Next up in this dramatic series of interviews with the female sector of my family is wife of 391 days, Lauren Poulter Glanzer! I had the rare opportunity to sit down for a candid one-on-one interview with Lauren via e-mail, as she spills the dirt on puppies, babies, the Vikings, and… liver chub?
1. If someone other than me asked you how your first year of marriage has gone, what would you tell them?
Well, you are asking me, so how can I answer that honestly? I think it has gone about as well as I could have expected. I sure do wish we could have bought a house this past spring, but I am excited that our horrible credit card debt is all but dead! Although we have just taken on a car loan, and we both still have student loans, that credit card debt was such a burden for us. Having it all paid off will be amazing! We will actually be able to build up our house savings again and build towards a fun goal!
2. What is your biggest day-to-day concern right now?
Finding clothes that I want to wear to work. I desperately need to go shopping for new clothes, as you know. I find clothes shopping very frustrating as I wear tall pants, and very few stores actually carry pants that have a 35″ inseam for women! If any blog readers have tips on stores, I would be happy to hear them!
3. What is your biggest motivating factor to move into a house?
I am sick to death of our 700 square feet of crappy carpet, tiny kitchen and dumpy bathroom. I would love to be able to have more than two people over for dinner. I want a grill and a garden. But let’s be perfectly honest: I want a puppy! Or, let’s be even more honest: I want a dishwasher and my very own washer and dryer!!!!!!!
4. 2010 was a horribly frustrating year for our sports teams… the Vikings’ NFC Championship Game debacle, the Twins’ playoff massacre… what was your defining moment of the year?
I would say that the horrible, agonizing final quarter of the NFC Championship game was my defining MN sports moment of the year. I am sure that I prayed more in that 30-minute span than I did in my prior 25 years, and a hell of a lot of good it did me. But let’s all remember that I ponied up and made homemade soft pretzels, mustard and salted caramel ice cream for the Superbowl! The ice cream wasn’t to everyone’s exacting standards, I suppose, but I’d say it was a pretty good effort all things considered.
5. This year we did plenty of traveling, leaving the country three times. What was your travel highlight of the year, and where do you hope to go next?
My travel highlight of the year, golly. We went so many fun places! Niagara Falls, Toronto, Jamaica, South Dakota! How could I pick between any of those places. Jamaica was amazing and relaxing and I absolutely loved our visit to Toronto and showing you where I went to university…those two were certainly my favorites. I have no idea where our crazy travels will take us next. Hopefully somewhere exciting that neither of us have ever been! Seattle, or Boston, New Orleans… I have many travel plans for us before we settle down and have babies, I just hope we can earn enough money so we can fulfill all of them!
6. Tell us about your big transition at work! We are all dying to know about your transition from ethnic to frozen.
Well, since you sent me this interview initially, my role at work has changed again from Ethnic to Frozen to Prepack. I am now working with the desk that manages all prepackaged meats…bacon, pepperoni, hot dogs, summer sausage, all that stuff. After two days on the desk I am absolutely horrified. I used to work with nice, happy items like “Angie’s Kettle Corn” “Garden of Eatin’ Tortilla Chips” and “wild harvest Organic Sandwich Creme Cookies” and now my items include “skinless pork links” “scrapple” (go ahead, google it) and “liver chub”. Gross. I spent most of today being horrified by the word “lunchmeat” Lunch. Meat. As one word. Ick. BUT! I’m sure it’s a transition that will give me more exposure to different aspects of the business, and I had been working with my previous desk for over two years so it was certainly time for a change.
7. Every time we hear about someone getting a dog, you get a little sad that we can’t have one. If we could, what would you get?
A puppy!!!! A squishy, friendly, happy, squirmy little bundle of fur!!!!! But seriously. I like dogs that are medium to big, I don’t think I would want a purebred dog because of the cost and the health problems that they can have. I do like beagles, having lived with Roscoe, so I think some kind of Beagle-Labrador mix would be good. I definitely don’t want a tiny little purse dog like you do.
8. We now have four nieces, one nephew, and another niece/nephew on the way. How are you enjoying being an aunt?
I love being an aunt! Each of our nieces and nephew(s?) is a special, precious little flower. I am constantly amused by Jordan’s blog post about her three, it sure seems like they are all full of character. Hadley is an adorable little thing and of course mi preciosa Abby! I am very excited for the newest arrival, #6, due in December. I wish we could see the Krogman/Glanzer kids more often and we definitely need make a better effort to see the Andersons more. Since I was never a babysitter, I am glad that we have a lot of nieces and nephews to get a little bit of experience with before we talk about having kids of our own. I just hope that Alex and Ann, Kate and Tim, Pete and Sarah, Jordan and Calvin, Nate and ?, and Matt and ? are (still) having kids when we have them — it would be so nice if our kids had cousins the same age.
9. We recently told each other the one thing we would change about each other after a year of marriage. (I told Lauren I wish she was punctual!) What did you say you’d change about me?
Damn, I wish you would stop sniffling and snorting so much. Honestly, though, since you got your wisdom teeth taken out I think you have stopped all of your other weird habits and instead are focusing all your “bad habit” energy on sticking your tongue in your empty wisdom teeth sockets. Weirdo. Just focus on that because you sticking your tongue in your mouth doesn’t bug me. I am so sorry, but nasal stuff is pretty much THE grossest sound there is to me. Seriously. But I still like you!
10. Where do you see ourselves a year from now?
A year from now I would hope that either we have bought a house in Minneapolis, or one of us has gotten a transfer or a new job in a brand new city that convinced us to move somewhere. I know that you and I have talked about this casually, but I think it would be a great experience for us if we moved somewhere random for a while…scary but good! If we stayed in Minneapolis I hope that you would get a job with a new company, or a new position at your current company. I think that you don’t have enough that challenges you at your job right now, and I think that doesn’t make you happy. I would also like to have a promotion or some other kind of step upwards in my professional life. We gots to start earning the big dollars if we ever want to have squishy, adorable little puppies or human babies!
Thank you for joining us today, Lauren. Any closing remarks?
I am so happy that it is Friday!
Next up in the interview series… is a crazy surprise!
Ryan Glanzer Blog 
Crossing two purebred dogs together does not prevent genetic problems. You now have the chance to have breed specific problems from BOTH parents. If this worked, there would be no genetic problems at all since all dog breeders would do one outcross to a different breed and then go back to their original breed to breed matings.
I know. But the likelihood is greatly diminished with a mix of two or more breeds. And I never stated that I would want a pure half-and-half mix, either. I like the traits and personalities that both those breeds have so I would like to have a dog that had those breeds as the larger part of their makeup. In the final analysis I love a good ol’ mutt from the Humane Society, just as much if not more than a dog with “papers” or a designer breed.
I wish you could get a house and puppy, too! If you would really like a quiet, smallish dog from the humane society, have I got a deal for you! I know that Old Navy has alot of tall sizes, but maybe not in the dressier styles you are looking for.
Your salted caramel ice cream was good, Lauren.