Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Happy Music

I'm going to attempt to do this memey thing called 30 Days of Song. I will not post this every day, because oh-my-pants-I'm-bored-already. Instead I'll post once or twice a week, as I feel like. So there. I am unrepentantly stealing this from Jen O. at My Tornado Alley. She rocks. I'm not sure if she stole it from somewhere, but here we go. 

A Song that Makes Me Happy

Have you met They Might Be Giants? If not, I'm not sure I can describe them. I think they are probably the ultimate geek band. I listened to them in the 90's and rocked out to "Istanbulhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo0X77OBJUg&feature=plcp" just like everyone else. Then, years later, discovered their kids' albums and the fantasticness of songs about science. My three year knows most of the words to "Why Does the Sun Shine" and begs for it most mornings on the way to school. Seriously, this band rocks.

And happiness? It's kinda their schtick. Even what should be sad songs or angry songs come off happy. So, I could pretty much hand you a discography here and go. But Imma gonna go with "Birdhouse in Your Soul." Why? Because it has to be the happiest song ever written. And I love the part about Jason and the Argonauts.



Day 1 - Your Favorite Song - White Blank Page
Day 2 - Your Least Favorite Song - Barbie Girl
Day 3 -  A Song that Makes You Happy (today)
Day 4 - A Song that Makes You Sad
Day 5 - A Song that Reminds you of Someone
Day 6 - A Song that Reminds you of Somewhere
Day 7 - A Song that Reminds You of a Certain Event
Day 8 - A Song that You Know All the Words To
Day 9 - A Song that You Can Dance to
Day 10 - A Song that Makes you Fall Asleep
Day 11 - A Song from your Favorite Band
Day 12 - A Song from a band you Hate
Day 13 - A Song that is a Guilty Pleasure
Day 14 - A Song that No One Would Expect you to Love
Day 15 - A Song that Describes You
Day 16 - A Song that You Used to Love but Now Hate
Day 17 - A Song that You Hear Often on the Radio
Day 18 - A Song that You Wish You Heard on the Radio
Day 19 - A Song from your Favorite Album
Day 20 - A Song that You Listen to When You're Angry
Day 21 - A Song that you Listen to when You're Happy
Day 22 - A Song that you Listen to when You're Sad
Day 23 - A Song that you Want to Play at your Wedding
Day 24 - A Song that you Want to Play at your Funeral
Day 25 - A Song that Makes you Laugh
Day 26 - A Song that you Can Play on an Instrument
Day 27 - A Song that you Wish you Could Play
Day 28 - A Song that Makes you Feel Guilty
Day 29 - A Song from Your Childhood
Day 30 - Your Favorite Song at this Time Last Year

Monday, August 27, 2012

The Things I'm Not

When you live with a person for a decade, you necessarily bend and sway a bit to their rhythms. Hopefully they do the same for you.

Learning to live without that person then becomes a study in learning how to live with the truest form of yourself.

For instance, imagine that your partner hated cheese and you loved cheese. Their hatred of cheese wouldn't make you love cheese any less, but it might make you shy away from making things with cheese or insisting that it's not a real baked potato if it isn't covered in cheddar. If that partner were disgusted by the sight of cheese, you might not even order cheesy things in a restaurant. Then, without even really realizing it, you'd start eliminating casseroles, pizza and queso from your diet. You'd grow to really enjoy other creamy things for sandwiches: like avocado or cream cheese spread. And then, without the anti-cheese element in your life, you'd discover all over again how very, very much you loved cheese.*

But most things aren't that obvious. Most things are slower and quieter and you don't even realize what you're doing. In the past year, I've learned a lot about myself. A lot I honestly didn't know. And I thought I'd share some things.

