Last Day of NaBloPoMo...Artsy Fartsy

I am livid.  Well, as livid as I can get which is more like a whine for most people.  Why you may ask?  Well some nut job woman at a school meeting tonight suggested doing away with music and PE to meet the budget cuts for next year.  Gratefully, this is not in the proposed budget plan...crazy woman!  In my mind I reached out and "touched" her right upside her snobby little head.  Take away the arts?  OVER MY DEAD BODY!!  We live in a very blessed school district where my kids get choices and can be anything they want to be.  My son can take guitar in middle school and website design.  My daughter can take french and drama.  We moved here for the well rounded education of our children.  And when you have 5 children, we bound to have varying interests at play.  I'm sure that we will be seeing every corner and aspect of this district the longer we stay here...no we are not moving...never!!!

This whole experience made me realize just how important the arts are to my family.  I don't think I could live without them.  I might not be an accomplished musician or painter but I dabble at quite a bit.  I think this has fostered an eagerness in my own children to explore their artistic side.  I'm forever yelling at my kids to give back my scissors (never mind that there are at least 15 pair floating around at any given moment) or ask someone for the tape dispenser.  My colored pencils spend more time in every room in my home than my on my desk.  My jewelry parts become play things.  Paper, glue, Mod Podge are staples in our house and I buy gluesticks in the 24 pack a couple of times a year in addition to the school season.  That is just the way it is.  The piano is being played daily.  Music is on almost always. We sing in the car, at church, at home, when we clean, and dancing...well that is almost a no brainer.  I have painters, and constructors, and composers in my home.  I have performing artists, material artists, and artists with the written word.  No one is left out.  In fact, the older kids are making all of the presents for their siblings this year.  We have knitted caps, puzzles, fashion accessories, jewelery, bags, go-carts, remote control boats, and I got a full floral arrangement made out of origami placed on my computer tonight.  I am one lucky lady!

Tonight, after I came home from this meeting, I noticed my daughter working on something while watching Glee.  She was making a mini nativity for her little brother.  He seems to be fascinated by baby Jesus at the moment.  And I am grateful that if she chooses, she can take a ceramics class when she gets to high school.  Because we live in a great district where they believe a child learns just as much from the arts as from history, science, english, and math.

Living Lake Oswego Style

If your from Oregon, chances are you've heard all the stereotypes of Lake Oswego. I consider myself a Lake Oswego native and find that although some of the stereotypes are true, most are not. Take for instance the country club lifestyle that might be on some peoples minds. Yes, the country club here is gorgeous but most people that live in Lake Oswego have never even stepped foot on that course. I'll show you my "country club". They don't have a golf course, but they do have swimming with a lifegaurd on duty.

They have shuffleboard, ping pong,

badmitton, volleyball, tether ball,

basketball, a sandbox, a kiddie pool,

dressing rooms, snacks, and two play structures.

All this can be had for the cool price of free! Well as long as you live in the area. So I guess it's exclusive, but you can have guests. Come prepared with quarters to "rent" the equipment for the various games. It will be returned when you bring the stuff and you can get a popcorn and a large soda for a $1.25 That right there is worth it's weight in gold! So if I do not answer my phone, it's because I'm lounging at the lake with my she-she-foo-foo friends while we sip diet cokes from hot high school boys and talk about where our next luxury vacation will be...yeah right!

I think I live on Wisteria Lane...

Really, I mean do people actually live like this?  I just had to get this off of my chest because in all my 36 years as a person (was a cat before in Egypt?  Who knows...I'm just throwing it out there) I have never lived in a neighborhood like this one.  I can't blame it on Lake Oswego because I have lived here before and didn't experience this in any way, shape, or fashion.  Can I blame it on living in a culdesac?  Nope.  Did that one in Sacramento and I can say that it wasn't this way at all.  Although I did have one neighbor that mowed the front lawn when Kevin was too sick to do it and a neighbor that I hung out with on a regular basis.  But this is just plain mind blowing!  You know all of those TV sitcoms where people actually know their neighbors...ok like Three's Company comes to mind and the Cosby show, yeah like that. I thought those were just figments of writers convoluted idealization of childhood....well they were right!  That place exists.

