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3.27.2008
Pages of Happiness
3.25.2008
Room with a view
Our family room is oddly shaped, basically in an L and has two large arched entrance ways, so there is limited wall space. This little corner between one of the doorways and the fireplace has never had a real purpose, it has housed a table and chairs for gaming, been lined with bookshelves and been a cozy reading nook, been a catch-all for furniture that doesn't fit elsewhere, and been the location of the Christmas tree for many years past. Enough already!
Momma needs an office! So I finally got the nerve to make it more officy and less inviting for oddball decorating schemes I come up with in the middle of the night.
I purchased attractive filing supplies, kept things coordinated, tried not to freak out the husband with the endless odds and ends I love to decorate with in my hobby room. It has taken me four years, and five household locations to carve this little piece of real-estate out for myself and my laptop. If you have the ability to carve out a small office "space", not real office even, I highly recommend it. There is work yet to be done, cords to hide, finishing touches and the like, but I am excited to be doing that instead of still wishing I had an office in the first place. While I still have to do major projets elsewhere, this set up has been such a blessing, the kids draw and play games at my desk (I do share), it's great for homework or writing thank-you cards to Grandma. I have been so much more efficient, on time with my bills and been able to keep a decent calendar, keep track of projects I am working on, even do filing while we watch a movie or favorite TV show. I am productive and can still BE WITH MY FAMILY. I am looking at them now, they look like they might be wondering if I am going to the grocery store anytime soon. Does that laptop bake cookies?
3.24.2008
Simple little pleasures
Lookie-loo.. I was shopping over at Mom-o-Matic's etsy shop and found the cutest EVER Cracker-Jack's charm she strung onto a sterling chain. I never get excited about arriving mail, but it turns out that is because I wasn't participating properly in the whole shop online experience that I know so many women enjoy! I am now a believer. The package was so cute.. love the business card.. I got a little bonus charm in my package that I would never have anticipated AND, yes and there was a fantastic smelling sample bar of soap (White Tea) from Rebecca's Soap Delicatessen.
I have to tell you, my charm is a Lucky Strike cigarette package with ciggies sticking out! This was the first brand of cigarette I tried smoking as a way-too-young-lady(?). If I could just take back that day.. But for a VERY reasonable $10.00, I now have a charm to commemorate my 2 years NO SMOKING anniversary coming on April 11. I have worn it several times.
I have decided though, that really if I think of it, the charm should really be a very humble reminder of what it was like to be 16, to be a little foolish and to think I knew so much. I wear it as much to remind me of my triumph over smoking as I do to remind me to be gracious with my daughter who is now being presented with these same challenges.
Change
3.23.2008
3.21.2008
You call that art?
When I was young my Mom signed me up for nearly every type of afterschool activity, gymnastics, horse back riding lessons, 4-H, drawing and painting classes and I was in all kinds of school activities as well. She just encouraged my sister and I to try many things, to see what we enjoyed, but mostly she just wanted us to be busy, leave her be and to occassionally have the house to herself. These are some of the paintings I have done, either for myself or my mom or for a client.
"Patio behind French Doors" Brad Bachman Custom Homes (3'x4' mural on cement wall)
"Itallian Courtyard" Brad Bachman Custom Homes (6' x 4' mural on cement wall)
"Cafe & Catering" Felissimo Fine Foods (Collage and acrylic on canvas)
"Purple Flower" acrylic on canvas 18"x 20"
"War Horse" acrylic on 2.5' square canvas
Complete copy.. from famous French poster (hangs in my living room)
18" x 36" acrylic on canvas
"Madame X" scaled down reproduction of Virginie Gautreau by John Singer Sargent painted for my mother. Acrylic on canvas 18" x 20".
My senior year of high school, I transfered from a school I had attened most of my school years to a new Magnet school for art that was opening here in Wichita. I couldn't wait to get to class, to learn more about art, photography, I even tried ceramics. I just want to piddle in everything. I want to try it all. And so far I have been fortunate enough to have been able to dabble in many wonderful hobbies and crafts. I love painting because it is so easy to change what you are doing, to add or modify what is happening on the canvas. I didn't say I was all that great at it, but man is it fun to work on!
