• About
    • Penny
    • Hank
    • Juju
  • Contact
  • How To Start A Blog
  • Make Money Blogging
    • How To Make $40K Your First Year Blogging
    • Making Sense Of Affiliate Marketing
    • How To Monetize A Food Blog
    • Food Blogger Pro
  • Blogging Tips
    • Blogging Resources
    • Recommended Blogging Tools
    • Blogging Tips
      • More Quick Blogging Tips
    • How To Increase Blog Traffic
      • SEO For Health Blogging
      • External SEO Tips
      • On Site SEO Tips
    • Blogging Action Plan
      • Deciding Why You Blog
      • Types of Health Blogs
      • Important WordPress Settings
      • Blog Security
      • WordPress Plugins
      • WordPress Themes
  • Shop
    • Planner Favorites
    • Fitness Favorites
    • Kitchen Tools
    • Blogging Books

A Merry Life

Healthy Living & Budgeting Blog | Health, Wealth & Everything Else

  • Fitness
  • Food
  • Family Life

Ask Mary Anything (Second Edition)

October 7, 2010 by Mary

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure for details.

It’s been almost (not not quite yet) a year since my last installment of Ask Mary Anything. I get emailed/asked questions all the time and try my best to respond to them every time, but something about doing it all at once in a few posts is incredibly fun. I enjoyed it last year and I’ve been looking forward to doing it again since then.

So I’m going to ask you now for questions to answer for Ask Mary Anything. I’ll take my time and make sure I answer them all and post them next month sometime.

Feel free to ask me questions about anything you’d like to know. I only ask that you be nice and also realize I may choose not to use your question or consolidate questions if they are asked multiple times or very similar. :)

How to ask me questions:

1. Leave your question here as a comment on this post. This is the easiest way and I do like knowing who asks questions so I can link to them when I answer.

2. If you want to really, really be anonymous (not just anonymous posting here) then you can use formspring to ask me.

3. Like always, you can use the contact form to email me a question.

And that’s it! I’m excited! :)

There may or may not be a bigger, better, longer post later. For now I’m off to see Dinner With The Schmucks. Hurray Thursday date night! :)

Have a great day everyone!

Filed Under: Thoughts


« I Love Broccoli
Exposed, Take Two: Still Awesome »

Comments

  1. MizFit says

    October 7, 2010 at 4:57 am

    and? the movie??

    thats what Id ask.
    I was a little disappointed!

    you?

    • Mary says

      October 7, 2010 at 5:28 am

      Okay, I’ll answer this one right away. I thought it was funny. Better ending? Yes please. But I laughed along the way, so I’m happy.

  2. M says

    October 7, 2010 at 6:19 am

    Will you ever move back to North America someday?

  3. Tracey @ I'm Not Superhuman says

    October 7, 2010 at 6:47 am

    On a scale of 1 to 10 how fantastic are those Kiwi accents?

  4. Lori says

    October 7, 2010 at 8:02 am

    How cold does it get in Auckland during the winter?

    (I ask because Drew and I are planning to come live in NZ for a while next year!! And because I hate cold weather…..I’m trying to see how to pack :-P)

    Which I suppose leads me to my next question–would you want to meet up with us at some point? :-D

    • Mary says

      October 8, 2010 at 9:41 pm

      Yes!!! What? Seriously? You are moving to NZ? When? Where? Why? Ah!

  5. Caitlin says

    October 7, 2010 at 8:19 am

    If you could have any job in the world what would it be and why?

  6. Tami says

    October 7, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    Will you be getting a job in NZ? If so what type of work do you want to do?

  7. Sarah says

    October 7, 2010 at 2:35 pm

    Maybe I missed this on your blog (but I did look), but how were you able to afford your time in Vermont? I would like to be able to do something like that but financially that seems difficult or even impossible.

  8. Jack Sh*t says

    October 7, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    Who’s your favorite blogger named Jack?

    • Mary says

      October 7, 2010 at 6:15 pm

      You will be very surprised when I answer this one.

