Monday, January 07, 2008
New Year’s Resolution: Less = More
Category: Life
Let's preface this blog by saying that i am awful at sticking to New Year's Resolutions.
I usually fall of the bandwagon well before the unspoken pre-req. 2-3 months of attempting to stick to the diet/habit/campaign that I've resolved to complete.
So this year, rather than resolving to do MORE (read more, write more, sleep more, etc.) I'm resolving to do LESS.
I'm going to slow down this year. Not physically, because lord knows that with two toddlers and an infant that's just plain impossible, but mentally.
I'm going to breathe.
I'm going to take time to appreciate that my kids still want to play board games with me.
They still want to climb into my lap and hear stories.
They still would rather I sit in the rocking chair at bedtime and make up fairy tales involving Princess Isabelle, Prince Baz and Princess Sophia, than pop an audio book in the cd at bedtime.
They still race to be the first to get hugs and fight to sit next to me on the couch.
They still run to put their shoes and coats away to be the first to catch the praise dropped from my lips.
They still run pell-mell into my legs to tell me they've used the potty, eaten all their dinner, gotten dressed by themselves...
And, while, at times the constant bickering and running and dodging and talking and whining and touching my clean shirt with sticky fingers and spitting up full bottles of milk and doses of imoxiycillin on my white shirt...can be enough to drive me to drink...I resolve to:
Take a deep breath, count to ten, count to ten again, pace a few times, count to ten once more for good measure, and appreciate the fact that they still want me.
I resolve to take advantage of the short simple time that I have to enjoy my children while they're under my roof, because I'm afraid that I'll blink one day and they'll be in college.
And while I can always read more, write more, exercise more, diet more, resolve more...I'll never get this time back.
I don't want to waste it.
Currently listening:
1234
By Feist
Monday, January 7, 2008
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch
The Last Lecture of Randy Pausch
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life
wednesday, december 19, 2007
In case you haven't seen this... watch it right now. It's excellent.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2271329759182712042
Sometimes I need a reminder that hope in the face of the inevitable
is a precious, and conscious, thing
*caveat* it's just the first 10 minutes of what is, in actuality a one hour, 44 minute, 7 second lecture. If you're up to it - it's out there and downloadable if you have the hutzpa to look for it!
Current mood: hopeful
Category: Life
wednesday, december 19, 2007
In case you haven't seen this... watch it right now. It's excellent.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2271329759182712042
Sometimes I need a reminder that hope in the face of the inevitable
is a precious, and conscious, thing
*caveat* it's just the first 10 minutes of what is, in actuality a one hour, 44 minute, 7 second lecture. If you're up to it - it's out there and downloadable if you have the hutzpa to look for it!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Classic Artist Series: Turkeys
Classic Artist Series: Turkeys
Current mood:Turkey-fied
Category: Art and Photography
monday, november 19, 2007
Occasionally extreme boredom produces astonishing things amongst my co-workers and I.
To date: it has produced Bob Turkey...a turkey-fied version of artist Bob Ross...and some awe-inspiring works modeled after some of our favorite artists.
Seriously? They're beautiful...check them out.
[The Joy of Turkey](http://www.indy.com/people/BobTurkey)
(then log on to Indy.com and "fan" Bob Turkey so we can make it to the Favorites List...even if just for a day)
Shameless promotion? sure...but it's awesome-ness cannot be denied...
Currently watching:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Current mood:Turkey-fied
Category: Art and Photography
monday, november 19, 2007
Occasionally extreme boredom produces astonishing things amongst my co-workers and I.
To date: it has produced Bob Turkey...a turkey-fied version of artist Bob Ross...and some awe-inspiring works modeled after some of our favorite artists.
Seriously? They're beautiful...check them out.
[The Joy of Turkey](http://www.indy.com/people/BobTurkey)
(then log on to Indy.com and "fan" Bob Turkey so we can make it to the Favorites List...even if just for a day)
Shameless promotion? sure...but it's awesome-ness cannot be denied...
Currently watching:
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
Saturday, September 29, 2007
...
...
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Life
wednesday, auguest 29, 2007
the heart is the most awe-inspiring organ
it can, in the space of a few minutes, allow you to soar to the heights of ecstacy
and then plummet to the depths of fetal-position, crying on the couch despair with no warning whatsoever.
today is one of those days where i could have happily pulled the covers up over my head and, paralyzed in fear, hidden from the world.
this gets easier, right? someone, quick, lie to me and tell me that this gets easier...
