Luvily

4th of July

2011-07-05T12:05:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, in all it's hot and humid glory, the 4th of July rolled in.... We went to a bbq in the evening and I made this:

Edamame and Blueberry salad. Made with shallots, basil and parmesan cheese. The vinaigrette was made by blending blueberry syrup, blueberry juice, olive oil, rice wine vinegar and a smidge of Dijon. Delish! Definitely a keeper!

Then I was overcome with the urge to craft.... On 4th of July? Why not! I made these!!!

What should have been a ten minute craft bloomed into one hour at least! Supplies needed were poster board, 6 inch fabric squares, lollipop sticks, hot glue, buttons, scissors, a block of wood, a power drill and a patient husband. I had all the supplies on hand! Imagine that!

And then, for the first time in the nearly 10 years of living in this town, we went to the festivities in downtown. Well....sort of. We skipped the parade and the music and the "whatever" goes on and only strolled down the bike trail to see the fireworks. A mile walk into town, easy enough except! It started to rain. We hung out under an overhang and waited the rain out.... and happily so as the fireworks over the river were fantastic! Kids loved it!!! A new tradition?? Perhaps. We did have to walk a mile back home, with tired and wet little kids, in the pitch dark! We had flashlights and safety in numbers. Cut thru the park and home we were. Much fun.

Happy 4th!

Note: I have so many posts cluttering up my head right now. I have a knitting post, a summer solstice post, a long term goal gone awry post, etc.

India Day

2011-06-24T15:33:00.000-04:00

Hey! Each Thursday this summer we are celebrating and learning about other countries. Cultures, customs, crafts and cuisine! This week, INDIA!!!

Authentic

2011-06-24T15:09:00.001-04:00

Huh. Well I just found out that someone has been spending a ridiculous amount of time musing about my life and subsequently thinks my life is not “authentic”. This caused me to pause a bit. I mulled it over, I thought out loud, I digested it. I thought about the definition I had for “authentic”, being real and true to ones spirit. I mulled some more. I got pissed. I had a glass of wine. I bounced thoughts off of my husband. I brushed my teeth and I went to bed. I woke up and had darned near forgotten about the whole deal and then it popped back up on my radar. I started thinking about this again and expending unnecessary energy.

I wondered if I should spend any more time actually thinking about this and decided no, because in reality, I try everyday to be authentic and I don’t have to defend that to you or anyone. But I guess I will, for the sake of the blog. I try to make this the life I want for myself and for my family. To make my life and that of my family, a good and true one, a happy one, full of experiences and memories…. It takes work, a lot of work and believe me, I fall short all the time. Every single day. By the end of most days I am on “kid overload” and feel like running away, to a quiet beach bungalow, far far so far away. At the end of most days, not all, but most, I feel like I was the worst mother and didn’t do quite enough for my kids. I feel horrible that I spent the entire crazy afternoon entertaining and helping my kids and dinner? What? You want dinner, Mr. Husband? But I was busy all day, trying to create an authentic life for my kids and myself!!!!!!!!!!! But the smiles from the 3 lovebugs that occasionally get tossed my way? Worth it. When I put them to sleep at night and they hug me for an extra few seconds and tell me they love me? Worth it. When I crawl into my bed and find a note on my pillow from Sparkle saying I am “the best mom ever”? Worth it. When LaLa writes me a note and leaves it on my computer thanking me for all I do for her? Worth it. When Zoomie comes by and just casually scratches my back and gives me a mini backrub and tells me he loves me? Worth it. I like my life, no….. I LOVE my life. If you don’t think I live an authentic life, maybe it’s your life you are having thoughts about. My life is that good and that real and I know, deeply, how blessed I am. I can’t apologize for that.

So, I’m not going to think much more about it. I can’t spend time or energy worrying about what you think of me. Why can’t I spend time worrying about this? Because life is short and time is better spent doing this!!!! Brownie sundaes with Buckeye Blitz ice cream!!! Now that, dear friend, is authentic! And so are those smiles.

Farewell...for now.

2011-03-14T09:15:00.000-04:00

Oh blog – you are a thorn in my side. I want you to be beautiful and inspiring and crafty and lovely and yet, you’re a nudge.

I guess I’ve been really busy with my “long term goal” and hopefully getting somewhere with that. Even my knitting has slacked off.

But I’m here and paying you some small amount of attention. Someday – I will write again. But I think I am going to let you rest for awhile. I’ll see you again someday. Tootles!

Rainy Days and Tuesdays and Christmas?

2011-01-18T09:32:00.001-05:00

Since I’m jigging and jogging my way back onto the blogging bandwagon, I thought I’d reach back to last month and dig out some of the Christmas crafts I did. And share them! With you! And you thought Christmas was over!!

So let’s talk Christmas cards! Triple love all things Christmas cards. Love creating our family Christmas card, love getting Christmas cards, love love love all things related to cards! I mean, you are talking to someone who races her kids to the mailbox to see who sent us a card that day! I’m probably taking all the joy out of it for my kids. On that note, let’s chat about my Christmas card issues. First issue? I keep a ridiculous, color coded spreadsheet of who sent cards, who did not, who I’ve sent to, and who gets one anyway even though they don’t send and I keep this current for 2 years! I look for trends! I’m willing to grant you one “off” year. Shhhh happens. Christmas cards are serious business here in Luvily Land. I am particularly giddy when I get a photo card AND a letter! The joy is inexplicable to me. But then, there exists that horror that is the “box card”. Issue #2 - I absolutely HATE to get box cards. I hate even more, the card that has barely a signature at the bottom, not even a greeting! What is that??? Not worth it is what it is, I tell ya. But then!!! I had an idea! I bought a 3 inch hole punch and I hole punched the hell out of those cards and made gift tags for next years gifts. Problem solved, I’ve found a reason to keep those useless Christmas cards…………so I thought. Then, out of the familial woodwork, comes “Oh So Crafty Aunt” and she challenged me to kick it up a notch. Gift tags? Too easy. I was challenged to make 3D ornaments out of those little 3 inch hole punched gift cards. Not being one to back down from a crafting challenge, I embarked on this and this is what I created. I think it needs glitter, no?? And of course a pretty ribbon.

The gift tags became...

This ornament, that is in desperate need of glitter...

So that brings us to the displaying of the cards or maybe it doesn’t quite bring us to that considering I’ve already repurposed them! So prior to crafting with the cards, I had display issues. Do I hang them around a door frame? Uh, no. Tacky and sloppy. Do I put them neatly in a basket? Well, I could but that is boring. I even know people who TOSS THEM IN THE GARBAGE after reading them! I can hardly write that without shuddering. So, what to do, what to do? I did this:

And it was a full bloomed Christmas Card Tree by the end of December! And I loved it! And it was pretty. And I was full of Christmas Joy! And I just started 5 sentences in a row with the word “and”. To make the Christmas Card Tree, I trudged out to the backyard, in the snow and freezing temps and found my rusty tomato cages, painted them, decorated them and started clipping the cards to them. Voila – gorgeousness.

And there were more crafts but I’m done with this post… (another sentence started with “and”. Nightmares…..)

Happy New Year

2011-01-13T10:26:00.000-05:00

Hey y'all...

I'm still here. I want to keep this blog going but not sure where to find inspiration these days.....

I'm still crafting and have many pics to post... eventually.

I'm still working on my long term goal...but I'm frustrated with that...but I'll keep on trudging...

I'm processing double bad news since New Year's and reflecting on where life is going and how short it is...

I'm mourning, what I realize now, was never was going to be. It's sad, but I feel better accepting the truth.

I'm cold..........so cold...........

I'm looking forward to 2011? I think I am.

Peace and warmth to you....

At Least She Has Indoor Plumbing Now...

2010-10-06T08:53:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here I am, shivering, writing, typing, hopefully thawing soon. Just got back from the bus stop and my fingers are frozen. 39.9 degrees! What is that? I’ll tell you what it is – ridonkulous!

So my beef today is that my farm chick sister in law doesn’t have a TV at her farmy McFarm house. Whatever, different strokes for different folks and all that jazz. Wasn’t affecting me until she decided to host a birthday party for her parents this Sunday. Do you see where this is going? Who friggin’ hosts a party on a Sunday in the fall without a TV? Can you say FOOTBALL??????????? Look people, football season is my bonding time with my son. We snuggle up on the couch and watch the game (of course, I’m knitting too). We are BONDING!! We wait for football season – we aren’t going to miss the game just because she is too cheap to get a TV or whatever her reasons may be. Get a flippin’ TV! It’s not as if Zoomie and I are going to be antisocial or anything and hang out in front of the TV for the entire party. Oh no, mamma here loves to mingle and chit chat at parties, we just want it on in the background. Just in case we have to run in to see a play ~~or two or three~~ or you know, something like that. I mean, come on, we have to see Batman and Robin. We (and by that I mean “I”) NEED to see Batman and Robin. ;)

So I said to Mr. Luvily, as he was standing in the closet this morning, minding his own business, getting dressed, “Ya know, your pioneer 'Laura Ingalls wannabe' sister doesn’t have a TV and she is hosting this party right smack in the middle of the game.” I got a blank stare from him – he wondering where this is going. I smugly continue, “Zoomie and I aren’t going to the party then.” Angry look shot my way, daggers I tell ya. I push my luck (because that’s what I do best), “Dude, we ain’t missin’ the game!!! I am not going to suffer thru her damn boring ass party if there ain’t football! We are not going to miss the game just because she has some “point” to make to the world by not having a TV.” He left and went to work. Hmmmph. I showed him. Not really.

And then because I like to really, really beat dead horses and piss my husband off, I continued my rant via email. I haven’t heard back from him but I do believe I’m losing this one. Somehow I think we are going to be at the party but oh let me tell you, I am going to be snooty snippy pissy assed when I get there. I mean really, WHO FRIGGIN’ DOESN’T HAVE A TV???????? I suppose I should just be thankful they have indoor plumbing. That’s right. There was a time she thought it was perfectly ok to host a party with an OUTHOUSE. Oh yes she did. A big party, lots of people and an OUTHOUSE. Have I not suffered enough with her parties? Can I have just a smidge of sympathy? Just a smidge?

Decisions

2010-10-05T08:34:00.000-04:00

And so I wonder, should I still do this blog? I want to, sort of, but really, is anyone that interested? I mean there are blogs I've been following for years - I enjoy them, whatever, but my blog? Who cares! I lead the typical, boring life of a mom. Go for walk at 5:30am, wake kids up, make lunches, throw them on the bus (not under), come home, Facebook, waste time, knit, do laundry, Facebook, load dishwasher, get mail, run errands, Facebook, get kids off of the bus, become taxi service, make dinner, bathe kids (sort of, they bathe themselves these days, God willing), Facebook and then collapse on the couch to watch Modern Family and DVR’d Oprahs and Jon Stewarts. Isn’t everyone’s life like mine? I need to think long and hard (not really) about continuing this blog. Maybe if I make it a daily "chore", like, "everyday, you will write a blog post". Check. Done. Now make dinner. Something like that.

