Baby Book Treasure Trove

So my parents have found many old momentos from all of our pasts that have been in storage for many a year. One such momento is my baby book! Now, I didn't start out as the cutest child in my opinion, but I blossomed into this supermodel you see today! Or something like that ;) Reading through my mom's notes in the book, I found some amusing little tidbits:

*She has a mole birthmark on her back (it's sort of like a freckle - flat)*
My note about that: That mole grew with me and became the most hideous looking thing a girl could have on her back, making me forever self-conscious about my back. At the age of 22, I had that sucker removed due to fears that it was a cancerous little devil. Fortunately, we later found out that it wasn't. Now I've a big scar on my back to replace the hairy, misshapened and large birthmark. I find it funny that it was once described as being like a freckle :)

*9 months - doesn't like to share*
I'd like to say that has changed but it hasn't ;)

*5 months - laughs and gets very excited over Bilbo our cat*
I still get excited about cats.

*first word - bye-bye & waves, cookie, daddy, kitty, hi*
All but cookie are still part of my daily vocabulary.

*first sentence - broken balloon*
I'd sure like to know what this means! I'm actually quite frightened by balloons to this day. I HATE popping balloons, almost as much as I hate the toy Jack-In-The-Box.

Special Aptitudes:
from 6 months on - loved to dance in some way or another
4 years - tries to break dance
How rad of a kid was I?!?! I totally laughed out loud when I read the break dancing part!

Of course there's all sorts of other goodies in there but I doubt you'd like to hear about my immunizations, dental development or when I crawled and walked so I will spare you ;)

Garden Party!

The mister has been mighty busy in the backyard during these pretty days. This year will be our first year with a REAL garden. We've had a corner designated for tomatoes and a row of asparagus (which should be ready this year finally!) and strawberries but nothing that truly constitutes a garden. So the mister has cleared out the five million mini trees and rose bushes that had overgrown our yard and erected a small fence to note our garden space.

Side funny story: The day that the mister put the fence up, Pongo was patiently standing next to it (such as pictured below) and a bird landed in the middle of the garden area. Well Mr. Pongo jumped over the fence from a standstill, chased the bird to the corner, turned around and jumped right back over the fence! So much for keeping the beast out! Ever since then though, he has yet to try again and just stands on the outside of it looking over the edge. It's pretty cute.

Here's the mister during a rare break from digging up a huge stump. Behind him you can see our leaf compost pile, a wood pile and not pictured is our food compost pile.

To break up the ground thoroughly for the garden, we have borrowed a tiller from my parents. A tiller they purchased from TG&Y back before I was born! They had a guy at work get it in working order and here it is in all its glory! It's amazing how many childhood memories seeing that tiller has brought back!

I then took a stroll through the rest of the yard while the mister finished tilling. Below you'll see our future fire pit area. The mister buried all of those pavers himself and is slowly making a rock walkway through all areas of the yard. I liked the way the sun shone down on this pic :)

Heres the garden corner of the yard from the other corner of the yard. That stupid flag is the mister's pride and joy! We had an ongoing 'argument' when we moved in as to whether or not that was a flagpole or a tetherball pole. I still side with the tetherball pole since I want one :)

Oh, something else to note at this point. So our beloved neighbor Hap is now gone and was the mister's bff in the backyard. Almost to the day of losing Hap, another elderly neighbor caddy-corner to us has now befriended the mister. He's in his late 80's and lost his wife last month. The mister finds it funny that his best elderly neighborfriend passes away and BOOM! all of the sudden he's got a new one! I told him it's only fitting seeing that he married a 'grandma', as many of my friends call me due to my old lady tendencies.

Our 'new' fence which is actually about a year old. We spent wedding money on this and it has made such a difference! Pongo can't escape anymore and the meter man can get in to do his job! Also a little more of the pavers the mister layed. And our trash.

An artsy pic I took. Actually kind of a cool story about that spring. I basically lived with my childhood BFF at her house and her at mine. Well, they had this old couch that her mom finally decided had reached the end of its life and let us tear it up! Mind you we were maybe in our early teens? I totally still have two springs from that couch and this is one of them! They've since been used as candle holders, decoration and jewelry tool holders!

And finally, a funny one to end this blog. This would be Pongo staring out of his hole on the deck he created when we first got him. We were SO mad at him when he did this BUT are glad that he actually uses it ;)
I hope your backyards are exciting to you as ours is!

