2008 April | chatting at the sky

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April 30, 2008

Some of you may have noticed that I had a birthday yesterday. Last year, I turned 30. I dreaded it while I was 29. Then, when the actual day came, I realized I kind of liked 30. Granted, there was that ginormous surprise party thrown on my behalf. That helped. But I also realized, as the days and weeks passed, that I finally sort of felt like a grown up. And I liked that.

This year has been different. I am sick, for one thing. And we are moving, for another. This one kind of crept upon me from behind while I was packing boxes and blowing my nose, tapped me on the shoulder and in a slightly annoyed voice said, “Hey. You’re 31 now.”

It seems like once you finally feel grown up, you should get to stop having birthdays. But they just keep coming. One after the other. Every single year. It isn’t as fun as it used to be.

One thing that did come from this birthday was a visit from The Nester. She has a name, which I won’t reveal, of course. It’s funny though…The Nester has kind of grown on me. I call her that a lot now when we’re together, especially when we’re talking house. And we talk house a lot. She helped me pick this out.
That one is in our dining room. She thanked me for letting her help me pick out light fixtures, stating it was the most fun she’s had all week. Or was it all month? The walls are svelte sage, for those of you who may wonder. We have six nights left until we move to the new old house. I think I’m ready. I still haven’t shown you the kitchen. I inherited some nice cabinets that I wouldn’t have chosen if it had been up to me. But we couldn’t replace them. So we’ve done some other things to make it ours. I look forward to posting about that.

But first I have to go pack up my current kitchen. And count the days ’til my next birthday. Or not.

Filed Under a girl, a masterpiece 18 Comments

my estrogen-filled weekend

April 28, 2008

I went on the women’s retreat with my church this weekend. It was crazy bad timing…one kid had pink eye, the man was to leave town right when I got back, we are moving in a week. You know. Life is happening. If I hadn’t already paid for it, I may not have gone.

Besides that, I was asked to officially be the unofficial photographer for the weekend. Which is kind of obscure and intimidating. I’m not so crazy about taking photos of people I don’t know and it just wouldn’t be cool to have 200 pictures of the women in my small group. Who, by the way, were awesome.
Here they are, posing for a group photo. Women get crazy when we are together for a whole weekend at the beach with no men or children. Or laundry. As you can see, it was easy to get some good shots of this group. My concern was getting enough shots of the women I don’t know.

One opportunity came Saturday afternoon while hanging on the beach with a friend. I noticed some women from our group that I hadn’t gotten photos of yet.
They were relaxing, talking, bathing in the sun near us. I hated to do the whole Hey y’all! I know you don’t really know me that well, but don’t you want to pose for my camera in your bathing suits? I thought the best I would get would be a couple of half-hearted smiles and a lot of groaning.

This is what I got instead.
I’ve never seen women jump up so fast. They were like middle schoolers.
They not only posed, they ran to the water to give me fun, action shots. It was awesome. Then, they did this.
I don’t think some of them have done a cartwheel in years. There were a couple more frames in the middle, but they aren’t the most family friendly shots if you know what I mean.

I had to share these, as it has had me laughing for a couple of days now. I just love how, when we are removed from the everyday, we give ourselves permission to be ridiculous and silly.

Filed Under a friend, a girl 19 Comments

the writing on the wall

April 24, 2008

This painting is hanging in my current kitchen. I bought it from The Nester at a yard sale a few years ago. She sells great stuff at yard sales. And yes, she makes me pay. I make her pay, too. Well, sort of. It usually goes something like this:

Sister 1: “Ooo, you’re sellin’ that?”
Sister 2: “Yeah, you want it?”
Sister 1: “Maybe…How much?”
Sister 2: “Oh, you can just have it.”

It goes both ways like that. And then one sister tries to convince the other to just take it but the other sister insists on paying. What generally ends up happening is we trade stuff and no money is exchanged. Usually mom is in the mix somewhere, too. She’s the worst at buying all our stuff at our yard sales. She never ends up making anything when the 3 of us do one together because she spends all her earnings on our junk. Then she apologizes a year later when she re-sells them at another yard sale.

I think the frame of this one has been painted several times which makes sense because that’s just what my sister does. As I said before, I have had it for several years. But just a few days ago, noticed something I had never seen.
Well, I thought to myself, I wonder what Psalm 40:5 says? Though I’m sure this signature wouldn’t mean much on Antiques Roadshow, I felt certain it would mean something to me. So I looked it up. And it was a sweet reminder to me that the Lord thinks of me…too many thoughts to count. I am on His mind.

And just like that, I remember again how the Creator of the Universe likes to reveal Himself through unlikely people and unlikely things…even a yard sale painting hanging in my kitchen.

