How about a few words today and no pictures? I mean, I've still got the car show pictures to post at some point, but c'mon. This isn't a photography blog, now, is it?
With this tropical system - what is it, Ida? - in place, there has been no light for doing any more of those portraits. I'm starting to get concerned that I won't have what I need for my homework! Aaak! In the meantime, though, I'm building a PVC structure to hold my black backdrop so that I can take it anywhere, baby! Just like I'm some kind of real photographer!
We went to Home Depot last night to buy the pipes for it and the kids were very complain-y. They really hate going to those types of stores. They were behaving in ways that I don't normally see from my children. I was getting a little embarrassed. Then I showed them how the plumbing aisle works. How the boxes of fittings are all color-coded to indicate size and how all the fittings work with all the pipes. Like giant white Legos, kind of. Let me tell you, Emma's eyes lit up. She had Big Plans flooding her little head. It's really fun to find those random objects that spark imagination in your kids. It turned an obligatory, dreary task into a moment of fun and learning. Like magic.
We are finding our magic wherever we can these days.
Chris and I watched a little movie called The Brothers Bloom the other night. I don't typically endorse movies and I don't mean to do so now, but I rather enjoyed it and thought it was imaginative. Here's the thing I really loved about the movie: it presents a question that I ask myself often (not out loud or anything, 'cause people would think I'm nuts) - if you live your life like a story you are writing, is it really authentic? If your actions are dictated by the story you're telling, the character you're playing, instead of arising organically out of who you are, are you being real?
I mean, I live my life like it's a story all the time. I sometimes decide what I want to wear or listen to by deciding what kind of story I want to tell on that day. And I wonder if those things that I do, making decisions like I'm writing fiction, make my life less real. If my actions are dictated by an imaginary storyline, are they really, truly mine? Or are they just part of a character I made up?
It's not like the question really, truly bothers me. It was more like, I was watching that movie, identifying strongly with the female lead character (she's eccentric and she collects hobbies! hello, me!) and thinking, "Hey! I totally get what they're saying here!" in a way that doesn't usually happen.
So. Anyway. Cute movie.
My neck MRI turned up little more than normal wear and tear, which is a good thing. Just a little smidge of something that was caused by the accident, but overall, my biggest problem will be that herniated disc in my low back. That was a relief. It looks like I'll only be in physical therapy another couple of weeks at the most, which is also a relief. I'm looking forward to having my life back. I'm even looking forward to the schedule I'd originally worked for this fall, thinking at the time that it would be nearly an impossible schedule to follow. Turns out, it would be almost a vacation in comparison to what life has brought us.
I don't mean that in a bad way, a woe-is-me-way or any kind of negative way at all. I'm just tired. I'm ready to find my mojo again. I want to feel like I'm creative and spontaneous instead of feeling like I'm ruled by the next item on my list. Constantly. And I want to breathe. I want to have time to shave. Big-time. I want to look forward to Christmas this year instead of dreading the stress and hassle.
Will the End of Physical Therapy mean all those things? Nope. But right now, it feels like a step in the right direction.
Daily Bliss: blossoms on my bean plants and a tomato plant that's thriving!
Wake-Up Playlist: Coldplay, The Scientist
Showing posts with label busy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label busy. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Life As I Know It
We have been doing a lot of stuff, if you hadn't noticed. Things are busy in good ways and in not-good ways too. But that's how it goes, yeah?
We spent yesterday evening downtown at an event Lakeland calls First Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, the stores in our historic downtown area stay open late, the streets are blocked off, and people flock to the area to shop and eat and just hang out.
Normally, I don't go to these things. I really don't like crowds.
I mean it.
But Andrew's school jazz band was playing and his TSA team was demonstrating their stuff AND his Lego Mindstorms team was represented too. So, he was pulling triple duty. But he had such fun. I was really pleased to see the concert - they did so well and he was so proud. He showed me the robot he's working on for the Mindstorms competition thingy (I don't really know what it's all about - I just volunteer and show up with the teachers need me).
And I ran into all kinds of people!
Of course, on a Friday night, after a long week, I was not looking so great. On our way downtown from the music studio, we stopped at home so I could throw on a clean dress and I put my hair in a kerchief. It worked out. I didn't feel cute at first, but lots of people told me I was, so that helped.
I saw an old boyfriend, friends of my brother's, people I went to church with as a kid, people my parents knew when I was a kid, people I hung out with when my kids and their kids were little, and, well, just people from every era and facet of my life in this town. I even saw Jessica and her hubby. That was pretty cool. Lakeland's not a small-small town, but it's small enough that when people come outside and gather in one spot, you are sure to see old friends.
I like that a lot.
I only finished about half of my errands today. I had big plans - Emma's birthday is next week and I've not done a thing yet. I need to pick up paperwork for things and I need to get hair color and I need to do so many other things. But I managed to grocery shop for the first time in weeks (hooray for not stopping at the store on the way home to pick up whatever's for dinner-that-will-surely-cost-us-more-than-it-would-had-I-planned-ahead!).
