2010

Pictures For Christmas

December 16, 2010 · 53 comments

You should know I’m taking my first ever blogging break until the first week of January.

Notice I did not say “internet” break…or “social media” break. I will still be here, just not HERE…blogging.

I’m sure I’ll have something brilliant to say when I get back.

If I even last that long.

We all know I’m addicted to this space.

And how difficult it is for me to go long periods of time without talking about myself.

I will not leave you empty handed…I will share these with you these pictures for Christmas.

Get a load of my rambunctious little elves!!

Christmas 2003

Christmas 2004

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2010

Yes they are available for modeling, please don’t all ask at once. I try not to over work them.

Have a very Merry Christmas…or whatever it is you celebrate.

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My little sister opened the gift I had carefully wrapped just for her and quietly glared at me.

“Go on!” I smiled back. This was great, “Show everyone what I made for you!”

She flipped the mirror around and everyone oohed and ahhed. “Kathy, did you MAKE that!?!”

“Yes. Why yes I did.” I replied smugly.

I made it in shop class, just. for. my little sister. It was a mirror with a beautiful rose etched into the glass and a frame made of wood that I cut and sanded myself in shop class.

Who knew I had such a knack for carpentry?

My sister, on the other hand, failed to take in the beauty of my hard work, because she saw what I wanted her to see…her initials etched into the mirror just beneath the thorny stem of the rose.

ALBM.

Most people have three initials. A letter for the first, middle, and last name. But my sister had chosen to hyphenate her last name with our step-dad’s last name when she was in fourth grade. Approximately six months later she changed her mind.

But I was not going to allow her to flip flop. No no no…when you remove your hand from your game piece your play is complete. You may not take your hand away, see your mistake, and then move back.

NO. FLIP. FLOPPING.

By carefully etching the first letter of her new last name into glass, I was basically flipping her the proverbial bird. You switched your name, you made your choice, and oh yeah…you’re no longer my sister.

I all but dared her to call me out after opening the gift. Our entire family was together, it was Christmas morning for crying out loud…would she actually take a stand and cause a scene over her new last initial and risk hurting our step-dad’s feelings? Isn’t that what I was daring her to do? Wasn’t that the awkward moment I was SO looking forward to creating as I spent hours at school etching the rose and each of it’s letters?

Was this not great fun!?!

Unfortunately, my sister did not see the humor in my denouncing her from her biological family. But ultimately, she wins. Because all these years later she’s still a member of the family (as hard as I tried) and she gets the added bonus of looking like a sweetheart for so openly accepting our step-dad’s last name in an attempt to make him feel loved and welcome.

I, on the other hand, was a mean mean girl. I intentionally put her on the spot with high hopes of embarrassing her in front of our step dad and with no consideration for my step dads feelings (whether he even picked up on any of it I sincerely doubt. I’m pretty sure he thought the mirror was brilliant.)

To be perfectly honest, I don’t know that my sister was ever as offended by that mirror as she let on at the time, because you know what?

Nearly twenty years later, she’s still using it.

Too Hot To Handle.*All be damned if I didn’t make out with a pair of great looking blades! Don’t be jealous.*

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Mama's Losin' It

Now it’s your turn!

Choose a prompt, post it on your blog, and come back to add your name to the link list below. Be sure to sign up with the actual post URL and not just your basic blog URL (click on the title of your post for that URL). For good comment karma try to comment on the three blogs above your name!!

The Prompts:

1.) A Christmas gift that was not well received.
2.) Describe yourself in five words. Choose one, and write a poem.
3.) It happened at daycare.
4.) Let’s rewind to Summer and warm up! Share some favorite photos from a vacation you took.
5.) A fist fight.

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I’m Growing Up

December 13, 2010 · 27 comments

The memory knocked me over the head yesterday evening as I ran to the kitchen to quickly grab my pizza and then hustle it back to the living room before the commercial break was over. I didn’t want to miss the next big surprise that Oprah had to share on the premiere of her farewell season.

I flashed back to Sunday afternoons when my brother and I would suddenly realize WWF was starting and we hadn’t even made our lunches! We would sprint to the kitchen “YOU MAKE THE SANDWICHES! I’LL GRAB THE DIET COKE!” and we would scurry through the kitchen as fast as possible to make it back down the stair in time for the first wrestling match.

The Ravishing Rick Rude.
The Million Dollar Man.
The Bushwackers.
Hacksaw Jim Duggan.
Macho Man Randy Savage.

We knew them all. Had each costume and story line memorized. The WWF marked the beginning of my long time love affair with reality tv. I was so connected to the characters that I actually cried when Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant began their feud because a.) I had a Daddy complex and longed for The Hulk to be my Dad (also Michael Landon, but we’ll save that post for another day) and b.) because Andre the Giant scared the shit out of me.

