"Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of you, "Seek his face!" Your face, Lord, I will seek. Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will receive me. Teach me your way O Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witness rise up against me, breathing out violence.
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."
Does this happen to everyone? You wake up to the sun shining (or the sun coming up if you didn't stay up late the night before making valentines for your eight friends), you get super happy and motivated to get things done and have fun while doing it, and then by the time you get around to getting a move on (post waking-up-the-toddler, breakfast, cleanup, and the optional shower) the day has ebbed back into a dull and cheerless, drabby grey color. Ugh, the only thing you can do is make a pan of brownies from a mix and settle back into the doldrums.
OR... you can beat them! With these simple tips: 1. Sesame Street is your friend. This one was on today and I laughed so hard Owen was watching me instead of the show: Emily, this one is for you. Barney is absolutely NOT your friend, even though he says he is. No clip is provided for obvious reasons.
2. Find things that are useful AND entertaining. Check out this http://www.slate.com/id/2242199/"> article . It is helpful and made me LOL. I had no idea. 3. Clean up the kitchen and make the beds. Do it without thinking so you'll forget how much you hate doing it. And when you do that, you'll be motivated to pick up all the toys that have slowly escaped the bedroom and are now strewn about your house, so that there are now approximately 2.45 toys per square foot of your home. Bring a large laundry hamper with you to collect them all, and then go back over it with a vacuum to get all the legos, goldfish and grapes that have gone astray. Believe me, you will feel better. Not great, but better.
4. Eat a snack. And give your toddler one too. I was thinking apples and peanut butter but more than likely it'll be leftover chocolate cake. Because if you have chocolate cake in your house it should be eaten. 5. Really play with your kid. Like, really. Don't read a magazine while he or she plays with all the ridiculous toys people buy him. Make forts, chase him around the house, line all the little people up on the back of the couch and then let him knock them off as hard as he can one by one while yelling wow wow WOW! I wish I could insert video here but I can't. Just use your imagination. The thing about playing with your kid is that it tires him out and he will sleep. Plus he's spent time with his favorite person in the world and is happier for it. And you will be happier too, and will have earned your blog time or Clean House marathon afternoon, even if you skipped no. 3.
And that's it! Hopefully by the time you do all this you will be cheered up enough to make it til dinner. And then you can order a pizza because it's too cold to cook! Or get grandpa to order Chinese, which is what's gonna happen tonight! Oh! (said in the voice of Ms. Niecy Nash)
This morning I was engrossed in my crossword as usual. I looked up when it seemed just a little too quiet. This is what I found:Those little white dots are milk. Owen had climbed up on his stool, gotten his bottle off the counter and proceeded to dot his desk with what little remained. Very quietly I might add. And he handed it to me with big eyes, mouth agape, when I asked for it. He's such a cute little guy and I kind of love the mischief he gets into. What good is a kid if they aren't a bit mischievous?
On a separate note, I finished another scrapbook page. Don't love it but want to finish a few and move on. Finished late last night: Joe is out of town so I am trying to stay busy and be creative! Today Owen and I went to Monkey Joe's with our friends Katie and Luke and Owen had a ball. Okay, I had a ball too. It's pretty darn fun and I think $5 to wear your kid out is totally worth it! What are you guys doing tomorrow? :)
With the onslaught of endless blah weather and more freezing temperatures, lately I have found myself bogged down by too many blogs to read and a general scattering of the brain. Too many half hatched ideas and not enough doing. Not to mention not enough focus for even the simplest of posts here on my beloved blog.
So let's get out of that rut! Here is something that made me happy today:
Hello all! Not much going on today. The sun is shining so of course, I've been busy today. Owen woke up after I had done the crossword and had a cup of coffee, which is always nice, but he is a bit under the weather and puked in our bedroom. It's never good when you're still in pajamas cleaning barf up. And I would've taken a picture of it so you all could see it but sorry! I cleaned it up too quick.