Filed Under a girl, a masterpiece, a sister 20 Comments

six more things

April 22, 2008

This entire blog is riddled with unimportant things about myself. I just wanted to get that out there. For some reason Heather from Mindless Junque, Tracey from Make Room For…, and Melissa from Higher Call have all decided they haven’t heard enough unimportant things about me. So they have tagged me. And the fact that they all did so within the past 24 hours has caused me to believe I really need to do this.

I know I have been tagged before. I apologize if you have tagged me and I didn’t play. It’s just I felt as though I have revealed oh-so-many unimportant things already: my dis-like of spoons, my murderer escape plan, the naming of my house, the fact that I time myself in the grocery store, my strong aversion to many words that begin with the letter P…I’m a freak. It is a well-documented fact.

But there is more. So here I go.

1. My fingers are kind of double jointed. When I was younger and my friends were less polite and grown up, they would sometimes ask what was wrong with my thumb. And I have more than once been known to pretend my fingers were legs and my finger tips, feet. I can do a mean moon-walk. When I am bored, you know.2. I was a cheerleader in high school. I was the one they threw in the air to do basket tosses. I don’t think they even call them that anymore. But it was so fun. And I always felt lucky that I got to be the one to fly.

3. I know The Wizard of Oz by heart. Partially because I have seen it so many times and partially because I have the script. In the form of a colorful, hardback book. That I found at a used bookstore. For $15. I know that might sound like a lot to you. But for me, it was a good day. A very good day.

4. I love maps. Sometimes I google map my house just to see where it is in relation to familiar places. It is important for me to have a sense of where I am, physically. I also love the weather channel for the same reason. While visiting NYC a few years ago, I sat on the bed in our hotel room and studied the map of Manhattan for…a while. And it was bliss.

5. I count on my fingers. In all situations. Every time.

6. I love minor league baseball games. When I was in middle school, we moved from our hometown in Indiana to the Quad Cities in Iowa. They had a minor league team at the time: the Quad City Angels. The field was beautiful, right on the Mississippi River. My dad and I would go and sit up high in the stands. Sometimes we’d get a program. Or popcorn. But mainly, we’d just sit. And listen to the baseball sounds. And I loved it.

So there you have it. Six more things. Tag, you’re it.

Filed Under a little bit crazy 10 Comments

Good Mom strikes again

April 20, 2008

Today Caillou’s mommy was having a bad day. First, her car broke. Then, she lost her keys. There she is frowning. Which I guess for Caillou is pretty extreme if less than realistic. Where is the smoke coming from her ears? Where are the slanty eyebrows? Where is the clenched jaw, the one-word answers, the broken phone that she threw across the room because she just.couldn’t.take.it?

Apparently even on a bad day, Caillou’s mommy still talks in a sing-song voice and is really nice to her kids. Great, Good Mom even comes in animation. Oh to be a cartoon.

Filed Under a mess, a mother 23 Comments

i have just…

April 17, 2008

The Office spoiler alert…read at your own risk.

eaten my weight in rocky road ice cream and oreos.
teared up when Kevin got The Office parking spaces back.
second (and third, and fourth) guessed my tile choice for our bathroom.
clapped and pointed at the tv screen when Jim pulled out a ring.
wondered if we have food for the girls school lunch tomorrow.
realized I still haven’t had a shower today.
packed my entire living room in my head.
spoiled Debbie’s enjoyment of her TiVoed Office by not having a spoiler alert earlier.
called myself an idiot.

Filed Under a freak, a girl 15 Comments

door failure. transplant needed.

April 16, 2008

Now that we have less than 3 weeks until we move, I revel in seeing any kind of progress over at our new house. I haven’t popped in over there for the past few days to get some distance from the whole thing.

Turns out it’s true what they say about absence and the heart growing fonder (as The Nester recently reminded me). I guess regular people would apply that to relationships. But it works in this case, too…as it has been encouraging and exciting to see the personality of our new/old house begin to take shape. This tulip only recently came out to greet us and I’m so glad she did. Isn’t she lovely?

Another exciting development has been in the door department. The house was kind of in a door identity crisis when we bought it. Many of the doors were beautiful, like this one in the foyer next to the stairs.

And these, leading into the sunroom.

But all the other doors were just…doors. Flat, no panel, hollow doors. Nothing really wrong with that. Were they functional? Yes. Did they have personality? Not so much. They served their purpose faithfully for a very long time. But after hanging around for 45 years, they seemed a bit tired.So we gave them a face-lift. Actually, I guess it was more like a transplant.They weren’t flown in on a chopper and delivered in a red cooler, but their arrival was exciting just the same.

There it is, in all it’s new-door glory. The one on the right is still the old one so you can compare. I think they change the feel of the whole house. What a difference a door makes. Replacing them was such a treat. It wasn’t a requirement that we do it. All things considered, we decided it was one of those things that would make a big difference that was worth it to us. And don’t forget how tired those old doors were. Worn out, they were. It was the kind thing to do.

Filed Under a house-lover 19 Comments

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