Spring Again

Options for filling in holes and low spots in a yard:

1.  Hire someone to do it.

2.  Get a load of dirt or sand and spread it around.

3.  Dig a trench around the flower beds, toss all the hunks of dirt into the low spots and let your sons handle it.

I looked up yesterday and saw Tate in blue jeans, no shoes, no shirt, muddy hands holding worms.  If regular life had Disney-type characters walking around for entertainment value, Tate could be the Huck Finn.

Pineapple Skirt and Honesty

It's too misleading to just say that I made a gold and aqua pineapple skirt for Hols and she's now ready for a trip to Miami and everything is so perfectly together.  So along with photos of the skirt, some additional confessions:

I bought fabric and zippers and such to make dresses and more fabric for more skirts.  Nothing is happening with that.

I forgot how to make the simplest article of clothing and did it incorrectly, adding time to the process.  I also initially made it upside down.  (In my defense- THERE WERE A MILLION OTHER THINGS HAPPENING SIMULTANEOUSLY.)

 Sometimes I put clean, folded laundry back into the dryer just because I need to get it out of the way.

I fall asleep in my clothes pretty much all the time now.  2 AM is the unofficial the deadline for waking up to brush teeth and put on pajamas.  If I sleep past that...it's the whole night in jeans.

If I find popcorn on the couch, I just throw it behind me onto the kitchen floor so it can join its buddies, cracker crumbs and additional popcorn.

I don't shower every day and I love the days when I don't shower because it's not as much work.  But somehow I don't get up any earlier on the days that I do shower.

Buying a Diet Coke from the coke machine at church makes me feel spiritually horrible because I could have found a better use for that dollar.

I want to make my kids healthy lunches, but today I bought Handi Snacks.

I have never once done a workbook with any of the kids.  I must give off the workbook vibe because people give them to me, but no.

Once I threw away every coloring book in our house.

Once I threw away a stack of thank you notes that I had already written because I couldn't seem to get them to the mailbox and I needed them out of my way.

Our van is the quintessential minivan with layers of crap.

I have a lot of other nice qualities as well.

Looking at you, Singer

I like to stop in Old Navy before I go fabric shopping.  It's really encouraging to spend $8 on a super cute dress for Holly first, then look at fabric that starts at $10 a yard and will require notions and hours of labor before a dress appears from it.

I can't seem to get past blues and reds. I finally forced myself to put back one and find something pink and whimsical.  It's all washed and ready to be ironed and cut.

Things are comical at our house- water bottles are constantly splitting across the bottom and leaving illogically large puddles, there's still always a contraband sharpie without a lid turning up somewhere, Holly can rapidly undo whatever was just completed.  And there are so many gross things.  In an effort to watch  my language, I up end up yelling nonsense:  Fuuuudge!  Ugh Aghhhh Pete!  Cremini!  
Somehow -very seriously without any sarcasm- I think undertaking some massive dress sewing is going to help me.

I like my Tuesdays like I like my babies: FAT

If I had stopped to think about it beforehand, I would not have predicted that the Crystal Beach Mardi Gras parade would be kid friendly.  But, surprise!  It was!

And now we can spend all of Lent with huge piles of beads.

Happy Valentime's!

Friendly

 With maybe one exception, ALL my friends love camping.  Until recently I thought that everyone except Trent and me loved camping, then I realized these are just the kind of people I get along with and I don't 100% fit in with them.  If I'm sleeping in a tent it's going to mean that something horrible has happened, like the world has turned into that awful book The Road or the rest of my family has been brainwashed by the Boy Scouts and they kidnap me for weekend activities.

All my camping loving friends share another common trait:  high ideals that I love in theory but can never manage to live in practice.  For example, my friends say things like, "We don't tell our kids that Santa only brings presents to you if you're good.  It's like God's love and grace, you don't have to earn it."  I love that idea.

(dramatic pause)

My kids know alllll about the naughty list.   Someone always says that sweet statement around December 5 and I think, yes, I totally agree with that.  Then five minutes later I'm shouting IF SANTA EVEN STOPS AT THIS HOUSE ALL HE'S LEAVING YOU IS A GIANT BAG OF FARTS.