Yup. There were lots of things I needed to do that I didn't do. But you know what I did that was really cool?
I held my tiny baby nephew for a long time. A really long time. He slept on my chest and I laid on the sofa and just watched him breathe. I watched him roll his eyes in dreamy sleep and I watched his eyebrows hitch up and down at whatever he dreamt. I smelled his sweet baby head and I rubbed his back. Oh - and I kissed him. I kissed him over and over.
There isn't better therapy to be found anywhere on the planet than a sleeeping, happy baby.
Wake-Up Playlist: America, Ventura Highway
Daily Bliss: I'm about to make some caramel sauce to put with some apple slices. I mean, lots of good things have happened today, but I think that's going to be near the top of the list.
We spent yesterday evening downtown at an event Lakeland calls First Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, the stores in our historic downtown area stay open late, the streets are blocked off, and people flock to the area to shop and eat and just hang out.
Normally, I don't go to these things. I really don't like crowds.
I mean it.
But Andrew's school jazz band was playing and his TSA team was demonstrating their stuff AND his Lego Mindstorms team was represented too. So, he was pulling triple duty. But he had such fun. I was really pleased to see the concert - they did so well and he was so proud. He showed me the robot he's working on for the Mindstorms competition thingy (I don't really know what it's all about - I just volunteer and show up with the teachers need me).
And I ran into all kinds of people!
Of course, on a Friday night, after a long week, I was not looking so great. On our way downtown from the music studio, we stopped at home so I could throw on a clean dress and I put my hair in a kerchief. It worked out. I didn't feel cute at first, but lots of people told me I was, so that helped.
I saw an old boyfriend, friends of my brother's, people I went to church with as a kid, people my parents knew when I was a kid, people I hung out with when my kids and their kids were little, and, well, just people from every era and facet of my life in this town. I even saw Jessica and her hubby. That was pretty cool. Lakeland's not a small-small town, but it's small enough that when people come outside and gather in one spot, you are sure to see old friends.
I like that a lot.
I only finished about half of my errands today. I had big plans - Emma's birthday is next week and I've not done a thing yet. I need to pick up paperwork for things and I need to get hair color and I need to do so many other things. But I managed to grocery shop for the first time in weeks (hooray for not stopping at the store on the way home to pick up whatever's for dinner-that-will-surely-cost-us-more-than-it-would-had-I-planned-ahead!).
Yup. There were lots of things I needed to do that I didn't do. But you know what I did that was really cool?
I held my tiny baby nephew for a long time. A really long time. He slept on my chest and I laid on the sofa and just watched him breathe. I watched him roll his eyes in dreamy sleep and I watched his eyebrows hitch up and down at whatever he dreamt. I smelled his sweet baby head and I rubbed his back. Oh - and I kissed him. I kissed him over and over.
There isn't better therapy to be found anywhere on the planet than a sleeeping, happy baby.
Wake-Up Playlist: America, Ventura Highway
Daily Bliss: I'm about to make some caramel sauce to put with some apple slices. I mean, lots of good things have happened today, but I think that's going to be near the top of the list.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Big, Giant Post
Hi there. I think I'm a little tired.
Just the thought of a post detailing our weekend makes me more tired. At the same time, so many wonderful things happened - I can't just let them all slip by without telling you a little bit at least.
Mindy's baby shower was this weekend, and you know how I like to have parties! My sister-in-law, Sarah and I co-hosted, with the help of Mindy's sister, Kim. We all divided up the tasks beforehand and I was up until,
ahem,
four o'clock Saturday morning doing my stuff.
I have it on good authority that Sarah was too.
We had a vintage baby cowboy theme goin' on and it was so cute. Honestly. I sewed miles of bunting to hang from the ceiling and made rope words to hang on the walls and Sarah made so many adorable cookies and games and food and more games and...
wanna see some pictures?
Between the two of us party pros, I don't think a single detail was overlooked.
The other reason I was awake so late was that I had to finish, of course, the hand-made baby gifts. I made two sets of receiving blankets and burp cloths from a pattern I found at youcanmakethis.com and I wrapped up that organic cotton Baby Sophisticate sweater I've been working on, along with a cute little button-topped, matching hat. There will be more pictures later (due to a photography class assignment), but here's a little preview:
My brother Jon also hand-made a present for Nolan. It's the cutest little robot toy. Oh. My. Gosh. You can sort of see it in Joe's lap above. That will also be included in more detailed photos later this week. Kate? You will love it so much.
I regret that I didn't take more photos of the food. Sarah made homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and gingerbread cookies on sticks in little cowboy-themed shapes. I made a ton of cupcakes:
By the time the shower was over, the past two weeks just sort of washed over me and I collapsed. My body hurts from my accident and the resulting physical therapy, my head hurt from all the multi-tasking and was tired all the way through. Chris really took care of me and made sure that I rested as much as possible on Sunday. For a fun, family-style activity, we jammed our fists into the dirt and harvested the first of our sweet potatoes.
