Chia Pet

Just a warning...after reading this post, you will be singing the "ch-ch-ch-chia" jingle ALL DAY LONG! Don't hate me cuz I'm beautiful.

My hair has been the bane of my existence. I was born with natural curly hair (and I swear I'll growl at the first one who tells me how "lucky" I am). My mother loved the curls and wanted it even curlier...so I remember her putting my hair up in bobby pin curls at night...tight little curls, bobby pins criss-crossed and stuck into my poor, tender scalp I would wake up with scabs where the pins actually stuck in my head...(ok, don't call DCFS...I may be stretching it a little, the bobby pins usually had little rubber tips so that they didn't really stick into my head). She also used rag curls...actual pieces of cloth wrapped up and tied in my hair. Untying them invariably meant pulling out a lot of hair. And of course, I ALWAYS had to eat the crust of my bread because someone told my mom that crust makes your hair curlier. (My mother also thought you could get VD from door knobs.)

As I grew older it got worse for me...I grew up in the 60's and 70's...long, straight, parted in the middle, hair was what ALL the girls wore...well, obviously not all the girls. While most of my friends had hair like Cher, I looked more like Angela Davis (an African American militant). Oh, I tried...juice cans as rollers (which, by the way, was MUCH more uncomfortable than the bobby pins), Dippity-Doo slathered onto my head and my hair wrapped very tightly around my head and taped or pinned down...of course, then I had to sleep with my head actually hanging off of the side of the bed so as not to mess up the "doo" job. I would wake up to straight hair. That would last all of about 30 seconds once I walked outside...maybe if I had grown up close to a very dry desert.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, it's not just curly...right above my temples is what I call my "birthmark"...surely somewhere in my family tree, there actually is some type of ethnic blood...tight, frizzy, coarse hair...different in texture than the rest of my head.

And now, I have the head of a Chia pet. My hair doesn't grow longer, it just grows bushier. When I get hot and actually sweat (as I did while moving this weekend), you can actually see it shrinking up off of my collar and growing rounder and rounder.

I am a walking, breathing, Chia pet...ch-ch-ch-chia!

The Age of Reality

This blog is NOT about reality tv (though I am an addict and could surely blog about it). This blog is about a point in life where we actually face the reality of our age.

I have a birthday coming up (in 6 days actually) and according to my mother and my birth certificate, I will be 52 years old. In my mind, I am no more than 32. At least, that's what my mind thought until this last weekend.

As you already know if you keep up with my blogs, we moved this past weekend. I really haven't physically worked that hard in a very long time. First there was the wallpaper...don't even get me started. Then the painting, which after 2 coats turned out very nicely...even Zack's "graffiti" wall. Packing is really not very strenuous. I spent one whole day unpacking and repacking my boxes so as to deplete the number. I did do that...but obviously not enough. I was up at 7:00 am Saturday morning (after going to bed at 1:30 am). I finished up some packing that still needed done. Our 'helpers' (THANK YOU!) came at 9:00 am to help with the big stuff. They were gone by noon...I didn't finish hauling boxes until 2:00 AM! HOW DO TWO PEOPLE ACCUMULATE THAT MUCH STUFF!!!!!?

So, what does this have to do with the reality of age? My body is sore from the lifting and bending and climbing...but it would be sore even if I were 32. The reality of my age starts as soon as my body quits
moving. The last 2 nights I have almost overdosed on Ibuprofen. As soon as I lay down and get relaxed...the aching begins. It's like a toothache from the waist down. And lucky me, I wake up about every 10 minutes just to realize that, 'yep, it still hurts'. This morning at 3:00 am I woke up, took a couple more Ibuprofen and spent about 20 minutes walking and rubbing my legs. I'm not getting charley horses (thank goodness)...but just a horrible, constant aching. I didn't "pull" anything...it's not a particular muscle...it's the whole thing...even my shins ached!

This, my friend, is age...the aging process...getting older...looking at life from the downhill side...heading into the horizon...(don't worry I'm not 'running to the light' yet)...the reality of age.

