Brothers Forever

I've been having a few technology issues (not entirely resolved, but better) which have made it difficult to get pictures & layouts uploaded and posted.  But while things are at least temporarily in working order, I wanted to do a quick post about some super folks I got to see with on one of my recent trips. 

Ever since I began dating Dave & was blessed enough to have John & Liz come into my life, I have been regaled with tales of the adventures (and sometimes mis-adventures) of them and their beloved friends from their college days in Arkansas.  Through these many years, I've come to vicariously know some of the most amazing, brilliant, charming, and colorful group of folks you could ever imagine - and when I was finally able to meet them in real life last fall, I was definitely NOT disappointed!  Every single one of them is just as delightful as I was led to believe, and I was so happy to get to go back to Henderson last month to spend more time with them. At one of the get-togethers honoring Jimmy Chaffin (the most recent of their crew to be honored as one of Henderson's Distinguished Alumni),  I was able to snap a few pictures . . . here's one I turned into a scrapbook page:

Thank you, John & Liz, for staying in touch with your old pals for the past 60+ years and for so generously sharing them with the rest of us!!  xoxoxo

Long Time, No See . . .

WOW! It's been so long since I've had a chance to post here, some of you may think I've given it up altogether . . . not so!  I've just been plain ol' too busy - no complaints, certainly, as I've been having fun mostly . . . traveling for the most part, with a little bit of work thrown in just to keep me honest :-)  In any case, I just wanted to say "hi" and promise to be more regular about posting once I can actually stay home for more than a couple of days at a time. Headed out in a bit for the last trip for a while, and then I should actually have time to get some scrapping done (NADA in two whole months!!) and a few other things besides just entertaining myself.

Meanwhile, I have a couple of things I wanted to share today.  First of all, eventhough it's past Mother's Day, I loved this piece that Janneepoo was kind enough to share and wanted to pass it along for all my favorite moms out there:

By Anna Quindlen, Newsweek Columnist and Author

All my babies are gone now. I say this not in sorrow, but in disbelief. 

I take great satisfaction in what I have today: three almost-adults, two taller than I am, one closing in fast. Three people who read the same books I do and have learned not to be afraid of disagreeing with me in their opinion of them, who sometimes tell vulgar jokes that make me laugh until I choke and cry, who need razor blades and shower gel and privacy, who want to keep their doors closed more than I like.

Who, miraculously, go to the bathroom, zip up their jackets and move food from plate to mouth all by themselves.

Like the trick soap I bought for the bathroom with a rubber ducky at its center, the baby is buried deep within each, barely discernible except through the unreliable haze of the past.

Everything in all the books I once poured over is finished for me now. Penelope Leach, T. Berry Brazelton, Dr. Spock. The ones on sibling rivalry and sleeping through the night and early-childhood education - all grown obsolete. Along with Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are, they are battered, spotted, well used. But I suspect that if you flipped the pages dust would rise like memories. What those books taught me, finally, and what the women on the playground taught me, and the well-meaning relations - what they taught me, was that they couldn't really teach me very much at all.

Raising children is presented at first as a true-false test, then becomes multiple choice, until finally, far along, you realize that it is an endless essay.

No one knows anything. One child responds well to positive reinforcement, another can be managed only with a stern voice and a timeout. One child is toilet trained at 3, his sibling at 2.

When my first child was born, parents were told to put baby to bed on his belly so that he would not choke on his own spit-up. By the time my last arrived, babies were put down on their backs because of research on sudden infant death syndrome. To a new parent, this ever-shifting certainty is terrifying, and then soothing.

Eventually you must learn to trust yourself.  Eventually the research will follow. I remember 15 years ago poring over one of Dr. Brazelton's wonderful books on child development, in which he describes three different sorts of infants: average, quiet, and active. I was looking for a sub-quiet codicil for an 18-month old who did not walk. Was there something wrong with his fat little legs? Was there something wrong with his tiny little mind? Was he developmentally delayed, physically challenged? Was I insane? Last year he went to China. Next year he goes to college. He can talk just fine. He can walk, too.

