Home

March 7, 2016March 7, 20166 Comments

That’s me on the bottom right. Thank goodness high-water pants haven’t made a comeback.

Home is where your story begins.

My story began in a modest red house on a quiet corner in a small town. But nothing stays the same for long, and when my little sister arrived a couple years later, that quiet corner became considerably less quiet.

And so it goes.

Many years (and even more plot twists) later, I left that modest red house with its white garage and its yard full of trees behind me as I ventured out into the world. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to go back to that little red house on the corner, but it was too late. I was too grown up.

Maybe you can’t go home again, but you can always take it with you.

You can’t go home again.

So I made my own home. Several times over, in fact. And while I think it’s true that you can’t go home again, that’s only because I believe that home is something we carry with us wherever we go. Home is in our memories. Home is in the way we look at the world. Home is the way we treat others.

Home is a state of mind, a way of being, a feeling that can’t be taken away.

When I think of home, I think of the warmth of my grandma’s kitchen. I think of the hustle and bustle that went into family get-togethers. I remember the after-dinner tea and cookies, and how all of those things came together the morning after my second wedding as we all congregated in the kitchen of my new home.

Home is family. Home is friends.

Tadpole and Bubbles like to get up to all sorts of shenanigans.

Home is where your heart is.

It may be a sappy cliché, but that’s only because it’s true. Home is where your heart is because, without heart, there can be no home.

Memories and feelings

February 10, 2016February 10, 20164 Comments

If you haven’t read Justine Manzano’s post about regrets and Facebook memories, go read it. Now. Without it, the following probably won’t make a whole lot of sense.

Read it? Good.

Her words about how “Facebook Memories are equal parts fun and annoying” sound so, so familiar. Mostly, I really enjoy seeing my Facebook memories because I’ve always tried to be very positive online. But sometimes even the happy memories remind me of a sad time (my youngest son’s birth, for example, was equal parts joyous and terrifying).

I’ll see all that positivity when I’m feeling down and think, “Why can’t I be more like that now? I used to be so positive. What happened?”

The thing about trying to wear such a positive face on the web, though, is that all the smiles sometimes make you see things through rose-colored glasses. You forget all the negative stuff that was going on way back when and how it affected you at the time. How it made you more of a black rain cloud than a ray of sunshine. After all, if everything looks so great, it must have really been that way, right?

It’s on the internet – it must be true.

And then…

Where my heart will take me

January 27, 2016February 4, 20166 Comments

Don’t stop believin’.
Let it go.
Be true to your heart.
Keep on movin’.
I’m goin’ where my heart will take me.

What do these five things have in common, aside from being fantastic songs? They’re words that I find inspiring. But more than that, they’re words I hope to live by in 2016.

Two more days. In two more days, I’ll be 32. While I officially surpassed my mother’s age back in August, it’s really just hitting me now, as I approach the first birthday she never reached. Perhaps this all seems a bit self-indulgent, but for some reason, I’ve always thought I would leave the world like she did – young, and with things left to do. There was – is – so much I want to accomplish before I die, and I had no idea…

Hibernation station

January 12, 20162 Comments

Holy buckets, is it cold out there! How cold is it?

It’s so cold that I passed a bunch of penguins on my way to work this morning. 😀

The worst part is that this is an improvement from the weekend. *sigh*

Meanwhile, I’m busy playing catch-up on pretty much everything after taking care of two sick kiddoes last week, so please excuse my probable absence here this week. In addition to catching up on stuff, I’m also in the midst of reading a fantastic new book. Have no fear – I’ll share my thoughts once I’m finished! It’s a book I’ve been looking forward to reading for some time now, so I suppose I’d better get back to it while I still have a few minutes to spare. 😉

Have a great day, everybody, and in case I don’t see ya, have a great rest of the week as well! 🙂

First World Problems

January 3, 2016January 3, 201620 Comments

Mara Eastern recently described a lousy Christmas, and it reminded me of something similar that happened to me back around Thanksgiving. After leaving a lengthy comment on her post, I thought, “Hey! This might make a funny blog post!”

Thus the following was born. 🙂

Similar to ours

My husband’s been away for work during the week for the past two months, so naturally, he took a few homey things with him to make his hotel room feel less hotelly. One of those things was our very nice can opener. Silly me, I didn’t even realize it (or our salt and pepper shakers) was missing till he’d been gone for a month and I wanted to have chili. But I didn’t want to spend a whole lot on buying a new one since we already had a really nice one. Still, the craving for chili was not to be ignored. And since I needed tomato juice, too, I stopped at Fareway on my way home from work.

After wandering the aisles for a good ten minutes, I finally tracked down their cooking utensils. They had all of one can opener in stock that night, and at $1.97, the price was just right. Still, I had to wonder about its quality. But a trip to Walmart was out of the question because it would make me late picking the boys up from daycare, so I pushed my doubts aside and headed for the check-out.