We just happened to get a house on the Twilight Zone Street!  Not only have several neighbors actually come over to introduce themselves, but they actually bring things over...how strange is that?  And when the dog gets out of the backyard, they bring him back to me with a smile...not calling the HOA  (there is none by the way) or calling the cops.  I must have missed the memo that it's ok to be neighborly.  These people are really nice.  They all know each other.  They all were excited to have kids move into the neighborhood.  They share extra lettuce and some of them even go out to dinner with each other.  They ladies drink wine while watching their kids play outside and walk around the neighborhood chatting.  They all shop at Target and not Talbots.  These are normal people folks.  I met the "mothers' last night and they all proclaimed how they look out for each others' kids.  They have my back...I mean I really was completely floored!  Is this the "village" that Hillary Clinton keeps talking about?  (Sorry, I'm sure you all live in neighborhoods like this one, but really, I can't say that I have...even in Daybreak.)

Then the power went out.  How do I know this?  Well one lady got out of her car and proclaimed the garage door wasn't working.  Then the men started coming outside and asking if everyone's power was out.  It was like a impromptu party on our street.  Everyone was just great friends with each other.  It didn't matter if you had kids or single, they all are one big happy family.   We chatted for a few minutes, introduced all of our kids, talked to the neighbor on the next street over that got a flaming poop bomb two weeks ago at 4:30 in the morning. I think I might be living in the Truman Show...is someone filming my every move?

Maybe this place is like Desperate Housewives if I actually knew what that show was all about.  I'm hoping it's not, but seriously, this is going to take some getting used to (besides, which one would I be?)  I think I might like this neighbor thing.

Grateful for Today

(One of the flowers in my yard...a dahlia I believe)

Sometimes life can be pretty overwhelming.  Thinking back on the last 4 weeks and what I have accomplished since my kids got out of school gives me a sense of satisfaction that can only be reached when you do really hard things.  Rather than give you the big long list, just know that I accomplished more than was humanly possible.

But today, I'm just grateful that I have made it.

I am grateful that I am ok with just 90% instead of 100%.

I am grateful for the spine that I have grown.

I am grateful for my yard.

I am grateful for the overwhelming love I have for my ward.

I am grateful for all the friends I made in Sherwood.

I am grateful for the development of patience.

I am grateful for this gorgeous home.

I am grateful that my husband makes a good living.

I am grateful that I know my Savior lives and loves me.

I am grateful for forgiveness and the healing that it brings.

I am grateful that I get a month off of school.

I am grateful that the kids have found new friends already.

I am grateful that our cat waited to have babies until we moved.

I am grateful that I am strong and that I did it.  And that I know, I will never be given more than I can handle....

(A lily right outside my kitchen window)

Home

A house is made with Bricks and Beams...A home is made with Hopes and Dreams...

Once upon a time, a little girl lived in a  red brick town-home in between a lake and a river.  

It wasn't a fairy tale but her 3 year-old memories were fond.  She clearly still remembers the time she had to get stitches in her head and hoping the Marcus Welby would be on staff at the hospital.  She moved but remarkably ended up back in the town with the lake less than a year later.  As a 4 1/2 year old girl, her home was paradise.  She had a friend down the street and was tormented by her older brother's friends often.  Oh the memories of swimming in that lake and bluebird meetings at her house!  Her family moved down the street in this same little town a few years later.  By this time, she was walking to school and spending her pennies at Rosewood market.  As a first and second grader, she always walked to her friends house alone.  Oh the horror!  Somehow she survived without being snatched.  She still remembers the banana seat bike with the flag attached.  She could fly!  And of course her house had an enchanted backyard filled with fairies and flowers.  What 6-7 year old doesn't dream of a fairy castle amongst the ivy and fir trees?  Life got really complicated, so right after she turned 8, they moved away from the little town by the lake.

