Buttons, Bobbles and Beads...Oh My! (#50)

Before we rushed out of doors--carried away by the miraculous spring thaw, I meant to blog a bit about the things we were doing to pass the last few weeks of winter.  That time when the snow has deteriorated to nothing more than slush, ice and piles of crusty, dirty, gnarled masses along the sidewalks and roads, and we are forced to seek the shelter of home and fire for a time.  I hate to sound like a boastful mama, but my kids are just amazing!  They dug out the paints, papers, puzzles and supplies.  The boxes of buttons, bobbles, beads and scraps saved for just such creative surges and went to work!  I was worried when Santa decided to bring a video game (Wii) into our house this last Christmas. But you know, they hardly touch the thing.  We have never had video games or fancy cable channels and have even had periods with no TV at all.  One would think children so deprived would flock around such a new-fangled device when there was nothing else to do.  But, I am proud to say that they did not.  I am grateful beyond measure for children who are 100 times more creative, imaginative, artistic and expressive than their parents.  Sometimes we wonder where these little geniuses came from.  Then we remember, oh ya, heaven!

Quote of the 

Day: "Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up." --Pablo Picasso grown-up and artist

Tomorrow May Rain So...

Like the cat who finds the one small patch of sun drenched carpet to take her nap, I too follow the sun.  Today is the first day of Spring! This last week has brought me more joy than any woman should have at something so simple as the changing of the seasons.  The kids feel it too.  There is something primitive, instinctual about the spring thaw.  I can feel it deep inside myself. The temperatures that sent us running for cover last Fall, now seem refreshing, rejuvenating, revitalizing (it isn't hard to alliterate 're' words!).  Boots are traded for sandals. Heavy coats and wooly hats are happily left dangling from their hooks, not quite ready to be packed away just yet. Sleds are pushed further and further to the back of the garage as we dig for bikes, scooters, skates and chalk. Is rebirth too strong a word?  That is how I feel, reborn!  I sit on the porch soaking up the warmth and breathing in the life, the green that I know is there waiting just under the ground for that perfect moment to emerge. It happens every year.  Yet the miracle never ceases to amaze me.  With the memory of cold and dark so fresh in my mind, the blue sky and temperate air seems almost like an hallucination. I know from experience that we are not completely rid of Old Man Winter just yet which makes it all the more imperative that I bask, delight and appreciate Mother Nature today.  All I can say is that I am love, Love, LOving it!

Quote of the Day: "Be yourself, everyone else is already taken."

--Oscar Wilde  playwright

Ode To A Commode

I sing of thy porcelain and pipes...

Ok, sorry, that title was misleading. This will not be an ode, but the story really is about a toilet and I like rhyming. Last week I had my regular monthly "date" with a girlfriend.  A couple of us went to her house to visit, vent, validate and revitalize.  It's cheaper than therapy, and gives the toddlers a place to master the fine art of sharing, and moms a place to show off their carefully honed diversionary tactics! Skills that will certainly come in handy if we ever have to form our own militia. We had even a third objective in this gathering, however, and that was to see Brenda's new lavatory.  It is a beauty! With just a gentle touch of the lid, this incredible contraption closes slowly, steadily & silently all by its little self.  No, I am not kidding. There we stood, three grown women, encircled about the toilet, oohing and aahing as if it were a newborn.  I have had similar experiences over stainless steel refrigerators, wainscoting, a really good hair cut and tile flooring. I thought to myself, "Wow girls, we need to get out more!" but I said, "Oh ya, this is making my blog!" Real life, real women, real necessity and real pleasure at another's good fortune.  The fact of the matter is that the old toilet caused a great deal of unpleasantness in the daily life of this young mother.  As her friends we empathized in her plight and were happy to share in her delight at the hassle-free appliance. Bearing in sadness & sharing in gladness, isn't that what its all about?  And you thought it was the hokey-pokey.  Actually that will get you through some pretty tough times too!

Quote of the Day: "I get by with a little help from my friends."

--Lennon/McCartney 

On Books, The Beatles and Breakdowns

If you came here today looking for my usual brand of saccharine sentiment, positive postulation and life-affirming lessons, then you had better turn away now. I mean it!  You won't find any of that here.  Perhaps those of you living in "normal" habitats don't understand what it is like up here in the frozen tundra of the north.  The high today is 32 degrees, and we are grateful for it I tell ya...grateful! A very dear friend called me about this time last year and asked if I was ready to have my breakdown yet.  My what?  Your annual pre-birthday "patience is wearing thin, going stir crazy, tired of being cooped up, why is there still snow, where are my flip-flops, where is the sun, where are the tulips, get me out now" breakdown.  Oooh, you mean THAT breakdown. Isn't it funny how those near to us know us better sometimes than we know ourselves. Apparently this is normal behavior for me right before my birthday every year. *Warning* Birthday next week.  I really do love the winter, but a person can only take so much. So in order to stave off the breakdown until the snow melts in April or May, I offer some blues bustin' helpful hints...

1. Break into that stack of books you have been meaning to get to.  Park yourself in a south-facing window and soak up that vitamin D!

2. Spend way more time than you should blog-hopping and/or face-booking, maybe you will get a glimpse of the sunshine in someone else's life.

3. Keep plenty of chocolate on hand (this is also helpful for the rainy spring, hot summer and windy autumn seasons)

4. Give up something for Lent, maybe it will take your mind off the cold. (Ok, so I am not Catholic, and Mormons pretty much give up everything from the get-go anyway, so...) (Kidding people, sheesh!)

5. Put on something comfy, climb into bed and watch the sappiest movie you have on hand (mine was "The Christmas Card") Studies have shown this behavior to be highly addictive, use sparingly only as needed for severe cases

6. Do something creative--paint, sew, scrapbook, draw, write poetry, sing, play, dance!

7. Wear clothes that don't match and are borderline silly (I am so sick of my winter clothes that this is the only joy I have found in wearing them)

8. Have a sleep-over (I actually did this last year, and it was more fun than 5 grown women should probably have)

Whew! Just writing about it makes me feel better. Now, I cannot guarantee no breakdown, but maybe just a mini one.  SouleMama gave a beautiful winter manifesto recently that actually made me almost (almost) love and appreciate this final wrap up of one more frosty, snowy, beautiful, winter season. I know at some point I will miss the snuggly warm bed, heavy with extra blankets and sitting by the fire, skiing, snowmen building, hot cocoa drinking and still, silent snowstorms.  But today I sit staring out the window at Mr. Sun just peeking from behind a cloud and think, "You can do it big guy...You can do it!"

Quote of the Day: "Here comes the sun, and I say, it's all right."

George Harrison--musician