I made dinner already and have it ready in the fridge. Tuesday we have three additional eaters (sometimes more) so I try to make something in advance and something filling. Today's is Spicy Italian Pasta Bake--easy enough for me to make, good enough that the kids will eat it! If all has gone well. I like it too and there are plenty of leftovers for tomorrow's lunch. It's also packed with veggies and I had everything on hand! Like that ever happens...
I found this on one of the blogs ohdeedoh I read: Isn't it fun?? Wow, if we were all rich we'd all have slides in our houses. It actually would go really nicely in our house. Joe said he would be worried someone would go off the edge and through those windows, to a sure and swift death. I didn't want to tell him that it could happen at any park, especially when you have a kid like Owen literally trying to visit the emergency room. Hasn't happened yet, knock on wood.
Oh, and I wanted your opinion on this, from design*sponge and the book Creating a Home by Kathryn M. Ireland: What do you think, for our sunroom in the back? It might just be the thing I'm going for, without making it like a theater, as Emily imagined.
What do you think of my new hyperlinking abilities?? Pretty cool huh? Thanks to my new crossword pals over at LA Times Crossword Corner who posted a tutorial at exactly the right time in my blogging life!
Just a reminder, lest we forget, this happened less than 50 years ago.
"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."
But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.
We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.
The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.
We cannot turn back.
There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: "For Whites Only." We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."¹
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.
Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.
And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today!
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."2
This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.
With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:
My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.
Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,
From every mountainside, let freedom ring!
And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.
And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.
Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.
Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.
Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.
But not only that:
Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.
From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:
Well I am a week in to this blogging business. And I have to say it's a lot easier than I thought it would be. The words just come and then I go take some pictures and voila! that's that. Thanks for joining me :)
It's Friday and that always makes me happy because most likely my handsome husband will be around and everything gets a little bit crazier. It's good to have crazier in your life. Otherwise I am awfully boring. Just ask Owen. So for Friday I thought I'd share some inspiration! Check out this new paper from Sassafras. It's so wonderful I just might forget that we are in a recession... http://sassafras.typepad.com/sassafras/2010/01/nutritious-and-delicious-with-a-chance-of-scrumptious.html
If you leave a comment on their site you might win the whole darn thing, and wouldn't that just make for a wonderful weekend!
And since there is a weekend coming up, check out this blog when you get a chance. I want to scrap like this girl!!
And one more, since I'm at it, just for fun. Just because it's wonderful, and because I have a weird obsession with cowboys. Must be their guns, or their handlebar mustaches... like Daniel Day Lewis in There Might Be Blood. I don't know how to make that a link or else I'd give you a nice picture of him in that movie. Maybe I'll learn how this weekend.
I was hoping he was going to fall back asleep but it doesn't look like that's the case. So this will be quick!
I just wanted to post a picture of my newly finished December 08 scrapbook page for Owen's book. I did it in about an hour and a half from start to finish, which is pretty good considering I've taken a little hiatus from scrapping lately. I'm totally ready for the Wisconsin Dells trip, which is only about a month away, woo hoo!
This is as good as I can get the picture. The scanner just isn't big enough. The journal section says:
"Owen, December was different this year with you around. Less shopping at the malls and more done online. Decorations set where you couldn't reach them. A star-shaped stocking hanger bought and hung with your new stocking next to the five others that spelled out PEACE. Cookies baked only during your naptime. Every stray piece of wrapping paper and ribbon quickly picked up before you could stuff it in your mouth. And of course, more abundant joy with a new baby to make everything fresh and new. You didn't understand what Christmas was all about, but you did love all the extra activity going on around you. Even during the Christmas Eve party at our house, you were passed without complaint from aunt to uncle to cousin until way past your bedtime. You woke up the next morning happy as can be and weren't very interested in opening your few presents under the tree. But you loved having your family all around you. And we loved having you with us too. Merry Christmas Owen!"