And now I honestly can't remember where I was going with this.  I started with pictures of Holly after she found the lipstick in my purse and some school Valentines.  Glad to know that spending half our life savings on stain proof carpet was a good investment thus far because with sufficient scrubbing that lipstick came right out.

End with the Valentines in your head so we seem like a really sweet family sitting around the kitchen table peacefully making Valentines.

A Tale of Two Birthdays: More Catch-Up

We have a real whirlwind month with Holly's Birthday-Christmas-New Year-Tate's Birthday.

Most of Holly's friends are church friends, family friends, so we had a birthday lunch for her after church one Sunday.

Tate had a Summer in January Party.  It was one of those house-full-of-5-year-olds-and-total-calm paradox parties.

As requested, Tate's birthday cake in the shape of the sun.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

What is happening to me....

The other day the recycling truck and the big yard trash garbage truck both happened to be on our street, in front of our house (!) at the same time.  I felt a quick surge of adrenaline.  Two garbage trucks!  Hurray!  I've been running outside at the first sound of a garbage truck for SIX YEARS.  And counting.

On the way to take Rush to school there's a ditch/bayouish space at a stop sign and most mornings we see giant rats down there.  They are truly almost the size of our smallest cat, Professor Longbottom.  We've only seen them in the morning, never later in the day.  As soon as the nice spring weather arrives, I'm getting up early on a Saturday to ride my bike over and try to get a closer look because it is amazing.

Last weekend Rush, Tate, and I went to Wild Kratts Live.  I almost can't admit how excited I was to go to that, although thankfully we can credit most of that to a nighttime trip downtown.

If you'll excuse me, my old self is calling.  I'll be reading, drinking diet coke, and not cleaning the house if you need me.

Two Great Loves

One night at dinner we were playing an either/or/would you rather game.  It started with "If you had to give up one for the rest of your life but you could keep the other, which would you give up and which would you keep:  cake or cheese?  After a few rounds Rush looked at me and said, "Okay Mom.  Hawaii or Antarctica?"  Well played.  I could never choose!

I pulled out the Hawaiian quilt square to work on it last night and realized I only had about three more stitches of quilting to go.  It's so wonderfully anticlimactic to finish something that I've accepted will take forever to finish.

Trent's going to build a frame for it and based on his design I can skip finishing the edges.

Your move, Trent.

A Few Things I've Learned

1.  If you want to read a book in the bathtub and have any chance of the book not ending up soaking wet, a minimum of three dry washcloths must be next to the tub.

2.  If you have promised hot dogs, never start reading the label on the packages of hot dogs at the grocery store.  Just close your eyes and grab a few packages, assuming that surely the ones you picked are perfectly fine and not disgusting.  Not seeing the label is the same reason you can enjoy Sonic's $.50 corn dog days.

3.  Don't buy anything to "fix up the house" until the house is relatively clean and orderly.  Otherwise it's not just a messy house, it's a messy house with un-assembled shelves on the kitchen floor.

We talked about having shelves and a cabinet built in a little alcove in our dining room.  There were shelves there; but they were basic and we just covered them with a curtain when we moved in.  Putting away platters after Christmas, I reached my limit with the situation.  Trent opted to not be involved at all, so I cleaned off the shelves and re-hemmed the curtain to hid only the boxes on the bottom.  Going to the paint store to paint the backs to match was going to be a hassle, so I found half a gallon of coral paint leftover from our stairs. 

We also finally found a spot for the bench/trunk built by Trent's grandfather that has sat in our garage for the past few years.  

Recent home renovations:  $0.

And With All the Company of Heaven

Church is a funny thing.  Since I was raised going to church, I've never looked at it from the outside, but I imagine that it would seem that church goers always love going to church.  I do love being a part of a church- mostly.  Like 97% of the time.  Except the days when I think, who are all these people?  Weirdos!  (counting myself and my family in this group, obviously)  Why don't I just worship God by myself and not have to deal with anyone?  I might feel this way even as I'm dressed and heading to a service or some other event.  