Solid Gold
Fridays are open dance night at the seniors lounge at the Mouse Lodge. That's where Fred and Ginger have been going for the past three weeks to practice what they have learned in their ballroom dancing lesson on Tuesday. Yesterday she was complaining that they hadn't yet made it across the entire dance floor doing the Fox Trott, Dad keeps stopping when he forgets one of the turns and the whole class is at the other end of the dance floor and they are stuck there waiting for the instructor. She says no one wants to dance with them. They're the ICKY couple who can't do it right.
Today Mom was getting ready for her day and had just seen on the home shopping network some gal had layered tons of dangly bracelets in various styles.. Mom had just purchased some of the same, she knew she was en Vogue. She stopped what she was doing to go layer her bangles on. Hair poofed, heels on, skirt swaying at her ankles, dangles on her wrists, jewels a-glittering and she was admiring her bedazzled wrist when she tripped over a cord on the living room floor and was catapulted through the doorway and onto the hardwood floors of the kitchen, head first on her belly into the kitchen barstools. She said she skinned both knees, hit her head on the stools, rolled over and crushed her shoulder and her arm against the kitchen island. She crawled for the phone to call Dad, she was certain she had broken her arm. Dad called Debbie.. her office is just off the kitchen, he hoped she could go help Mom up off the ground and see what damage was done.
I called in between the call to Dad and Debbie's paramedic arrival. It sounded pretty bad, but I have known my mother to take some colossal falls, so I was waiting for the shock to wear off before I went racing over to help. I got a call about twenty minutes later and Mom had her wits about her and could relate the story to me in all it's glory. Every time she said something, I laughed a little harder. I couldn't help it. She said she was covered in vegetables.. I wondered if she knocked over a vegetable cart? No, frozen veggies in bags, (for the swelling) she corrected me, then added she couldn't let them get too warm, the sweet potatoes were on the menu for dinner. She said her glasses were crooked, they got shoved into her nose on impact. She said her bracelets got bent. It was such a mixture of whining, laughing and absolute irritation at the whole upset of falling down. Her biggest worry.. she was afraid it might affect her dance performance this evening!
I told her not to worry, she was Solid.
If you are a huge Solid Gold Dance fan.. you can find all kinds of trivia, pictures and fan-stuff at http://sgdanceconnection.com That is where this photo was obtained.
Lillies
These were an Easter gift from Jackie. I have never had lillies before. I see them every year and think how pretty they are, but have never purchased any. They smell wonderful. Transporting them in my car after work yesterday I could smell them all the way home and they were clear in the back of the Jeep. I hope they are hardy enough for my brown thumb. I want to plant them and enjoy them again next year!
3.20.2008
Special brand of crazy
Crazy livin', I tell you, it's the only kind I know. Throw some normal in there and it's like stepping off the walking treadmill that they have at the airport to move you along faster.. that step from the automated floor to the carpet.. it's a doozy. I am working with Jackie Clark at least once a week now and every time I am there I hear her say, "I know you think I'm crazy.. but.." She's no more crazy than anyone else I know. But we all have our own special brand of crazy, don't we? Sometimes there are several of us gals there at once, sometimes it's just me and Jackie. It doesn't matter, someone will tip the scale of outrageous behavior and give the rest of us a good laugh. Yesterday we were trying to photograph a quilt. The lengths we went to! The laughter, the camaraderie... the only thing that beats a visit to crazytown is finding that your friends are already there, and they saved you a cup of coffee.
3.19.2008
Elvis is in the building
Elvis is a few months old, he's grown a lot since they bought him. Sugar Gliders make a barking noise when they are frightened, and Elvis used to squeal all the time, any little noise, movement or bump in the road. I started taking him several times a week and spending time with him to bond. To really be a good glider mommie, you need to spend 4 to 6 hours a day with them in close contact so they learn your scent, and start to see you as their "tree" and their pouch as their nest. It's been about a month since I have seen him. He is so much more gentle and quiet than in the past.
