Blooming Women
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  • Home + Table of Contents
  • Watch us grow!
  • About Blooming Women
  • About Being a Contributor
  • Contact
  • Happy Birthday, Blooming Women! One Year Today!
  • Blog—Maniacal Musings—Becky Lyn Rickman, Managing Editor
  • Blog—Jessica's Journey—Jessica VanVactor, Guest Contributor
  • Blog—My Armenia—Carol Rickman's Blog
  • Dealing with miscarriage
  • My Story
  • Circles
  • The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of Being Single
  • 5 Stages of divorce recovery
  • The Circus is in Town
  • (You're covered with) The Fingerprints of God
  • Thunder Roared and Love Soared
  • A Period Piece
  • A sneak preview of the Gertie sequel!
  • Six Steps to Cultivate your Femininity in the Business World
  • Chore Zoning or Don't try this at home!
  • The 50 with Meredith Morse—Opera Singer
  • The 50 with Jessica VanVactor
  • Memorizing Joy
  • AT LAST! My interview with Shan White, Life Coach for women in transition
  • Questions and statements we don't care if we never, ever get asked or told again (am I right, girls?)
  • The Date
  • Moonshadow's Spirit
  • Broken Writer + Hypnotherapy = Amazing Trips
  • The "R" Word
  • The 50 with Carol Shepherd Rickman
  • Triumph During Transitions
  • A Kentucky Afternoon
  • Mothers
  • 10 things chemo taught me
  • What if . . .
  • Forgiveness—A poem
  • Mantegories (n. from the Latin; man+categories)
  • Insomnia 101
  • Blooming Bud Interview: Sierra
  • Masterful Mindsets
  • It's in the bag!
  • Important lessons for children: Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can
  • Nursery rhymes, and times, and slimes, and grimes, and crimes
  • Things I learned as a single mom
  • Sadie's Soapbox: Dating
  • The Dress
  • 8 Things That Have Surprised Me About Having a Large Family
  • The gift of longing
  • The Semicolon Project
  • Most embarrassing moments—culinary edition
  • MilitaReality—a brat's perspective
  • About those elusive wisps of thought
  • Being there
  • The Giving Mom
  • How I still haven't learned to keep my smart mouth shut!
  • If you give a mom a cookie . . .
  • Cacti and Geraniums
  • The Three Gardeners
  • Beauty is as beauty does
  • Words for Sabra
  • Arm scratching in Baltimore
  • Pornography didn't kill our love and friendship . . . I did . . . and how we got it back
  • Hardening off our little bloomers
  • The Wonderful, Magical Women of Blooming Television
  • Shake it like a Polaroid picture!
  • 25 Date Nights (that aren't dinner and a movie)
  • Hills Like White Elephants
  • Maryland Beaten Biscuits
  • The night we thought the house was exploding
  • A mysterious case of goosebumps or "What is that on the wall?"
  • Militareality—Real stories of military wives
  • Finding my metal in wood
  • Another blooming bud interview
  • Chariot of Fire
  • Secret gifts of love
  • The best prank I ever pulled was . . .
  • Connie
  • Dating and other hazards
  • Favorite childhood memories
  • When God speaks . . .
  • Zanie gets into another sticky situation
  • No-see-ums: A little useful information
  • I love my kids, but . . .
  • Meg's poem
  • Another blooming bud interview
  • Some of my favorite herbal recipes are . . .
  • I love my cat, but . . .
  • I love all creatures, but . . .
  • The thing all girls and women must see and know . . .
  • The Great Chicken Debacle
  • The Powerful Influence of Brothers
  • How I feel about blooming is . . .
  • Sometimes grandma is up—other times she is simply upside-down
  • Anyone out there as anxious as I am?
  • Some of my funniest childhood memories are . . .
  • You might be addicted to Harry Potter if . . .
  • This month's survey:
  • Another Blooming Bud interview
  • The most valuable life lesson I've learned is . . .
  • The greatest blessing to come out of the most painful thing I ever experienced was . . .
  • The most powerful influence on my life is . . .
  • The thing that could have broken our family, but didn't was . . .
  • The funniest thing that ever happened to me was . . .
  • The time my dad really surprised me was when . . .
  • NEW FEATURE: Interviews with Blooming Buds
  • ANOTHER NEW FEATURE: A survey
  • The most valuable life lesson I've ever learned is . . .
  • My most embarrassing moment was when . . .
  • What really puzzles me is . . .
  • One of the most fun days I ever had was . . .
  • The most scared I've ever been was when . . .
  • The people who have been the biggest influence on me are . . .
  • I like to relax by . . .
  • The best way to do . . .
  • My most embarrassing moment was when . . .
  • The most fun I ever had was when . . .
  • When I grow up, I want to be . . .
  • What really puzzles me is . . .
  • The most amazing bargain I ever found was . . .
  • Those annoying things kids do and what they mean
  • My shameless self-promotion
  • The thing about getting older is . . .
Jessica, the normal look and Jessica, the St. Baldrick look, after having 
shaved her head to raise awareness and money for children with cancer.
"THE FIFTY" 
WITH JESSICA VANVACTOR
(THE GREATEST MOM AND BESTEST 

