AbbyNormal

love hurts

2012-01-27T14:43:00.001-07:00

One minute, we were happily reunited at the end of a long day, looking forward to some quality time together, the next, it was all wrong. So so wrong.

I was just a poor college student at the time, but life was good. In about another year, I'd have my degree and be poor student no more.

That day had progressed like most other days. A day of classes and homework. It was late afternoon when I tiredly retrieved my bicycle from the rack and began heading for comfy home.

Pedalling easily across campus, I took in the fresh air and the welcome movement after a day in the books. It was overcast, like it was going to rain. I noticed a car headed in my direction. It was an Audi. I noticed it begin to turn left. And keep on turning.

There was no time for me to react, to turn my bicycle or shield myself in any way. At that point, everything turned all slow motion. There was the smack of the car hitting my bike. Slow motion, I was in the air. Slow motion, I was on the hood. Slow motion, I was on the windshield. Slow motion, I was on the edge of the hood. Slow motion, I dropped to the ground.

The next thing I remember was people standing over me. Other students.

"Are you okay??"

*standing and staring*

"I'll be a witness for you!"

And the driver of the car, emerging. "OH MY GOD, Are you okay?! I didn't see you! Are you okay?!"

I was a bit dazed and surprised, but otherwise okay. These days, such a thing just might send me blubbering to my Chiropractor and begging, "Do me! Do me NOW!" But back then, yeah I was a bit bruised, but none the worse for wear.

Some of the rubber-necking students helped me up and picked my backpack off the ground. Ironically, I had landed on my physics book while demonstrating Newton's laws of motion. Ironically, the woman who hit me did so while making an illegal turn towards the Law building.

I was still feeling a bit dazed, but glad that I really wasn't hurting much. Then, I picked up my bicycle.

It was a robust mountain bike - specifically a Specialized StumpJumper. I'd gotten it second hand at a great price. I loved that bike.

And it was broken.

It couldn't ~~walk~~ roll at all. The front rim was like a taco, the front fork a nearly useless appendage. It broke my heart. My bike had saved me by taking the brunt of the impact.

The Audi driver was still a bit freaked out. My broken bicycle, I think, actually perked her up because now she could do something to make amends. She drove me home, all the while, she was talking nervously and continuing to apologize. All the while, I was wondering if it was safe to be riding with her.

She gave me her address and telephone number, told me to have the bike repaired and she would pay for it. I took my bicycle straight from her car and transported it to my little hatchback and headed for the bike shop.

"Do me! Do me NOW!", I begged the shop guy. Uhm... for the bike repairs I mean.

It was a few days, but eventually she was back as good as new. My bodyguard. Years later, I sold her to a friend of mine in upstate New York who coordinates host families for foreign exchange students. I recently heard from my friend, and she tells me how the bike is still enjoyed by the many students that shuttle through.

Fresh from the "spa"!

So I'm feeling a little bicycle love today. And I just picked Tessa up from her annual tune up at the shop.

She's beautiful!

dear darkness

2012-01-26T10:42:00.001-07:00

The morning was dark. There was no moon. It seems to bring out the strange.

Mouse Town was particularly eerie. Recall that Mouse Town (my personal term of endearment) consists of several acres of undeveloped land that sits in limbo ever since the a booming community of Preble Mice was discovered. Mouse Town is along one of my favorite running routes and I enjoy the break from civilization. On these dark mornings, it's almost otherworldy. No lights, no concrete, no human evidence other than the trampled trails.

I have seen and heard coyotes in Mouse Town. I had an interesting encounter with a crazed deer in Mouse Town. I have yet to meet any of the rodentia.

This morning I emerged from the darkness and feralness of Mouse Town and was thinking that the remainder of the run would be relatively tame. I passed by a high school kid walking to school. He carried a lit-up iPod and was making noises at it (singing?). A little further on, I stopped to wait at a crosswalk and the kid joined me. He was about six feet tall and gangly, wearing a backpack over a black leather jacket, jeans, army jungle boots, and a hickish mesh cap.

Our light turned and I resumed my run across the 6-lane road and soon both heard and felt the jungle boots slapping against the pavement. The kid was also running now. He was racing me. How fun! At least I hoped he was racing me as opposed to being about to pounce on me and beat me to a pulp just because I'd heard him singing.

But then, I reasoned, if he was going to pounce and beat me to a pulp, he wouldn't do it in the well-lit intersection of a 6-lane commuter road. No, he must be racing since, additionally, I was carrying nothing of value for him to mug me for. Well, I was wearing the awesome tights, but I don't think they're his size.

He surged ahead just as we made it to the curb and continued running full out. He continued for about a half a block, then slowed to a shuffle. At that point, I reminded myself that not everybody walking with a backpack early in the morning is necessarily a high school kid. It was still a bit early for school, but I often encounter kids who have morning clubs and such. This kid looked more like he had a smoking circle to attend, but who knows.

He moved to the side to allow me to pass and turned towards me. I smiled and thanked him for the race as I went by. He was panting heavily and giving me a look that said, "Why would you want to keep running?!"

At that, I decided I liked him.

don't try this at home, or anywhere

2012-01-25T13:31:00.000-07:00

If at first you don't succeed, failure may be your style. - Quentin Crisp

It would be a night to remember.

I was with three of my best friends. Late spring. Beautiful night. We were all 17-years-old and very very wise. Or so we thought. Being young and wise and high on friendship and the beautiful night (and there was probably beer present, I'm thinking yeah), we waxed philosophically about our lives and deep topics like friendship and boys and

cow-tipping.

For those unfamiliar with the term "cow-tipping", it's something of rural lore pertaining to the act of tipping over cows. No, not "tripping" over cows. TIPPING over cows, as in pushing on them until they fall over. For those who have heard of this and wonder of it's truth, there is NO truth! It's all a big MYTH!!

Three of the four of us didn't know that. We do now.

The fourth one was a rancher girl named Stephanie. Stephanie lived in the outskirts of our little hometown. There were lots of smallish hobby-type farms and such around our boonie-filled town, but Stephanie's place was actually quite an operation. A real ranch that was her family's business.

And they had cows. Lots of cows.

That's where we were that night, in a cow pasture under the moon and the stars. The four of us, the many cows, and Stephanie's dogs, Shep and Red Neck (really, those were their names). I remember sitting on the ground, leaning against Red Neck as our discussion turned to cow-tipping.

Theresa was most curious and asked Stephanie if it was true.

"Yeah, we tip them over all the time. Want to do one now?"

Of course we did.

"Just find one in the open that isn't moving around much. That means that it's probably asleep.", Stephanie instructed, "then just walk up to it quietly, and then SHOVE it good!"

Okay, the three of us would do this together. In the dim moonlight, we found a suitable victim.

"I don't know, it seems kinda mean", Carolyn was having misgivings.

"Nah, they pretty much sleep through the whole thing", Stephanie assured.

We approached. Some of the other cows moved off slowly, but our target remained.

I remember how, up close, cows are a lot bigger than they look on TV and the movies. That was part of the fun of hanging out at Stephanie's - all that real world knowledge! This cow was no exception. It suddenly seemed enormous.

Nevertheless, the three of us positioned ourselves - legs anchored, hands lightly on the cow's flanks.

"Okay," I whispered (why was it me that counted us off?), "one... two... THREE!" BIG SHOVE!

That cow did not tip. Didn't come close to tipping. The only things that fell over were Theresa, Carolyn, and me. The cow, on the other hand, was I think a little pissed off at the whole thing. She reared her head at us, kicked a little, and took off for about 10 steps. The other cows were all a little wtf? too. In today's terms, it was an epic fail.

I was glad it was dark and I wasn't quite sure what I'd landed in. The three of us laid there laughing at each other, but clearly Stephanie was laughing the hardest.

"Cows don't sleep standing up (YOU BUTTHEADS)! That's just a bunch of bullsh*t somebody made up! Like you're really gonna tip one over!"

And then, "Come on over to the barn, I'll hose you all down".

A night to remember.

what we wear

2012-01-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

It's like the wrap around a gift. It's often the first impression. It's our clothing. Sometimes, our clothing is the only clue to our personalites. It can build up or, likewise, destroy our image. Like it or not, others relate to us through what we wear and the way we wear it.

This is certainly important in our professional lives. Tips abound for what to wear to job interviews, company parties, "casual Fridays".

My first job was working in a hotel restaurant in southern Colorado. Most of our business came from tourism, and my restaurant cohorts and I ran around in our denim skirts, western shirts, - and yes - bandanas tied around our necks. Our nametags were little metal sherrif badges. Oh, the abuse.

I guess when people come to Colorado, they want to see people dressed like "cow people" even if they're in a hotel. On a side note, I have never actually tipped a cow, but I have tried and failed. That is for an altogether different post, however...

Despite my failure as a cow tipper, I did collect many a tip at that restaurant job, and I don't doubt that a good percentage of those tips were inspired by my "cowgirl" uniform.

I've been a hotel desk clerk, wearing a dark blazer, dark skirt, and white blouse. I've been a quality control inspector, wearing a white lab coat. As an engineer, I usually wore a skirt, casual top, and sensible shoes. Now, as a tutor, slacks (no jeans) or skirt and the casual top usually do it.

But crossing guard - now there's where clothing is of utmost importance. First, I have to be seen, hence the orange vest. Next, I must present an air of dominion over the traffic while always presenting an aura of calm nurturing and safety for the little ones. Lastly, I must take into account the effect of the elements in any given weather conditions. All of this taxes me greatly. I've probably spent whole minutes planning my crossing guard clothing plan.

Today was windy blustery cloudy. And I had just the ensemble. Warm yet visible, comfy yet functional, sheltering yet flexible. i.e. Wolfgang's heather grey track hoodie. (Don't tell him, he wouldn't like it. Hopefully he doesn't read this).

As I put on my final preparations before heading out into the zone, Chaco sized me up.

"Hmm. You look like... The Unabomber".

I was going for convenience-store-thief-caught-on-surveillance-cam, but I guess Unabomber is an equally flattering statement.

yeah... about that, part III

2012-01-23T09:43:00.000-07:00

Welcome to another installment of the Life Coach Chronicles. Part I and Part II tell how I ended up here - in the throes of sessions with a life coach.

I spent 2 months with my coach. Our sessions were each scheduled a week apart. Have a session - digest for a week - have another session - digest for a week... I thought that worked pretty well.

I never really knew where a coaching session would go. She would ask me questions, and then based on my answers, she'd ask more questions - all the while providing insights. Sometimes I had trouble answering. Sometimes my answers surprised me. Sometimes the inner critic BIOTCH tried to join in. Often, the session would go somewhere else entirely than what I'd expected.

And there was homework, but good homework. One of the first "assignments" I completed was a 16" x 20" painting of the kids. My coach never said, "your homework assignment is to paint a 16" x 20" portrait of your kids", but rather the session had led us to where I decided it would be good for me to "create an artwork that was bigger than 9" x 12"". Because of some other discussion we'd had, I chose to do an acrylic portrait with all 3 kids as victims.

Who's next, Bill Gates?

And to my surprise, THEY actually liked it. I expected them to be all, "Aw, Mom, don't paint us!" But, they in fact, liked it enough that it now hangs in the prestigious position just above the XBOX.

But we didn't harp on the art thing. As coaching progressed, art still remained mostly a hobby for me.   As parents, a lot of us put our desires secondary to the rest of the family's.  The artplay is just the results of much needed "me time".   I needed to get comfortable with doing other "me time" things.

And nothing was heavy-handed or rigid. My coach would often ask, "So, what do you think your homework should be?" Or sometimes, unexpected revelations would come up, and she would ask, "Would you like to coach on that now?"

One really helpful assignment was for me to list 10 "boundaries" - or things I would not tolerate. My list includes accepting labels for myself and others, hypocrisy, and what I call "the TGIF mentality" among other things.

After completing that, my next assignment was to list 10 "must haves" - things that energize and motivate me. I've got physical exercise, music, and creating art, among other things. I highly recommend brainstorming these lists for yourself. Be as nurturing and as naughty *wink*wink*nudge*nudge* as you want!

And as these sessions went on, I noticed that I felt different. I felt better - more confident, more relaxed. The different buckets in my life were improved too. I thought I was a better teacher, a better mom, a better wife, a better friend. I also think my artwork and writing improved. In the midst of this, I joined a local writer's group and jumped on NaBloPoMo to enjoy the challenge of blogging every day.

Before this, I was restless and feeling stuck and thinking that my life was passing too quickly. It's kind of funny, looking back now. I thought a life coach would help me find a "job". Now, I've got inspired plans. In some ways, I can't do them quickly enough.   I know it's not for everybody, but working with a coach was worth it for me. As long as I remembered to keep a sense of humor too, and not take myself too seriously!

Let's share some links,shall we?

Here's my coach's site. Tell her Abby Normal sent you and she will ...   "What??"

Then there's the site with the helpful questionnaires.

I read and learned from this book, as the author was Coachly recommended.

TED has a lot of interesting talks on a variety of subjects.

Okay then?! Carry on, my waywards!
(... there'll be peace... don't you cry no mo'... GUITAR SOLO!)

"Never wait until you are good at something before you start doing it.” - Brent Kelly
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Silver Liningness Sunday

2012-01-22T10:28:00.000-07:00

Happy silver liningness day! For starters, my oldest brother recently got hitched, with my neice (his daughter) officiating.

My neice, new "official" sis, bro

This is a second marriage, and he and his bride have actually been together for several years, but they went ahead and tied that knot a little tighter.

Since I'm a bit of a romantic sap, they get top billing this week.

Okay, enough mush... and speaking of sap, we had that tree thing this week. In the end, I'm happy with my tree man selection. He is a pretty nice guy, just lacking a bit in professionalism maybe. I suppose that I'd rather err on the side of friendliness and competence in sacrifice of professionalism.

In other happenings, I had a renewed motivation to "get my act together", mainly in just getting organized around the house. Maybe it's the New Year, maybe it's the Life Coach, maybe it was that sherrif pulling us over for an expired registration sticker (sheesh!). ANYWAY, now that things have gotten back into a groove after the holidays, I knew I needed to revamp my work area a.k.a "The Giga Desk" (as opposed to "Mega Desk", because mine is exponentially better)

It used to be a hodge podge of art toys, teaching materials, tutoring notes, household paperwork, and whatever other crap got piled on. It was "organized chaos", but I knew I needed to increase the "organized" and drastically decrease the "chaos".

Giga desk

This is the "After" photo. You don't want to see a "Before". I've already banished it from my brain.

your face

2012-01-21T19:31:00.000-07:00

The tree is down. Tree man Dan made good on his promise to make yesterday up to me. He returned today with ALL his good stuff and went to it. He spent all day with me, only me. AND *looks around paranoidly* HE BROUGHT A FRIEND! I'm not angry with him anymore.

Meanwhile, Magnum and I watched a movie. Water for Elephants. I read the book a few months ago. I honestly don't read much fiction, but I picked up that book and surprised myself by finishing it. I recommend them both.

Often, when I see a movie I like, I get an urge to draw one of the characters. It's like a taunt to me "Come on, Abby. Let's see what you've got! Just TRY to capture the essence of this character, I triple dog dare you!"

When I watch a movie, I really study the faces. I get caught up in the unspoken "dialogue", and the good actors (along with direction and lighting, etc.) can really say a lot. Sometimes they scream without making a sound.

So now, I am resisting the urge to draw Robert Pattison's "Jacob". I'm resisting because I'm a non-conformist. Ever since he was cast as the beautiful Edward for the Twilight saga, everybody and their grandma has been doing portraits of him. Search "Robert Pattison Art Portrait" on Google images and see what happens. It's almost as bad as searching "Johnny Depp Art Portrait", but not quite.

I won't draw him either. Not today anyway.
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twirl

2012-01-21T12:40:00.000-07:00

Another Illustration Friday Saturday! This week's prompt is "twirl".

To be honest, my first thought was to do a possum illustration because of the way possums "twirl" their tails around tree branches and hang upside down. But when I looked up images of possums for reference material... I learned that, well...

possums kinda creep me out.

So I painted this instead. If you stare at it long enough, it twirls.
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the woodsman

2012-01-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

I've stayed home today. For a man. With a man.

We've got this tree that we've decided needs to come down. Earlier in the week, I screened some tree guys, and we decided which one to give the job to. He's here today.

Sometimes.

Now, this is a pretty big job involving a pretty big tree. He's working alone - chainsaws, big limbs, etc... I figured I'd stick around just in case something goes awry, even though he is "fully bonded and insured". And that's all well and good, I've got some things that need doing around the house, and my tutoring schedule is free.

He showed up mid-morning and got himself situated amongst the trees. I peeked out the window and saw him hack a few branches, and things were going well. A few minutes later, I can still hear the chainsaw, but tree man is nowhere to be seen. It was, frankly, a little surreal.

So I go outside, and I totally bust him taking out a stump at the neighbors'. A stump!

And I'm just, "Dan!" (his name is Dan), "Dan! I thought that you were MY tree man!" I'm so hurt, I can't hide my pain.

He starts stumbling and stuttering a response. "Ah, Abby, I'm sorry... he asked me to remove this stump for twenty bucks..."

"Twenty bucks? Twenty BUCKS?!? That's all it takes for you to totally abandon me like this?", I'm raw emotion now. He is sheepish defined.

I break down further. "Okay, Dan. I know we haven't been together THAT long, but I just really need to know that I can trust you, okay? I thought we'd bonded pretty well, and I really don't want to have to re-enter the fray and start fresh, looking for another (tree) man."

He's all about the apologetic mumble. I continue.

"... And *sniff* I JUST broke up with the milkman *tears flowing now* after many years, so I'm just really REALLY VULNERABLE right now!"

"You're right, you're right", he placates, "I.. I.. I'm so sorry"

So I soften a little, "Okay, I'm happy that you are so desired by my neighbors and all, but I just really NEED you to keep it in my yard right now, okay?"

"Yes, yes. Of course. I'm sorry".

So he's back on my property again. Doing what he'd said he would do, when who should show up but Neighbor Flanders! Now SHE'S got him cornered - literally up against his truck! That woman has no shame, I swear.

I'm frustrated again. It's been an hour and a half and there's been hardly ANY action! Well, for ME anyways!

Eventually, she moves off, and tree man is mine once again.

Then we enjoy about 2 hours of uninterrupted arborism. It was nice, but then he needs to go, and I'm fine with that.

The tree still stands. He says he'll be back in the morning. For more wood.
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get your fash ON

2012-01-19T10:05:00.001-07:00

And then it was down to just one. Another resolution runner - the only one I would see that morning. They have a way of making themselves known. She was dressed all wrong, but she seemed enthusiastic.

Her obvious mistake, in my opinion, was that she was wearing a big parka. Like, BIG parka. And I was thinking, "oh no, she's gonna get overheated/bogged down and she'll think that's what running is and she'll never come out again".

I do think it's a rather cruel irony that resolution time coincides with the dead of inhospitable winter - for us in the northern hemisphere anyways. People resolve to be more active, go run outside and freeze and hate it, or join a gym and run on a treadmill and hate it.