Role Models

OK, before you read on, understand that I GET EMOTIONALLY INVOLVED...not just in the lives of my friends and family...but in fictional characters, celebrities, politicians and often just random 'people on the streets'. This probably could have been nipped in the bud early on...but my parents thought it was cute.

When I was around 3 years old, my mother heard me crying one day and came into the living room to find out what was wrong. I looked up at her with tear-stained cheeks and said, "Mommy, can Casper come live with us? He doesn't have any friends and I love him." (AKA--Casper the Friendly Ghost) I'm sure at that point that Mom tried to explain the difference between reality and fiction...but somehow I never got it.

Right now I am angry, sad, heartsick and want to hop in my car and head off to Hollywood. Why have we let these beautiful talented CHILDREN become crazy, raving, drunken, drugged lunatics?!!? Why has no one sent undercover cops along behind them to close down some of the clubs they frequent...I know that Lindsay and Brittney are "of age" now...but they weren't when this all started. It was going on back when Drew Barrymore was a little girl. Where is the law? Where are their parents? Why are we as a public "devouring" all the press and publicity and yet not CRYING OUT in RAGE!!!???!!! Where are all those people who are so obsessively worried about polar bears and trees? Why aren't they as worried about our children?

I've seen the little first and second grade girls walking around looking like Britt and Fergie (the singer, not the former princess)...why do moms think that is cute OR appropriate?

Why are children allowed on the computer at all hours of the day? (I'm smacking my own hand on that one...I do try to check on where he is and what he's doing...but MUST begin limiting time spent on the machine.)

Why are we allowing professional athletes to continue playing when they've been arrested for DUI's, public intoxication, drug possession, etc? Do we really have no other alternatives? Is having a winning team all that important? especially when it is affecting our kids?

We give them excuse after excuse after excuse ... ADHD, ADD, etc. etc. etc. (I am NOT saying that doesn't exist...I just think we hand out labels and medication much too quickly.)

Let's rise up and set some standards. Let's find some political role models who don't think it's really ok to cheat on your wife, or lie or steal. Let's find some sports figures who believe in practice and exercise and taking care of the talented bodies they have. Let's find some entertainers who don't need to be drunk or on something to have a good time. Let's let our kids know that they can have a good time WITHOUT anything more than a good slice of pizza and an icy Coke.

Let's get our families back to church and let our kids know the stories of Jesus.

Let's find some new role models!

Wallpaper

So, someone said, "wouldn't it be nice to have to have lovely patterns all over the wall?...maybe some nice mallard ducks" and they invented wallpaper. I want to hurt that person.

The big move is coming. The upstairs of the house (Carol and her boys' rooms, living room, dining room) have all had fresh coats of paint, new carpet, hard wood floors will be in in the next couple of weeks, etc. Zack and I have 2 large rooms in the basement and Carol said we could use whatever left over paint there might be (there's plenty), but she wanted the wall paper to come down first. No problem! She gave me a jug of DIF...wipe it on and peel it off...'you can have it all down in 2 hours'. Well, I DIF-ed and peeled and pulled and scraped for about 8 hours Saturday...2 walls done...2 to go. (My room is going to be painted-over wallpaper...not even gonna go there again.) At about HOUR 4, when I was thinking Zack really could have lived with Noah's Ark, I started praying for a better attitude. I continued praying and thinking as I worked and of course, there really is another life lesson here. (Probably several.)

Thank God for His patience and kindness. Humans come 'wallpapered'...maybe not mallard ducks, maybe gossip or gambling or lying, cheating, stealing...you get where I'm going. I'm sure I have several layers. But God doesn't look at me and say 'just paint over it'...he puts on the goop and starts peeling, and peeling, and peeling, and ... I'm sure you get the point. It's not easy...sometimes the peeling hurts...we don't want to let go of some of our "stuff". Again, God doesn't give up on us. He can see what the final product is going to be. He sees the beauty behind all the years of layering.

Construction

Ok, if you don't know it by now, I can be a negative thinker. Example: My glass is half empty...that's the first thing I notice. I start to take a drink and think, 'wait a minute, I'm supposed to think the glass is half full...not empty'...so I correct myself and am very thankful for what I've just had to drink. Whether it was half full or half empty, the contents were what I needed to quench my thirst. Hmmmmmm.