Nod, Smile, Wave

It is spring break and it is a glorious one at that. The weather couldn't have been special ordered more perfect and there's just a contented feeling of peace in the air. So I'm not teaching this week but I am working full time for the folks in the office. I've accomplished many tasks for work and personally but have also found some time to watch a little of the boob tube up here. Currently, I am finishing watching a very disturbing show. Nope, not my normal show of serial killers and nothing about tornadoes...this terrible show is about children's pagents. DISTURBING.

From the ages of 14-15, I participated in two local pagents and one state pagent. Truly, I thought it sounded like fun and I was excited to parade myself around. Even though I can often come across as a wall flower or someone who doesn't care to be the center of attention, there's a big part of me who secretly loves to be the center...perhaps why I perceive teaching as a stage for education.

So these three pagents brought me no awards, no scholarships, and did not fulfill any empty void in me. What they did was teach me who I did NOT want to become. I did not want to compete with other females to determine who was the best at this and that. I did not want to be told that my birthmark was unsightly and should be hidden for pagents. I did not want to embarrass myself in another talent competition again. I learned that I liked being different, that I did not need to strive for big hair and puffy dresses, and that who I was on my own was the only award I needed to win in life; to love and accept myself.

I don't regret having done those pagents, at all. It showed me a side of people that I wouldn't have seen otherwise and it taught me that I am capable of all sorts of things! It's one more thing to tell a story about, one more thing to check off of my mental to do list.

I feel SO bad for these small children whose minds are being so horribly skewed at such a young age. I wish children's pagents were outlawed. I find it appalling that people involve their children in the contests. Wouldn't it be easier to get a hamster, teach your child responsibilty, compassion and committment through caring for it? Then you could enter the hamster in a hamster show (much like a dog show...they really have them, I swear) and spend true quality time with your naturally beautiful child rather than spray tanning them, making them wear false teeth and laying loads of hairspray on their tiny heads? Just a thought.

There's a Frog in my Throat

A while back I mentioned getting my thyroid back in order. I've now taken the first step to do so. I've made an appointment for Monday to get some bloodwork done (yuck) and to see if that will help my moods and such.

I'd like to take a minute to share with you how it was ever out of order now. I find it interesting that SO many people now are coming up with adult-set thyroid disorders and now Oprah is talking all about thyroid problems so it's oh so fresh on everyone's tongues. Well, when I was ten years old before I'd ever even heard of what a thyroid was, I was experiencing problems with mine.

A bit of hereditary history though. My grandfather had extreme mood swings and anger issues they later discovered were due to his thyroid not producing thyroxine (I think that's what it is called) like it should have been. He had more than half of the gland removed and now is a teddy bear and a half. His mother also had issues as does my mother, although hers have struck her later in life. I knew none of this at 10 years old. All I knew is that when I took my 5th grade school picture for the first time, there was a mighty large lump in my throat in the photo and was forced to retake it and go to the doctor. I didn't know that my mood swings, my anger and my incessant sleeping were because of that lump as well. I thought I was just a normal child. What followed next was traumatizing for little ol me.

After the initial discovery of my lump, my goiter (which has now made a reappearance - slight but it is definitely there), I spent a few days in and out of the oncology department of the hospital. I was injected with some weird dyes, held under some large and scary machines which were to read how much of the weird dye went to my thyroid and how much went to my knee??? There was lots of bloodwork done and lots of really scary and really overwhelming moments for m that I didn't understand. New outfits were bought for each of the little 'procedures' I had to endure and Goldie's meals were had before each of them but all of that wasn't enough to make it ok for a 10 year old to go through. After the hospital work, they determined that I had an enlarged and overactive thyroid which explained my waif-like frame, my anger problems, and my sleeping issues. I was put on meds and seemed to even out quite quickly. Even I, as a child, noticed a difference. Every six months I had to go to the doctor and have more blood work done to check that the levels were still balanced and if not, my prescription would change. I was told I would have to do this for the rest of my life. Not too exciting for a child to hear.

In eighth grade, I went in for another one of my appointments where my endocrinologist would feel my neck, have my put out my hands to see if was shaky and would ask me various questions followed by more bloodwork. That particular appointment he felt something odd with the actual gland and worried that the strange shape that he felt might be a tumor. Great, fourteen years old and I was given a cancer scare (one of four I've had in my young life). I went back to the hospital and had MORE bloodwork done and an ultrasound done to tell me that my thyroid was just strange shaped, not cancerous, just weird; like me.

Years passed and many pills were swallowed. In college my thyroid levels were so good my doctor told me that if I wanted to, I could be weened off of my pills and with blood tests every once in a while, I could live without a pill every morning. This was SO appealing but scary at the same time because I could barely remember NOT having to take these pills that helped regulate me for most of my life. I rejected the idea at that point but a year or so later on my own accord, I stopped taking my pills and haven't taken them since.

