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Do you remember that saying, “Careful what you wish for?” Or maybe you’re more familiar with the phrase, “the grass always seems greener on the other side.” Apparently I wished a little too hard these last couple of weeks for … Continue reading →
The temperature was in the upper 70′s. Clear blue skies, barely speckled with cottony white, led the way as I listened to the hum, hum, hum of my tires running down the highway. My mother-in-law (JW) and I were on … Continue reading →
This is our last week of summer and DW’s parents have come up from Texas to visit . School starts next Tuesday and then my in-laws head home as well. We always have a good visit, but it does change … Continue reading →
I’m not a boat person. Actually, I’m not a roller coaster riding, rock climbing, camping, race car driving, swimming, kind of person. Of course DW is ALL of those things, so I’m amazed everyday that he fell in love with … Continue reading →
When I started this blog the name came easily. It had been imprinted on my mind for a long time before it ever came into fruition. I never gave much thought to a personalized header or logo and I especially … Continue reading →
There seems to be a reoccurring theme on many of the blogs I have been reading this week – the end of summer and back to school. Some of the blogs have been coming to grips with this year’s change … Continue reading →
My hair and body are still smoldering from the fire pit in our back yard. I love the sweet smell of burning wood while roasting marshmallows and making Smores. Tonight felt like summer. Not quite like the Texas summers that … Continue reading →
It is a two beer kind of night, only I’m too tired to go back downstairs to retrieve one from the fridge. I’m trying to savor slowly the last few drops of this golden Corona, hoping it will last long … Continue reading →
Schools have a “100th day of school” celebration, and towns have festivals to celebrate every 100 years, so I felt compelled to write something fantastical for my 100th blog post. However, the only thing on my brain at the moment … Continue reading →
At 10:30 pm last night I was zipping down the highway with the sunroof open, letting the night air dance through my hair. Banging bass beats of music rumbled around the interior. My rock star partner and I were singing … Continue reading →
I was always embarrassed by my mom’s short nubby fingernails. My friends’ moms all seemed to have perfectly manicured hands, long and rounded, showcasing girly pinks, vibrant reds, elegant french and adorned in rings and things. While other mom’s came … Continue reading →
There are daily avoidances – those things that just seem like they never go away no matter how many times we shove them back in the dryer, shut the door, or hide the scale. When I was a child, my … Continue reading →
I stumbled upon this book after “meeting” the author on-line. A very encouraging comment was made on one of my blog posts, the commentator had found me through She Writes. I try my best to respond to everyone because my … Continue reading →
The buzz of the garage door dissipates, and I can’t help but do a little dance. I feel like a thirteen year old kid who has been left alone for the first time. DW just left to get something manly … Continue reading →
It started out quiet and unobtrusive. I would read the posts featured each day on Freshly Pressed, fondle the words, wickedly wishing and hoping that someday my blog would be featured. I imagined waking up one morning to a snippet … Continue reading →
I don’t think I have lived in the same city as either of my brothers for almost fifteen years. And since the middle brother is 35 and my youngest brother is 31, that is almost half of their entire lives … Continue reading →
Today one of my poems is published on Vox Poetica. The Delicate Cycle (If you are having trouble viewing this link, my poem may have moved to Vox Poetica’s poemblog after today.) When I started this blog in February, I knew that most of my efforts would focus on blog entries, although I hoped that [...]
Sunlight filtered lightly through the hotel shears. The girls rustled about quietly, not sure if DW and I were awake yet. Even though we got there around 10:30pm the night before, unpacked and turned out the lights an hour later, we were still rising before 8am. We decided to just get up and enjoy breakfast [...]
Growing up, I always thought of distance as days on the road, versus miles or hours on a plane. It was extremely rare for our family of four to afford airfare, and yet we never let that stop our vacation plans. Wherever we had family is where we wanted to be during the summers and [...]
I have a new dress to wear to my brother’s wedding. Nothing black tie fancy, just a black satin chemise with a pink bow and sash. The arm-holes are cut too far back though to wear a regular bra. What I wanted was a racer-back so that I’m not all Carrie Bradshaw from Sex in [...]
