#AskAwayFriday with Rabia {The Lieber Family}

So happy that Friday is here! Weeks are hard since I don’t have my laptop. It’s not in a convenient location and I don’t like where the desktop is. For now, it’s gotta stay where it is. My blogging inbox seems to fill up every day

This is my Week 8 of #AskAwayFriday where I spill my guts to all of you!

For those of you who aren’t familiar with #AskAwayFriday it’s an amazing way to meet new bloggers, make friends and ask some questions to get to know them better! We now have four permanent hosts ~ Penny at The Real Housewife of Caroline County, Tiffany at Mrs. Tee – Love, Life, and Laughter, Amber at Bold Fab Mom and Stacey at This Momma’s Ramblings. 10 questions are exchanged and answered on your partners blog, you can get as creative as you want and even get into our purses!

This week, I switch with Rabia from The Lieber Family. Mother of three, she pours her heart out on to the page in an attempt to procrastinate from getting other things done. She has turned over a new leaf in trying to clean up her house, ridding her house of 40 bags in 40 days. Feel free to read about it over at her place!

1.       You are working on getting fit and losing weight.  Do you have any great ways to exercise that your kids can get involved in?

The simpler the better. Quite honestly, just playing on their level works wonders for both of you. You get to spend time with them and they get some exercise and learn that you can be an adult and play too! Racing, riding bikes, playing hopscotch. Even chores are good. Remember how much exercise we got when we were just kids?

2.       You’ve got three young kids to feed.  What’s a dinner that will make everyone in your house happy?

At this point, I only have two young mouths to feed. I breastfeed the third. Pretty much anything I put in front of them. My husband isn’t that happy when I experiment. He likes anything tried and true, and not Pinterest recipes (LOL)! Of course, the kids love pizza (from the box since it’s not homemade) and my go-to meal is spaghetti. Quick and easy!

3.       March is Women’s History Month.  Name three women who have had a positive impact on your life.

Mrs. Sanders – My fourth grade teacher. She made me feel special and like I mattered. She was so important to so many kids in her class that we actually had a fourth grade “reunion” in which we found out that she made us all feel special. I was struggling a lot at home with my family life and she made me excited, not only about school, but life in general.

My grandmother – She would be open and honest with me about everything. Especially her feelings and about men. She taught me a lot of where and how I could expect to get through life. I think her advice worked because I came out with a great guy.

A former co-worker – Again, she was very honest with me about who I was. She guided me to be a better employee, teaching me that setting the bar too high would only be detrimental to me. As an aside, I would get things done SUPER fast, often in the same day. She let me know that although it’s good to complete an assignment in a timely manner, the employers would (1) always expect me to get it done that quickly and (2) expect my colleagues to do the same. In an industry where teamwork really can work well, I had to slow down (or at least slow down turning it in). For those thinking well, that means you’re good at your job. The problem is I can read really fast and can type over 100 words a minute, when I get in a groove. So, more work would come my way, but others would lose out and some of them ended up getting poor performance reviews because they couldn’t keep up with me.

4.       What do you think is your best quality?

I just care too much! No, I’m just kidding. I was watching a movie… well, that’s a complete digression. I’m very easy going. I can’t say that everything rolls off my back, but to you, a smile will be present and I’ll be trying my best to have a great time. I hate to feel like I’ve wasted my time, so even if a situation is a dud, I’ll do my best to get SOMETHING out of it.

5.       On the other hand, name a bad habit that you have.

Overanalyzing. I’ll get stuck in my head trying to determine if I made the right move or decision, to the point where I literally cannot sleep. I’ll try to talk myself into thinking that what I did was right (where if it was, I don’t need to do much talking). I’ll justify it to myself to DEATH. I’ll do the same with others’ actions, yet, somehow give them a lot more compassion than I give myself.

6.       Describe your dream vacation.

Honestly, anywhere I have my husband. He’s my closest friend and I think we could have fun pretty much doing anything. I would love to go back to Paris, but would also love to tour Asia and Australia. I’ve already laid out on the beach, and taken a look at wonderful art pieces, and seen a world’s wonder. I hate to say that I find the excitement all about equal for me.

7.       What is your favorite post that you’ve written?

I think it’s the one about my son’s life. I think it’s my favorite because it had me reach down deep to write it. I was still healing at the time (I’m still healing now) and I just like it. It’s personal and it’s me. I meant it to be part of my fictionalized autobiography, but so far, it’s just the one chapter.

8.       What is the oldest draft in your draft folder? Why haven’t you finished it?

That’s a good question. I saw this question on another #AskAwayFriday and never went back to look. It’s called Vacation and family…or the other way around. It was about our second trip to the Bahamas, and how we had a family reunion while I was there. The answer on why I haven’t finished it is the same for pretty much everyone of the almost 80 drafts that are in there. I got busy, wrote about something more “now” in my opinion, and never went back. For something like a vacation post, that has now happened over two years ago, I can’t see the push to finish it. It’s not like that vacation will come back around. I may post it one day.

9.       Would you rather go 100 years into the past or 100 years into the future?  Why? What would you do?

Super easy – the future. I’m not one to play the race card, but I’m also very realistic. I’m black, and blacks weren’t treated that great in early 1900s. I would love to take a look at the rest of culture, but I would hate to be pulled in to the ignorance of the day. I don’t want to be told that I’m “separate but equal”.