Now, six or seven years later, I find myself having mood swings again, battling anxiety and depression, not sleeping like I used to and losing lots of weight. Oh, for those of you who keep asking me what my weight loss secret is, I believe it's having a thyroid disorder. I wouldn't subscribe to it if I were you. As you remember, I'm taking this year to give myself priority again and to become 'normal' again and step one of this in my personal book is to check my thyroid back out again as much as I don't want to.

So there's the story of the bump in my throat. Hopefully I'm just a little off and all will be regulated well again soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll let you know what becomes of the bump.

This Goes Here, That Goes There

so i've had LOTS of free time on my hands since the semester is over with and that i'm officially a graduate of graduate school! YEAH! that being said, i've found other things to fill my time :) the other day, i inventoried ALL of the jewelry that my jewelry partner and i have on the market. took about four hours but i believe will be totally worth it. everything has a code number which notes who made it, what year it was made and what order it was made...a simple 5 digit code :) in the midst of all of this, my mother and sister have found it entertaining to discuss my organization skills which, i must say, are quite stellar and are far from a problem as far as i am concerned.

Two of the examples discussed will now be discussed here. When I was probably about 10 or so, I decided to catalogue all of our family's VHS tapes. each started with a letter - K for Kid, A for Adult, F for family, H for home video and so on. Then, a number was assigned to each. I then made an inventory sheet so when we wanted to watch something, all we would need to do is look on the sheet, take into account who all were going to be watching and choose from the appropriate category as opposed to thumbing through all of the cumbersome tapes. made sense to me! when my mom and i reminded my sister of that, she did not remember BUT still has some of the tapes with my numbering on them and now knows what they are there for!

The second example was one that I had forgotten! My sister reminded me today. At my Granny and Papa's house, we had a plethora of puzzles with lots of grandkids to work on them and to lose the pieces. I took it upon myself to number the bottom of each puzzle box, complete each puzzle, turn them over and number the pieces to match the box so puzzles could be easily kept together. I found this sooooo funny to be reminded of. Sometimes I'm amazed as to how far back my organizing obsession goes!

Growing up, I was paid by my parents and my friends parents to clean and organize closets and cupboards in their homes. I'm talking from age 7 and up I was many peoples' organizer....and i loved it. I often thought for years growing up that I would perhaps just clean houses for a living! My childhood best friend, her sister and my sister would play what we called 'Townspeople' where we would all create businesses for ourselves, make storefronts in doorways and conduct business just as adults would do in the real world. There was the banker, the postman (always my sister since she was the youngest and nobody else wanted the task), a daycare and other odds and ends. I ALWAYS had BB's Beauty and would do people's hair and Classic Maids where I would come to organize and clean your business. *I recently drove past a business the other day actually called Classic Maids and about shat myself when I saw it! - That was my company first! ;) * So it's in my blood I suppose.

I wonder why some people are this way and others are not. I'm SO glad I am this way though! I can't imagine living in a chaotic, disorganized way. I just wish I could organize my thoughts as I organize the tangible things in life.....

Spinning and Learning

this post should prove to be a bit more upbeat than last :)

so i dance. i think dancing is great medicine for the soul. i refused to even move my feet to music in my teen years yet one night at church camp, of all places, i decided to truly shake a tail feather to 'come on eileen' and i've not been the same since. i've clubbed all over the world. i actually find it incredibly interesting to examine different countries club cultures and make it a point to hit night life spots when in different countries - i've been to clubs in mexico, all over germany, prague, mumbai, hungary, switzerland, and england. out of all of those, the clubs i visited in acapulco, mx were by far the most elaborate, best music, and overall the best club experiences i've yet to have.

when i was younger, i used to enjoy choreographing dances for my sister and i to perform for our parents. the ones i recall were done to prince's 'batdance', weird al's 'like a surgeon' and a mix of all sorts of songs i cut and pasted together. oh! and baby got back :) i also recall attempting to choreograph some synchronized swimming in our pool as well. in addition to the dancing, i'd also arrange for my sister to sing into our little blue and yellow microphone while i played piano and we scripted out newscasts and commericials to perform as well. we've been little entertainers for a while. i'm now getting off subject.

though i love to dance, i've had no formal introduction to dance aside from participating in a tap dance class when i was 6 or 7. i can now say though, that i'm experiencing some formal introduction.