There weren't many yet, especially considering how the vines have taken over everything,
but at the same time, it's nice to have found a crop that we seem to have some success with. I guess sweet potatoes really love the heat and humidity of the south!
We finished our Sunday off by using up the remaining sparklers from July 4th. They've been just sitting in my room and waiting for Emma to get a bit braver. She's always been pretty scared of them, but finally worked up the courage to play with the sparkly fire.
The shower was truly a beautiful celebration of our newest little family member. But the biggest reason to celebrate was that Nolan was given the green light to come home this past Sunday, the day after his party. There are still some scary things - he will be on a heart monitor for a long time and he really can't be exposed to many people (germs, y'know), but he's home now and that's all that matters. Gratuitous baby photos, anyone? These are from a week ago or so, but still. Tiny baby. Eating. Being burped. Need I say more?
Just the thought of a post detailing our weekend makes me more tired. At the same time, so many wonderful things happened - I can't just let them all slip by without telling you a little bit at least.
Mindy's baby shower was this weekend, and you know how I like to have parties! My sister-in-law, Sarah and I co-hosted, with the help of Mindy's sister, Kim. We all divided up the tasks beforehand and I was up until,
ahem,
four o'clock Saturday morning doing my stuff.
I have it on good authority that Sarah was too.
We had a vintage baby cowboy theme goin' on and it was so cute. Honestly. I sewed miles of bunting to hang from the ceiling and made rope words to hang on the walls and Sarah made so many adorable cookies and games and food and more games and...
wanna see some pictures?
Between the two of us party pros, I don't think a single detail was overlooked.
The other reason I was awake so late was that I had to finish, of course, the hand-made baby gifts. I made two sets of receiving blankets and burp cloths from a pattern I found at youcanmakethis.com and I wrapped up that organic cotton Baby Sophisticate sweater I've been working on, along with a cute little button-topped, matching hat. There will be more pictures later (due to a photography class assignment), but here's a little preview:
My brother Jon also hand-made a present for Nolan. It's the cutest little robot toy. Oh. My. Gosh. You can sort of see it in Joe's lap above. That will also be included in more detailed photos later this week. Kate? You will love it so much.
I regret that I didn't take more photos of the food. Sarah made homemade pigs-in-a-blanket and gingerbread cookies on sticks in little cowboy-themed shapes. I made a ton of cupcakes:
By the time the shower was over, the past two weeks just sort of washed over me and I collapsed. My body hurts from my accident and the resulting physical therapy, my head hurt from all the multi-tasking and was tired all the way through. Chris really took care of me and made sure that I rested as much as possible on Sunday. For a fun, family-style activity, we jammed our fists into the dirt and harvested the first of our sweet potatoes.
There weren't many yet, especially considering how the vines have taken over everything,
but at the same time, it's nice to have found a crop that we seem to have some success with. I guess sweet potatoes really love the heat and humidity of the south!
We finished our Sunday off by using up the remaining sparklers from July 4th. They've been just sitting in my room and waiting for Emma to get a bit braver. She's always been pretty scared of them, but finally worked up the courage to play with the sparkly fire.
The shower was truly a beautiful celebration of our newest little family member. But the biggest reason to celebrate was that Nolan was given the green light to come home this past Sunday, the day after his party. There are still some scary things - he will be on a heart monitor for a long time and he really can't be exposed to many people (germs, y'know), but he's home now and that's all that matters. Gratuitous baby photos, anyone? These are from a week ago or so, but still. Tiny baby. Eating. Being burped. Need I say more?
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Quick
Chris is out of town for almost two weeks, life is nuts and I'm super tired, but there's so much bloggable stuff going on, too. I'm in between tasks and still have miles to go this afternoon, so this will be a post-and-dash, k?
First up, the owl-y surprise!
It's an apron for my new friend Jessica. She's married to one of my brother's best friends and I had the privilege to meet her through blog-land, even though she doesn't live very far away. I have a weird compulsion. When I meet people and I like them, I must make them things. Hence, this cute apron. She picked out the fabrics, I took too long to make it, blah blah blah. But it's finally done.
Next up, girls-only dinner. My mom, Emma and I met a friend of Mom's and her daughter (who is in the third grade also) for a fancy dinner with tea and china and candles and everything. It was such a needed evening.
Lastly, well, my little baby nephew of course! He's feisty and tough and doing so well. I took these photos yesterday when I got to visit him and Mindy. He only has "touch time" at certain times of the day (the really teeny ones can't handle the stimulation of constant contact very well) for about an hour at a time, so I was really happy to catch him as he was - content and snug in his mommy's embrace. He totally knows when he has his mommy. He gets so relaxed and sleeps so deeply.
Oh - and he's wearing the hat his Kiki (me) made for him. All three of the hats I made are a wee bit on the big side. I guess preemie patterns are for bigger preemies. Ha! It won't be long, though, before he's outgrowing everything in sight. He's gained back an ounce or two and quickly recovered from a little bout with jaundice (that's totally expected when babies are this early). We are all so excited about how strong and beautiful this teeny fella is!
