State of Obvious

Normally, when I hear people say that being a stay-at-home-mom is hard, I kind of scoff. And snicker. Because it's really not that hard. Most of the time. I mean, you don't have to rush to work. Or deal with strangers. Or report to a boss. You get to set the rules, the schedule, the activities. You get to snuggle when you're sad. Choose outfits. Experiment in the kitchen. Nap. You get to see their little faces change, grow, learn, modify, experience, and love. It's pretty great. Most of the time . Then you have those days . You have to rush to get kids to school/sports/activities/friends houses. You are the chief car operating officer after all. Sometimes your kids are strangers, odd little beings that defy every personality trait they've ever displayed. Your boss is yourself, and you are your worst critic. And then sometimes you wish, oh so hard , for a boss to swoop in and rescue you because you are doing a terrible terrible terrible job. You get to set th

You know that part of The Plan where there is opposition in all things ? You know, the part that says we need the bad to appreciate the good. And that part where we make choices and then there are consequences? And where other people make choices and then those consequences affect us? You know that part that talks about how there are times and seasons, and kind of infers that we have good times and bad times? I'm really not liking that today.

I'm sorry, I don't usually write you, I know you are a busy and powerful man. But I'm a little bit frustrated. With everything going on in this country - no, let's make it broader - this world, you have time to sit down and have a beer with a police officer ? Because he arrested someone? No, let's make it broader. Because he arrested your friend? Are you going to have a beer with every person that might possibly be wrongfully arrested? Are you going to call every cop 'stupid' for making a split second decision that turned out to be wrong? If you were not friends with this man, would you even care? If we were talking about President Bush one year ago, would you have been flummoxed? Outraged? Making campaign promises about not wasting time? I thought so. Come on, Mr. President, lets get back to work on the things that you should be focusing on. The economy, for one. And what about making all our enemies love us, how is that going? Last time I check

She's pretty much awesome. I call her the Universal Favorite. Or Queen of Legos. Her nickname is Cha-Cha, all the nieces and nephews call her that. She used to read to me when I was little. I am sure my parents made her, but she did it. She got so sick of my asking that she recorded the books I loved most so I could listen to them anytime. She totally invented books on tape, you see. Too bad she didn't patent it. One time, when Eric's mother died, I called my sister to tell her. And she started to cry on the phone with me. Because my sister has so much love in her that she stretched her heart to include my in-laws. And my sister asked what she could do. And I said, "come here" totally thinking she couldn't and wouldn't. And she said "I'll be there." And she came. And she helped me sort through Mom's things, the things that were personal and that I couldn't bear for other people to touch. And she took a giant suitcase full of Mom'

There was a time when I thought to myself: Self, we maybe might could make money off this blog thing! I mean, wouldn't that be cool? Money for pretty much writing about the stuff I would write about if I wrote regular letters home to mom. Or a journal. EASY. That was back when I thought people might actually care what I have to say. I was so young and foolish then... But, I've come to realize over time, that all those money making blogs really irritate me. The whole right side all cluttered up with ads I don't care about. T-shirts selling the blog. Bags. Mouse pads. Books. I don't care how much I love your blog, I'm not buying a book when I can read it for free. Anytime. I. Want. Duh. I suppose if it is your career to write then I can understand making money with your blog. And I won't lie, if someone said "here is a pot of money to put an ad on your site", I would do it. I would do it on the off chance it might be enough free money to

My dad always says: Are you better off today then you were five years ago? Hmm, let me think...five years ago...I was - - A mother of one . He was 5 going on 6. So that's a No. - I was desperate to have another baby . Okay, maybe not desperate, but I was certainly eager. And willing. And wondering why I didn't have another baby. I was punishing myself with frequent abandon for my barren-ness. I don't (usually) do that any more. So that's a Yes. - I was living in a crappy little mo-bile-home that was constantly breaking . No, seriously, we call the little love nest "ShangraCrap". Our new house is a friggin' palace in comparison. So that's a Yes. - Eric's Momere (that's pseudo-French for Mom and his nickname for her) kidnapped my baby boy every single weekend . After watching him all week so I could work. While recovering from a liver transplant. So that's a No. I miss her so. - Eric's Daddy was her kidnapping partner . He's not h

You never appreciate an umbrella more than when it's inside out. The end of a note always feels a little like a let down. You can never read the same book twice. Clean sheets are one of life's simple pleasures. You can't make this stuff up, unless you do. The door to hope is always open, even when the door to prayer is shut. The door to prayer is never locked. You can accumulate just about anything: friends, money, love, time, paper, food, taxes - but it's only when you stop collecting that you realize what you have. Sometimes friends don't look familiar, that's just because you haven't met yet. You are most full of nonsense at midnight.

