Stealing Magnolias
What’s Jack up to? Oh you know Jack he’s into a bit of everything, but yesterday he really came in handy when this soliciting dude, looking quite chatty came to my door ringing my bell. Don’t ask me how he had the nerve to get up the steps because as soon as he hit the driveway Jack was already losing his mind. Barking, snarling, jumping, Jack was having none of this guy. He gave me the perfect out to say, through the door, “sorry, wild dog here. Can you just leave your literature on the porch and go? ” What a good dog I have! Thanks so much for all your comments to my marriage vs. motherhood post yesterday. I loved reading them. It really can be a sticky subject and I agree with the very honest point made that motherhood can make a marriage harder. So true. Also Children’s ages can make motherhood harder. I am a different thinking woman than the one I was when my children were 4 or 5 as opposed to now 15. Just like I’m a different woman than the one I was when my husband first married me. Hmm… now I wonder how much the men actually change. I have to think on that a while. A post for another day perhaps?
It seems that Steel Magnolias was a real favorite with this group. So I went on youtube to look for a little clip to post here today and found this funny winner. Enjoy.
Best,
KwanaMarriage or Motherhood
A while back over at Dooce she had a post that asked the question: what is more difficult marriage or motherhood? My quick answer was motherhood hands down and I’m still sticking with that answer. Of course, this could be just in my world. Being a mother of twins it was always a bit overwhelming even from the start and now that they are teenagers, oh baby please. Also the marriage thing always felt like it had an out. Which is funny for me to say since I’ve been married for 19 years through many ups and downs, but it’s different somehow from the forever of motherhood. Strange.Sometimes I feel like the blog world is so full of happy shiny babies and well starched husbands that it would almost make a woman think that it’s all a breeze. But we do know better don’t we? It’s not all crafty days and Tiffany blue boxes. More often than not it is: where did the day go? Should we order in again? And did he seriously buy me that?But back to the point, I guess it really comes down to what stage you are in life as to how you would answer this question. Is there a real answer? What do you all think out there? Opinions please. I love them.Sidebar: Obviously the octuplets’ mom is clearly from the camp of marriage being harder because she is quick to have a baby, the marriage thing? Not so much for her.
Sidebar 2: Dear Twins, When you are in therapy moaning about me later please get it straight. It’s not because I didn’t think you couldn’t do anything. It’s because I believed you could do everything.Sidebar 3: Just to keep this about writing and such, what are some of your favorite books or movies that deal with motherhood? One of mine is Terms of Endearment. It gets me every time.Keep it Cool Boy
Well, it was bound to happen. The DS (Dear Son) has gone all fashion on me. Now this is normally the DD’s aka “The Diva’s” job, but for the past two weeks it was the DS that has been bugging me to take him to the mall and for a pea coat of all things. This is the same kid that I can’t get to put on a light jacket in 15 degree weather. Color me confused, but not for long, adolescence is kicking in and I guess the whole ‘clothes make the man thing’ or at least gets you noticed is starting to become apparent with his set. Eek. Why me? I’m so not mature enough for this job.Well, being this late in the season it was no easy task finding a pea coat. Sell outs everywhere.Finally, late Saturday night success! In the store he slips the coat on, goes to the full length mirror and smiles suddenly giving me a glimpse of the young man that I’ll have to let go of very soon.
“So what the big deal with this coat?”, I ask. “Why do you have to have it now?”
He looks at me like I surely don’t have a brain in my head and says, “Mom I can’t go around looking like a bum with Barack Obama being president now can I?”