I'll have some photography class pictures up here in the next day or two. I'm a little bit intimidated by the assignment. We'll see how it goes...
First up, the owl-y surprise!
It's an apron for my new friend Jessica. She's married to one of my brother's best friends and I had the privilege to meet her through blog-land, even though she doesn't live very far away. I have a weird compulsion. When I meet people and I like them, I must make them things. Hence, this cute apron. She picked out the fabrics, I took too long to make it, blah blah blah. But it's finally done.
Next up, girls-only dinner. My mom, Emma and I met a friend of Mom's and her daughter (who is in the third grade also) for a fancy dinner with tea and china and candles and everything. It was such a needed evening.
Lastly, well, my little baby nephew of course! He's feisty and tough and doing so well. I took these photos yesterday when I got to visit him and Mindy. He only has "touch time" at certain times of the day (the really teeny ones can't handle the stimulation of constant contact very well) for about an hour at a time, so I was really happy to catch him as he was - content and snug in his mommy's embrace. He totally knows when he has his mommy. He gets so relaxed and sleeps so deeply.
Oh - and he's wearing the hat his Kiki (me) made for him. All three of the hats I made are a wee bit on the big side. I guess preemie patterns are for bigger preemies. Ha! It won't be long, though, before he's outgrowing everything in sight. He's gained back an ounce or two and quickly recovered from a little bout with jaundice (that's totally expected when babies are this early). We are all so excited about how strong and beautiful this teeny fella is!
I'll have some photography class pictures up here in the next day or two. I'm a little bit intimidated by the assignment. We'll see how it goes...
Monday, May 18, 2009
I Should Be Doing Other Things
Well. I should be doing paperwork for the kids' summer camps and adventures. But I'm not. I should be at the grocery store. But I'm not. I should be ironing tomorrow's clothes. But I'm not. I should have served frozen fish sticks for supper in order to save time. But I didn't.
I invited my sister-in-law over for dinner instead. My brother's out of town for a couple of days. And if I'm completely honest, I want her little pumpkin of a baby to love being at my house before it even gets out into the world. So I like to feed it. I figure the tiny one will associate the hum of activity at my house with the feeling of a happy, full tummy right off the bat.
The problem is, when I invite my Mindy over for dinner, I always end up having the craziest cooking adventures. I'll call her up at 4:00, on my way home from getting the kids and the dog and say, "Hey. You wanna come over for dinner?" And she'll say she'd love to and ask what she can bring. And I tell her that I don't know what we're having yet. I'm going to pick something up at the store and I'll call her if I can think of a contribution for her to make.
Then I walk through the store, just looking for inspiration. Wandering open-mindedly through a grocery store is dangerous. That is how I ended up making pumpkin ravioli once from scratch. Oh my. I think I even served it with brown butter sauce or something like that. That is also how I invented the New Year's Eve pasta (I think). And that is how, tonight at 5:00, I decided we'd have homemade bread, roasted beets and pork chops with lemon caper sauce. None of which I had recipes for or experience with.
But it was good.
I've only roasted beets once before, but it's easy and they're so tasty. Even if my fingers are a stained bright pink now.
I made some progress on the fairy costume tonight. The tunic/slip for underneath the flowy part is done and outer part is mostly cut out. A run to the fabric store is in order because I used up too much material cutting out a piece that I didn't need after all. Because I'm not very good at reading directions. Whatever.
This will be a lesson in good-enough for me. As in, what I have time to do will have to be good enough. My mommy instincts have already dictated plans for a matching organza flowered head piece and homemade wings. Of course a wand and glitter and a fancy hairdo that we'll have to wake up at 5:00 to do would be perfect. And wouldn't it be great if I had mad embroidery skilz? I mean, I could pimp out that purple tunic like nobody's business! Twining vines and pink flowers climbing up her pink leggings? Ah. Magical.
But I need to put on the brakes.
A simple lavender slip (that I altered into a tunic) and a sparkly but plain organza peasant shirt (that I altered to make it really long) will be worn over pink leggings. No headband and no purple-boot-shaped shoe covers (the fairy in the book wore purple boots). And absolutely no embroidery-that-I'd-have-to-stay-up-until-3:00-AM-researching-online-because-I-don't-already-know-how-to-do-it.
Okay, well, maybe the headband...how do I make organza flowers anyway?
Because I will be lucky to have this finished in time for her book report on Wednesday, what with tomorrow evening being spent on Andrew's spring band concert and a trip to the fabric store being necessary.
(shaking my head at my crazy self)
I will laugh abouto this one day.
Probably tomorrow.
