Dan understands...

Dan Radcliffe was on Jon Stewart yesterday. Yes he was promoting Potter but that isn't what my blog is about. No really....it isn't. I'm serious! It was something he said that actually caught my attention. He was asked by Jon if he ever has to fake being excited about something, if he ever got "over" the excitement of things as many Hollywood people do. He said no. See for yourself...

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I totally get his answer. I live his answer. I am ALWAYS excited about things. My friend Laura posted a picture on Facebook the other day and captioned it "This reminds me of my friend Dayna". The picture said "Today is going to be bloody A-MAZ-ING! I love Todays!". Yeah I get excited and happy about silly things. Call me Polyana but I look forward to looking forward to things. I get excited about movies, music, concerts, dinners out, shopping...whatever. Its part of my personality. Clover asked me at the Motley Crue show how I can still get excited about hearing the same songs we've heard a million times. I don't know why, but I do. I don't get to see Motley live in concert every day so it made that day special. I get excited about special days. Tomorrow is my birthday AND I'm having lunch poolside with a few friends whom I adore AND I'm going to dinner with a few other friends whom I also adore. See...three reasons tomorrow will be a special day. Three reasons to be excited and happy.

If this blog doesn't make sense to you and you think I'm strange for getting excited about silly things, thats ok. Dan gets it. I always knew he'd understand me. ;-) Wonder if he'd like my Harry Potter Day song.....?

The Squirrel Mafia

For those of you who know my daughter this story will come as no surprise to you. For those of you who don't know her...this is the way she thinks, in a nutshell (pun intended).

One morning a few months ago, my daughter called to me from the kitchen. She wanted me to "see" something. Now for any parent of a teen you know that it could have been a million things she wanted to show me. Her cereal, her brother doing something wrong, the dog annoying her, her clothes, really anything. However this morning she wanted me to look outside. Our kitchen windows overlook our front yard and driveway. In our driveway were three very fat squirrels. Our neighborhood has many squirrels. I'm talking A LOT. Hundreds. No, I'm not exaggerating. So seeing the squirrels wasn't what was strange.The oddity of this was a) it was the middle of winter and the squirrels were VERY fat b) They were sitting in a perfect triangle about 4 feet apart from each other c) none were moving-only staring at each other.

Me - "Thats a bunch of fat squirrels."

Daughter - "Watch what you say, Mom. Its a meeting of the squirrel mafia."

Me - "Trouble in squirrel world?"

Daughter - "I'm not sure but I think the godfathers are mad. Something about our tree being off limits to the one on the left. There might be a throwdown."

Me- "Should we do something?"

Daughter- "I don't think we should get involved. They are pretty powerful. I'd hate for us to get a tree limb across the roof of our car because we asked to many questions."

:-)

Now you might be wondering why I am posting this silly little story. My daughter has an amazing imagination and is very quick witted. I adore her. She keeps us all laughing all the time and is such a joy to be around. Today, a day where a woman in Florida who may or may not have killed her daughter was allowed to go free, a day where no one will be held accountable for that little girls death, I decided to celebrate the fantastic wonder of a person MY daughter is. It breaks my heart to think no one will ever know how funny or witty that little girl MIGHT have been had someone been looking out for her.

Hug your kids. Love them with all your heart. Remind them daily how special they are.

The Birthday Month

Today is July 1, 2011. In 19 days I will be 39 years old. Excuse my language but how the FUCK did that happen? I type the number and even the numbers look old. 39. Wow.

I think everyone, around their birthday, reflects about who they are and where they have been/are going. I know I did it last year, the year before and the year before that. I'm happy. I'm in a good spot. I'm enjoying my life. But here's the thing. I come from good stock. Women in my family almost always live well into their 90's. In fact, my Great Great Aunt Lucille turned 102 this year. So that makes me ponder about what I should do with the next 50+ years of my life. 50 years. Now those numbers make me feel better. Yeah I'm middle aged and almost in my forties but hey...there is a very good chance I have a good 50 years left. I think I'll ponder THAT for a minute. I can fit a lot in 50 years. Look at how much I've managed to fit into 39.

My dear Aunt Keila, whose birthday is also in July, has always celebrated her 'birthday month'. Bought something for herself at least once a week during the whole month. Little things like teeth whiteners, new socks, a plant. Big things like ruby rings, vacations, cars. Whatever she wanted because she was celebrating her and her life. I've always loved that concept. Celebrating yourself and the fact you've managed to stay healthy enough, wise enough and happy enough to make it one more year. Just think of all the presents 50 more years of birthday months could bring. Yep, I feel better already!

I am a total slacker

I'm sure you'd agree that skipping two months of blogging is very slacker-esque behavior and for that I am sorry. I've been very busy sewing, delivering babies and getting life in order so I have time to do the first two mentioned items. School is almost out, the yard has been planted/mowed/flowered...etc, painting has started. Life has taken over. We have had college visits, family visits, a kitchen remodel, ebay and etsy explosions of busy and a new addiction to Sons Of Anarchy. Crazy but fun. Exhausting yet exciting. That is my life. I dig it.


ps...to my gal pals...I miss you tons and promise to be a better friend soon. Like today. Now. Lets go get drinks.