I just smile. “No sweetie, surely, you can’t. Now do you have a belt on, care to pull those jeans up a bit more?”Yep, Change has come…Best,KwanaP.S. I never posted a pic, but I did finally finish knitting the DS’s after Christmas hat right before his birthday. Here it is:
Wandering Mind
What’s Jack up to? Jack’s doing his Monday thing? Perched on top of the couch so he can look out the window and wonder where the gang got off to and bark at any strangers that have the nerve to pass in his field of vision. Good dog. Humph.I hope everyone had a fine weekend. Mine was spent doing the mom thing through a fog of migraine pain that is still clouding my vision. I’ve been a migraine suffer since I was a kid and I now take daily meds for it, but there are times when no amount of prescriptions will stop it once the train has left the station. It just has to take the full agonizing trip which can go for days. I often say labor was easier because I knew it wasn’t going to last more than 24 hours. I was right. It was only 13. Ha.I try as much as possible during these times to continue as normally as I can because falling into the pain doesn’t do anything to eliminate it. Besides things still have to get done. My name is Mom isn’t it? So I do. Between doing, sometimes I practice breathing and visualization. Sometimes serene visualization, sometimes not so much, like this Frida Kahlo painting from 1943 called Thinking About Death. The upside of this beautiful, but disturbing painting is the symbolism of rebirth in the skull and the thorns in the background. Frida spent many of her days confined to a bed and in pain most of the time so lots of her art expresses her pain and her desire to break free of it.Where does your mind wander when you want to break free? Do you take the time to let it wander?This marks my 400th post. That’s a lot of wandering. Thanks for traveling with me.Best,
KwanaThe Music is Not Dead
What’s Jack up to? Right now he’s sleeping ever so sweetly after running around the house like crazy dog for the last 3 hours while the twins had friends over for their birthday. I know Jack all that entertaining is exhausting.
So on my Dear Daughter’s i-Pod wedged between him:
and him:
was him:Taken from my playlist. Nice. Makes me feel like I’m doing something right as a parent. Of course she also knows all the words to Musical Youth’s ‘Pass the Dutchie‘ too. Eek!Sidebar: How about that Miracle on the Hudson? Amazing. My mouth was hanging open as this was breaking news. I’m glad I wasn’t driving down the west side highway during that time as I’d have surely crashed from the shock. The pilot is a real hero (and the best pilot ever) and once again I’m so proud of the super fast New York responders. Even on water they can’t be beat. I just love New York!
Best,Kwana15 Happy Birthday Dear Twins!
15 is the magic number, yes it is, it’s the magic number…
Did you know that throughout the bible the number 15 has been thought to symbolize: deliverance, divine grace, restoration, restitution, resurrection and healing? All wonderful thoughts for you my two loves this year.
Here are some examples taken from here.
-The Ark was borne by the Flood fifteen cubits upwards, Genesis 7:20.
-Hezekiah’s reprieve from death was fifteen years, 2 Kings 20:6.
-The Jews were delivered from death under Esther on the fifteenth day of the month (9:18,21). This is specially significant, as we have seen, that their sentence to death was connected with the number thirteen.
-Bethany, where Lazarus was raised, and from whence the Lord ascended, was fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, John 11:18.
-Paul’s ship anchored safely in fifteen fathoms on the 14th day, after thirteen days of toil and trial, Acts 27:21.
-On the fifteenth day of the first month was the feast of unleavened bread, Leviticus 23:6; and
-On the fifteenth day of the seventh month was the feast of Tabernacles (v 34).Oh, can it really be true, that you two are 15? Nah. It just can’t be. I close my eyes and it was yesterday that I was holding both of you in my one arm and balancing two bottles with my other hand. It felt so overwhelming, but I took solace in thinking that God gave me two arms and two babies for a reason. You know, I can still feel the weight on that arm and smell your sweet smells. It’s so very real, every smile, every tear, every wail. From yesterday, to today, to forever the love never ends.
Love,
MomIn my dreams…
I’m as cool as this woman.
Taken from here. Don’t we love The Satorialist?
Of course to achieve this level of coolness would take a complete lifestyle change which would begin with me running away from my current life and jetting off to Paris to go underground (see yesterday’s post below). Some days that sounds like a pretty appealing idea. If only there were a mommy protection program? But freakin’ Big Brother is always watching so we can’t get escape the grid, at least not this fashionably, I’m sure.
Best,
KwanaSix Things
Happy Monday! Does that saying make any sense? I guess it does in the fact that Monday can be thought of as a day of new beginnings and all that. See I’m still working on that optimism thing for the New Year. Go me.