Daily bliss: dinner turned out okay, even if I almost wrecked the bread
Wake-Up Playlist: Lovesong of the Buzzard by Iron and Wine
I invited my sister-in-law over for dinner instead. My brother's out of town for a couple of days. And if I'm completely honest, I want her little pumpkin of a baby to love being at my house before it even gets out into the world. So I like to feed it. I figure the tiny one will associate the hum of activity at my house with the feeling of a happy, full tummy right off the bat.
The problem is, when I invite my Mindy over for dinner, I always end up having the craziest cooking adventures. I'll call her up at 4:00, on my way home from getting the kids and the dog and say, "Hey. You wanna come over for dinner?" And she'll say she'd love to and ask what she can bring. And I tell her that I don't know what we're having yet. I'm going to pick something up at the store and I'll call her if I can think of a contribution for her to make.
Then I walk through the store, just looking for inspiration. Wandering open-mindedly through a grocery store is dangerous. That is how I ended up making pumpkin ravioli once from scratch. Oh my. I think I even served it with brown butter sauce or something like that. That is also how I invented the New Year's Eve pasta (I think). And that is how, tonight at 5:00, I decided we'd have homemade bread, roasted beets and pork chops with lemon caper sauce. None of which I had recipes for or experience with.
But it was good.
I've only roasted beets once before, but it's easy and they're so tasty. Even if my fingers are a stained bright pink now.
I made some progress on the fairy costume tonight. The tunic/slip for underneath the flowy part is done and outer part is mostly cut out. A run to the fabric store is in order because I used up too much material cutting out a piece that I didn't need after all. Because I'm not very good at reading directions. Whatever.
This will be a lesson in good-enough for me. As in, what I have time to do will have to be good enough. My mommy instincts have already dictated plans for a matching organza flowered head piece and homemade wings. Of course a wand and glitter and a fancy hairdo that we'll have to wake up at 5:00 to do would be perfect. And wouldn't it be great if I had mad embroidery skilz? I mean, I could pimp out that purple tunic like nobody's business! Twining vines and pink flowers climbing up her pink leggings? Ah. Magical.
But I need to put on the brakes.
A simple lavender slip (that I altered into a tunic) and a sparkly but plain organza peasant shirt (that I altered to make it really long) will be worn over pink leggings. No headband and no purple-boot-shaped shoe covers (the fairy in the book wore purple boots). And absolutely no embroidery-that-I'd-have-to-stay-up-until-3:00-AM-researching-online-because-I-don't-already-know-how-to-do-it.
Okay, well, maybe the headband...how do I make organza flowers anyway?
Because I will be lucky to have this finished in time for her book report on Wednesday, what with tomorrow evening being spent on Andrew's spring band concert and a trip to the fabric store being necessary.
(shaking my head at my crazy self)
I will laugh abouto this one day.
Probably tomorrow.
Daily bliss: dinner turned out okay, even if I almost wrecked the bread
Wake-Up Playlist: Lovesong of the Buzzard by Iron and Wine
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Busy-Ness
My sister-in-law, Mindy, tells me that she knows we are crazy-busy when I don't blog regularly. She's probably right. We shall see if I can make up for it while all of my machines at work are happily humming along and I have nothing to do but make sure they all have bellies full of paper. Last week and the weekend that accompanied it were just insane. You all know that Chris was out in Orlando with Andrew at his first-ever TSA conference. I sent my camera along with Chris (that's why there were no photos of blueberry picking or pie, Amy!). So, here's a little proof of where they were: 
He's so cute, all business-like in his official blazer, though he'd never allow me to say so in public. 
He was a voting delegate for their club. Each club has two delegates that cast votes for the organization's officers for the upcoming year. Also? There was a lot of gaming going on. 
Food Court lunches are the best 
I think I said before that he was a finalist in all three of his events and came in third place in one of them. He got to bring home the team's trophy for the weekend and it was in the living room, on display for all to see.
And on Sunday, Emma had her first piano recital! We are SO proud of her! As is evidenced by the story of the Spelling Bee Choke, she has never gotten through anything on stage. She cried every time she was a flower girl (one time, she even refused to walk down the aisle), she has choked at every spelling bee, and the few times she has had to sing with her class on stage have terrified her enough that she absolutely refuses to be in the chorus at school. But she made it through her recital piece. No. Wait. She owned it. She loved her special dress that we bought,
She played so perfectly and musically. There's a difference between playing the notes and playing the song. And she definitely played the song, simple though it was. It's surprising to note that you can hear a difference between those two things, even in the first year of playing. And when it was all over, she was thrilled to get a bouquet of flowers from her daddy. 
All the excitement was so overwhelming that we didn't notice until it was over that she had artwork on display in the lobby gallery as well. This was a Fine Arts Showcase, not just a piano recital. And none of us, including the Artist Herself, were aware that she was also a featured artist. I'm sure someone sent home the information, but I probably missed it in the mountain of other end-of-school-year papers. Here she is, explaining that it is a fish print, a Japanese technique, that she made using an actual fish! 