  9. Jasmine @ Eat Move Write says

    October 7, 2010 at 5:10 pm

    lol. You have to love Jack Sh*t hehe…

    How does life in New Zealand compare to the US. Do you have similar access to groceries, shopping, etc like you do in the US? That’s two questions, but I am always eager to hear about that kind of stuff. :)

  10. Mary says

    October 7, 2010 at 6:16 pm

    Two things: 1) I love that you know the answers to other questions. 2) Good questions! I love questions that make me think. ;)

    • Jack Sh*t says

      October 8, 2010 at 11:43 am

      Uh oh… ummmmm… who’s your second-favorite blogger named Jack?

  11. Kerry says

    October 7, 2010 at 7:28 pm

    This might seem totally random, but I was wondering if you were planning to celebrate Thanksgiving in some fashion this year?

  12. The Binge Diary says

    October 7, 2010 at 10:20 pm

    What ate your favorite blogs to read? Top 5?

  13. The Binge Diary says

    October 7, 2010 at 10:21 pm

    And by “ate” I mean “are!!!”

  14. Lauralee Hensley says

    October 7, 2010 at 11:24 pm

    So do you have garden space available where you are living now? If so are you planning on planting your own vegetable and fruit garden there? If you have no land available to plant and grow you own veggies, is there a community garden there that you could join? Sucks, I should have first asked if gardening was something you were even interested in, sorry.

  15. Alexia says

    October 8, 2010 at 1:35 am

    do you have any advice on privacy? obviously, my weight is visibly a problem, but often it’s hard for me to blur the line between what’s fair to write as far as it applies to others–and by others, i mostly mean by parents. i love my mother, she’s given so much for us, but over the years she’s said unkind things about my weight, and my father i’m estranged from (his idea, not me or my siblings). i believe that my parents directly or indirectly have much to do with my disordered eating. i like to think that we are so much more complex than words on on a page, so i wonder: any advice on how do i stay true to myself, but respect their privacy, their reputation, and all they have done for me? thanks!

  16. A.M. Osnot says

    October 8, 2010 at 5:41 am

    Sorry, I can never ask just one!
    I’d be most interested in hearing your answer to #1, though.

    1. How much money do you earn from your blog(s) in a typical month? How many do you have now, and much time do you spend on them in a typical week?

    2. Are you still following a special diet to prevent kidney stones, and how is that going?

    3. You have said that milk is expensive there. How much does yogurt cost (both Greek style and regular style nonfat plain yogurt)? Here, Greek yogurt costs twice as much as regular, and it is just regular yogurt with some water strained out. I figure the extra liquid fills me up better, and I really can’t justify the extra expense, so I buy or make my own regular yogurt. It would be hard for me to live without milk!

    4. In some of your photos, it looks like your food has been cooked in lots of fat (for example, fried eggs, and cooked veggies). Is that just an illusion created by the camera?

    5. Have you ever tried (or considered) eating sandwiches without cheese? (I love cheese, but I try to limit it because I have been advised to keep my sodium intake at/below the US RDA of 2600 mg.)

    6. What are your goals for daily nutritional intake, and how did you choose them? (calories, protein, fat, sodium, fiber, calcium, etc.)

    7. Do you have access to a means of transportation (a car you can use yourself, bicycle, public bus)? Is your driver’s license valid there?

    8. How far are you from the city? Are you out in the countryside, in a suburb, or in the city itself?

    9. What interests do you have in addition to blogging, cooking and crafts (and your sweetie)? If money were not a limiting factor, how would you spend your time?

    10. Do you use canned beans or cook your own from dried?

    11. It looks like your sandwiches are sometimes made from cold cuts. Is that true? Have you looked into the ingredients/nutrition content of them? For my sandwiches, I boil a boneless skinless chicken breast with onion, garlic and a few spices that I like. At $2 per pound on sale, I think it is much cheaper than coldcuts (and to me it tastes better).

