Experiencing History, my version of it at least

Yesterday I watched a recap of the Royal Wedding of Prince William to commoner Catherine Middleton.  I have never been a girly-girl in the tulle skirt sense of the word, but I have been known to dream that something or someone famous will take me away from it all and sweep me off my feet in happiness.  So, I am the kind that would watch the re-cap by Barbara Walters at 9pm instead of getting up at 4am to watch it live.

As an aside, I have been swept off my feet by DadOfAllTrades and brought to a castle for happily ever after.  He is a prince and I am his princess.  He treats me like royalty because he truly feels I am special.  As far as I am thinking, this is better than marrying into a family that could afford a $34 mill wedding in that I do not have photographers following me around and I have my own palace with those that I love.  I still have to do my own house cleaning, though.  (and squeeze my own toothpaste- Barbara Walters said last night that Prince Charles has a servant who must fill his toothbrush for him.  How ridiculous.  Royalty will never know how the other half lives.) 

My thoughts on this special occasion:

Cate, oops-Catherine, looked so poised.  No deer-in-the-headlights, as a fellow crafty gal said.  She did not slip up or look especially nervous in front of 3 billion people.  Take that number in-3,000,000,000.  That is how many people were believed to live stream or view on TV.  Prince William has been living with that his whole life.  But not Catherine.  She was a normal kid without cameras following her around and now she is on the covers of magazines.  Wow-that would be a lot to take.  But is seems like she is taking it all in stride and acting normal.  Props to her.

William looked giddy in love.  He appeared genuinely stricken with the sight of her (and she looked better than a body should-wow) and even was able to tell her at the alter how great she looked.  That is so cool.  Much different feeling that his parents wedding 30 years ago.  Young love…ahh.

I think I should be remiss if I did not point out how she “won the lottery” so to speak.   I mean, driving away from your wedding in an Aston Martin convertible?  That sweet ride is worth over $150 G.  And she got to wear a huge amount of diamonds, a heavy weight of a ring, and a gorgeous dress designed just for her.  The price tag of this wedding is beyond comprehension.  I do believe she will never have to worry about the house payment ever again.

Enough pettiness.  Congratulations to them and many happy years together.  Now go make some little princes or princesses for us to oogle.

Pottery Painting

Over Spring Break (yes, it is capitalized because it is a cherished time of the school year) we did next to nothing.  The boys did not care that it was raining SO much that DadOfAllTrades and I joked about building an ark.  I had huge plans for outdoor activities, but we could barely make it to the grocery store and back, so Geo-caching was out of the question.

But I did find a forgotten-or-lost gift certificate for a local paint our own pottery store.

This is the type of store in which you enter, pick a fired piece of pottery, and then paint/glaze it yourself.  Some of these places charge for the paint and time, but this one just charges by the piece regardless of how long it takes you to paint it or how many colors you use.  It is cool, but rather pricey in my humble opinion, so we don't go there a lot.

I had not told the boys where we were going, just that they had been there before and that they liked it.  Once we drove through the ninth daily torrential downpour, we arrived to relatively bare shelves.  Boo-hiss I think.  The usually have these cool banks or treasure chest thingys, plates, bowls, mugs.  It looked like they hadn't been able to get their shipment in this week 'cuz of the rain.  So the boys wander around and are really good at not touching anything until they ask.

They make their selections:  LegoMaster chooses a Seder plate.  Buzz chooses a dog bowl.

Now this may not sound like a bummer to you.  But, it was to me.  See, we are not Jewish, so a Seder plate means nada to LegoMaster.  Also, our beloved dog of 15 years just died, so a dog bowl we do not need.

But I bit my tongue and let them at it.

They had a great time and are very proud of their creations.  LegoMaster used this paint that has glitter in it so now "when I tilt the plate all around in the light, it twinkles".  I am so happy that he takes pride in what he created and that he really did think the plate with six different pockets was cool.

Buzz loved his dog bowl that he painted to look like his favorite monster truck, Maximum Destruction.  He even had the nice girl who was helping us write the name of the truck on one side of the dog bowl.

Once he got to hold it again yesterday, he told me that we now have to name our next dog "Maximum Destruction".  Something in me is not too happy about that name.