On top of all the good stuff, there was other crappy stuff. The only one I'll share publicly is that our car needed a new radiator. It was spewing coolant everywhere. My boys (hubby, brother, dad and son) took care of that for us on Monday night while I made a big pot of black bean soup to feed everybody. So, that problem is solved. A mountain of others remain. But that's the way it goes, isn't it?
DAILY BLISS: Emma, conquering a little bit of her own fear
He's so cute, all business-like in his official blazer, though he'd never allow me to say so in public. 
He was a voting delegate for their club. Each club has two delegates that cast votes for the organization's officers for the upcoming year. Also? There was a lot of gaming going on. 
Food Court lunches are the best 
I think I said before that he was a finalist in all three of his events and came in third place in one of them. He got to bring home the team's trophy for the weekend and it was in the living room, on display for all to see. And on Sunday, Emma had her first piano recital! We are SO proud of her! As is evidenced by the story of the Spelling Bee Choke, she has never gotten through anything on stage. She cried every time she was a flower girl (one time, she even refused to walk down the aisle), she has choked at every spelling bee, and the few times she has had to sing with her class on stage have terrified her enough that she absolutely refuses to be in the chorus at school. But she made it through her recital piece. No. Wait. She owned it. She loved her special dress that we bought,
She played so perfectly and musically. There's a difference between playing the notes and playing the song. And she definitely played the song, simple though it was. It's surprising to note that you can hear a difference between those two things, even in the first year of playing. And when it was all over, she was thrilled to get a bouquet of flowers from her daddy. 
All the excitement was so overwhelming that we didn't notice until it was over that she had artwork on display in the lobby gallery as well. This was a Fine Arts Showcase, not just a piano recital. And none of us, including the Artist Herself, were aware that she was also a featured artist. I'm sure someone sent home the information, but I probably missed it in the mountain of other end-of-school-year papers. Here she is, explaining that it is a fish print, a Japanese technique, that she made using an actual fish! 
On top of all the good stuff, there was other crappy stuff. The only one I'll share publicly is that our car needed a new radiator. It was spewing coolant everywhere. My boys (hubby, brother, dad and son) took care of that for us on Monday night while I made a big pot of black bean soup to feed everybody. So, that problem is solved. A mountain of others remain. But that's the way it goes, isn't it? DAILY BLISS: Emma, conquering a little bit of her own fear
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Efforts
Phew.
What a week.
What a couple of weeks.
Sometimes you feel like your life was sent through the shredder - the scraps of it dumped in your lap and you're not sure you really want to put it all together.
Car, health, emotions, work - none of it has been safe.
I sat in my car last night at 11:30, my sleeping daughter in the back seat, waiting in an empty parking lot for my husband to come rescue us as steam sputtered and poured from under my hood. And I decided that I would sleep in this morning, then begin making efforts to get things going right again.
What was I doing out that late? Oh, I was babysitting. You will almost never hear me say that. But some old friends, who I know to never have left their two children (ages 3 & 4) with anyone other than their parents, asked me to come and play with the babies while they went on a night out with their family. Of course, Kiki cannot say no to babies she loves, nor can she say no to old friends. So Emma and I trekked out to the other end of town, Hungry Hungry Hippos in hand, and we were a babysitting dynamic duo. We baked cookies and played games and sang songs and those sweet little things went to bed on time with no complaints. I may have worn them out.
So, we had a long drive home, late at night, Emma and I. Fortunately, Chris was on the road too, on his way home from Orlando, where he's been spending the last few days chaperoning at Andrew's TSA conference. We only had to wait, well, half an hour or forty minutes in the dark with a sick car before he could get to us.
When we woke up this morning, Chris back in Orlando with Andrew, and decided on a girls-only day of fun to cure the blues. We went out for breakfast and met my mom, who took us to the nursery where I've been buying my garden stuff. She bought me an upside-down miniature watermelon plant and a jack-be-little pumpkin vine for Mother's Day. Then...
Then!
Then we went blueberry picking.
Ah. Perfection.
Emma pretended we were wild girls, foraging for our food, living on the "farthest coast of the universe." Of course, I played too. It was a delightful. Have you ever eaten a fat blueberry, still warm from the sun? If not, you must.
Go. Go now! I beg of you! Seek out a local pick-your-own farm.
You will not be sorry. I'll wait for you to get back.
Wasn't that great? Now...where were we?
We ate blueberries and cream for lunch and baked an apple tart of Emma's devising in the afternoon. I put on a favorite apron and peeled the apples with my grandma's knife. Its blade, sharpened faithfully for decades, cut right underneath the translucent apple skin, paring it off in perfect, long, curly strips. It was such a meditative, calming act. You can keep your vegetable peelers, thank you.
Dinner out and shopping for a dress for Emma's first piano recital tomorrow rounded out our very long day.
My house is a wreck.
I'm not sure if I have a clean dish left in the kitchen.
We have people coming over for church tomorrow, a recital in the afternoon, and somehow, we must find a car if I am to get to work on Monday.
Tomorrow promises to be busy.
