Saturday, December 25, 2010

Tis the Season

May you and yours have a wonderful Christmas. Luke 2 is my favorite passage for the telling of the story of Jesus's birth.

Take a minute to sit back. Ponder where you are with your life. Are you who you wanted to be? Are you where you wanted to be? If not, make those changes this next year. Be a better you. Treat those around you better, too. That's my goal.

Make it count. Every little thing you do each and every day. Make it all count.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Tea with Jane and Bill

Anxiety was thick. "Would he come," thought she? "What if he changed his mind?" Pacing between the large entry way and the small sitting room window of her sister's modest home, Jane couldn't rest until she heard the clammering of the horses coming up the drive. Butterflies turned somersaults in her insides as she ran through the possibilities of such an opportunity. Excited, nervous, scared, happy. Laughing at herself, she wondered if he would revel in her beauty, or treat her as a child. "Where are those horses?" she picked up her pacing.

In the back of the carriage, something called a Phaeton, William couldn't stop tapping his thumb on the edge of the seat. Staring out at the vast countryside, he was not accustomed to chaperones and personal attendants. He was a lone man wanting to get this day concluded. How could he have agreed to such a lowering of himself? What had he assigned himself? What was even more absurd than meeting with a woman of her class, was that she thought herself an equal in the written word. How can a supposed educated woman think herself anywhere near the caliber of stature as he?

To be continued......

Foreshadowing apologies

Okay, I'm going to be honest here and let you all know a secret. (okay, all 4 of you are now sworn to secrecy.)

I am going to be mixing and trying something new. It most likely won't turn out, but I'll try anyway. I'm wondering what would happen if Jane Austen and William Shakespeare collaborated. Or if you could Austenize Shakespeare.

Wish me luck.

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

To do lists

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to not have a hundred things to do? I wonder that every day. Every single blessed day. Usually I have lists of what needs done, bought, followed up on, etc. Sometimes I even make lists of the lists I need to make. That's when I know it's bad.

I also wonder if anyone else completely shuts down when things seem so overwhelming. It's too much. It seems pointless to even try to get things done. Why bother? Well, after watching an episode of Hoarders, let me tell ya, that's motivation all wrapped up in a pretty little "in your face" kind of show without the odors. Forget the lists, I'm going in head first. Trash bags, elbow length rubber gloves, windex and paper towels. Throw in some duct tape and super glue and I'm your girl to get whatever needs done, done.

But wait, I really should make a to do list so I can keep track of where I need to start. Urgh. Here we go again, square one.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Wear Gloves

Simple strategies for a happy life:

*Wear gloves when foofing up the Christmas tree out of the box.

*When you crave chocolate, eat just one piece.

*Enjoy everything you see. No matter what.

*Live everyday as if it's your last. (again, see the previous statement.)

*Smile.

*And look people in the eyes. Directly in the eyes.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Depressed with a cold

Depression is a catch 22. The more down you feel on yourself, the more depressed you feel. The more you pull away from those close to you, the more you think they are pulling away from you. This is my life right now. The more things that pile up for me to complete, the more overrun I feel.
Now, add on top of that a cold. What started as a simple winter cold is really wreaking havoc on my psychie. Just when I was starting to get a feel for getting things under control in our house, a cold has me back to square one.

Well, back to making lists and decongestants and the lovely neti pot.

Thursday, November 25, 2010

Mixed up crazy feelings of thankfulness

Waking up on Christmas morning to snow is a dream I have EVERY year. To wake up on Thanksgiving to 2 more inches of snow on top of 3 inches we already had is, well, sort of a scary happy dream. It is lovely dream to see those little specs of angelic love fall from the Heavens. But it's a not so pleasant dream when you have places to go and people to see and have been cooped up in your house for 2-3 straight days. *breathe*
The forecast says snow turning to rain. Well, they can't say they're not accurate when that rain is frozen, right? I'll believe the "rain" when I see the "rain." *sigh*
We decided to stay at home again. AGAIN. Because something in my gut says to stay put. That maternal Midwestern weenie in me says to stay close to home because past experience and fond memories (terrors, emotional scars, whatever you want to call it) remind me that 4-5 inches of frozen snow mixed with rain and borderline freezing temps is a mixture for bad, bad things.
I hope the forecasters are right and that this all melts and is gone instantly. However, the proof is in the pudding. DRAT!! I forgot, I have green bean casserole in the oven and a cherry pie burning.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! May your pie be tasty, your turkey be moist. May the roads be clear and passable. And your arse free from a hoist. *wink wink* (sorry, couldn't come up with something to rhyme with moist.)

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Clean and Pristine


I can not even convey my love for snow in a simple blog. The clean, white, bright look of everything that has been draped with frozen specs of love just makes my heart smile. What makes my heart beam is trying to capture it with my camera.
Too many snowflakes to capture, and not enough Gigs to hold it all. The smiles on my children's faces are priceless. One is happy to go in, and the other is happy to stay in it forever.
We're not even thinking about what it will look like in a few days when it's all melted and has that lovely brown muddy tint. But for today, we're going to enjoy every last morsel of it's cool and beautiful charm!