The Hare and I took Luna for a walk yesterday afternoon. It was a great opportunity to have some mother/daughter girl time. The Hare likes to tell personal, well-thought out jokes she has created. She also likes to fill me in on all the happenings of her “students” at her pretend school (in her bedroom). [...]
I needed a night out…let me emphasize that for you: I REALLY NEEEEEDED a night out. A date. DW got back around 3pm on Friday after being gone for a long week on business. Our daytime routine doesn’t change much while he is away. After all, he works from 7am to 6 or 7pm most [...]
1. you’ve used breast-milk as creamer in your coffee. 2. you’ve re-washed a load of your husband’s shirts so that you don’t have to iron them after you forgot to take them out of the dryer. 3. the inside of your t-shirt can double as a snot rag for a runny-nosed toddler. 4. smelling butts [...]
I have finally finished reading Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love. Looking at the work as a whole, I am filled with a different opinion of the beginning of her story. Gilbert’s whininess and over-dramatization of her failing marriage serves more as a mirror into the soul of so many women who struggle with being wholly [...]
Today I was still up past midnight for more understandable and obvious reasons than other nights. DW is away on business. I can’t sleep very well without him here. The house seems too quiet without his strong silence. Although he goes to bed earlier than I do, there is a comfort snuggling next to his [...]
I haven’t run out of things to say, I just haven’t been myself this week. Everything has seemed more dramatic than usual. By mid-week even radio commercials would send me in a tail spin of hysterical crying. You can imagine what a couple of kids, a house-training puppy, a laundry laden mud-room, selling a vehicle [...]
DW is the only boy in our house. For a long time I had hoped that a third child would be in the cards for us – a boy to be specific. An inquisitive, charming, rambunctious and loving little boy. DW is out numbered. He is engulfed in pink and pouty faces, melt-downs over bad [...]
It’s 10:15pm. The girls have finally had their last goodnight kisses. Breakfast remnants, lunch plates and sadly, yes, dinner dishes line the hand print laden kitchen counter. A two-day old basket of laundry sits next to my bed, another in the dryer and there’s even a load ready to be spun in the washing machine. [...]
Elizabeth Gilbert’s book Eat, Pray, Love gained a lot of recognition when it came out, becoming a #1 New York Times Bestseller. Now that the movie is here, it is gaining even more of a following. But until this week, I was one of the apparent few that had not made the adventure with Gilbert [...]
I gained a new writing partner on Saturday. She has trouble staying awake long enough to listen to what I am reciting, but I guess I can cut her some slack, being that she is only 9 weeks old. A white and caramel body rolled up in a ball, sleeping, in my lap. I can [...]
I have a small confession to make. Last week I was not where you think I was. I was on vacation. Announcing to the blogoshere that my house was going to be vacant for a week didn’t seem responsible. So – have computer, will travel. We enjoyed a week at Virginia Beach visiting my parents. [...]
“The world is aching for more positive and intentional thoughts…” That is a quote I just pulled off the “Purpose” button from The Intentional Sage WordPress blog. It struck me as somewhat ironic after their double-edged comment on my post yesterday: “Hopefully my life, ten years from now, will look exactly the same.” Great point! [...]
This was yesterday’s writing prompt from Plinky Prompts. I scanned a few of the most recent answers. They were really depressing, mostly about wanting to share their life with someone, get married, have kids, a big house, a good job…the perfect life. The word perfect came up numerous times. There are a lot of lonely [...]
I was in college. It was cold for San Antonio, November in Texas. The winds howled around my white Hyundai Excel. Deep bass pounded out of a new beat box in the trunk of my hatchback. I was late for work, stuck at the light. To my left was a big grocery store chain. People [...]
I’ve been sort of a crazy woman this week. Cleaning non-stop, nesting I think it’s called. Although I’ve never experienced it before, since both of my children came early. I was totally unprepared with The Tortoise, a surprise delivery almost 9 weeks early. The Hare kept me on bed-rest for 6 weeks before being delivered [...]
