How not to start a talk

We know we've all been there.

Post Mother's Day thoughts

I've had some thoughts on Mother's Day that have been jumping around in my head for the past couple days. These thoughts have gone from my head to my fingertips several times, but I haven't had the courage emotional energy to put them into my computer. This is for my own journaling purposes and not for clever entertainment, like I think I sometimes do. So >taking a deep breath< here goes. Mother's Day was a bit of an emotional rollercoaster for me for several reasons. Here are some of those reasons in no particular order: All three of our block meetings were spiritually uplifting. There were moments in each of the meetings that the Spirit was nearly tangible for me. Speaking on mothers gave me pause to reflect on the mother I was/am to my children. I gave birth to three amazing children, one of whom chooses not to speak to me. It makes my heart hurt, I miss him that much. I'm married to a man who treats me like a queen, not just on Mother's Day, but every day. When I'd hear women say "I'm married to my best friend", I use think "Nuh uh, that is so hokey". Well it turns out that you can actually be married to your best friend and I am. This best friend came with five (grown) children of his own. They are without their mother, and I know what that feels like. My own mom died when I was 21 and had, just three weeks before her passing, had my first baby. I wanted my kids to know their grandma...how kind and smart and funny she was. I wanted to know her woman to woman, not just child to parent. I've been sad, but not bitter or angry that she was taken from me this earth life at such a young age, because I know that Heavenly Father's plan is what I signed up for in the pre-existence. My dad never remarried after her passing. In hind sight, I wonder if I was encouraging him enough to date again, or if I was comfortable with him being alone. So Ron and I have 8 kids and 16, nearly 18 grand children. His... mine... the lines have blurred with our grandchildren as to their lineage. We just know that we love them all. Our children, while neither one of us can take "credit"(??) for raising all eight of them, were born Erin, Amy, Shannon, Jon, Sean, Janae, Daniel and Christopher, and that mix gives both he and I the ability to relate to all of them as if they were our own respectively. I find that the "mother bear" comes out in me as easily for Ron's kids as my own. I would like to think that when I meet Ron's first Kathy I'll be able to say " I loved your kids and was there for them as if they were my own. Did I do OK?"

Instructions (the English version) to our new Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector:

Or it could just read:

It's not easy being green

I'm sitting in my art room listening to an amphibious symphony going on out back. Our neighbors have a pond and as soon as twilight comes, the "music" begins. It is both annoying and humorous...they are completely silent for a two minute intermission...I timed it...(I wonder if they're stopping to have a Croke-a-Cola?)...then they start back up again in unison for about a minute, then silence again. Off and on for most of the evening. If I had to guess, I'd say there are at least 10-12 froggies in the choir. Their vocal cords really get a workout! Do you think they ever get a human in their throat?

Today is my little boy's birthday. I gave birth to him the day before Mother's Day 28 years ago. He was the easiest little baby and the happiest little boy...always climbing on things-I found him sitting on top of the stove burners playing with the salt and pepper shakers...always curious about things-asking a police officer who had pulled me over "Is that your badge?Is that a real gun?Do you have bullets?Can you turn on your siren?Are you going to give my mommy a ticket?"...always mischievous-climbing out of his car seat while I was talking to my daughter's preschool teacher, and taking the car for a "drive"...always sensitive to other children's feelings. I remember when as a teenager, he and I were the same height. Then suddenly overnight, he was 8 or 9 inches taller than me. My little boy has grown to be a much bigger boy man now. He is now a husband and daddy of two precious babies of his own. I don't know how I did as a mom, but if there was one thing I hope I would have taught my son(s) it is this message which was so eloquently delivered by Sister Elaine S. Dalton in the October 2011 General Conference. I was emotional during her talk, and again as I watched this Mormon Message. Happy Birthday Sean Boy.

It's coitens for you, curtains!

My last post was about the new life given to a simple chair. I wanted to breathe some fresh spring air into the dark winter feeling that has permeated our kitchen house for the past 6 or so months. After painting and recovering the chair I needed to wash the windows and curtains on the french doors that lead out back. Good intentions sometimes lead to bad results....

We'll just call these our Halloween curtains, because aren't they just scary?? The arrows point to the shreds and the circle is where they are so knotted together that even if they weren't shredded they'd be impossible to get apart. GAHH!

The re-re-re-re-reincarnation of a chair

This chair has had many lives. Most recently she was this:

But before it was black with french grain sack covering the seat, it was black with black polynesian floral print fabric, before that it was painted red with big cabbage rose print fabric, before that it was (still red) with a red country plaid fabric, before that it was a teal green paint with vintage cowboy fabric, before that it was a solid cream, and it's original life started as a plain dark wood with a nasty old rusty fabric seat. Paint and a little bit of fabric is a super cheap way to make a change in a room, even if it's only in a little corner. So my most recent project went from this:

To this: ......................................................................and BTW, don't you just love that little black chest behind the chair? It was Ron's chest of drawers when he was a little boy. We put a new coat of paint on it and added some new hardware, and now it houses our DVD's.