In other news, I've finished two sweaters and I am working on a cabled baby blanket. And I need to learn how to knit socks, ahem, Ms. Y if you are reading. ;)

I also have some future plans starting to simmer in a big old pot. Maybe they’ve been simmering for awhile, but I’ve recently moved them to the front burner. That’s progress here in these here parts! I've set a pretty intense long term goal for myself, hopefully coinciding nicely with my 40th birthday. I am sooooo looking forward to my 40th! Crazy! I can’t stand the women who bemoan turning 40! What’s the big deal and really, what is the alternative? It’s a new chapter and I have huge, big, ginormous plans. And I am a planner, so naturally, I am planning the best midlife crisis there ever was! Complete with the redefinition of most everything! I'm so excited. It will be like a divorce without the divorce b/c you know, I still love Mr. Luvily! It is going to be life changing - in so many ways!!! Can't wait. I slowly stir the pot (in a good way) each day. Carefully stirring, round and round, making sure not to scorch any of the plans or downright burn them. These plans are going to be bursting with flavor in about 2 years (or less) and I couldn’t be more giddy with determination and excitement.

Well, this turned out to be a lengthy bloggy post. Are you out there? Doubt it. I’m sure I lost all 7 of my readers at this point. Peace.

Luvily's Summer Vacation - Statistically Speaking

2010-08-24T09:19:00.008-04:00

People!!! I’m back!!! Did you miss me? No? Didn’t even notice I was gone? Figures… Anyway – kids are back to school today and now I can tell you about summer here in LuvilyLand!

As borrowed from many a blog I’ve read – our summer – statistically!

4 – states visited or driven thru during our ROAD TRIP!!!

2 – countries, Canada and the US. We count right?

2 – provinces

7 – bottles of wine consumed during that road trip.

214 – times Sparkle asked to get out of her seatbelt because she had dropped something.

1 – poutine ordered – really? What’s so wonderful about fries, gravy and cheese?

0 – barn quilts seen and therefore…

0 – road trip scavenger hunts completed

6,371 – churches seen in Montreal

3 – Great Lakes seen – Erie, Huron, and Ontario, 1 of which we dipped our toes...

1 – ginormous meltdown had by mom, in public, all good

0 – trips thru McDonalds – Yay us!!!

2 – celebrity lookalikes – Boomer Esiason and Landon Donovan

76 – episodes of Sponge Bob en francais

2 – Build a Moose built – “Brie” and “Monty”

0 – real life moose’s seen (hey, what’s the plural of moose?)

497 – sights missed by kids while playing their DS

127 – guys seen wearing manpri’s or horrifically tight jeans – YUCK

8 – dollars of Canadian money left over

2 – times that Luvily plucked her eyebrows in the car

150 – dollars spent in said knitting stores!

2 – waterfalls seen – Niagara!

1 – boat ride

1,069 – cornfields passed

25 – carved wooden penis’ in a souvenir shop. Really. Aren't you glad you kept reading this far?

2 – prisons seen

2 – llamas seen

6 – brides seen

1 – near miss with a RCMP officer as Luvily’s husband blew by at 200km/hour

1 – picture taken with Frankenstein

0 – biospheres toured – damn labour disputes

70 – mph, the speed at which a grasshopper can no longer hang on to a car window. True.

1,762,341 – dysfunctional family moments

31 – hours driving from destination to destination

1 – motorcycle with a sidecar

2,200 – miles clocked – whoa baby!

3 – Christmas ornaments bought

631 – punches for VW sightings

625 – times we told them to quit fighting about “who saw the VW first”

edited to add this has been a visually ugly post and it's been driving me nuts and I keep trying to fix it and it gets worse each time. Time to cut the ties. Bye Bye Postie!

Summer Evening Fun

2010-07-26T07:30:00.000-04:00

Seems I don’t have much time to blog this summer. The kids are all buzzing about me, and my focus isn’t there and I’m busy busy busy and well, no blog posts.

Recently my family had a lovely visit with our two nephews and niece. Here is where I tell you that all three of those lovebugs are gorgeous and freakishly polite. I’m a lucky auntie! The Ox and I hosted a “Firefly Party” for them and some neighbors. Oh, you readers of Family Fun magazine know just what I am talking about, however, my party was better. Just sayin’.

But then!!!! Prior to the start of the festivities we had, um, shall we say, issues! As the Ox embarked on lighting the tiki torches lining our driveway, we discovered a wee problemo! A problem so freakin’ disgusting and annoying, I almost scrapped the whole evening. FLYING ANTS. People, they were everywhere! Oh my good God! Cars were covered in these suckers! My nephew was sweeping, WITH A BROOM, those ants off of the cars!!! We were inhaling them! My husband was trying to find the “nest” (ok, how he knows they come from a nest is beyond me) and well, didn’t.

Sigh………what to do, what to do, we didn’t know so we went inside. We’ll just eat pizza and Gummi Worm Punch and Ice Cream and S’mores in the boring old kitchen. We’ll turn out all the lights and crack our glow sticks and blow bubbles and what? What’s that noise? Rain!!!! It’s raining buckets!!!! Of course it is!!! Which is oh so good for getting rid of those flying ants but for catching fireflies? Not so much! I’m thinking this party is not happenin’.

And then it stopped raining – and there were no ants – and there were twinkles here and there and the party began! Summer evening fun, running without boundaries thru yards, catching as many fireflies as one could. The bursting joy of being a child, no cares, no worries. I remember catching fireflies on sizzling summer nights, sticky with humidity, at my grandparent’s house in NY. We held the twinkling bugs in old Maxwell House coffee containers, little screwdriver punches in the lid. My grandparents sat on their “stoop” and us kids ran thru their yard. Oh, we thought that yard was huge, if only the size of a postage stamp. Literally. We screeched and captured and counted and compared. Who caught the most? Who won? Let’s let them go – be free little lighted ones!!!

Maybe we’ll gather like this every summer. Maybe we’ll kick off every summer with glow sticks, homemade ice cream and fireflies. Maybe we’ll look forward to running freely from yard to yard, giggling and squealing and belly laughing. Maybe this is the way all summers should start…..

Soap Days of Summer

2010-07-14T08:03:00.000-04:00

I've been crazy busy around here, crafting, mothering and trying oh so hard to find 5 minutes to update this blog. Forgive me blogosphere, I have been a terrible blogger. I should just take the summer off. I have 3 (or more, can't think right now, haven't had coffee yet) projects on needles right now and need to learn how to knit socks by next week. I have been making beads out the wazoo, wanting to have enough of a "stash" for when my Craft-o-niece-sta (get it?) visits. And yesterday I was chopping herbs and storing them and making soap. What? Yes, I made soap. And like any other project I do, now I want to make 100 bars! I don't want to make goobery soaps though, I don't want rubber ducks embedded in them. Everyone does that! I want herbal soaps, pretty little bars for a guest bathroom or for a gift. This soap worked wonderfully. I am not so sure I want to tackle working with lye, so I did a melt and pour base that contained olive oil. I added more olive oil, some essential oil, and lavender from the herb garden. Fantastic!!

This:

became this:

Threading Thru Thursday ~ Commando Style!

2010-07-08T10:23:00.001-04:00

The title sounds better than this post will really be. Sorry to disappoint!

Holy Heat! My goodness, me no likey! I hate with all my being that sticky feeling that comes with humidity. I can't explain how much I hate when my knees sweat. This hateful, unrelenting, heat makes me want to lay in a bathtub full of fruity popsicles with cucumbers on my eyes. I want to shut out the sweaty, stinky world and wake up in October with pumpkins and crunchy leaves. Really. And truth be told, I’ve been walking around commando all while wearing skirts. Yes indeed I have. Trashy? Maybe. But for some reason, much cooler. And frankly, in this heat, I DON’T flippin' CARE!!!! Enough sharing.

Anyway – CRAFTS!!!!! I’ve been crafting like crazy and herbing like crazy. More on herbs in another post, I want to show you what I did yesterday….

Beads! Love this idea and can’t wait for my niece to visit in Aug so I can teach her too. She is a budding little craftanista. I triple love her and making up words. JOY!

Anyway – here is what happened to a Newsweek magazine in our house:

Where in the World Did Luvily Go?

2010-06-25T09:57:00.000-04:00

Nowhere!!! I'm still here people - but Lordy - summer is busy! I am having the hardest time finding the time to write and update and share!!! Keeping three kids busy and entertained and engaged while maintaining my sanity is no easy jobby!!! So I will try to update soon. Just didn't want y'all to think I've abandoned my bloggy.

Butterfly Kind of Day

2010-06-11T09:04:00.000-04:00

So remember this?

They became this:

Two hatched yesterday morning, well, one hatched yesterday morning and the other later in the day while we were gone. Butterfly #1, named Charlie, was fit to be tied by the evening. He wanted out of his little butterfly habitat right quick. But no, the kids wanted to wait to show daddy! So he fluttered about, angrily yet prettily and soon, butterfly #2 hatched. Went and borned itself while we were at the Butterfly Exhibit. More on the exhibit later. So Charlie and #2 fluttered about in their habitat, on the kitchen table and when we arrived home yesterday, Libby Dibby Do was swatting at that cage like shark on chum. Eventually, we had to let them go, all ceremoniously and beautiful and well, with one minor glitch.

Sparkle is not my most graceful or delicate child. She tried to help Charlie out of the habitat and let’s remember, he wanted OUT. If butterflies could show anger, I do believe he was pissed! So she scooped him out, he started to flutter, she panicked and she slammed her hand on top of him. He won the battle, flew away and Sparkle melted into a puddle of tears. That poor girl can’t catch a break. Anyway – we had lots of fun with #2 (should have named him, no?), lots of photo ops.

The Butterfly Exhibit was gorgeous! Big beautiful Great Purple Emperor’s everywhere

Landing on our hair, hands, clothes, everywhere! Beautiful flowers and sheer loveliness.

A pretty day with friends and flutterers. Enjoy the pictures!

And then we went to PF Changs and had lettuce wraps. YUM!

Threading Thru Thursday

2010-06-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

I suppose I've lost total track of what number Thursday this would be.... Slacker I am. Anyway -

MARKET BAGS!!!

100% cotton, holds more fruit than a tree, and handmade by moi. $15. And one of these days I will get PayPal set up.

Chore Charts and Dimey Goodness

2010-06-09T08:37:00.000-04:00

Holy rain storm! It’s pouring here and the kids are still sleeping. I’m sure now that I’ve put that thought to paper (so to speak), they’ll come trickling downstairs any moment.

Summer vacation started for us two days ago and dare I say, it has been most enjoyable. I haven’t had to shriek at the lovebugs (to the extent that I normally have to), I haven’t had to chase their tiny hineys upstairs with the wooden spoon (kidding!), and none of them have been duct taped to the mailbox with a “Free Kid, Take Me” sign. Again, just kidding. Sort of. They are working extra hard to get along, they are doing their chores, willingly, they are reading, they are writing, they are doing math schoolwork, they are practicing piano and all without me having to nag them all day. What? What’s that you say? Oh, you want to know how I managed to get them to do all of this? Well I’ve bribed them of course! Maybe “bribe” isn’t the prettiest word I could use…. Hmm, let me think a bit…. Ah, I know. I am “motivating” them via money.

