It's almost here....

 I'm thankful for a holiday where the main activity

is putting olives on your fingers before you eat them.

just sayin....

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween!

Over the weekend we had our annual trunk-or-treat party...or as I like to call it, "junk-in-my- trunk" time. (Because I know exactly where that candy is going...ya know? )  

This year we found this amazing terantula spider puppet that Rob handed out candy with...

Sometimes....even candy is not worth it!

 

Then this morning I found this lovely....

This is "Trunk-AND-Treat"!

 BOO to you!

Nana D

One word...."skype". period.
If you had told me years ago that most of the time I spend with my then future grandchildren would be over the internet....I would have told you that you were "loco-chicka"!!  But yes, that is what has come about, and people...I am soooo thankful for those pocket full of minutes with said McNuggets. And just like a box of Forest Gump's chocolates.... I never really know what I will get!

But then, neither do they! (I'm pretty sure they were looking at the DPR make crazy faces in this picture....he has the same effect on me.)
But I have been able to watch them grow from little peanuts into big peanuts and it has been truly awesome!

Sweety La La always puts on a show:

Sweet Birdy keeps me totally entertained:

And Sweet E and Sweet D?  well they are just much too much fun!

Put all the "SWEETS" together, and I (they)have total pandemonium....

Occasionally, I even get to skype with my man-child....ya....that's fun.

Just the other day, Kindle sent a text...."Mom, get on skype!  La la keeps asking to talk to Nana!"

Makes me melt...and not just a little.

and finally....(drum roll please)....

We've had birds nesting in the top of our bamboo shade on our patio all summer.  When they first started flying around looking for a place, the DPR immediately ran out to chase them away spouting opinions on how they were going to die out there if they built a nest because as soon as we turn on the AC it will be too hot....yada, yada...
They built a nest anyway, regardless of his opinions.  Then they did their birdy thing and before you can say "yumpin' yiminy" their were 3 little eggs in the nest.  Honestly, I didn't pay that much attention after that....until the end of July.  The little birdies were all busy and focused and I pretty much felt the same.

The WEDDING:

  in pictures.....

lovely.

happy.

beautiful girl

tinted jars for lanterns and flowers

felted birds cake topper

We are family.

sweet.

buckets of flowers

Vanilla Bean cake with Lemon-curd filling and buttercream...oh my!

on the patio

sundae bar---yum.

first dance

Stealing a quiet moment

Birdies flying away....

When we got home, I went to hang the lanterns on my patio.  I was dreaming of seeing the colored glass in the sunlight.  There.... I found the empty nest.
And I realized, it was really....really empty.

(sigh).

It's complicated...

I remember one Sunday, in Relief Society, about 15 years ago..or so. It happened to be Mother's day....(groan) and this elderly lady in the group was asked what lofty "words of wisdom" she had to say about Mother's day....She thought about it for a second, and then loudly responded.."BULL-S%$#!  There was nervous twittering for a second, I mean...we were in church and all.  Then the room literally exploded with laughter! (that high cackling laughter....like we were in a chicken coop.) Imagine lots of hens..... with corsages on.

Ohhhh...mother's day....so often good.  So often, bad....and sometimes just down-right ugly. I don't get it.  Why does this day that is meant to honor the woman who gave us birth, wreak havoc with our emotions?  I fully recognize that there is not one answer to this question....the only answer that fits all is:  "It's complicated."
So how does this day that should be about love, and macaroni necklaces, and breakfast in bed, end up making us a little crazy?
It's complicated, because our relationships with our mothers are complicated...and our relationships with our children are also just as complicated.  We are tied together...with everything we are..regardless if it is good or bad.  How could it not be complicated? That bond with this person who is responsible for us, or that we are responsible for is so permanent and enduring...no matter what, it seems.  At father's day we don't seem to get so tangled up about it...go figure.
Guilt, love, frustration, joy, fatigue, care....it's a hormonal cooking pot, for crying out loud!

