Category: Art

The (old) saying goes…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay3 Comments
I went to my doctor yesterday and I have a rib out of place.
I have a significantly bruised collar bone. It’s very tender and sore. 
I went to an amazing concert Sunday night. {So, So, So Amazing!}
I have not gone to bed before 1 a.m. for the past 4 nights due to my crazy and youthfully wild lifestyle… 
While all of these these are sort of true- they sound a lot more exciting than they are. 
For instance one could think my collar bone and rib issues came from said amazing concert. They could have too, if we’d gone for the cheap FLOOR tickets.(Man, some crazy stuff was happening down there!) However, we splurged (double) for bar tickets so we could be up above the floor with all of the old people. (by “old” of course I mean, the over 21 crowd.) 
We also had an AMAZING view of this guy… *Swoon*… 
While on the topic of old though, (which is all the rib issue seems to be tied to… as for the bruising- who knows.) I saw my first real-life-cougar. I’ve heard older women, (guideline to be an “older” woman, as I age, is 15 years older than me.) joke about chasing young men but I’ve never witnessed such a thing. In the bar of the club there was an 18 (at most) year old kid with a woman well over 50. She was dressed like she was 15. There was way too much PDA going on. It was, honestly, pretty repulsive to watch. She kept sneaking him into the restricted area and they kept getting kicked out. Did I mention she dressed like she was 15? Well, she acted like she was 12. 
Maybe my 12 year old acts more mature actually… 
But yeah. While the concert (which was amazingly awesome- I repeat) did make me feel a bit younger, (like maybe 32 vs. the actual 35 that I am) I learned that I’ve finally transcended into the phase of life where I will only plan on attending concerts of people I absolutely love. Last year we traveled down to see 30 Seconds to Mars and Mutemath. While it was a fun show and i love both bands- I am content to cross them off of my check list and never see them again. Thankfully Sunday’s show was a band I’d walk barefoot over glass- to the ends of the earth- to see… no regrets there. 
As for my wild and crazy lifestyle. Ha. Ha. Friday night Chw and I snuck out to a super late show of Bad Teacher with some friends. Suffice it to say while the concert made me feel a little younger- that movie made me feel 60. It ticked me off more than it made me laugh. Bad, Bad Movie should have been it’s chosen name.
Then on Saturday night we partied with friends, until the wee hours of the morn’. This is, of course, if partied means one margarita, a barbecue and board games. Woo hoo… Just like wee hours of the morn’ of course means after midnight. 
With my four night’s in a row crazy late bedtimes (Monday night was late because i had to catch up on my DVR and the Glee Project, of course)- crawling out of bed this morning was a chore. I mean, four late nights is a habit now- right? I was tempted to snooze my alarm and proceed with my newly developed rockstar lifestyle, but then I remembered I had a 9 a.m. appointment. 
At the salon. 
To cover up my grey hairs. 
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Nobody puts Genny in a corner…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay10 Comments
When I was twelve, there were some odd transitions happening at home so I spent a lot of time at my best friend  Melanie’s house. On one such weekend I remember laying on the floor of her tv room watching Dirty Dancing over and over and over again. I wanted to be Baby. I was swept up in the music, in the magic of it, in the Knight in Shining Armor that was Johnny. Before that weekend, I hadn’t known a movie could swoop in and capture the heart of a girl… 
of me… 
Last week I was really sick. Wanting to entertain Gen, one evening, but not do anything but lay around in my virally infested misery, I decided to start cleaning off the Tivo and whatever gems of PG Rated goodness it had waiting for us. Apparently at some point over the past few weeks, ABC Family had aired an edited Dirty Dancing and my smart little Tivo had picked it up. Not being A) a fan of ABC Family, or B) one with any faith in what they call “family appropriate” programming- I was cautious. My mind replayed all of the reasons why I would not want my very impressionable and emotionally immature daughter to see this movie… And then a voice in the back of my head said “you saw this when you were twelve, at an impressionable and difficult time in your life…” And so, snuggled there on the couch, I introduced Genny to Baby and Johnny… 
All specialness aside, she loved this movie way more than I thought she would. 
One major thing I learned was that Genny’s knowledge of the word “dirty” exclusively means dirty… like DIRT-y. She had no clue that it meant anything else. She finally asked where the mess would come in, and I had to explain. Which led to my second realization: that movie’s “dirty” dancing, is pretty tame compared to a lot of todays typical dancing… 
Anyway. As the beginning credits started, and Patrick Swayze’s name appeared, Gen gasped and said “oh my gosh, Patrick Swayze is in this?” I confirmed and she got even more excited. I silently wondered how she even knew who he was, but didn’t say anything. About half an hour into the movie she finally asked “When will Patrick Swayze be in the movie?” 

