It’s been a whirlwind weekend full of family, friends, and fun. If you’d seen me, you might have mistaken me for my dear departed kitty cat, Shadow:
I feel like I’ve been all over the state this weekend, but it sure was fun, and I have a slew of things to write about in that favorite moments book I bought.
What about you – how did the weekend treat you? Are you ready for Monday?
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
Yesterday was not a stellar day. I was grumpy. I don’t know why I was grumpy, but I was, and it seems to have carried over into today as well. Then again, today is Monday, and if that’s not reason enough to be a little grumpy, then I don’t know what is.
Anyway.
Yesterday afternoon, we stopped in at Staples while we were out running errands. I could spend a small fortune there, if I had one to spend, but I behaved myself yesterday and confined my purchases to two. One of them I’m already regretting – it’s a file folder, one with multiple pockets for storing lots of things. I bought it to keep Bubbles’ school things in, mementoes of each grade he’s completed. The problem is that I can’t fit everything in it. I can’t even fit all his preschool stuff in it, and it’s not that there’s a lot of it, it’s just big. Really big. His first grade folder alone is probably bigger than the file folder I bought to put it all in.
Maybe I should have invested in a box.
Anyway.
The other thing I bought was a journal. I really don’t need another – I have two or three that I haven’t filled yet at home, plus a whole shelf full of ones I have filled – but this one called to me. It’s called “Favorite Moment a Day” and that’s all there is to it. Each page is lined. There’s room at the top for the date, and then it says, “Today’s Favorite Moment:” with plenty of room to write.
Or at least, there might be plenty of room to write if I’d have printed instead of writing in cursive. People always remark about how small my writing is, but my printing is even smaller than my cursive.
Anyway.
I thought it would be a good purchase because it’s small enough to carry around in my purse, and I want to start looking for the good in each day. If I have a place to write down some of that good, maybe it will start to outweigh the bad I seem to focus on so easily. For instance, despite yesterday’s lack of stellar-ness, I did have a pretty awesome moment…
Excuse me, but I’d like to engage in a bit of a brain dump. Here, then, are some things that have inspired me, made me laugh, or just sort of poured out onto the virtual page in the last week or so.
Please to enjoy.
“And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” -Lennon-McCartney
“You trace your lineage back centuries, back to the Puritans of ancient New England, but we can trace it further.”
I’ve been feeling the sci-fi vibe lately, and this struck me as perfect for an aliens-invade-America kind of story. Don’t ask me why. 🙂
“It’s easy to quit on a relationship when the going gets tough; it’s much, much harder to react with grace for those who’ve committed such a grievous offense against one who is supposed to love, honor, and cherish you till death do you part. Forgiveness is not always easy.”
This was in reaction to an open letter to Hillary Clinton. I’m not a fan, but aren’t we tired of hearing about her marital problems by now? (For the record, I’m even less of a Trump fan, and no, I don’t know who I’m going to vote for yet. Trolls be warned: I tolerate no mean-spiritedness here and I’ll disable comments if I have to (but I really don’t want to, because this post is not about politics).)
Everyone thought the world would end in a great, fiery bang. My grandmother thought so, my mother thought so, even I thought so. But we were wrong. The end of the world was anything but.
This came to me this afternoon. This has the makings of a funtastic story. This is all you’re getting on it for now. 😉 😀
Also? I don’t know about you, but now I have “It’s the End of the World As We Know It” stuck in my head on an endless loop.
And finally, here’s a bit of cuteness from my not-so-little Cricket:
Someday I’m gonna name my kid Aaron Furzy because that’s a beautiful name. And if my wife wants to make it something else, then she can do that. -Cricket
How about you – what’s inspired you lately?
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
Today, I send my darling baby boy out into the big, wide world. Next year his little brother, Thumper, will follow him, but I don’t want to think about that just yet. For now, I’m just trying to get through today…
Dearest Cricket,
I cannot believe you’re starting kindergarten today. It seems like only yesterday that we brought you home from the hospital, home to the proudest big brother and sister this family has ever seen. It seems like only yesterday that you started walking, started talking, started sleeping through the night.
It seems like only yesterday, but of course, it wasn’t.
It was six years, one month, and twenty-six days ago. Hardly yesterday, and yet it doesn’t seem like it was so very long ago. How the time flies!
You looked so grown up this morning as you headed out the door in your new school clothes. Your rockin’ Ninja Turtle backpack looked almost as big as you as we walked down the driveway to meet the bus, and your hand in mine felt so very small.
But I know you’ll be fine. You’re in good hands. You have a fantastic teacher and a wonderful school, and I know you’ll have fun. I know you’ll talk my ear off when I pick you up tonight. I hope you’ll stay excited about school, because today is the first of many first days for you, my boy, and I hope they’ll all be as much fun as this day. I hope you’ll make lots of new friends, the kind that will stay with you for thick and thin through the rest of your life.
Most of all, I hope you’ll never forget that no matter how old you are, you will always be my little Cricket. I love you, buddy.
Love,
Mommy
How did you handle your kids leaving for school?
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
My triumph today was all about smiles, both mine and my kids’. See, it’s been a rough day. It started early when my car died on the way to work. *sigh* Luckily, I have a pretty awesome coworker who came to pick me up and a husband who had the day off and was able to get my car back on the road.
I also have something delicious cooking in the kitchen. 😉
Apparently Cricket had a hard day, too. Bubbles beat him at football and refused a rematch due to dark and cold conditions. Luckily, Miss Tadpole had a fluffy bunny with which to cheer him up:
And now that all is well with the world (or at least with my kids), I’m off to enjoy a nice and hopefully relaxing evening at home. Have a great weekend!
What puts a smile on your face when you’re feeling down?
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
For today’s challenge, I had a little bit of fun:
My younger two boys go everywhere together, and they’re so similar in size that I get asked all the time if they’re twins (they’re not). The first image is of my father-in-law exploring an auction with them. The second image is my husband exploring our new farm with the same two boys. I love that I was able to create two such similar photographs. These are two of my favorite pictures of my boys.
Do you have favorite candid shots of your family?
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
We had an Easter egg hunt today, and the boys had a lot of fun:
They didn’t quite reach their quota of 15 eggs apiece, but they didn’t seem to care. They were eggcited enough about running around outside with their cousins. How was your Easter?
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
There are many things I love about this picture:
I love the colors. I love how otherworldly the whole scene feels. But what I love most is the memories I have from the day I shot this picture. I was out in the yard with my kids, teaching them a few things about photography for their 4-H projects. I happened to see this lonely little violet underneath one of the pine trees in our yard, and I couldn’t help shooting it.
There’s a whole other world out there. You just have to get down in the dirt to find it.
Also? That’s a twig in the picture, not a full-size branch. 🙂
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
Last weekend I attended my goddaughter’s first birthday party, and all I can say is holy cuteness:
Her favorite gift seemed to be the talking tea set. And who could blame her? Tea should be part of every day. As a character in a fantastic book once said, “Life is not bearable without tea.”
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
I just love this picture of Thumper. He looks so peaceful…and still:
I wonder what he’s dreaming about…
(c) 2016. All rights reserved.
Suddenly they all died. The end. 