If only they knew - it's really just another excuse for FASHION!

Wolfgang runs cross-country in the fall and track in the spring for his school. He doesn't do a winter sport, so the track members get together during this "off season" and do training runs together to keep in shape. It's cold and inhospitable outside now. He needed some new compression tights, so he and I went shopping.

And, you know when you have a coupon that says something like "$10 off your next purchase of $50 or more!", so you rationalize buying more stuff so you can ratchet your total up to 50 bucks so you can save the 10 bucks? Yeah, it was like that. Wolfgang's compression tights were on sale, so I checked to see if the women's tights were too. Lo and behold...

If I bought two pairs, I could use my coupon :).

Plus, these compression tights were really really cool looking. OH, they would probably be good performance-wise too...

But they were really really cool looking. Even Wolfgang was jealous that the men's were just solid black.

I got them. I "saved" 10 dollars by getting them, right?? Plus, I consider it my duty to be a fashion and function example to the resolution runners...

if there are any left.
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¿Qué?

2012-01-18T16:29:00.001-07:00

There I was. Produce section of the grocery store. Doing the produce thing when a clean cut, friendly faced hispanic man approached.

"Hola, habla español?", he said.

"Si, un poco", I replied. At this point I figured he didn't speak English and possibly needed some grocery-shopping related assistance. I put on my invisible Spanish-thinking cap and readied for his question.

Instead, I was presented with a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet in Spanish.

What the eff??

He continued to speak to me in Spanish while flipping through the pamphlet with nice illustrations of happy, healthy dark-haired people. I stood there, saying nothing in response because I was too busy wondering why he had targeted me. Was it that (a) I look like an hispanic person who does not speak any English? (b) I look like an hispanic person who does not speak any English and who is on a path to eternal damnation? (c) he was really a dirty old man who is into kinky Spanish spoken things, and this was his way of weeding out the potentials? or (d) something evil was afoot?

Furtherly mystifying was that I had just come from a tutoring session and was in my relatively professional version of myself, rather than a non-English speaking version of myself.

I didn't ponder that for too long, however, because what I REALLY wanted to know was... why was this happening to me in the produce section of a grocery store? I can't remember ever being subjected to that inside a place of business.

Eventually, I was able to basically tell him, "Gracias, but what I really need are some tomatoes", and we parted on good terms.

Later I was thinking, I couldn't do that. Just go up to people and start giving unsolicited advice. It seems such an intrusion. Plus, there are some who just Don't. Like. It. Especially with topics involving religion or politics. It's like asking for a punch in the face.

I'm curious about how others feel about unsolicited advice. Are there some areas where it's welcome, but others where it's not? What about giving it? Comfortable? Uncomfortable? Un poco?
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the thing what happened

2012-01-17T09:29:00.001-07:00

CRIPES it's cold this morning! Wind. Blowing snow. I felt that wind all the way through my windpants AND my Miley Cyrus leggings. Hug a crossing guard if you come across one today.

Speaking of snow, there was that little run-in with the law over the weekend...

We were returning home after a nice time in the big city, and I felt him before I saw him. I was driving the rocking van - Chaco and Wolfgang are NOT insured to drive it, do you know what insurance premiums are for 18 and 16 year-old males?!? Anyway, I felt this dark sinister SUV sort of sidle up beside me, like it's going to pass. Instead, it pulls back and falls in behind me.

I check my rear view and say to myself, "Frick it's a cop!" all the while exuding an outward calm. More specifically, it's a county Sherrif's deputy in a dark sinister SUV. The lights come alive and start a-flashin'.

I signal to indicate that I intend to pull over, but I know I have to stall. I tell Magnum, "We're being pulled over, you know what to do". Instantly, he springs into action and checks the hidden compartments in the door panels. Then he efficiently disperses the extra loose bags of cocaine to each of the kids, and they adeptly tuck them into their properly pre-determined orifices. Well trained, they are. Once I'm confident that the contraband is properly secured, I slow to a stop on the shoulder. I put on my boring housewife persona while watching in the rear view as the deputy approaches.

Okay that last paragraph? It didn't really happen much like that. It was more just me slowing and pulling over while various earbuds began popping out with everybody saying, "Why we stopping?" It's just that this story is, in reality, quite boring and a little embarrassing, hence the embellishment...

The deputy, he was very Bruce Willis. Think tough-looking and hairless. He speaks through the passenger window and tells us that our registration sticker is expired SINCE *COUGH* AUGUST.

He takes my license and the van registration and returns to the dark sinister SUV. I know precisely the database he is checking. I am, after all, a woman of the law. Well, a highly sporadic volunteer at best, but still.

He returns and tells us he's confirmed that our registration is up-to-date, but we really need to put the sticker on. Next time, it will be a $95 fine.

The remainder of the drive is uneventful, and once we get home, Magnum thoroughly adheres the registration sticker that's been in the kitchen basket SINCE *COUGH* AUGUST. Then, he does similar with the registration sticker for the Subaru. *sigh*

With that, we invite the neighbors and all of their kids over for a wild night of narcotics. No one has slept since Friday.
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yeah... about that, Part II

2012-01-16T16:14:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another installment of the Life Coaching Chronicles. In Part I, I gave the story of why and how I hired a life coach.

It was important that I felt I could (a) trust her, (b) feel comfortable talking with her, and (c) get results. (c) was yet to be seen, but (a) and (b) were a go after that initial consult. And notice that I say "her" because I knew I wanted a woman coach as things were going to get personal, and it's probably best to avoid that whole "Harry Met Sally" hypothesis.

Also, I liked that she came from a creative background as opposed to being a corporate/business type coach or a relationship guru type coach, since I felt it was my right brain that was the most confused. I watched the movie my coach told me about in which she'd successfully tackled a challenging role that, in turn, had made quite a postive impact on many lives. Yes, this just might work.

Artwork courtesy of Deidra Alexander

One of the first things she introduced me to was the "inner critic" and how I should train myself to ignore it. We all have one. It's the voice that tells us stuff like, "You're too old for a career change", or "You should do what makes sense according to your resume'", or "People will think you're weak if you tell them you hired a life coach". WAIT, WHAT? Or how about, "A life coach? Seriously!? Think you could be any more self indulgent?!?"

Yeah, that voice.

When I was researching others' experiences with life coaching, I remember one woman who actually constructed a doll to represent her inner critic. It was hideous. I didn't construct an inner critic doll.

I got a bunch of homework before our official sessions began.  My coach directed me to this website where I completed a questionnaire to identify core strengths and values. Additionally, I did a fill-in-the-blanks questionnaire and colored in my wheel.

My coach's job was not to tell me what I should do (that would be so much easier). It's to help me figure out what I should do (that would be so much better).

After just one session, I noticed I was already thinking differently and noticing things I hadn't really thought of before.   One thing that came up, for instance, is the fact that I had none of my artwork on display anywhere in my house - not counting the couple of murals anyway. Even the space where I do my artwork looks more like an engineer's cubicle most of the time. Yes, I'd uploaded some here and on the art blog, but all of the originals were tucked away in binders or folders.

I thought of my art hobby as just an indulgence for me, but it wasn't suitable for the walls of my home, and not to be taken too seriously.

It made me wonder (speaking of the murals), why I had enthusiastically "vomited" a large display of floor to ceiling bold-colored florals one day, but kept everything else in a stash?

I still don't know the answer to that, by the way.

And let me just add that Magnum supported this whole ~~mid-life crisis~~ life coaching endeavor. I told him I felt confident that the benefits would outweigh the cost, and he backed me. "Not everyone has that", my coach reminded me.

And that is really a big piece of this. I know that I have advantages and opportunities that not everyone has. Some of them I've aquired through dumb luck, but others, I've "earned", and I don't want to go squandering them. (btw, I've earned Magnum with a little help from dumb luck). I just really want to do this right - not surprising after what the core values questionnaire told me...

After just a couple of sessions, I was already thinking differently and better. I was putting some frames on and hanging up a few artworks one night when Wolfgang asked me what was up.   I told him it was homework from my life coach.

"You have a life coach?", he asked.

"YES!", I replied rather loudly and quickly, before I could be too embarrassed to admit it.

It had started out well, though, I thought. But it would get even better...
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critter cam

2012-01-16T09:02:00.000-07:00

Parents,

Having trouble getting your kids to wear their helmets when bicycling? I've got a solution - strap a camera to it!

Exhibit A shows a ~~typical~~ enthusiastic teen ready for some bicycling. Except, he's actually wearing a helmet! Exhibit B shows the same enthusiastic teen from the perspective of a much taller person (or the same person standing on a chair...)

Exhibit A Exhibit B

Yeah, okay so anyway, Wolfgang was playing around with the helmet cam. He and I made a nice sturdy mount for it as the camera people wanted us to order theirs special (LAUGH!). Actually, though, our CONCERTED effort consisted of me showing him where various scraps were and him then going and designing and creating and testing it out. Yay for teamwork.

Next time, OFF road! Note that he wisely avoids riding on Crazy Driver Boulevard as it's just not safe to be out there unless one is wearing a bright orange vest and carrying a large bright red stop sign.

... and we wouldn't want something bad to happen to the helmet cam.
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Silver Liningness Sunday

2012-01-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday! Time for a little silver liningness reflection...

First of all, this week I got a blogger award. Now I know these things float around all over the blogosphere, but whenever I get one, I still get the warm fuzzies. Sharing this one, however, requires a confession of sorts.

I have another blog.

But, it's NOTHING to me! I don't even refer to it as a blog. It's just something that happened over the summer when I needed some.. some.. RELEASE.

I had all these paintings and drawings laying around, and I wanted to have my own place to organize and categorize them, so I made this page for them. That's all it was, I SWEAR. But then some other artsy people started to visit, and so I started to visit their artsy places, and the few of us could just geek out on each others' techniques and ... well... there you go. One of my "others" gave me this Candle Lighter Award this week.

This award belongs to those who believe, who always Survive the day and those who never stop Dreaming, for those who cannot quit, for those who keep trying and if you’re in this catergory, you are Entitiled to this Award.

Anyway, I got it from my artsy friend, Cha, and I rather liked the sentiment behind it because sometimes, we can be our own worst critics. I know I can, anyway.

And speaking of other blogs, I wanted to share this great recipe I tried this week for pork ribs and saurkraut. I got it from a food blog and I didn't save the link because I was pretty sure I could make it again from memory (I'm all about the simple). I was looking for it this morning to link here. There are a crap load of food blogs, let me just say! If I ever find that recipe again, I'll give the link.

But anyway, the Real Food Project of 2012 continues. My testers declared this recipe a keeper and I will make it again - from memory.

In movie news, I made it through Fast Five, the fifth ~~freaking~~ installment from "The Fast and the Furious" franchise. I have now seen all five movies, and I'm pretty sure I've seen the first one more than once. Vin Diesel aside, I know I am not the target audience for these movies. I only mention it here because I think this makes me worthy of some award for testosteral tolerance.

Yesterday, Chaco had some birthday money burning a hole in his pocket, so the five of us took a trip up to Denver for some big city slicking. It was a nice little trip - weather-wise, traffic-wise, all-around-wise. Well, except for getting pulled over by the Sherrif's department on the drive home, but that's for later... Good thing for paint-a-horse rehab, and now I'm better for it.
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Prepare

2012-01-14T20:04:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's Illustration Friday on Saturday time! This week's prompt is "prepare", so I did this racehorse and groom.

I love to watch horse racing. I don't gamble, I just love to watch the horses. All that beauty, power, and grace rolled into one for a race that lasts about 2 minutes. And it's amazing all the preparation that goes into a 2-minute race. Maybe I'll put The Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes or Preakness on my bucket list.

And I'm hoping maybe if I'm good this time around, I can come back in my next life as a racehorse. Total badass filly.
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today

2012-01-13T16:02:00.001-07:00

She greets me as I arrive. Cordial. Practiced. Yet sincere.

The table is clean and uncluttered. Just her textbook. Her notebook. Five freshly sharpened pencils.

I ask her what's new. She tells me about a book she's reading.

She likes to read more than she likes to do math. But I'm here, so we will do math.

We'll play a game first. She knows this. She likes this.

I shuffle the cards and deal. The game begins.

She wins. And smiles. I tell her she's faster than she was last time.

Open the book. I remind her that algebra can be fun. She's starting to believe me?

She's Wolfgang's age. Academically, she's younger than Meego.

It makes me sad to think how lonely she was in school.

It makes me happy knowing her parents took her out.

It makes me sad that these concepts are such a struggle for her.

It makes me happy when she answers correctly and smiles.

It makes me sad that she needs a private tutor.

It makes me happy that her tutor

is me.
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post partum

2012-01-12T17:04:00.000-07:00

I was talking with a friend of mine today. She had some news.

"Oh, MAN, I thought I was gonna DIE!", she shared. "The pain - I wanted an epidural! But they wouldn't give me one!"

"Really?", I said, amused at her experience. "I kind of actually LIKED the pain. It kept me present with the whole process, y'know?"

"Forgeddabout! I didn't feel a need to be present. I just wanted to see my prize at the end. You actually LIKED the pain?!", she replied.

"Yeah. I did. I'm sorry it wasn't the same for you." I told her.

"I don't know. I remember you'd told me that it wasn't that bad. That was part of my decision to go through with this. But I'm happy with how it all turned out, I don't know if I could do it again, though." She debated.

"Again?", I asked. "You're thinking of another one?"

"Oh GAWD, I can't even think about that yet! I'm so sore. I hope my husband doesn't mind, but I don't even want him touching me right now!"

---------------

Yep, she got herself that tattoo she'd been pondering for some time. A while ago she asked me for a referral to the place that did mine. Have I ever shown it here?

With such "body modification" - tattoos, piercings, etc. - thereseems to be two main camps. Those that love it, and in fact, may even beaddicted; and those that think it's just wrong/stupid/don't get it.

I can't speak for everyone with a tattoo, but for me I'd say I wanted mineas a means of self-expression mixed with a bit of rebellion? I did someresearch, found a good clean shop with an original artist who would designsomething based on my preferences. I'm happy with how it turned out. Ibasically wanted something "pretty" and I think I got that, but it'salso got a bit of a wild edge to it that I like.

And I'm done. I had one thing in mind, got it done, the end.

And yes, it does hurt, but it's kind of a "hurts so good" kindathing. Really.

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I spy

2012-01-12T09:09:00.003-07:00

... with my grainy eye

1 Navy HC-4 helicopter
1 Messerschmitt Me 262 (yes, I totally had to look that up)
1 Scratchboard rendering of "Marvin the Martian"
1 Birthday boy

Chaco's 18th birthday today. He can now purchase his own spray paint.

I remember 18+ years ago when I was awaiting his arrival. I lamented to some friends, "poor kid's birthday will be right after Christmas when everyone's all partied out". They set me straight, though.

"Heck, that's when the best sales are!" Oh.... YEAH!

Happy Birthday Chaco. Best after-Christmas deal I ever snagged.

I did

2012-01-11T18:55:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, a neighbor friend and I used to walk our dogs together. One day she told me that her 30th wedding anniversary was coming up. "Wow, thirty years", I commended her, "What's your secret?"

She pondered a moment and then, "Welp, every time I wanted a divorce, he didn't. Every time he wanted a divorce, I didn't".

Well... OKAY THEN!

Recently, I read an article by a woman advocating for term limits on marriage. I should link it, but I don't remember where it was... She cited the high divorce rate, and the fact that our courtrooms are already overcrowded. Plus, divorce is expensive. Why not just have term limits?

Her thought was, when the term is up, both can either walk away clean, or decide to "renew". Much like we renew our driver's licenses, why not the same for the marriage license? I don't recall what happens with property and children. I thought it pretty outside-the-box.

She posed an interesting question, though. She pondered how many couples have stayed married because daily, they choose to stay married vs. couples who stay married just because they GOT married.

Magnum signing his life away

In some ways, it seems like forever ago when Magnum and I got married. And it's safe to say that we are in the "choose daily" bucket. Today, I ran across another similar blog post asking if marriage was becoming obsolete. I admit that I've wondered this one myself, partly because I've got a bit of a rebellious non-conformist streak. I wonder, why do I need a government issued license for love? Well, technically I don't. I just need one for marriage.

We're in the midst of our 22nd year. If someone asked me my secret to staying married, what would be my answer?

(a) I love him

(b) He fixes stuff around the house for free

(d) Divorce was invented by lawyers, and I refuse to let them win!

(e) All of the above

What do you think? Term limits? Is it all obsolete?

P.S. I'm really really sorry

2012-01-10T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today a friend shared that PostSecret had posted his submission. Have you been to that site/read the books? Various people's cathartic secret confessions? Some are rather silly bathroom-type things. Some deal with illegal activities. Some are downright creepy

I went to the site and checked the recent secrets to see if I could figure out which one was his. I don't know which one and he's not telling. I'm good with that because, it's supposed to be a secret.

There is probably a helpful psychological aspect that comes from submitting a confession and then seeing it show up in print. I suppose I'll never know, though, since I really have nothing to be particularly sorry about. Nope, I got nuthin'.

I don't have anything like that time back in high school, when I was pretty good friends with this girl I'll call Sherri. Sherri had a boyfriend. I had a boyfriend. Sherri and her boyfriend had a rather volatile relationship. Nothing physically violent, but just a lot of emotional ups and downs. Theirs was much like mine and my boyfriend's.

I don't have anything like the fact that I was pretty good friends with Sherri's boyfriend too. I'll call him Freddie. Freddie had a fun sense of humor and was just fun to be with. And we were on the track team together so cheered each other in our respective events. He was a good miler, I was a pretty decent quarter-miler. We got each other.

I don't have anything like with the whole on-again-off-againness of both mine and Freddie's respective relationships, leading to there often being emotional turmoil going on with at least one of us. Being from a small town, we all hung out together - sometimes with the boyfriends/girlfriends, sometimes not.

I don't have anything like the time Freddie and I and some of our other friends were out camping and talking and drinking beer around the fire. I don't have anything about Freddie and I both being sad about our latest fights with the boyfriend/girlfriend. I don't have anything like how the whole attraction that had been building the entire track season, combined with beer and campfire and openning up and sadness, led Freddie and me to pair up when the inevitable pairings up ensued.

Even though I don't have anything like the eventual make-out session being relatively chaste, I know if there was such a thing, it wouldn't have been parentally sanctioned.

And so I didn't experience the overwhelming guilt I felt for what I'd done to Sherri. And when it got back to Sherri and she never spoke to me again, I don't know how much more awful that made it. I don't know anything about how it would have made me feel so awful, that the awful feeling would last 30 years and more.

But if I did, that's what I would be so sorry for.
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yeah... about that

2012-01-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

I've kind of, sort of, but not really been wanting to blog a little more in depth about my recent search for and subsequent sessions with a life coach. The short version is that I'm at the start of a transition phase of life and I don't want to screw it up.