That said, I’ve spent a lot of time not sleeping this weekend. My Gemini mind was racing, racing, racing with all the things I want to do, need to do, have to do. Not to mention the worrying, which goes against what I wanted for the New Year, but that’s going to take a bit more than just wishing to make it so. Grrr… teens!
One of the thoughts that came flipping through my head at about 4 AM is the fact that I hadn’t responded to a meme I was ever to sweetly tagged on by Great Dame back in December. So sorry, Great Dame. I hope to lick this procrastination thing one day. Sigh.
Now this type of Meme I had done before, but being the New Year I decided I can give it a go again. I hope I don’t repeat myself. Sorry if I’m a bore.Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself. (See below)
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them. (See further below…)
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.Here I go…
1. I was taught Irish literature in high School by Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt. (1b. I’m a name dropper. I just learned that about myself. Go figure.)He was an amazing teacher and gave me a deeper love of literature and writers that I didn’t have before his class. Thanks Mr. McCourt! (not that he reads this blog) And yes, our desks did look like that in the old school.
2. The same Frank McCourt was responsible for directing me to my job where I then met my DH. Thanks again Mr. McCourt.
3. As a teenager I had a lavender room which was really a converted dining alcove. On one wall was a life sized poster of Prince. On the opposite wall was Debbie Harry.
4. This was my phone. I had it in white and adored it.
5. I’m crazy about sexy historical romances even though I write contemporary (I just can’t imagine doing all that research and getting it right). I just picked up this one: Vanquished by Hope Tarr after she gave a wonderful talk on her writing process at our RWA NYC chapter meeting on Saturday. I can’t wait to dive in.
6. I’m really not a dog person. The whole Jack thing boggles my mind. So please don’t let your dog just jump all over me and I won’t let mine. I know he’s absolutely crazy.
I’m not going to tag anyone because I think this tag has gone around a few times over and I don’t want you all to throw tomatoes at me. Instead I’m going to put out a challenge to any brave souls out there willing to pick it up or any of you just looking for a subject to post on, feel free to tag yourself. Just put a comment here and let me know you’re doing it. I’d love to read a few random facts about you.Have fun!
Best,
KwanaKnit Wednesday
Sorry for the delay with the pictures and don’t say I didn’t warn you about being underwhelmed, but here they are, the pics of my two finished knitting projects from over Christmas. The first is of one the fingerless gloves that I did for my DD. They came out a little too big for her and I have to take them in. I love the hombre yarn though. Each side of the glove is different. The pattern was from Hollywood Knits by Suss Cousins . A book I just love.
The next is of the roll brim hat that I did for my DH that took way too long. I’m so happy that he has worn it everyday since Christmas so it was worth the time.
I’m almost done with the hat for my DS. Poor thing, his Christmas gift is turning into a birthday gift.Today was supposed to be my day to meet with my knitting group. After a couple of weeks off I was looking forward to whooping it up with my friends, catch up on town stuff and get back on the knitting track, but due to icy weather schools are closed today. Sigh. To me the weather is not bad enough for a school closing, but whatever. I’ll try hard to keep my kids halfway focused on a bit of studying today. Not easy with teens.Best,
KwanaTurning the Page
What’s Jack up to? Mr. Jack is a missing the DH after the Christmas Holiday. I’m just not as playful. Sorry Jack. I’ve got to step up my game.If you’re like me, and I suspect a few of you are, you get excited over the opening of a crisp new book. So sweet!So like a fruitcake, I spent a good deal of time on Sunday searching for the perfect new daily planner to help organize these days that seem to always get away from me. I also had way too much trouble finding inserts for my Filofax which I’ve had for years for all the family appointments. See I’m big on writing things down and if it doesn’t make it into that red book, well, we don’t make it where we need to be. Organizing a family is not easy. Can I get an amen?
One of my Christmas gifts this year was a new Blackberry which should arrive any day. The DH feels this should answer all my organizing needs. Now I love him dearly, but he should know by now that you can never pry the pen from a writer’s hand.Are you ringing in the New Year by turning a new page? I sure am. Think of all the wonderful possibilities of a clean slate. That first moment of infinite ability.Best,Kwana