That is him, Gen. 
“Who? Johnny? Oh. Ohhh…” 
Apparently when her Girl Scout troop was working on their Dancing badge, the leaders had talked about him. she had no idea what he looked like, but now she does. She knows EXACTLY what he looked like. EXACTLY what he sounded like. 
She is head over heals in love with him, in fact. 
She listens to the soundtrack, which was “boring” before, religiously. She’s Like the Wind, (which he of course sang) is her absolute favorite song. She sits at her vanity, fake microphone in hand, singing it every spare moment she has.
The other day we went out to lunch and to the museum for a girl’s day. Over salads, at the Cheesecake Factory, Gen looked at me seriously and said “I think for Christmas I’d like a poster of Patrick Swayze for my room.” 
hmmm… 
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Categories Art

Say No To The Dress…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay11 Comments
I haven’t really mentioned it before, but for a (too small) chunk of time we’ve had a completely awesome girl named Aubree living with us. We met Aubree last year when she blindly agreed to nanny for us for a short period of time while I attempted to balance writing and homeschool. The months where I had her help were wonderful, but when last summer came I found that I was nowhere near more balanced than I had been pre-Aubree. 
Anyway, Aubree is here and lovely. She’s brought a really fun element to every day family life. 
One thing about Aubree, that is key to this post is that Aubree is engaged. 
Like many a someday bride-to-be, Aubree is interested in wedding things. 
On the rare occasion, conversations about wedding photographers, wedding cake designers, centerpieces, reception styles and wedding dresses take place. 
Genny loves this. 
Like many a girl-who-dreams-of-becoming-a-bride, many a conversation is centric around similar things. Those of you who know Genny know that she has notebook upon notebook full of sketches and plans for her and her beloved’s nuptial day… 
So, one day we are watching Say Yes To The Dress, {Thanks to Aubree} when I could see the wheels in Gen’s head begin spinning. Magically she caught glimpses of these fit-for-a-queen dresses as well as their $10-14,000 price tags. Teasingly she joked about bankrupting her dad and I with her dream wedding. Candidly (though she was certain I was kidding) I responded. 
A little while later though, less fun spirited, she mentioned her wedding again. 
G- I know I can’t get a wedding gown that is fourteen thousand dollars, but what is a reasonable budget? 
Yes, she’s twelve. 
M- well, since we’ve got a little time I can’t be certain but I’m thinking no more than five or six hundred dollars. Again, we have time, so I’m not sure. 
G- What?!?! I can’t even find a dress for that price! 
M- Technically speaking, you could find a dress for $50 depending on how creative you want to be upon looking for it. 
Needless to say, I have a feeling this discussion isn’t over. All I have to say is, it’s good that she’s all about the fashion design… Perhaps she needs to stop planning her chocolate and nacho cheese fountain reception and start working on dress design. In fact, after all of these years of struggling to find consequences that work for her, I’m thinking that I may finally have my bargaining chip… 
It’s too bad you chose to steal _____________, that’s $25 off your dress budget. 