The longer version begins with the fact that my kids are getting older and less dependent on me. This is a good thing and one of my main goals as a parent. At the same time, though, I have identified as being a "young mom" for so many years that I'm a little at a loss to know what to do next. It's not that I have no interest in anything else. In fact, it's more the opposite. I have so MANY diverse interests and I don't know which to pursue - and that "young" piece is becoming a "not so..."

So I wanted to get a handle on this, knowing that I do still have a few more years to get to a new place. I didn't want to find myself in an empty nest with no plan. This is, in a sense, an impending retirement for me - from a job that I've loved - and so a tough act to follow.

This life coach thing... it was really something new for me. I've mentioned before how my first investigations into it just overwhelmed me with the sheer number of life coaches in the world. So I got very very very specific with my search words - so specific, I can't even remember what they were. But I'm pretty sure that "transition" was in there and "feeling stuck" and probably "meaning" too.

In the meantime, I researched to find others' experiences with life coaches. I remember one guy who said he'd worked with a coach on two separate occassions in his life (so far). Each time, he'd spent six months. Six months? What did they talk about for six months?? Overall, the experiences I read about were positive. Certainly there are many different types of coaches from different backgrounds, but they also all seemed to follow some fundamental practices.

After visiting a few of the sites that popped up from my very very specific specific search, I contacted one for a free consultation. Most of them offer this. Also, like my coach, many will handle sessions via skype or over the phone.

I will admit that I was, at first, a little braced for a sales pitch. But this coach didn't come off that way at all. I felt that she could help me, but at the same time, our free consultation was never pushy. I just got the impression that she truly wanted to help people who were "stuck" while "in transition" and looking for "meaning", etc...

Also, during that first consultation is where I learned that she was an actress celebrity. This was actually relevent to what we were discussing, it wasn't just, "Hi, my name is Coach and I'm also an actress celebrity (so be in total awe, little person)". Despite her fame, I found her to be very easy going and approachable.

I didn't consult with any other coaches. I hired her.

To be continued...
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Silver Liningness Sunday

2012-01-08T10:37:00.000-07:00

Greetings on this sunny Sunday! We're one week into the last year of the earth!

As special as the holidays are, it was nice to get back to the usual and sometimes responsible grind. School was back at it on Thursday, and I enjoyed seeing my little pedestrians and parents again at the crosswalk.

Plus, weather-wise this past week was a mid-winter treat. Highs in the 60's on a couple of days. I ran errands on my bicycle while wearing capris. CAPRIS!

A few years ago, I never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I'm seriously thinking of getting my own bowling ball. Ever since Chaco started bowling for his school, we've been going bowling more often. Still just for fun, but I'm the type of person that, if I'm gonna do something, I'm gonna do it right (dammit!). Bowling for real is quite new to me. But I've seen improvement in Chaco's game and form in a relatively short time. True, he has a coach, but he also has his own ball which is way better than those plastic community chunks at the bowling alley. So yeah, I've got a coupon that expires at the end of the month, and I'm thinking...

Speaking of coaches, I was feeling like maybe I was stagnating and possibly backsliding after nearly two months of helpful life coaching. I knew that once our weekly sessions stopped, it would be up to me to keep my motivation going. But I actually find myself doing quite well on solo this week. I guess it was a combination of the zombie flu and the holidays that got me off track, but now I'm feeling more focused and motivated and organized rather than the scatter-brained and frustrated and clueless of a few months ago.

My coach is actually a bit of a celebrity. I didn't know that before I met her, but that is not an indication of her lack of celebrity. I'm just often not in-the-know of such things. Being a visual person, I thought a small pic of the coach near my wheel would help me focus, in much the same manner as I did my Web Cam training. It's ended up to not be necessary. I do still have my Shia Cam, however.

And I feel somewhat obligated to give a reluctant shout out to facebook. In general, I think it's overrated, and I use it pretty sparingly. This week, though, I found myself involved in a very helpful professional discussion with someone I used to work with. I've gotten to know her much better since we've become facebook friends than when we actually worked together. I'm still pondering if that's a good thing or a bad reflection...

Along those lines, one of my very first blog friends, who no longer blogs, shares good family recipes with me on facebook. One of my nights of real cooking was one of our new favorites I got from her. Big juicy burgers from the crock pot!

one week in

2012-01-07T19:20:00.000-07:00

I went out running this morning. Let me just clarify that I don't run every day. I only run a couple of days during the week and usually Saturday mornings. During the week, I'm up and out before the chickens and typically don't see much more of humanity - other than my ex, the milkman. Such a player!

But on Saturdays, I'm out when it's a little later and a little brighter. WHO were all those people this morning?!?

It's time for the resolution runners.

It started with a guy going up the hill across the street from me, not far from my house. I heard him before I saw him. Huffing, puffing, hacking, and spitting. He didn't look (or sound) like he was having much fun, but he kept at it.

Next was another guy dressed all in black. Black wind pants, black hoodie, even black shoes I think. He was actually moving at a pretty good clip. On second thought, maybe he had just knocked off the Western Convenience store and was not a resolution runner at all.

There were various others. Some with dogs. The dogs seemed both happy and befuddled, wondering what was up. It wasn't "jam packed" by any means, but considering it was pretty chilly out and relatively early, it was noticably more crowded. Just like last year. And the year before that. And the year before that. And... well... so on.

So, good for them. But I hope they don't feel bad if they don't stick with it. I've known people who started running and eventually it just became, in their words, "drudgery". I know I've had good days and bad days, but I've never experienced "drudgery".

I think I've mentioned this before that I've run for such a long time not because I'm particularly disciplined. I just like to do it. I don't track a bunch of statistics or use a bunch of the latest gadgetry - heart monitors, pedometers, gmaps, etc. I don't even wear earbuds. As silly as it sounds, I just like to go out and put one foot in front of the other, quickly and many times. Some people knit...

I wonder how many will join me next week.
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grounded

2012-01-07T15:52:00.000-07:00

Happy Illustration Friday on Saturday once again. First one for 2012! This week's prompt is "grounded", and I decided to draw an airplane. On the ground.

I wanted it to be a pretty airplane. It may be strange to think of a warplane as "pretty", but the Red Baron Fokker, I think, is rather pretty.

About a year ago or so, we watched the movie. Prior to that, when I would hear "Red Baron", I usually thought of Snoopy and/or pizza. I liked the movie, though. I probably wouldn't have chosen it, but the guys wanted to see it, so I watched along and enjoyed it.

Similarly, I appreciate how these Illustration Friday prompts get me to draw or paint things I might not normally draw or paint - like this little Fokker.
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in the sea

2012-01-06T10:22:00.002-07:00

Anita is a blog friend who, in my preference, doesn't blog nearly enough. But when she does, it's always something interesting and thought provoking. She's done it again in writing about being the LBW (Lone Black Woman).

She ends by asking her readers:
How often are you the lone (fill in the blank)?

Before I was a mom, I was an engineer. More specifically, a mechanical engineer. More specifically, a manufacturing engineer. I truly enjoyed my job, and did it for about 10 years. But once the babies came along, the whole thing sort of lost its luster, and I hung up my factory toys when Chaco was 3 and Wolfgang was 18 months.

<-- Amy from "Big Bang Theory". She's awesome!

But during those years, and certainly during my time in college, I was often the lone female at meetings, on design teams, etc. I honestly didn't think about it that much. I suppose that growing up in a neighborhood full of boys had amply prepared me for my academic and professional lives.

And, I think it's safe to say, that the majority of the men I worked with had no problem with me either. I know it was awkward for a few at first, but once they got to know me, all was fine.

At the last place I worked, when I was a new-hire, I was assigned a "mentor" to work beside while he showed me the various ropes. He was older - in his early 60's - and close to retirement. We became very good friends. Later, he confessed to me, that when our boss told him that he would be training me, he "wanted nothing to do with it!". He confessed this to me at a company picnic, after he'd had a few beers. He went on to say what a blessing our working relationship had turned out to be, and I wholeheartedly agree.

For the younger guys, those closer to my own age, I never felt like it was an issue at all. We all worked side-by-side, not "genderless" by any means, but simply comfortable with each other. The whole "lone girl" thing would sometimes come up as just a fun aside.

I do remember one guy, though. I think he was just uncomfortable around women in general. He was mid-40's at the time. We were at a design meeting discussing certain components. Parts that fit together are often referred to as "male" and "female" for obvious reasons. This man stopped, mid-discussion, looked at me, the lone female, and asked, "Does it offend you that we refer to these as 'male' and 'female'?"

I almost wanted to laugh. I almost wanted to make some sarcastic p*nis/v*gina remark. In the end, I just assured him that no, I was not offended.

We're all just people. I included the pic of Amy (not a mech. engineer, she's a neurobiologist, but fits the stereotype just fine) from "Big Bang Theory" since, despite my disinterest in most of TV, I do enjoy that show. Probably because I can relate to all of the characters, and it makes me reminiscent of my working girl days. I'll end with an Amy quote:

"Sheldon, sometimes you forget, I'm a lady. And, with that comes an estrogen-fueled need to page through thick glossy magazines that make me hate my body."

Seven Links Challenge

2012-01-05T11:14:00.000-07:00

Terri recently challenged me to do this not-a-meme-but-sure-feels-like-one. From the title, it sounds like a sausage eating contest perhaps, but it's not. It does require a bit of blog digging, and I thought it would be a good thing to do at this, the start of the new year/month.

There are 7 categories, and...

The blogger who is nominated publishes his or her seven links, one for each category.
The blogger nominates up to five other bloggers to take part.

Terri's submission is here.

I've been blogging for a looooooong time. I remember when I first started. We had just moved here, and I was home with toddler Meego all day while Chaco and Wolfgang were in elementary school. I didn't know anyone here in town yet, and blogging was just taking off (remember the days before facebook/twitter? Remember??)

So I dug around in my blog archives to find my 7 links. I can't go back to the beginning beginning, because I used to be at a different blog host before moving over here to blogger in '08, and I just scrapped the old stuff. Besides, that would be too much work...

Anyway, here's what I came up with:

Your most beautiful post   - I chose Once Upon a Time, the recent post about the autistic girl / crossing guard customer who sang for me.

Your most popular post - If I go just off of pageview statistics, the "popular" posts are those that I've done for Illustration Fridays, but I wanted to filter those out because I think of my blog as the place where I write. The Illustration Fridays are just a "thing on the side". But similarly, a post that turned out to get lots of visits (from keyword searches most likely) is Inflation where I discussed the artist Botero and Chaco's disdain for him.  Botero is still a "rolling" joke between Chaco and me, by the way...

Your most controversial post - Now this was difficult. I purposely avoid controversy here. It's my blog and I don't want to be starting fights! This is not to say that I don't have strong opinions on certain topics, I'm just not a rant blogger. I tentatively chose School Daze as my controversial post, but could've just as easily gone with the one about hair.

Your most helpful post - In Writing Good, I gave some tips on... uh... writing good.

A post whose success surprised you - In this case, I'm going to go ahead and include an Illustration Friday post. For Mysterious, I did a rather silly drawing of a platypus. Imagine my surprise when it was chosen as Pick of the Week by the Illustration Friday bunch. I was humbly honored to be chosen since Illustration Friday gets hundreds of submissions each week. Tickled, really.

A post you feel didn’t get the attention it deserved - Remember that bear that almost ate me in A Dog Walk with Half a Face and a Bear?

The post that you are most proud of - Pride. Hmm...   I had to think on this one a bit. I've written posts where I'm proud of my family, or proud of something that happens at work or through volunteering. In the end, though, I'll go with Because Second Place is First Place Last where I took first place for the ladies in a 5k. The thing I was proud of, though, is not that I won, but that I entered it in the first place. I participated. Prior to that, I hadn't entered a race in years. And I can count on one hand the total number of races I've run in, not counting high school. But I decided to do this one, mainly because it was for a good cause and it was time and I JUST WANTED TO.  I've learned (life coach!) that I can and should do things "just for me" once in a while.  That race got me out of my shell a little - note that this year I did the Turkey Trot for Thanksgiving :). And I actually realized that we still haven't used those coupons I won!

Okay! That was a nice walk down memory lane. Now here's the part where I nominate "up to" five other bloggers. I nominate three. Don't want to be pushy!

1. CiCi at Liquid Mind, Sanguine Soul.
2. Jenn at So This is Love...
3. Judy at Where One Day Runs Into Another

... and anyone else who would like to.
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action!

2012-01-04T09:05:00.000-07:00

My day of hopeful productivity went pretty wellyesterday. China and I made a friendlyvisit to the vet’s and she’s inoculated against rabies for another 3years. I’m feeling a little moreprotective of China these days – maybe we all are- since she’s the last of ourfurry pets since the cat went to the other side. And she’s getting on in years. Her mentalness keeps her young, though.

Between that and some tutoring, I embarked on a bit of a cleaningfrenzy, but certainly nothing serious. This was only to be interrupted by the UPS guy delivering our new helmetcam – WEE!

I’ve thought about getting one for a while, and Chaco knew alittle about them too since he’s the gadget guy / bicyclist. So it arrived yesterday and naturally I had to ~~squeal and play with delight~~ learn the various functions and test it for any defects.

I went on a highly HIGHLY covert mission inside the compound. OH, it was covert! Notice how I was practically able to lodge the thing up Meego's nose before he was on to me! And I'm quite sure the fish, intelligent as they are, were unaware of anything.

In the ManCave, Wolfgang begins spilling secrets without even knowing its All Being Recorded. Chaco slept through the entire mission!

Now I look forward to taking it on the road! Not to worry, though, as this will not become a vlog. I enjoy typing too much.

And I mention the interrupted cleaning frenzy (including Chaco's computer guts from his latest "upgrade" project) for, well, y'know... excuse the mess...
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back to abnormal

2012-01-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

I was up at the "usual" time this morning. I've been decadently sleeping in - about an hour longer - on most days during the winter break, but today I was back at it and up at a respectable time. Later this morning, I'll take China to the vet's, then I've got some tutor biz in the afternoon. The kids are still out of school for two more days, which means I'm off from crossing guard duty until Thursday. We wouldn't want to be TOO responsible just yet.

I had an enjoyable run this morning while it was still dark. Most of the snow from that Christmas week storm has finally melted off, so my pathways were crunchy-free. Plus, I think I'm finally over the post-flu clumsiness and feeling like my usual running self again. There aren't too many "resolution runners" out at that hour, but I've been seeing them around for the last couple of days. Happens every year.

So, what to do with all of this responsible vigor? Well, for one thing, facebook Judy shared this brilliant calendar: The 2012 Declutter and Organize Calendar!

Just do one little activity each day and you too can be clutter free by year's end! Maybe sooner! I despise clutter, I love this concept.

As I peruse it, I see there are probably some days I can skip. Like "Put all your cans together on a can shelf". Cans? Can shelf? Then I see "Clear out one pile in a hallway". Actually, that task shows up on a few different days. Are there piles in your hallways? We have occassional piles in the hallways which I routinely clear by shouting "HEY, get yer crap outta the hallway or it's goin' in the trash!"

Several years ago, while in college, I was looking at prospective rentals. One was in a fourplex and the landlady met me there, only to find that she didn't have the key to the one that was available. We knocked on one of the adjoining units and asked the woman inside if we could look around, as the layout was the same as the one I would possibly rent. She said, "okay", and invited us in.

It looked like the aftermath of a hurricane! I remembered when my mom used to look at my bedroom when I was a kid and say how it looked like a typhoon or cyclone had gone through it (Mom being Filipino was familiar with typhoons/cyclones rather than hurricanes). But this... THIS really did look that bad! Clothing strewn about, dishes and eating utensils in almost every room, random documents and piles of who-knows-what everywhere...

The landlady didn't say anything but I could tell by her expressions as we walked around that her thoughts were bouncing between "welp, there goes the chance of renting that available unit today", and "I'm evicting these slobs immediately!"

In the end, however, I did end up renting the available unit. It was a great location, had off-street parking, and the slob neighbors never used the community yardworking tools made available to us. And they were quiet.

So quiet, I sometimes wondered if they were possibly trapped under mounds of debris.

Anyway, today's mission: Declutter the top of your cabinets and dust. Let's party!
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this year I'm gonna do it

2012-01-02T10:49:00.000-07:00

I have this resolution that I've made for several new years. I've also sometimes made it when it wasn't a new year. Then I notice that it's gone and I need to resolve again.

I'm going to cook. Like real food.

Now, I DO do this every once in a while. Get out my cooking toys and prepare a real meal that the family actually likes and chows down. But it seems like those occassions get few and far between or maybe just have some annual special occassion tied to them.

For instance, somewhere along the way, it was decided that we would have steamed crab legs on New Year's eve. Here are some of the latest ones steaming away. I don't remember how many batches I steamed, but they disappeared in a frenzy of flying crustacean exoskeleton garbage.

I'm not saying that we will be having crablegs every week. But note that I do have a bamboo steamer - one that I enjoy using. I hadn't used it since LAST New Year crabs! *sigh*

I made much loved scalloped potatoes on Christmas. What is so special about scalloped potatoes!? Well, for one thing, around here, they seem to only appear at Christmas! *sigh* While I like keeping the crablegs special for new years, I think I can manage some freaking scalloped potatoes once in a while other than Christmas!

And really, my recurring resolution isn't just about certain dishes to prepare, but it's the whole big picture. Part of the reason I don't cook real food as often as I'd like to is because I don't plan. As good cooks I know know, meal planning is our friend.

To help me, I read an article this morning titled "Eat Some Lucky Foods for a Prosperous New Year". Well, prosperity! That's inspiring. It mentions a tradition of eating pork on new year's day since "Pigs are considered good luck because they root forward, symbolizing progress..." I never heard of that and missed the boat this year as we just scrounged some boring food yesterday for the first of the year.

Other tips include:
Eating food shaped like coins (for obvious reasons)
Eating folded greens (looks like money)
Eating fish scales (symbolize silver)
Eating long noodles (long life)
Eating ring shaped foods (the year coming full circle)

Okay, so I am going to do this thing. Or at least, I'll do it better, right?

Although I'm not quite willing to chuck my emergency stash of Kraft Mac 'n' Cheese just yet...
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new year silver liningness

2012-01-01T11:04:00.001-07:00

Happy New Year! I've got a good feeling about 2012! Or maybe the theories about the Mayan calendar will ring true...

But at least it's been a nice holiday break. And actually, the kids don't go back to school until THURSDAY, so there's still a few days of sloth left. Despite that, we did manage to get in the first mile of the year at midnight. It was a beautifully clear 25 degree night under a bright half-moon.

Fireworks popped off from all directions as we scampered around like weirdos - Chaco with the psycho balaclava.

So this past week was lull week, and I took full advantage by sleeping a little more, reading a little more, dealing with the house being trashed a little more.

We also enjoyed a few movies, so I will give my quick At-The-Movies opinion summary:

Limitless was okay. If nothing else, it has an interesting plot. I will say, however that, apparently unlike much of the rest of the female population, Bradley Cooper doesn't do a whole lot for me.

As a family, we watched Ping Pong Playa, which I actually rather liked. It was a lot better than I expected. I expected it to suck, though.