Some fun things to share, for your linking enjoyment. - If you haven't heard of Twilight , you might just be a dead vampire yourself. If you have heard of/read/watched Twilight you might get some enjoyment at Twilol , where "The Twilight Saga Meets LOLspeak". If you don't know what LOLspeak is yet, I really can't help you. Maybe if you click here Wikipedia can. - I came across my first Twilol when I was browsing Word to Your Mother , a really fun blog full of laughs, pictures and other great time wasters. When I pulled up her blog, the first post was about The Killers (that's a band, Dad, not an occupation I'm checking into) so I already liked it. Go ahead, click it! - Another fun blog I came upon, formerly phread . The link leads to a fab make-ya-smile post, but be sure to check out the other stuff too. - I popped a link to this up on Facebook, but I'm gonna link it again for the non Facebook crowd. Because I like it that much. Sunday nights at 9 o

I don't understand why people have to be mean. It's so exhausting. I was thinking about this even before I went to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince yesterday. (It was great, really liked it, they changed a couple things but overall it was the best yet. Are you surprised? I thought not.) My Mother paid for all the grandchildren to go. Plus Angie and I. All seven grandchildren, even the 3 and 4 year old . We took up one full row. (All the other siblings were working. Well, I'm not sure about the sibling in California but I'd wager she was working too.) After the movie we walked down the hall to take Carly to the restroom. She 'really had to gooooooo' again. On my way in, Carly's small hand folded into mine, two lovely oldish ladies had this conversation. Quite loudly. Old lady 1: I can't believe someone would bring small children to this movie! Old lady 2: I know! Stupid, stupid, stupid! In shock, 3 or 4 stalls down, I helped Carly onto the to

So if you're not hip to Picnik yet, you really should jump on the wagon. Case in point, my header. This photo: Made this header: Another cool example, the after was previously posted: Two more 'after's from the same photo session:

I don't usually write two 'letter' posts in a row, but it has to be said. You are not a robot. Thanks for your time, Me

We need to talk . A serious kind of talk. You see, you're not living up to your promises. I keep hearing how your 30s are the best time of your life. Sure, I am a little more confident than I used to be. I'm a tad bit more comfortable in my own skin, but not much. But, you know, I'm a little disappointed . I mean, first off, I'm still on the wrong side of chubby. Shouldn't the pounds just fall off now that my body has ' matured ' and junk? What's up with parts of me travelling uphill? Suddenly my middle is really thick feeling and I find that quite annoying. At the same time, other things are rapidly going downhill. I'm not talking boobs yet, but I think that has more to do with that whole wrong side of chubby thing. That and they've always hung a little low. Am I sharing too much? Oh, sorry. Back to things going downhill. It's really contradictory and confusing, some things going up and others going down. It's giving me

Sometimes, because this is a public blog, I feel pressure to say brilliant things. Or at the very least, interesting things. I feel pressure to get it right, say it right, do it right because someone somewhere will probably read it - most likely it will be my parents or sister, all of which are quite used to my vast not perfect-ness. But that is beside the point. The point is, I don't know what to write these days. The lack of comments on my posts is discouraging, the lack of bloggable subject matter is even more so. There are lots of cute pictures of my kids I could post, but the other day I got a weird comment about Carly (that I did not publish, and I won't be publishing) that made me reconsider what pictures I post. I even removed the post that the weird comment was left for. And I thought to myself: Self, you should have known . The world is full of sick people, after all. And that's really too bad, that I thought that. Because the world is full of great people too.

- argued my point - driven a car - given birth - walked to school - gone to work - moved - disciplined my kids - joined a choir - gone to school - surfed the net - voted - purposely not voted - danced - walked tall - felt small - cooked and cleaned - dipped my toes in the Pacific and 4 of the Great Lakes - seen all 5 Great Lakes and Niagara Falls - driven practically coast to coast - lived in another country - snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef - visited Disneyland - watched TV - gone to the movies - paid a speeding ticket fine - taken a helicopter ride - gone shopping even though I don't need a thing - wasted time - produced results - crossed the Mississippi in my car - adopted a child - flown on an airplane - donated money - taken charity - watched the sun rise and set - seen the stars fall from the sky - played in the rain - been dazzled by the lightening - hiked a trail or two - pee'd outside - gone camping - stood on the rim of the Grand Canyon - had my tonsils removed -