Friday Look! I’m blogging on my non-blogging trip! Our friend Ben brought his fancy computer, and the fancy cabin we have the honor of staying in has wifi. I wasn’t even going to get on-line, but Ben plopped his computer on my lap just now and said, “Get your fix.” So this isn’t my fault. And for the record, I have NOT played Word Twist even one time. This place is beautiful, the sun is shining, the lake is glassy, the trees are tall. It’s heavenly. The kids still get up at the very first sight of light here in the North woods, just as they do in the city. Go figure. Oh well, I suppose this means there’s more time for fishing, hiking, shopping at cute little shops, hammock dozing, and s’mores. I’ll have tired, puffy eyes while we do all these things, but it’s still going to be a great time. […]
Tuesday~ May 26, 2009 On Thursday, we’re heading Up North for a little vacation. We’ll be gone through Sunday, so I’m pretty sure I’ll be going through internet withdrawal. I will be unable to play Word Twist on facebook. You might hear me crying, but this is actually good. Everyone needs a little detox every now and then. Maybe I’ll stop unscrambling words on street signs after this break. STOP. top-pot-spot-pots-sop-tops (Yes, you can even make a lot of words from the simple word STOP.) Yes, I’ve stared at a stop sign, finding those words. Why does the list of things to get done before you go on vacation have to be so terribly long? And why do I have to take it so far? Can’t I just shop for vacation needs and then pack like normal people do? And just leave it at that? OH NO, not me. Why must I also […]
Monday~May 25, 2009 Isn’t the beginning of SUMMER great? Most of us think so anyway. Back when I was a social worker, I learned that most suicides occur in the Spring and early Summer. Experts assume this is because of the inevitable comparisons hurting people make. They’d watch everyone else bloom, all happy and excited, and feel even worse over their own despair. And yes, the clients that did commit suicide back in the days that I worked, did so in the Spring or Summer. Not the most uplifting thing you’ve ever heard, huh? Well, I wrote something in response to those thoughts over on the Highway blog today. It has a more positive perspective, I hope, about how our love for each other really does make all the difference. See you there. If you want. (Grandma, you can put your arrow on the “See you there” and then click to get there) […]
Saturday~May 23, 2009 Warning: This post contains the cutest pictures you’ve ever seen in your whole life ever. If you don’t think so, you can’t tell me. Because these are my friends, their kids, and my “photography.” Now that I’m 34, I’m going to add “Photographer” to the list of things that I am. You know: wife, mom, sister, cousin, daughter, grand-daughter, niece, friend, runner, vegetarian, actor, author blogger, comedian, and photographer. Now here are about a zillion photos from my very special surprise birthday party last night. As you will see, I spent the whole night taking pictures, and I absolutely loved it… ***************** Meet Ellorie. You can’t have her.She’s mine Mackenzie and Caleb’s. *********************** And Landen. It’s entirely possible that this little poseis truly the cutest thing you’ve ever seen. ************************* You’ve been wondering why there aren’t more photos ofRyan on my blog, haven’t you?Well, maybe this is why…he’s totally insane… […]
It just so happens that I was born on the 22nd of May a mere 34 years ago. This isn’t all that monumental. I mean, everyone has birthdays, and it’s not like it’s my 40th or something. But of course, it gets me thinking about my life… If I were “living my best life,” as Opie (that’s short for Oprah, only Gail and I get to call her that) likes to say, I think I’d be a vegetarian and a long-distance runner. I can feel both those things buried in me somewhere, but I like to ignore them while I eat steak and sit around. It’s not that refraining from meat and strapping on the cross-trainers are things that define the well-lived life for everyone, I’m just talking about me here. Because it’s my best life we’re talking about, and I can make up whatever I want because I’ve been around for 34 […]
Thursday~May 21, 2009 “You wanna see somethin’ cool?” “On your mark…” “Get set…” “GO!” “Yeah! I totally won!” For more pictures worth a thousand words, head on over to Cheaper Than Therapy. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Tuesday~May 19, 2009 Sometimes I feel like I say the same things over and over. But I’m realizing that’s because there are some things that I’m always going to have to keep reminding myself. Forgive me, I’m a slow learner. It’s that way with my boys too, I seem to have to say the same thing over and over until one day it finally clicks. It’s easy to figure my words hold no meaning, but I hope they always do, somewhere along the way. ~~~~~~~~~~ As I type this, I’m sitting on our patio, watching Asher play and keeping him happy and occupied with bubbles. The keyboard is getting sticky with soapy slime, and I’m thinking about how much multi-tasking a person can do in one day. This juggling of things can be messy, but especially in mothering, it’s just plain necessary. Our days have been long and full. Summer brings so many […]
Sunday~May 17, 2009 He tried… and he tried… Then “Lil’ BooGoo” tried to help, butit’s hard to button a moving target… So BooGoo hung on the chair and waited… while “Bwuddah” tried and tried… UNTIL… He got it! (and felt the need to pose) The End. Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Thursday~ May 14, 2009 (that’s a carrot and some dip on his noggin) ~~~~~~~~~~ I’m tucking him in to bed (and sniffing his head, of course) and I say, “MMMM, you smell like outside.” And he reciprocates with, “MMMMM, you smell like backside.” ~~~~~~~~~~ After much nagging about many things, he turns to me and says, “I’m just a guy who likes to do stuff! GOOD HEAVENS!” ~~~~~~~~~~ Miles is currently more than obsessed with all things Superheroes and Star Wars. Because he’s only three, I try to talk to him about how I don’t think he’s quite ready for the “rude talk” and violence in many of the movies and shows he begs to watch. He’s pretty good at trying to convince me he’s ready though: “You know, Mom. God made Star Wars to fight evil. So it’s nice.” ~~~~~~~~~~ He’s running around playing and accidentally runs into me as he’s flying […]