  1. I am a control freak, but not as much as I thought - I mean, I like being in control. That's just my personality. But I'm not as horribly controlling as I always thought. Some of that perception was what I heard over and over again. And some of it was feeling more and more out of control as things went down the rabbit hole. But really? I possess a perfectly normal desire for control.
  2. I don't hate to shop - I kind of like to shop. So long as it's not for bathing suits. Or bras. Or cars. I practically break out in hives every time someone asks me what I'm "looking to get into." A casket. I'm looking to get into a casket. So I don't have to talk to you anymore. Thanks.
  3. I'm funny - I used to get frustrated and tell people that I was funnier in Kansas. Because people used to laugh at me. I had this feeling that I wasn't supposed to be the funny one and so I buried my funny instincts. I mean, I'm no Gilda Radner, but I'm funnier than I thought. I could totally be the funny one.
Part of this journey has been about reminding myself that I am not such a bad sort. I kinda rock. I just forgot about it. 


*I have a ridiculous head cold, so forgive me if this makes zero sense. Unicorns! And drinking glasses! And cheese!

Friday, August 24, 2012

Five Things on Friday - Weekend To Do List

This picture has nothing to do with this post.
I just like it.
Every other weekend, the girls hang with their dad and I have the house to myself. And you know, I miss them like the deserts miss the rain and all, but I always think I can jump on this opportunity and get a bunch of stuff done. I am always wrong. So this weekend, I present:

Five Things I Want to (But Will Probably Fail to) Accomplish This Weekend

1. Sleep late - Actually, I usually manage this, and yes I realize that it has some impact on my ability to get the rest of the stuff done, but whatever. I'll see you at noon, when I stumble from the bedroom bleary-eyed looking for brunch.

2. Clean my entire house until it sparkles - Never gonna happen. I'd be happy with the living room and kitchen, though.

3. Paint my front porch columns - Here's my "official" hangup: I've been promised paint of the FREE! variety from multiple persons who say they have extra. And I don't want to spend the money and then get seven gallons of white exterior paint. The "real" hangup? I don't get to it. I don't even know why.

4. Prep for Lilybugs - The sale is quickly approaching and I haven't done a darn thing. I need to do some serious toy editing in my house, and such a task can only be completed when the smalls around around to notice their toy collection shrinking.

5. Get a new car - I've made a valiant effort the last two weeks, but I'm still, as of this moment, a minivan Momma. I'll let you know when (if) that ever changes.

It should be a fun weekend.

What are your weekend plans?

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Garden in Morning

Full disclosure: this surpise
is totally fake.
My morning trip through the tri-state area dropping kids wherever they land has always had one "must." Brynna must be at school by 7:20. Or Maren must be at the babysitter's by 8:30 or no breakfast for her. Then, it's just a matter of working out whether to drop the other child before or after and working backwards.

But this year, for the first time, I have two "musts." Brynna must be at school by 7:20 and Maren must be at school between 7:50 and 8:10. The schools are about ten minutes apart. Which means that on any given morning, Maren and I are going to have twenty extra minutes.

Which is not really enough time to do anything or go anywhere, but way too much time to just wait in the car.

Enter the garden.

On the Rock Path
The Garden, as Maren has taken to calling it, is a small garden/park/ish place just a few feet from her school. And it is truly a beautiful place. I've taken the kids there to walk around before, but as far as parks go, it's a little tricky with kids. It's trails are really too short for any sort of "excursion," and the lack of open space and/or play equipment means that it's just not all that great for a trip with kids. They get bored and then they get whiny and then I get yelly and it's just not pretty.

But Maren and I have been going in the morning. The park is officially open from dawn to dusk and we slip in the big gates and wander around following paths and talking.

We've named the paths (although they really all loop together making one big circuitous route). The Rock Path is Maren's favorite. It's a series of stepping stones that lead first to a kiln house and then to nothing. But to get to the nothing, you have to push past tree branches and duck one particularly large pine bough. Nothing is really more exciting when you feel like it's a secret nothing.

The bridge with no sides.
My favorite is the Waterfall Path which walks past two double waterfalls. The only downside to the Waterfall Path is that you have to cross the bridge without sides. I can just see myself at 7:35 a.m. diving into a koi pond after a three year old. That would be stellar.

There is also the Creek Path that leads down to the big creek that winds all the way through town. We haven't taken that one yet, because I insist that we can only go when neither of us are wearing crocs. That doesn't happen often. And the Red Bridge Path takes you around the pond.