Nomadic

I skipped February. Not just in my blog world but basically in my real world too. I'm not sure what happened to it. I know its a short month. I know we had Valentines Day and Clover's birthday, but other than that its just lost in a fog of kitchen construction, which is now done and I couldn't be happier about it. However our construction did bring something to the forefront of my brain that I had kind of forgotten about. A behavior of mine that I really had pushed back for a bit.

Growing up my mother was what a lot of people called nomadic. We moved a lot. A whole lot. Not just from house to house, apartment to apartment, but from town to town, area to area. As a kid I didn't really understand that it wasn't "normal" to go to 5 different schools in elementary school and live in 7 different houses between the 7th-12th grade. I thought it was kind of fun. It taught me to make friends easily and adapt to change quickly. What it also did was give me that same nomadic tendency. Sort of.

After I got married, had kids, bought a house, all of that moving stopped. For the first time in my life I lived somewhere longer than 2 years...and it bugged me. I discovered myself getting sick of my house. Feeling like I needed a change. Wanting something different but not knowing what that was. I had this constant unsettled feeling. Then I remember watching Trading Spaces one day (as I did religiously. I miss that show) and one of the homeowners said "Its like I have a whole new house!" LIGHTBULB! I didn't have to move, I needed to paint! What a brilliant idea! From that day on, whenever I get that feeling of needing "new" and I can't travel somewhere (which I love to do for much the same reason) I look around my surroundings and see what I can change.

We bought our current house almost 3 years ago and knew when we bought it that it needed some updating and modernizing. Its a 60yr old home and had only 2 other owners, both living in it well into their golden years. We loved the layout and neighborhood but knew work would have to be done. Hubby and I decided we would conquer one major project (as in major $$) a year and within a few years it would be all done. We have done just that. Finished the basement and added a laundry room and spare bedroom. Tackled the overgrown, insanity that was our backyard and added a patio. Then THIS YEAR finally remodeled the kitchen. One would think all that change would have kept my nomadic-ness at bay, and it did, until the kitchen. Thats when I looked around and knew I was needing more. The kitchen is beautiful and a huge improvement but the rest of the house still looks...well old, and I was feeling unsettled. I'm now painting the formal living room and family room, and you know what? My nomad has gone to rest again.

It may sound strange and it probably is, but if you ever find yourself "unsettled" and not knowing why, try painting a room in your house. Its cheap, easy and can really change your view of things. Well, for awhile anyway. ;-)

Busy?

Last week I went to lunch with a group of friends. The day before I had gone to breakfast and shopping with another gal pal. When I got to the lunch with the group, one of my friends said to me "Is this all you do now?". I said no and must of had a confused look on my face because she instantly added "Just because you went to breakfast with Sarah yesterday." That mini conversation made me do some thinking.

I know that my friend meant nothing by her question. I know that she wasn't judging me or thinking bad things of me. What it made me realize, however, was that when you "stay home" (which I'm hardly ever home), a lot of times you friends and family only see you in social situations so of course they think that is all you do. They don't see the activities that keep your life full. They don't know that you're the vice president of your professional organization, club photographer for the middle school community service club, doing a fun little side business, part time babysitter for friends in need, shovel-er for neighbors when they are out of town, pet sitter, book clubber, kitchen remodeler, interior designer...plus all the other things that are required of you when you are "staying at home". Is that your friends and families fault? Not in any way. It is our fault for not talking about that aspect of our lives. When we say all the things we do it can be perceived as complaining or, on the other hand, bragging!

Well I've decided that I won't hide what I do anymore. So yes, today I'm doing lunch with a pal who I haven't seen in a while but before I do I'm going to the grocery store and going to prep the drive way for the coming ice and snow. Then after lunch I've got 10 million loads of laundry to do and a new bag to finish sewing so I can put it up for sale. Yep I'm a busy gal. :-)

Another New Year...

I loved 2010. It was one of the most enjoyable years I've had in a very long time. So many good things, almost no bad, it was a blast. This year I've

Taken 2 more bands off my "see before I die" list
Seen 8 bands live
Added another new country to my "traveled to" list
Reconnected with a friend I haven't seen in 15 years
Reconnected with a friend I haven't seen in 16 years
Discovered where my family came from and who we really are
Quit my job
Started sewing
Found and met my brother
Had a great birthday in Jamaica
Spent a crazy weekend in Austin with some of my favorite girls
Spent two weeks with my English family whom I adore
Fell in love with my husband and children all over again
Started a blog
Had a great holiday season
Met my new year resolution
Realized who my closest friends are and spent as much time as possible with them

And that is just the short list. So much more actually happened that added to the greatness that was 2010. But most importantly, I am happier with who and where I am in my life than ever before! If 2011 is even half as great as 2010 I'll be a very very lucky girl!