Jen has two other Gliders, Jackson and Priscilla. Jackson is a doll, he's so tame and gentle and such a ham.. he knows he's cool. Priscilla was purchased after they found out that when they thought they were getting a mating pair (Jackson and Milie, now Elvis), they actually had two males. Jackson and Priscilla got to go on vacation.. Jackson is a superstar and has to make appearances.
Gidget doesn't care what you call them or how special we think they are, she wants to eat them. Leah is protecting her baby. She knows Elvis is from her house, that her kids love Elvis and if Gidget doesn't watch it, she's going to be mince meat. She's trying really hard to be nice, but she has her limit.
Leah had a rough day, she just wants her people. Gidget is bossy and mean and stingy. Hurry home, Mom!
Grace
But also I think I like to pretend that people were nicer, had better manners, cared about people on a deeper level, were more truthful, had principles, followed rules and had integrity. Honestly, that really is what these things mean to me. As if by collecting and loving and using them, those ideas might come to life. They are a wish for what I want life to be like. Those concepts were no more universal or true than now, but the fashion, the photos, the literature, the implication is that they were. By refusing to acknowledge ugly things, ugly words, ugly deeds or ideas, ugly didn't exist.
Yesterday my friend Debbie was physically pushed with a shopping cart while standing in line by a nasty old man behind her who was in a hurry at the checkout at the grocery store. He didn't like the pace of the line, that he had to wait, that Debbie didn't crowd the person in front of her, impose her will on someone else for his convenience. Poor baby could hardly tell me the story without crying. I thought I was mad about the pre-school mom's leaving out a fellow blogger, but this.. OUTRAGEOUS. She asked what would I have done in that situation? I think the little man would still be in surgery having the shopping cart removed from his urethra and I might be in jail waiting for my husband to post bail, but there would have been a brawl. I am having trouble with my reaction, his reaction, that a situation like that even occurs! Debbie, quiet and sweet, pleasant and giving, helpful and kind.. She kept her temper, she completed her transaction with no more than a glare back to her tormentor - who in the eyes of the law committed battery! The worst is that she keeps going back to that moment and playing out all the scenarios of what she wished she had said or done.. it's exhausting me thinking about it! I just say, let karma have him. I am sure there will be justice. But thank you for being a lady, for being brave, for keeping yourself together, for showing him that he cannot force you to be less than you are, loving and peaceful and gentle and graceful. I still think you should carry a bigger purse in case you need to swing it very brusquely over your shoulder (and into your tormentor's face) if you ever need to carve out some personal space in line, but that's me.
3.18.2008
The beholder
3.17.2008
Magically delicious!
Oh, Debbie, you crack me up! I dropped my kids off this morning at Mom's before heading out to the KS My Stitch Crochet Guild meeting at Twist. Debbie had on her green.. a string of Mardi Gras beads and was rockin' to some music and copying tax returns in the office. She had a sneaky grin. "Close your eyes.. I got you something" I opened them and the theme song came immediately into my head when I saw it. "They're magically delicious!" Debbie sent off for this musical bank with the proof of purchase a long time ago she said. The other day I had on a Lucky Charms T-shirt, the one that pulled me into the Goodwill where I found my stash of hankies last month. She remembered seeing me in it, remembered the story from my blog and brought this for me to have. I always wished I had the kind of mom that would save the receipt, the bar code from the cereal box, had the right postage, could find an envelope and would send off for the goofy toy on the box, any toy, any box. Debbie's that kind of gal. I love it that she did that for her kids and that she still had the little bank, and has passed the torch to me. What luck to have such sentimental people and thoughtful people in my life. My pot of gold is full.
The hard way
Which meant the already not so appealing trays of dry whipped egg centers were discolored every odd shade of food coloring, sometimes even the yolks were colored.
Plastic.. that's the way to go. Put a jelly bean in there, the kids will love it was the consensus. But there were those who couldn't let go, who found joy in dying the eggs, stinking up the house with vinegar. Tradition, artistry, foolery. This year I found this goofy little egg holder at the Goodwill, 49 cents. Two dozen eggs and a packet of magic glitter dust, and voila. Marginally decorated eggs. But the cups of dye were so, pretty, watching the eggs turn color and bob in the water, the choice of colors and freedom to experiment.. Priceless.