That tiny blue thing in the middle
is totally a crane. But you're
just going to have to take
my word for it.
Every morning, I think I'm too tired. I don't want to do it today, but then I remember that soon it will be dark at 7:35 and we won't be able to go through The Garden in the mornings, and Maren asks "pleasey pa-cheesey," and I relent. And every morning I am so glad that I did.

The magic of the place, for me at least, lies mostly in its desertion. I like us being the only people there, exploring like we're the only ones on Earth, talking about anything, trying to spot the crane. (Yep, there's a crane and he is illusive.) I like that time we have together when everyone is in a good mood and the day is still mostly possibilities swirling in the pre-sizzle fog.

It's a little bit of perfect peace before the day begins in earnest. And after listening to the girls scream at each other in the backseat, I need that. It almost makes me understand mornings, but you know, bed is pretty peaceful too.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Anniversaries

Best family portrait. Ever.
I'm a person who remembers random dates. It's just who I am. I don't remember them forever, but they do stick with me for a pretty long period of time. For instance:

7/9/2001 - My first day at work at my first post-college job
2/21/2007 - My first day at work at this job.
5/19/1978 - My best friend in elementary school's birth date. (I have not spoken to her since 7th grade, except for Facebook, which clearly doesn't count.)
9/23/2004 - My last ultrasound with Brynna
5/19/1978 - My ex-boyfriend's best friend's birthday. (Okay, I remember this one and the elementary best friend birthday because it is also my mom's birthday and the only person I've ever known to have my birthday was my ex-preacher's wife and that was just sort of strange.)
10/31/2006 - The day we signed on the house.
2/14/2004 - The day I found out I was pregnant with Brynna.
8/22/2011 - The day The Ex and I split up.

There it is, that last one. The reason I'm telling you all this. August 22. It has been one year since he told me he was going to stay somewhere else and my response was, "Okay."

In that year, we've fought and resolved, we've been more civil to each other than we ever were when we thought there was something there to salvage, we've both started moving on to lives of our own. That's meant different things to each of us, but it boils down to the same thing: we've begun to see the shape of the world without the constant presence of the other person.

Tomorrow we have been separated for over a year and that seems like a big deal. Like a landmark of some type. An anniversary I never planned to have.

I've been through an entire cycle of time. I've handled every season, every holiday, every milestone along the way on my own. I'm better at it than I thought I would be. I'm stronger than I thought I would be.

I've navigated the legal issues and the parenting issues and single homeownership and although I can't say I've done a perfect job, I can say that I've done what seemed like the right thing to do and I am proud of what I've accomplished.

It hasn't been an easy year. But it hasn't been my hardest either.

As far as anniversaries go, I'm going to call this a good one. It's not the day my marriage ended, it's the day my life hit the restart button and I started over. It's the day I discovered I was capable of more than I thought. The day the next part began. It's almost more like a birthday than an anniversary, but whatever it is, I'm happy to have it.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My Least Favorite Song

I'm going to attempt to do this memey thing called 30 Days of Song. I will not post this every day, because oh-my-pants-I'm-bored-already. Instead I'll post once or twice a week, as I feel like. So there. I am unrepentantly stealing this from Jen O. at My Tornado Alley. She rocks. I'm not sure if she stole it from somewhere, but here we go. 

My Least Favorite Song

I am a person who genuinely sees the good in most things. Most creative things, at least. I may not personally think something is my type of whatever, but I very seldom hate a song or a movie or a book. Especially a book.

But some things are a true affront to all that is good and holy. A human rights violation to the ears and the mind. I bring you "Barbie Girl" by Aqua. This is clearly the worst song ever made, recorded or thought about for longer than 20 seconds. The songs my kids make up that don't make any sense and ramble on for 4.5 hours are better than "Barbie Girl."

In my opinion. And I am sure that someone out there thinks that this is fantastic. Just like life in plastic.



