Guest Post: Welcome to Sarah Jedd!!

Please give a warm Monday morning welcome to Sarah!

You know the spiel: here is an awesome blogger and I have no idea when/how I met her on the interwebs. Like always, I feel like I’ve “known” Sarah forever; in reality, it has been less than two years. (This is something I think I should just start copying and pasting to the top of each and every blogger guest post.) At the end of the day, the important thing to note is that our internet paths did cross.

Seeing a new post from Sarah is always a delight. Sarah is hilarious. When she laments, it’s funny. When she talks about the daily chaos of raising FIVE CHILDREN who are involved in every single activity under the sun, it’s funny. She is just a very funny person, as you will quickly discover while reading her answers to my “interview” questions. (I laughed until I cried – twice.)

Sarah is a professor at the University of Wisconsin and she and her husband Ben have FIVE children (I feel the need to mention this number again because it boggles my mind when I can barely stay on top of parenting TWO); from teenagers all the way down to preschooler Minnie. Sarah loves baking, blogging, and toddlers. She also washes everyone’s sheets weekly (Bless), reads/listens to a truly staggering number of books each year, and really does appear to get very close to doing IT ALL (which is impossible, as we all know – and Sarah is great about keeping things real.)

I hope you enjoy reading Sarah’s answers as much as I did; I will never think about children’s picnic tables, hamster babies, and boxes of Kleenex the same way again.

Q. What aspect of your current life/career would most surprise 20-year-old Sarah?

I HAVE 5 KIDS!?!?! I mean, I did have like 15 Cabbage Patch Kids and really loved playing with dolls for kind of a weirdly long time, BUT I was never, like, a super warm or maternal person and wanted to be a soap opera actress for the longest time as my only career aspiration. I think 20-year-old me would be shocked that she’s a suburban mom of 5 with a PhD. [Cabbage Patch dolls are becoming a bit of a theme in guest posts...! Also, you are the first guest to mention the dream of being a soap opera actress. The real question is – will you be the last?]

Q. Do you have a go-to reset when you’re feeling overwhelmed or struggling to stay focused?

Stress baking is my very favorite coping mechanism. The house smells delicious; raw cookie dough is the nectar of the gods, and it is hard to be sad with a salted caramel brownie in your whine hole, you know? [You had me at “a salted caramel brownie”.]

Q. If you could add (or subtract) one habitual behaviour in your life, what would it be?

When I read Happier at Home, I was so taken with the idea of warm greetings and farewells! I tried to do a better job of taking care with goodbyes and welcoming my family home with more fanfare, but this habit didn’t stick for me. It’s something I want to work on, but I wish it came easier. (I think I am always just in such a rush! This clearly disrupts farewells if we are zooming out the door in a messy huff, but it also puts a damper on greetings when people come home and catch me in the middle of something I wanted to be done with already.)

Q. What’s one piece of advice you wish you had heard (or understood) at an earlier age?

COMPOUND YOUR INTEREST. COMPOUNDING INTEREST IS MAGICAL.

Q. What was your favorite purchase (under $200) so far in 2023?

Butterfly claw clips from the kiddie section at Target. $6 and a magical way to make my hair look completely presentable in under 30 seconds. (Maybe I will hit my bangs with a flat iron if I am feeling super fancy).

Q. If you could eat only one meal on repeat for a week, what would you choose?

I get in food ruts all the time. Like, I will eat the same thing on repeat and then never eat it again. Right now, I cannot get enough peanut butter Cliff Bars and Taylor Farms dill pickle salad kits. Not together, though, because ew.

Q. What song is most likely to put a smile on your face?

Galileo by the Indigo Girls – it was a theme song for my college besties.

Q. What international destination – that you’ve never visited – do you most want to see?

Paris – Eiffel Tower. Like, I would be fine with flying in, taking a selfie, and flying home WITH A BRAND NEW FB COVER PHOTO. [If only you liked flying…still, I see this very adventure in Sarah’s future!]

Q. If you could snap your fingers and have all the capabilities necessary to excel in any career or hobby (e.g. if your wish was to be a famous rockstar, you’d magically have the necessary vocal/instrumental skills), what would you choose and why?

Oooooooh I wish I could siiiiiiiiing.

Q. List five things that would happen as part of your idealized “perfect day”.

• Wake up naturally when my brain is all done sleeping (LOLOLOL will this ever happen again?). 
• Drink 2 cups of coffee and get just buzzed enough to write a lovely essay or poem, not so buzzed that I freak out and start yelling at my family/worry I am having a heart attack.
• Shop for a new dress for a fun, grown-up event I’m looking forward to and find one – on sale – at the third store I enter, which is the absolute shopping sweet spot – enough stores to convince myself I have gone on a veritable hunt but not so many stores that I am burned out and rumpled from too many fitting rooms. [This was VERY specific, but I 100% get what you mean. Third Store Sweet Spot, indeed.]
• Listen to an audiobook I adore and am in the perfect middle of while taking a walk on a crisp 60-degree day.
• End the day with the whole family on the couch with blankets, popcorn, peanut butter M&Ms, and hot chocolate to watch The Family Stone because it is apparently 60 degrees but also Christmas movie season. (Erm. I think Minnie might already be in bed to make this work. Sorry, Minnie*.) [*Minnie is Sarah’s adorable preschooler. No shade to Minnie, but preschoolers tend to put a damper on enjoying non-cartoon movie nights.]

