Romantic Re-Writes
29 Feb 2012 6 Comments
in Personal notes Tags: editorial integrity, future husband, guest post, irreverence, kids projects, leap day, love, match made in heaven, people magazine, romantic love notes, sausage, three sheets
I was sick and in bed most of the day. I woke up and thought OMG American Idol is coming on soon…. and my next thought was OMG I haven’t posted anything on my blog yet!! I’m doing NaBloPoMo, which is short for National Blog Posting Month where you are supposed to post every day during the month. So I started writing at the same time I was watching Idol. As soon as it was over and I sent my post I kept thinking….. why do I feel like I’m forgetting something???? Then it came to me! Oh yeah! I have a guest post for you guys for Leap Blog Day!
Marianne from webandofmothers.blogspot.com wrote up today’s post! Click here to read the other blogs that are participating.
When Donna asked me to guest post for My Garden Blue, I was so honored! A talented writer had sought me out to share my alcohol-infused voice of irreverence and ineptitude. Not one to shirk my responsibilities, I carefully reviewed Donna’s blog in order to fully appreciate her niche. That’s when I got really nervous.
Donna is kinda crafty.
And romantic.
And she reads more than just People Magazine.
Oh crap. I am the kind of person who outsources her kids’ projects to family because I’m bad with glue. My husband and I show our devotion to each other not with romantic love notes, but rather by getting up from the couch during Dexter to microwave some popcorn. Worst of all, the only book I have picked up in recent memory is my Weight Watchers Guide to Eating.
I am a blog embarrassment.
Still, I trudged on. I had made the commitment. I was a woman of my word. So I asked Donna if there were topics she preferred. She kindly suggested a story on how I met my husband. My palms got a little sweaty and I wondered if I should fabricate a nobler version of reality. In deference to editorial integrity and pitiful first-meets everywhere, I opted for truth.
I met my husband at the Old St. Pat’s Block Party in Chicago (as seen on TV’s Oprah). My girlfriend and I were three sheets to the wind when another over-served attendee approached. He smiled at us, nodded his head, and asked bravely: “Hey ladies. Want a bratwurst?”
That’s right. My future husband, father of my three children, charmed me with an offer of sausage.
Since that fateful day, I have suggested to Joe that we twist the tale a teensy bit and tell our kids we met at church (which isn’t exactly a lie…the church was right there). He remains quite comfortable with how our first introduction went down. No creative license necessary. End of story.
I’m not sure what this tale reveals about me or our relationship. Despite our inauspicious start, we are pretty happy with how things played out. We get along well. We like to golf and watch Pawn Stars. He cooks, I clean. He kills spiders, I handle the parent-teacher conferences. He saves the city from disaster as a Chicago fireman, I save my children from killing each other.
A match made not in heaven, but rather at the western gate of the Chicago Loop.
(If you are interested in reading more from Marianne, please visit at either webandofmothers.blogspot.com or her Chicago Parent Magazine blog, Failing with Gusto (link to http://www.chicagoparent.com/community/failing-with-gusto).
Crazy TV watcher
29 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Personal notes Tags: American Idol
That’s me. I can’t believe this. I am one who NEVER watches TV. I always have so many things I want to do that I can’t just sit still. When I go to the movies I just keep thinking of all the things I could be doing. I haven’t been to the movies in quiet a while. The best movies to watch at the theater involve space, planets, and spaceships! I loved watching Star Trek movies at the theater. I am really more of a music person. I actually have a really hard time typing “theater” without reversing the er at the end. I am more of a “theatre” going person. There is this little place downtown called the Empress Theatre where you can go watch plays, listen to great music, and watch some fantastic dancing of various types. I would much rather go there than sit and watch a movie.
Anyway, now that American Idol 11 has started I am addicted! Of course my TV is connected to a computer with media center and that computer is old and has issues. I had completely forgotten how to even use it so I had to ask one of my kids for help. When something goes wrong they are like Scotty on Star Trek who has to fix the engine or get weapons or shields back online before everyone dies. American idol was about to come on and they were back there clanging around and changing out spark plugs or something. I was about to freak out like the Tasmanian Devil if I didn’t get to see every minute of the show, including the 5 minute introduction that is the same every time. That is how bad I am. Now my kids get the TV all set up on Idol nights well before the show comes on. They mute the TV and give me both controllers before taking off to their rooms. One controller is for the TV and one is for the media center on the computer. I think there is another for the toaster too.