Never Forever was a drama about a woman who inadvertently becomes happier from actions meant to make her depressed husband un-depressed. I thought it pretty good as it had an interesting theme. The audience is in on her "evolution" mostly through camera-in-the-bedroom, so this is NOT one to watch with the kids.

Lethal Weapon (from 1987!) made it in as a token guy movie that I went ahead and sat through. Young Mel Gibson in a monster mullet. It stretchingly counts as a Christmas movie around here, much like "Die Hard".

Soul Kitchen is German, so unless you speak the language, subtitle reading is required. I enjoyed Every. Single. Minute of it.

All in all, a nice rather low-key break to get charged up for the new year. Happy New Year to all of my blog friends - I look forward to getting to know you even better in 2012!

highlight

2011-12-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

Happy Illustration Friday on New Year's Eve Saturday. Omigosh, what a day?! Anyways, this week's IF prompt is "highlight".

So I was thinking... uhm... hair? Nah.

Well, there's always the sports highlight. In my work as a tutor, I've had several high school athlete students. Not just run-of-the-mill high school athletes, but highly recruited ones. They excel at a particular sport and big colleges and universities want them. Badly.

They get all excited at the prospects, go visit campuses, meet coaching staffs, meet upperclassmen, etc. Then they find out the academic requirements of their schools of choice and it's all, "Uh oh..." Enter the private tutor.

I'm not sure how many students in this category I've taught, but I can say that each one of them has been a delight to work with. They have all been hard-working, conscientious, disciplined,and suprisingly humble.

They didn't come into it looking for shortcuts or ways to "beat the system". They focused on the task at hand, looked to me as their coach, asked good questions, and did everything I asked of them. I've concluded that it's these traits that helped them be in the position of highly sought athletes in the first place.

I know that "jocks" often get a bad rap, and I know that not every one is like the students - no strangers to the sports highlights - I've been fortunate enough to work with. But when they get in touch with me down the line and say, "I made it!", THAT is the highlight for me.

opposites attract, the sequel

2011-12-30T15:05:00.003-07:00

Okay, agg79 commented that since I'm having fun at Magnum's expense, and that since I certainly dont have "perfect feet", then I should at least fess up an reveal my running shoes. NOT a problem.

These are my lovely Nikes, or at least an attractive google rendition of such. Note that they are not optimum for me based on my gait analysis, but I like them because they're lightweight and simple. So I run in them, rebel that I am.

No, my true shame comes from the shoes I wear for walking. I typically walk the dog everyday, and typically walk with Magnum each evening. In fact, I attributed most my "running" injuries to improper walking shoes. And now, these are what I wear for walking:

They are absolutely hideous! Really, this image does not do them justice. They look bad enough now, but imagine them in summertime when I wear them with shorts! It's difficult for me to admit that I do such a thing!

BUT, I'm on my second pair of these ugly ugly shoes and my feet, knees, hamstrings, etc. have never been happier. It's quite the love / hate relationship.

I did joke with Magnum that, when he's finished running in his new shoes, maybe we could bronze them and put them on the mantle. But in reality, I totally win the ugly shoe contest.

And that's enough about the shoes!
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opposities attract?

2011-12-30T11:29:00.004-07:00

Okay, I did one thing, I did start the running blog up again - more or less. More as in it exists, less as in I haven't written anything over there yet. BUT it's a start... I checked on a couple of my running zealot friends to see that their blogs do still exist, but nothing's been posted for Looooooong Times.

In somewhat related news, though, Magnum and Wolfgang went shoe shopping yesterday. Wolfgang is the "other" runner in the family and was due for a pair. Magnum uses the treadmill a couple of times a week too, and he's got weird feet, so he wanted to go to the running store with Wolfgang and have the full blown "gait analysis".

First, here are the shoes that Wolfgang got. Aren't they pretty? I swear the boys get the coolest colors! Plus he gets the all-important High School Team Discount. I've done the gait analysis too, and Wolfgang and I are pretty much in the same category...

But check out Magnum's shoes - resulting from his gait analysis. Dude! We all know that he has flat feet, it almost kept him out of the army. Check the soles of these shoes, though. They remind me of big baby shoes! I don't mean to make fun, really I don't! There is truly much science that goes into running shoe design, and I for one appreciate it. I can't imagine trying to run in these things with my high arches.

So anyway, we're all decked out running-wise for the new year. Me with the old/new blog, those guys with their shoes. I will say that running's been good to me lately. I haven't wanted to mention the fact that I have been injury free now for quite some time - no knee bursitis, no plantar fasciitis, no strained hamstringitis... If I say something, it might wake them up!

And, according to my records, I've run 1408 miles to date in 2011. I'm not really one to keep track of a bunch of stats, but I do keep track of miles because it indicates when my shoes are about to crap out.

1408 miles = 4.7 pairs of shoes. Mom would be proud.
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beginning of the end

2011-12-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

Magnum and I were out for our Old Folk's walk last night. I asked him if he had any New Year's resolutions.

"I've got [that financial thing]", he replied, ponderingly, "and that [other financial thing]. You?"

"Nah, *sigh* not really. Got any suggestions?", with great expectation.

"Nope, you're perfect", he replied a little too quickly.

"Ah, c'mon, I can take it!"

Then he went on to make a couple of good suggestions from the professional realm that are along the same lines as what I was discussing with my coach. Things I was planning to do anyway, but I just needed to get specific. So now they're specific and I'll write them down and do them.

I also signed up for another month of NaBloPoMo. Go ahead and click the image and you too can be part of the fray!

The theme is "Beginnings" so what's not to like about that? Just commit to blogging EVERY day of the month, and read some of the others' stuff. I figure if I made it through December - despite the holidays and the flu - I can do a January!

I'm also thinking of resurrecting the old running blog. When I had it before, I met a few other zealots and we would keep each other motivated and blog about exciting things like new shoes and mud.

I miss that sometimes...

What do you have in the works??

twenty twelve

2011-12-28T09:14:00.000-07:00

This year, it's "Gardens East and West". There have been countless others - most I can't remember. I've gotten one every Christmas for the last 20+ years.

The desk calendar. From my stepmother-in-law.

I don't use desk calendars. I used to, though. Back when I was a working girl and had a working girl desk, the desk calendar was a handy tool for me to communicate with coworkers who would stop by my cubicle and find it vacant. They could look at my desk calendar and possibly get an idea of where I was. If there was no appointment showing on the desk calendar, it was safe to assume that I was in the break room / in the restroom / in a lab / bumming the halls / saw them coming and ducked out to purposely avoid them.

I am not anti-desk calendar. I just don't have a use for one as I consider clear space on my desk a higher priority. I haven't had a working girl desk in nearly 15 years, but the calendars keep coming. I just can't bring myself to turn them off. So I open them, I thank the stepmother-in-law, I put them in the goodwill box.

Let me just say that I have no qualms whatsoever about putting unwanted gifts in the goodwill box. I am a chronic non-hoarder. Really, decluttering is one of my favorite hobbies.

And I suppose that putting a brand new desk calendar (every year) into the goodwill box counts as "regifting". Like the other stuff I put into the box, I envision it going to someone who really loves desk calendars and can't believe their good fortune at finding a brand new one, still in the box, still in the shrinkwrap even!

So Mr./Mrs. desk calendar lover, whoever you are. Enjoy "Gardens East and West". Merry Christmas.

For today's NaBloPoMo: What is more uncomfortable - regifting or returning a gift?

lull week

2011-12-27T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here we are in "lull week" - the week between Christmas and New Year's where we don't have a whole lot going on and everybody's home from work and school. We went bowling today. I was awesome. Not.

I rather enjoy "lull week" because it's like a pseudo-vacation. We don't typically go anywhere, but the schedule is pretty relaxed. We're doing the board games, the bowling, the movies, the books...

I like to read, but rarely find much time for it, and so it takes me forEVER to get through most books. Many, I don't even finish.

I'm reading one right now, and I found this "Teaser Tuesday" which is a weekly bookish meme, so I decided to play along - it being lull week and all.

Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
4. BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
5. Share the title & author, too.

Okay, so here goes:

"I heard", Ellie said, touching her shoulder from behind. "I'm sorry".
Katie tried to keep her eyes wide, so wide that the tears in them couldn't quite trickle over the edges. but then she turned and threw herself into Ellie's arms. "It's not supposed to be like this", she cried. "It wasn't supposed to happen this way".

All right, that was technically more than (2) sentences, so shoot me!

The book is "Plain Truth" by Jodi Picoult. I'd not read a Jodi Picoult before, and she has a bunch of books, so I thought I'd give her a try. So far I like it.

What types of books do you like to read? What are you reading now? Read anything particularly good lately?

the aftermath

2011-12-26T12:00:00.001-07:00

Okay, the day of languishing is over. Yesterday's sloth and indulgence are history. Now we start the headlong rush into the new year.

I haven't made any New Year's resolutions. It's certainly not because nothing needs improvement. It's just that I need to sit down and reflect a bit to see what's next and why. I've got 5+ days.

I will admit that I'm having trouble forming a "picture". Other times, before, I've been able to do this. Picture finishing college and getting a job. Picture the family and the lifestyle, etc. Now at this point, though, it's all a bit foggy.

But I'm fresh from life coach land and that's given me some strategies. In fact, just thinking on that now, I'm able to form a bit of a vision. I'm envisioning lunch.

And after that? Well, it IS Boxing Day. Anyone up to throw down?

I need a skilled and worthy opponent to knock me around good for a bit!

Merry Silver Liningness

2011-12-25T19:35:00.000-07:00

Ah, Christmas has happened and it was good.

Yes, we had the decorations. Yes, we had lights. And YES, we had the tree - just in the St. Nick of time. But what I'm grateful for is that, even if we didn't have those things, it would have all been good.

Our tree-gettin' did come down to the wire, but I really wasn't too stressed about it. I wasn't stressed because I know these guys. If something would have happened to keep us from getting that tree, we would have been able to laugh at ourselves.

We would have come up with some stupid substitute - a cardboard tree cut out of stuff from the recycle pile, some twigs in a cup, I don't know. But trust me, there would have been something and it would have been less than a Charlie Brown tree and cheesy and funny and special, and we would have christened it "Christmas 2011", and made it memorable.

And that's what I'm thankful for on this Christmas silver lining Sunday: my wonderfully weird family. We get each other.

That and my awesome blog friends.

“It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about.”
Dale Carnegie

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weekend

2011-12-24T15:36:00.001-07:00

NaBloPoMo prompt: What will you be doing over the weekend?

I've still got some wrapping to do, but it's just for the kids so doesn't need to be impressive.

Magnum and I did a coffee walk earlier. We went near the mall by our house, and surprisingly, it wasn't too busy. Still, we won't be doing any shopping whatsoever today - well, other than the coffee.

I ran this morning - my first run in a week after zombie flu. It was glorious.

Yesterday, I ordered a new toy for myself. (get your minds out of the gutter).

Merry Christmas to all of my wonderful blog friends! I hope this weekend is full of love and warmth for all of you!

Love, Abby (comma optional)
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messenger

2011-12-24T14:49:00.000-07:00

Happy Illustration Friday Saturday! This week's prompt is "messenger", so I got some takeout.

With all the holiday hustle and bustle going on, I was in the mood for still life. Something lazy and comfy. The Chinese takeout fortune cookie often contains a message that is less than memorable. Often not even a true "fortune", but a vague general saying.

I got one once, though, that said "You will be showered with good luck", and so I saved it. Because it's true.

I must have dropped it when I was a baby, and it somehow found its way back to me.

greenery

2011-12-23T17:51:00.000-07:00

It was a week before Christmas
And there were things yet to do.
Oh how it sucks
To catch the Zombie flu!

There were days I did lose
To viral delerium
But I did somehow manage
At least a bare minimum.

Then I was better,
Renewed and reborn!
Only to be stranded
By a winter snow storm.

But time keeps ticking
It doesn't wait for me.
Christmas will be here
Even if there's no tree!

Would this be the year
We would remember as being
The year without a tree
Like a song with no feeling?

Then the clouds parted
The snow stopped falling
The sun even shone
As if to be calling

Go! Go!
Go now in the car!
Take the All-Wheel-Drive
The nursery's not far!

We mushed through the snow
And we got us that tree
At a bargain price too
With an ornament for free!

So now we can sit
Content in good cheer
That was a close one
What happens next year?
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something waits

2011-12-22T10:41:00.000-07:00

I went for a bike ride this morning. It was warm out - about 60 degrees. The sky was vivid blue and the sun was just coming up.

I put on my comfy bike shorts and my sleeveless Canari top and my pretty Pearl Izumi gloves with the embroidered flowers. It was glorious. The birds were chirping and I didn't eat any bugs.

And there were hills, there are always hills, but I welcomed them because reaching the crest of one hill just means to be able to go screaming down the other side. Traffic is light so early in the morning. I had the roads practically to myself.

Even my bicycle - the speedy Tessa - was feeling wholly invigorated, like the well-oiled machine that she is. At one point there was a hot air balloon hovering just overhead, close enough for me to see the people in the basket and hear the sporadic releases of propane. I waved big windshield-wiper-arm waves until the people waved back.

I saw foxes out hunting, and then a crazed deer... no wait, let's leave the crazed deer out of it. After all, this is MY daydream.

Yeah, it was all just a dream. In reality, I was on the stationary "thing" - it's not really a bicycle. It's just a seat with pedals and handlebars that sits in a little room. The lovely, yet lonely Tessa sat idly next to me the whole time as a winter storm raged right outside the window next to us.

But the whole time, while on that stationary "thing", my mind was a conglomeration of many of the lovely bike rides that Tessa and I have had. And my mind went outside that little room while the storm was raging, and I was anywhere I wanted to be.

“God gave us memory so that we might have roses in December.”– James Barrie

"or lovely bike rides during a winter storm"

- me

So yes, there is quite a storm on this Winter Solstice. And NO, we do not have a Christmas tree. And yes, the roads are not very travelable. But NO, I am not anxious about that *SQUIRM*.

Here we have China the snow dog channelling her awesome mental powers ( and I DO mean "mental"!) to somehow conjure up a tree.

At least, I think that's what she's doing.

if I could put time in a bottle

2011-12-21T15:56:00.001-07:00

Okay, I think I've figured out the source of our troubles here in the household. Despite the fact that we all live under the same roof, we live in different TIME ZONES!

We loosely decided that today would be tree-getting day, and I use the term loosely loosely. It was just understood that since I was huddled under a blanket on the futon on Sunday with the Zombie Flu, and Magnum was ~~watching football~~ otherwise busy as well, the tree didn't get gotten. So today would be the day. But I think we need to actually hard schedule these things in our respective planners.

Magnum and I were up at a decent hour, and I left to go crime-bustin' before anyone else was up. When I returned in the early afternoon, everyone except Chaco had been up for "a little while" and was fixing or eating breakfast/lunch/whatever they call it. But Chaco was up and in the shower, so Mag and I took the dog for her beauty walk, thus giving Chaco time to primp and eat breakfast/lunch/whatever he calls it.

So the dog's all walked, everyone is sufficiently fed, but... Wolfgang's gone out for a run before the next storm moves in.

Okay, next time all five of us are home at the same time with nothing scheduled for a while, throw a net over us!

I've resisted for all these years, but the artificial tree idea is starting to appeal...
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a smart move

2011-12-21T09:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I did this sketch of Magnum and then put it on my deviantArt page. Another deviant then commented: "Nice, did he sit for you, or is this from a picture?"

I had to laugh a little at that. I could not imagine Magnum sitting with this contemplative gaze just so I could draw it. I replied back: "Thanks, it's from a photo. He's not much of a 'poser'!"

In fact, the photo I used as a reference was a spontaneous "unposed" photo. That's what I like about it. I thought it captured more of his true self rather than a posed version.

Magnum and I met in college. Actually met in the classroom - not at a bar or frat party. One of the things I liked about him was that he was most certainly NOT a "poser". There are up sides to Asperger's and that is definitely one of them for me.

And now here we are, a good 23 years later. It's not always perfect, but what is? I will admit that there are days when I don't have the energy. There have been moments where I've said to him, "Don't. I just don't feel like dealing with the Asperger's right now". But I will add, that on the rare occassions when those moments have occurred, it was almost always during a certain week of the month ifyaknowwhatimsayin'.

So yeah, I came across that photo, and to me, that was the Magnum I decided to talk to that day in class. A nice, but shy guy who would probably like it if a girl struck up a conversation with him. Did he pose for me?

Absolutely not.

convalescence

2011-12-20T12:18:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to feel like a member of the human race once again. That whole zombie thing is highly overrated.

It does still feel like there's a vice squeezing my head, but it's been nicely loosened.

It helps that the sun came out shining this morning and revealed some pretty freshly fallen snow. Not a whole lot, but enough to make things look a little more Christmassy around here. So I got a photo of the decorationless house.

I spent over 12 hours in bed last night. I kept having dreams that I was hunting for drinking fountains and taking in copious amounts of cold water, but was still thirsty - only to have to hunt some more.

But yes, today is a new day. China the dog missed her beauty walk yesterday as I was in my delerium, and I'm not sure what might happen if she misses 2 in a row. I'm thinking a walk will do the both of us some good.

And then I might actually bake something. Maybe. We wouldn't want the family to stop missing me just yet...

sicks days

2011-12-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

It's six days until Christmas and our house looks pretty much the same as it did for - say- Labor Day. We have no tree, no stockings, no bells on the door, no lights on the roof. NO-thing. Well, we do have those 5-year-old snowflakes...

Our plan was to go the nursery for a tree yesterday. It's not a complicated thing, we just get a small tree in a pot, put it on top of a table, decorate it and voila, suddenly it's Christmas! But that didn't happen. It didn't happen because I came down the "The Crud" and APPARENTLY, NOTHING CHRISTMASSY CAN HAPPEN HERE IF I'VE GOT THE CRUD!

I was perfectly happy to let the menfolk go to the nursery and get a tree while I stayed home and remained one with the futon. And they are the ones who put the lights up and such in the yard, anyway. Me? On a ladder? HaHaHaHaHa!!

But no. Since I was laid up with The Crud (coughingsneezingheadfulloffluid), everybody else took a sick day too. But The Crud won't beat me. I'm up. I've got my sexy on with the windpants-over-leggings-and-turtleneck-over-thermal going, accentuated with a splash of Vick's Vap-O Rub.

Magnum is working today and tomorrow, then he's off for the week. I'm thinking Wednesday will be tree day. We should probably get a good bargain so close to Christmas...

... if there are any trees left.
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Silver Liningness

2011-12-18T10:39:00.001-07:00

Welcome to another episode of Silver Lining Sunday. Yeesh, just one more week until Christmas?!

Despite the sparseness of decorations (with the exception of some paper snowflakes that Meego made 5 years ago and we just never removed), at least I've got all my shopping done. And it was relatively painless.

I continue to move up from "rookie" at the cops. There's quite a bit to learn, but I think I'm a pretty quick study. The other volunteer who is training me is coming in extra to do that, so I'm motivated to get up to line speed.