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Little White Specs of Frozen Love

Yep. You guessed it. Snow.

It's Nov 21, 2010 and there are little angelic kisses of love drifting down from the Heavens. Some would think that this is the worst thing possible. But in our house, it's the best thing to happen since, well, ever.
The weather reports were all starting to say the same thing. "The snow will hit south of Olympia, the mountains, and the peninsula." Leaving us in the "no snow" area. Yes, I will say I was disappointed. And just as I laid my head down last night, my last thoughts were, "Oh well, maybe next time."
However, at 8:20 this morning, I was awoken to shrilly little girly screams of excitement. JOYOUS excitement. ECSTATIC excitement. THRILLED beyond belief excitement. Yep, you guessed it. It was snowing. I was then being shaken by said child and forced from my nice warm snuggy bed. Okay, it didn't take MUCH force. We were jumping up and down and more excited than well, let's just say, we were really excited! The snow wasn't the big fluffly kind. More of the "get your microscope out" kind.
One child asked if we could have Christmas today. Then quickly changed her mind and asked if we could start decorating for Christmas. The other child seemed apathetic about the whole thing and was happy to play in it, but was the first one in and back in her jammies. Smart kid. It's cold out there.
About an hour later, it's a snow globe kind of snow and after playing in it and capturing the first snowtoshoot of the season, we're back inside playing, reading, watching tv, making chili, and of course, drinking some hot chocolate. Yeah. I love winter. The kids get out of the house, breathe some fresh air, and all is peaceful.
See, little angelic frozen kisses of love. Thank Heavens!

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Wordless

When words can't come out,
When they hide from your grasp,
When nothing you do works,
Just let the fingers roll.
Let your thoughts fly.
Grab what you can.
Don't let them pass you by.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Oreo


Our fearless dog. He's just ready for action. Ready for adventure. Ready for a nap.

Over-bored

What do you do when you have a TON of things you could do, and absolutely no ambition to do any of it? That's what is perplexing the kids today....and me.

We could visit several museums, go swimming at the YMCA, go see a movie (I want to see Megamind,) or build some forts in the house. So, what are the girls doing, you ask? Yep. Playing their DSi's. Yeah. Ambition. It mooooooves you.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

Feud - short story 1.0

"Ouch!" Amanda fumed. She was not pleased that Jett was within 20 feet of her, much less holding her hand and helping to pull a possibly poisonous thorn from her palm. As soon as he was finished, she pushed him back and glared. There was so much anger and betrayal in her eyes. How could he have hurt her so carelessly and then saved her life without a second thought? Men were terribly hard to understand. Especially this one.

Amanda and Jett were much closer than most realized. Most thought they had dated in high school or once they were in the military. No, they went back farther than that. To their mother's womb. Twins. Actually, there were triplets, but they hadn't heard from their brother, Kyle in almost 10 years. All three had entered The Forces when they were 18. Fresh from secondary school. The last they had heard from him, was in a very brief letter.

Dearest Family,
It is with fond regards that I must inform you of my departure from you. I can not have any contact with you and the choices you've made. Know that I will always remember you and think of you daily. Please do not try to find me or contact me in any way. As of this moment, I will not exist as your brother or son anymore.
Sincerely, K


Any other family would have gone out right away and tried to find him. But they knew better. Their father had been one of the highest ranking officials with The Forces. And their mother had secrets they didn't even want to think about. How could they have even thought to have normal regular everyday jobs with a pedigree as theirs? Hopefully, Kyle had been smart and stayed out of the public eye. Maybe he was just a normal garbage man, or worked on an assembly line somewhere. Undetected. Unknown. Maybe he had a wife and child now? One could only hope so.

Snapping back to reality, Jett walked slowly back to Amanda. All of their history filling the air made it almost insufferably claustrophobic. Where did he come from so fast? He must be on their side. And why was he bleeding? How did she not see that before? Jett walked up to Amanda holding out one hand. And before she knew it, she had taken his hand. And then the biggest brotherly hug imaginable. Years of pent up anger, hostility, frustration, confusion, and loneliness came in the form of a big hug that only a brother can give.

The snap of a tree branch made them freeze. All emotion vanished and their inbred instincts were on high alert. Slowly taking a step back from each other they scanned the little meadow they were in to find they were completely surrounded. At gun point.

And then Amanda smiled leaving Jett completely confused.


To Be Continued......

Monday, November 8, 2010

Hai ku 2.0

Clutter is piling
Much needs to be organized
Where are the trash bags?

Mondays

It seems every week, Monday shows up. You don't even have to send an evite for it to show up. It's just always there. Some weeks, it brings you sunshine and relaxation, and others you just dread what it has in store. This week, a 3 day school week, it's a mixed bag of peanuts.

The good stuff: Since we got an extra hour of "life" this weekend, the kids got a little bit more sleep last night and woke up in MUCH better moods. Made their own breakfasts AND their own lunches. Awesome kids! *high fiving air*

NOT so good: Have to cram 5 days worth of house work and projects into 3. (counting volunteering and appts we'll make it 3 half days.)