Today is not one of those days.  Today is a day when I am thankful to be a part of a community, when I dropped off flowers in the church office to celebrate the ordination of a new friend, then headed straight to a friend's house to mourn with him over the unexpected death of his spouse, our friend.

Now that our piano is back in order, I kind of can't imagine how I survived the years without it  I'm not a good pianist by any stretch, but can really use it to lighten my spirit.  When we heard about Patrick's death on Monday, Trent and I were sad and shocked and not sure what to do with ourselves.  I ended up at the piano, banging out some hymns with a million mistakes and great gusto.  He's in heaven praising God, and that's one thing I could share with him from earth.

So today all my thoughts are on our church, the joys and sorrows that are tied up in our involvement in the community.  Tonight we'll celebrate joyfully with Alex, even as we miss Patrick, who would definitely have been either acolyting during the service or getting food ready for the reception afterwards.

In churches, there's constant talk about inviting friends and new people.  If we're honest about it, it's a hard sell:  You can believe in God by yourself and live your life or you could get up early on Sundays and spend time with people you did not handpick as friends!  The church will pester you for your money and time!  And things will not be perfect- you won't really agree with all the decisions that are made and people might drive you crazy.

But also- You can believe in God and worship him with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven and what else are you really going to be doing on a Sunday morning?  Sleeping?  Hiking?  Ugh.  You don't get to handpick the people at your church, but you will probably end up getting to know wonderful people you would never have met otherwise.  And your money and time will be used for the good of the world.  And things will not be perfect and you won't agree with all the decisions that are made and people will drive you crazy.  And you will drive them crazy, too.  Life will go on; we'll all love each other and be better for it.

I'm going to keep going, because I've got people to celebrate with and people to mourn with.  If I were from another denomination, I would probably say JOIN ME!!!  I'LL PICK YOU UP ON MY WAY!!!  But I'm a reserved Episcopalian, so I'll say, we're here.  You're welcome to join us anytime.  Call me if you need a ride.

Handmade Gift Attack

Timeless advice from Jack Donaghy

From my new collection, "The Good Book and a good book."  So far this is the only piece.  (Revelation and Gone with the Wind, obvious pairing when you think about it)

cigar box mice (inspired by Kellaura, years ago)

The recipe times eight

Please enjoy this cellophane wrapped cake, minus the handful that Holly grabbed.

 Vanilla extract, also known as vanilla infused vodka, also known as the best way to spike your drink via your baking supplies

From the wood shop of JTW-

Because you can buy your sister-in-law a pre-made sign with a saying about loving shoes, or you can shadowbox the first birthday shoes she bought for her niece- 

By far the most fun Christmas gift was the ladies night we gave to Trent's mom and sisters (and Trent gave to me).  Mexican food and margaritas followed by a few hours at Painting with a Twist is something that should be repeated.  

Working Backwards

I'm going to work backwards, or in no particular order, to talk about what is or has happened very locally.  

Happy New Year!  It turns out that if black tie/champagne/horn section/balloon drop is not on the schedule, then the alternate best plan for New Year's Eve is pajamas/pizza/tv/board games.  

My children, who embrace me with joy if I buy a box of Minion shaped Kraft Mac and Cheese or orange Tic Tacs:  Holy cow, don't try to pass off a store bought king cake on them.  Actual conversation on January 5:

Trent- So tomorrow's Epiphany.

Rush- Oh, so you're making a king cake?

Me- Oh, you guys want that?

Rush- Yeah!  Of course!

Trent- We'll probably just buy one.

Rush- NO!  You have to make it!

We've created little Episcopalian monsters.

 Then a few days later Tate, Holly, and I pulled everything off the bookshelves because sorting all the books is one way to elevate a bummer mood.  And also a good way to get a dust related red, gooey eye.

We're minimalists now.  Just cats and blank spaces.

Happy Birthday BANANA

Another birthday, another milestone, ladies and gentlemen, Tate is five!

The day before his birthday Tate saw a photo in a cookbook of Good Old Steak and Guinness (in our case, Shiner) Pie and switched his birthday dinner request to that.  There are no words to describe how appropriate that is for him.  If you know Tate, you can just smile and say, OF COURSE.

I love this kid, so much.