I'm actually a bit surprised at the amount of information and responsibility we peon volunteers are privy to - I guess that explains the 3 months of background check. This past week, our supervisor was getting my desktop all set up with the proper database shortcuts, and at one point she looked at me and said, in a hushed voice, "Isn't it amazing all the information we have?" I was all, "You're telling ME??". It often feels like a paid job, then I remember *DRAT*, it's not. But everyone I've met so far is friendly and seems to really enjoy their work, so I take that as a good sign.

Chaco, our resident IT department, is competing on his high school's Cyber Patriot team. He seems to enjoy it and be good at it. There was another round of competition yesterday, and that was enough to get him - a teenager - into bed by 10:30 on Friday night and up by 6:00 Saturday morning. I was up yesterday morning too, to go for a run, so Chaco and I had some nice quiet Who-Are-You-And-What-Have-You-Done-With-Chaco? time.

Magnum and I watched Castaway on the Moon. Ever since Netflix went through their transformation, we only have instant-play available from them. It's been nice because we end up seeing these movies we've never heard of and would probably have missed. "Castaway on the Moon" is one.

I will admit that, in the beginning, I wasn't getting into it. I was considering bailing and looking for something else, but ended up nodding off instead. Maybe it spoke to me subliminally, because when I came around a few minutes later, I was really into the movie and ended up enjoying it a bunch. 5 black bean noodles out of 5.

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just for grins

2011-12-17T15:22:00.003-07:00

I haven't done a meme in a while, and it seems like Christmas memes are as ubiquitous as cold viruses this time of year. So, I went ahead and caught one:

1. The Christmas song I can even listen to in June is…I like "Carol of the Bells" ... or anything by Elvis.

2. Hot chocolate, egg nog or mulled wine?I'm going with the mulled wine. Hot chocolate is a close second, but egg nog to me is like phlegm mixed with ridiculous amounts of sugar.

3. When do you put your decorations up?Uhm... *cough*ahem* ... I'll get back to you on that one.

4. What are you having for Christmas dinner?The plan is ham and scalloped potatoes. That usually gets devoured pretty efficiently.

5. What’s your favourite Christmas tradition?
Well, it's not really a Christmas tradition, but I get a kick out of our midnight mile on New Year's.

6. Have you ever gone carol singing?Yes, but not since high school.

7. When did you discover the truth about Santa?I'm not sure at what age, but I'm pretty sure it was one of my brothers what ruined it for me.

8. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
Tell the kids, "'kay, decorate!".

9. What’s the best thing about Christmas?
The whole family having time off from school and work and being stuck together.

10. All I want for Christmas is.....If Cookie the cat somehow returned, that would be nice.

Now, please join me in a little "what if?":

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sink

2011-12-17T12:47:00.002-07:00

Time for some Illustration Friday on Saturday action. This week's prompt is "sink".

I was thinking along the lines of becoming submerged - not necessarily literally submerged, but to have one's mind become totally occupied with something. Like the way a kid's mind can become totally submerged after he sinks into the mud.

Or the way one can become totally submerged while drawing a kid playing in the mud...

espresso yourself

2011-12-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

As a teacher and tutor, I've sometimes received gifts from my students, or their parents in the case of minors. Not often, but once in a while, the gracious types will go a little above and beyond the credit card deduction. I don't expect it, so I appreciate the gesture when it happens. Even just a little thank-you note is nice.

As I've mentioned here a bit in the last few weeks, I've been working with a life coach. Some readers have expressed curiosity about that, and I would too if the tables were turned. This week, my coach and I more or less wrapped things up.

And I deem the whole exercise very worthwhile. For the cost of about one month's net pay of the unhappy part-time job I had earlier this year, it was well worth it.

BUT, I don't want to share, just yet, things that "went down" during the coaching sessions. No, I mention it here because I wanted to give a personalized thank-you gift to my coach. An artwork of some type seemed appropriate since my "artsy" side was something we often discussed.

One thing about coaching, though, is that it's very one-sided. My coach is very approachable and down-to-earth, yet the nature of the thing is that we mostly talked about ME, and I didn't learn a whole lot about her other than what was mostly coachingly related.

So that was a bit of a dilemma, since artwork is so subjective. One person's beauty is another's beast. Monochrome or multi-colored? Bold colors or subdued? Realistic or abstract? It's not like we ever just went out for coffee as equals and....

Wait, that was it. Somewhere in those one-sided coaching sessions, she had mentioned that she was a coffee lover. I grasped onto that skinny straw and painted this still life.

Colors too bold? Colors too subdued? Not realistic enough? Not abstract enough? I have no idea, but at least there's coffee, right?

One exercise I did at both the beginning and at the wrap-up was fill in this wheel. I was supposed to fill in each piece of the pie as to how "full" I was in their respective areas. My "after" wheel is happily fuller than my "before" wheel. Not full to the brim, but it's a work in progress.

I tacked it up on my corkboard above my desk, to keep me on my toes, and keep me working on filling in the gaps. Chaco noticed it yesterday.

Chaco: What's that chart?

Me: What chart?

Chaco: That pie chart?

Me: Oh, that's my "Wheel".

Chaco: Your "Wheel"?

Me: Yep

Chaco: Where does it go?

Well now, that IS the question, isn't it?

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt: What was the last handmade gift you gave?

a taste of honey

2011-12-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

I was in my late teens and Mother's Day was coming. I had no clue what to get for her, and I was just out browsing around hoping that something would speak to me. After not having much luck, I went into the card store, figuring I could at least get a nice card in the meantime.

So I was selecting a card when I saw this cute little musical doll. It looked like a ragdoll with a little flowery dress and matching hat. And it was singing.

Well, not actually "singing", but it was equipped with a wind-up music box. It played a tune, and as it did so, the little ragdoll head swayed a little to the melody. I don't know why, it seemed silly, but turns out that that was the thing that spoke to me. The tune it played was the Sukiyaki Song. Seriously though? A doll? For my mom?!?

I purchased the card and the doll and deemed myself ready for Mother's Day. When the day arrived, as was customary for me, I didn't just give it to Mom and say "Happy Mother's Day" *kiss*kiss*. Instead, I always put her gifts someplace where she would eventually find them, all the while acting like I'd forgotten the occassion.

I put the doll and the card on the toilet seat of my parent's bathroom. My mom sulked around for a while because nobody had given any Mother's Day recognition, but eventually, she went to the bathroom and all was forgiven.

She thanked me profusely, but I still felt a little silly giving her a doll.

The next afternoon, I heard the tune playing from my parent's bedroom. My mom was in there, seated at her dresser getting ready to go to work. The music doll was propped on her bed pillows, playing and swaying.

Once again my mom told me how much she loved it. Then she said, "I never had a doll before".

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR?!

I was all, "Mom, you're like 55 years old! Whaddya mean, you never had a doll??". And she said, "I just never had one", all nonchalantly as she continued tweaking her hair.

But... but... I was confused. On the wall of her bedroom, for as long as I could remember, was an old black and white photograph of my mother with her mother and her two older brothers. Her younger brother hadn't been born yet.

My grandmother is seated, quite regally, in the center. My two uncles, looking proud and manly, stand just behind her. And then there's my mom, probably about 4 years old, leaning on my grandmother's knee and holding a DOLL.

I can't say how many hours I've stared at it, from the time I was about the same age my mom is in the photo. Thoughts would run through my head about what my mom was like as a little girl. And much wondering went on about the doll. Was that her favorite toy? Did she have other dolls? Having been quite the doll aficionado myself, I was very curious about that doll my mom clutched in the photo.

"But, you're holding a doll in that picture", I pointed out, indicating the photo on the wall.

"Oh, that wasn't mine", she said. "The photographer just wanted me to hold it for the photo".

I was dumbfounded. All my little made-up stories about my mom playing with her doll vanished. I'd remembered her telling us about growing up poor in the Phillipines. About how they only had oranges for special special occassions. How she learned to sew clothes at a very young age. How, part of the reason she married my dad was because he had a refrigerator...

But THIS! No DOLLS?! EVER?!?

And so coming upon her that day, with the little music doll propped on the bed, singing and swaying, was a real bonding moment for Mom and me. She told me it was one of the best gifts she'd ever gotten. And, almost 30 years later, she still has it.

Damn straight.

For the NaBloPoMo prompt: What is your favourite gift you ever gave someone?
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getting impersonal

2011-12-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

Does anyone here do the "Christmas Family Newsletter" thing? I don't.

Now, I fully understand the purpose and usefulness of the things, and I do appreciate the work that goes into them. They're just not my style. I prefer personalized letters. And I know that some may be thinking, "Ugh, that's too time consuming!", which it is if you send a bunch of Holiday cards out. I send out a small smattering.

smat·ter·ing/ˈsmatəriNG/ n. 1. A small amount of something.

In fact, I composed one (1) such letter last night. There will be a few others, and that will wrap up 2011 as far as our mailings go. And I've never really even been tempted to do the mass mailed newsletter thing, but if I were...

Dear Friends, Family, or Current Resident,

Christmas greetings to all you all! We would like to write personally to each of you, but it’s much easier to lump you all into the same one-line salutation and send you a form letter with obligatory photos.

The kids are doing fine. Chaco apparently made a boat since I found this photo in a pile of stuff that was left to rot on the rec room table. I deemed it Holiday Newsletter worthy, cropped out the other boat builder kid and show it here because Chaco can't find the school pics I paid for at the beginning of the year. I also remember purchasing a boat load (pun intended) of blue duct tape. And he bowls.

Wolfgang still enjoys track and cross country and wearing loud clothing inside of putt-putt golf course caves. He's also teaching his out-of-touch parents some teen lingo phrases such as "smash or pass?". He has a school photo, but we like to keep things uniform.

Meego is a fine example of how being the third child results in having next to no individual photos. He's enjoying middle school and his liberation from the chains of elementary school.

We enjoyed a family trip to the mountains last summer, after cancelling our epic Arizona trip since Arizona was on fire.

Magnum and I celebrated 21 years of marriage in August, and we marked the occassion by ending the three-month fight over how to load the dishwasher.

Merry Christmas and happy 2012, with much love from the AbbyNormals! :)
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concerning the hair

2011-12-13T10:32:00.000-07:00

"When I cut my hair, the whole sound changed, my style changed"
--- Rihanna

When I was little, around 3 and 4 years old, my mother kept my hair short. "Pixie cut", it was known as, but bottom line, I looked like a boy.

<----Short-haired and girlie looking in a pink dress. I don't actually remember ever wearing a pink dress. Same goes for today.

I really didn't think much about it - I was a toddler/preschooler - until a stranger like a waitress or such would indicate she thought I was a boy. When that would happen, I often felt surprise and then embarrassment bordering on humiliation.

Surprise, because I was a girl. I didn't think much about my appearance, but on the inside I was a girl, I had been one for my entire 4 years of life!

Once I was older and more assertive (kindergarten), I let my mom know that I wanted "girl hair". It wasn't about my looks or personality preference, it was all about the being-mistaken-for-a-boy thing. And actually, growing up, I was quite a tomboy. My neighborhood was full of boys, so my socializing consisted of playing sports with them and listening to their crude jokes.

But it's one thing to be a tomboy and another to look like a boy. The hair was never allowed to get too short.

Eventually, my not-too-short hair and I grew up, and Magnum and I moved to Rochester, NY. It's very humid in Rochester, NY. Combine my longish hair and NY humidity and strange things happen. My hair got HUGE.

I put up with it for the first few years - battening it down with barretts and scrunchies (remember the 90's??). Then the kids came along, I "retired" to be a stay-at-home-mom, and the hair fights had to go. I cut it. I cut it like it had never been cut. I cut it and cut it.

It was a bit of a shock. It's interesting to me how much of "us" is in our hair - especially us women. I was never one to put a lot of fussing into my hair, and yet I felt really different after I cut it. I felt good actually, after all that heat and humidity hair I'd been smothered under. I felt somehow better and actually felt smarter because of a haircut!

Taking bicycler novice Chaco for a "short" ride ---->

We eventually moved back to drier climes, and I no longer liked the short hair. As the humidity went down, so did the hair.

Yesterday, I read a blog entry about women and short hair, and what the short hair indicates about them - whether it's true or not. Look at models, and most all of them have long hair. What perceptions do you have based on a woman's hair length?

I remember a few years ago, I was at the veterinarian's with one of our dogs. A friendly woman with a friendly dog about the same size as mine walked in, and our two dogs soon became happy friends in the waiting area.

This woman was also a friendly dog lover, and as our canines enjoyed some social time, she and I did too. But I confess, that during this little assemblage, in the back of my mind, I was wondering if she was just a friendly person, or if she "liked me" liked me.

All because she had a buzz cut. Not full-on G.I. Jane, but close to it.

I don't recall her acting particularly "butchy", nor was she dressed like a lumberjack. My perception was all about the hair. What is it about a woman with a buzz cut that says "lesbian"? And in the end, does it even matter?

Have you ever made drastic changes to your hair - particularly its length? Why? Do you have preconceived notions based on women's hairstyles?
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once upon a time...

2011-12-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

The first notable thing about her is her eyes. Other than that, she seems like a typical 10-year-old girl for the most part.  But not her eyes.

She doesn't look you in the eye when she speaks to you. She doesn't look anyone in the eyes. The words come out of her mouth, and the words are clear, the vocabulary well-developed. Her eyes are directed at the ground.

Since Magnum has Asperger's, I think I'm pretty good at recognizing the signs of it. Lack of eye contact is a big one, and typical. This girl has other traits and sensitivities that I'd spotted too, so when I was copied in on a list of kids with "health notes to be aware of" from the school nurse, I wasn't surprised to see this girl on the list with "autism" next to her name.

For the most part, she's a happy and typical 5th grader who goes through my crosswalk on a regular basis. She engages in conversations, she has friends and enjoys extracurricular activities. In my non-professional observance, she is "high functioning" autistic, or Aspergerian.

Several weeks ago, she breathlessly told me that she'd gotten the part of Gretel in the school's production of "Hansel and Gretel". Wow, a headliner!   I knew she liked to dance, so the fact that she'd tried out for the play was no surprise, but the part of Gretel? Even though her eyes looked at the ground the whole time she told me this news, she was clearly excited, and I was excited for her.

This morning, "Gretel" and her friend Belle approached the crosswalk together. Belle asked me, "Did you go to the play on Friday?" No, I hadn't, and then Belle said, "You should hear her sing!", indicating Gretel. "She has the voice of an Angel!" Belle then leaned over and whispered something in Gretel's ear, and at that, Gretel began to sing.

It was absolutely, unequivocally, categorically, without question, fully and altogether BEAUTIFUL.

The pitch was perfect, the intonation was deep, the melody was haunting. I was flabbergasted.

I looked to Belle whose expectant eyes were already watching mine - Belle is clearly not autistic. She and I spoke to each other, using just our eyes, as Gretel continued to sing.  Belle's eyes said, "See?! What'd I tell you?!", and my eyes said, "Are you *&%#-ing kidding me?!?!" (It's okay to swear to children as long as you're doing it with just your eyes).

Gretel sang just a couple of bars of a song I didn't recognize, right there at the school crossing of Crazy-Driver Boulevard. After she finished, I went to say something, but my voice caught in my throat, as I was near to crying.

Near to crying because (1) it was just so beautiful and (2) I'd missed the play.

This month's NaBloPoMo theme is "Gift". Gretel has an unmistakable gift. And her sharing it with me this morning is one of the best gifts I've ever received.
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Silver Liningness

2011-12-11T10:17:00.000-07:00

Happy silver lining Sunday. It's an NFL day, which I really don't care about, but somehow we've managed to win Magnum's weekly office football pool a few times this season, including last week. That's one way to keep the outcomes interesting. And it doesn't require that I watch!

There was that tutor student incident the burned my a$$ a little. I had a phone conversation with her and I haven't heard from her since - including any attempts-to-cheat text messages (seriously!). It still bothers me, there is something fishy going on and I'll probably never know the whole story, but at least she knows where I stand. To placate my own hurt feelings, I painted some flowers and now feel much better. Some people have heroin, I have paints and brushes.

Meego had his first band concert this week. I wanted to get a photo, particularly because Meego refuses to wear anything other than cargo pants/shorts (no denim!) and t-shirts unless he has to. I managed to snag a photo:

Blonde kid on the left: "Dude, your mom's in the drums!"

Meego: "Mom! What the...?"

Okay, yeah, I had to infiltrate the percussion section, but I got the shot! Well, sort of... he's wearing a button-down shirt and tie with a pretty baritone accessory.

And the music was quite good (really, it's not about the clothes). Our own Meego is first chair baritone! Clairification: there are no chair challenges in 6th grade band, they are seated alphabetically. But we'll take what we can get!

I'm pretty trained up at my volunteer crimefighter post. Omigosh, the information at my fingertips! Sadly, I'm not supposed to go digging up dirt on my neighbors/kids' teachers/ reckless minivan drivers/ etc. But there's nothing like getting to know the seedy underbelly of the city I live in.
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separated

2011-12-10T15:16:00.003-07:00

Welcome to another episode of Illustration Friday on Saturday. This week's prompt is "separated". I kind of struggled to come up with something "nice" for this one. I think the term often has negative connotations - splitting, breaking, ripping... pain, pain, pain...

But then I started thinking about time lapse footage of flowers growing and blooming and opening up. What starts as a tiny seed or bulb eventually pops up and separates into all the pretty and individual flower parts. Take the perennial tulip, for example.

It starts as a not-so-pretty bulb, but then pops up out of the ground and makes (most) everybody happy as a beautiful harbinger of spring.

And speaking of time-lapse, I did a time-lapse video of this painting's unfolding. I use Chaco's camera for these things, and he highly supports my doing so - in other words, he charges me rent...

You can support the local entrepreneur at this video [link].
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mooooving on

2011-12-09T15:58:00.001-07:00

Okay, I did it. I broke it off with the milkman. So I'm feeling a little sad right now, and feeling a little need to ruminate. We had some good times, the milkman and I, but in the end it just got kind of cheesy.

I didn't want a public scene, so I took the coward's way out and ended it via e-mail. I know! How cold of me! But I udderly expected him to e-mail me back like he said he would. And that's why I wasn't sure if he was going to come by to pick up his stuff - what he's given me over the years.

Despite not hearing from him, I readied his things and placed them in "our spot". And sure enough, this morning when I checked - his cooler, his empties - all were gone. Just like that, without a herd... er... word.

It really is for the best. I was tired of putting up with his bull, and I think he knew it. I doubt that my e-mail was that much of a surprise. And to be honest, the whole time we were together, I never really felt like I was his type. For some unknown reason, I just think he's a boob man.

neither a cheater nor a pumpkin eater

2011-12-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, I don't typically rant on my blog, but then again, I don't typically feel like ranting. I don't typically feel the way I've felt all morning.

I have this tutor student - a high school junior. A while back, her uncle called me to help her with her trigonometry. Said she was a good kid, but shy and wouldn't ask the teacher for help. No problem. Shortly afterwards, we began doing occassional tutoring sessions.