Day 1 - Your Favorite Song - White Blank Page
Day 2 - Your Least Favorite Song - Barbie Girl (today)
Day 3 -  A Song that Makes You Happy
Day 4 - A Song that Makes You Sad
Day 5 - A Song that Reminds you of Someone
Day 6 - A Song that Reminds you of Somewhere
Day 7 - A Song that Reminds You of a Certain Event
Day 8 - A Song that You Know All the Words To
Day 9 - A Song that You Can Dance to
Day 10 - A Song that Makes you Fall Asleep
Day 11 - A Song from your Favorite Band
Day 12 - A Song from a band you Hate
Day 13 - A Song that is a Guilty Pleasure
Day 14 - A Song that No One Would Expect you to Love
Day 15 - A Song that Describes You
Day 16 - A Song that You Used to Love but Now Hate
Day 17 - A Song that You Hear Often on the Radio
Day 18 - A Song that You Wish You Heard on the Radio
Day 19 - A Song from your Favorite Album
Day 20 - A Song that You Listen to When You're Angry
Day 21 - A Song that you Listen to when You're Happy
Day 22 - A Song that you Listen to when You're Sad
Day 23 - A Song that you Want to Play at your Wedding
Day 24 - A Song that you Want to Play at your Funeral
Day 25 - A Song that Makes you Laugh
Day 26 - A Song that you Can Play on an Instrument
Day 27 - A Song that you Wish you Could Play
Day 28 - A Song that Makes you Feel Guilty
Day 29 - A Song from Your Childhood
Day 30 - Your Favorite Song at this Time Last Year

Monday, August 20, 2012

Easily Impressed... And Upset

She looks so sweet.
Too bad she's not.
So, in case you missed the news a couple of weeks ago - and who can blame you - Maren is in school. And as much as I would love to sit around and cry about my baby growing up, I'm way too busy dealing with her precious babyness.

You wanna hear the good news first, or the bad? I always say the bad. Because I'd rather end on a high note. Which is find if there is actual good and bad news. It sucks when the news is that your favorite person ever died and the mail ran early this morning. But I digress.

Good News: Maren Loves Everything.

She is so easily impressed that it's ridiculous. Last week, every day for lunch, I made her a cute little turkey baloney sandwich on a hot dog bun with a little cheddar cheese, a fruit salad made of grapes and strawberries (shut up two fruits is totally fruit salad) and baby carrots. Every day - every-stinkin-day - she squealed like she had just seen The Beatles when I handed her the little covered plate.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou. I love this sooooo much. Can I please have the exact same thing tomorroooooooooow?"

Last night, while I was getting stuff prepped for today, a terrible thought occurred to me. I am out of grapes. I let her finish them off on Saturday morning while I was trying to get 74 loads of laundry sorted. So, I packed the rest of the lunch the same and added a little cup of mandarin oranges.

This morning, same squeals of joy.

Just to recap folks, baloney sandwiches, fruit and carrots blow her mind with joy. This seems so easy.

Likewise are clothes the epitome of everything good and holy. All clothes. Anything. She hugs them in the morning and says "My teacher, Miss Chapi, is going to looooove this outfit."

And hair, which we never, ever want brushed, is okay so long as it is styled to be "pretty for my teachers."

Finally, I can report that everyone is her best friend. MybestfriendMegan and MybestfriendWill are common-enough phrases around here. Friday night, at the beginning of school picnic, I made an attempt to put a face to each of those names with the help of her teachers and felt pretty satisfied. Until we were on the way home and she said, "I miss MybestfriendCrystal." Crystal?!? Who in the pants is Crystal? I've never heard her talk about Crystal before.

But you know, that's just Maren. She is my happy child. My never ruffled for long child. My easy going, happy-go-lucky, amazingly well-adjusted kid.

Or not. Because now we have...

The Bad News: Everything Makes Maren Miserable

From the moment I pick her up, I start to see all the issues in the world around us.

"How was your day, Maren?"

"Not good. I went to sleep at nap time."

"Well, I'm pretty sure that's the point of naptime."

"And a bug landed on me outside."

"Well, that happ..."

"And I'm so saaaaaaaaad."

Then we get in the car and the sibling fighting starts. Last night she cried for 16 miles because she dropped a toy. We only have a 17 mile drive. In church yesterday she fell down on the floor in misery because I wouldn't let her hit another kid with a basketball hoop. "It won't hurt, I promise. Waaaaaaaah."