Q. Share a weird/random/true fact – any odd skills or unusual experiences?

When I was little (5 or 6?) I liked to pretend that I was Ethel Merman’s crabby sister, a character of my own invention. This character smoked a cigarette in one of those long fancy cigarette holders, so I liked to put a Bic pen in my mouth or hold it lazily between 2 fingers, like first graders do. One night, I was playing in the basement (concrete floors – an important detail) while my mom cleaned up dinner and the rest of the fam hung out upstairs. I decided that Ethel Merman’s crabby sister (™, obvi) would probably also wear a fur coat. I stood a plastic 4-kid picnic table (you know – the kind that is all one piece with a tabletop and 2 benches?) on its end and slithered my arms between the benches to be a fur coat (literally no idea what my 1980s kid brain was thinking about here), but when I tried to walk, I realized the picnic table was too heavy to wear (duh, 1986 Sarah, duh), and I fell over onto my face, my arms pinned akimbo by the table. And that’s how I broke my nose. (But THANK GOODNESS I had my pen cigarette in my hand and not in my mouth!)

Q. What is your most treasured possession?

For all of my spendy habits, I am not super into stuff. I have a hope chest and a quilt from my dad’s mom’s house and a quilt and some art from my mom’s mom’s house that I love. My grandma also made all 4 older kids baby quilts, and Minnie sleeps with them all. But! Importantly! We use all of these things, and they are getting worn out, etc. I love that they are sentimental to me and that my kids will have memories with them, too.

Q. If you could only wear one colour for the rest of your life, which colour would you choose?

Hot pink. [Bold + fits in with the Barbie answer below!]

Q. If you were on a desert island and could only bring three items, which three items would you bring?

1. Flint

2. Pan

3. Giant machete

(I am a huge Naked and Afraid fan, and these seem like the essentials).

Q. Favourite movie, song, or book from 2022 (or thus far in 2023 works, too)?

The best book of the year so far is definitely Tom Lake. [Gah, that was a DNF for me, but everyone is raving; do I need to try again?] And we loooooved Barbie because OF COURSE WE DID. And for real? Lizzo’s “Pink” from Barbie is my favorite song.

Q. Did you have any pets as a child? 

We had the most delightful beagle named Daisy, and my brothers and I each had a hamster. Mine was Snowball, and my brothers’ were Daisy (why yes, that same brother did name our dog, too – why do you ask?) and George. We started with 3 hamsters in 3 cages connected by tubes so they could visit each other. Soon we had 65 hamsters, and Snowball ATE a BUNCH of her BABIES which seemed terrible to me at the time, but now I have 5 kids, and she had like 35, and I UNDERSTAND, SNOWBALL. IT WAS A LOT, and YOU DID THE BEST YOU COULD. [I literally laughed so hard I cried when I read Sarah’s answer; “I UNDERSTAND, SNOWBALL. IT WAS A LOT, and YOU DID THE BEST YOU COULD.”]

Q. If you were doing it for fun – and money was no object/didn’t factor into your decision – what would your dream job be?

I think I would want to do exactly what I am doing – teach classes I love to really smart students and just get to sit around and think about stuff all day. [This sounds like Sarah Hart-Unger’s answer!]

Q. What’s something (food, skill, adventure, etc.) you’ve always wanted to try, but haven’t yet?

I would really like to ride in a hot air balloon. (I am afraid of flying on airplanes, but this is straight up claustrophobia. For some reason, knowing I could jump out of a balloon basket makes me feel ok about it. I understand this makes zero sense.)

Q. What is the best gift you’ve ever received?

Ben got me a clip-on LED booklight in my stocking a few years ago that I love so much. 

Q. How did you meet your husband?

We met in high school at speech camp when we were 13 and 14. We ended up staying in touch, being campers together 2 more years, and going to college together (at the site of our speech camp). Speech camp is like band camp, only even dorkier.

Q. What is your favourite time of day?

Morning! So optimistic and giddy with potential!

Q. Tell us something about your personality you think might surprise readers! 

I am very shy. In real life this comes off as snobbiness, but I promise it is just anxiety.

Q. What is the first thing you do in the morning/last thing you do at night?

Before I go to bed, I set my coffee pot to brew 10 minutes before my alarm goes off, and I drink a cup of coffee first thing.

Q. What words would your friends use to describe you/your personality?

Irreverent. Opinionated. Always up for dessert.

Q. Toilet paper over…or under?

I would be thrilled if someone besides me changed a roll of toilet paper EVER, so EITHER WAY. I walked into one of the kid bathrooms the other day, and there was a BOX OF KLEENEX balanced on the empty roll, which was still on the toilet paper holder thing. [Okay. You win. In this case, under is also an acceptable answer.]

Q. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

DO NOT USE IN QUIET SPACES.

Thanks for being here today Sarah. This was so much fun!

Your turn. Any questions for Sarah? Do you have coffee set to automatically brew before you wake up? Any traumatic childhood injuries? Have you flown in a hot-air balloon? Do you like to bake? How do you feel about dill pickle salads?