Happy Easter, plastic or not.
3.16.2008
To all the Hortons
I took my 8 year old son and my 15 year old daughter to watch Horton Hears a Who Friday evening. It had been many, many years since I had been read this story and it was not one I read to my kids, but I remembered the plot, I thought. I was skeptical about what level of entertainment and joy this evening would hold, but a mommy's got to do what a mommy's got to do. It was a delightful story, great animation, had fun characters and I liked Jim Carey as Horton. All three of us laughed out loud and turned to each other at different times to verify how much fun we were all having together.. "Mom that's funny! HA, HA". Lot's of line quoting and pointing at the screen. We talked about it all the way home and are still quoting Horton and his friends this morning after church.
But I keep thinking about Mom-O-Matic and her description of feeling left out and not fitting in. I think she is a Horton and she hears Whos. What kind, I don't know, I think they might be different from the Who's I hear. I know I'm a Horton. It's lonely to see things differently, to be creative, to be random, to be enthusiastic, to fly by the seat of your pants, to have a sense of humor that is just a bit wicked and twisted, but mostly just honest. I think people don't get us if we're a Horton and they find it inconvenient to try to know us. We're unconventional. If Mom-O-Matic is a Horton, then I could be one of her Whos.. I hear her right now, and maybe she might hear me (I left her a comment.. it's not like I think she's hearing me). It's OK. There are lots of Hortons in Blogland, and lots of Whos that read her blog. Perfect, happy, shiny, mommy people on the pre-school sidewalk won't always hear you, or see you, but we do, 100%.
Happy, smiley people
3.14.2008
Make a postcard - it's easy! |
There! I finally got it right. I hope you like the slide show. It was easier when I followed directions.
Smilebox
3.13.2008
With love.
These precious buttons, in the most luscious shade of red, deep and rich, not orangy or washed out, no, THE only shade that they eye associates with love, with romance, with elegance and strength.. These precious buttons were strung on crafting wire, one at a time, lovingly selected, the wire twisted and waved like garland. They were made for me and given to me by Ms. Claudia, whom I think of as a living example of Hot Chocolate. Somewhere in the earliest memories of my childhood there came stories of Claudia, her wild humor, her commanding voice, her strong laugh, her wit, her adventures.. my mother and Claudia were hair stylists at the same salon. My mom worked part-time and would come home from work and tell my dad or a friend about her day.. always there was a Claudia fragment. I associated her name, her voice, her laugh, the sound of my mother's voice as she talked about Claudia was linked forever with fun, frivolity, bravery, strength and charm. I now work with Claudia some fifteen years later. When I was reunited with her and sat and caught up on gossip, it was like being a child again in some ways, but being treated as an adult. I was brought to a time when my mother was happy and young and busy and I was naive and carefree. She was human hot chocolate for my soul. I needed a Claudia back in my life. God works so mysteriously, in such small gentle ways. He worked some wonderful women into my life just in time to help me, to in many ways save me. I know these buttons are buttons. I know Claudia is human, that these women are friends, that divine intervention may be too deep.. but I know love when I see it.
If you're like me, you want to know who I'm talking about. Scoot over to Jackie Clark Designs at http://jackieclarkdesigns.blogspot.com/ and you'll find Claudia's smiling face in the post Nov. 30, '07. Beverly and I are there too! When I get to be a better blogger, that won't be so difficult, I'll know how to link you there!
3.11.2008
anything is possible
From Hammacher Schlemmer, The 14 m.p.h. cooler at a mere $499.95. This catalog comes monthly since an order I placed last Christmas and is full of gizmos and whats-its. This rideable cooler that will hold 24 beverages and has a cup holder, footrests and padded seat. I can't stop looking at it. I think I want one. I am riveted by it's promise of lethargy. I wreaks "I have too much money, not enough sense". That's not what makes me love it, I love that someone invented it and someone else is buying it somewhere in America. It supports up to 300 lbs. I'm speechless.