She wants a backpack. She doesn't want slippers. She hates peas (since when?) She can't understand why the DVR cut off before Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She's tired, she doesn't want to sleep, she's hungry, she hates all food. I cannot make the child happy. Until I do. Randomly. About something that seems so minuscule and unimportant I can't even understand why she notices.

I'm blaming the new schedule. Can anyone tell me how long a schedule is "new" for a three year old. Because I seriously don't know how long I can handle this. My little angel/hellion is giving me whiplash.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Five Things on Friday - Magic of the Cinema Edition

You know, some things are just better in the theater. I have this problem where I love these little artsy movies and kinda dramatic things - the smaller the budget the better. And yet, all I ever see in the theater are kids' movies and blockbusters. Why? Because they suck on your TV.

For a million different reasons, some movies are just better with the dark and the scent of popcorn and the plushy chairs with the really deep cupholders. Here's a few...

Movies that Should Only Be Viewed at your Local MultiPlex

1. Grindhouse - What actually made me think to compile this list was a recent viewing of Death Proof, which I declare to the be finest of the two sections. For the uninitiated, Grindhouse was designed as a double feature. Death Proof, by Quentin Tarrantino is a thriller (sort of) about a guy who builds a death proof car, except it's only death proof for the driver and he uses it to murder cute girls. Until he meets the wrong girls. It's sort of a revenge fantasy and has everything that a bad horror movie should have - gratuitous sex and violence, long exposition scenes and a complete disregard for physics. The second movie, Planet Terror is a hilariously bloody zombie film where Rose McGowan ends up with a gun-leg. Over the top. But, frankly what make these movies is the experience that, just as much as the red corn syrup and questionable connection with reality, pays homage to the terribly wonderful horror flicks of yore. The double feature, complete with fake trailers in between, manufactured imperfections in the film, and occasionally off audio is what perfects this masterpeice. Watching one on TBS or whatever - not doing it for me. I'm terribly glad I saw this in the theatre, otherwise I just don't know that I'd ever get it.

2. Batman Begins - I think what makes this movie only theater-approved is the generous use of CG, although I may be wrong. I tried to watch it not that long ago and despite loving it originally, I found it really difficult to follow. The whole black on black thing may be part of it, but I think that this is true of almost any big budget actiony thing. The overblown look and mile a minute pace make it just hard to keep up with if you are not sitting in a dark room with no outside stimuli.

3. Kill Bill - I think this is my least favorite movie by my most favorite director. And part of that probably has to do with the fact that I first saw it on TNT. Along with the experience of the theater and larger than life action scenes, cuss words are a TV movie deal breaker. If every fourth word is being changed, then maybe you just shouldn't show it. You are ruining the flow of the movie. Add to that the visual edits, from the name of the truck to Lucy Liu's ever-expanding forehead when she dies and this movie just sucks edited. That said, I watched it on IFC (or no-rules TV, as I like to call it) and liked it much better.

4. The Lizzie McGuire Movie - Look, I'm not suggesting that you ever watch this movie. It's not that good. For one thing, not nearly enough Miranda. That's right, I watched Disney Channel before I had kids, what's it to ya? Whatever, here's the thing: it's a terrible movie. And if you are going to watch a terrible movie, you should at least get popcorn out of the deal.

5. The Lord of the Rings - I'm gonna be really honest here, I'm glad I saw all three of these movies. I will probably see The Hobbit, and only partially because my favorite vampire, Mitchell, is in it. They are good movies, but they are just not my cup of tea. What makes them lovely in the theater, though, is New Zealand. I'm not even kidding. All those wonderful sweeping visuals, they just don't sweep the same on your TV. Trust me on this. I'll probably never make it to NZ, but at least we'll always have Mordor. Or something. I'm really just not into this universe.

What movies do you think MUST be viewed on the big screen?

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Making It! Adventures in Quilting

I don't think I've ever tried to claim anything special about me and sewing. We are not a thing. We have never been a thing. We never even had a torrid one-night-stand.

My mom used to sew. I mean, she still does, but not like she used to. She used to make a great many of my clothes and all of my Halloween costumes. My mom and costumes - she makes the best costumes. I fail her completely by ordering something from a catalog every freakin' year for my kids. But I digress.