The "worksheets" she provided for these sessions looked a bit suspect to me, but she told me she was taking an online course, and just printing them from the screen. Okay, but they sure looked like tests to me.

She's always been very vague about the nature of this online class. There's (supposedly) no book, no live person to ask questions of, etc. It seemed a bit strange, but I chalked it up to her shyness and didn't press it.

It soon became apparent to me that she does not really have the math skills that this class required. Our tutor sessions are sometimes like me trying to pull her teeth. And yet...

She sends me more "worksheets" for us to work on together - each one a different and higher level concept than the one before. She's sending me precalculus stuff now, trig apparently has been "mastered", but I know it hasn't. I won't go further into details, but I think I'm finally getting a clue.

She's cheating. And she's using me to do it.

CRAP, that pisses me off!

Now, I don't even think she's going through the lessons. I think she may be going straight to the tests, printing them out, having a tutor session with me, going online and passing the test, then moving onto the next one. Just to get through the course quickly and painlessly.

This morning, I turned my phone on and there was a text from her:
"Hi srry its early in d morning. I really need it 2day..." Then she goes onto ask for a solution to a problem.

Okay, (1) it's a multi-step solution that I'm not about to send via several text screens and (2) it's something she should know if she's really doing the work, and (3) I'm not going to give her answers to something she "really need it 2day" because that translates to "I need to turn this in today for credit".

I ignored the text. She sent another one later saying "I just needed help cuz I culdnt get d answer u got".

I texted back: "Please call me before our session this afternoon. Thanks". I'm supposedly the teacher here, and yet I feel SO STOOPID!

Man, I just want to hug each of my kids and tell them how good they are.
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It's time!

2011-12-07T13:17:00.000-07:00

The 80's. They were kind of my formative years (yikes). Remember the big hair? The acid washed jeans? Jazzercise? Yeesh.

I remember Christmas 1981 pretty clearly. I was a junior in high school and had to work that evening at my restaurant job. But, since it was Christmas, we closed early and afterwards, I went out with my new boyfriend. It was actually our first real date.

He came to my house driving a borrowed car and got it stuck on the ice in front of my house. We didn't do anything particularly special. Back then, in my hometown, the kids just drove around, so that's what we did. Eventually, we parked *ahem*. Eventually eventually, he took me back home.

Somewhere in there, we even swapped gifts, but I don't remember what he gave me. I think it was some safe jewelry.

The next day, my parents and brother and I got in the car and paid a visit to my oldest brother and his family in another city. I even still have the photo that was taken during that visit:

The reason I remember that particular Christmas so well, though, was because of the new boyfriend. I'd liked him for a while, and I was pretty sure he liked me. Somewhere in there, we arranged that first date - after work on Christmas. When that photo was taken, I was personally taken only with infatuated thoughts of him.

He would turn out to be my first love - including all of the drama that goes along with THAT. Codependency, jealousy, crying (me), fighting, making up, breaking up, crying (him), blah, blah, blah... damn those 80's.

But, it's Christmas, so I'm thinking happy thoughts and good times, and I pulled out a happy little tune from Billy Squier and the MTV crowd back when they were fun. Christmas 1981. I was happy and falling in love.

Everybody sing!! Please disregard the big hair / mullets...
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saving face

2011-12-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

"Ah cafee mahfeth", he said to me.

That's frozen 5th-grader-speak for: I can't feel my face.

Yes, it's still cold here. Those words were spoken to me yesterday after I watched this particular kid ride his scooter to where I was. It was an interesting thing to watch as I first saw him at the top of the path, and it's a gentle downhill slope of about 150 yards to where I was. His face transformed from slightly pink to bold magenta in that one short scooter ride. Quite beautiful actually.

I myself have lost my face a few times. It starts rather painfully with the tip of the nose then quickly and uncomfortably spreads to involve the cheeks. If the ears are exposed, they are long gone by that point. Eventually, it all pleasurably returns, and I've gained appreciation for my face.

A couple of weeks ago, when I was visiting my parents, I ran into a high school friend of mine while out power shopping with Mom. "Nan" was a grade behind me, but we had played basketball together and occassionally hung out with each of our boyfriends in tow. It's safe to say that she and I were pretty good friends. And yet...

I don't recognize her at all.

True, it's been nearly 30 *COUGH* years since those high school days, but even so, with others I've reconnected with since then, I can see vestiges of their previous appearances.

Luckily, Nan and I are f#cebook friends so I recognized her as the high school friend I no longer recognize. I suspect that she's had "some work done", and I have no idea why. I can't tell specifically what's been changed - nose? eyes?... but her face just isn't her face.

As we talked, she was the same Nan I remember - generally happy, friendly, and easygoing. She certainly seemed the same from the inside. If she cosmetically altered her face, that's certainly her own business. Perhaps she had some unfortunate accident that required reconstruction? I think I can rule out witness protection program given that she shops in the town where she grew up and she's on f#cebook, maiden name and all.

"God has given you one face, and you make yourself another"
-William Shakespeare

I agree with Mr. Shakespeare on that. What face are you wearing today?
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advice served cold

2011-12-05T14:07:00.000-07:00

Sheesh it's cold today. Weather forecast is for a high of 10. Our school district got a delayed start because of snow and cold. But I was prepared for the the frigidness of crossing guard duty today - all the way down to my Miley Cyrus leggings.

There are these 3 siblings that are regular customers of mine - two brothers and an older sister. They came walking up today as usual, braving the cold. As we walked across the street, I said to them, "Welp, enjoy your walk to school because you'll probably be stuck inside with no outdoor recess today".

They took my advice to heart. I watched as they made their way up the path to school by wading through the snow and throwing it at each other and plopping down in it. They were probably drenched and near to hypothermic by the time they got to the building.

Oops.
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and now for some girl talk

2011-12-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring. - Leo Buscaglia

I was having a girl's night out about a month ago. There were six of us in all at this coffee house pretending to be playing board games when really we were just gabbing. I don't remember how the subject came up, but someone mentioned accupuncture and how they swore by it for everything from relieving back pain to killing a cold to treating infertility.

Yes, infertility. It turned out that three of the six women had struggled with infertility and/or precarious pregnancies. I don't know what the actual numbers are, but I also find that there are a lot of women bloggers with fertility and pregnancy problems.

Probably deep down, I always somehow knew that I would be a mom. I didn't really think about it much more than that. Not long after Magnum and I got married, the lever went full over to "time to be a mom". And along came Chaco, pretty much by the book. And he was just so much fun, we went and had us a Wolfgang too.

Then came The Dark Times.

We didn't have much problem getting pregnant, but for some reason, staying pregnant became a challenge. I had a miscarriage. Then another. And yet, another. They each made it to about 10 weeks, but then...

During those dark times, I learned a little about just how common a problem it was to (1) get pregnat and (2) stay there. I began to think of my obstetrician having "just another day at the office" when miscarriages happened to her patients.

After that third one, I was in "the back room" yet again. I remember the mobile in that room. No, it wasn't a baby nursery mobile, it was a perfectly balanced stained glass mobile that was very calming as it would slowly turn or not, depending on the air current in the room. It didn't serve any real medical purpose, but someone thought it important enough to put it there, and I appreciate that.

Eventually the nurse practitioner came in to check on me to see if I was recovered enough to go home. I remember how my obstetrician, after she was finished with "the procedure", had abruptly gotten up and left the room without saying much. I figured she had other patients to attend to, as it was another day at the office.

The nurse practitioner told me, "These are really difficult for Dr. K. She had to leave and sit alone in her office for a while, she was so upset". Really? I saw Dr. K in a different light then. I knew she cared, but this showed me that she really Cared.

Not too long after The Dark Times, we had Meego. Hadn't done anything particularly out of the ordinary - no hormones or drugs, no accupuncture. I guess my body, along with the universe, decided The Dark Times were over.

Later, I gave my obstetrician a photo taken during Meego's first day on the earth. She smiled and I saw tears in her eyes.

Another day at the office.
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Silver Lining Sunday

2011-12-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the first Sunday of December, time for a little silver liningness!

First of all, after nearly 3 months of being referenced, interviewed, toured, polygraphed, urinalyzed, background checked, fingerprinted, and pretty much laid naked throughout much of the local police department, I am finally an official member of the (volunteer) force.

I'm rather looking forward to this and am grateful for those many Saturday morning hours spent watching Scooby Doo. I am so ready to begin channeling my inner Velma!

In other ducks-in-a-row news, Magnum and I spent a few hours this week with our Death Lawyer (a.k.a. "estate planner"), getting things up to date. It's certainly not the most stimulating of activities, but it's nice to have these things clear and organized and in place. Do you have a death lawyer? I recommend it.

On the cloud side of silver liningness, we did lose our beloved cat Cookie this week. My heart is still heavy with it, but I think we've all gotten through the grief stages and made it to "acceptance".

Cookie and Wolfgang in their younger days-->

He was our first family pet and a sweet companion who helped to foster some nurturing traits in each of the kids. He was also a very badass cat.

And in related silver liningness, it was the missing pet wars that introduced me to the local humane society. I'm looking into some volunteer opportunities there in addition to my crime bustin'. There are plenty of interesting areas where volunteers are welcome and needed - it's not just cleaning up poop. I'm thinking "surgery assistant", yeah?

A lot of this stuff - the volunteering, the updates with the death lawyer, etc. - has been clarified through my life coaching sessions. Sometimes I wonder if I'm getting anywhere, but then I look back and realize that I am. But that's probably a blog entry (or more) in itself...

Lastly, Magnum and I watched TrollHunter yesterday. I'm not embarrassed to say that I liked it! It's clever and fun and totally entertaining in a horror fairy tale kind of way. And usually, I require some sort of love story somewhere in the plot to keep me entertained. That was missing from TrollHunter, but I still liked it. Three heads up!
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moving forward looking back

2011-12-03T14:01:00.000-07:00

Here we are in December and I'm looking ahead to the New Year. Don't assume that, because I said that, that my Christmas is in the bag. It most certainly is NOT (as in, I've done nothing), but I'm avoiding that little detail.

No, I thought I would take a moment now to reflect on my resolutions I made for this year. Did I make any? As per usual, I made some and then promptly forgot what they were. Thank goodness for blog archives. I dug around and found some:

I will gain weight.
According to last year's list, I was looking to make my arms "a little less noodly". Beings that I took no measurements whatsoever, I have no idea if their dimensions have changed from thin spaghetti to regular spaghetti. I have been sticking to my strengthening regimen, however, and I am, among other things, up to a whopping 8 pullups (on a good day). Not to mention, I wield a mean crossing guard stop sign. I'm checking that one off as Done!

I will drink more.
This was made in relation to my and Magnum's wine drinking program of a glass a day. I don't even remember what, but supposedly there's health benefit in drinking a glass of red wine a day. I think we've done it, but it's all a little foggy...

I will work harder, not smarter.
This time last year, I was teaching classroom classes, online classes, and filling in the blanks with tutoring sessions - all of which made family time pretty sparse. The pay was good, but I was burnt out. I left that place. Today I've got more control over my teaching schedule and the crossing guard moonlighting is a nice and easy income trickle. This was probably the resolution I did the best at. Yay me.

I will volunteer less.
I enjoy volunteering, and I'm grateful that I have the option to help out for free. This resolution was made with specific focus on my elementary school volunteering. I'd been doing that since Chaco was in kindergarten and was ready to call it a stint after Meego's last year. I'm happy to say that I found worthy suckers for both my positions as PTO treasurer and Run With Lumber chair. That said, I do still have 4 large boxes of Run With Lumber crap taking up space in my house. I give myself until the end of the month to offload them!

Okay then! I'm satisfied with my resolution report card. Nothing too daunting there. Now to think up some new ones for 2012 to promptly forget until next year about this time.
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the weaning

2011-12-02T15:11:00.001-07:00

I remember how in the beginning I fell for him, how I fell for him hard. He just came into my life, so unexpectedly, so magically, I was totally swept away. He offered himself to me, with no strings attached, and I drank that sweet nectar. Before I knew it, I was completely under his spell. He had me.

But that was years ago. And over the last few months, the magic seems to be slipping away. As I step back and examine us, I see that he has gotten more and more demanding as of late. Where did all this neediness come from? Was that in his plan the whole time?

Plus, I know he has others. No, I'm not the only one. I've seen him. Early in the morning, when it's dark, I'm out there and I've seen him with these others. But then, we never promised any exclusiveness between us. He certainly knows that I'm with someone else when he's not around. The same someone I've been with since before he came into my life.

Maybe that was all part of the initial allure - the fact that he would be something special on the side, pure luxury. But at what point does luxury become just another burden?

Lately, I've been thinking of breaking it off with him. I just haven't been able to bring myself to actually do it, especially now with it being the holidays and all. Would that be insensitive of me?

And, well, what about me? Is this really what I want? Having him does induce more obvious demands, but I have to admit that this relationship has not been without its pleasures. Has he spoiled me with his pleasures?

No, no. I really think it's time to call this quits. I mean, six bucks for a gallon of milk? Plus the monthly service charge on top of that?

Have I been played by the milkman?
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Brigade

2011-12-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, is it really already Friday? Yes, Illustration Friday actually, where this week's prompt is "brigade". Isn't it fun how these prompts are just all over the place? We go from "round" to "brigade" in the course of one week! That's the kind of thing that makes me look forward to Illustration Fridays.

I'm not really much of a "battle scene" type. But, despite my small-framed-and-not-particularly-busty-polynesianness, I do like me some occassional "Viking".
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love hurts

2011-12-01T15:43:00.001-07:00

I just want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts and comments about our missing cat. There is still no sign of him anywhere, and at this point, we suspect that he purposely went away, sensing it was time to "go".

I've heard that cats like him (with outdoor access and most likely born to a feral mother) will do this when it's time. He wasn't displaying any obvious signs of illness, but he was around 13 years old and had a heart murmur.

I do have fantasies of him showing up like always at the back door, but I don't actually believe that will happen.

There is some solace in the thought that he went out on his own terms, but I just didn't know that the last time I saw him would be the last time I saw him...
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insulation

2011-12-01T09:57:00.000-07:00

Welcome to December. Ours is coming in like... well... December. We've got snow, wind, grey skies, and c-c-cold.

Here I am this morning at my crossing guard post.

Okay, not really, but close enough. The only things missing are my (ratty and unfashionable) vest, stop sign, and the traffic.

So, yes, it was blustery cold, but I was toasty warm. Warmer than my penguin friend, I bet.

Twelve years ago, I was preggars with Meego. I liked to go for walks in the evenings, and the evenings were getting chillier and chillier and my waist measurement was getting larger and larger.

I outgrew my own jacket and began wearing Magnum's for my nighttime excursions, which were just as much about "quiet time" as they were about pregnant-woman-walking. I wasn't about to give those things up just because it was getting dark and cold.

So one evening as I was putting on the Man Jacket, Magnum said, "You should buy yourself a new jacket, you deserve it" Translation: I will pay you to stop wearing my jacket.

Whatever, that was just the nudge I needed to go a-shopping! This was back in the days of single-income-with-two-kids-and-one-on-the-way, and I rarely RARELY bought anything for myself without a thrift store tag. And I wasn't about to skimp. We lived in Utah at the time, and Utah winters can be c-c-cold too. I went to Cabela's - "World's Foremost Outfitter" for my outfitting, and got me an ultimate women's parka, complete with adjustable waist drawstring.

To this day, nothing I have ever worn has sheltered me from the wrath of winter like that parka. I walked with Meego all through that pregnant winter, comfy and cozy the whole time, never foreseeing that someday I would be moonlighting as, of all things, a crossing guard.

As I was out there this morning, leading packs of bundled kids across the street, I realized that the parka and I are embarking on our 13th winter together. And I was super warm and cozy. And since NaBloPoMo for December kicks off today, asking us to write about a tangible gift, I pay homage to the Cabela's World's Foremost Outfitter's Women's Ultimate Parka and to baby daddy Magnum.
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without a trace

2011-11-30T08:58:00.001-07:00

Somber times here at the AbbyNormal household...

Our cat has gone missing.

Cookie has been in the family for over 12 years, so he's been here longer than Meego. We freed him as a trapped stray, and he followed us home and has been with us ever since. Being the cat that he is, he's always had his own agenda - coming and going as he pleases.

Sometime Monday evening, we surmise that he went out. Nobody remembers seeing him since. A somewhat eerie twist is that I took a photo of him with Chaco shortly before he went missing.

There was just something about the image of the two of them sitting there in The Corner in the glow of the computer monitor that struck me, so I snapped a quick spontaneous photo.

So we've searched all of his usual hangouts, and searched a few unusual hangouts, but still no sign of him. Wolfgang and I even paid a visit to the Humane Society last evening. Dang, there are a LOT of cats at that place! None of them was Cookie, however.

It was my first visit to our local Humane Society, and I know they sometimes get a bad rap from other Rescue groups because they do occassionally put animals that aren't adopted in a timely manner to sleep. But I found the place quite warm and caring. If I hadn't committed all of my volunteer availability to the Po-Po, I'd look into volunteering there.

But honestly, I didn't expect to find him. He's too smart and too careful to end up at the Humane Society.

And that's what makes this such a mystery.
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Day 29, but not really

2011-11-29T09:44:00.001-07:00

November is coming to a close and I'm still blogging every day. Okay, so I didn't find out about the blog everyday bandwagon until half the month was gone, but better late than never! Last week was a bit of a challenge to post something each day with the holiday and all, but I managed and now we're into the home stretch.

And I'm going to try to keep going. I understand that the mayhem continues, here's the new badge for December.

Go ahead, click it! It starts December 1st and runs until December 31st. Just make the commitment to (1) blog daily for the month (nothing more to it than that!) and (2) to support your fellow NaBloPoMo'ers by reading a handful of the other blogs on the blogroll.

Or not. I'm not a pusher.

They'll have daily prompts again for those days when you feel your own life is just too boring to share.

These kinds of things are good for me. I've learned that, like many, I need some external challenge to keep my interests up. That's why I could never keep a journal going before the blog age, no matter how "healthy" I'd heard it was. I'm curious about other bloggers. Did / Do you keep a written journal? For any appreciable length of time? For your eyes only?

Oh yeah, there was also portrait-a-day month which I managed for about a week. But I did add a few portraits to my "gallery" and so to herald the end of that November promo, I made a video

I didn't embed it here because THIS is not an art blog, but it's a video of portraits, just portraits. Feel free to click and see.

Now, time to go do the paid employment thing...
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instru mental

2011-11-28T09:34:00.001-07:00

I think I've mentioned here that Meego took up the baritone this year for 6th grade band. Since, often when he tells people who are not particularly brass-oriented, they ask "baritone what?", I've included a photo of the brass baritone.

I also wanted to include a photo to demonstrate the size of the baritone.

No, none of these baritone players is Meego. These are fully grown adult baritone players. Meego is smaller, his baritone is the size shown.

I, for one, love the sound of the baritone and am happy that it was the instrument he settled on when we went to pick-ur-instrument day last year.

However...

