vacation and why?
Hands down our 1 year anniversary trip to Maui. It was amazing. It is just beautiful there and smells so good. We were lucky enough to have friends that lived there so they were our tour guides and showed us all the ins and outs that we may not have discovered on our own. Mike keeps asking when we can go back.

Are the elementary schools the easiest so far of parenting?
That's a tough one. Colton has always been a good kid. He's just been really easy going, he does really well in school, but, the past six months or so have become a little more challenging with him. You can tell he's influenced by his friends and other kids much more now than ever and he's only in 2nd grade! Brett's not quite in the elementary phase yet, but has really begun to calm down over the past few months which has been lovely. I don't really think I've answered your question as I think it's yet to be determined.

Tell us three things about you that I don't already know and that many others wouldn't either.
Yikes this ones got me thinking.

1. A girlfriend of mine took the hit for a house party we had in St. Cloud. At the time I lived with 7 other girls and we were having a party. Not a kegger, but just friends over. Within an hour or two the cops showed up and wanted to know who lived there. "T" lived there, but so did I and I didn't confess and she didn't rat me out. She ended up with a minor consumption and my record went untarnished. Still feel a little guilty about that one.
2. I was on the Envirothon team in high school. My team actually made it to state one year. I really didn't know anything to add value to the team, but did my part to be able to label trees, water insects, etc.
3. I can't stand play-dough and I secretly throw it out when I'm helping the boys clean it up to the point that we no longer have any play-dough in the house and hopefully never will again.

That last one was pretty lame, but I can't spill all my juicy secrets!

Jenny - I'll send your prize home with my mom next week so she can drop it off.