She tried to teach me. She sat me down and taught me to hand stitch, then there was a Strawberry Shortcake sewing machine. Then there was the Christmas Play Disaster of 1980-whatever year I was in fifth grade (1988? IDK. Too much mathiness.) That costume, which necessitated three trips to buy fabric because I kept cutting it out wrong was where my seamstress training ended. I was done, kaput, fini.

Every so often, I decide I want to sew and I try to make something waaaay more ambitious than my skills. The last time was around Christmas and I decided I was going to make notebook covers. They looked simple. They weren't. Apparently things like corners and tiny, tiny seam allowances are difficult. Who knew?*

I always fail spectacularly and decide that I am never touching thread again. Really, this time. No, really.

Then I break down again. Here's how it happened this time:

I went to the parent orientation for Maren. They told me (this was not in the packet, by the way) that she would need a crib sheet and a blanket for nap times. Pillow optional. Ummm... A couple of small issues, please.

  1. I know that some people keep their kids in a crib until their legs are too long to fit in them. I even get it, there is definitely something to be said about restricting the nighttime wanderings of a toddler. So sayeth the woman with a three-year-old in her bed every single night at 4:15 a.m. But, I am not one of them. Maren has been out of her crib for around two years. The kid who is now sleeping in her crib won't even be there very much longer. And all those crib sheets - gone. Sold, ripped up for fabric flowers, donated to Good Will. How should I remember? Just gone.
  2. I'm not much of a lap blanket kind of gal. We have baby blankets and we have twin sized blankets. We don't have much in between.
So, with a week and half to solve the problem, I tried not to completely panic. It's not that big of a deal, we'll come up with something. And after much discussion, my mom and I decided that we were going to make a quilt. Because present us with a problem and we will invariably come up with the most expensive and labor intensive solution possible. It's our talent.

Maren picked the fabric and then the kids went to their dad's for the weekend and mom and I quilted. And the funny thing was, I had a lot of fun.

Not just a "Look I survived and produced something that won't shame the kid," kind of fun, but boy howdy was that nifty fun. It was my first successful "real" quilt. I made a wall hanging once, but after piecing and quilting the whole thing (those are the hard parts, I'm pretty sure) I never got around to binding it, and this winter I made a rag quilt which was a lot of fun, but totally different from the quilts I grew up on. 

I learned a lot. I learned to embrace ironing, I learned how to tie a quilt (because that's what we did, not quilty-quilting - we had a weekend to do this, remember), I learned that I could have bought three blankets for what I put just into the fabric for this thing, I learned how to make bias tape (one more post apocalyptic skill) and I learned that sewing is more fun with company.

I told Brynna that she and I would make one for her. Because you know, I'm clearly an expert now. 

The important thing is that I made my annual forray into sewing and I didn't want to slit my wrists with my teeth by the end of it. I kinda want to do more. I'm not sure if I'm growing up or if this project was actually something my limited skill set could handle or if Nemo makes me happy. Whatever, bring on the sewing projects, Pinterest, I'm psyched.


*Anyone who has ever held a needle, that's who.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

My Favorite Song

I'm going to attempt to do this memey thing called 30 Days of Song. I will not post this every day, because oh-my-pants-I'm-bored-already. Instead I'll post once or twice a week, as I feel like. So there. I am unrepentantly stealing this from Jen O. at My Tornado Alley. She rocks. I'm not sure if she stole it from somewhere, but here we go. 

My Favorite Song

I am a listmaker. I even wrote a song about it once to the tune of "Matchmaker." You know, because I'm that kind of crazy. And so, I could easily give you my Top 10 songs, but my Favorite Song of All Time... Wow. I'm, um, just not sure I can tell you that.

So, I'm gonna go with my favorite song today. Just today. Tomorrow I'll have a totally different answer. Today, my favorite song is "White Blank Page," by Mumford and Sons.