Meego rides a bus to school and schlepping this thing back and forth is quite an ordeal. Magnum is at work during times Meego goes to and from school, and ironically, I am escorting a bunch of other people's kids to and from school during times Meego goes to and from school.

So there's the dilemma. How can the poor kid practice the baritone at home? ~~His genius of a mom~~ I decided to ask the band director if there were any extra baritones laying around the bandroom. I'd be happy to pay the rent on an extra one if Meego could keep it at the house and not attempt the schlepping thing.

Lo and behold, not only was there an extra one laying around, the band director let us keep it at home for free. Granted, it's not particularly pretty, but it's certainly suitable for an 11-year-old beginner to stash at home and practice on. This system was working wonderfully.

Until...

For some strange reason, Meego brought home the pretty, stays-at-school baritone over Thanksgiving break. It's sitting on the floor next to the beat up, stays-at-home baritone. Naturally, he wants it at school in time for band class, and the bus driver doesn't allow it on the bus in the mornings. I could run it over there now, like I've done in the past, but I really want to drive home the idea that he uses the ugly one for practicing at home and the pretty one stays at school since I ~~blog and doodle and play with the dog~~ work and have appointments in the mornings, and it's often difficult to get it to school in time for band class.

Hmmm, what to do. Any advice? I'll wait, I've got nothing in particular going on right now...
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Silver Liningness

2011-11-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

"Silent gratitude isn't very much use to anyone" - Gertrude Stein.

And so how can I be grateful in silence - especially this week of government mandated thankfulness?

Really, though, it was a nice week. Kids and husband all had the whole week off, so ironically, I was the only one with any sort of work schedule - having a few tutor sessions to pepper the week. But I wasn't so busy as to not enjoy some holiday festivities.

And the weather's been great all week, considering it's the end of November (with the exception of yesterday which totally blowed... yes "blowed" as opposed to "blew"). Got in some nice fresh air time.

The Turkey Trot as mentioned on Thursday was very fun. I race about once every blue moon. When I do, I prefer to be competetive about it, but I also appreciate those who just like to have fun. I saw several participants dressed as pilgrims or turkeys or native Americans, and I understand there was a group festively dressed as salmonella in the true spirit of the holiday.

It was also fun to have Wolfgang there - our first race together - knowing he was in the pack somewhere up ahead of me.

That competetive streak is something that came to light recently from my life coaching activity, which is still challenging me in good ways. That reminds me, I have homework...

Spending "black Friday" with Mom and Dad was nice too. Mom has been struggling off-and-on with health issues this past year, and Dad's not getting any younger either. Both of them were looking good and were relatively energetic during my visit.
Mom and I actually did do some extreme grocery shopping together - which doesn't really count as black Friday shopping I suppose. Simple pleasures.

And speaking of bargains, sort of, I managed to sell off some electronics this week. In light of yet another story of murder-by-craigslist, I will say that it's at least been good to me.

So a nice week all around, but I'm ready to get back into the swing tomorrow...
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round

2011-11-27T11:08:00.001-07:00

It's Illustration Friday on Sunday this week! The prompt is "round".

I believe in Karma - that whole notion of what-goes-around-comes-around. It does offer some comfort when I think about child molesters, or those who cover up for child molesters, or those who bring pepper spray to their black friday events, or...

Maybe it's also why I like to ride my bicycles.

The gerbils of this world understand.
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sunshine award

2011-11-26T22:00:00.000-07:00

This award has been sitting in my e-mail for a while now and I'd say it's about time I did the right thing and acted on it!

Linda Hensley, a blogger and wonderful artist I met through Illustration Friday action presented me with it. It's a total honor since Linda is such a great artist and writer. Illustration Friday gets a lotta traffic, and I usually just check out a few entries. I always go see what Linda's come up with, and she typically has a great story to go with her illustrations.

The rules for receiving the award:
- Thank the person who gave you the award (check).
- Write a post about it (in process).
- Answer to the questions below (here goes).
- Pass it on to 10 bloggers who you think really deserve it and send them a message to let them know (you all deserve it!)

The questions:

01. My favorite color: ROYGBIV

02. My favorite animal: Racehorses (is that one word or two?)

03. My favorite number: 13

04. My favorite non-alcoholic drink? Hawaiian punch. Just kidding.

05. I (reluctantly) joined facebook and (as required by my boss) twitter.

06. My passion: (I can't pick just one) parenting, painting, writing, running, bicycling, teaching, but housecleaning not so much...

07. getting or giving presents? Yes

08. My favorite pattern? Fibonacci

09. My favorite day of the week? Tuesday

10. My favorite flower? The Sunshine Award one of course!

feral time

2011-11-25T20:47:00.001-07:00

Greetings on this Black Friday. I for one did not do any door-bustin' whatsoever. I took a quiet trip down to sex-change town to visit my parents, and all I did to stimulate the economy was buy some gas.

It was nice to get away. I left all of the menfolk here to fend for themselves without me. They had some good man-time. Went and shot at things.

And I wanted to keep up the spirit of NaBloPoMo and not miss a day! When all else fails, just load up some gratuitous photos, right? Yesterday, after the turkey was but a carcass, we went a did a little communing with nature.

I brought the camera, much to the camera-opposed children. I had to trick them into being photographed.

Chaco, sniped from a bit of cover for me - resulting in a covered photo of him...

"Hey, Meego, what's this thing?!" (Ambushed!)

"Where you at, Wolfgang?!" (Psyche!)

Even managed to catch Magnum in the corner. Something about two birds in the bush?

Anyway, we did have a nice Thanksgiving. It was just the 5 of us again this year. I would prefer a get-together, but at the same time, there's no pressure on me to not screw up the meal. And we did enjoy this nice time in the wild.

With the unseasonably nice weather, and people with visitors in town, we came across a few others enjoying the great outdoors. One little girl was wearing a white skirt and a short-sleeved white fur hoodie. Was the cutest thing and not something normally seen in such a place. The fur and the natural surroundings made her resemble a child of the Cave Bear Clan or similar.

Another group of kids was stopping to pick up just about every rock they could. Cheap Colorado souvenirs I guess.

I hope everyone reading had a nice holiday, if you so celebrate. No drunken relatives having to be removed, no pepper-spray incidents, etc. Although if any of that stuff did happen, please do tell!
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Happy Thanksgiving! (for lack of a better title idea)

2011-11-24T11:30:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American friends! And I'm thankful for all of my blog friends no matter what your citizenry!

Wolfgang and I went Turkey Trotting this morning. It's a beautiful November day, so as expected, there was a huge turnout - over 3000 runners I think.

I don't race very often, so for someone who usually runs alone in the dark wee hours of the morning, this was quite fun to be part of such a hoard.

My goal was to be first for my age group, but some 45-year-young buck beat me, so I got second. Well, I was still the fastest old lady... Time was 22:46, so I'm good with that.

Update: Official results = second fastest old lady.
Wolfgang made an impressive showing at 60th overall. For a race of 3000+ people, he would probably get into Harvard in a test score analogy. 19:36 for him.

So it was a nice way to start the day. And I got this cute squishy turkey for my efforts. I can't decide what to name him/her. Our sacrificial turkey is about ready to eat, and the aroma is making the cat and dog a bit more mental than they usually are.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my blog friends!
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BYOC

2011-11-23T11:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, the week started off with my birthday and the age reminders just keep a-coming. Chaco asked if he could either borrow the car (no) or get a ride (probably not) to a friend's house for a party. I asked him which friend this was and where friend lived. The friend was Andrew and Andrew doesn't live that far away, so like the true bicycling mom I am, I suggested Chaco just ride his bike to Andrew's.

The following rivetting exchange ensued.

Chaco: "I can't".

Me: "Why not?"

So Chaco goes on to explain that he needs the car because he's bringing his computer. Now, this Frankenstein computer he built has many bells and whistles and unique features. However, portability is not one of them.

"Bringing your....? What!? Why?", I says.

"We're having a LAN party", he flatly replies like it should be obvious to me.

*blank stare*

At that point, I had never heard the term "LAN party". I was familiar with "LAN", and I was familiar with "party", and the two terms seemed pretty mutually exclusive to me.

Me: "A LAN party?!"

Chaco: "Yeah", looking around like there's something weird in the room that he hasn't noticed.

And I'm thinking that that's got to be the nerdiest thing I've heard in a long time and I'm giggling. "Really? A 'LAN party'"?

"Yes", Chaco replies, amused at my amusement. And I'm thinking, without saying out loud, gosh, when I was his age we got drunk and made out...

I've since learned that these things... these LAN parties... aren't so far outside the bell curve as I originally thought. They're quite popular and common, and I'm actually glad that ~~nerds~~ computer aficionados have an agreeable means to socialize.

Figure 1 shows just such an event!

Figure 1

Here's a challenge for you. Find the female. tick tock tick tock tick tock tick tock... Never mind, there isn't one.

Regardless, I gave Chaco and the beloved computer a ride to Andrew's for this LAN party. There are certainly worse things they could be doing. Oh... so much worse.

the day he stopped being clingy

2011-11-22T14:26:00.001-07:00

We were at the library. Not the little branch library, but the big huge 4-story library downtown. There was a sturdy wooden dollhouse in the children's area that Meego liked to play with while I got books for us. That day, there was another little boy about Meego's age playing with the dollhouse. Meego was just 3-years-old and rather shy, so I was glad there was a "peer" there for him to play with.

As I selected a few books, I kept my ears on the dollhouse area and watched Meego and the other boy play with my peripheral vision. After getting some good stories, I went to retrieve Meego and go to the checkout.

He wasn't there.

What I'd thought was the sound of both him and the other boy playing turned out to be just the other boy talking with himself.

It was the worst feeling in the world. Where was Meego? I walked past all of the bookshelves in the children's area, searching each aisle. No sign of him. He wouldn't wander off without me, would he? He was usually so clingy, I'd never had to worry about it.

After what felt like hours but was probably just a couple of minutes, I realized he wasn't in the children's area, so I had to expand my search. Damn, that library was huge!

One of the staff saw me looking and I told her I was looking for my toddler son. He was wearing a blue fleece hoodie. I felt like the worst mom in the world, but at the same time, I was glad to have another set of eyes looking for him.

She said, "There's a storytime going on downstairs. Maybe that's where he went". She said she would go check while I continued to look on the main floor. Surely, I thought, he wouldn't go all the way to the next floor down.

More ~~hours~~ minutes passed with no sign of him. Then I saw the woman who went to check downstairs. "Yep, he was at storytime", she said, nodding towards the stairs. I turned and saw Meego working his way up the stairs in that awkward way that 3-year-olds have of navigating stairs.

I still felt like a sh*tty mom, but it was the best sight in the world.

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt:
"What is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you and why?"

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it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to

2011-11-21T13:54:00.001-07:00

Hmmmm......

Nope. I don't really want to.

But, that's not to say that it's a day without heartbreak. Not about my birthday though - that's all good. I'm a lucky girl. No, today we lost a family member. We lost Gil.

Gil was a wonderful fish. He showed that chivalry was not dead in the way he would let "the girls", his tankmates, get the best scraps of food. And he always showed his gentle caring towards them when they would be floating upside down and doing their beachball impersonations while awaiting their daily fiber treatments. He clearly had a big, yet two-chambered heart.

And gil was a looker. Dark, obviously virile, and in perfect proportion. And those bulging eyes - SO so deep.

I will miss Gil. He'd been struggling lately, and I had a feeling his days were numbered. Even in his last breath - or whatever breathing through Gil's gills was called - he attemtped to spare the family. I found his body resting gently and hidden in the fronds of a thick plant.

I distracted the ladies with some flake food and gently netted Gil's body. We made a procession to the porcelain cemetary and carried out a proper submergence ceremony. It was beautiful really.

And now I sit alone here with just my thoughts, after the ceremony, after the houseful of people paying respects (not really), and it is in this solemn hour that I bid fond farewell.

Rest in peace, Gil the fancy goldfish. May a flight of angel fish sing thee to thy rest. Amen.

Cry if you want to.
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Silver Liningness

2011-11-20T10:08:00.001-07:00

Good silver lining Sunday morning! Let me count the ways...

I did not go for a bike ride this morning. The temperature was in the 20's and 30 is my cutoff, even with the foot jackets. Instead, I got out my yoga mat. It's harder than it looks, really! And much warmer than a bike ride in 20 degrees.

I've been able to keep up with NaBloPoMo, and I've met a few more bloggers. It seems like I've been blogging forever, and I've met some great people along the way. Many have come and gone and/or migrated to facebuuk, and it's always nice to meet others who still like to blog.

On that note, the Portrait-a-Day challenge has been fun, but I'm burning out after a week. I enjoy doing portraits, but every day? For a whole month? That's a lot of eyes-nose-mouth-chin-hair activity. I think I'll change it up to Portrait-Every-Once-In-a-While month.
(Eric Balfour from "Skyline". Not a great movie...)

But my participation in Movember is still going strong. Haven't shaved my face all month.

And we can't have all fun and games! I'm enjoying the variety of tutoring activity I'm doing lately. And the workload is just about right.

On those coat tails, I got a message this week from the mom of a girl I recently tutored. She did it! She got the score she needed on her college entrance exam and signed with her "dream University" last week! I just love those messages.

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Vanity

2011-11-19T14:48:00.001-07:00

Happy Illustration Friday Saturday! This week's prompt is "vanity".

I am NOT one to get a vanity license plate. I don't even put those "honor student" bumper stickers on the car. Nope, our cars are truly profoundly unadorned. (The "honor student" bumper stickers are slapped onto the bedroom door).

Is there, I wonder, a certain personality profile for people who pay the extra fee for vanity plates? What does a vanity plate say about them? Do you have one? What does it say, and why?
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him

2011-11-18T16:02:00.001-07:00

I only knew him for a short while, but I've remembered him for years.

I don't particularly remember our first meeting, I just remember that he began keeping me company. That's the only way I can describe our "relationship".

I worked evenings as a hotel desk clerk, and during slow seasons I typically ran the desk by myself. We met during the slow season.

He told me he worked construction, but he didn't seem like what I think of as a typical construction worker - David Hodo, he was not.

He had longish thick dark hair with a little bit of wave in it. It was always shiny and clean. He combed it back, and some of it would fall forward over his forehead. I found that very attractive.

He had a full beard, but it was kept short - Sean Connery, not ZZTop.

He wore silver wire-framed glasses.

He had a medium to large build and usually wore jeans, boots, a button-down shirt, and a black leather jacket - at a time when I was impressed by leather jackets.

I worked most weekday evenings, and soon I began to anticipate his visits. He would first go into the hotel lounge and have a beer before coming out to "keep me company". He always acknowledged me when he first entered the hotel, before going into the lounge.

He was rather quiet and soft-spoken and struck me more as a writer or musician than a construction worker. He wasn't particularly flirtatious - didn't say any silly pick-up lines and didn't give me the impression that he was trying to impress me. I found all of that very attractive.

I enjoyed our conversations. He would tell me about his day working construction. It wasn't a passion for him, and I sensed that someday, he would do work that was. I was a college student then and sometimes talked about school or the hotel. It may sound boring, but I enjoyed his easy company.

I didn't know his actual age, but I was 20 and he was, I'm guessing, at least in his late 20's.

We never went out - never spent time together other than those nights I was working the desk. I vaguely remember him asking me to go out, but I can't remember why we never did.

That bothers me. To this day, that bothers me.

Yesterday's NaBloPoMo prompt:

"Make a list of everyone you've ever had a crush on in your life, then choose one from the list and describe him or her in great detail"
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street fash-on

2011-11-17T09:45:00.001-07:00

"Never compare your inside with somebody else's outside". --- Hugh Macleod

I've been feeling a little... well... inadequate this week.

It all started last weekend when we went to that football game. All those beautiful people out there, looking so well put together. So youthful and crisp. Yes, I have vest envy.

We were parking the van, and those parking lot attendants' vests were the bomb! It made me stop and realize how frumpy my crossing guard vest is. Here's a shot of it, clearly past its prime.

See how it just lays there? On whatever happens to be available to lay across?

It's mesh with a teeny worn-out patch of velcro to hold it shut. Woe to the wearer should a slight wind come along.

But then, I told myself, I'm a crossing guard. These were Parking Lot Attendants. Parking Lot Attendants at a military installation. They deserve the primo outerwear.

And all was fine until yesterday.

I was out driving in the next school district over. You know, the one with the lower test scores and higher drop-out rate than our school district? I came across a couple of crossing guards, and they had some spanking vests, I gotta say!

It made me curious. What other alternatives are out there?

Here's a hot little number. Shine up the go-go boots and do the exposed shoulder thing, and that traffic will be a-stopping!

Or how 'bout the "Yay Team!" look? Nothing says safety like matching rain slickers. Plus, after the shift is done, go out and do an episode of "Deadliest Catch"!

Uhm...no. Just no.

Ah, yes. Put on some skinny jeans with pumps and carry an umbrella a la Mary Poppins, and those kids will follow you anywhere!

Okay, who calls this a uniform? It's a cargo strap. I don't feel so bad now.

Gay pride parades need officials too, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Okay, the Graphic Novel look isn't really my style, but I do feel her pain.

I guess I'll stick with the frump vest. It's not like I really have a say anyway.

POD: Waiflike fashion icon, or just the lucky lucky girl that got to take underwear photos with Marky Mark?
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I beg your pardon?

2011-11-16T10:25:00.001-07:00

Today's NaBloPoMo prompt asks us to write about the moment we leave childhood and enter adulthood. I don't know that there was a particular "moment" for me. It was more of a process. I do remember a moment when I was maybe 9 or 10 years old and realized that I could probably be anywhere in my little hometown and be able to find my way back to my house.

But adulthood, I guess, is often about a loss of innocence, and I'm reminded of the disturbing revelations coming out of Penn State. MissKris recently blogged about a personal experience of hers, and I have heard similar accounts from others.

Several years ago, I wrote about a particular situation I found myself in while collecting donations for a high school band trip. In short (pun intended?) A "family man" had answered the door, and while his friendly wife made out a check for the band, he proceeded to try to impress me with what was underneath his bathrobe.

I was not all that innocent, though. I was probably 15 or 16 years old, so it wasn't particularly traumatic. I just thought him a pig and felt sorry for his wife and the two kids that were in the next room watching cartoons. For their sakes, I didn't say anything to Mr. Jackoff.

Another time, at about the same age, I was at my job as a hotel restaurant busgirl. One of my duties was to run room service.

I took a hamburger to this man - as I recall, he was a truck driver. He asked me to stay for $200. Him, I did feel a little sorry for. He was still a pig, but I felt a little sorry for him. How pathetic.

I hope that entering into adulthood is mainly a process , and not one defining loss-of-innocence or loss-of-protection-and-nurturing moment. But I know it doesn't always work out that way.

Yesterday's POD was Marion Jones, in going with the "running" theme. Let it be known that I have just as many Olympic medals as she does.