This is actually the first season I have ever watched on TV. In the past I have waited until it was all over and watched the highlights on youtube. Sometimes I watch it years later. This past winter I watched Season 10 first and then I watched season 9 in bits and pieces on youtube. When I heard season 11 was starting I decided to actually tune in this time on TV. The auditions are a little boring but the actual show just started yesterday and it was great. There are so many great singers and so many of the ones they cut were great too! I was like a guy watching a football game shouting “what!?!” or “oh, come on!”….at the TV.
There is this little guy named David Leathers that is 17 (but looks like he’s 12) and sounds like a young Michael Jackson. He is amazing but he didn’t make it into the top 24. I know there has got to be more ways to “make it big” for these great young people than American Idol.
Last night I watched the 13 guys sing and they are all really good. A few of them I didn’t like as much but it wasn’t because they weren’t good; They just sing music I don’t like. Funny thing though is I really like HeeJun Han but he mostly sings R&B/Soul type music and I really don’t like that type of music at all. He just has this smooth voice with a bit of a rasp that I just love. For his audition, when he said he was going to sing “How am I supposed to live without you” by Michael Bolton I thought, “oh gag” but I loved it! He just adds something more to it that wasn’t there before. I did end up voting for him though but there are several others that I would hate to see get booted off the show. Like Jermaine Jones! He has an awesome deep voice and sings with such emotion. There is also Phillip Phillips, Creighton Fraker, and Colton Dixon. There are so many great talents to choose from!
Last night I watched each person sing and just had to vote for my favorite HeeJun Han! When he sing Angels he gave me goosebumps! Although, his reason for choosing that song (at the end of the video) was what really got me.
(for some reason my post got cut off here and I have to rewrite the rest. I’m really not happy with wordpress today.)
Well I can’t remember what all I wrote about the girls but basically they were all really good except Bambie… I mean, Baylie Brown. She is a beautiful girl with her boobs cinched up tight in this pink gown but her singing wasn’t good. Her notes here off and it sounded like bad karaoke.
I voted for my favorite Shannon Magrane but it was a hard choice because there were so many talented girls!
Tomorrow will be rough because they will be making a lot of cuts.
Music in my heart
28 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in In the news, Personal notes Tags: academic decathlon, American Idol, blue shirts, cold medicine, college, heejun, Heejun Han, Jermaine Jones, news, older music, perfect score, school
I’m addicted to music. I listen to music all day long. Lately I’ve been listening to older music and loving it. I just love the Beatles. A friend just told me about a website called Upchucky.com. The name of the website does not make me think of music but I won’t say what it does make me think of. Anyway, it is a music site where you can pick a time and listen to the music from then. It was great. I clicked on the 60′s and the first song was “Hey Jude”. I listened to that for a long time today and then took some cold medicine and took a huge nap. I’ve getting sicker now. My son passed it on to me and I’ve been coughing my brains out all day. I couldn’t miss American Idol though. That is the only thing I watch on TV. I loved today’s show. I love it when they get to the big stage and they can sing what they want to sing. I like almost all of the singers and it is hard to select only one as a favorite. I was glad to see they brought Jermaine Jones back but I still like Heejun Han the best. I just love his personality and of course, his voice. I’m curious to see what happens tomorrow.
My son Jared is in the newspaper today. There is a large picture at the top of his team (in blue shirts) studying at the Academic Decathlon. Jared is up at the top – the skinny one with glasses next to the blond girl that is facing the camera. Of course they misspelled his name but he doesn’t seem too upset about it. I still can’t believe my BABY is that big. He was always crazy smart but when he was little it was much more noticeable. What is frustrating is his grades are not very good. He just coasts along and does the least he can get by with. He told us one day that he only had to do 70% to pass so why work harder? I just wanted to choke him. I was always the type that got upset if I didn’t get a perfect score and where I went to school 79% was a failing grade. His scores at this competition prove he is capable of so much more! He brought home 5 1st and 2nd place metals in various subjects, in addition to the one for the team, and there were a lot of kids there from all over the state! I am hoping this thing will help him see how much farther you can get by doing your best. He got a $1000 scholarship and since he is a numbers man and is already crunching the numbers on how much college is going to cost him, I think he might start trying to do better. Next stop is New Mexico and I think he’s hoping to snatch up a little more money for college.