I mean have you seen that guy?

Every Sunday we plopped in front of the TV for the next installment. We dreamed for the day to come when we’d be old enough to buy the pay-per-view late night matches. We knew that was where the good stuff happened.

Only here I am twenty years later…still scurrying through the kitchen “QUICK GET THE PIZZA, GRAB THE WATER…I HEAR THE MUSIC STARTING HURRY…IT’S THE FAAAREWELLLLL SEASON!!!!!”

I sat smiling from ear to ear for an entire hour, mouth stuffed full, pizza crumbs falling down the front of my shirt, greasy fingers…just smiling as women on Oprah LOST it over a trip before they even knew where the trip was taking them. That is the nectar of life I tell ya.

Oprah. Women. Surprises. Free stuff. Happy people. People helping people.

It’s a far cry from Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant, but let’s be thankful for that. I can only imagine what kind of person I’d be if I were actually paying to watch late night WWF shows right now.

Sorry old Kathy.

Oprah it is. Again.

The 80's

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Writing Prompts

December 13, 2010 · 2 comments

Writing prompt directions:

  • Choose a prompt that inspires you most.
  • Write.
  • Come back this Thursday and paste the URL from your actual post (do this by clicking the title of your post after you hit publish, an extended URL will come up in the address bar. That’s the URL you want to use) into the Mister Linky that will be up…this way anyone can click on your name and head over to your place to see what you wrote.

Feel free to write on more than one prompt if you so desire, and remember the more comment love you give, the more comment love you get so comment, comment away.

The Prompts:

1.) A Christmas gift that was not well received.
2.) Describe yourself in five words. Choose one, and write a poem.
3.) It happened at daycare.
4.) Let’s rewind to Summer and warm up! Share some favorite photos from a vacation you took.
5.) A fist fight.

Remember to link up this Thursday, Dec. 16th and get your prompts extra early, sign up to receive the weekly newsletter!!

Weekly Writing Prompt Newsletter

Anxiety Among Us

December 12, 2010 · 27 comments

I don’t know why it took me so long to see what is so clear.

I’m that mom who preps her kids before any possible change in the routine.

“Five more minutes before it’s time to brush your teeth!”

“We’re leaving here in ten minutes you guys…”

“Okay listen up! When we pull up to the house you will get out of the car, you will quietly take your shoes off at the door, you will go potty, and you will get in bed for naps.”

All of those scenarios have happened. I thought that we were supposed to prepare our kids in order to keep them from freaking out by a change to their routine that they are not expecting.

What has taken me seven years to realize is that my oldest daughter is fearful. If she anticipates any kind of pain or discomfort, she will grow quiet and squirm and worry and tear up every time she thinks about it. And she doesn’t stop thinking about it.

I told her two days ago that we would be going to see an allergist. Her eyes have been itchy and hurting, she has stomach aches, eczema, and fatigue. (I know that last one sounds weird, but she will get up in the morning…play a bit…and then go back to her bed to lie down by herself. She’s never done this before.) After learning about the appointment she got quiet and fidgety. She did not want to go and she continued to ask about it. When was it? What would they do? Did she have to go? Would it hurt?

I answered her questions, but nothing made her feel better and it bothered me that something as simple as a doctors appointment could cause such anxiety in her world.

For the next two days I worried about her anxiety. Was this a “thing”? Was she always going to worry about everything? Was the excessive eye blinking actually a tick? Was it caused by anxiety? OHMYGOD WHY IS SHE SO ANXIOUS!?! Could this go back to the gluten? Does she truly have a gluten sensitivity that I’ve been ignoring? What can I do to make her more comfortable? Should I be home schooling her?

It wasn’t until the two of us were sitting in the patient room waiting for the allergist…Maile worrying about the test…me worrying about Maile worrying about the test and worried that she seems worried all the time about everything…and it finally hit me.

I’ve created a monster. The two of us should never be given even partially negative news ever.

Problem solved.

I Play With My Kids

The results to the scratch test were all negative. No cat, dog, or wheat allergies, but I opted for the blood test just to be sure (she had tested positive for a gluten sensitivity over a year ago). I had no idea that they would actually be drawing blood from Maile’s arm. The first time she had a blood test it was a tiny prick on her finger. When the nurse got her tools out and wrapped a bandage around Maile’s arm I quickly covered my mouth with my hands. We were SO not prepared for an actual real life blood draw.

When we left I told Maile how proud I was of her and that I thought she was going to really freak out when she saw the needle.

Her response?

“I freaked out in my head Mom.”

Me too Maile.

ALL THE TIME!

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