Similar to el cheapo can opener

Twenty minutes later, I’d picked up Cricket and Thumper up from daycare and made it home. It was a blustery night, perfect for chili, and I couldn’t wait to have some. I got the boys in the house, grabbed the beans and hamburger from the basement, and set about making supper. While I waited for the hamburger to thaw, I decided to get the beans opened and drained.

But of course, nothing ever happens easily on a Monday.

I opened the first can of beans without any problems. I daydreamed about the delicious chili I would soon be eating; I could already smell the chili powder and the cooking meat. I could almost taste the soup’s spicy tang. I could almost feel the tomato juice’s velvet touch as I swallowed imaginary spoonful after imaginary spoonful.

But halfway through opening the second can, reality came crashing back upon me. Part of the can opener snapped off as I turned the hand crank. The whole thing fell apart in my hands.

Well, crap (and many other colorful words). Now what the heck was I supposed to do?

Perfect for opening cans of juice, but not so much for beans

By this point, the closest store was closed for the night. I considered using a church key to open the rest of the cans, but quickly discarded the idea. There was no way I’d be able to shake all those beans out of the tiny little holes a church key would make. Even if I could have shaken them all out, it’d have taken all night. Too bad I hadn’t been opening the tomato juice – then I’d have been fine.

*sigh*

Oh, can opener, thank you for not breaking on me!

I got my chili eventually, after spending a few more dollars to buy a decent-quality can opener, but I’m still annoyed about the stupid cheap one that didn’t even last five minutes. I hate wasting money like that, even though part of me knew it wouldn’t last. And now that it’s freezing cold here again, chili is starting to sound really good for supper tonight… 🙂

Have you had equipment malfunctions ruin a much-anticipated meal? How did you cope?

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope 2016 is treating you right! 🙂

I’m back!

December 28, 201514 Comments

Howdy! Did you have a nice Christmas? Are you all recovered from the hustle and the bustle? Or could you have used another day in your weekend?

Lord knows I could have. I spent Christmas with a migraine of epic proportions, and the day after wasn’t a whole lot better (though it did involve a Star Wars marathon, and really the only thing better than that is a Star Trek marathon, or possibly a JAG marathon). Thank goodness I was feeling better yesterday; though I still wasn’t back to my usual self, it was a definite improvement over the previous two days.

I had planned to do a bunch of reading over the long weekend, and while I did do some reading, I didn’t do as much as I had planned. I’ll be making up for it this week, though, and I’ll be sharing my thoughts on what I’m reading right here, so stay tuned!

And now, to bed. It’s warm in bed. It’s not warm outside. Winter appears to have struck at last, and now I must go hide. 🙂

Has winter struck where you live yet?

Wowza!

December 21, 201510 Comments

Can you believe it’s the week of Christmas already? I sure can’t!

It’s been a crazy month so far and I suspect it’s only going to get crazier between now and the big day at the end of the week. With everything that’s going on, I’ve decided to take a little blogging break to catch up on my sleep and keep my sanity. Hopefully things here will get back to normal next week.

From my family to yours, merry Christmas!

Christmastime is here…

December 13, 2015Leave a comment

…Happiness and cheer,
Fun for all
That children call
Their favorite time of year…

It’s beginning to look a bit more like Christmas round these parts:

I do so love this wreath. 🙂

Advent calendar, take two. This is the one I grew up doing with my parents, and now I’m sharing it with my kids. 🙂

If you look closely to the left of the moose, you’ll see a little reindeer mailing a letter to Santa…

Looks like Donner’s lying down on the job… 🙂

Finally got our tree up!

What would the North Pole be without Santa Claus and snowmen?

Cricket wanted to put all the decorations on the piano. 🙂

A pretty tree for a pretty courthouse. 🙂

The courthouse is always pretty, but it’s even prettier at Christmas.

Mistletoe anyone?

“Santa, you’re kinda scary, but you gave me a dolly, so I don’t know what to think now.”

Every auditorium should have a tuba tree with an eighth note on top. 😉

One happy Thumper bunny. 🙂

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches!

Time to sing about ugly Christmas sweaters!

Nativity central.

Best. Jingle bell. Ever.

I love all the musical ornaments.

Cricket adores his new train set.

Someone said she was NOT going to sit on Santa’s lap. Guess how well that worked out. 🙂

But it’s been warmish and rainy here the last two days. Last night while we were decorating our tree, we had a thunderstorm. That made it feel rather more like Christmas in July.

The kids had their annual 4-H cookie walk yesterday morning and then went Christmas shopping at a local church. We listened to Christmas music all day, decorated last night, and watched Home Alone 2 after the boys went to bed. It was a little bittersweet, though – we always decorate as a family, and this year Seymour wasn’t home to help out. Miss Tadpole took it pretty hard, and I agree – it’s just not the same without him.

Still, I’m feeling pretty cheery after all that Christmasy fun yesterday, and I’m looking forward to working on Christmas cards this afternoon. 🙂

Have you decorated yet? Do you go all out, or do you keep it to a few treasured things? What kind of Christmas traditions do you have in your family?