Silly mom…
26 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in Family, Personal notes Tags: academic decathlon, academic decathlon team, grandma, laid back, ocd, school, testing
I was actually worried about my son going on this trip to Anchorage. Sure, I know he’s a big boy…. sure I know he’s almost 18 and all. Sure, he was enrolled in school and in gifted & talented classes since he as 3 years old (on doctor’s orders). He was a little OCD too and they helped with that. He is the same kid that told his grandma that she was “dilapidated” just after his 2nd birthday. Yes, he did know what it meant then. He told his grandma that it meant she was “old and fallin’ apart”. I really don’t know why I worry. He knows his way around and learns very quickly but I guess its just natural for a mom to worry. This boy is not normal either. He actually gets excited about tests. He passed the SAT when he was 12. Now he wants to take it again just because he knows he would get a better score. So, I shouldn’t have been surprised when they asked him the join the Academic Decathlon team. Its just that it was a week and a half before the event when they asked him. One of the team members couldn’t make it at the last minute and the team wouldn’t have had enough players. They won last year at State so they didn’t want to give up. They barely had enough time to get Jared signed up which is why I was worried. All of the other kids had been studying the material all year. Jared stayed after school a few days and all day Saturday and Monday (when there was no school).
Jared is not the kind of kid who studies. He does his homework on the bus or in class. He puts in very little effort and some how always does okay. He is so laid back when I would have been freaking out. That is so frustrating!
Jared never called me the whole time he was gone. He just texted me a few times to answer mine. I didn’t want to call because I knew the group would be going out to eat or studying. I expected him to call me when he was free…. but no.
So I worried more.
Well, they won. Jared came home with 6 medals and a scholarship. Now they go to New Mexico for the next competition.
Easy Saturday’s at home
25 Feb 2012 2 Comments
in music, Personal notes Tags: classic, cold saturday, cream, eric clapton, extra music, genre, hard drive, itunes, jimi hendrix, keester, music, oldies, pet peeve, real music, rock music, soft rock
Sometimes the best thing to do on a cold Saturday is to snuggle in and take it easy. I tinkered around some but mostly I listened to music. I’m still organizing my itunes. After my other laptop died my husband put all of our music together (to avoid duplicates) and then he set up my new (to me) laptop with itunes and dumped it ALL in. It’s all in a shared holder on another hard drive so if the wireless cuts out my music stops working. Anyway, I have every song everyone in the house has downloaded or uploaded- EVER! Many of the songs are from CD’s we had. He copied them all to itunes so we wouldn’t need the CD’s (or a player) unless we lost our music on the computers. Well, I don’t like having all of this extra music and all the crazy genres! That is my biggest pet peeve… there are so many different genres that the music is all over the place. Half will be labeled one thing and have another so sometimes I buy a song thinking I don’t have it. ERrrgh! So I’ve been sorting and putting things back in order (my order). I’ve deleted a lot of crap too. I can’t imagine how anyone could consider screaming music. It makes me wonder how they even know what the lyrics are or even what song they are listening to. Hmmm… things to ponder. Or not. I just deleted it.
Yesterday and today I have been listening to some old rock music. Some people (who live here but who shall remain un-named) like to label it as classic rock, old rock, soft rock, other, a very descriptive ”genre” or oldies. As I see it, if I remember the song it cannot be considered an “oldie” or “classic”. If I live to be 100 maybe but not just yet. I prefer to label music as the genre it is or was at the time. I have smart playlists set up in iTunes to sort music by dates depending on the decade and then from there I can sort by genre. That makes “the best of” albums a pain in the keester. I have been looking up the actual dates for each song so they go where they should.
Anyhoo, yesterday I listened to the Beatles all day. I forgot how much I loved their music! Hey Jude is one of my favorites.
This is a song I had started to learn on the guitar and it makes me want to get it out and try again. I do have more time now and a really nice guitar that deserves to be played more than dusted.
Today I listened to a little Jimi Hendrix and a lot of Eric Clapton and Cream. I have to admit that some of this music is actually older than I am but I still love it. I think once you label something “classic” it gets shelved and listened to less. I really think we should take another look at what we used to call music and compare it to what we have today. It is sounding a lot less like music to me!
How about a little “sunshine of your love?” I love listening to the guitar music in this.
Here is another good one
How sad that such a wonderfully talented musician died at such a young age! 27 I think….. That happens way too often.
I would have liked to meet that guy and shake his talented hand. Maybe some of it would rub off on me. ;)
Have a wonderful restful right and beautiful Sunday!
Goodies
24 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Personal notes Tags: albums, antique store, boxes, Butterflies, buttons, happy dance, little antique store, little boxes, martha stewart, pictures, scrapbook albums, scrapbooking, valentine s day, valentines day, vintage, vintage buttons
Well I decided to post some more pictures of the cool stuff I got for Valentine’s Day (even though it was the day after).