Currently listening:
Yours Truly, Angry Mob
By Kaiser Chiefs
Current mood: exhausted
Category: Life
wednesday, auguest 29, 2007
the heart is the most awe-inspiring organ
it can, in the space of a few minutes, allow you to soar to the heights of ecstacy
and then plummet to the depths of fetal-position, crying on the couch despair with no warning whatsoever.
today is one of those days where i could have happily pulled the covers up over my head and, paralyzed in fear, hidden from the world.
this gets easier, right? someone, quick, lie to me and tell me that this gets easier...
Currently listening:
Yours Truly, Angry Mob
By Kaiser Chiefs
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
wednesdsay mornings
wednesdsay mornings
Current mood: mellow
Category: Blogging
wednesday, september 26, 2007
i HATE trash day
but i ADORE the new pumpkin spiced chai latte from Starbucks
...that is all...
Currently listening:
Grease (Original 1978 Motion Picture Soundtrack)
By Olivia Newton-John
Current mood: mellow
Category: Blogging
wednesday, september 26, 2007
i HATE trash day
but i ADORE the new pumpkin spiced chai latte from Starbucks
...that is all...
Currently listening:
Grease (Original 1978 Motion Picture Soundtrack)
By Olivia Newton-John
Monday, September 17, 2007
Parenting without a Net...or...Social NetWorking
Parenting without a Net...or...Social NetWorking
Category: Life
monday, september 17, 2007
You know that old saying: It takes a Village to raise a Child?
They're right.
Having only recently begun to re-discover the whirlwind that is "attempting to have a social life"...two toddlers and a newborn firmly in tow...I've realized something:
It is ALMOST impossible without a net. Or rather...a network.
The past two weekends have evolved into what, in my head, i've officially termed my parents club out. And, embarrassingly enough, i've been more social in the past two weekends WITH my kids than I have in the past year without them.
Am I insane, you ask?
Maybe...but not because I choose to take three kids under the age of four out of the house each weekend.
The thing that makes this possible are other parents in the same boat. I had a sharp moment of insight this weekend while at the Irish Festival, beer in hand, baby in carrier, seated indian-style with two friends while our five collective kids whirled around us in a small tasmanian devil dust-storm. I would never have attempted this by myself a month ago, hell, even a year ago. And then my kids would have missed out on an afternoon of moon-bouncing, football throwing, duck ponds, sucker trees, scottish eggs and musicians in kilts (oh baby...musicians in kilts...woohoo!),
Horse shows and greek festivals and step dancers...oh my!
I worried for a good long while how I was going to manage this on my own, when the answer was staring me right in the face the whole time.
I don't have to.
I count my friends as some of the most important people in my life.
They are my anchors, my support structure, my family.
...so thank you everyone...I really really couldn't do this without you...
Currently listening:
Pipers of Distinction series
By Gordon Walker
Category: Life
monday, september 17, 2007
You know that old saying: It takes a Village to raise a Child?
They're right.
Having only recently begun to re-discover the whirlwind that is "attempting to have a social life"...two toddlers and a newborn firmly in tow...I've realized something:
It is ALMOST impossible without a net. Or rather...a network.
The past two weekends have evolved into what, in my head, i've officially termed my parents club out. And, embarrassingly enough, i've been more social in the past two weekends WITH my kids than I have in the past year without them.
Am I insane, you ask?
Maybe...but not because I choose to take three kids under the age of four out of the house each weekend.
The thing that makes this possible are other parents in the same boat. I had a sharp moment of insight this weekend while at the Irish Festival, beer in hand, baby in carrier, seated indian-style with two friends while our five collective kids whirled around us in a small tasmanian devil dust-storm. I would never have attempted this by myself a month ago, hell, even a year ago. And then my kids would have missed out on an afternoon of moon-bouncing, football throwing, duck ponds, sucker trees, scottish eggs and musicians in kilts (oh baby...musicians in kilts...woohoo!),
Horse shows and greek festivals and step dancers...oh my!
I worried for a good long while how I was going to manage this on my own, when the answer was staring me right in the face the whole time.
I don't have to.
I count my friends as some of the most important people in my life.
They are my anchors, my support structure, my family.
...so thank you everyone...I really really couldn't do this without you...
Currently listening:
Pipers of Distinction series
By Gordon Walker
Friday, August 31, 2007
TAG...you’re it...
TAG...you’re it...
Current mood: bored
Category: Blogging
friday, august 31, 2007
TAG
I could be mad about being tagged, but instead I will be thankful for something to do for a few minutes. Fridays at work are BORING!
The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (If you're a non-blogger, you can email/bulletin them!)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
Now for eight random facts/habits about myself:
1. I'm afraid of the dark. No joke. After all the kiddos are in bed and i'm locking up and shutting down for the night I take the stairs two and three at a time, throwing the odd glance behind me to be sure mama vorhees isn't hovering just outisde my peripheral vision waiting to pounce.