In the future, I’m sure we’d figure out some other non-issue to be upset about, but I’m pretty sure that it won’t be race, hopefully. I would just be enamored by all of the new creations and inventions. I would dive head first into learning new gadgets and pray that the life isn’t the one of .

10.   Do you have a favorite charity or non-profit that you support?

I support a few. I work with a group called National Coalition of 100 Black Women. I also spent the month of February working to raise money for the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and Ronald McDonald House. Find out more about this cause HERE! I would want other families that are in similar predicaments to have the support of these places.


Comments

#AskAwayFriday with Rabia {The Lieber Family} — 24 Comments

  1. Great pairing, ladies! It is great to be able to have fun with the hubby! My hubby and I have an old cheesy golf video game that we play every now and then and usually cracking up! Those are great charities to support! Hope you have a wonderful weekend, April!

    • We're working to do more things together. We actually have time now! I wish we had a "thing". Right now, our "thing" is to lay down and watch a movie. How lazy are we? Thanks so much for stopping by, Stacey!

  2. Aw, that was a sweet answer for #6! My husband and I want to go to Asia & Australia as well. We're hoping to make it to at least Asia this year to visit a friend in Singapore. I'm going to read your favorite post right now!

    • My husband really is my best friend. Anywhere that he's willing to go, I'm down. Singapore sounds nice. Right now, any place sounds nice. I'm ready to go on vacation!

  3. Thanks for swapping with me this week, April. You asked some tough questions!!
    I enjoyed getting to know you better. I especially like your answer about the amazing women in your life. You are certainly blessed!!

    • I have been blessed. I really enjoyed your answers (and the time you took to answer them). I love finding out more about you too! Thanks for the awesome questions. I felt this week I could really answer instead of giving some evasive sounding answers because I didn't have a real answer for them.

  4. Great questions and answers!
    I just saw I had drafts saved the other day, and like you I got busy, and moved on to newer posts.
    #3 was such a great question, and I loved your answer

    XOXO

    • I have SOOOO many, i think around 80 posts in there. I sometimes go back and delete them because I don't think they can be "revamped" to be more current. Now, I've started just a note page of post ideas. That way, it's easier to delete them… of course, that means that there are a LOT more of them! Thanks. I really did love these questions.

  5. I agree with you I would rather go 100 years in the future. I'm sure it will be mindblowing how nuch the world will change.

    • In some ways we've come so far in the last 100 years, and in some ways, not so much. I'm excited to see what the changes would be in the future.

  6. Hi April! Happy #AskAwayFriday…I am so with you when it comes to overanalyzing. I do it with every major purchase to the point where my Hubby usually just sneaks and buys whatever it is without me so I don't stand there asking a million questions…LOL

    • I wish my husband would do that… but I guess I have to externalize my overanalyzation! LOL! I keep most of it to myself, which drives him crazy because he has no idea what's on my mind. LOL!

  7. My fourth grade teacher was an angel! My mom surprised me by inviting her to my high school graduation party! I think I cried!

    • Wow! How incredibly sweet! I know she was my favorite teacher and we got to reconnect through FB. It's been awesome!

  8. Aww I'd always love to make something out of my time and I get a lil paranoid when I haven't accomplished anything. Yesterday, all I did was sleep because for some reasons, I really got tired from work.. I think I'd also choose 100 years to the future if given the chance.. I could only think of cars flying and being able to travel from earth to another planet like it's just a mall nearby! LOL

    • Sometimes you just need a break. We push ourselves very hard, often past our breaking point. I would like to see flying cars too, but I have a feeling that since the 80s when Back to the Future came out, it doesn't seem like there's much progress in that department, I wouldn't hold your breath!

  9. I do yoga with my kiddos. We got a deck of yoga cards for kids and they love doing it! Also, my older son is seven and this spring we're going to do a couch to 5K training program and run a local 5K in the summer. I'm excited for us to do it together!
    Spaghetti is one of my go-to meals, as well! Easy and everyone loves it!
    Great answers!

    • I love the idea of using yoga cards. I know every time I try to do yoga, my daughter likes to play between my legs, so I tend to stay away from it. I have really enjoyed the Couch to 5K program (when I've been able to use it). I think it's pretty awesome for a free app!

  10. My husband is like your's he doesn't like it when I experiment with Pinterest recipes either. Of course, some of them were a flop and other's were awesome.

    • He just likes things the way he's used to tasting them. Even if he likes them he'll say "Well, I like this one, but I liked the other one too". Not sure what I could do otherwise, ya know?

  11. Number 3 was an awesome question! I also said 'awwe' on your answer about the perfect vacation being with your husband! I feel the same! We're going to Paris in July and it'll be our first trip out of the country! If you get Amazon Prime 1-click you won't over analyze the buying process anymore! It's trouble though! You might be having buyers remorse instead.

    • Yay, congratulations on your trip to Paris. It’s a gorgeous city, but if you can make it into the country, there’s such beauty in some of the wineries and making your own perfume.My cart stays full at Amazon. I can’t convince myself to pull the trigger, even when it’s something I want. I had to break down and get a case for my phone, since my daughter shattered my last one. What I need is clothes, and I have to try things on to see if they fit right… which still takes time.

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