Okay so I've been doing the crossword in the Chicago Tribune for a while now (honestly I can't remember when I started... with pregnancy maybe?). I forced Ehrin get me the daily paper while I was visiting her in Colorado, when was that Ehrin, Thanksgiving last year? That fated trip, or another one. I really can't start my day without it (the worst part of being away from home is being away from home).
So Ehrin found this blog called LA Times Crossword Corner, where a guy answers the crossword and then a bunch of people comment on it. I love this blog because it explains a lot of the answers, and tells of others' misgivings. It's like everyone's working on the same thing, like a book club, only it's not books. It also saves me a lot of time. I used to be crazy if I couldn't finish the whole grid, and I could spend hours googling things and wikipedia-ing until poor Owen was beside himself trying to get my attention. Poor little lamb. He does entertain himself quite beautifully though, doesn't he? But now, thanks to the blog, I can do my best with the knowledge that the answers are waiting for me whenever I choose to be finished, depending on what kind of excitement I am looking forward to in my day. Thank goodness!
Until yesterday, this was just a blog I read, nothing more. It was not personal, I did not know the people who wrote on it, and I skimmed the comments but figured that everyone knew each other and were friends. But yesterday, I ventured out and commented with the commentors (which is a word you will never find in the crossword, my friends). Much to my surprise (and delight), I was welcomed! By quite a few people! Get a load of this (the comments... yes, it's long, just skim and look for amieeaya): http://crosswordcorner.blogspot.com/2010/01/tuesday-january-12-2010-allan-e-parrish.html
I know, I know, I'm getting excited for something pretty insignificant. But I think some of these people even read my blog, or looked at my picture at least. Unbelievable! They do exist! Don't you just love the internet?? It is an amazing thing, or place, or portal, or tool, or whatever. Jeez. That would be a great clue for the crossword, wouldn't it? Ans: THE WWW (mom, this stands for the world wide web)
So exciting, I found all these great plaid shirts at the goodwill down the street from me. I kinda think $5 per shirt is a little steep, but it is in this overpriced area, and I am "supporting their mission." So okay. Aren't they great?? I wish I was a dude; it would be so easy to look cool by shopping at the thrift stores! Alas, I will have to turn them into something other than clothing. I also got a totally great Pyrex bowl for $3. I've seen collections of these and just love the way they look together. It must be the cheerful colors. This is the first in my collection! Also took a few pictures of Owen this morning, being his crazy, naughty, almost 2-year-old self. These are my going-out-to-get-the-paper-in-sub-zero-temperatures shoes. He ran in with them saying, "Peas, peas!" I just can't refuse that face. Happy Tuesday!
What's with today, today? Ever have that feeling that you just can't get enough done in a day? Something I feel like I work and work and never really am satisfied with what I've gotten done. I woke up to this dark day with the feeling lagging from the day before. It's the winter of my discontent. Yesterday I made soup, made chicken stock, took care of my boy, created this lovely blog, got kind of dolled up (Sunday), and watched some football. But it just didn't feel right. Today so far I've cleaned my kitchen swept my floors, finished the crossword made two meals for me and Owen, cleaned some windowsdone all the laundry, blogged. And yet, I don't feel like I can rest. Maybe that's where my insomnia comes from. What is wrong with this picture?? I guess it's just one of those days. Also I'm experimenting with pictures on my new blog! I like it. Hope you do too.
"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity .... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow."
Welcome, welcome to my new online home! It's pretty bare right now but fear not, little by little we will feel more at home. I just need a figurative pot of soup on the stove (today it's potato leek, yesterday it was minestrone that my 12 year old step daughter said tasted like puke, thanks brit!) and a few table lamps and it will be as homey as the days I turn the heat up to 72. I can't wait, can you? Inspiration can come at any time, especially when my almost 2 year old is taking a nap. So let's share! There's nothing like an idea that blossoms into an IDEA!!
