Interviewer: So tell us a bit about yourself.
Katie: Well that's helpfully vague. Uh... *long pause*
Interviewer: *sighs* Where you grew up, your parents, siblings, school.
Katie: Okay, that's better! I was born on a military base, my dad was in the Army for a brief few years, and then we moved and I grew up in Smalltown Indiana where my dad works for the Navy. Don't try to make sense of any of that. My mom is a librarian which probably explains my love for books and libraries in general. I have 2 younger sisters and 2 younger brothers who I miss terribly since we moved to Maryland. Uh, school... I was my high school class salutatorian which a completely worthless thing to mention other than to prove I can spell salutatorian. I went to college at Xavier University in Cincinnati Ohio, studying biology and chemistry for 3 years. But no degree yet.
Interviewer (from now on known as Int): And then you met Greg, got married, and had 5 children all by the age of 28!
Katie: Well actually Kelly was born when I was 25 so all that by 25.
Int: ...
Katie: Right! Greg and 5 kids! I didn't really plan it that way, it just kinda happened. I met Greg at Dick Clark's American Bandstand restaurant, which no longer exists. *sobs* He was 20, I was 18 although I turned 19 shortly after we met. I thought he was like 23 though. But whatever, we hit it off and the rest is history as they say.
Int: More about Greg?
Katie: He's a good guy and funny and all that jazz. He's currently a um, hm, I don't know what exactly his job is but it's hard work. His hobbies are TV watching, editing home movies from our new camcorder, weekend naps, and his Jeep. And this is exactly why he prefers I don't write about him because he probably doesn't think any of the above about himself is true. If you want, you can check out his photo blog at http://www.gfleck.typepad.com He updates once in a blue moon.
Int: So do you enjoy being a stay at home mom?
Katie: Oh yes! It took some getting used to, practically going from full time college student with a part time job to staying home with 3 kids under the age of 2 years and a husband who traveled for work. Boy am I glad those days are over. But now I definitely have this stay at home mom stuff down pat. I think... Anyways I can't imagine how I'd work a real job into our life style. Not that I even want to. I'm quite happy staying at home and doing all that 50's housewife stuff along with my crafts and kid/school related volunteer work.
Int: 5 kids... Sorry, still can't get over that.
Katie: It's okay, I get that a lot. Really, 5's not that many. It only seems like a lot when buying Disney World tickets.
Int: Sure... Okay so tell us more about them.
Katie: Zach's the oldest at 9 years old. Sheesh, I can't believe he's 9. He's into chess, ice hockey, Cub Scouts, game boy and computer games. He loves to read and lately he's been picking non-fiction books like "Volcanoes." He's also almost finished the Lemony Snicket series, we need to find 12 somewhere.
Emily and Ally are the "Twins" and they just turned 7. Emily is 3 minutes older, that's why I always say her name first. We named the older twin Emily because Ally will always be alphabetically first. And I hate to lump them together but even as much as we try to get them to do their own thing at this point, they still want to do the same things. They are identical, although to me they look completely different. It's the eyes, Ally's are usually squinty where as Emily has more of the "wide eyed" look. They play soccer and are Girl Scout Brownies, I'm the troop leader! They also both love to color, they'll go through a ream of printer paper and a box of Crayola's 64 crayons like you wouldn't believe.
Kyle... Is well Kyle. He's 4 years old and has his own way of doing everything. Some days he's so sweet and adorable, you'll want to melt. Other days when he's at his most stubborn, you'll want to send him to his room for the whole day. But usually he's sweet. Especially to Kelly. They are adorable together. But back to Kyle, he likes everything "super hero" and Thomas the Tank.
Kelly is the baby although at 3 years old, she's not much of a baby anymore. Her latest thing is ice skating, she is so cute out on the ice in her tiny skates. She likes typical girl stuff like the Disney Princesses and dolls and dressing up in play clothes. She also likes to sing and enjoys going through Greg's computer music collection with him. She's not allowed to grow up anymore. Seriously.
Int: Well okay then, moving along! You seem to do a lot of crafts, how do you manage it all?
Katie: I don't know! Well, I really don't, I get that question a lot and I never know how to answer it. I usually say I'm a jack of all trades, a master of none. I've been known to basket weave, garden, cross stitch, and paint, although mostly walls. My main hobbies are sewing with the occasional quilt project, knitting, and scrapbooking. I just make the time, I suppose.
Int: The blog. You like to write.
Katie: I do! Although I've been slacking in the creative writing department lately. I used to think non-fiction and journaling were so difficult but after a couple of years of blogging, I think I have the hang of it. In theory I like fiction writing better because you can just make the stuff up as you go along. Well that is if the characters want to cooperate. That's why my NaNoWriMo novel was such a wreck this year, the characters were so bland and they refused to do anything and uh, what was the question again?
Int: I don't remember either. In conclusion, you'd like to say?
Katie: I'm just a mom and a wife and a friend and a daughter and a sister trying to make sense of the whole world while completing a few crafts along the way. Also I love parenthesis, do you know how hard it is to type out my thinking without them? Love the parenthesis!
Int: Very good, I think. So that about covers it, thanks Katie Fleck.
Katie: Anytime! Parenthesis!
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