So, what does that have to do with construction? A few months ago, a small plot of land (across the street from our house) that was covered with weeds and bushes started getting cleared. This did not appear to be a large area, and I couldn't imagine what was going to be built there. Then the construction started. The whole time it's been going up I've watched the progress with wonder and amazement. When it was just a frame, I couldn't see nor make any sense of what the final outcome would be. Well, it turned into a very large, magnificent house. It's really beautiful and again, I remember back to when I wondered what could go on that little plot of land (obviously not as little as I thought).

The point of this illustration? My life is like a construction site...sometimes nothing seems to be fitting where it should...sometimes I look around me and can't figure out what in the world the finished product is going to be.

But, I know the Master Carpenter. He hasn't built a bad house yet. He knows what He is doing. I have to trust Him and follow His directions.

Brings to mind a very old song called "Kids Under Construction"...the only line I can remember from the whole song is "God isn't done with me yet".

Ok God...keep building.

Change

I have never really liked change. Sometimes it feels like everything is changing around me, whether I like it or not.

We're in the midst of moving. My room-mate bought the house next door. So, we aren't moving too far...but it doesn't matter, all the boxes STILL have to be packed and moved. Both houses have to be cleaned, the new one has to be painted amongst other MAJOR repairs that she and her boyfriend are doing.

She's in charge of the new house, I'm in charge of the old house. So, these past couple of days I have been going through boxes that have been sitting in the garage for over a year...trying to deplete them as much as possible. If it's been there a year without use, how important could it be.

So, I'm seeing pictures of Zack as a little boy, and reading cards he wrote to me, papers he did in school...he was so sweet and innocent. In the midst of that sorting I get a call from his Dad. He had just checked Zack's text messages and wanted to read one that he had found that Zack was sending to a girl. OUCH! I wouldn't dream of repeating what it said, needless to say, it was really disappointing. I am not naive. I know what all the other kids are doing. OK, so I am naive...I don't want to believe that my baby talks that way.

He lost his phone privileges for a week (at least) and he and I had a long conversation on the phone. He has also lost some trust and that takes awhile to build back up. I don't want that innocent little boy (the one in the photographs) to be like everyone else.

Being a parent is hard. I don't like change.

Harry Potter

Call me crazy! Tuesday night I picked Zack up (from his Dad's house) and we went to the nearby theater to stand in line 2 hours so we would have good seats for the 12:05 AM showing of the latest "Harry Potter" movie. We have gone to the opening day of the movie since they began 4 years ago. I finally got home at about 3:00 AM and had to get up and come to work yesterday morning...needless to say I was tired and groggy most of yesterday.

The movie was GREAT! I love the "Harry Potter" series...can't wait until the last book comes out next week. Someone commented to me about my enthusiasm over something so "un-Christian". I've heard the arguments and debates, but I honestly think that those who argue against it haven't read the books.

Yes, Harry is a "warlock" and yes, the story is about witches and ghouls and goblins...but come on people, IT IS FICTION. And it's about so much more: good vs. evil, prejudice and tolerance, the importance of friends and love...it's about a boy, who after years of feeling unloved and unimportant, suddenly finds that he has "gifts" and that he is special. I'm excited to get the next book, but disappointed because it is probably the end of the series. I know it will be a group of books (and movies) that I will re-read and re-watch for many years to come.

I was reading a blog the other day written by a mother who had to explain to her 8 year old daughter that Hogwarts is pretend. The daughter was so disappointed because she had been hoping to talk her mom into letting her go to school there. I know just how she feels...I want to be a teacher there!

I did a bad thing yesterday. I was thinking negative thoughts. Once I get started, they breed. Maybe it was because it was Monday, maybe because I had a rough weekend...I don't know why, but it grew after I blogged my "pet peeves". I couldn't get my mind off of them...the list kept growing and growing. I finally realized how bad it had gotten when I began wondering how much damage a walker would do to my car if I ran over it (had to do with my pet peeve of people who start walking in the cross walk RIGHT before the light changes).

