Today’s blogger is Michelle Murphy, who writes three blogs: Cheap and Creative, Army Wife for Now, and Baby by Michelle Elise.  In her own words:

Family trip to the beach for the holidays!

I’m a new mommy, an Army wife, and someone with entirely too many hobbies. I’m obsessive about washing my hands, but I’m horrible about cleaning the house. I have a few pet peeves: 1) When people are late or forget to do something they said they would 2) Those family stickers people put on cars, you know with the stick figures for each family member and 3) the giant slugs in our yard, we never had six inch long slugs in California! I think they are out to get me!

I’m married to Michael Murphy, which amuses me because my parents planned to name me Michael if I had been born a boy. Yet, don’t let the name similarities fool you, I think I am literally the opposite of my husband. I’m 5’5” and he’s 6’6”. I’m messy, and he cleans early on Saturday morning so he can relax during the weekend. I love to try new things and collect: books, photos, musical instruments, paints, fabric, yarn, etc. I secretly wish I were a hippie, selling handmade goods and homegrown veggies on the side of the road with a child on each hip. My husband’s favorite things are guns, the Military channel, and trying to throw my collections away. In spite of how different we are, some how we meet in the middle and get along surprisingly well.

Our little family began last January when we ran off to Vegas and got married a few days after he joined the Army. We transplanted from Southern California to Clarksville, TN in June and had our first child in September. Now I’m a stay home mom working on a M.A. in Education, and managing to squeeze a little time in to work on all my hobbies, especially the newest: blogging.

    1.  Pick five items that are the color yellow in your home.  What are they?

I’m not really a fan of the color yellow. Unfortunately though, our house is yellow, and so is our master bathroom. Who paints a bathroom bright yellow? We were going to repaint it, but we can’t agree on a new color. I like gray, he likes tan. Other than that we don’t have much yellow in the house… oh I know, I have one bumGenius cloth diaper that’s yellow =)

    2.  You wouldn’t be caught dead…where?

Probably in a tanning salon, I find the idea of tanning beds disturbing. I very much enjoy being pale and usually put on spf 50 or higher when I go out.

    3.  What is the craziest thing you have ever done?

Picking up and moving to Tennessee. I never thought I would live this far away from the ocean. I had talked about moving out of state before, but that was just talk. It’s been hard being away from family and friends, but I’m adjusting. Thank goodness for Facebook!

    4.  What does your family do together to unwind?

Lots and Lots of Netflix movies. I’ve been trying to convince my husband to play Risk or Scrabble with me, but he thinks you need more than two people to play Risk since our last game was nearly 10 hours long, and we won’t play scrabble since he knows I’ll win. So typically, we watch a movie or he plays Call of Duty and I work on my laptop. Both my husband and I love being outdoors, but we didn’t do a lot of exploring when we first got to Tennessee because I was extremely pregnant and the humidity was evil. Although, at the end of my pregnancy we hiked a couple times a week, in an effort to induce labor. Now that that’s over with and the weather is starting to warm up again, I’m looking forward to taking our son hiking and maybe camping.

    5.  Okay, tell us one story that your family will tease you about until the day that you die.

When I was 2, I was taking a bath with my sister and I pooped in the tub. Even still, 22 years later, every time I see my sister she likes to remind me of this incident and how I will always be held responsible for my wrongdoing.

A favorite: Michael with Jacob, 2 months.