I created a simple chore chart. I created a jar of chores written on popsicle sticks and I have three little fabulous gelato cups (can't show you those, has their real names on them) filled with dimes. See? Let me explain….

First, the popsicle sticks. Each stick has a chore on it and there are three blank sticks. Each child closes their peepers and picks three sticks, each day. Those are their chores for the day. Could be feeding the cat. Could be folding and sorting laundry. Could be dusting the house. Could be watering the flowers (btw, took that stick out of the running for today as it is POURING!). They could pick a blank stick and “wahoo” for them! A free pass. LaLa has an incredible knack of snagging the blank stick and sometimes two of them.

Secondly, the little gelato cup from the Farmers Market is filled with dimes. Three dollars worth of dimes. This is given to them on Monday to be kept on the kitchen counter, for all to see. Each day that they don’t complete a chore, they lose a dime. Each time they fight, argue, poke, hit, nudge, bump or yell at each other, they lose a dime. Each time they say in their most annoying whiney voices, “What the heeeeeeeeeeeck?” they lose a dime. They’ve each lost about four dimes thus far and they are none too happy about it, I tell ya. At the end of the week, we convert the dimes to bills and they are happy little bugs anxiously awaiting the arrival of that hideous music truck, I mean the ice cream man. Actually, it’s not an ice cream man; it’s a creepy, obese, cigarette smelling, hag of a woman, but anyway. I long for the days of the Soft Serve Mr. Softee truck with rainbow sprinkles..... Summers past....

Thirdly, the chart. Created by moi and working fabulously. I love my chart. Fairly self explanatory.

Oh and then there is the “Random Dime Goodness”. Those cutie patooties never know what will earn them an extra dime. For example, Zoomie volunteered to have his piano lesson first the other day. That scored him a dime. Shocking to all and now they are trying to figure out what gets them the extra dimey goodness. I tell them it’s random and up to me and only me. I am the king. It is good to be the king.

So, this is working fabulously so far. And the house is clean. And they are reading happily. And practicing piano. And my God, whose children are these? Just proves that children like to know what is expected of them, they like to perform well, they like praise, they like to help and oh yeah, they like money!

And they are still sleeping!

Butterflies, Clotheslines, Meat, Oh My!

2010-06-02T09:19:00.003-04:00

It is God awful freakin’ holy heck hot and humid here and I am melting like the witch that I am.

I am at the kitchen table and next to me is a butterfly house cage thingy with three cocoons. Started as this:

Found them eating my parsley in my insane herb garden and now they are this:

Cutting my hair today. Probably not the best day to do it, you know, considering the bloody freakin’ heat! I may go all Sinead and shit today.

Thinks there are no characteristics more nauseating in a man than insecurity and nosiness. Ick.

Thinks LaLa is very passive aggressive towards me, considering how she “casually” tossed her scooter directly at my foot this morning, mad that I am not going to her Field Day. Um, see above, it’s 1000 freakin’ pissy assed degrees out and this mama don’t do heat and humidity, for no one! Not even flesh and blood.

Sparkle was pretty decent today – what’s up with that?

Ox man created a clothesline for me in the backyard! I am giddy! The joy I have with being that much greener. The joy the Ox has in being that much cheaper. Pours over those electric bills I tell ya. Indoctrinated Zoomie yesterday, taught him how to read the bill and all. Goobers.

Fabulous Knitty Friend and I went on a hunt for meat yesterday. Oh yes we did. Drove around until we found it too. Gonna have us some fresh, grass fed, antibiotic free meat from now on. LOVE IT!!!

3 days left and then the lovejoys are home from school for the summer. Um, HELL!!!!!!!!! Love them with every sweating pore of my body but man oh man, I’m all for full year school!

I suck suck suck at eye contact.

I think I may have the best girlfriends ever. Very very very therapeutic and renewing.

Sparkle Loses a Wiggler

2010-05-28T10:37:00.000-04:00

Oh, my precious little Sparkle lost her first tooth yesterday. She will be 8 in September. Her sister has lost many, her friends have lost many, Sparkle has lost none. Zip, zero, nada. Nary a wiggler to be found. She has had two pulled but she had never gotten to experience the wiggly bloody fest that is losing a tooth. Until yesterday. Her top front tooth has been wigglin’ for a couple of weeks now and we were all very happy for that. Lord only knows how difficult it has been living with a near 8 year old that had never lost a tooth while every single 5 year old in the neighborhood had. Torture I tell ya.

So I went to Sparkle’s end of the year class picnic yesterday and the tooth, well, was hanging by a thread or whatever you call it. She bit her little sandwich and immediately froze – the bread came out of her mouth as a bunch of mushy bloody dough. Tears welled up and panic began. You see, Sparkle doesn’t like ANY attention on her whatsoever. NONE. So she has already figured out, in 2 seconds, that she will have to get up, leave her class, walk all the way to the school, rinse her mouth out and walk all the way back to the picnic and she knows there is no way to do this without being seen. PANIC at the picnic. She wants no one to notice. Fat chance. 1st graders notice EVERYTHING!!!!

And guess what? The tooth did not fall out. Oh no, that would have been the desired outcome but no…………..it was still hanging and Sparkle was still panicking that her class was going to see her come back and she’d have nothing to report. Just wait until she is in labor someday! I know, this makes no sense but to an anxiety ridden 7 year old, it makes COMPLETE sense. Whatever. And me being a mother of great patience, tells her to buck up and deal and so what if people look at you, who cares! I’m a HUGE help. HUGE. I’m sure she won’t want me anywhere near the delivery room.

So, home we were a few short hours later and now she has decided it is time to turn that sucker every which way, flip it, suck it back in, etc, whatever. All just to gross her weak kneed mother out. And might I just tell you that it was about 800,000 degrees out so I had been drinking water like my Irish uncle drinks alcohol. CONTINUOUSLY. I got up to pee and no sooner had I closed the door I hear, “MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MOMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Panic in her voice, I swear I thought there was a snake in the house. [Side note – that has been known to happen.]

You guessed it, the tooth was out. Yay. And then I peed.

Fast forward to 10pm and the Ox is frantically robbing each child of their piggy banks trying to find 2 one dollar bills, cussing and muttering under his breath. He’s a magical happy tooth fairy, that Ox. He soon realized we had no dollar bills in the house. On to looking for quarters and apparently, that became an equally daunting task. Thankfully, he found 8. He claims he was this close to giving her 200 pennies. Yeah, I bet he wouldn’t have been able to find that either! Can you just see us knocking on neighbor’s doors at 10:30 at night asking for 2 dollars? Unbelievable that we were completely unable to find 2 dollars!

Isn't It Just Beautifulicious?

2010-05-25T09:26:00.002-04:00

Trixie, Rose and Clemens

2010-05-24T11:41:00.000-04:00

We went to “the farm” yesterday. My children are experiencing something in their childhoods that I never did, a family member with a farm. Their Aunt Kat has a big old storybook farm, quite lovely, if farms are your cup of tea. They are not mine. Lots of dirt and bugs and smells and nature all over the dang place. Aunt Kat’s farm family started with just a couple of dogs, a cat and a couple of horses. Thru the years, the dogs died, a cat was added and the horses remained. Of course, there are the natural “we were here first” family members: the deer, the vultures, the turkeys, the raccoons, the rabbits, the foxes, the mice, and God only knows what else. It’s nice. And if you like horses and such, it’s super, fantastic nice. But I for one, don’t particularly care for horses.

First of all – they are God awful HUGE! Massive! Downright intimidating to me. Beautiful I suppose, but quite ginormous. Soooo out of my comfort zone when I have to walk under that horse’s neck/head to get around him. Really? Really. Secondly – I don’t see the romance in the whole “horse” thing. I tried that horseback riding along the ocean thing and had a black and blue ass for weeks. NO FRIGGIN’ FUN. So since then, and “then” is many moons ago, I’ve kept my distance. But then I married into this family and Aunt Kat, the sister of Ox has this befuddling (to me) passion for these beasts. And so that is how I come to be around horses more than I desire, and my kids quadruple LOVE them. And I’m happy for them, really, I am. That they have this experience and a bond with their aunt and this “joy” in their little lives, is wonderful, heart warming, ~~annoying~~.

But then, Aunt Kat went and got all crazy nutty, and decided she was going to raise bees. If that is what you do with those stinging, buzzing nuisances…. Do you raise bees? Keep bees? Whatever. And so, my lovejoys experienced that too, yesterday. Beekeeping 101. I will admit, it will be nice to have honey from the farm one day. So Aunt Kat and Uncle Zeek showed the kids the bees and hive and whatever else there was to see. My kids all stood there, wide eyed, with those buzzers buzzing about them. Somewhat nervous, but in no way willing to be a chicken shit, they stood there. We’re happy to report – no stings. And did I say chicken shit?

Chickens! Yesterday was adoption day for 15 various chickies. My kids are totally head over heals in love with those chirpers! These little chicklets were born only yesterday morning and adopted by noon. Sparkle named hers Trixie, LaLa named hers Rose and Zoomie named his Clemens. Pure pure joy in those kids eyes. The wonder and awe of those kids made for a totally perfect day at the farm, for them.

Totally worth roasting like a pig (which by the way, will be arriving next year on the farm) in the sudden summer heat that arrived yesterday. Totally worth the dust and grime floating into my pores. Totally worth giving up yet another day of the weekend. Totally worth me gagging and fighting with all the will I could muster not to puke in the barn when one of those beastly horses pooped right in front of me and the other horse pee’d for what seemed like eternity. I am beyond proud of myself that I managed not to vomit in the haystacks. Yay me. And I kid you not, I was this stinkin’ close to hurlin’.

E-I-E-I- Ooooooooooooooooooo

Not wanting to get into specifics right now, but I am going to start hiding faces.

Cootie Will Kill You

2010-05-21T11:34:00.000-04:00

Remember this game?

"You've got Cooties! Aren't they cute?

Kooky and colorful-what a hoot!

Start with a body, a head, and a hat.

Lickin' lips, antennae, twirly tongue...look at that!

Hundreds of ways to build 'em. They're never the same.

Finish your Cootie first- and you win the game."

What the heck is the deal with a game about lice? However, I'm sure we all had this game and I do believe it is still on the shelves of toy stores everywhere! Anyway....

My fabulously creative sculptor son walked off of the bus yesterday with this:

Looks a little similar, no? I thought, "Oh how cute, my 9 year old still makes cutesie tootsie art projects at school. He's still my cute, little man..." I asked him a few questions regarding Cootie, watched him fiddle with it a bit and soon made a shocking discovery....

That pool noodle Cootie wannabe is in fact, a gun. A cannon, a missile launcher, a death machine! The nose is a triple missile launcher. What??? Cutie Cootie is a killing machine.

Here is a picture of the backside:

Out the arse shoots more missiles and bullets and who knows what else.

Give a boy ANYTHING at all and it becomes a gun.