When I started this blog, I assumed my mom would read my posts. And my best friend. But beyond that, I wasn’t totally sure. I’m not going to lie, either, the thought of some of my other family members reading my blog was scary – the kind of sick to your stomach kind of scary [...]
Sometimes it takes me longer than I like to admit to process things. Thoughts fester a while, eating at me until I feel like my insides are going to burst. I say nothing, but my body language gives me away every time, at least to the one who knows me the best, DW. I was [...]
Both girls had been sitting silently on separate ends of our sectional for almost an hour, Nintendo DS’s in their hands. It was the longest they had been in the same room this week without fighting. “Have you eaten breakfast yet?” I asked. Mumble, grumble, hmphhff… “Turn off those games and get something to eat [...]
I glanced at the clock after checking emails last night. It was 8:30 pm. Still with wet hair from a shower, The Hare had been marching around the house for about a half hour trying to play Hot Cross Buns on the recorder. Definitely a work in progress. It was really just white noise to [...]
*I’m not sure why I wrote this or what really prompted this stream of consciousness. The delete button seemed really appealing, but then I remembered that I didn’t think anyone would find many of my blog posts very interesting. I have been surprised many times over what touches people. Thus the reason I decided to [...]
I understand the concept of North, East, South, and West. I memorized “Never Eat Soggy Wheaties”. But no, you didn’t read that wrong, I did say concept. I am directionally challenged, always have been since before I learned to drive. So to me, direction is merely a concept. If you give me directions, please don’t [...]
The Tortoise came bounding in the garage door after soccer practice. Soccer bag, cleats and various pieces of clothing were tossed heavily on the floor. Something must have hit her in the process because there was a loud shout of moderately recognized vocabulary. “What did you just say?” questioned DW walking into the mud-room. “Huh? [...]
It has only been a month since Chelsea died. Thankfully the girls have been home, making the house less lonely. But there are times that I still burst into tears at the dumbest things – a peanut butter sandwich crust that I had to throw away because she wasn’t there to eat it. I miss [...]
Friday was our last day of school. The sun was shining, the girls had friends over, and we ordered pizza. The promise of good times and great weather was on the horizon. That evening, The Tortoise had a sleep-over and DW was lulled into a false sense of summer. He said something like, “You must [...]
I am a closet party girl – well, maybe to my closest friends it’s not really that big a secret..or to the house doctor at the resort in Ixtapa. (What happens in Mexico, stays in Mexico chicas.) But, for the most part, I am a pretty average mom I think. I don’t have any tattoos [...]
Apparently the traditional gift for someone’s 9th wedding anniversary is pottery, while the more modern gift is leather. Pottery and leather? Really? Knowing that more than 40-60% of all marriages in the United States end in divorce and that the median length for a marriage is only 11 years, you would think that either pre-paid [...]
In a society brimming over with texting, email, internet, Facebook, MySpace, etc., wouldn’t it seem like our communication skills should be vastly advanced? And yet, as I ate dinner Thursday evening in an airport restaurant, it struck me how little communication was truly being shared between various patrons. Specifically, three different couples and one family [...]
I’m not sure if it is the two cups of coffee I have already gulped or just my nerves, or both. I am a nervous traveler, in general, but I especially dislike flying. The destination is consistently worth the effort – I just hate the journey. (Hmmm, I see a life parallel here.) Preparation started [...]
Today is kind of a purple day, a mix of frustrating red and melancholy blue. The sky has turned a dense grey. There is no wind dancing through the trees. It is eerily calm and in the distance, rumbling thunder. Birds chirp anxiously, waiting for the storm. Life feels like that too sometimes. The days [...]
There are days I am convinced my children are struck with temporary deafness. I can be in the same room, right in front of their face, use my loudest mommy voice to beg them to put their shoes away or help set the table and be met with a tearful, “I didn’t hear you!” when [...]
