Who is Pary Moppins?

Who is Pary Moppins?
Howdy! My name is Julie and I am:

The lady behind the hat
Wife to the ever-patient, loving, extremely intelligent, and all around good guy ”Engineer"
Mother of the warm, kind-hearted, smart, creative, and talented ”Diva”
Caretaker of Caspar (like the wise man, not the ghost) and Winnie (named for her doppelgänger in the classic children’s movie “Because of Winn Dixie”)

What can I find at parymoppins.net?

Where have you lived?
My hometown is in the beautiful Piney Woods of Deep East Texas.

I attended a university outside of Dallas where I met Engineer and we stayed in that area once we were married.

We were transferred by our company to rural England (it was also where Diva was born.)

After 8 years, we returned to my roots and lived in The Little Pink House which incidentally, was around the corner from my childhood home.

Six years later, we moved again to northwest Lou-zyana to be closer to Engineer's work.

Only 1 year later, we moved to our current location outside of Houston.

Where we have lived greatly influences the way I write, talk, cook, and drink my tea.

Why do you blog?
Initially, I blogged because I genuinely wanted people to make the most of what resources they have available and for them to take every opportunity while being good stewards over their time, money, energy, relationships, etc. I still want that.

And blogging was a way for our family and friends to keep up with us through an online journal.

Since our lives have transitioned a bit, we’re empty nesters now, I want my writing to reflect that.

Why "Pary Moppins"?
You can find that answer here.
The fact that we pretty much live in a musical doesn't hurt either.

How do you know what you're talking about?
Engineer and I got married young and made lots of silly mistakes with our money from the get-go that we paid for, literally and figuratively.

We understand the difficulty in making wise financial decisions up against the backdrop of the American cultural norm. But being counter-culture in many ways has brought us peace; and the good Lord willing, by the end of 2013 we'll be debt free! *Update - we paid off The Little Pink House on schedule!

Our family truly lives frugally. We choose to save in most areas so we can spend on other areas.

It is important to us to live intentionally but with arms and eyes and ears wide open to possibilities.

We really do eat ~~weird~~ interesting foods because I cook ~~strangely~~ unconventionally.

You can find me at estate sales whenever I get the chance.

I try to reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle as much as possible not because it's trendy or "green" but because it saves my resources.

We are navigating our “new normal” since Diva has gone off to college and I want to be able to document that with transparency and encouragement.

In other words, I am not just giving directions on where to go but am actually traveling (quite literally) that frugal path to financial freedom and enjoying the journey.

Here are a few more answers to questions you may (or may not) have:

What do you do in your spare time when you're not blogging?
Ha ha! Spare time! You're hilarious! What? Oh, you weren't kidding?...Uh hem...well, I knit, cook, try to avoid being captured on film in any way, entertain, volunteer, travel, and drink vats of coffee.

Are you a hippie?
I prefer crunchy capitalist.

How many hats do you have?
I plead the 5th.

Have you ever been given a Blog Award?
Why, yes I have! Thanks so much for asking.
I was one of the Circle of Moms Top 25 Southern Bloggers two years in a row.
I have also been awarded a Liebster here and a Leibster there.

What is your philosophy in life?
Always take opportunities that you are given, even if they make you uncomfortable...and cookies fix everything.

Who are your heroes?
The women in our family.
They are/were a bevy of Steel Magnolias if ever there was one.

Do you really have a purse made out of a bra?
Yes ma'am, two in fact.

Have you ever thrown Diva a "normal" birthday party?
If you mean going to a venue and having a party catered with games and activities done by someone else or a party where kids gather and have cake and open presents and afterwards go home then I'm going to go with a no on that one. We aren't normal and therefore, neither are her parties.

Why is your husband in a turkey suit in that photo?
Why not?

If you have any other questions please feel free to e-mail me at parymoppins (at) ymail (dot) net.