I have this current obsession with Irish-ish music and I discovered Mumford and Sons through my Pogues Channel on Pandora. (The Pogues are Irish, Mumford and Sons is London-based.) And, I'd like to marry one of them, whenever is convenient. I love almost every single song I've heard from them and I can listen to this sad/mad song all day long. It makes my heart hurt and I love that in a song.

Other Mumford songs of note: The Cave and Little Lion Man

Day 1 - Your Favorite Song - White Blank Page (today)
Day 2 - Your Least Favorite Song
Day 3 -  A Song that Makes You Happy
Day 4 - A Song that Makes You Sad
Day 5 - A Song that Reminds you of Someone
Day 6 - A Song that Reminds you of Somewhere
Day 7 - A Song that Reminds You of a Certain Event
Day 8 - A Song that You Know All the Words To
Day 9 - A Song that You Can Dance to
Day 10 - A Song that Makes you Fall Asleep
Day 11 - A Song from your Favorite Band
Day 12 - A Song from a band you Hate
Day 13 - A Song that is a Guilty Pleasure
Day 14 - A Song that No One Would Expect you to Love
Day 15 - A Song that Describes You
Day 16 - A Song that You Used to Love but Now Hate
Day 17 - A Song that You Hear Often on the Radio
Day 18 - A Song that You Wish You Heard on the Radio
Day 19 - A Song from your Favorite Album
Day 20 - A Song that You Listen to When You're Angry
Day 21 - A Song that you Listen to when You're Happy
Day 22 - A Song that you Listen to when You're Sad
Day 23 - A Song that you Want to Play at your Wedding
Day 24 - A Song that you Want to Play at your Funeral
Day 25 - A Song that Makes you Laugh
Day 26 - A Song that you Can Play on an Instrument
Day 27 - A Song that you Wish you Could Play
Day 28 - A Song that Makes you Feel Guilty
Day 29 - A Song from Your Childhood
Day 30 - Your Favorite Song at this Time Last Year

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Ba-ba-back in the 5-4-5

So, we are officially back to 5:45 mornings. Beginning this last Tuesday, we're back to our 3/4 of the year, miserable routine. Which means a couple of things:

  1. My third year (out of ten) of 5:45 mornings has commenced.
  2. I won't be fully awake again until May. See you then.
  3. I will, however, get to watch my customary ten minutes of the news every morning. 
  4. I now have to go to bed at 10:00, which means a lot of staring at my bedroom ceiling.
  5. My bedroom ceiling is terribly uninteresting.
  6. Perhaps I should paint a mural on my bedroom ceiling.
  7. Sleep deprivation leads to ceiling murals.
Awkward segue, I am officially the mother of two school-age kids. Maren is starting her first year of Montessori and Brynna is in third grade. Apparently, third grade is supposed to be hard. That's what everyone keeps telling her and she's a little scared. On the other hand, third grade is apparently when they introduce you to text books and that makes my little nerdette very happy.

Maren seems to be having fun, although it's hard to tell. When I pick her up, I say, "How was your day?" and she says, "Not very much. You were too early." Because the kids play on the playground until their parents come. Today I was the very last parent in the pick up line. Sounds good right?

"Maren, how was your day."
"Not very much good. I'm all sweaty because I ran a bunch on the playground."

I can't win for losing.

Anyone else start school yet? Let me know how your year is going so far.

Monday, August 6, 2012

34 Things

Why yes, yes I am.
Well, Friday, I turned 34 years old. Someone said on my birthday that birthdays hardly count once you are an adult, and I'm pretty sure that's a million per cent true. All that hoopla and excitement of your childhood is gone. But it seems to me that it's replaced by some similarly great things. Brynna got me a tote bag with an owl that says "Cute and Nerdy." I'm pretty sure this is the first present she's ever bought me that she didn't want for herself. Which is a milestone in and of itself. Yesterday, I was sitting in church with Brynna reading quietly beside me and Mom and Jerry with Maren between them. Uncle D and Morgan were behind me and I felt so complete. The family was all there, all content, all amazing. Every year that passes that I get to keep that is a pretty amazing year.

Last year, I started a new tradition by making a list of 33 Things I wanted to accomplish while I was 33. As most of you know, my world turned upside down this year and while I made a lot of progress, there were also a lot of balls I dropped. This year I hope to do better. If you're paying a lot of attention, you'll probably see a lot of repeats. That's okay, that's life sometimes.

