windthefrog

once more, with feeling.

I have ignored this blog and come back declaring my good intentions to post regularly SO. Many. Times. I'm like the Chicken Little of blogging. I put on my 42 by 42 list that I'd blog 52 times this year. Uh...epic fail. I have posted a grand total of EIGHT times since that last pronouncement, leaving juuuust a few more to go if I decide I really want to cross this off the list. Maybe...maybe not. I don't think anyone really reads this (except Jaymee - hi!) and I have to ask myself who I'm writing this for, anyway.

I read so many shiny happy blogs of amazing women that are making and posting amazing photography and scrapbooking and DIY projects and have beautifully decorated homes and seemingly amazingly perfect relationships and are writing witty blog posts all the while whipping up gourmet meals and finding time to put the elf on the shelf. It's easy to feel like I have nothing to say that compares. Compared to what? I just need to remind myself to keep my eyes on my own paper. That first of all it's easy to mold your online life into looking amazing if you only post certain parts of your life. But even so, it's really not about that. It's about me feeling like I can't or shouldn't or don't want to post what life is really like so instead I stay silent. 

My word for this year is true. This is the year where I discover my true voice. Follow my true heart. Live the life I truly want to live. I fear judgment and long for approval. Not the most conducive circumstances to voice my feelings where they can be known and judged. This will be my challenge this year. To just put it out there. People may not like my decisions. Or they might. It shouldn't affect my life either way. This is my life and it's about time that I owned it and enjoyed it to its fullest. And they people who may fall away because they don't like me or my decisions never really loved me anyway...not the true me. So anyway. I'm back. At least for this post.

I'm going to try to post more. I'm going to try to be kinder to myself. I'm going to try to figure out who I am, exactly. What I want to say. Stay tuned. Or not... I'm writing this life for me. : )

Rest in peace, Bella girl.

My sister never thought she wanted kids. When she got Bella, her black lab puppy, this was her baby. Always together, she even took Bella to work with her every day while she was a puppy.

You have never seen a dog more showered with love - not spoiled, but well loved for sure. While people might say I'm not an animal lover, I love that people love their pets. So just as I get my nieces and nephews gifts on Christmas, I've always made sure to include Bella, too. Even when baby Raigan came along, Bella was never replaced in Jaymee and Dereck's household.

Bella lived a full and happy life - it just should have been much, much longer. If you go to Jaymee's blog, you can see a great slideshow that shows just a small part of her amazing life. We will miss you, Bella, but it was a pleasure to know you. I hope you are chasing balls in heaven right now. Jaymee, Dereck and Raigan, I am thinking of you sending you so much love. xoxoxo

cross off #11

the super epic rainbow cake has been conquered. I have one very happy 1o year old girl, too. : ) More details from the party later. for now, behold the glory of Roy G. Biv:

oh!

i forgot - I was going to let Elizabeth know that she was the winner for guessing the closest for the cost of G's braces. The total is... (drumroll....)

$4420

{sob!}

Could they not round it off to an even $4400? What's with the extra 20 dollars? When I go into the office it's always decorated with seasonal doodads and a big 'ol bowl of hershey's kisses (candy? really, at the orthodontist?) I say skip the chocolate and display of stuffed bunnies and give me back my 20 bucks! Please?

 

[10 on tuesday] - the threequel!

They say (who is they, anyway?) that if you do something three times you're on your way to making it a habit. Well look out, world! Three blog posts in 3 weeks! This could be the start of something big...

1. Took Garrett to the doctor today about the adenoids. Got past the first gatekeeper after such questions as, "His adenoids should shrink as he gets older. Are you sure you don't want to wait ?" (Uh...no.) "Nasal spray can help a bit..." (Tried that.) and we have been referred to the ENT. It's not like I'm all gung-ho to put my boy into a surgeon's hands, but I so want him to feel the relief of a full breath of air through his nose and a good night's sleep. Poor guy.

Now...I'm not a doctor but I watch enough Grey's Anatomy to know how to read these charts below. ; ) So this first picture below shows what an adenoid should look like in green. To the right of the green adenoid you see a big dark area which is your airway.

Here is the x-ray from the orthodontist's office. To the left of where I circled is his enormous adenoid. And the teensy tiny black line I circled is his airway. Dude! Get this kid some relief!

2. 