But our boys will be back home and we girls have made considerable efforts toward starting up a normal, drama-free week. Here's hoping it works.
What a week.
What a couple of weeks.
Sometimes you feel like your life was sent through the shredder - the scraps of it dumped in your lap and you're not sure you really want to put it all together.
Car, health, emotions, work - none of it has been safe.
I sat in my car last night at 11:30, my sleeping daughter in the back seat, waiting in an empty parking lot for my husband to come rescue us as steam sputtered and poured from under my hood. And I decided that I would sleep in this morning, then begin making efforts to get things going right again.
What was I doing out that late? Oh, I was babysitting. You will almost never hear me say that. But some old friends, who I know to never have left their two children (ages 3 & 4) with anyone other than their parents, asked me to come and play with the babies while they went on a night out with their family. Of course, Kiki cannot say no to babies she loves, nor can she say no to old friends. So Emma and I trekked out to the other end of town, Hungry Hungry Hippos in hand, and we were a babysitting dynamic duo. We baked cookies and played games and sang songs and those sweet little things went to bed on time with no complaints. I may have worn them out.
So, we had a long drive home, late at night, Emma and I. Fortunately, Chris was on the road too, on his way home from Orlando, where he's been spending the last few days chaperoning at Andrew's TSA conference. We only had to wait, well, half an hour or forty minutes in the dark with a sick car before he could get to us.
When we woke up this morning, Chris back in Orlando with Andrew, and decided on a girls-only day of fun to cure the blues. We went out for breakfast and met my mom, who took us to the nursery where I've been buying my garden stuff. She bought me an upside-down miniature watermelon plant and a jack-be-little pumpkin vine for Mother's Day. Then...
Then!
Then we went blueberry picking.
Ah. Perfection.
Emma pretended we were wild girls, foraging for our food, living on the "farthest coast of the universe." Of course, I played too. It was a delightful. Have you ever eaten a fat blueberry, still warm from the sun? If not, you must.
Go. Go now! I beg of you! Seek out a local pick-your-own farm.
You will not be sorry. I'll wait for you to get back.
Wasn't that great? Now...where were we?
We ate blueberries and cream for lunch and baked an apple tart of Emma's devising in the afternoon. I put on a favorite apron and peeled the apples with my grandma's knife. Its blade, sharpened faithfully for decades, cut right underneath the translucent apple skin, paring it off in perfect, long, curly strips. It was such a meditative, calming act. You can keep your vegetable peelers, thank you.
Dinner out and shopping for a dress for Emma's first piano recital tomorrow rounded out our very long day.
My house is a wreck.
I'm not sure if I have a clean dish left in the kitchen.
We have people coming over for church tomorrow, a recital in the afternoon, and somehow, we must find a car if I am to get to work on Monday.
Tomorrow promises to be busy.
But our boys will be back home and we girls have made considerable efforts toward starting up a normal, drama-free week. Here's hoping it works.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Oh Well
I am working very hard this year to live in the present moment. Most of you will scratch your heads and wonder why in the world that would be a problem for me. It's kind of the way I've always lived my life, and this blog certainly has reflected my love of being intentional and alive and enjoying the everyday beauty around me. But the last year or so has brought some change to that, with my childrens' ever burgeoning schedules and, you know, other stuff. We've been busy and I'm sure it's obvious.
Anyway. So. I'm trying to be a little more conscious about that currently, even though it's something that's always been as natural for me as breathing.
This is harder work than I thought it would be. It's one thing for me to say no to commitments or to let go of some things that I wanted to do or to make a party a little "less" than I had envisioned...that sort of thing. But it's very difficult for me to be late to an event, to drop the ball, or to not fulfill a responsibility. It's the difference between letting myself down or letting others down, which I just cannot live with.
That doesn't mean it's easy to let myself down. Oh my, no.
We were invited to a get-together tonight by a family that hosts big get-togethers often. There were at least a dozen kids running around, countertops and tables full of food, and a campfire! When asked what I wanted to bring, I of course volunteered for dessert. I have always liked to bake, but now that I'm aware of my silly food allergies, bringing dessert is the best way to make sure there's dessert that I can eat. And honestly, you can have the green bean casserole. I'm happy with just dessert, thanks.
I found a yummy-looking recipe for a chocolate-orange cake, but it' was a vegan recipe (which means it's friendly to my dietary restrictions), so I had no idea if it'd taste good to normal people. That necessitates a test run, wouldn't you think? I had planned to make a practice cake on Wednesday or Thursday, but it just didn't happen. So, I thought I'd make two cakes today and just cut into one that I'd keep at home. That way, if it was awful I could just buy a pie at the grocery store on our way to the party.
So, living in the moment as I am, I was late getting to the store to buy my ingredients. Consequently, I was late to the cake-baking session, and it took nearly twice as long to bake as the recipe had suggested. And I only have one pan. Now, instead of one test cake and one party cake, I only had one cake, period. It would have to be glazed once I got to the party, because I took it out of the oven just when we had to get out the door. And I'd forgotten to make the suggested modification - adding a little oil to keep it from being dry. Also, I'd forgotten to buy the bread I'd promised to bring.
