When My Brain Begins to Reel

Because I’m feeling like this-

it’s time to undertake a cross stitch sampler. 

My sister and brother-in-law lived right outside of Washington D.C. for a few years.  The first time we went to visit, we went to the White House, the Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, etc, etc, etc.  By our last visit, we went to the movies and instead of going to Mt. Vernon, which they were totally over, we were lured into spending all day in their apartment playing a strange video game called Katamari.  During the game, a spooky little voice say, “I feel it.  I feel the cosmos.”

That’s what I’m going for with the cross stitching.  Sometimes I want to feel the universe as an ordered system, the opposite of chaos.

#34, Because it’s the 34th Birthday I’ve Had

The trick to an adult birthday is making it through the afternoon slump when you realize that there is no surprise party, no ticker tape parade.  The solution is the same as the Valentine’s Day solution:  do what it takes to make it special, even if you end up doing the work for yourself. 

There were many people who helped make the day special- the people who work at the factory with the machine that made the frozen lasagna that HEB sells; the robot who organizes the songs on Pandora; the person at church who orders a white candle to go with Advent wreaths, which eventually make it into our candlelight dinner rotation; Trent, who baked a cake; Rush and Tate, who helped me decorate it-

and Holly, who just really enjoys lasagna.

All in all, another great year, another great birthday with the people I love.

Dreamy

If you opened our laptop at any given moment, you would be able to tell exactly who used it last.  If it was Trent, the internet is open to either wood turning videos or some obscure website like homemadecircuitsandschematics.blogspot.com.  It it was me, it’s something with quilts hanging outside or warmly lit photos of half-finished embroidery projects next to a piece of quiche on a nice plate.  It’s a dreamy place where people can edit out the sink full of dishes from making the quiche.

And pan out from the quilt made by my great-grandmother to-

I bribed Tate with a pack of gum to get him to wear a sweater vest.  We stopped on the way to church to buy the gum.  I wouldn’t say I’m proud of that bribe, but I’ll admit I did it.  No regrets, because he now loves the sweater vest.

“Buzz, I’m going through all your private stuff!  You’d better come out and pound me!”

That is what we call the aftermath of Hurricane Holly. 

Yesterday we had someone come by to appraise our house.  Trent forgot to tell me that someone would be coming by, so our house was a disaster.  She, of course, had to take pictures of some rooms.  I was apologetic and embarrassed, but the appraiser assured me that she’d seen much worse.  She has grown children and assured me that these days of little children are messy and beautiful and they go by quickly.  One day, she said, the mess will be gone, but so will the children.

I thought back to my own mom being embarrassed by messes I made when I was growing up, probably getting a nice warm feeling somewhere as I got a taste of my own medicine.  I thought of all the other places I lived before I had children and what my closet looks like right now.  One day my children will be gone, but the mess…that will probably still be here.  What my children will take with them is my good excuse.

Stuff

My friend Kellaura is the master of making a stuffed animal to go with a book for gift giving.  A sailboat with cat plus The Little Island and a whale plus a book of ocean poems are just some of the gems bestowed upon the boys as birthday presents.  Recently I did the handmade friend and book combo for a 2-year-old’s birthday.  Taking the time to think about, draw, and cut out a pattern instead of just randomly cutting out owl shaped pieces made the process very enjoyable.  Very fun stuff, pun intended.

Knock Knock Jokes- So Hot Right Now

Tonight on the way home from choir and dinner at church, we were telling knock knock jokes.  It went from courtesy laughs to we-need-to-pull-off-the-highway hysteria with Rush making up the single funniest (only funniest) knock knock joke I have every heard:

Knock Knock
Who’s there?
Bridge.
Bridge who?
Light switch.  Aren’t you glad those two things rhyme?

This was shortly followed, like all good times, with crying.  The crying was related to whining, bickering, and hitting from the backseat, resulting in Trent throwing a fancy Halloween cupcake out the window onto the exit ramp.  It was Rush’s cupcake, and clearly an adequate punishment, because he screamed what can best be described as bloody murder. 

We pulled into the driveway with people still upset and opened the door of the van to find Holly fast asleep.  She can either sleep through anything or has decided to use sleep as a way to remove herself from certain situations.  Either way, useful skill.