Archive for Month: November, 2009
Cross Your Heart
One-by-one, big, fat, salty tears rolled down my cheeks during the opening “marriage” montage of the Pixar film “Up”. The notorious lump in the throat formed as I felt it vibrate and grow with each musical note. That opening flash through Carl and Ellie’s life got me. And it got me good.
I think it was the depiction of the tenderness of marriage that got me. All the milestones and moments along with the pitfalls and ever changing pace of life. It was how, at first, [they] could run up the hill full of vigor, and how they later helped each other, carefully, to the top. It was how they lived and breathed one another. It was romance. It was hardship. It was pure beauty. It was the epitome of marriage and all we crave and desire.
Marriage is a twisted path on which we travel. There are seasons. Times we feel heat and sweat pouring, when it’s hard to breathe or feel comfort. Times the brush is so thick that we get caught up in twisted vines, when it’s hard to get through or move. Times when it’s bitterly cold, when the once raging fire is dissipating, begging to be poked and rekindled. And there are times when the leaves fall off the proverbial trees, when we are exposed and allowed time to remember why we even set foot on the path; this path that wasn’t cut out for [us], but that [we] have traversed diligently.
Our children wouldn’t have understood why I was crying—so I held back—but deep within me there were pounding sobs.
After fifteen years of togetherness it’s easy to pass through the seasons allowing them to take their toll. It’s in the autumn of my life , though, that I am reminded of the vulnerability of our hearts. It’s when I can watch a four minute montage of a children’s movie, with tears streaking my face, that I can clearly recall that this path is indeed an adventure. It’s the adventure of a lifetime, one that isn’t easy or always romantic, and it’s one that’s worth staying the course…seasons, scrapes, sweat, and all.
Michael,
I love you madly. I hope you always sweat with me in the summer, put your cold feet on me in the winter, gaze at the blaring colors of the leaves with me in the fall, and hold steadfast as our flowers grow in the spring.
Yours,
Mishelle
The Webkinz Saga
A couple years ago, over the Christmas holiday, the silent invasion began. One turned into two, two turned into four, four turned six, then nine, twelve, and so on, and so forth. Sure the invasion was innocent enough, at first, but soon we were taken over by the sheer magnitude of their forces. What invasion do I speak of? The Webkinz invasion, of course; the bane of my very existence.
Oh, sure, they’re so cute and cuddly and sweet. Oh, sure, they come to life when you enter the magic code online. Oh, sure, they provide the kids with a computer world full of fun. Whatever! They are kiddie crack. The have a way of making the kids crave more, and more, and more. One’s not enough. Hell, twenty’s not even enough. Now, no matter what room I enter I am accosted by these delightful yet menacing stuffed creatures. Seriously, there are no less than fifty in our 1700 square foot house.
I reiterate: The bane of my existence!
Let’s do some math:
$12.50 (the cost of these suckers) x 50 (I’m rounding here for math purposes) = $625.00
Oh My God in Heaven Above! That’s SIX HUNDRED TWENTY FIVE DOLLARS that have been spent on stuffed animals. Seriously? Seriously.
And now there’s a new addiction: The Signature Webkinz (read: the slightly bigger, golden tagged, more expensive version of the regular ones)
My daughter? Totally addicted, by-the-way. If she could have her way, every single cent she got would go to Webkinz (and Bakugan, but that’s an entirely different post.)
Recently my mother sent the kids Halloween cards with $20.00 in each.
“Mama, Mama, can we please use our money from Baba on Webkinz!” Benny pleaded.
“Yeah, Mama, can we? There’s a new Signature Calico Cat that I realllllllllllly, reallllllllllly want,” Olivia chimed in.
“Ugh, I guess,” I moaned.
“I’m saving my money,” Mikey proudly stated while his siblings ran off squealing about the new additions they’d soon be acquiring.
A couple days later I piled the little fiends into my van and drove them to the nearest dealer.
“Excuse me, sir,” Olivia politely asked the store keeper as she approached the counter, “can you tell me if you have a Signature Calico Cat?”
“Oh, yes we do, but someone stole the tag from it. I’m sorry,” he said as he pointed to the stuffed animal on the shelf, that was so close, yet so far away.
She was crushed.
Not Benny, though. He totally found the ones he wanted. Littlekinz. Yeah, apparently they have babies, too.
For the next two days all I heard was whining and crying about a Calico Cat that was right there but some stupid person had to go and steal the tag, and why did they have to steal the tag just because she wanted it, and why-oh-why is she being punished for someone else being greedy and selfish. For. two. whole. days. The bane of my existence, I swear!
Then it dawned on me!
“Livey, you only have $20.00. The Signature Webkinz are $30.00. You don’t even have enough money for one.” I gloated.
“But, Mama, Mama, please! Can you give me the $10.00 I need?” she begged.
“I don’t think so, Liv. Times are tough. We need that money to buy saltine crackers and ramen noodles.” I lamented.
“Stop it, Mama. Please, I’lllllll dooooooo annnnnnnyyyyyythiiiiiiing,” she cried, as I paused and put my finger to my chin with my gears cranking in over-time.
Meet Hazel. She’s not a Calico Cat, she’s a Cocker Spaniel, but she’s still a Signature Webkinz. Hazel is now the queen of all the Webkinz at Casa Lane. She’s really cute and she’s a good queen, not a bad queen, and all the other lowly Webkinz and Littlekinz love and abide by her.
The only reason she’s here is because of Olivia’s plea. And child labor.
She’s here because:
–>My van’s getting detailed, inside and out.
–>The changing of the closets will be a lot easier with a helper.
–>All the beds will be fixed for the next month by a ten year old girl.
If I say, “Jump!” Olivia’s gonna say, “How high?”
Because that’s how this Mama rolls, yo!
Mwahahhahahahhahahahahha!
I think maybe—just-maybe—I have found a way to win this battle!
Weekly Winners {The Eclectic Edition}
The winner of the 16×20 Rolled Canvas from UPrinting is:
BRITTANY!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!
{I will be in touch}
“And I think I like how the day sounds/ Like how the day sounds through this new song”
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
Oh, won’t you sing along
Oh, my love won’t you sing along
This is {NaBloPoMo}
Photographer for Hire
Yesterday I worked. I got up super early, put make-up on, fixed my hair with my big barreled curling iron, put on (knee high) stockings with my dress pumps, and my Spanx! I left the house and contended with the rest of the work goers on the lovely Georgia highways which is totally *the part that I do not miss about being in the “work force”.
My job? Photograph a Grand Opening. I had a schedule of events, a shot list, and a designated start and finish time. This is work that I could definitely get used to. It’s quite different from portraiture, but it’s very appealing to me. It’s comparable to shooting events—like conferences—and I love doing that.
By the time I got home, I was beat. Way-back-when, I used to stand on my feet for 8 hours shooting at a portrait studio. And, honestly, I don’t know how I did it. I guess when you love what you do, you just do it!
Then [you] crash:
*the part: I’d like to thank the Cobb County police officer for reducing my speeding violation BY ONE POINT, so that I wouldn’t get any points on my license.
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