So, we were late to the party with a cake of unknown edibility (is that even a word?) and still had to stop at the store.
Oh well. Taking each minute as it comes means letting go of that stress, right?
Sigh.
We had a wonderful time. Campfires are some of my very favorite things. I love the smell of wood smoke. And one of the families has a precious exchange student from Hungary, named Sophie, staying with them. We had the most interesting conversation about the cultural differences she's found here, what she likes in school, how different our education system is and many other things that sounded even cooler than I could make them sound because of her accent. The kids jumped around on the trampoline and made s'mores. My heart sank when I realized I'd left my camera at home and I almost went back home to retrieve it, but I thought that was pretty ridiculous. Well, Chris thought that was pretty ridiculous.
Instead, I watched the embers float up against the backdrop of Orion's belt in the sky and enjoyed pointing out Venus to Sophie, who was so excited about that information.
And the cake was pretty good. Not my best, but everyone seemed to like it. So, I guess I didn't really let anybody down after all, which is good.
Plus, now that I'm home, I have the not-practice cake, with the oil in it this time, in the oven. I'd already measured out the ingredients before we left, so it would certainly have been wasteful to throw them away.
I think, while I wait for that, I will continue to stave off the crush of responsibility that comes with thinking of tomorrow by taking a hot bath while drinking a cup of hot, blackberry tea.
DAILY BLISS: Andrew played tech support to all of Emma's friends, helping them set up their Nintendos for chatting and playing multi-player games....so perfectly geeky and cute!
Anyway. So. I'm trying to be a little more conscious about that currently, even though it's something that's always been as natural for me as breathing.
This is harder work than I thought it would be. It's one thing for me to say no to commitments or to let go of some things that I wanted to do or to make a party a little "less" than I had envisioned...that sort of thing. But it's very difficult for me to be late to an event, to drop the ball, or to not fulfill a responsibility. It's the difference between letting myself down or letting others down, which I just cannot live with.
That doesn't mean it's easy to let myself down. Oh my, no.
We were invited to a get-together tonight by a family that hosts big get-togethers often. There were at least a dozen kids running around, countertops and tables full of food, and a campfire! When asked what I wanted to bring, I of course volunteered for dessert. I have always liked to bake, but now that I'm aware of my silly food allergies, bringing dessert is the best way to make sure there's dessert that I can eat. And honestly, you can have the green bean casserole. I'm happy with just dessert, thanks.
I found a yummy-looking recipe for a chocolate-orange cake, but it' was a vegan recipe (which means it's friendly to my dietary restrictions), so I had no idea if it'd taste good to normal people. That necessitates a test run, wouldn't you think? I had planned to make a practice cake on Wednesday or Thursday, but it just didn't happen. So, I thought I'd make two cakes today and just cut into one that I'd keep at home. That way, if it was awful I could just buy a pie at the grocery store on our way to the party.
So, living in the moment as I am, I was late getting to the store to buy my ingredients. Consequently, I was late to the cake-baking session, and it took nearly twice as long to bake as the recipe had suggested. And I only have one pan. Now, instead of one test cake and one party cake, I only had one cake, period. It would have to be glazed once I got to the party, because I took it out of the oven just when we had to get out the door. And I'd forgotten to make the suggested modification - adding a little oil to keep it from being dry. Also, I'd forgotten to buy the bread I'd promised to bring.
So, we were late to the party with a cake of unknown edibility (is that even a word?) and still had to stop at the store.
Oh well. Taking each minute as it comes means letting go of that stress, right?
Sigh.
We had a wonderful time. Campfires are some of my very favorite things. I love the smell of wood smoke. And one of the families has a precious exchange student from Hungary, named Sophie, staying with them. We had the most interesting conversation about the cultural differences she's found here, what she likes in school, how different our education system is and many other things that sounded even cooler than I could make them sound because of her accent. The kids jumped around on the trampoline and made s'mores. My heart sank when I realized I'd left my camera at home and I almost went back home to retrieve it, but I thought that was pretty ridiculous. Well, Chris thought that was pretty ridiculous.
Instead, I watched the embers float up against the backdrop of Orion's belt in the sky and enjoyed pointing out Venus to Sophie, who was so excited about that information.
And the cake was pretty good. Not my best, but everyone seemed to like it. So, I guess I didn't really let anybody down after all, which is good.
Plus, now that I'm home, I have the not-practice cake, with the oil in it this time, in the oven. I'd already measured out the ingredients before we left, so it would certainly have been wasteful to throw them away.
I think, while I wait for that, I will continue to stave off the crush of responsibility that comes with thinking of tomorrow by taking a hot bath while drinking a cup of hot, blackberry tea.
DAILY BLISS: Andrew played tech support to all of Emma's friends, helping them set up their Nintendos for chatting and playing multi-player games....so perfectly geeky and cute!
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