When creativity is delivered by the cute UPS guy…

Due to law suits, car accidents, Naturopath physicians and other various normal adult life types of things- when my mom’s birthday rolled around this year- I had not one single idea what to do for her. Combine with the fact that she’s essentially home bound, fifteen hundred miles away and has little interest in much- or the ability to do anything. 
It was tough… 
And then, being the party lover that I am, I thought: why not throw her a party? 
So, Gen and I set to work…
Once the Surprise Party in a box was complete- we called her with the specific instructions that when the UPS guy brought it to the door- she was FORBIDDEN to open it without someone else present. (we didn’t care who was there…) 
Each item was individually wrapped and numbered. Then, the entire top of the box was “wrapped”, containing the packages below, and three cards on top. 
Card #1} A handmade invitation to her Surprise Party in a Box! along with instructions on opening them in numerical order. 
Cards #s 2 & 3} “happy birthday mom” and “happy birthday nana” cards, complete with singing (in the cards). 
Beneath the layer of gift wrap were these: 
1} a little birthday tiara
2} a package of “Party Princess” paper cups. 
3} an assortment of bottles of snow cone syrup.
4} an electronic ICEE machine. (she LOVES shaved ice but isn’t strong enough to use a manual one like we have.) 
5} “Party Games” (little card and dice games) 
6} a package of “Party Princess” paper cake plates. 
7} a box of twinkies (her favorite), and a birthday candle.
8} her actual gift. 
Overall, flexible and complete budget friendly- but full of thought and fun. She loved it. Her “guests” loved it… The “party” continued all weekend long… Definite Win there… 
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Spiderwebs… {A confession and a rant.}

There are a handful of people in my life who get really upset that I can’t just sit down and talk to them on the phone whenever they feel like calling. I am sure there is an even larger portion of people who think I’m completely rude for commonly hitting my ignore button. I feel like, for years, I’ve been having to apologize for myself. There are all of these negative emotions, (guilt, fear of disapproval, annoyance, etc.) which come packed and tangled up in this one silly little phone thing. 
Here’s the thing though- I don’t like talking on the phone. 
there, i said it. 
I LOVE people. I love hanging out with people. I LOVE face to face conversations. 
When I don’t have the luxury of sitting with someone, in person, I am usually spending my time doing something productive. Anyone who is a writer knows that you can not sit and talk on the phone while working. It is an impossibility. Anyone who has ever homeschooled knows that you can not educate your child while sitting on the phone talking. Again- impossibility. Why is it that people hear: home, and automatically think I’m just sitting around praying the phone will right? I am busy. 
I’ve had this very battle with my sister for years. In fact, it’s all out fight sometimes. She loves to sit and talk on the phone. If I call her, (or answer) it’s a good 90 minutes- at least- talking about the SAME things that are always talked about. She lives 10 minutes from my house. This, to me, is ridiculous. If she has nothing better to do but sit on the phone, why doesn’t she load the kids up and bring them over here? 
So yeah… 
We’ve finally gotten to a place which feels normal. (and phone conversationless.) It’s good… 
I will talk to my mom a few times a week, because she is in NM. I try to somehow (skype or phone) talk to Lucas weekly. {Then again, he’s my son. I’ll talk to my kids whenever they want.} About 1-2 times a month I’ll talk to my best friend Debbie on the phone, though I honestly could stand to talk to her more than that. She’s on the east coast. Otherwise, I just don’t do it. It’s a time waster, like facebook (in my opinion) only LESS productive… 
All of that to say, I’ve decided to let myself off the hook here- no pun intended. I’m tired of the bitter, juvenille remarks from distant relatives and people. I am so irritated at all of the two faced, back stabbing stupidity I’m tired of having to say “I’m sorry, I’m just really busy.” In this era, we are blessed to have multiple forms of communication. There are phones, texts, emails, facebook, skype, etc… If you are getting all bent out of shape because I won’t talk on the phone with you, but you REFUSE to compromise with one of the other five means of communication with me- than I’m sorry but the issue is yours and you are obviously the one who doesn’t want to talk to me very badly… 
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Quiet…

Quiet is not a word typically synonymous for our home, by any stretch of the word. Our dogs bark. Our youngest screams and yells… Sometimes we yell too. We love music. When we watch movies, the sound is high enough to really feel it. 
Then, though, a stretch of days come that surprise us with their quiet. 
Peaceful words. 
Calm emotions. 
Currents of love and compassion. 
For that brief moment of time there is no excess noise, no tension. 
Quiet. 
We’ve had a quiet week. It’s been lovely. I have read an entire book. I am caught up on freelance deadlines. We’ve had soft conversations, tender snuggles and smiles. Lots of smiles. 
This week, I’m really loving the quiet… {though my blog is not…} 
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Whine and Confessions…

– I am sure i’ve expressed on this blog countless times that i am not a fan of change. For five years now, my youngest has been on the waiting list for an amazing school which has the potential to help her so much educationally while furthering her in the directions in which she’s passionately headed. Towards the end of this homeschool year I was really starting to hope and pray that this would be the year that she would finally make it in. I feel like she’s getting to the point where she needs more than I can give her, AND it has just become such a battle, some days. 
So, we got the call, this week, that she made it in. (WOO HOO!) And now, now I’m freaking out… 
– Our family had dental appointments this week. Gen needs oral surgery and braces. It’s a mess. I need to have some repair work done, and a tooth filled. We don’t have dental insurance. Mess… 
– I started seeing a naturalpath. There was a lot leading up to this, but ultimately it was right for me. I knew the initial cost was big, and had saved for it. What i was NOT aware of was that she’d want to see me every 10 days for 40-50 days- at $100+, per visit. 
– Genny needs to go get an eye exam and get new glasses. 
– Chw needs new contacts. 
– We have a very modest family vacation planned and it’s starting to feel like it will have to be completely chopped because within the course of a week we have all of this stuff that needs to be paid for. On top of car repair, normal living expenses, membership dues and renewals. And back to point 1: Uniform costs. Band Instrument costs. Book fees. Embroidery fees. And school starts in just over two months. How is that possible? 
– Which leads me to point out that though I’d have more time to write, (Woo hoo) and such, and my time with Gen would (likely) be much more peaceful- I just realized we would lose our complete time flexibility…
– Yesterday my new doctor asked me what my stress level was. I told her 2. Good thing she hasn’t asked today, it would be 12. 
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