    12. Do you have access to a gas or charcoal grill? If so, you could try making things like chicken fajitas.

    13. How do you spend a typical day there?

    14. What do you dislike about soup? Have you ever tried black bean soup, with plenty of jalepeno?

    • Mary says

      October 8, 2010 at 6:05 pm

      Oh goodness! I love it. So much to blog about now. ;)

  17. Nikki says

    October 8, 2010 at 8:52 am

    This has kind of been touched on, and is also kind of personal, but I thought I would put it out there anyways. What are the challenges of being in a relationship while taking care of yourself, and how do you deal with them? Especially since both parties have had challenges specifically with food. For example, in my last relationship, I was with someone who could eat whatever they wanted and not worry about it. I had to sit him down and explain that if I ate like he ate, I would be huge! So cooking together was difficult, and the simple act of eating had to always be a compromise. It seems like there would be pluses and minuses to being with someone who can understand the issues, but how do you handle it when you are in different places in your relationships with food?

    • Mary says

      October 8, 2010 at 6:04 pm

      Definitely. I’m excited to answer this one because I’ve been thinking about writing for it for a while. Thanks for a good question!

  18. Amanda says

    October 8, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    My question for you is:

    What if anything to you view differently about Americans now that you have spent an extended amount of time in NZ? I’m an anthropology nerd who hasn’t really gotten out of the US yet (shame!) so this is always an interesting subject for me.

    Have a great weekend!

  19. Yolande says

    October 8, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    Hi Mary,

    I am looking forward to the answers to some of those questions. You are my favourite blogger called Mary!

    Are the questions you get ever so intrusive (or the answers so embarrasing) that you wish you had not invited people to ask you anything?

    Yolande

  20. Mary says

    October 8, 2010 at 10:04 pm

    Thanks! I did move and am living in New Zealand. ;)

  21. Elle says

    October 10, 2010 at 5:22 am

    My question, because I don’t deal with this well AT ALL is: How do you deal with cravings at “that time of month”?

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Ask Mary Anything (Second Edition) -- Topsy.com says:
    October 7, 2010 at 4:23 am

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mary Thompson, Chris Langdon. Chris Langdon said: Ask Mary Anything (Second Edition) http://bit.ly/9q9pXm […]

  2. Lots of Amazing Food! says:
    October 8, 2010 at 4:42 am

    […] yeah, and make sure you ask me a question, so I have something to blog about! Cancel […]

  3. Fun Times and A Merry Go Round says:
    October 8, 2010 at 5:30 am

    […] all! Make sure you ask me a question on my last post so I have things to blog about. You can ask me anything! […]

mary Welcome to my journey to improve my health, wealth, and everything in-between!
Join me as I learn and share helpful tips and tricks I find along the way.
  • Bloglovin
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube
Ebates Coupons and Cash Back

Popular Posts

weight loss gift ideas healthy chocolate protein pancake recipe how to start a blog how to make money blogging

Search

Recent Posts

  • Postpartum Mental Health Risk Factors
  • Whole30 Reflections 1 Year Later + Recipes I’m Loving
  • Fisher Price Activity Jumperoo Baby Bouncer Review
  • How To Get $100 of Baby Stuff FREE
  • Blogging, Birthdays & The Arts Weekend Vlog

Top Posts & Pages

  • Sweet Potato Hash with Eggs Recipe
  • 12 Week Old Baby Day In The Life As A Working Mom
  • I Finished Whole 30!! | Whole 30 Week 4
  • Exposed: Why I Love My Body
  • Overcoming Overeating Book Review
  • Fisher Price Activity Jumperoo Baby Bouncer Review
  • How To Start A Blog
  • Privacy Policy
  • Kitchen Tools
  • How To Eat Your Most Hated Foods - Tips For Picky Eaters

Categories

Disclosure!

Note: Affiliate links may pop up on the site when I'm recommending something. They are free for you to use, but they help support me by giving me a small commission of any sales. It's like leaving a tip for good service while buying something you'd purchase anyway. Thank you for supporting A Merry Life!

Copyright © 2026 · A Merry Life - Healthy Living & Weight Loss Blog. Tasteful Theme by Restored 316 Designs

A Merry Life (amerrylife.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.

Copyright © 2026 · Tasteful Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in