i was married in march and a month or so before that, my father, who loves to do 'the peguin' dance or spin around like james brown, decided that he was going to take private dance lessons to razzle and dazzle all those in attendance when we did our father daughter dance. he started learning 'west coast swing' at the beginning of the year and apparently now has an addiction. i attended one of his private lessons, learned a bit and completely forgot what i learned promptly after the wedding. recently though, he's started attending group dances of west coast swingers (the dancers, not the partner sharers) at a community center near my home. he asked me to go and i agreed. simple as that. my mother is beyond tired of his dancing and him trying to get her to dance with him which i don't understand at all. at least he's not drinking his arse off and beating her or attending the topless lady establishments in town! all the man wants to do is dance and have his wife dance with him. i see no harm in that. that being said though, my husband isn't all too into the dancing craze either although i have taught him a few steps while our beast of a dog barked at us. i digress.

so two weeks ago, i accompanied my father to the group dance at the community center. we dance in a gym for an hour and pay $4 for the experience. i'm lightyears younger than the rest of the crowd and i wouldn't be suprised to find that one or two of them to be serial killers. i say that lightheartedly and only to accentuate the interesting folk who have left their homes to learn to dance. we are first split into male and female appropriate groups and learn our 1-2-3 and 4 5 and 6 steps and then are partnered with a male. we dance with each man for about 30 seconds and then switch to the next while the instructors pass through and tell us to tighten our arms, watch our feet and so on. what do i have the most trouble with you ask? following. i can't help but lead and that is true for every aspect of my life. i have control issues and want to control it all. it's a bittersweet curse. i love taking responsibility for things but hate that i'm always responsible for something.

in last week's class we learned spins with our partners. i had the hardest time with this. some of the men you dance with are terrible leaders but others teach me more than the instructor does. one in particular last week told me, in the midst of the spinning, to not do any of the work, let the man do all of the work on the spins. and i did. and it was liberating. i got it! i did the spin! but it was more that that, i let go of my control and let someone else take the wheel. it was a small (dance) step for mankind but a huge leap for me. perhaps i can learn to let go of control periodically and can continue to feel that release i felt while spinning.

tonight i will spin some more and will pass under some serial killers arms and i can't wait.

Time is Money?

here's a semi funny story for you followed with some reflection. my dad is a man who's paid all of his dues in the construction industry and has done quite well for himself due to endless years of working his tail off. my mother (and now myself and husband) works for my dad and has since day one. side note - i have learned so very much from watching my parents work together, live together, travel together and still love each other after so many years. anywho. so when i was a young child i spent many of my days going to work with my parents before i started school or during school breaks. one day in particular, my dad took me in the field with him and taught me multiple life lessons as is his fashion. this day my dad decided it was time to truly teach me the golden rule: time is money. that's right, i was taught that the golden rule was time is money. that day he would take me to supply houses and would ask me what the golden rule was in front of the workers and i would reply with what i had learned. they would all hee haw and commend me for my newfound knowledge and we would go on to the next place to showcase my talent.

a little while passed and a sunday came around and i found myself as a small child sitting in a sunday school class. our teacher decided that this sunday, we would focus on the golden rule. well, i was already too knowledgable about this topic, as we all know, so i chose to share that i already knew quite well what the golden rule was: time is money. i will never forget the look on my teacher's face and how confused i was when i learned that that was NOT the golden rule.

so i fast forward to now. i'm near 30 years old and i feel sometimes that the first golden rule i learned is forever engrained into my being. it is virtually impossible for me to sit and just sit without having to be doing something with my hands. i am constantly making something or scheming in my head how to make a dime or perfect my craft or designing a new piece of my creations in my head. it goes back to that obsessive state that i'm constantly in. i can't stop it. i enjoy being productive though and am glad that i am this way. i live to create and to embetter myself and to constantly grow and change throughout my life. but, is the phrase 'time is money' my driving force for that? i may never know.

time is money, though, is generally a phrase used to describe americans and their lifestyles. i attended a faculty meeting the other day and another teacher discussed the importance of integrating cultural knowledge into the classroom. she had come across a website noting ten general cultural rules to america and one of them was 'time is money'. we are constantly on the go, forever evolving, progressing, moving, being, eating, talking, buying, fighting, loving and so forth. is this such a horrible thing? if i look at it from my cultural perspective, no it's not. but if i step outside of my bubble and view our time is money mentality from another cultural perspective, it could be viewed as horribly negative. we don't take the time to breathe, to love appropriately, to cherish a sunrise or sunset, to walk outside. or do we? it all depends on your perspective, your experiences and your priorities.

but what do i know?