My first mother's day as a mother?  That was a good mother's day. I looked at my little pink sweety and a feeling of pride overtook me!  My heart felt like it was 10 times bigger....I accepted my geranium like it was an oscar, and prepared to give an acceptance speech for the great job I had done!
A bad mother's day? The first mother's day after my mom had passed?  That was...well that was just bad.  A horrible reminder that a piece of my heart was missing.  (it still hurts sometimes, even after all these years...) And ugly? Hmmmm.... I would say, sitting on the back row at church crying , feeling unappreciated and all the kids were fighting and had gum in their hair and and I was pregnant and....well....you get the picture.  That was....ugly. Thankfully this really only happened once or twice. (.most of them really were all about pancakes and bacon and homemade cards...)
   But, my very best mother's day came one year when I least expected it.  Again, I was sitting in Relief Society.  Phyllis Savage was giving the lesson and she had gone before-hand and asked all the kids in the sunday school to write down the best and the worst things about their mothers....anonymously, of course.  The answers were quite surprising.  All the kids had been quite honest in their answers, putting it all out there...."I hate it when my mom yells",or  "I love it when my mom makes me birthday cakes"...you know, all kinds of answers.
 Then she read this one...

"I love it when we are in the kitchen all together, eating and laughing.  My mom turns on the music, and we all dance around while we are working or talking.  It is the best time in the world, and I love her."

I sat there, stunned.  I knew in an instant that it was my kid that wrote that.  My heart was in my throat choking me....and the tears just came.  I wasn't a horrible mother after all.  I did something right....at least one thing....
The thing is this...you never realize, when you are expecting a baby, that there will be lots of sweat and fluid and blood, etc....etc. or that you might have to spend emotional days and nights at the hospital with a sick baby.  Or, in some cases that their will be worry over details of adoptions and fear. We don't usually think about future diaper changing, sleepless nights,  homework assignments, or broken hearts.   But motherhood is a "dirty" business, not pristine in any sense.  We throw ourselves into it, with everything we've got.  The good and the bad, not to mention the HARD, because we just can't help it.  We endure the blood, sweat, and tears.  Love drives us to it.  We are just emotional creatures....we're built that way on purpose.  At least I know that I am. And if I've had to get my hands a little dirty in this journey of motherhood, I consider it an honor.  My macaroni necklace and ceramic coil pots are just medals and trophies. Here is to past and future "Mother's days".....may we remember all the good, and spend the rest, dancing in the kitchen.

Before and After

....I mean, who doesn't love a before and after? huh? Nobody doesn't like a before and after, that's who!  So here is the BEFORE!  Check it...

The DPR and I realized early on that we had some real challenges with making a garden on the balcony. First and foremost...it needed to be cheap!...as in almost free...(is that to much to ask?)  2nd-It is a really small place and I mean small!  and the other thing we had to figure out is that our future downstairs neighbors' patio is right below us, so we couldn't really have water dripping down from any planters on their stuff all the time...hardly the way to make new friends...ya know?  So we went to work trying to figure out how to container garden, and we literally found a plethora (must be said with a spanish accent) of information on youtube about it.  Here is what we did:

 You can kinda see from the pics...it's basically just making a chamber in the bottom of the container that holds extra water and then you make a wicking system that draws that water up into the soil.  We even did it in the flower boxes with pvc pipe...

Speaking of cheap...we found a wood box in the dumpster to make the flower box out of, and the plastic bins were 5 bucks at Walmart so not bad.  We found  a lot of plants on clearance at Home Depot for 50 cents! (score)  but we did have to buy dirt...Oh lovely dirt. (sigh)  I feel better.

OK  So here it is....the AFTER!  (prepare to be dazzled...I mean like with Jazz hands, and everything...)


BEHOLD....The Garden....

 

I even have an herb garden....we made the containers out of soy milk containers for....wait for it....FREE!.
(what can I say...recycling is where it's at!)

 

These are the radish seeds that I threw into one of the flower boxes...they are growing like crazy!

 

 These pansies were 50 cents...now they are taking over!

I am having such a good time gardening!  It is amazing what a few flowers and veggies can do for your spirits.  Everyday, I look out my window to the beautiful flowers, instead of bare naked balcony.

Life is good.

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