Momma is not happy about this.

Threading Thru Thursday ~ A Project Complete!

2010-05-20T08:14:00.002-04:00

Remember this? That one hour skirt ended up taking me roughly 14,628 hours. Well guess what? I finished the skirt!!! Here it is!

I liked it so much that I started another one! Yay me! Hopefully this one will only take me 7,314 hours!

UPDATE: This one only took 1 day. :)

Funkity Funky Pissy Assed

2010-05-19T09:17:00.000-04:00

Can’t I get a break? I have a sore throat and since strep is running wild around these parts of town, I’m totally paranoid that I have it. But I don’t want to go to dr. or clinic. But I should. But I won’t. I’m sick…..again.
Wondering if the sun will ever shine again…

Debating going grocery shopping or just starving my family to death. I hate grocery shopping like I hate cleaning up kid puke. Or any puke for that matter. Triple hate grocery shopping.

Want to lay on the couch and watch talk shows and soap opera’s all day. Just because.

I’m funkity funky pissy assed today. See you tomorrow.

Life Just Gets in the Way of My Creative Process

2010-05-18T10:42:00.000-04:00

When I started this blog up, I had hoped to write more than once a week. How hard could it be? I have tons of time; my kids are in school full time. What exactly is my problem?

Well, life seems to just take over. I’m not one for getting up extra early in the mornings. I used to be that person, but now? Not so much. So writing in the wee hours of the morning isn’t happening. I get up at the God awful hour of 6 freakin o’clock, get somewhat ready for my day, head downstairs, pour myself a cup of coffee and check facebook, emails, blogs, CNN and Rosie. Yes, Rosie. Before you know it, my coffee is lukewarm and it’s 7am and the lovebugs are up. Sparkle promptly starts to aggravate the ever loving shit out of all of us. From 7:10ish until 7:50ish, Zoomie and Sparkle proceed to fight, battle and brawl and then they fight some more. LaLa is busily doing damage control, trying to help Sparkle survive and I just pray. Pray pray pray and if I was the “pray the beads” type of gal, I would. But I pray and beg dear sweet Jesus to rain down His grace on Sparkle and just make her shut her mouth. SHUT IT. Have to say, Jesus seems to ignore me most mornings. So, needless to say, there’s an hour I’m not writing.

From 8:00ish until 9:00ish, I am getting the girls ready for and to school and asking Sparkle to find socks, shoes, hairclips and to brush her teeth. I ask this a mere 13,498 times in that span of time and guess what? With 5 minutes until "walk out the door time", we are STILL looking for socks and shoes and hairclips, all which are right under her cute little button nose. Oh and by the way, she hates her hair, hates her shoes, hates her socks and most importantly, hates me. And? Off to school they go and wouldn’t you know it? No writing in that hour either.

Then I run. I run my jiggly ass off while watching The Today Show. Do you have any idea at all just how boring running on a treadmill is while watching Al Roker? It is beyond boring. It is on the level of watching paint dry, water boil and grass grow. But I run those jiggly parts and take shower #2. Guess what? Yep, no writing.

So we are roughly at 10:00ish and now it’s time to clean the house, grocery shop, run errands, show up at a school volunteer thingy, fold laundry, put laundry away, clean kitchen, sweep floors, knit, read a magazine, read a chapter, eat, snack, eat, do the dishes, empty the dishwasher, pick up countless “child crap”, watch The View or Ellen, pee, stare outside, daydream a bit and then wouldn’t you know it? Another day done and no writing accomplished. The kids arrive home and I become chauffeur/mom/referee/judge/maid/cranky lady that always says “no”. That’s me.

Why can’t I find the time to write? I enjoy it. I want to do it. I need an office, a space, a job. Anyone? I need to get paid to write. Oh universe, DISCOVER ME AND PAY ME. Thanks much.

Strangling the Bagger Dude at the Grocery Store, Post It Style

2010-05-11T13:02:00.000-04:00

A Homemade Mother's Day

2010-05-10T13:34:00.000-04:00

I was sick all of last week. Super sick, remember? Turns out, I'm just fine, my fabulous doctor confirmed so this morning. Sidenote: Do you watch Modern Family? My doctor speaks EXACTLY, no joke, like Sofía Vergara (Gloria) on that show. Only my doctor is way more conservative, but equally as amusing! Anyway – I was sick and now I’m not.

And that arduous, pukey journey thru last week landed my ass right smack on top of Sunday, Mother’s Day. All I asked for was a homemade Mother’s Day. There were no gifts that I wanted, nothing. I simply wanted the kids to make me cards, write me poems, make me breakfast and for the love of all that is holy, JUST NOT FIGHT FOR ONE SINGLE MINUTE OF THE ENTIRE DAY. And do you know what? Unbeknownst to me, Zoomie had already been working on a book of poetry for me. LaLa had been pressing flowers into a most beloved treasure - a bookmark and Sparkle designed four beautiful note cards, that which I will never use. I shall frame them. And the cards…no store bought cards here, oh no….

From Zoomie: “Happy Mothers Day! I hope you have a good day, better then some of the other days you have had. (sorry) I love you. Lots of Love, Zoomie” (and his last initial, you know, in case I was confused).

From LaLa: “It is Mothers day so I would like you to press the button bellow. It means you’re the best mom in the world. [I “press” the button and open the card]. It also means you have to pay me 100 dollars. I’m supriesed you woold press that button. It’s to late now but thank you.” Ha!

From Sparkle: “To a special mom from a special kid. Dear Mom, you do so much for me so I just want to say thaink you and happy mother’s Day. One big flower for you!”

How pure and simple and lovely. And they didn’t fight all day! Best. Gift. EVER!!!!

Sick. Sick. Sickety. Sick.

2010-05-05T14:04:00.000-04:00

So people, I’ve been ~~ailing~~ sick. Sick, sick, sickety, sick. Oh my good Gawd, was I sick. I don’t get sick much¸ a cold here and there, but I plow on through. I mean really, moms don’t get sick days. And if you are a mom that gets a sick day, um, do share how that is your reality. Thanks much.

Anyway, once in a very long while, I get sick. Sick to the point I can’t in any way, shape, or form, take care of my kids. And that, dear lovejoys, is how I woke up on Sunday. Could. Not. Move. A glorious, rainy, neon spring day and I was nauseous, spinning, aching and oh yeah, puking. JOY! I cannot adequately express to you the joy I felt as a grown woman, puking all afternoon. There simply are no words. None. Zip. And thank God for that. The nausea was crippling, I dared not move. Laying on my back or stomach was just asking for it. The headache? Oh my. Not one single pillow was soft enough. Not one! And we have, oh I don't know, at least 10? My mind was a jumbled mess of, “Are these f’ing bags of boulders?” and “Who f’ing bought these f’ing pillows?” Oh, that was me, in all my pissed off NY glory. Never mind. Because the pain, was easily that which would take down the most seasoned soldier. Ok, I exaggerate. Whatever. The nausea. Did we cover that? Because it was THAT BAD!

And then it all sort of subsided by evening and I managed to watch a movie, The Reader. More on that later. Holy Moley, more on that later.

I went to bed, woke up Monday, somewhat queasy and Ox Man took the kids to school. But then I perked up and thought, “Well, gee, that was a ginormous waste of a Sunday, glad this has passed, bring on dinner, thank you very much.” Big, big, HUGE mistake. To bed I went and another round of nausea, vomit, headache and spinniness ensued. Really universe? Here were my thoughts, not exactly in this order.

“I’m dying, this is it.”
“What the frig is going on?”
“I have cancer of ____ (fill in the blank)”
“I’m dying.”
“Must be kidney failure.”
“Maybe my gallbladder exploded”
“I’m certainly at death’s door now.” And...
“Seriously? I don’t have time for this nonsense!”

So where are we now? Oh, Tuesday and I am now 4 pounds lighter, still nauseous and unable to function. Ox stays home, takes on caring for kids, getting them to school, house stuff, oh, and his regular job. Poor guy. And then this morning, I feel better. Oh wait, no I don’t. I have an excruciating back ache. So I went and did something completely out of character for me, I mean, floored my husband and all. I made a doctors appt for tomorrow. I’m sure she is going to say I have roughly 2 weeks to live. In which case, I need to clean this house up, plan the girls birthday party (for September) and um, oh I don’t know, pierce my nose or something.

The Reader: Holy German School Boys, wow. Great movie and I simply cannot imagine what the costume budget was, possibly there wasn’t a budget? I read this book a good 10 years ago or more. Read it when Oprah was singing its praises. Loved it then but had forgotten ~~most~~ all of it. Great, great movie. Love Ms. Winslet.

Anyway – going to hobble around and get the house ready for my imminent death.

Threading Thru Thursday ~ I Have No Idea What Number!!

2010-04-29T11:09:00.000-04:00

People! Oh my gosh!!! I'm crazy today. You know when you ONLY have coffee, a whole freakin' lot of coffee and you get that crazy jumpy sicky feeling? That's me. Right now. MANIC. Oh my God, Oh my God. I've already done two loads of laundry, vacuumed all the stinkin' floors, did a class project with Sparkle, got all three lovebugs to school, emptied the dishwasher, loaded the dishwasher, and, wait for it.......... sewed two birthday gifts up for two cutie pie's that I thought I had another week to do but Holy shit in Shinola, the party is this weekend!!!!! BREATHE!!!!!!!! I didn't read the invitation carefully enough. The party is Sunday, this Sunday and I thought I had another week! NO, I do NOT!!!! But that isn't even what I want to show you today - I mean, I do - I want to show you the birthday gifts, but the cutie patooties' mom reads this blog and then she'll see them and then no surprise and well - oh my gosh, I need to BREATHE. I'm out of breath from typing!!!!! I have used a years worth of exclamation marks. Punctuation police be damned. I am cuh-RAZ-YYYYYYYYYYYYY today!!!! But what I want to ~~bitch about~~ show you is this skirt I am making.

See, I've wanted to make a skirt for awhile. I found the perfect pattern - LAST YEAR. Great first step, no?? But then recently, fabulous knitty friend dug around in her crafty magazine stash and found this:

This picture in a magazine from TWO YEARS ago!! It's the exact skirt from the pattern that I bought ONE YEAR ago. Meant to be right??? Wait, it gets better!!!!! I found that fabric, that exact fabric!!! So now it's really meant to be right??? Right! Except for this:

Do you SEEEEEEEEEEEEE what it says there? That big red "1"??? ONE HOUR!!! People!!! I am on day 3!!! I haven't even started sewing yet - just cutting, pinning, reading and crying. No, really. One hour for who??? This is what I have thus far:

HELP!!!!

Why?

2010-04-27T09:24:00.000-04:00

Can it really be a week already since I wrote? I’ve been slacking – no inspiration really.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about people. What is everyone’s story? Why are you doing what you are doing? Why are you driving at this time? Why are you at the park? Why are you on the highway, headed South? Headed North? Why? Why are you not at work? At work late? Did you just lose your job? What is everyone’s story? Why are you smiling? Why do you look sad? Why are you biting your nails? Crying? Laughing? Why did you just raise you hand in an exasperated gesture? Who are you waving to? Why did you pull over? Why are you walking? Running? Why?