I guess we could take Thursday and do some stuff in the house, but wonder if the kids are all for cleaning out closets and the garage. Or we could do something even more fun like EMP. Decisions, Decisions. Clean vs Play. Hmmm... Yeah. I'll let them decide.

Until then, I'll have to deal with today. Work day. Get my bootay up and clean something day. Yep. Like the song goes "Just another manic Monday."

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Word.

Word. How I loathe/love you. What could I do to make you pull words from my fingers that won't form in my head. Connect with me. Connect to my fingertips and make them sing with tap tap tap on the letters. No backspaces. No deletes. Just pure bliss in seeing the white vastness fill with my every thought and dream.

Okay, if that won't work, can you at least make my fingers get the vacuum to zoom?

Going back in Time

Oh, how I love Sundays. Mostly. NFL is on. Kids are in jammies. Nothing major pressing.

And then there's this Sunday. And changing clocks. Growing up in Indiana, we were so conservative, we didn't even change our clocks. Seriously. But then, I moved to Washington State. And we change clocks here. I could try to explain why I think the clocks change. I don't even know why we still change them. It does give the kids more sunlight in the morning on their way to school. I get that. I really do. Except now, it's going to be dark on our way home from school, and for the rest of the evening. Urgh.

Yes, you've all heard this before. And thanks for letting me vent. I'm going to take a nap. All this change is making me sleepy.

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Hai ku 1.0

Sunshine, keep it up
Warm me with your glow above
Where's my sunglasses?

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

If we lived like fish.

Yes, I think I might have Adult ADHD... my mind is constantly wondering and wandering on random things. Here is a list of some of the random questions and thoughts I've been pondering lately:

What would it be like if we had to eat like fish do in an aquarium? Where the food is just floating down all around us? Just open your mouth and *chomp.*

What's the highest a dust pile has ever been in someone's home?

How many licks does it ~really~ take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll pop? And why did they NOT play that commercial this year for Halloween candy?

Is it me, or would you pay BIG money to be put on a "do not contact" list for political solicitation? And that money would go to whatever charity you deem appropriate.

Why is men's underwear more expensive than women's? We don't see men parading around in their skivvies on tv like women do. I want to see some Calvin Klein skivvy commercials! And during NFL games.

Whoever invented M&M's was a genius. (not really a question, but a very amazing observation.)

Does anyone really use the black carbon paper insert paper thingys anymore?

How many drops of water really ARE in the ocean?

Did I see Santa driving down I5 today on a Harley? Shouldn't he be working some OT at the North Pole?

Would we be able to survive if everything electronic (Yes, Everything) just stopped working?

If Atlantis really did exist, and really was extremely far more intelligent than we will ever be, why didn't they leave some kind of proof behind. The Egyptians did. Even ancient Asian and Mexican and South American civilizations did.

I think the Mayan Calendar runs out in 2012 because the people who were making the calendar figured there wouldn't be anyone around to see that time anyway, so they just stopped. Either that or they got bored. Or tired. Or ran out of the magic "spirit" medicinals they were using.

I think there HAS to be a use for baby drool. Scientists should analyze this stuff and figure out if we can use it for energy or a cure for some disease. It's in mass quantities where ever you go. And it's completely renewable.

If I had a magic power, it would be to send thoughts/messages to my children from anywhere and at anytime.

I would love to live in my 6 year old's head for one day. What a magical world that would be.

What would it feel like to drive 200 mph?


There are more, but they get a bit, uhm, odd. Hopefully I'm not alone in some of these questions. That reminds me, I need to go feed the fish.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Be gentle with me, I'm new at this.

So today is important for many reasons. Yes, it's election day. And the country is spewing red. From coast to coast, voters are bleading, wait, bleeding, (is that right) red. Either way, if you want change, well, guess what? You're going to get change. Must say though, change is about all I have in my purse right now.

And speaking of my purse, another reason why today is so important, is that my children, we'll call them Orange and Apple, decided that my purse is where a bottomless bank vault resides. Yes, I know it seems like the City Dump of Mary Poppins bags, but seriously? If I would have EVER treated my mom's purse the way my children did today, I would be typing with 4 digits.

Lastly, today is epic. More than any Election day or crazy children happenings, I started writing again. I swore up and down I would NEVER do that blog thing. How "yesterday" could you get? But I figure this is my way of getting the bugs and cobwebs out (that reminds me) of my creative brain and working up to that ever loving "novel" that everyone dreams of writing one day. You know, that story that just keeps coming up in your head and you keep dreaming about scenes and parts from it and know that you just have to publish the book and then have 5 or 6 big screen movies made from it and then you can have that bottomless bank vault in a Mary Poppins bag all at your fingertips. You know, THAT story. THAT book. THAT dream. Well, mine is just going to have to start with a blog. Good thing I still have my digits, for now. Hope I don't start biting my nails and end up with a red stump... See, there's more red for ya.