I went to Michael’s and didn’t get a basket thinking I could get out of there without half the store. I bought two 12×12″ scrapbook albums. One of them is royal blue with a swirly design on the front. The pictures didn’t turn out so I’ll have to try again on that one. I got it for half off so I was happy about that. The butterfly one by Martha Stewart was one I’d been drooling over for a long time now. It was $25 regular price and I just couldn’t see spending that much so I was always waiting for it to go on sale. Whenever it did it was not a good sale. I guess no one was buying them at that price though so I ended up getting it for $8 on clearance! I did a happy dance on the way to the register. A manager/supervisor type stopped to see if I needed any help (since my arms were full) and she carried it to the register for me.
Of course that was the same time I got the butterfly punch/stamp set.
My husband took me to this great little antique store he spotted that was in a small house. The house looked like it was very old as well. My husband got spooked when we went upstairs and he felt like he was going to fall through the floor. His head was touching the ceiling too. I bought a few goodies while there. I bought two little boxes for my collection, two necklaces, and some vintage buttons. I didn’t even realize everything I’d bought was red. How did that happen? She gave me that little cloth bag for free to put one of my boxes in. I love it.
After that my husband took me to this nice Italian restaurant called Gambadella’s. It was delicious! I actually tried something I’d never had before – Chicken Rustico. I am not sure if I spelled that last part right but it was so good! I usually take pictures of my food but my husband gets embarrassed so since he was treating me I didn’t want to do that. I want to try to find a recipe although no one would eat it but me. Maybe I should just go out to eat more often.
Well, tomorrow is Saturday and I love spending Saturday’s with my husband. I usually run errands and grab a bite to eat. I hope everyone has a great weekend.
Peace
23 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Craftyness, Journaling, Personal notes Tags: angel, art, colored pencils, hole punch, journal, journaling, prismacolor pencils, punch outs, SOAR, stencil, stencil design, valentine s day, watercolor pencils
I took some pictures of my latest journal pages for my Soar journal. This was for lesson 3. It asked what the definition for peace was and then asked what my peace was. I thought about that for several days and kept going back to add additional thoughts. There was a lot going on during the time (Valentine’s Day) so I didn’t do it all in one sitting.
I decided I wanted to use a stencil of an angel that I had. I just didn’t put enough thought into it. I grabbed a silver ink pad and used that to go over the stencil on blue patterned paper. Blue and silver go well together but silver ink doesn’t show up well on busy patterned paper. I really didn’t like the result so I grabbed my inktense watercolor pencils and went over the silver ink. The effect was really neat. The color mixed with the silver ink and cause the color to have a pearl look to it. Since the blue paper overpowered the stencil design so much I used my prismacolor pencils to color in the face. I used white to tone down the blue. I added eyelashes, blush and red lips and then realized it was a boy! I didn’t notice at first but the short hair and the curls in the front screamed BOY. So I filled in the hair and made it longer. I ended up putting way more work into that little angel then I had planned!
On the back of the last page I just added a prayer but as you can see the page got pretty wrinkled. My dog suddenly decided she needed some attention and jumped into my lap. She landed right on top of my journal and almost ripped the right side page out off the book. I was trying to hold it to keep it from pulling out.
I used my new butterfly hole punch that I got. I just LOVE that thing. Its by Martha Stewart and the top opens up and has butterfly stamps inside. They are 3 different designs that are made to go with the shape of the butterfly punch outs. I had so much fun with that and I’m sure I will keep having fun with it until it falls apart. I love butterflies. They are like little works of art.
There you can see the hole punch on my Martha Steward butterfly Album! It still has a protective plastic cover on it so that caught the light. I’ll post another picture of it later when I have more time. I’m getting so tired and need to get my beauty sleep. I hope everyone has a great Friday and a beautiful weekend.
Determination can carry you through
22 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Painting, Personal notes Tags: cold weather, determination, fence post, home in time, pain, painting, pencil lines, watercolor class, watercolor lessons
I wasn’t feeling very well today. Manly I was tired and slow moving. I didn’t sleep all day but I laid around reading. I just didn’t have any energy but I made myself do a little time on the stationary bike. I figure I have to push myself to steadily improve or I’ll end up never getting anywhere. I was determined to go to my watercolor class that I’ve been missing for several months. This class meets every Wednesday at 3pm and I just got to where I couldn’t do it anymore. The cold weather makes it especially hard but recently it has been warmer. My husband went in to work early today so he could get home in time to give me a ride but he got stuck at work. It isn’t that far so I just grabbed my coat and walked. I didn’t bundle up in my crazy, down parka with the fur lined hood because I was already sweating. I checked my temperature and I was 99.7 degrees. I think my medication is making my temperature go haywire. 99 isn’t that bad though so I went and I’m glad I did. I had a great time and I have really been missing my friends that take the class with me.