Seven Quick Takes on my Self Imposed Sugar Fast

1. Lent is not 40 days.  It is more like 48 or 50.  For some unknown reason Sundays are not counted so giving something up for lent means giving it up for a longer period than you first thought.  

2.  I think my cravings went from a 2 at first (really just a knowledge that it wasn't there) to a 6 or 7 (an "I REALLY want this" feeling.  Not so bad that I would die without it.)  There were days I could totally make cookies with the boys and not have a desire for one little bite.  Then there were evenings that I could have hijacked a deer and rode him to the nearest Circle K for a Little Debbie.  I think these cravings were more psychological than physical.  Except that time just before Aunt Flo arrived....

3.  I don't think I dropped any weight.  I, um, forgot to weigh myself on Ash Wednesday because I never weigh myself.  Too depressing.  And besides, it is just a number.  Long ago I gave up caring what size my clothes were in favor of using my caring energy to find clothes that fit.  So, If I dropped any weight, I cannot truthfully say.  What I can say is my shorts fit.  That is cool.

4. I feel better all around.  On Easter Sunday, when I started eating sugar again, I was cranky and had afternoon fatigue.  It could have been the thoughts of many sister-in-laws invading my house (just kidding, ladies!) or it could be the effect of refined sugar on my system.  Since I had not that feeling the week before, I think it was the sugar.  Also, my gut pain was not present.  That, in and of itself, is a reason to continue not eating refined sugar.

5. I ended my sugar fast with a little Reece's bunny.  I didn't like it.  Part of me was happy:  this means I will not be sneaking into the pantry and feeling guilty.  Part of me was unhappy:  Reece's are truly one of God's greatest gifts and I did not enjoy that gift.  Hmmph.

6. Funny story:  The boys wanted to make S'Mores one evening that was rather warmish.  I was doing just fine until LegoMaster needed me to take a toasted marshmallow off of the stick.  I inadvertently got some gooey-ness on my hand.  I started to shake and twitch!  I had to run inside and wash it off!  It was pure torture to not be able to lick it off my hand.  How had it come to this?  I thought.  Before I could return to the campfire, I had to get some energy out.  So I vacuumed until I was no longer freaking out.  LegoMaster had shrugged his shoulders and just thought me weird.  DadOfAllTrades could not figure out why I ran into the house until the boys said "It is just that sugar thing, Dad."  DadOfAllTrades just laughed.  Hehe.

7.  I think I will continue to limit my sugar intake since I did feel better without it.  I will have sugar in my coffee, and have good desserts.  I will use a short list of acceptable items, like cheesecake of any sort and good peach or apple pie a la mode.  Other than that, I will pass.  Malted milk balls: no thank you.  Milky way: nope.  Malley's chocolate toffees:  Yes maamm.  Hard candy: not so much.  

Why I love Survivor

Twenty three seasons ago, TV viewing was changed forever by the arrival of the show Survivor.  And my TV viewing was also changed.  I did not watch the first season as it was airing, and I regret every minute if missing it.  I did see it in re-run when I was nursing LegoMaster.  But only after I had seen other seasons.   Over the years I have loved it, hated it, wondered why I watched it again, swore I would never watch another season, and laughed at DadOfAllTrades when he said I should audition.   And it seems that every season, I sit on the couch waiting to see who was voted off next.  So, why do I like it so much?

Is it living vicariously through other people?   There are parts of me that think I could do what those folks are doing.  I could make a fire.   I could do a maze with a blindfold on.   I could eat fish I just caught.   I could go without showering or brushing my teeth for 39 days.  And what could be wrong with winning one million dollars?  However, I know without a shadow of a doubt that I would be a basket case.  I hate being watched by others.  I hate being judged by others.  I am well aware of my need to fit in and also my grumpiness when I get hungry, so starving on a desert island with 10 million viewers would give me a huge ulcer.