I think about people’s stories as I see them drive by me, when I’m at a red light. I’ve been obsessive with trying to look at people’s faces, create stories for them. Did you just get good news? Did you just learn something devastating? About yourself? A family member? Did your partner just leave you? Did you get a diagnosis? Are you on your way to comfort someone? Do you need something? Is today your first day of work? Did someone just die? Did someone just have a baby? Did you plan to propose later in the evening? Are you enlisting? Dropping out? Being promoted? Quitting? Are you worried? Depressed? Ecstatic? Content? Blooming? What is your story? Are you a survivor? A dad? A mom? Are you guilty? Are you anonymous?

This has been intriguing me to no end lately.

And then, at church this weekend, the theme was to unplug and hear God speak to you. How plugged in are you, how much “noise” is around you, that you can’t hear what God has to say to you – He is speaking and you can’t hear Him. He won’t shout, He will be patient – He will wait for you to hear Him. Unplug. Listen. Quiet. A whisper. A nudge. And sometimes, maybe He wants to get His message to you through others. Unplug and engage. So I did this weekend. I unplugged and will continue to unplug each weekend. No facebook, no email, no internet, no blackberry, nothing. I want it to be quiet. I want to miss out on the “noise” and non important nonsense. I want more “real” time. I want more authenticity. I want to hear….

So, what’s your story? Why? And, are you able to hear?

Peace…

Post It Notes & Dead Grandpa

2010-04-20T09:33:00.000-04:00

I wanted to write more. I wanted a better post. But I've got nothing.

Threading Thru Thursday ~ 10

2010-04-15T08:22:00.001-04:00

Birthday gift from fabulous knitty girlfriend... I am so excited, she is going to teach me how to knit socks. I have been a bit terrified of this concept for awhile. Also, been quite jealous of all those that can knit socks. Fabulous and wearable ones!!! So, we shall see!!!

And I'm sorry that I'm not very good at posting pictures of finished projects. Could be I have no finished projects!!! I'm antsy and have to always start something new and then I abandon it. Is there a support group for such behaviour? Why did I just spell that with a "u"? No clue.

And...sorry there was no wind update yesterday. That's what happens when the "wind" blows as much pollen as would cover the Sahara, into Zoomie's eyes. He ended up staying home with me.

Be good y'all! Oh and hey - lookie over there --------> Follow me! Thanks! I'll follow you! You know, bloggie friends and all. Mwah!

There Is a Fire Imbalance in My Mind

2010-04-13T10:28:00.000-04:00

So a few weeks ago, I took a little quizlette on a yoga site and answered many questions and it came back with the result that I was wind or Vata. I was shocked. I never thought of myself as such. I certainly thought I was more a “fire” type gal. Maybe I took the quiz too fast; maybe I was distracted when I took it, not sure. Yes, there are some characteristics of wind that seemed to be me but, really? Wind? So I took the quiz again. And guess what? I’m still wind. REALLY??? I’ll discuss this in tomorrow’s post. Do come back. I am still thinking I am fire.

And then I took a “balance quiz”. My result was that I was “experiencing a fire imbalance of the mind.” Intriguing so let’s discuss shall we?

Fire imbalance in my mind? What does that mean? Well…straight from the site…

• Moderation is the key to cooling your fire. Practice moderation for 3 weeks. Do not take on any new projects. Say no to the next 5 tasks that come your way.

Don’t take on new projects? I’m addicted to taking on new projects. I start start start them but NEVER finish them. Say no to the next 5? What defines a “task”? Don’t make dinner? Don’t grocery shop? Don’t volunteer at the kids school? Help, what exactly is a task?

• Reassess your routine.

This is pretty set in stone during the school year. I’ll try though.

• Take time to wind down after you complete any activity. Just sit still for 5 minutes and close your eyes and breathe or sit outside and just relax.

I’ve been trying to do this. I’ve been sitting outside, just trying to breathe, hear new sounds, pray, etc. I do gain some peace from this but then, hell breaks loose somewhere and I hear a whiney kid (usually mine) and the stress level skyrockets and I’m all tense again and edgy and I suppose my mind is on fire again.

• Eat your meals and drive in silence.

But I have 3 kids!!! There is no such thing as a silent car ride or a silent dinner table!!! In fact, the car is when Sparkle gets all chatty and questionny.

• Enjoy nature. Just sit in the shade and relax.

Believe me, I try, really, I do.

• Surround yourself with cooling colors such as blues, greens and whites.

I did! I redecorated this past year and it is all blues and creams…Whew, did something right!!!

• Give up intense physical activity and prefer gentle walks and yoga

OK!!! If you say so!

• Meditation is key to balancing the Fire in your mind.

Need to work on this…I don’t even know where to start.

• Start a journal practice.

That’s why I am keeping a blog, sort of. I like to write and it helps me to be able to vent and write things down…

• Surround yourself with soothing scents of lavender, sandalwood and rose.

Not sure of the “rose” scents but as I type this, I have a little vase of lavender wafting towards me and sandalwood is all over our home….. Every single candle is sandalwood. Yay me!

Avoid...

• People who make you tense or have high activity

Ha! I try! Really, I do. Not so easy! Those types are EVERYWHERE!

• Telephone, TV, stimulating music and discussions

I do hate the phone. TV? Only in the evenings, I will actively work to cut that down. Stimulating music? Please define. Stimulating discussions? But, I like those discussions!!!

• Crowds

Yeah, don’t like crowds much. This will be easy peasy for me.

• Sun and heat

No problem! I faint in heat so…show me the way to the shade.

• Artificial stimulants

Really? Does wine count? Darn. Wait, wine isn't a stimulant, it's a depressant. Oh thank Gawd!

• Strenuous physical activity

I thought we already agreed on this, no problem!

Threading Thru Thursday ~ Interrupted!

2010-04-08T10:33:00.000-04:00

We interrupt Threading Thru Thursday to do some linkiness. The truth of the matter is, I have a lot of projects in various stages of “doneness” in the “project basket”. I’ve told you about them but I just haven’t finished them. Sooo… I am taking a break to do some linky dinky doo...

So, this linkity link is brought to you by Mommywood – go visit her! Her random number this week was 7. I decided to go to my latest file of pictures and the above picture was #7.

Pretty, no?

This picture was taken by my husband on Saturday, the day before Easter, at his mother’s house. The Ox loves to fiddle around with our camera and this is what he came up with. Yes, the sky was that blue that day – it was a beautiful day here in Ohio. I spent a lot of the day parked outside, on the porch, staring out, enjoying some quiet. Away from the squawking and scurrying of the little sugared up lovebugs inside. Away from the crotchetiness that was my mother in law. Just happy to be outside in the sun. Happy to be warm again (the winter is just too cold). Happy to see spring’s goodness, blooming. Just happy to be so.

38 Thoughts, Ruminations and Blessings in Celebration of my Life

2010-04-06T10:14:00.002-04:00

I am thankful for my perfect and wonderful husband -

who loves me, no matter how difficult and challenging I am.

My children, Zoomie, Sparkle and LaLa ~

sweet and perfect and growing and discovering.

Little neon green baby budlings on gray and sleepy trees ~ new beginnings...

My grandmother’s knitting needles that seem to work magic for me.

The ladies in my life…rays of sunshine on rainy days.

The innocence of Sparkle… Her pure love and her desperate need for me.

That Zoomie blows kisses to me every morning before he steps onto the bus,

mouthing the words "I love you". He is love.

That LaLa thinks I am the most perfect mother in the world…

An Adirondack chair on the porch, a cup of tea and a good read on a
spring afternoon, all while the sun warms my shoulders,
ridding my body of winter's chill.

That there is genuine goodness in this world…

The smell of blooming spring flowers,
stringing their scents thru my windows…

I am thankful for all in this world that makes me realize I am NOT crazy…

The fortunes that I have – family, good health, a home and love.

As I type ~ the hyacinth and forsythia from our blooming spring gardens,

drinking from a small glass pitcher on my kitchen table.

Coffee – I am most certainly thankful for it. More importantly,

I am thankful that the Ox has it hot and waiting for me when I wake up. Love.

Smelling the first fresh cut grass of the season.

Contentment...

The windows open, the fresh air percolating,
and the birdies singing a song of spring.

An evening of thoughts and wine and love…

Small wonders that affirm the goodness of our world and our God.

Thankful, so thankful for other’s talents that I enjoy, selfishly.

That my parents are alive and well
and did a pretty ok job raising me, considering….

Daydreams…

Affirmations…

Memories…

Thankful that I got to 25?

Oh so thankful for tweezers. Really. I am. You are too. Just sayin’.

Holding hands, big and small, leading the way, being led…

Faith and trust – so precious, so vital…

All those who love my children, who shape them,

who value the little souls of love and life that they are…

Freedom and passion…

When music is your oxygen -

Tiny fingers creating melodies on a piano, melting a mother’s heart…

A faithful, self-sacrificing, honest, hardworking, moral, and loving husband.

That my husband is single handedly creating the man my son will be.

That my husband will read chapter after chapter to Sparkle and LaLa

all while they give daddy a “makeover”. Secure.

Peace

Love

What are you thankful for?

A New Year...

2010-04-02T12:26:00.001-04:00

The face of 38.
Cheers to me...
Wishing myself a year
of
beauty, grace and fortune.

Threading Thru Thursday ~ 9

2010-04-01T00:57:00.011-04:00

A knitalong! Yes!!! I am knitting this cardigan with my fabulous knitting girlfriend. Man, she can knit! Her sweaters actually fit her in the end and I think it's because she follows the directions. Huh. I should try that. Anyway - I think there may have been the tiniest, tinsiest bit o' pity on me because my finished sweaters are never wearable and she invited me to knit with her and hopefully I too will have a wearable ~~in public~~ garment!!!!!

Here it is thus far, with fresh lavender and periwinkle from the blooming spring gardens....

Lovely Locks

2010-03-31T03:34:00.010-04:00

Before:

After:

There are definite moments when my Sparkle does shine...

Post It Note Tuesday

2010-03-30T07:50:00.000-04:00

In Which I Have No Title Because I Don't Feel Like Thinking Of One

2010-03-29T16:50:00.000-04:00

So on this freezing cold first day of spring break, I have:

Gotten the kids passport photo's taken but won't answer their questions as to where we are going and when. I am letting them think I am shipping them out of the country. They aren't sure if they should smile or cry. I'm mean. Whatever. Let’s face it, it is waaaay more fun to let them “wonder” about their fate than to just outright tell them. I like seeing them squirm. And hey, I’ve been doing this parenting thing for nearly 10 years now and there is no way on God’s bloomin’ Earth that I am going to tell them our vacation plans until we are packed and walking out the door. I refuse to be badgered and needled to death for the next 4 months.

I renewed my license (on time!) and hello??? Ohio License Bureau sure is thorough. I answered the same questions no less than 3 times each. My goodness. I think that this is the first time ever that my license picture hair color is actually natural - no dye whatsoever!! Yay me?