OK, I really wasn't thinking about running over someone with a walker...just wanted to make a point. That's NOT how God wants us to be. Oh sure, we will all have pet peeves, and people or things that annoy us...but our mind should be dwelling on God and all the good things in life...not the bad things.

So today I will correct what I did yesterday:

THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE:

A baby laughing. That contagious, sounds like they just swallowed a balloon full of helium, belly laughs.
A movie that makes you laugh, cry, and then laugh some more. "Steel Magnolias" comes to mind.
My son (Zack) telling me he loves me.
Getting thanked for something I didn't even know I did.
Flowers, flowers, flowers.
Seeing a ferry cross the Puget Sound, snowcapped mountains in the background.
Music.
Ice Cream. Pralines and Cream, YUM!
The Grand Canyon and Mt. Rainier. And other grand displays of God's handiwork.
Sunshine.
Watching people greet each other at the airport. You don't want to see me watching people say goodbye.
A good cup of coffee. Remember I'm still a transplant to the Pacific Northwest...so I still think Folgers makes
a pretty darn good cup of coffee.
Small surprises.
Making someone happy with a gift.
Old couples still holding hands.
My dog trying to bite waves.
Zack sleeping. Not that I don't love him just as much when he's awake...but when he's asleep I can still
pretend that he's my baby.
Friends.
KNOWING THAT GOD LOVES ME IN SPITE OF MYSELF.


What makes you smile? Do it a lot today.

Pet Peeves

What is a peeve? Thought I would share some of mine with you today.

• People who wait an extra 10 seconds when the light turns green. Are you waiting for another shade of green?
• People who are chronically late. Once in a while it can't be helped...but every single time? Come on.
• Car stereos so loud it vibrates my car. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to hear my music so what makes you think I want to hear yours?
• People talking on "hand-less" cell phones. I can't begin to tell you how many conversations I have had with people who WEREN'T talking to me! And I'm the one who feels like an idiot!
• People who feel that it is ok to talk loudly on cell phones in public. Truthfully, I don't want to hear you conversation while I'm eating, shopping, standing in line...turn that thing off and talk to people around you. Are you really so important that someone must be able to reach you at ALL times?
  
• Popping gum. I don't need to say more.
• People who complain all the time. I could be dangerously close to that category myself...but (not naming names here)...2 people very close to me complain about aches and pains ALL THE TIME (I'm not a nurse) and the same 2 people could go to a 4 star restaurant and STILL find something wrong with their meal.
• People who don't listen. Again, no names...but at least ask me once or twice during the conversation how I am.
• Saggy pants. I don't want to see anyone's underwear...if they saw themselves on tape would they be able to see that they are walking funny to keep their pants from falling down. Whatever happened to the good old days when you could actually see the outline of a guys "tush"?
• Saying "and, yeah" in the middle of a sentence. This is a kid thing, like, come on, like does "and, yeah" even fit like in the middle of your sentence? Like, use good grammar already!

Enough for today. What are your pet peeves? (please don't say 'people who have too many pet peeves'.)

Let Freedom Ring

The 4th of July is my favorite holiday. There are a lot of different reasons I like it. I love that it's summer and so it's usually a warm day. I love that even the biggest cities try to become "small town". I have found that the home town celebrations are always the best. I love the hamburgers and hot dogs that come along with the day. I love getting together with friends to eat, laugh and celebrate. I LOVE the fireworks! I anticipate the evening, the whole day I wait for the big fireworks display. I cry when I hear "The Star Spangled Banner", "God Bless America", "This is My Country"...but most of all I cry when I hear Lee Greenwood sing, "I'm Proud to Be An American". (If I'm in the car when I hear it, Zack gets totally embarrassed because I turn up the volume as loud as I can, sing even louder, all the while waving my arms.)

We have a lot to be thankful for. We live in a country where we have the freedom to complain about the government (and don't we take advantage of that freedom?). We have the freedom to get an education, have a job that we want, live where we want to live, and worship the way we want to worship.