FRIEND ANY BOY COULD HAVE)
A new series of questions, starring my lucky number 
and some of my favorite people. 
Pay attention. You may be next!

Blooming Women: 
If you could have dinner with 5 other people, living or dead, 
fictional or real, who would they be and why?
     Jessica:
1.  My brother who passed away in 2011. Why? 
Because when he died I felt like my heart quit working that day.
2.  Bear Grylls. I think he would be a good addition to the dinner. 

He could teach me how to be more self-sufficient.
3.  Ronald Reagan (and Nancy). I think they count as one because she is so small!  

I feel like he would have TONS of information he could share about many things; 
plus, I think I would want them to give me a group hug!
4.  Steve Irwin. I really think my daughter and brother would like him; 

plus he really looks like he would be a fun person to have a dinner with.
5.  My Family I wouldn't want to have this kind of dinner without the
m

Blooming Women: 
What are 5 pivotal experiences that made you who you are today?
Jessica:
     1.  My childhood
2.  Birth of my Children/ Raising my kids
3.  The day I quit being a victim and started living
4.  My brother's death
5.  My son's diagnosis


Blooming Women: 
What 5 authors do you never tire of?
Jessica:
To be honest, I'm not loyal to any author.  I get an urge to read about 
something or learn about something and I find someone who has written about it.


Blooming Women:
What are 5 things on every shopping list?
Jessica:
1.  A treat for my son and I (usually a soda or snack)
2.  Orange juice
3.  TV dinners
4.  Some type of cleaner
5.  Kitty litter


Blooming Women:
What are 5 things you most want to accomplish in this life?
Jessica:
1.  Help my daughter to become the person she wants to be!!
2.  I want to help as many people as I can and 

be remembered for the good things I've done—not the bad
3.  Write a book
4.  Start a non-profit
5.  Own a house

Blooming Women:
What are 5 things you are most proud of accomplishing?
Jessica:

1 & 2.  Raising both my kids 
3.  Being a big sister to my siblings
4.  Bungee jumping twice by the ankles 
5. Being able to meet all the people i have in my life!!

Blooming Women:
What are your top 5 favorite movies?
Jessica:
1.  Tommy Boy (funny)
2.  NoteBook (Love story)
3.  P.S. I love you (crying movie)
4.  Sound of Music (feel good)
5.  G.I. Jane (girl power)


Blooming Women:
What are your top 5 favorite musical groups/composers/singers?
Jessica:
1.  Sounds of nature
2.  Instrumental
3.  Rap
4.  Classic rock
5.  Mormon Tabernacle choir

Blooming Women:
 If you could spend 5 days alone somewhere, where would it be and why?
Jessica:
Alaska, to see if I'm strong enough to do it.

Blooming Women:
What are 5 things always found in your purse?
Jessica:
1.  Alcohol pads
2.  Nail clippers
3.  Stamps
4.  Hair ties
5. Bobby pins 

BONUS QUESTION: 

Blooming Women: 
Are there any questions I didn't ask that you think should be added?
Jessica: 

What are 5 things you think everyone should know? 
 1.  How to be compassionate 
2.  What it's like to have nothing 
3.  How to live off the land 
4.  What it's like to have everything 
5.  What your strengths and weaknesses are!



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