There is a reason I still tune in after the “honeymoon period” of a new season.  (The Honeymoon period is the first weeks when one hopes that this season will be just a little different;  just a little farther from the same.  It usually ends once I figure out that nothing is new under the sun. )  It is that one person that I can’t wait to see leave.  There always seems to be one person who would irritate me to no end if I was there on the beach and, for some reason that is not quite Christian, I can’t wait to see how they get voted off.  The last five or so seasons, however, the person I cannot stand has made it to one of the last shows.  I am subject to them the whole season.  It is like I enjoy torturing myself.

It is the ludicrous way that the host, Jeff Probst, eggs on the contestants.  They will be competing in a challenge, messing up royally, and in a voice over we hear  “THAT IS NOT GOING TO WORK!”  or “YOU BETTER GET MOVING OR YOUR TEAM IS GOING TO LOOSE!”  Way to make friends and influence people, Jeff.  It is both funny and irritating at the same time.

It may be that I have this voyeuristic thing going on in wanting to watch others private lives.  I feel normal after watching.  I wish I could have experienced the first season as it was happening.  IIRC (if I remember correctly, for those of you who don’t text), I was in the process of dating DadOfAllTrades at the time and, at the same time, getting my Master’s degree.  Watching television was not first on our list.  It must have been fascinating to watch these castaways try to bumble through the game without knowing what was going to happen.   I bet there were a few psychologists watching with utter delight as their years of studying theory were now being depicted on the little screen. 

Whatever it is, I continue to race to the couch at 8pm every week to see how “the tribe has spoken”.  

Things that make me crazy

Although that is not a far stretch on most days.

 I enjoy being a little off kilter.  But there are things in this world that light my fire in a bad way.  I am thinking about this today as it is raining like the dickens and it is the first day of spring break for my boys.  They COULD be outside basking in the spring sun and breathing some fresh air, but nooo…   Mother Nature thinks we should be inside driving Lego cars on our knees.  Not that there is anything wrong with that inherently.  But we have been doing that for five or six months now.  I am ready for something new.

 

So, here are things that make me crazy on a day that is making me crazy:

The squirrel or the chipmunk on the bird feeder scaring away the birds. Not to mention the they are eating all the seeds.

Those that find in necessary to pass me on the road when I am going the speed limit.  Out here, passing me means getting to the stop sign 10 seconds faster.  Is it really worth it?  I could not imagine living with the stress of having to “get there” that bad.

Those that stand in front of a section in the produce section like there is no one else in the store.  Then they continue standing there as I am waiting, standing next to them.  Then they look at me as if I have invaded their personal space.  I just smile.

Those that give servers a hard time for no reason.  For example, when the food comes out too hot.  Really???

Those that shrug their shoulders and say “Kids!” when their kids act out.  Get off your butt and discipline those kids.  Then you won’t have to waste your breath on the exclamation again.

When other parents at school will only volunteer if their child is in the room.   What ever happened to the common good?  Is that a thought of days gone by?

DadOfAllTrades getting called into work on a day we loosely had plans to get a big thing crossed off our to-do list.  I am VERY grateful that he has a super job and that we have no trouble with money.  However, there are some times that I want him with me.  Call me selfish.

When I can’t break a mood like this.  I should be enjoying the heck out of having my boys all to myself with no particular place to be, but I am wishing we could do something else.  Maybe this is why my boys have such a hard time being grateful for what they have. 

Hmmm…

Quote I just read

This is a really cool quote I just read as a Facebook post.  Enjoy!


‎"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

What I Think Creativity Means

I was concerned when naming this blog about creativity.  I have a hard time tooting my own horn and am afraid that those reading my words will laugh at my title.  Wow, she does not have a ton of crafty things on here.  How can she call herself creative when that is not what she is doing?   Ok, point taken.

But to me, creativity is not how much hot glue or thread one uses.  It is a way of life. 

In my opinion, those that are most creative to me are those that use what is available to them to come up with something new and innovative.  

It is thinking outside the box.  

It is doing things differently than others because you see that the way is has always been done is not working anymore.   

Or you get a request from a youngin’ for something cool and you have no desire to run to the store, so you must use what you have.

Here are some reasons I wanted to give myself this name.