Spent an entire ~~painful~~ hour in a 5x5 room with three kids, a sick cat and a dorky vet. Libby Dibby Do is still sick and $180 later, guess what? Still no answers. And, we get the added bonus of another appointment tomorrow. Is it bad that the vet bribes your children with reading material, specifically on heartworm, and tells them there will be a quiz at the end of the appointment and a possible prize? It’s bad isn’t it?

And, hey, let’s all be thankful, very thankful, that I sleep with a guy that is fab-u-lous with web design and hence blog design because this current design? Suckaroo’s. Me so not likey and every time I find a new design, I end up messing up my blog and losing stuff and well…enough of me doing it alone! Time to bring on the Ox.

Friday Randomness

2010-03-26T07:21:00.002-04:00

• It’s March 26 and it snowed last night. Snow swirling about my daffodils. I wore flips yesterday but today, there is snow on the ground. I will not be defeated! I will continue to wear my flips in the snow today! Ok, fine, foolish and I probably won’t because I’m a wimp and I’m not terribly fond of cold, numb and in my case, blue feet. But I will raise a fist and curse Mother Nature. Why Lady??? Why?

• I took a quiz on a yoga site yesterday. Turns out I’m “wind”. I always thought I was “fire”. Even when the results came back I thought, “Wrong-O! Silly site, they couldn’t even figure out that I am fire.” Then I read the results more clearly and well, grumble, I am wind. I am WIND!! To a tee! Is that the right use of “tee”? Me not know. More on wind in another post.

• I am supposed to be in LaLa’s class today. She is just so excited that I will be there because she loves me so. Except, I won’t be there. Zoomie just came downstairs and pointed to his throat and well, guess where we are going??? And since Sparkle has been sick all week and I have been ignoring it (did you forget I am always striving for Mother of the Year?), guess who else isn’t going to school??? All but LaLa are going to the pediatrician today. Which is okey dokey, fine with me because those of you that know me – pediatrician is fabulous eye candy for momma. But LaLa is going to be so sad.

• And my kids are sick because????????? I’ll tell you why. Probably has a wee bit to do with the neighbors having strep but the REAL reason is because 12 years ago this weekend, I married the Ox and we ~~have~~ had reservations to go out tonight for an all you can eat crab leg dinner AND we ~~have~~ had a sitter and THAT is why my kids are sick. No other reason. Nope. It’s because 10 years ago, when Zoomie was born, we signed this ridiculous clause in our marriage contract that said something along the lines of “from this day forward you will have NO life and all plans you ever think you will have will get screwed.” Or something like that.

• Remember this? Still no invite but her daughter has invited us and it seems I am bringing an appetizer and a side dish to the family holiday get together at my mother in laws that we weren’t invited to by my mother in law but rather, by my sister in law. Who, has already started popping valium and drinking heavily and Easter is still a week or so away. Uh huh. It’s going to be fun.

• I am waiting for my yarn to arrive in the mail. Yarn, where are you???? I need you!

• I am praying for my friend. You should too. She is worth the prayers and she needs the prayers.

Happy weekend y’all.

Threading Thru Thursday ~ 8

2010-03-25T11:58:00.000-04:00

A project beginning, one of many. I need a really super good pattern, knit or crochet, for a LARGE bag to make out of this....

Anyway...

Chad Stickies

2010-03-23T09:17:00.000-04:00

Jesus, Chips and Pop

2010-03-22T14:04:00.001-04:00

Our church is pretty casual. They give away free coffee every week for us to enjoy ~~wake up with~~ during service. There are cup holders. It’s a lovely experience. The Ox and I have been sitting in the same spot for years. In fact, sat in those very seats on Sunday. However, it was the worst service I have ever sat thru. Oh my goodness, was this a test of my self control. There was a mom and daughter behind us that talked, ate and drank during the entire service. The child sat with a large bag of chips between her legs and a can of soda in the cup holder and chomped, slurped and crinkled the entire 65 minutes! The crinkling and the crackling and the slurping nearly sent me over the flippin’ edge!!! I am a woman of minimal patience on a good day and something this rude really frays ALL of my nerves and let us not forget, I was in church. I couldn’t exactly turn around and bitch out the mother, though I did casually turn and glance at them hoping some message would be conveyed. Nope. Had I opened my mouth, I’m sure not very nice words would have come flying out like projectile you know what. I probably would have started with something along the lines of how distracting and rude they were being. I may have then pointed out that I had missed the prayer at the beginning of service which would have then lead me to wonder out loud why anyone would bother to go to the super early Sunday service if you are just going to talk thru the prayers? Really? It's an 8:30 service!!!! Who's awake enough anyway to be all talky and coherent? I may have then gotten fairly unchurchlike and more bitchlike and pointed out how the little girl needed soda and chips on a Sunday morning about as much as I needed more yarn for knitting! I don’t and she didn’t. In fact, I may have actually called this woman out on her parenting skills, right there, in front of Jesus and all that was holy and just point blank asked her if she really, really, super really thought her daughter needed chips and soda AT ALL? I may then have answered for her (I'm helpful like that) and said something along the lines of “No she freakin’ does NOT and that is why she is FAT!!! I am a strong believer that soda is for special occasions, not church. I think a child should have a proper breakfast, not a bag of chips. I’m funny like that. Maybe I stand alone. I stand proudly.

I’m all about verbal smack downs. However, in the privacy of my own head. I walked away and said nothing. Typical.

*Note - I do NOT use the word "pop" to denote carbonated beverages of ANY kind. I strongly oppose the use of the word "pop". I'm a "soda" kind of gal. When speaking/writing, that is. I'm not a soda drinking kind of gal at all. Bad for you and all that jazz. However, truth be told, you can find me sneaking a Red Bull here and there. Anyway, the word "pop" just sort of, kinda worked for the title. :)

Threading Thru Thursday ~ 7

2010-03-18T09:12:00.000-04:00

Did some shopping yesterday, looking for fabric to make a skirt. Found some in this fabulous fabric shop but....want to make a skirt first with ~~crappy~~ less expensive fabric first. However, in a bargain bin, I found this scrap of fabric. 98 cents!!! I am going to cut out a 12 inch square, figure I can get at least two, wrap around something sturdy, and voila! Wall hangings for LaLa's room. :) Yay! I triple love designing on a dime. Or 9 dimes.

They are a bit of a wrinkly mess right now. Hopefully I can get these done today. Check back - I'll post pictures!!!

Something New - Trash Talking with Post It's

2010-03-16T09:27:00.006-04:00

- Post it Note Tuesday -
(Gosh I wish I had better fonts!!!)

Shall we begin?

Wow, that was fun. :)

Sparkle, Mud and Momma

2010-03-12T14:13:00.004-05:00

Oh the love I have for my kids and the things I sign up for. Apparenty, I lose all control of my hand when I see a sign up sheet for class trips and parties. I agree to chaperone everything and be everywhere. What is wrong with me? Seriously, who doesn’t love trekking thru mud and scat? Yes, I said "scat". It's a lovely word that is being said all too much this week in my house thanks to LaLa going on this field trip prior to Sparkle and I going today. And no, I did not sign up to chaperone LaLa's trip to the farm because I ~~lost my mind and~~ signed up for a longer bus ride of a trip with her - to the museum! Yay me! Anyway, I went field tripping today with Sparkle, which sounds waaaaay more fun than it really was. Don’t get me wrong, I had a lovely morning frolicking in the mud with a flock of 7 year olds, but doesn’t field tripping sound way more groovy and fun? No? And don’t we all wish we could use the word “groovy” more often in our daily lives? Still no? Whatever.

And so we went to a “farm” and learned all about recycling and dirt and soil and worms and walnuts and composting and MUD! Oh my living Lord, the mud. And wouldn’t you know it, momma paid attention and actually learned something. Who knew you could only recycle objects with “1’s” and “2’s” on them? I did not know that!!! And I thought I was being so green!

After our little recycling lesson, we were off to hike the fekkin’ muddy woods. I was prepared though with my little fashion statement boots. Can you believe one poor little soul was sent on this field trip in crocs? Seriously, we were ankle deep in mud at times. His momma must have been smokin’ crack when she dressed him for school, maybe she was doing her own little “field tripping”. Oh the ~~groovy~~ muddy mess!!!

So – here is Sparkle and I - pre bus ride. Not sure what her problem was or what my hair's problem was. See? I sign up for these trips to make my kids happy, to show the love and this is what I get!

[Edited: I took the picture of me and Sparkle out b/c well, just because. Weird reasons - ]

lovely mud, good times!!!

Sparkle

Fungus!

See? Told you I was stylin' in the mud.

good times, good times....

Threading Thru Thursday ~ 6

2010-03-11T08:16:00.003-05:00

LaLa has been wanting us to redo her room. We were ok with it as long as we didn't have to repaint her walls. Her walls, as you can see, are a lovely shade of pink with sparkles mixed in. I am in no hurry to change that - I love her room color. But she wanted to add some apple green to the mix. She also wanted more room to dance about. So - we painted the back of her closet, we moved her dresser into the closet, took down the closet doors, added those lovely curtains (easy peasy, zip zip zip with the straight stitch) and I made the curtains as well. Those green flowers are actually little hair clips that I clipped to the point of the curtain. Voila - room makeover!

So I am doing this linky mclinky thing and I've never done it before and I learned of this one from SupahMommy which sent me on over to Mommywood and if I understand it correctly, and I probably don't, I was to pick the 16th picture from my file but since my files are neatly organized (remember? I'm a fabulous organizer), I picked the 16th file and then the 16th picture and holy heck, here I am. And wouldn't you know it? The 16th picture in the 16th file happens to be a crafty moment from last summer where I made a ~~bazillion~~ bunch of these banners for various people ~~that I liked~~. So there it is! I did it. Now hopefully I can linky dinky doo to wherever I'm supposed to! Wish me luck!

Our Vet Thinks He's A Funny Man

2010-03-10T12:00:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I lamented how bummed I was and after writing that post my day took a turn for the crazier. Maybe not crazy but I did spend the better part of the rest of the day saying, “Really????” Let’s start with taking the cat (referred to as Needy One – but frankly, that’s too much to type so I am going to call her Libby) to the vet. We had suspected a bladder issue, but weren’t sure. She was pretty much camping out at her litter box as well as finding some relief in a plant and well, if there is one thing my husband is completely intolerant of, it’s animals that pee where they ain’t supposed to! I mean, jeez louise, I don’t really see any problem with cat pee everywhere but where it should be. My husband, so darn demanding. So he made an appointment right quick for Libby Dibby Do.