Today, I chose Tom Cruise's character from "Risky Business" - the guy somewhere between childhood and adulthood. I thought his expression is probably similar to the ones I had when dealing with Mr. Band Donation and Mr. Truck Driver.

gotta cut loose

2011-11-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

I was out running this morning. It was a nice morning for it with temperatures in the upper 30's and just slight breezes.

When I run outside, I don't wear any headphones or any other particular type of gadgetry. I do wear a running watch, but I don't stress over what it says. And what it says is usually what it said the last time, and the time before that, and the time before that, etc.

No, I guess I'm a pretty lo-tech runner. Plus, as I've said here before, I like to be aware of my surroundings when I'm running outside, and I think having music blasting in my ears takes away from that.

As I was heading back toward my house, I went by a high school boy on his way to school. He was walking and I could see the earbud cords hanging from his head, so I swung way around him since I figured he wouldn't be able to hear my approach. A few yards later, we were held up at a traffic light.

As we waited for our walk signal, I was aware of his music. Soon, he couldn't take it any longer, and began to bounce his head. We continued to wait for the light.

Pretty soon, his shoulders joined his head in the dance. Then his hips, and then finally, his legs and feet. He knew I was there waiting for the light with him, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from dancing.

It's nice to see that there are still kids that walk to school. Good for him. Who wants to ride a no-dancing school busy anyway?

"Dance like no one is watching, love like you'll never be hurt,sing like no one is listening,and live like it's heaven on earth." -- William Purkey (or maybe someone else)

Today's POD (portrait of the day): someone who maybe should've considered that someone IS watching... Guess?
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if a tree falls on a weekend...

2011-11-14T13:16:00.001-07:00

does anyone care?

Yesterday, we noticed that a large tree had fallen over. It was most likely a casualty of the obnoxious Saturday wind.

This was problematic because it was totally blocking the sidewalk and grass. Sidewalk users were bound by a residential fence on one side and a busy boulevard on the other. (Note: this is "my" crosswalk boulevard with the horrible drivers).

I know that this sidewalk gets a lot of pedestrian traffic from kids walking to and from school. Now, I'm not usually one to think morbid thoughts, but I did have visions of kids trying to walk around the downed tree by stepping into the crazy-driver boulevard. I called the city.

"Hello, there's a large fallen tree blocking the sidewalk on crazy-driver boulevard."

"Oh, okay. Is it blocking the road?"

"Not really, it spills onto the road, but cars can pass"

"Okay, we don't have a crew to clean it up today. I'll leave a note for tomorrow".

"I see, well I do know that a number of kids will be walking that way to school in the morning, so I was concerned that they will try to walk in the street".

"Oh, okay. Is the tree blocking the road?"

"Not really, it spills onto the road, but cars can pass" *deja vu*?

"Okay, I'll leave a note for tomorrow".

Let me just say now that this isn't a rant about the city not cleaning up the tree in time for school this morning. It was a Sunday, and I was just happy that a real person answered the phone.

The point is, that we can take matters into our own hands, so that's what "we" did. *ahem*. Magnum took our camp saw to the tree carcass and cut a path for the pedestrians. It was quite an architectural masterpiece, really. I should've gotten a picture, but instead all I have is the aftermath of what the city left after they did eventually get to it.

It wasn't a complicated thing to do (easy for me to say) to provide some peace of mind. And it didn't go unnoticed. I ran into another mom I know from the neighborhood whose daughter walks with Meego to their bus stop.

"Your husband's awesome for cutting through that tree. I called the city, but they wouldn't clear it yesterday."

Yeah, maybe we'll send them a bill. Or maybe they'll "accidentally" fix the pothole at the end of our driveway?

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Now for something totally unrelated... I've learned that, not only is it NaNoWriMo, NaBloPoMo, and Movember, it is also portrait-a-day month for the portraitly inclined.

I confess that, when first hearing of this, I was all "nope, not enough time, plus, what if they suck?" but then I thought I could at least try because it will be good exercise for my "accepting my vulnerabilities" (life coachee speak right there!)

So I will try to crank a portrait a day. Just pencil stuff. Spending no longer than an hour.

Know who it is? Got a fave face?

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Silver Liningness

2011-11-13T09:26:00.001-07:00

Happy Sunday and time for a little silver liningness of the week just past. First of all, though, yesterday was ridiculously windy around here. If I believed there was an actual place as hell (which I don't), I'd say that along with the fires, there's obnoxious wind there too. BUT, in true silver liningness form... our yard doesn't have as many leaves needing raking anymore :).

And despite the hellacious winds, we went to an Air Force football game yesterday. It was sunny out and not particularly cold. Disappointingly, because of the high winds, the fly-overs were cancelled. And the live falcon demonstration which usually looks like the image on the left was replaced by a substitute live falcon demonstration, featuring the "live falcon" on the right. It was silly stupid fun, and I for one have a deep appreciation for silly stupid fun. (Note: I don't particularly care for watching football or sports in general, I go to these things for the sideshows.).

I got out my yoga mat this week for the first time in a long time. Oh... I attempted some yoga with it too. It's been a while. And I'm reading a book recommended by the get-a-life coach. Our library had it and it's a pretty good book to ponder, so I'm thankful for both the coach and the library.

Ms. Coach also turned me onto this channel. It was vaguely familiar, but I'd never watched any of the presentations before, and I've learned that there are several worth watching. I was watching one last night, thinking myself all in-the-know, when Wolfgang the 11th grader noted that one of his classes watches presentations from this channel quite frequently. Okay, so I'm as in-the-know as an 11th grader. I'll take it.

We watched a nice movie too. Little Big Soldier wasn't really what I expected it to be. First of all, it's Jackie Chan. Also, it's in Mandarin Chinese, so there's reading required, which doesn't bother me. I expected just goofiness and some older-Jackie-Chan martial arts stuff, and there was that, but it's also a very touching story. And the scenery of ancient China is beautiful. Go see!
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assignment

2011-11-12T16:08:00.001-07:00

Okay, anybody else have a whiteboard or something similar on their fridge? As I recall, we ended up with one on our fridge because somebody just HAD to have one for his locker at school, but soon found out it just got in the way, so it ended up on our fridge.

I have to admit that it does come in handy sometimes. Recall last Thanksgiving when Chaco left me this note. Since then, many many drawings have seemingly magically appeared on the previously orphaned whiteboard. Often, we aren't sure of who the artist is, as the drawings are mostly done on the sneak.

What has somehow evolved is, about every month or so, someone will start a new picture thread, and all subsequent pictures are to rhyme that starter depiction. So technically (as if we actually have rules) the drawings aren't necessarily "things to do", but the thing on there now looks like a good directive - safety considerations aside. The thread started with a ghost, and this is what is now on the whiteboard:

I know that some people refer to themselves as list makers. Others, not so much. Magnum, in proud Asperger fashion, is a king of list making. As part of the employee work/health incentives program, I was tasked to make a couple of lists. One, I'm supposed to list ways to reduce stress in my life, another, list ways I can eat healthier. The fun thing is, if I do it, I'll actually get paid money. Yes, I can be a paid journalist. And I actually even doubt that anyone will read it, but turns out, it doesn't matter!

So yeah, I'll do it. It's on my list of things-to-do, along with the above drawing, a note that Chaco needs a haircut and the subaru needs an oil change.

What's on your list of things-to-do? Do you take time to schedule the fun things too? Do you even have a list?
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Silent

2011-11-11T17:18:00.001-07:00

Hello and happy Illustration Friday! This week's prompt is "silent". I drew a ninja for it, but I didn't really like him... he looked too mean.

So I pulled this friendly Mongolian horse from my archives. I drew this a few weeks ago at the request of a friend who actually went to Mongolia, camped in a yurt, and basically did the whole Mongolian nomad experience. For about a week.

I could like the silence. I think.
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three wishes

2011-11-11T10:05:00.001-07:00

Happy 11/11/11! I actually have to go to a meeting that starts at 11:00 (really!), but since it's NaBloPoMo, I wanted to get a post in.

Today's prompt is to make 3 wishes, but I'm going to change it up to meet MY needs, rebel that I am.

It's Veteran's day. Thank you, Veterans! And a little special thanks to these three <--- my change-up.

Dad, brother, hubs...

thought you saw me wink, no

2011-11-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

I just learned that its NaBloPoMo! (National Blog Posting Month) Even if you too did not know it was NaBloPoMo, aren't you glad to know now? If just to say it out loud?

Each day, a writing prompt is posted. I'm going to jump on the bandwagon even though we're 10 days in already. Today's prompt is:

What is your secret (or not-so-secret) passion?

I would like to reveal a secret passion. My not-so-secret passions have been gabbed about enough here I think. I mean, come on, for one, I have jackets for my feet!

One of my other passions, which might not be that much of a secret, is that I love to people watch. "People watch" written together like that is a verb, right? It doesn't sound correct to say that I love to watch people. That sounds a bit creepy.

So yeah. Some people go to the mall to shop or "hook up" (teenagers!). I go to people watch. Some people like to hit museums and get all cultured. I usually find the people more interesting than the exhibits. Restaurants, coffee shops, libraries, boring meetings - all fertile ground!

In that sense, my moonlighting job as a crossing guard is wonderfully indulging. When I'm not escorting the little people across the street, I'm watching the motorists. Some are harried, probably late for work. Some are eating and/or drinking. Multi-tasking moms on cell phones, burley city employees in fashionable (moreso than mine!) orange vests, sleepy parents driving kids to school, friendly waving strangers, grumpy commuters, rebellious motorcyclists in their biker leather glory, young dangerous-looking guys, and we can't forget the occassional traffic cop - I watch the watchers too.

And this is why I also enjoy reading blogs so much. It's just another form of people watching. Watching from the inside.

What's your (PG-13) secret passion?
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things I will say

2011-11-09T19:34:00.000-07:00

I was just over Here and this entry resonated with me a lot. It was written from a prompt to "Pour Your Heart Out".

Okay, enough linking...

As I have confessed, I recently began talking with a ~~get-a~~ life coach. I mean, seriously though. Who does that?? It was a few weeks ago, and I was feeling restless, like there should be more to "this". So I started surfing the internet about life coaching - thinking maybe I could find a good forum or a newsletter or something.

Here's the thing. I consider myself to be pretty happy and content with how my life is going. On the surface it seems great. Married for~~ever~~ 21 years to a patient and employed Magnum, 3 healthy kids, the house, the cars, the pets, the hobbies...

So why the restlessness? All these years, since Chaco was in kindergarten, I've been a busy volunteer mom at schools, at youth sports, all that stuff. And now I've got time and energy for other things. But... what things?

And to be honest, I feel taken for granted and resentful sometimes. And to be honest, I feel like I've lost some of "me" in the last few years.

First of all, if you just go and naively do a search on "life coaching", you will get about a gajillion links. Not helpful. I made my search words more and more and more and more specific, until I whittled the list down to a mere gazillion.

So I ended up checking out a few of the sites. Now, I've read a few books before about finding your way, awakening your giant, coloring your parachute, etc... As I perused around, I think I came to realize that it's tough to life coach your own self. For me it is anyway.

I clicked a button to sign up for a complementary session. My coach lives in Buffalo. We skyped.

And from that one free skyped session, I felt a little better. Not to sound all new agey and such, but she asks "powerful questions" to align with who we really are and get rid of the stuff that gets in our way.

She described this process as being like driving. "Therapy is looking in the rear-view mirror. Counseling is pulling over to ask directions. Life coaching is focusing on the road ahead. And sometimes, we have to check the rear view mirror and we might need to pull over and ask directions, but the focus is on moving forward".

Sounded good to me.

Stay tuned.
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maybe not best but pretty darn good

2011-11-08T10:27:00.000-07:00

Remember I took that polygraph for the po-po a couple of weeks ago? It was actually more than just getting hooked up to the machine and being asked a bunch of questions. I was "prepped" ahead of time and Polygraph Man also went through a series of getting-to-know-you questions. I think that was just part of the volunteer interview process, or it could've been part of he polygraph prep process. Either way, two questions struck me as intriguing.

"What's the best thing that's ever happened to you?"

"What's the worst thing that's ever happened to you?"

I had trouble coming up with what I thought were good answers. The BEST/WORST? Maybe I have trouble with superlatives.

When he asked these questions, I spent a few seconds in my head, trying to hone in on events that happened quickly and maybe surprisingly, not things that were processes. Like "that time I won the lottery" (never have) or "getting that cancer diagnosis" (nope). I ended up just giving pat answers. Best thing: each of my kids being born. Worst thing: Grandma getting sick and dying. Nothing particularly extraordinary or horrid. Next question?

Afterwards, I thought, do people carry in their heads best thing/ worst thing? I started thinking about a "best day", or close to it. And I remembered...

It was several years ago. I was single, in my early twenties, and living in Boulder, CO. I had a male co-worker that I used to walk with at break times when everyone else was smoking cigarettes or nursing their hangovers (interesting bunch). I'll call him Jeff because that was his name.

Jeff was an interesting guy. He had been a photographer in the Vietnam war. He went on reconnaissance (yes, I totally had to look up the spelling) missions and took photos.

Jeff had a brother who owned a glider = engineless aircraft. Jeff's brother wanted to glide over this particular mountain peak one morning and have Jeff snap photos. Wouldn't that be pretty?

So the date was set for one fall Saturday morning. Jeff asked if I wanted to join him. It would require us to get up at an ungodly hour and hike up a mountain in near darkness so as to be at the top by sunrise/glide-over time.

Yeah, sure. I'll go.

Jeff picked me up at the ungodly hour in the dark. He said, "Brother's got some problem with the glider. He's not coming. Do you still want to go?"

Well, I was already up. I had put on all the crap I had to put on that hiking up a mountain in the fall in the dark required. Might as well forge ahead.

Jeff and I climbed that mountain. We were at the top by sunrise. I swear we could see Nebraska from there. It was like watching the whole world wake up.

He took a few photos. We had nice conversation. He took a few more photos. After we'd had enough of that, we hiked back down, went to a greek restaurant and ate enormous omelettes and drank a ridiculous amount of coffee.

Nothing against any of my kids - they still own the 3 top spots - but that was one of my best days.

Yours?
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Silver Liningness

2011-11-06T09:49:00.000-07:00

Happy silver liningness Sunday! And let me just begin with some bicycle love for the beautiful Bella. Had an enchanting ride this morning despite the frigid temperatures. I prefer Bella's bulk... er... robustness for when it gets chilly.

Along those same lines, I was wearing some new Pearl Izumi shoe covers as part of my Save-the-Tootsies campaign.

They're great, just slip them on over the shoes like little jackets for feet. I splurged and got me a pair just yesterday. This morning, the thermometer said 31 degrees, and Bella, Pearl, and I made for an enjoyable threesome. *ahem*

Okay, enough of that. In other silver liningness news, Halloween came and went. I'm actually kind of glad to not be doing the school party circuit anymore. I did consider some sort of dress-up for my crosswalk clients. Like maybe a hit and run victim? Then I thought that could be a bit traumatic and mildly inappropriate for some. I went as myself.

My brother Wombat (a.k.a. "Guano") was passing through and treated me to lunch earlier this week. I hardly ever see him, so it was a true treat.

Things continue to move forward with the police dept. volunteerage. When I hadn't heard from them for a few days after the polygraph + urinalysis, I was going over that polygraph in my head. That fire? At that party? It wasn't intentional, I swear!! Then they called with next steps. Whew.

I joined a local writer's group this week. They do workshops and discussions and conferences and stuff like that. I thought it would be a good thing for me to do. <---Life coach, remember? Yep, had another good session with the get-a-life coach.

Watched a movie yesterday - Two Hands - but didn't particularly like it. The silver lining is that there were a couple of scenes that were absolutely hilarious.

And, what's not to like about an extra hour?

stripes

2011-11-04T17:29:00.001-06:00

TGIIF! Another Illustration Friday, another prompt. This week it's "stripes". So I was out working the streets again and trying to think up something.... hmmmm....

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snow day

2011-11-03T14:05:00.000-06:00

Okay, mark the calendars. Yesterday gets credit for being the first snowday of the school year. I holed up in the house with the 3 kids as long as I could take it.

Did I ever mention that Chaco built himself a computer? For his birthday last year, he asked for some cash to purchase parts for this Frankensteinian computer. He ordered the various components, assembled them, and now the two of them share a happy existence in what we all lovingly refer to as "The Corner".

My computer (well, technically it's my and Magnum's computer, but come on...) sits just a few feet away from The Corner. It's on my gigadesk - my happy island drifting about in The Mancave. I blog here, I paint here, I draw here, I shop here, I'm a girl here. This is Girl Island in the country of Mancave.

BUT Chaco has some wonderfully deep, highly resonant, obnoxiously beastly, abhorrently foul, impressively balanced speakers in The Corner. I love them when he streams music through them. When he plays computer games? Not so much. Machine gun fire, explosions, yelling and swearing - all in beautifully clangorous surround sound.

Snow day became blow-stuff-up day. Even with him sleeping in and the frequent breaks ~~I forced him to take through threats of eviction~~, the battlefield was taking a toll on me and my sanctuary. I found solace in hot beverages and a chilly arctic trek with the crazy dog.

Today is quiet again. It feels almost sad at how quiet it is.

Just kidding.
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Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T18:29:00.002-06:00

Halloween on a Monday? I think most true partiers already celebrated.

BUT, I've got a bunch of candy for the little moochers. Yesterday, we went out and got the traditional pumpkins from the quaint little local pumpkin patch (a.k.a. the big cardboard box outside the grocery store).

Here are the results of our self expressions

From left to right: Wolfgang, myself, Meego, Magnum, and Chaco (of course).

Happy Halloween! Don't pig out.
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Silver Liningness

2011-10-30T12:54:00.001-06:00

Season's Greetings, and time for some silver liningness Sunday action!

Started this morning out with another beautiful fall bicycle ride, except I have GOT to get me some of those warm biker socks or my toes won't live to see 50.

As mentioned earlier, I completed the police polygraph test and surprise urinalysis part of my induction to "the force". So far, everyone I've met there is pretty cool. This volunteer gig is something totally new and different for me. I think being an unpaid crime fighter will be fun.

I have a phacebuuk page, but I don't spend a whole lot of time there and sometimes think it's all kind of silly. But this week a relative of mine in the Phillipines found me, and that was pretty nice. He is my Uncle Maximo's (Mom's brother) grandson. We so should have named one of our kids "Maximo".

Movie-wise, Magnum and I watched "The Last Word". It's dark, and I liked it. Wes Bentley is strange yet endearing (and he's got really purdy eyes).

Last silver liningness Sunday, I briefly mentioned a life coach and some helpful questionnaires. Well, I actually hired said life coach for a few sessions, and I think she's helping me get a life. Talk to me if you want a referral.
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scary

2011-10-28T13:04:00.000-06:00

Happy Illustration Friday once again! This week's prompt, in time for Halloween I suppose, is "Scary".

Recall that, earlier this week, I had a polygraph test. It was part interesting, part uncomfortable, part scary. Terri suggested that I create a character out of "Polygraph Man", so I've done that for this week's entry.

He looks friendly enough... but maybe a bit scary too? He knows everyhing.
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