I saw this on a blog the other day. My sister in law Jenny has a little... Nutella...."problem" - and so this person's name made me chuckle. : )

3. More of the lazy garden bonanza - the grape hyacinths are just about gone, but now bring on the tulips.

4. Just in case you didn't know:

5. We're almost done with our taxes and it looks like we may even get some money back. I hate to even put that in print.

6. The blender went missing. Not the whole thing, but the glass part. We make smoothies daily so this was a big loss. I looked everywhere, including a ton of places that made no sense (like the linen closet) over and over. Finally Rich found the evidence in the outside trash tonight. The kids swear it wasn't them, and Mom says she knows nothing about it. The kids donned rubber goves and totally got into crime scene investigation mode. They realized that the only eyewitness was Casper the white goldfish that lives on the kitchen counter, but he's not talking. They have deduced that maybe it was the kids that were playing here the day we all remember seeing it last. It still seems a little fishy (get it? eh? eh?) but since i always hated that blender it's all good. I'm just glad to be able to stop searching!

7. Cinderella is Garrett's leopard gecko. I swear, she is like a supermodel when the camera comes out. Look at her!

She got a little time out and about while she got an extreme tank makeover:

She also gave herself a little makover a couple of weeks ago:

Eeeek. A good reminder that change, and growth, is good. : )

And man does she look good now! I love how both she and Garrett have their tongues out in this one.

8. Garrett is wearing his famous orange sweatshirt in the photo above. But since he wears it pretty much 24/7, this is no surprise. Auntie Jaymee, you are now responsible for the crappy polyester Disney Princess nightgown years ago for Brynne - remember how I had to cut the sleeves off after they melted in the dryer and she still wore it every night?? And now this sweatshirt that's going on its third year and is still fitting like a dress. Ug. I might have to...misplace it. : )Another thing I probably shouldn't have put in print.

9. I read a lot of blogs. Way too many. I've been wondering how to cut it down... but I added a new one today. I lwent to it from Ali's blog and it was like meeting a new friend! She lives in my town, likes to scrapbook, run, hike... and I realized that all the projects I like at the scrapbook store were done by her! Such a small world. I'm sure she will think I am a stalker but I want to be her BFF : )

10. Brynne loves to make things in the kitchen - especially desserts. She whipped up this concoction the other night which was delicious, except that each "scoop" of ice cream was done with a teeny melon baller. Very nouvelle cuisine of her but in my world, ice cream portions need to be BIG : )

Still awake? We've reached the end of another ramble. Tune in next week...or who knows? Maybe I'll get crazy and post before then. Or here's an idea: update my sad photography blog!

just a test

comparing what level of sharpening looks best on the web. ignore me.

spring has sprung

At this point in the year, little signs of spring are popping up everywhere: it's staying lighter a little longer, daffodils are blooming, and little baby lambs are out in the newly green fields.

And then there's this:

do you see it?

Due to a design flaw in my car, leaves and dirt collect in this little well that you can't really see when the trunk is closed. Apparently it's the perfect environment to grow little sprouts! I am both horrified and intrigued by my little mobile garden... I'm curious to see if they keep growing, and what they are, exactly...

#27

#27 has been on my list since before I had a list. My closet is big, but was claustrophobic - filled to the brim with who knows what.

The first order of business was to take everything out of it and see what we were dealing with. I should have taken a photo of that, because it was a sight to behold. For extra credit points, I took everything out of my dresser, too. Piles and piles were on the bed... the floor... every spare spot of carpet was covered in some sort of junk. This is the discovery phase. "How do I have 27 black tank tops??"

Funny when you move somewhere and you stash something in a spot "just for now" and you realize, years later, that it's still there. Like my wedding dress. Really? Does that need to be at the ready? Strangely, in 13 years I haven't had the occasion to wear it again so into the garage it goes. And even that is temporary - I mean, why do I need it at all? I certainly don't expect Brynne to want to wear it (or Garrett, for that matter...) : )

This project took the better part of a weekend and many many home shows were watched on HGTV and DIY while I worked. It was so satisfying when it was all put back to my liking, and with only stuff that belonged in this closet in here:

aaaaahhhhhh. I can breathe again.

I have rules to a closet - even before, when it was crammed: clothes have to be grouped by kind and color. It's just so much prettier to see a little rainbow when I open the door.

Seriously, can't you just hear the angels singing??

Here is my other quirk when it comes to closets - no wire hangers! (Can you hear Faye Dunaway's voice in your head?) And no random multicolored plastic hangers for that matter, either. They all have to be the same - and wood. These are from my favorite place - IKEA - and are really inexpensive. And when there are no more hangers, there are no more clothes. To bring something new in, something else has gotta go. : )

The last improvment I made to the closet was a stepstool, so I can get the sweaters up on that top shelf. In the past my technique of a sort of basketball throw resulted in less than stellar results and a bunch of balled up sweaters up there. So I am hopeful that this new closet will be able to stay this way now...

double take

Last night when Garrett went to get ready for bed and came out dressed like this:

I had to go to YouTube to show him Tom Cruise singing in Risky Business.

i think i maybe be addicted

...to spray paint. Talk about instant gratification! Today I took this old kind of rusty brass lamp that was in the garage:

and turned it into this!

I can't wait to find it a home - maybe on my desk?