Every part of raising children is humbling. Believe me, mistakes were made. They have all been enshrined in the 'Remember-When-Mom-Did' Hall of Fame. The outbursts, the temper tantrums, the bad language - mine, not theirs. The times the baby fell off the bed. The times I arrived late for preschool pickup. The nightmare sleepover. The horrible summer camp. The day when the youngest came barreling out of the classroom with a 98 on her geography test, and I responded, 'What did you get wrong?' (She insisted I include that here.) The time I ordered food at the McDonald's drive-through speaker and then drove away without picking it up from the window. (They all insisted I include that.) I did not allow them to watch the Simpsons for the first two seasons. What was I thinking?

But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them, sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.

Even today I'm not sure what worked and what didn't, what was me and what was simply life. When they were very small, I suppose I thought someday they would become who they were because of what I'd done. Now I suspect they simply grew into their true selves because they demanded in a thousand ways that I back off and let them be. The books said to be relaxed and I was often tense, matter-of-fact and I was sometimes over t he top. And look how it all turned out. I wound up with the three people I like best in the world, who have done more than anyone to excavate my essential humanity. That's what the books never told me. I was bound and determined to learn from the experts.

It just took me a while to figure out who the experts were. 

On a completely different note, the following video was posted by a friend on Facebook (thanks, Fred P) & I loved it so much that I also wanted to share it.  As someone who despises grocery shopping - partly because of those damned narrow aisles that give me claustrophobia, this really put things into perspective for me.  Next time I feel the urge to complain, I'm going to envision shopping here  . . . enjoy!

http://www.wimp.com/vegetablemarket/#

A Trip and Some Birthdays . . .

Much as I was disappointed last month when Jann, Mary & I weren't able to get together for our visit, I'm just as excited that I'm about to head out to SoCal for a visit with my sweet seester and her peeps.  Since she & I (with some help from Papa John and Auntie Bing, no doubt) will be attempting to supervise Marek while Stephen & Mel are away, I most likely won't be able to do any blogging.

But there are lots of celebrations taking place while I'm blog-less, so I decided to do a post today lest anyone think I forgot about them!  And since I've done ZERO scrapping in so long, I decided to at least make a little greeting for everyone . . . using elements from Aprilisa Designs "Age to Perfection" kit (available at Gotta Pixel).

Actually, one event is before I leave - in fact, it's TODAY!   Hope you're having a wonderful day, Sue, and that you & David & Jana (plus whoever else wanders by) don't party toooo hard.  Love you bunches, and hope to see you soon!! Here's to you and to all the others who will be celebrating in my absence (including this ol' blog, which turns one year old next week!) . . .

It Definitely Takes All Kinds . . .

LOL! Well, here I go again - no posts forever & then multiples in one day. But I just ran across something else in Pinterest that I couldn't resist sharing. For anyone who doesn't fully understand the irony of this newspaper clipping, you might want to check out this post from last year:

I don't think I want to even TRY to imagine her attire!!

Manda Pandas

Yikes, I just realized it's been nearly two weeks since I posted anything on the ol' blog . . . but I just haven't had anything worth talking about (that I was allowed to discuss.)  I haven't done any scrapping, so I don't have any layouts to post.  Dave & I haven't made any remarkable progress on the kitchen, so that topic's out.  Just pretty much nuttin', honey!

But have run across a couple of items the last few days that I thought you might get a kick out of . . . all relating to the lovely Amanda.  I found all of these images on Pinterest (which is web-based pin board essentially . . . eye candy & such for inspiration, and a place where I frequently spend more time than I should).  I have several boards there myself, one of which is called "Manda Pandas", and I'm always looking for Panda-ish stuff to pin there.