In planning my wedding, I had a panic attack when thinking about favors by each plate with a matchy-matcy ribbon wrapped around a little white box.  I wanted to do something out of the ordinary.  I was, after all, getting married old.  That is, at 33.   I could not see myself working the room with 200 people, only half of which I knew.  DadOfAllTrades understood.  I wined that I wanted to elope.  Let’s go to Vegas, I think I said while breathing hard into a bag trying not to hyperventilate.  The idea held and we decided to exchange vows in the beautiful Rocky Mountains of Colorado.  We had 40 family and friends with us.  And, not a surprise to me, had a couple that I did not know (friend of my FIL who just happened to be vacationing in Colorado while we were there).  One cannot get away from paying for a strangers meal no matter how far you travel to get hitched.  But, being creative, I did not let others tell me what to do.  And I would do it again.

One is creative when they are thinking how to make something better.  Like bath time with two tired toddlers and one done-for-the-day-momma.  We used to scrub them as fast as humanly possible then let the two of them splash the rest of the time.  Not that creative in the crafty sense of the word, but listen to how we made a bad thing in to a good thing.  I found a clear shower curtain.  The boys were told they must not splash when the curtain was open.  They behaved really well so that they could get to the splashing part.   Once clean, I closed the curtain and made sure the sides were in, then let them go at it.  Since the curtain was clear, I could see them and know all noses were above water level.  I could also tell when they got bored of the splashing and wanted to just play in the water.  Everyone was happy, and no tired mommy mopping up water.

Look back at this post to see how creativity, and a little necessity, helped me come up with an idea for a Weed Hat.  Again, use what is out there and make it yours.

How about when the kids are starting to get whiny and I am about to blow?  Instead of losing it, I start singing “On Top of Spaghetti” at the top of my lungs.  I 100% absolutely cannot sing.  I am tone deaf (how I discovered this is another topic for a post).  The boys hate it when I sing.  So they stop whining and cover their ears.  Usually they start laughing and the stress is over.

What is hard about doing things differently is how others give you the hairy eyeball sometimes.  Like when I pack a lunch for the zoo, or wherever one may be for the day with kids and a fast food lunch is available.  Why can I not pack a lunch and save some money?  Why must one assume that just because you are taking your children to a fun-filled outing that it must involve a hugely overpriced lunch?  This may be a lame example of creativity, but if doing it differently is a way of life, then it happens everywhere.

Don’t limit yourself to thinking that being creative must involve needle and thread, or paper and ribbon.  What do you do that is different?  You may be creative with words.  You may be creative with plants.  You may be creative with lesson plans.  Whatever.  Just keep doing it differently and with gusto.

Rambling

I usually have an idea for a post or two floating around in my head.  But not now.  For the last couple of weeks I can't think of anything I have wanted to tell the world, except for the less than 140 character Facebook posts I have put out.  So I thought I  may just ramble today and see where it takes me...

I have just finished reading Wally Lamb's The Hour I First Believed.  It is the story of a husband-wife who happen to be teachers in Columbine High when the shooting occurred.  The events are true, but the characters are fictional.  I was wondering how he could pull off a fictional story about this subject without making it hokey.  But, overall I enjoyed it.  His writing is well researched and is logical, something the left-brained me appreciates.  However, there was something about this book that wasn't quite there.  It was as if there were two books/stories and neither could work alone, but neither could work together.

The subject matter has made me think about the people and places I trust my children to.  Like school.  We are in a society that pays lip service to safety, but do they really do it?  Both of my boy's school buildings have a buzz-in system.  One cannot enter unless they buzz the office and sign in when they walk past.  But in reality, have the secretaries really ever gotten out of their chairs to see who just walked past the office without signing in?  And the sign in book is outside the office door-it is there to appease the safety gods, but not really monitored quite well?  I wonder what would happen if one of the ladies buzzed someone in who did not sign the log and just went busting down the hallway.  Would they even stop the person or try to find out where they went?  I know that there are children in both buildings that have alerts on their folders and I wonder how these alerts are handled.

Also, have adults gotten off their duffs enough to check on the warning signs of such violence?  In the book, he mentions that both of the shooters wrote essays about blowing away other people with huge guns.  One even did a video for a class that depicted such violence.  The teachers saw this, and graded it.  But it seems that it never went further than this.  How can we let that happen?