Tuesday~May 12, 2009 We sat on the side of the hill in the grass and the sun. I thought,This is all I want to do right now.This is the only place I’d like to be.We talked about family and faith and life.We shared a burden or two,A laugh and then a cry. It’s different now, you said.We email, we text, we tweet, we facebook, we blog. It’s true.We don’t sit on the side of a hill in the grass and the sun.Or not enough anyway.No.Not enough. We’ve got just one more thing,Always another task.Send this messagereturn this texttweet tweet tweetwrite a postforward an emailleave a voicemail I miss the time when we took the time,To sit on the side of the hill in the grass and the sun.More often. I want to see faces.I want to hear voices.More often.At my tableor in my car,Around a campfire,or on the side of a hill in […]
Saturday~May 9, 2009 Here I am at a coffee shop by myself on a Saturday. Blogging must be done. The last couple of days were interesting, friends. Interesting as in totally weird and really quite humorous. Three different strange-ish things have happened. Let’s pretend like you’re dying to know what they are, bullet-style: I had a catscan recently because of some concerns about my belly. I assumed that my belly is weird because a 10 pound, 10 ounce Asher changed things up in there, and it turns out I was correct. Due to my second pregnancy and the incredible stretching it called for, I now have diastasis. Here, let wikipedia explain: “Diastasis (also known as abdominal separation) is a disorder defined as a separation of the rectus abdominis muscle into right and left halves. [1] Normally, the two sides of the muscle are joined at the linea alba at the body midline.” So […]
Thursday~May 7, 2009 See this little guy? And this little guy? I miss them. I know I’m with them all the time, but I still miss them. We were trying to get out the door this morning, to bring Miles to preschool.I was barking orders, frustrated, reminding Miles for the fifth time to put.his.shoes.on. I was rushing around like a headless chicken, pulling Asher’s shirt over his head with a flourish.I was stomping my foot at the dog because she wasn’t walking to the door fast enough. I tried to push it out of my head, but there it was, too big of an elephant to be ignored. Our being behind schedule was not about shoes or the dog or even disobedience. It was because of me. I spent so much time in my own head space this morning, formulating this post, returning emails, peeking in on Twitter…I didn’t look at the clock […]
Wednesday~May 6, 2009 On Saturday morning Ryan and I buckled the boys in the van and we went to a neighborhood garage sale. We even got to follow a little map, it was a like a real treasure hunt. But anyway, that’s not the moral of this story. It’s not even really a moral at all, but it’s not the point either. The point is, I took the opportunity of a confined space to discuss the day’s plans with my husband. You see, Saturdays can be tricky for us. If we don’t have daytime plans like a birthday party or a tennis match or a gala… (Yes, those last two were jokes, we hardly ever exercise play tennis anymore, and when we do, it’s not scheduled. And we hardly ever go to galas anymore either.) What I’m trying to say, is that if Ryan and I don’t discuss what we have in mind […]
TUESDAY~ May 5, 2009 Remember that time we raised $380 for Little Miss Tuesday Fiona Whitt? Yeah, that rocked. Well now there’s something else going on. Something very special, in honor of Tuesday, and it starts today. You MUST check it out. GO! CLICK ON THAT PICTURE!HAVE FUN AND DO SOMETHING GOOD AT THE SAME TIME! SEE YOU AT THE PARTY! (Comments are off. Go ahead and use that time to visit Tuesday’s party.) Thank you for allowing me to pop up in your inbox and for reading my words, silly or serious. I appreciate you. ~Heather
Monday~ May 4, 2009 Yesterday I went shopping. This is astounding really because I NEVER shop. Well, groceries and all that, sure. But clothes shopping? No way. I had to face the music though, I really don’t have much to wear, and if I’m ever going to look even slightly cute-ish again, I’ll have to shop for a few things. Shopping makes me feel all weird. I just hate spending money, and I don’t like this stage of life in which I find myself stuck in the middle with no options. You know that whole thing where all the clothes out there seem to be for either a pre-teen or a grandma (No offense, Grandma. There’s nothing wrong with your clothes, they just wouldn’t look right on me.) .Anyway, it all turned out OK in the end because I came across a clearance rack and something jumped out at me. It was my […]
Sunday~May 3, 2009 I was driving along in my very spacious and rockin‘ cool minivan the other day, happy to be off running a few errands solo. At an intersection, I started thinking about how the other three drivers at the stop signs surely had no idea I was BLASTING Love Lockdown by Kanye West. At least I’m pretty sure they didn’t guess my thirty-something shoulder shimmy was timing itself to the Lockdown beat. (You can scroll down to the bottom of the post and click play if you want to hear Love Lockdown. I dare you to try not to shimmy.) I love all kinds of music. It’s powerful, it changes moods, makes a person think, and as my friend Jo of Mylestones said, “When memories mix with music, they can create an explosive concoction of emotions. They become a potion to transport us from faded to vivid, from far away to […]
Friday~May 1st, 2009 The last twenty four hours have consisted of: the stomach flu, a fight with my husband (don’t worry, we made up), four eye teeth poking through at once for Asher, the mud room looking as if someone has actually mud wrestled in it, a catscan with way too much barium involved, A LOT of food ground into the carpet, and too many dirty dishes that will remain dirty for awhile (I have absolutely no dishwasher detergent OR dish soap.). I’m resting my arms on a stack of bills that need to be paid and paperwork that needs to be done as I type this. This is one of those days when, even though I know there’s no way to stay on top of things that have no top, I wish I could at least start the climb. So what I’m about to say might be totally insane… I love my […]