My painting didn’t turn out that great, mostly because my colors were too light, but I’m going to try it again. I’ll try to touch up that one a bit and then I’ll do a few more attempts at it. It is a barn scene taken from a book. It has a barn and a silo and the middle of the painting is fog. There is a fence post in the foreground and as the fence posts continue into the fog they fade away and disappear. It is a neat painting. The pencil lines on the paper were too dark and I didn’t think about trying to erase it a bit until after I’d already wet the paper. Then it is too late. So I will just work with it and try again. It was so wonderful to paint again. I had a little pain in my wrist at one point but it faded so I was glad.
My husband showed up to pick me up and he got to meet everyone. I love him so much because of how great he is with people. I forget sometimes because I don’t often see him interact with people that much but when he walks in the room he seems to bring this light with him. Everyone naturally loves him. His laugh is infectious and he always ends up in the center of everyone. He’s the one that makes everyone laugh. He’s the big guy with broad shoulders that could handle himself well in a fight but wont. He’s a big guy with a soft heart. I just love that about him.
Back when I was 18 my parents thought I was making the biggest mistake of my life. Man were they mistaken.
Even at my lowest he has been there for me. He’s encouraged me to keep my chin up when I didn’t think I could. He goes with me to doctor appointments when needed and shows up out of the blue with flowers to cheer me up. I am so lucky he picked me out. Even if, I really picked him out first.
What is true?
21 Feb 2012 1 Comment
in Personal notes Tags: cursing, direct contrast, drinking, expert medical advice, faith, God, immune system, immune system works, kids, religion, sick, sick son, smoking, submissive wives, thoughts, true, youngest son
I’m getting sick again so I’ve been more tired than normal the last few days. I don’t think it will be as bad as last time but everyone here is sniffling and sneezing. My youngest son is the most miserable. He doesn’t get sick very often but when he does he is pretty pitiful. We just had this long discussion about how your immune system works and why he feels like the longer he goes without getting sick the worse he feels when he is sick. He always gets to over-analyzing these things and then comes to me for expert medical advice LMAO Anyway, I ended up sleeping till almost 2pm and then just sat around in a daze and tryed to help my sick son. His eyes were pouring rivers and he was really confused by that. He wanted to know what that was happening and what to take to make it stop. Good thing there was no school today. I’m not sure if he will be able to go tomorrow or not. He can’t stand lights of any kind right now and closed every curtain in the house.
Well I hadn’t really thought about something to write today so I decided to go with a prompt from NaBloPoMo.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Tell us something that you believe with all your heart is true.
I believe in God and I know that he is real. I know, without a doubt that he hears my prayers. I know in the past I wasn’t so sure, especially since some of the people I grew up with, who also believed in God or even preached about God, did some things that were in direct contrast to what they were saying. When I met my husband I had decided it was all just a big lie that people used to make kids do what they wanted. I think in some cases that is actually true. Sadly, many people do use religion to control people. My mom was one of those submissive wives but I learned that not only does the bible say that wives should be submissive to their husband’s but it also goes the other way. Husband’s are to honor their wives but many [men] decide to forget about that part of the verse. How convenient.
Well, one day I was laying out on the grass in my front yard looking at the clouds and this butterfly flew over me and just hovered over my face for a few minutes. I watched it for what seemed like a long time and then watched as it fluttered around my yard and then flew off into the trees. As I looked up, following its path with my eyes, I saw the hills in the distance and how beautiful everything was. I just realized that this whole world and everything in it is amazing. Butterflies and bees are amazing to me. They help pollinate flowers and keep our ecosystem going. Our bodies are amazing too. Everything is made to work so perfectly. I think that is when I realized that God is real and just me not believing doesn’t mean he isn’t there. He always was.
I believe that God is present to different people in different ways and so even though I might share my beliefs with others I don’t expect them to change their own. I enjoy listening to other people talk about their beliefs, especially when they are so sure in them. Faith is a beautiful thing. Of course I don’t believe that God would tell someone to kill people…and themselves…. I think that is something different altogether. I don’t believe that people who don’t attend church, or who smoke, drink or swear are automatically bound for hell. I know that God is a loving God and wants people to love him but many people decide their way is right and are quick to condemn other’s who aren’t following all of their rules. The bible does say “judge not, that ye be not judged” (Matt 7:1)…. but people tend to forget that bit too.
I know that God loves me even when I don’t feel well. I know that God doesn’t cause pain but is there to help us through it. Sometimes bad things happen to people and it is easy for them to blame God but life isn’t always going to be easy for us and we grow through adversity. People will always die, because we are human, and accidents will always happen but God is always there for us in life and in death.
That is what I believe to be TRUE.
What do you believe to be true above anything else? If you don’t agree with me, that’s okay. I’d still like to know what you think.