Off to the vet she and I went and when the vet examined her, she passed a bloody little clot. Holy heck – the poor thing – I mean, we knew something was wrong, but jeez, that’s just ouchy! So, after some thinking on the vets part and examining, he determined it was idiopathic cystitis. Oh, but he also mentioned he detected some heart abnormality too. Could be because of the cystitis, or, the cystitis is a symptom of the heart problem. He tends to think it’s the heart problem first and then cystitis. Really? Really really?? Wonderful! Why aren’t pets covered under health insurance? Maybe Obama should consider adding that to his Health Care Plan. Anyway, back to Libby Dibby Do. Just as the vet was checking her out and while she was being an angel cat (I mean really, can you imagine you going to the doctor, passing a clot and still being on your best behavior while getting poked and prodded?), the vet up and went crazy comedian on me and said something so funny that I nearly pee’d my pants. Not really but that crazy vet man suggested we brush her teeth. What? Dude! I have three kids and getting them to brush their teeth once a day (we shoot for twice) is a nightmare of epic globby princess toothpaste proportions! And you want us to brush the cat’s teeth too? The look on my face clearly expressed to him just how funny he wasn’t and he quickly added, “You know, in your free time.” That’s right buddy, momma here doesn’t have free time and when she does, you can bet your bippy it is not going to be spent shoving a toothbrush down a cat’s throat because she has tartar build up! Oh no no. Nice try.

So, $150 later, two different pills and a very newly hydrated cat (she was rockin’ the camel look), we headed home.

And hey, remember that lasagna I made? Slaved over? I made that lasagna because we had a very busy evening of kid activities planned and me being the stupendous wife/mother that I am, wanted to make sure all her lovies had a home cooked meal. And I totally knew that I would not be home in time to pop it in the oven for a measly 25 minutes, but I did know dear husband would be home to do said oven popping and I let him know what was expected of him and well guess what? He did not get home in time (some crazy nonsense about running errands and returning toilet seats) and when I walked in the door, dinner was not ready and momma got angry (who’s surprised?) and yelling ensued and dinner eventually cooked and seriously, that’s what I get for trying to be all prepared and what not. My husband has ZERO time management skills!!! Tonight’s dinner? Leftover lasagna, momma ain’t cooking today.

In Which I Start Nearly Every Sentence With "and"

2010-03-09T11:34:00.002-05:00

Some thoughts running thru my already cluttered and confused mind these past days...

I am getting more and more annoyed with “those people”, the ones that think they are all important and the world might fall off its axis if it weren’t for them. I mean really? How important is anyone?

I am also highly aggravated lately at “those people” that expect common courtesies but NEVER extend them in the other direction. NEVER!!! And then, whoa baby, when they realize that the “courtesy” was withheld from them, they are all stunned and hurt and what have you. It’s a two way street pecker heads!!!!! 2 way!!! Ever hear of “treat people the way you would like to be treated?” Clearly not!

And I am equally stunned on a daily basis by “those people” who are all smart and scholarly and degreed but have not one ounce of common sense. None, nada, zip.

And I am clearly in a bummed out mood because three families I know are moving from the area, count them, 3!!!! And I’m bummed bummed bummed and I really don’t give a rat’s ass that I keep starting sentences with “and”.

And all this tells me is that life is moving on – days go by, lives change, people come, people go and what have we learned? What did I learn from these people? Well, really, from 2 of the families, quite a bit, more than I have the energy to get into right now. From the third family? Not so much and I feel jipped because darn it, that friendship was just starting and we were clicking and it was working and well, gone, poof and I’m sad. Oh so sad. And and and. Yes, I know. I am using that word all too much and well, I just don’t give a ding dong dang.

And I am dealing with something that I am truly handing up to God, I've been muttering around the house for days, "God's will be done..." and really? Lord knows, I'm trying but I feel if I give God some background info, he may change his will to be aligned with my will. Like he doesn't have all the facts and info that he needs. Ha! But really, I am pretty darned sure we are on the same wavelength and our wills will match. But then what if they don't? Grumble grumble grumble. "God's will be done...."

However, it is another beautiful day and I otherwise feel great. Just sad. Dinner is made, a fabulous homemade lasagna because I freakin’ rock like that.

Peace and venting,

Luvily

2010-03-05T17:28:00.001-05:00

Happy Friday!

Threading Thru Thursday ~ 5

2010-03-04T00:30:00.005-05:00

I've been fiddling around with some stitch combo's to create new purses. I really like this new stitch I found, worked over 5 stitches. Purl 1, skip 2, knit 3rd stitch on left needle, knit first skipped stitch, knit second skipped stitch, slide all 3 off, purl 1. It looks so sloppy until the next row when you knit the knits and purl the purls - lovely! Oh and those needles above? They were my grandmothers from easily 40 or 50+ years ago. Does that make them vintage - I like to say they are. ;) She died 24 years ago and I've had her needles. I hope I can someday knit as fabulously as she did.

The orange is a bit on the, shall we say, orange side? But I love orange and Sparkle chose it. It's our school colors too - so that's fun!

The ivory colored swatch with the above mentioned stitch is a little narrower than the other purse swatches I've been knitting. I'm thinking it will be a nice gift maybe for my nieces? The little preteens that they are! Thread a pretty robin's egg blue ribbon or cotton candy pink ribbon thru the cables. I'm also thinking of sewing real pretty beads somewhere on the purse. I love me some beads!!! I'll post finished pictures.

Here is a purse I made for myself - I really like this stitch combo -

My Life - The Musical

2010-03-03T10:58:00.000-05:00

I was at my daughters’ school musical last night. [Side note: multiple daughters, where does the dang apostrophe go?] The first graders were singing and performing little skits and dancey moves. Cute. Eh. Whatever. I sat in the second row, like the fantabulous mommy I am, camera in hand. My daughter LaLa was on the right of the stage and my daughter Sparkle was more left of center. Of course they couldn’t be near each other. And of course, there was a, shall we say, a portly young lad in front of my Sparkle for all of the show, which made picture taking darned near impossible. Thanks chubby. The musical went on, it was totally delightful, really, it was. However, I am not the type of parent that tears up when she sees her children performing. I know it meant a lot to my girls, LaLa in particular, and I’ll always be at everything they are ever involved with, but it was just not… I don’t even know the word. Eh. That being said…

I spent most of the 25 minute show thinking. Originally, I was sitting there thinking about how nice it would be to be out to dinner with the Ox, rather than being squished into a gymnasium under those horrific lights watching a bunch of nose picking, wedgie pulling 7 year olds. And I thought, how on Earth has this become my life? I don’t say that in a bad way, I happily know EXACTLY how this became my life – but there are way more fun things to be doing then sitting on folding chairs, right smack next to a bubble machine and sadly behind Joe “Plumber Crack” Shmoe. But then I thought, oh my Gawd, in 20 years, I am going to think back on this day and miss these moments and that is exactly when I’ll cry. I’ve had that thought before, but this time, I really was feeling it. Someday, the Ox and I will sit over dinner and talk about this musical, and how cute the girls were. Sparkle with her mile long piggy tails and LaLa with her hat and sequiny bow tie, they were so proud of themselves. I guess every parent has that moment when they realize that these musicals and sporting events and art shows and open houses are just fleeting. Someday I’ll be begging my lovelies to come over for lunch or dinner or just to stop by ~~on their way home from therapy caused by my stellar parenting~~ and say hi to me. Begging them, I’m sure. Maybe not. Who knows.

I do know these are the days of my life right now. Filled with crazy, filled with obligations, filled with boring, filled with listening until you can’t listen anymore, filled with errands, filled with lost shoes and math homework, filled with hugs, filled with homemade cards, filled with cupcakes, filled with football tosses, filled with ponytails, filled with scraped knees, filled with toothpaste globs in the sink, filled with hurt feelings, filled with tears, filled with smiles, filled with parenting – good and mostly bad, and filled with love. Filled most certainly and overflowingly, with love.

My Love Affair with March

2010-03-01T11:39:00.001-05:00

It’s a beautiful blissful day!!! Indeed it is! Never mind that Sparkle woke up with the rage and venom of a gadzillion pissed off vipers. Never mind that she screamed at me to get her breakfast instantly upon her waking up. Never mind that she demanded that breakfast to be yogurt, fresh strawberries and granola (only one of which I have in this house and fresh strawberries? Really?). Never mind that when I informed her that she must have clearly forgotten who she was dealing with and that I am a slacker mom that had NOT gone grocery shopping, she shrieked at me. Never mind that the ensuing screaming was piercing and irrational and crazy enough to cause the rest of us to giggle (I know – bad parenting, whatever) which then made poor Sparkle even angrier and louder. And then the mother of all insults came hurtling out of her precious little angel lips. She “HAAAAAAAAAAAATEEEEEEEEEED me” and I was “soooooooooo MEAN!” To which I responded, “Yes, but dear, Momma hasn’t had one caffeinated drip of ~~sanity~~ coffee yet and it is only 7:30 in the ~~freakin’~~ morning and while I’m sorry I’m giggling, smiling and whistling, it’s about all I can do to keep me from losing my ~~shit~~ patience.” To which she responded “Can I have a poptart, mommy?” Ah but NEVERMIND!!!! Because like I said, it’s a beautifantabulous day! And what I really want to talk about is……..

MARCH IS HERE!! Oh good God in Heaven, that horrible, wicked February slithered away last night and the lovely and good March arrived!!! Oh March how I love you!!!!

March, remember how well we get along??? I am so delighted and giddy that you came back!!! I just love the daffodils and tulips you sprout for me and I "heart" the nicer weather and warmer temps you smuggle in. I love that you symbolize love for me, so much so, I married my husband during your reign. I love that the days get longer and lovelier under your watch. I love that my beloved trees will bud in greens so brilliant and that I will witness them bursting and blooming their way into my core, renewing me, bringing hope. Oh dear March, you smell fantastic, your perfume fills the air, eau du spring – the most delicious scent there is. I await the morning you unleash the singing birds so that they may trickle past my windows, chirping a song of spring and joy. Oh March, you inspire me and you are finally here!!!! I am so happy and thankful you are here! Welcome!

Sunday Reflections...

2010-02-28T11:18:00.007-05:00

I saw this little Post It note idea on various blogs I've read this past week and I liked it. However, I wanted to do something different with it. What I've decided I will do is reflect on the message at church that morning, write down some points that stuck with me that I'd like to think about during the week. I think this method will keep the thoughts fresh for me (because frankly, I have no long term memory and once I leave church I forget EVERYTHING that was said and yes, one day for me can be considered "long term") and maybe they'll give you something to think about too. Let's try it, shall we?

Threading thru Thursday ~ 4

2010-02-25T02:00:00.029-05:00

Tranquility

A good read, a candle scented with friendship, quietude that comes with the men of the house enjoying a camping trip and projects on needles. Peace. I've been working on these two designs this week - something new for me - I'm enjoying the creativity and the math involved. I’ve learned that in order for it to be a “keeper” of a pattern, it needs to be easily memorized and move along quickly. And pretty, pretty, pretty.

Finished and spoken for.

Yo Big Fat Momma!

2010-02-23T09:57:00.000-05:00

Hey!!!!! Guess what? Since New Year's I've lost 4 pounds! This is huge for me!!! ~~Killing my self~~ running on the treadmill and less snacking, ~~not really~~, and maybe just maybe I'll get to my goal weight! My big super huge goal is to lose 14 more pounds. I think that is never going to happen thanks to having 3 ~~parasites~~ babies, 2 at once, thank you very much. But I will be happy with losing 9 more pounds. Holy crappers - if I could just get rid of this baby belly! Yeah, that's what I still call it even though it's been, ahem, almost 8 years. Yippee - happy day!