34 Things to Do While I'm 34
1. Build something - like with wood and stuff - I have, like, a plan and stuff...
2. Finish writing a book - I've got a little over 40,000 words, but probalby another 20,000 to go.
3. Fix the front of my house - so it looks like someone lives there - It may or may not look like someone who needs new siding lives there. 
4. Get a working craft area set up - I got my craft supplies out of my bedroom closet, but my system isn't exactly working for me.
5. Make sure my closet is filled with only things I love and look great in - Uh, not so much
6. Paint the kitchen and cabinets - I painted the living room...
7. Make a will - And then there's the guilt of not getting this one done.
8. Rebuild my emergency fund - Yeah, more guilt - also intensified by the fact that I finished none of the first seven. Next year, I'm totally front-loading with things I think I can get done.
9. Do something with just Brynna once a month - August: 1 on 1 library trip, September: Ear piercing outing, December - Christmas lights, January - Harry Potter, February - Church, March - Movies, April - Boat trip, May - Shopping Night, June - Special Movie Night, July - School Prep Night - Okay, so I missed October and November, but this was pretty good I think
10. Do something with just Maren once a month - August: 1 on 1 library trip, September: garden walks, December - Birthday celebration, January - Movies in bed, February - Garden walks, March - Special library night, April - Night O Jigsaw Puzzles, May - Library and dinner, June - Special Movie Night, July - Dinner out and puzzles at home - Same as above. At least I'm fair.
11. Track what I read - Done. Although I make no promises that I missed nothing. It seems like there should be more there.
12. Dance - I'm calling this one done. I don't know that I can give it a date, but I've danced more this year than I have in decades, it seems. 
13. Read every book club book - August: The Probable Future, September: Feed, October: FAIL, November: The Graduate, December: No book chosen, January: Divergent, February: Insurgent, March: FAIL, April: FAIL, May: Tell the Wolves I'm Home, June: Gone Girl, July: To Kill a Mockingbird - Not terrible. 
14. Learn to knit - Found a teacher
15. Knit a scarf to prove that I can - Yeah, not so much. 
16. Clean the basement - I cleaned probably 1/8th of the Basement. If that. I've really got to do this though.
17. Make art - Done. I made sillhouettes of the girls.
18. Go to a concert - No. I won tickets for Brynna and I to see the Jonas Brothers, but thankfully, we got sick.
19. Learn to bake bread - not from a can - I've made two loaves. They were good. I'm not sure why I haven't made more.
20. Have a girls' event - No.
21. Have a house that makes me furiously happy - No. Working on it, though.
22. Finalize my divorce - September 12, 2012
23. Make my bedroom MY BEDROOM - Working on it.
24. Lose 50 lbs. - Nope.
25.Finish redecorating the Living Room - um... Maybe not gonna finish
26. Keep the kind of house people can drop by - better, but still not there.
27. Make 12 of my pins - April 1, 2013
28. Travel with my girls - March 29, 2013
29. Do something I think is fun every month - August: Made a quilt, September: Painted pottery, October: Aiming Low Non Con, November: Thanksgiving Dinner cooking, December: Lots of Christmas things, January: Girls Night Out at The Studio, February: FAIL, March: Disney World, April: Beach, May - Joe Hill signing, June: FAIL, July: Neil Gaiman signing. I'm calling this one good even though I missed two months, because frankly, I'm pretty sure I missed all the months last year. Improvement counts for something.
30. Cook more at home - define more...
31. Sleep late as much as possible - Every other weekend, I sleep until no more sleep can be had. I seriously am rocking this one.
32. Listen to music and quit believing that nothing good has been produced since I graduated college - Yes. Although the 90's was still the golden age for music.
33. Play with my kids
34. Make a 5 year plan - I think my five year plan is never again to think I should make a five year plan.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Wordless... Um... Thursday


Sunday in the Sun


School starts on Tuesday. Which means that despite the 100 degree heat, our time splashing around is coming to a close. Bittersweet, really. That thing is a pain to fold up.