This past Wednesday, I sat on my blanket people watching. To my left was a family from the Middle East, to my right were two Vietnamese women, behind them was another Asian family. Directly behind me were some teenagers listening to very loud rap music (which I don't believe was patriotic in nature). At first I was a little annoyed when they turned on their music...but again was reminded that it's a free country. However, I was later impressed by those boys. As darkness started to fall, they turned off their radio so that we could hear the piped in patriotic music. I watched as they took off their hats during the national anthem and they watched the fireworks with as much enthusiasm as those around me.

This country is by no means perfect. But having lived in another country for a period of time, I know firsthand how lucky we are to live in such a wonderful place. It is my duty to pray for those who serve this nation, whether in the military or in a governmental position. I thank God for the freedoms we have.

God Bless America!

All Stars

Zack had the distinct pleasure of being invited to try out for the Junior All Stars baseball team. I wish I could say that the whole experience has been a pleasure...but as they say, "there's no such thing as free lunch". (Who are "they"?) I really have to write a blog on that subject someday.

After two days of try outs, Zack got the call that he had made the team. There was a huge hassle with Zack's Dad. I won't expound on that either...I will say that even when I thought the whole thing was settled, it has still caused moments of uproar and turmoil...but again, subject for another time. The team has practiced every day. We had to buy pictures, shirts, etc. etc. This week the competition finally began. The first tournament is a double elimination. Sunday morning we lost our first game. (I still think it's because we were playing on a Sunday when the boys should be going to church...yet another topic for another day.) Last night was their 2nd game. Win and we keep playing...lose and all that practice and all that effort is done for another year.

Bottom of the third inning...we are losing 5-0. The boys looked defeated and were playing as if they were already defeated. Finally they got a lucky break and scored 2 runs. By the bottom of the 6th it still wasn't looking good...still 5-2. We (in the stands) started talking about how the boys lacked energy, etc. We aren't allowed to talk to them while they are in the dugout...so we began cheering and yelling and whistling...the coach caught on and did a little dance in front of the dugout. The boys begin cheering with us, smiling, getting energized. They held the other team to 5...it was the bottom of the 7th (little league only goes 7 innings) and suddenly the ball started flying, runs were made...the score is now tied 5-5 and we are going into extra innings. We were the home team, so got last "ups"...in the top of the 8th our pitcher struck out the three batters. Our team got up to bat...again, the energy was high, cheers, whistles, smiles, etc...needless to say...we WON!!!!

A couple life lessons from this experience...#1 Even when it looks dismal, you can't quit and #2 A support system is priceless. I think of my support systems...my church, my home group, my family. Without them on the sidelines cheering me on, praying for me, loving me, constantly supporting me, I would easily give up.

I'm glad I have fans.

Keep on keepin' on

About 10 years ago, I was working 2 jobs, going to school full time and raising a son. Thank God for my Mom and Dad who helped out with babysitting so that I didn't have to worry about that expense. At the time, I got involved in a single parents support group at my church. I made some very good friends in that group. We played together, but even more importantly we prayed together. We were all at different points of frustration and stress, yet we all had a strong foundation in Christ and knew that our lives were in His hands.

At one particular prayer time, one of the guys came to me afterwards and said, "I got a word (from God) for you." Now, I have to admit...I had never had anything like that come my way before...but immediately my heart jumped and I thought "here it is...the answers to all my questions". So, I held my breath expectantly and waited to hear the heavenly choir sing and a light drop down from the sky as he shared with me what God had told him to tell me. "Keep on keepin' on." he said. No heavenly choir...no light from the sky...no 'thee or thou'...instead I get a 70's bumper sticker slogan.

I was seriously disappointed, but guess what? I know now that he gave me a serious message from God. There are days I just want to crawl into bed, throw the covers over my head, and not come out for a few weeks. I don't have that option, and those are the days I hear those words in my head. "Keep on keepin' on." Put one foot in front of the other. Do what you have to do. Keep praying. Keep being faithful and believing that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Keep sharing His word with others. Keep smiling.

Keep on keepin' on.