Peace in poundage,

Luvily

Life is Bigger, It's Bigger Than You

2010-02-22T09:56:00.000-05:00

Church yesterday was fab-u-lous, starting with the opening song being Free Bird (don’t we all enjoy a little Lynyrd Skynyrd at church?) and the pastor wearing a Harley Davidson shirt. Two weeks ago, he rode a Harley onto the stage! Awesome! Yesterday’s message was about Freedom, total freedom. “Total freedom means living completely fearlessly, passionately and joyfully – regardless of your circumstances, not because of them.” Interesting.

The message was long and involved and I don’t entirely feel the need to get into it but what did stand out yesterday, for me at least, was a comment made by our uber hip pastor. He said something along the lines (I forget the direct quote, heck it was 8:30 in the morning!!) of being free from “Religion”. Oh my living Lord, that is what I’ve been saying for years now!!! Religion being defined yesterday in MY church by MY pastor (not yours so don’t get all huffy puffy) as being “told to do something to get something.” Take it how you want.

Now, as my little bio says, I am an ex-Catholic and in fairness to me and this blog, if I rip on Catholicism, I feel I’ve earned the right as I have lived that life and “freely” chose to leave that life. It’s not a religion I pulled out of a hat and chose to pick on – it is a religion I “was”, a religion my husband “was”, a religion we are still surrounded by. So I feel I have the right to run my mouth. But I’m not going to because I don’t want hate mail, and really, my thoughts are a jumbled mess and I’d really rather have the time to sort them out into a coherent post. Another day.

Anyway, during service, I thought of the song, “Losing My Religion” – REM. The part in which it said “Losing my religion, trying to keep up with you, and I don’t think I can do it.” That’s because you can’t. You can’t keep up – God doesn’t want you to, he wants you to be free! He didn’t want you in bondage. You are free to be you! Wow, this sounds a little sugary but the point is…You are perfectly (fearfully) and wonderfully made by him!! (Psalm 139:1-18) You don’t need to keep up with anyone, you are you! Perfect, wonderful, beautiful and free. How unbelievably hard to remember that on a daily basis. Who doesn’t wake up thinking negative thoughts about themselves, the “if only’s”, the “what if’s”, etc. I think we all fail to some degree with that. But what a beautiful message to impart on my children each day – “God made you, you are the way you are supposed to be, you are beautiful to God, and wonderful, and free!! You don’t need to compare yourself to anyone or try to keep up with anyone!!!” Amen, Hallelujah! And to think, I'm not the churchy, preachy type. Eh, whatever.

So I left church, thinking, pondering and wondering how I can be better at this free thing. Not easy. Suggestions?

Peace and freedom,

Luvily

Crash

2010-02-20T12:11:00.000-05:00

That deafening crash you just heard? The Earth shaking you just felt? No earthquake - no, no, it was all our shelves in the basement pancaking on one another and shattering to the ground!!!!!! Holy Messes!!!!!!!!!

Threading on Thursday - 3

2010-02-18T11:07:00.000-05:00

LaLa asked me to teach her to knit. She is AMAZING!!!! She is so determined and is already dreaming of making purses and sweaters and scarves, oh my!!!! I learned to knit when I was 30 something. She is 7!!! I'm so proud of her!! Those blue nails are hers, clicking their magic on those hot pink needles. Of course she would choose pink needles!!! LaLa is going to do great things in this world - I ♥ her!!!

Snowbirds

2010-02-18T10:57:00.000-05:00

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.

~Chinese Proverb

The Ox has been feeling the need to bond lately, with the kids... his idea (and really, what a sweet one it was) was to build a bird house for the kids, with the kids. It went swimmingly - he has the patience of a saint. Now, we do live in a bit of a wilderness and have many challenges posed to us in the form of deer, raccoons, squirrels, and God only knows what else..... Bird houses NEVER work in our yard. Those pesky little animals take all the fun out of "bird houses" for my kids. Well, I am happy to report that we have figured it out....The Ox found a place to hang our beautiful bird chalet so that we can all enjoy the view, the birds get to eat in this snowy winter and the cat (Needy One) has bird TV all day, every day!

Threading on Thursday - 2

2010-02-18T10:55:00.002-05:00

On needles....

Our Snowmen Have Boobies and Our Kids Learn Bad Words

2010-02-18T10:50:00.001-05:00

Home for 2 days now – snow, but not a catastrophic amount. We aren’t talking East Coast snow here, we are talking maybe 8 inches – spread over a few days. Ah but that’s plenty o’ plenty to induce panic in these here parts. Oh my living Lord – the panic! The mad dash to the grocery store to buy ALL the bread and milk. The continuous eagle eye on the tv – what does the latest Doppler say? What is a Doppler? And the instantaneous school closings. Really? Why? I can drive in this – why can’t you? You can’t? Fine, I’ll spot you that you can’t drive in it but why oh friggin’ why can’t the town get these roads cleared in a timely manner? It wasn’t a blizzard people!!! It’s winter, it will snow, get used to it!

They don’t get used to it. Schools close and I have the kids home and I have become wicked wise to this now. Oh so wise. Knowing that school would close, even with a trace of the slippery, white stuff, off to the library I went. I don’t clear the grocery store out of food, no, I clear the library out of videos. God forbid my kids have unscheduled time during a snow day. Oh no no. Unscheduled time results in 3 fighting ninja kids, gobs of tears and one screaming momma. They are going to plant their boney butts in front of that tv and watch a movie – and they will like it. And they did. Fits of giggles and smiley happy faces. Momma like the movie? Not so much!

We watched “What About Bob” yesterday (snow day 1 for those playing along at home). You remember…the year was 1991, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. The movie is rated PG and momma is good to go. We settled in with our blankies and pillows and then…“the scene”. The scene I didn’t quite remember – the scene with “pretend Tourettes”. Remember? Do ya? Do ya? Let’s refresh the memory, shall we? And I quote Bill Murray’s character explaining the involuntary shouting of profanity, “Sh*t-eating son-of-a-b*tch! Bastard, douche-bag, t*at, numb-nuts, dickhead, B*TCH!” Nice right? Mother of the Year – that’s me!!! My kids still getting an education even when school is closed – yippee!!! Now, it goes without saying, I had NEVER EVER heard those words before! Even in all my years living as a New Yorker, I had never heard such appalling words so.....I washed my mouth out with soap. As well as all three kids - just to um, I don't know, repent or something. I questioned the PG rating, however, we survived and Zoomie didn’t call his sisters “douche-bag” at all yesterday, so – no harm done. Ha. I anticipate the school calling me next week…

And - the snowchic above has boobies - yes she does. Don't ask - I just don't know....
Peace & Profanity,
Luvily

Threading On Thursday - 1

2010-02-18T10:45:00.000-05:00

A purse for the nurse. :) A birthday gift for my sister who doesn't yet read this blog.

Spitting Clouds

2010-02-18T10:44:00.003-05:00

“Good Morning Sunshine!” That’s what I read this morning on someone’s facebook status. Well how lovely – how sunny – considering it’s gray and dreary and cold here. The cantankerous Midwestern clouds are spitting snow at me daring me to be grouchy. I don’t think so! I’m on a roll! I’m happy, happy, HAPPY!

Why? For starters, the kids are in school. That’s always a good thing considering how nasty the mornings can be. Sparkle has a wicked temper and always chooses to share it with all of us, how gracious of her! Fun for all! Secondly, I chose NOT to exercise today, the scale is still my friend! Loving that number on the scale lately! Thirdly, I just finished grocery shopping and was able to leave the store for under $100, thank you very much. And lastly, I have an idea. A big BIG idea. And I’m going to tell you about it.

I am going to write a book. Yes indeedy I am. The idea hit me last night after reading a Writer’s Magazine. I figured out my market and now I have to do my research. I’m a little worried about that (wearing the worry hat), I would hate to find out someone had this fantastic idea already, and gasp, had success with it! But it is such a darned good idea – I just have to do it. If I can’t find a publisher, I suppose I’ll publish that bad boy by myself and hawk it everywhere – in my town that is. And after that you ask? Check it off the bucket list. Or, enjoy wildfire success and go on book tours! Or not. Whatever. It’s just such a magnificent idea.

That’s all I have this Wednesday – snow spitting clouds and a book idea.

Peace and coffee, Luvily

Getting to Know Me!

2010-02-18T10:42:00.000-05:00

Hello world! Here I am - I used to blog, a different blog altogether - but I'm back with this one, LUVILY - why? to sort thru the chaos that is my daily life. So a little about me, not that you asked.

I am a busy mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister, an auntie, a Godmother, a granddaughter, a friend, a bitch, a neighbor, a knitter, a writer, a bad singer, a miserable daughter in law, a fantastic organizer, a sometimes exerciser, a maid (domestic Goddess? not quite), a so so cook, a New Yorker at heart, a struggling midwesterner, a soccer mom, a karate mom, a music lover, an ex Catholic, a worrier, a Democrat in a Republican city/town/neighborhood and a person that hates to talk on the phone. The list goes on, for sure.

My "mom hat" is probably my biggest, most beautiful hat - yet I don't want this to be just another mommy blog. There are fabulous mom blogs out there, but this blog is going to be about me - and allllll about me! ME ME ME!!! It's what I know BEST!!! My kids are already potty trained - there will be no potty posts. I already know they are picky, pathetic eaters - I'll ask for no advice on that. This blog will be about ME - my thoughts, my opinions, my views, my dreams, my gripes, my life.

Back to being mom...I have 3 kids, one boy, two girls. The boy will be referred to as "Zoomie". One daughter will be referred to as "Sparkle" in appreciation of her fantabulously sparkly blue eyes. My other daughter will be referred to as "LaLa" just because. We have one pet - a stray we adopted, ahem, that adopted us and her name is a somewhat political name, somewhat silly, but we'll just call her "The Needy One". And oh Lordy is she needy. Annoyingly so.

Wife hat - married for what would be equal to the square root of 144 years, I have an amazing husband. What shall we refer to him as? The Ox. I don't know why. Yes I do. A friend once referred to him as such. Good? Bad? Not quite sure, but I tease him to this day about it. He is so not an ox. At least in my eyes. I think huge, muscles, big and brutish when I think of an ox. Not my husband. But then he does have incredible, enviable inner strength and outer strength. He is my guy - I adore him, I sit in awe of him - the strongest man you will ever meet. He rawks!!!

And on and on. I'm sure the other hats will make themselves visible throughout this blog. I just want to be able to share - to write - to witness my life in print. There are days I look for the hidden camera and wonder who is taking notes on my life. Well, I want to be the one recording the craziness of my days.

And so, time to put on the Domestic Goddess Tiara and start laundry, dinner, errands and hopefully have time to knit a little. Working on a cable knit purse - a gift. Finished a sweater yesterday - interested? Wanna see? I'll have to find my camera and take a picture.

Peace,
Luvily