2. i am addicted to my morning coffee. i make at least a pot a day and have started getting serious caffeine deprivation headaches on the odd saturday that i get up and moving too quickly without first downing a mug or two.
3. i am the most fertile person i know (with the exception of rob maybe?). All three of my kids were birth control babies. Multiple Forms of Birth Control. My kids better all grow up to be geniuses and/or Nobel Peace Prize Laureates or something of that nature.
4. i am the most chaotically organized person i know. Sounds fake doesn't it? but it's true. My entire house can be littered in toys, clothes and yesterday's sippy cup lids, but I could tell you where my spare car keys were without batting an eye (the interior zipper pocket or my brown purse. The dark brown drawstring, not the little tan handbag. It's hanging on the left-most hook on the coat tree in the front room). It absolutely flummoxes some people, but I've learned to thrive in the carnage of everyday kid-dom.
5. i turn down foods based on texture, not taste. I can't think of a single food that i dislike the taste of (although I haven't quite the palate of Andrew Zimmern). But gummy bears, lima beans, brussel sprouts, raw marshmallows all make the anti-list. Oddly enough...flan is okay in my book...must be more jello-like than marshmallow-like.
6. i check out the personals ads at www.lrb.co.uk in my spare time. London Review of Books has BY FAR the most entertaining classified personals of anyone, anywhere. Go ahead, check it out...i'll wait
7. i HATE wearing makeup. it takes too much time in the morning and i'd much rather sleep an extra five minutes, or sneak in an extra sun salutation or two than worry about applying foundation and mascara and five kinds of crap in ten different colors.
8. i adore the internet. For a gal who was always just the other side of smart with a bit of a self-conscious streak growing up, I read too much (sacrelig. to say it?) wrote obsessively and literally had to force myself to be social instead of holing up with a book or a sketchpad. the Internet satisfies my general thirst for random bits of knowledge and often allows me to hide behind my computer screen when pouring my heart out in a blog.
I TAG...
Karrie...Beccah...and Elise
(don't let me down guys)
Currently listening:
Costello Music
By The Fratellis
Current mood: bored
Category: Blogging
friday, august 31, 2007
TAG
I could be mad about being tagged, but instead I will be thankful for something to do for a few minutes. Fridays at work are BORING!
The Rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog (about their eight things) and post these rules. (If you're a non-blogger, you can email/bulletin them!)
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don't forget to leave them a comment telling them they're tagged, and to read your blog.
Now for eight random facts/habits about myself:
1. I'm afraid of the dark. No joke. After all the kiddos are in bed and i'm locking up and shutting down for the night I take the stairs two and three at a time, throwing the odd glance behind me to be sure mama vorhees isn't hovering just outisde my peripheral vision waiting to pounce.
2. i am addicted to my morning coffee. i make at least a pot a day and have started getting serious caffeine deprivation headaches on the odd saturday that i get up and moving too quickly without first downing a mug or two.
3. i am the most fertile person i know (with the exception of rob maybe?). All three of my kids were birth control babies. Multiple Forms of Birth Control. My kids better all grow up to be geniuses and/or Nobel Peace Prize Laureates or something of that nature.
4. i am the most chaotically organized person i know. Sounds fake doesn't it? but it's true. My entire house can be littered in toys, clothes and yesterday's sippy cup lids, but I could tell you where my spare car keys were without batting an eye (the interior zipper pocket or my brown purse. The dark brown drawstring, not the little tan handbag. It's hanging on the left-most hook on the coat tree in the front room). It absolutely flummoxes some people, but I've learned to thrive in the carnage of everyday kid-dom.
5. i turn down foods based on texture, not taste. I can't think of a single food that i dislike the taste of (although I haven't quite the palate of Andrew Zimmern). But gummy bears, lima beans, brussel sprouts, raw marshmallows all make the anti-list. Oddly enough...flan is okay in my book...must be more jello-like than marshmallow-like.
6. i check out the personals ads at www.lrb.co.uk in my spare time. London Review of Books has BY FAR the most entertaining classified personals of anyone, anywhere. Go ahead, check it out...i'll wait
7. i HATE wearing makeup. it takes too much time in the morning and i'd much rather sleep an extra five minutes, or sneak in an extra sun salutation or two than worry about applying foundation and mascara and five kinds of crap in ten different colors.
8. i adore the internet. For a gal who was always just the other side of smart with a bit of a self-conscious streak growing up, I read too much (sacrelig. to say it?) wrote obsessively and literally had to force myself to be social instead of holing up with a book or a sketchpad. the Internet satisfies my general thirst for random bits of knowledge and often allows me to hide behind my computer screen when pouring my heart out in a blog.
I TAG...
Karrie...Beccah...and Elise
(don't let me down guys)
Currently listening:
Costello Music
By The Fratellis
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