Now I am not saying this horrible incident could have been avoided by questioning those two boys.  They had evil in their hearts for quite a while.  But, are the adults I entrust my children to capable of dealing with this?  I know that I would have to go to counselling to use the right words when confronting such writing.  I know that I have lead a sheltered life in such that I have not had to deal with more than the garden variety of bad things.  Severely bad things like this make me twitch, and I am a teacher by trade.  Would I ignore it?

After seeing LegoMaster's class and having another teacher question me on how he is doing ("Yeah, I heard that class was a difficult one." she said), I have begun to wonder.  What are my boys being exposed to at school?  Have they been having other boys threaten them, then laugh?  Have they been feeling uncomfortable? What bothers me is that I cannot prevent this from happening.  I think every parent wants their children to be happy and healthy.  But what if we can't?  What if their destiny is one of sorrow?  How can I teach them how to cope with that?

Dark ramblings on a dark and rainy day.....

Favorite Things

Since I have been having trouble coming up with words to write, I decided to put out a list.  Much easier and I don't have to worry about sentence structure, plot and story line too much.  Maybe you will get to  know me better.

My list of favorite things, in no particular order.

Flower: Red rose.  Simple, elegant, straightforward

Food:  One I don't cook myself.  Seriously, I love food and I love it even more if it is presented to me on a fancy plate from a tuxedo'd server.

Color: Red.  Not a huge surprise I'd imagine.

Art medium:  Clay.  I love the touchy-ness of it.  The squishy-ness of it.  the smell of it. And the fact that it can really be anything, not just a picture of anything.

Book: Toss up here.  While the Bible ranks, I think that is a cop out answer.  So, I would have to say "The Stand" by Stephen King.  The ultimate fictional story about good vs evil.  I have read it four times.

Drink: A good cup of coffee in the winter and a good cup of lemonade in the summer.

Thing I wish I could do more of:  Take naps.  L-O-V-E them!
 
Smell:  A new book

Vacation spot:  Mountains, the Rockies in particular.  Spectacular and one feels much closer to heaven being a mile above sea level.

Bible verse:  James 1:17  Every good and perfect gift is from above.

Song: Ave Maria

Sport: To watch-Baseball.  To play: hiking

Season:  Winter.  While the abundance of clothing and coats become a drag, the cleanness of  new-fallen snow is one of my favorite sights.  Also the promise of growth come spring fascinates me.

Blog:  Pioneer Woman.  Her energy is palpable.

Website for laughs: Television Without Pity.  A sarcastic look at the reality t-v that we all watch now-a-days but wish we could pull ourselves away from.  Makes me laugh out loud regularly.

Household Task:  laundry.  One can tell you did something when a basket of folded laundry is in front of their closet.  (I am talking about myself here.  I love seeing the fruits of my labor.)

Dessert: Cheesecake, New York style.  But I would not turn away any cheesecake that darkened my door.

Lazy Land

I guess I haven't been that talkative lately.

The reason?  Maybe this is it...

1. Sick kid.  I have not been writing as I have been doing much cuddling.  I am hoping the time never comes when my boys look at me and think "Get away".  I am very much enjoying the "Thank you for being here with me now" looks that I have been getting.

2.  I have been keeping up with the 40 bag challenge and it is taking a lot of time.  Not.  It usually takes 10-20 minutes.  But I think I will use it as an excuse.  :)

3.  I started a new book right before I didn't finish the last one.  I liked the one about the 1983 World's Fair in Chicago but I haven't been that interested in the ending.  Oh well.  Now I am over 100 pages into another book, one by Wally Lamb.  The two main characters are a husband/wife who are teachers in Columbine when the shooting happened.  while it is fiction, it is still based on real happenings.  I am  interested to see how he handles this touchy subject.  I may go back and read reviews after I finish.  Don't want my brain clouded with others opinions until I have one of my own.

4. DadOfAllTrades has had many overtime days lately, at least twice a week.  While this helps in the checkbook area, it does not help in the free time area.  If all my problems were this little...

5. My brain has been spinning with the "can't control the bad stuff" blues I am sure every parent has.

I promise to return soon from my trip to lazy land.  Ta ta for now.