One year ago today

One year ago. 

I accidentally stumbled across these pictures tonight, and I was struck by them. One year ago. It seems like yesterday, yet hardly recognizable. Amazing. It reminds me that no matter how hard things are, no matter how difficult, one year later you will look back and say, "Wow. Has it been a year already?"

My favorite picture ever

It's kinda like this blog

"Pooh began to feel a little more comfortable, because when you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that a Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you is quite different when it gets out in to the open and has other people looking at it..."
The House at Pooh Corner

Blog please, my dear

I don't think Allen minds too much that I blog. Our house is usually presentable, and he eats a good dinner every night. The kids are happy, we get school done. It doesn't take that much time, really. It's just a place for me to nail down my thoughts, document feelings and events and put things I want to reflect on.

Well, I was up last night with Zane, and on ABC World News tonight, which has saved my nights the last 2 years, there was a story about a lady who blogs, for a living.

It started when she made fun of her boss online. :( She got fired, and then really started blogging a lot. She got lots of hits, and suddenly became sort of an internet sensation. She allows advertising on her blog, and she makes $40,000 a month.

Yes, you read that right. $40,000 a MONTH. No, I didn't add any extra zero's there.

Can you imagine?

Her husband quit work, duh, to "help" her. He "manages the money." I think that means he's sit around and counts it all day.

Now let me first say that I don't have any desire to be that rich. None at all. But I'm just thinking of all the good I could do with all that money.

And I can imagine Allen's surprise. And other people's surprise.

"What do you do for a living?"

"I blog."

"Oh, okaaaay..."

I don't have any sorts of deluded grandeur that this little tiny spot will ever become that famous. It's not meant for that. I'm not really interested in it becoming that anyway. I don't have that talent in me. Or the desire. I just want to have some record of my life, since I seem to be forgetting things as quickly as they happen.

But I lied in bed, after getting the child back to sleep, and the number $40,000 a month kept bouncing around in my head. I could just hear Allen.

"Honey, did you blog yet today....?" :)

Happy Birthday, Emily!!!

We had the delicious pleasure of going out to eat, just us-the girls-the other night to celebrate Emily's birthday. We laughed and had a blast. They all went on to a movie, but I had to get home to Zane. One day, I'll get to go to the movie too. We had such fun, though. Happy birthday, Emily!!!

Ahhh, the simple life

Things have been crazy around here for weeks. We've been running all over the place, running errands and getting things done. I hit the wall last night. I knew it was time to get back to normal. We had no choice. I couldn't go anymore.

So we're home now. And today has been so wonderful. No crazy running around for. We had time to take silly picture, play with our food and do a complete day of school. Laney even took a picture of me, in which my shiny face shows yet another reason I don't prefer warm weather. And the high was 75 too. Who sweats this much??

My sweet boy gave me a flower. I love to wander around in the yard and take pictures of them. The kids learned how to play Dominoes in school, and they loved that. They played a couple of games and want to play more. (Laney remembered when we ordered pizza the other day that it came from a store called "Domino's" and they had a picture of a Domino on their box! lol) They are sitting now coloring pictures of Speed Racer - Jude (the old cartoons, not the new movie) and pictures from Samson and Delilah - Laney. They have time to chill and be creative.

Zane had his snack outside, much to Lucy's joy. It's so nice to be at home, and I'm so glad we can do this. Be still and quiet and happy. It's the only way I can function. This is all a gentle reminder for me to make things as simple as possible. There will always be weeks that I have a thousand errands to run, but I'm praying for the wisdom to choose ways to do them without making us all crazy. I've done a terrible job of that lately.

The Wizard of Oz

I am scared of so little in life. I decided a while back that fear just wasn't something that I wanted to be a slave to. I let go of my fear of tornadoes, throwing up and getting old. I still struggle with maggots, which suddenly appear on our garbage can from time to time, but now I know of a cavalier steel magnolia who will come riding over on her white horse (tan minivan) and swipe them away with a mere swish of her sword (stick). Oh, anyway, I'm not afraid of much.

That being said, there are two things that strike fear into my heart like a lit dagger. "The Wizard of Oz" and "Alice in Wonderland." They send chills up and down my spine like nothing else. After being absolutely fear struck by them in my childhood, I've traveled in wide circles around each of these subjects for years. There was even a store called "Oz" in the old Eastwood mall. It was a music store, but it was a complete tribute to the movie with the flying monkeys, the yellow brick road and murals painted everywhere. They even had a basket attached to a flying monkey suspended on a wire between two pulleys that was strung across the store between the two cash registers. The employees would put items in the basket and fling that monkey across the store and the yellow brick road underneath. One sound of that flying monkey, and I would hit the floor. Going to that store gave me nightmares for a week.

After successfully avoiding all things Oz for my whole life, guess what book pops up on Laney's school read aloud list. Yep. There in all it's freaky glory is "The Wizard of Oz." I dared not tell Laney that I was terrified of this literary work. She would think I was crazy. I've always been able to read just about anything. I went through a Stephen King phase, and while I couldn't watch any of his movies, I really liked his books. Same with the "Red Dragon" series. You know, the Hannibal Lecter books. That was long ago, though. I don't read that stuff anymore. Oh anyway...

So we're reading "Oz" and guess who LOVES it? And guess who's not freaking out? The book is much sweeter than I remember the movie being. Things are different too. The shoes are silver and the road is "the road of yellow brick" not the "yellow brick road." I'm doing fine with it so far, and I'm really glad Laney loves it.

Here she is on her road of yellow brick with her not-so-cowardly-lion.

I am hoping and praying that she never discovers that there is a movie. Isn't there a funky musical version with really cool people in it? I can handle that one. I'll show her that one, and let her discover the horrid flying monkeys and crows and witch and those weird little people who swing from vines that people said one of them died while filming and you can see it.... *shudder.*

:)