Came across this first one today, and while I haven't been able to determine exactly what it is, I'm pretty sure it's some sort of food - sushi maybe, or more likely bento.  Anyway, I think they're about as cute as can be but am not sure I'd be able to bring myself to bite into a PANDA of all things!

I also thought these Panda cupcakes were pretty doggone cute:

Okay, now this isn't an edible item, but I still think it's pretty cool - if slightly bizarre:

(yep, those are lips decorated like Pandas!)

Finally, nothing about this picture reminds me of Amanda at all - except that it's a Panda, I wouldn't mind giving it a big ol' hug, and I just plain LOVE it!

Head's Up!

To you expectant parents out there (you know who you are, but I'm not gonna be the one to announce it to the whole world!) . . .

Received this picture in an email yesterday - it's several years old, so you may have seen it before - but I hadn't.  I loved it so much that it inspired me to start saving up for gifts . . . not just ones for the new arrivals, but a little something for their older siblings.  See if you can guess what the "big kids" will be getting from Dave & me!!

I'm sure you can't wait for Grand Pee/Auntie Buttons/or whatever it is YOU call me to arrive for my next visit!!

xoxoxo

I Don't Like March 21st!

Eventhough it's traditionally the first day of Spring - and I DO love springtime . . . I've dreaded March 21st for forty years now.  It was a gorgeous Sunday morning (and the first day of Spring) when Momma died so unexpectedly in 1971, leaving a hole in our hearts that will never fully heal.  Even after all these years, I'm inevitably in a sort of funk this time of year & it usually takes me a few days to figure out exactly what's going on.

This year seems to have been extra weird . . . very much like a roller coaster ride, or maybe I'm just being more "sensitive" to things for some reason.  There have been some bright spots . . . Lara's feeling quite a bit better, we're making some good progress on the kitchen, and Dave & I went to a totally delightful party at Paul & Milli's this weekend to celebrate their anniversary. Heck, Amanda even came to visit the other day, and that ALWAYS makes me perk up.  Most of all, though, I've been soooo looking forward to Jann coming to visit today . . . we were planning to go see Mary & crew in Houston and maybe even drop in on Sue for a little visit with her.

But I should have known something was a little extra squirrelly this year when the earth's axis shifted, our sprinklers came on by themselves in the middle of the night (and chose to water only one station), I had a toothache in the place where I had a root canal done 35 years ago, and my hip started aching like I'd been hit with a sledge hammer!

Then, the coup de grace . . . we decided yesterday (that blasted March 21st!) that Jann isn't coming to visit after all! She has some sort of respiratory-sinus-or-some-combination-thereof infection, and Mary & I actually discouraged her from coming. Since it's barely been six months since she was hospitalized with double pneumonia, I'm thinking it wouldn't be wise of her to get on an airplane filled with who-knows-what germs only to spend the next week wearing herself out and ending up sicker than ever. Besides which, Mary begrudgingly admitted that her back was hurting so much that she's been going to physical therapy for a couple of weeks . . . and my hip hurts so much that I'm actually going to make a doctor's appointment!  So, we would have been quite the interesting trio traipsing around Houston like three little old ladies about to keel over any minute . . . AND trying to keep up with a 13 month old baby in the process.  It really is hell getting old, but we'll all rebound soon and will just reschedule the trip for later - we're not THAT old!!

Meanwhile, I haven't scrapped in probably a month & I do believe I need some creative therapy to get myself back on track!  I certainly won't find myself short of motivation . . . besides the monthly portfolio at Sweet Shoppe, Scrapadilly's March crop is in full swing. This month, we're "Scrappin' It Green," and - as usual - Drea has come up with plenty of terrific challenges.  I was disappointed that I was going to miss all the festivities, but it looks like I'll be able to take part after all.  I guess that's the silver lining to this cloud of disappointment I'm standing under right now.

Besides that, it IS spring & the 21st is gone for another year . . . so, my plan is to start fresh - just like the season itself!!