Oh, did you seriously just rip that t-shirt to shreds? Well, another $15 off your dress budget. 
If she plays her cards right, she’ll be buying US beautifully designed clothes for this completely hypothetical wedding. 
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Sensually Speaking…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay3 Comments
There is something about different segments of a moment which trigger different nostalgic reactions. The sound of an airplane overhead, on a clear sunny day triggers long hot Phoenix summer days. I don’t know why that one particular thing takes me back there, to those days of childhood summers… In an instant though, I can feel like those afternoons of splashing in my aunt’s swimming pool and going to Baskin Robbins after dinner were just yesterday… 
Another thing is the Idaho autumn air. Sometimes it can waft this certain way and I’m back at fourteen… in love… all of those feelings just swirl right up like a pile of crunchy leaves. 
Genny has trickery of the senses as well… 
As a reoccurring pattern for such things, where she is concerned, we’ve noticed that nostalgia induced memories seldom existed. It’s kind of funny, actually. For instance, yesterday afternoon she starts telling me about how the blossoms on this one particular tree reminded her of an afternoon (when we lived in Michigan) where I picked her up from school early so that i could take her to Starbucks and dress shopping. She went into great detail describing to me, not only the afternoon itself but the dress we chose. 
G- Whatever happened to that dress anyway? 
M- Sweetheart, you never had a dress like that. 
G- Yes i did. I did my second grade photos in it, remember? 
M- (showing her the photos from said photo shoot where she is in a peasant top and denim shorts) Nope. 
G- So what did we buy that day then? 
M- That day never happened, Gen. I never pulled you out of school early for Starbucks and shopping. 
G- Maybe it was a dentist appointment then, and I got the D’s mixed up? 
M- um, pretty sure i would not pull you out of school to go to Starbucks on the way to a dental appointment. 
G- I don’t understand. 
She stood there for a few moments, obviously confused, before a brightness dawned and with immense relief she exclaimed, “OH! It was a dream! I remember now. It was a dress that I was going to wear to a birthday party for some boy I had a crush on, I don’t even remember his name. It was at Christmas time, I think.” 
M- Then why did the blossoms on the trees remind you? 
G- I probably had a dream in the spring time. 
hmm… 
I tried to counteract, a few minutes later, about how I remembered this one time when I went to New York City with James MacAvoy and how he reached for my hand as we crossed the street but her sweet little twelve year old face spoke up and said, “Is he someone you worked with when you wrote for the movie ads? I remember you going to LA, but you never told me you went to New York too.” 
Ah. Nevermind… 
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Categories Art

laryngitis…

Published on by Mae @ Rainydayinmay4 Comments
My little one, {who isn’t so little anymore, at 12} God bless her, is quite the character! 
Let me see how I can visually set this up for you… 
Let’s say, hypothetically, you find your pack of missing gum hidden in her snow boot. K? And you ask her why she has it… Well, she’ll cock her head a few degrees to the left, raise and eye brow and say: 
“remember when you said I could have that? RE-MEMMM-BER?” As she speaks, defining every syllable clearly, dragging some out fifty times longer than necessary, you can hear the oodles of effort she’s cramming into trying to manipulate the situation. 
Without any will at all, if you can imagine it, I’ll deadpan “No, I don’t,” in reply. 
I’m cool and collected… 
Except for when I’m not, which isn’t what this post is about, so anyway… 
It’s funny, right? 
Except for when it’s about 40 times a day. 
“Genny, why do you have a cookie in your mouth?” 
“I don’t. I didn’t eat a cookie. I did not take a cooookkkiiieeee.” her words, hypnotic, likely achieving great success if it wasn’t for the little hiccup of them being spoken around the cookie still in her mouth. 
Oye… 
So, Chw and I have been slowly watching the HBO mini-series of Mildred Pierce with Kate Winslet. Did you watch it? {Disclaimer: having viewed it is completely irrelevant to this post.} The daughter, in the movie, does that to her mom. A lot. It’s infuriating actually… I kind of spent the majority of all 5 hours of it, wanting to shove my hands through the tv screen and wring the daughter’s neck. She was evil. EVIL, i tell you!
But, here’s the thing. In the movie, the mother GIVES IN! If she were in my situation, Mildred Pierce would have said something like, “oh, you didn’t take the cookie? I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me.” And we, the smarter-than-that audience sit there dumbfounded.
Guess what though? That daughter becomes a total psychopath. (sorry if you haven’t seen it but are dying to. yep. She’s nuts. But no offence, if you see the first half hour and didn’t come to that conclusion, you should be ashamed of yourself.) and well, we don’t fall for Gen’s weird hypnosis attempts so I’m pretty sure this is the universe’ss way of telling me that she’s NOT going to be a psychopath! 
Yay! 
I mean, in hindsight after finishing said mini-series, when your daughter continues her ploy of hypnosis genius, is that not also the same conclusion you would come to? (did I mention I’ve got about 3 hours sleep going on, too?) 
All I’m saying is, if your kid too, tries to hypnotize you into believing ridiculous things- be brave. Stand strong. Keep your eye on the partially chewed cookie and your anchor in reality. Some day, when your child isn’t a psychopath, they’ll thank you… 
i hope. 
in the meantime, I’m naming this our anthem! (A.. Cuz it totally fits and B… Cuz it’s such a great song!)
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Categories Art