Then as luck would have it, her family (minus a few members) moved back into the very same house in the town by the lake when she was 15.  The fairies were gone and walking everywhere had become  torture.  But the magical kings, queens, prince and princes, were still living there.  Living in the little town by the lake was like wrapping up in a warm blanket on a cold night.   So for 3 years, she lived here until she was old enough to be on her own.  She gained life long friends, and several surrogate parents.  But it was time to leave the nest.  No sooner than 2 years later, she was working in the little town by the lake teaching dance while she went to school and worked.  She lived in the next town over but still went to church in the little town by the lake.  She decided to serve a mission for her church and left the little town by the lake but came back after her mission and decided to live, once again in the little town by the lake although her family was gone.  She needed all the support she could get at that time in her life and thankfully, the little town by the lake provided.  While attending church there, she met her husband and they lived happily ever after in a different town.  But happily ever after exists only in fairy tales and life threw this little girl, who was now a mother, a few curve balls.  She was used to it by now though.  She didn't move to the little town by the lake.  But she loved the big town she was in with her three kids.  And as time went on, the little town by the lake provided her with yet another husband.  He was going to church in the little town by the lake  and they married and moved far far away.  

8 years later, they are moving back to the little town by the lake.   It’s been a long, hard road to come back here.  She had to try every other town to finally come to the conclusion, that a house is just a house and a town is just a town, unless it’s home.  This town that held her hand when she got her first set of stitches, where she got to hold her newborn brother, where she fell in love several times, where she got her heart broken several times, where she graduated from school, where she found her husbands, where she mourned the loss of her "mother", where she learned to love nature, where she became independent, where she discovered her talents, got to know her God, and now where she is going to raise her own babies...in the little town by the lake.   

Home is not a house for me, it's a town filled with people that have raised me into the independent, free thinker, with a heart as big as a mountain.  I cannot give my own children a greater gift than being raised in this little town that can never be removed from me.  It will always be my home.

(hope you enjoy the pictures of our new home...on July 10th we will be moving)

On Mothering....

It is oh so fitting to do this post now. I recently had my 36th birthday and was reminded of my many mothers in my life.

My mother and I have been estranged for many years. Our interaction mainly consists of an occasional function every few years, a letter once a year and maybe a phone call once a year. Sounds quite drastic doesn't it? This year I got a letter a couple of months ago. Yes, she lives only an hour and half from me. She doesn't send the kids cards, call on birthdays, or attend family gatherings. She is sick. She had Borderline Personality Disorder among other things. My childhood was highly dysfunctional. But this is not a post about my horrible childhood. It's a post about how lucky I really am.

While I might not have a nurturing mother, I've learned a great deal from her. My mother is very creative, unafraid, independent, confident, frugal, and open. All of these qualities, she passed onto me. Despite all these wonderful traits that my mother gave me, she wasn't really a mother to me, so God sent me others to teach and guide me.

When I was very young girl of 7, I was invited over to a friends house to practice for a primary program. I stayed for dinner and what happened at that dinner table, forever changed my life. See, I had never sat a t a dinner table in my own home with my family before. So this act was completely foreign to me. But as we prayed and ate around candlelight, I felt the most amazing spirit of love. I decided then and there, that I was going to have this kind of family and this kind of love. So thank you Linda Matthews for your example.

As I grew, my parents eventual divorce led to a new woman in my life, my stepmother. She wasn't the warm and cuddly mom that I had longed for, but I am so grateful for the things she taught me. We went to fashion shows and fancy restaurants together. We ate like kings, traveled, and she opened a whole new world for me. I am the cook I am today because of her. My class, style, poise, ability to feel comfortable with all classes of people would be severely diminished without her to guide me. So thank you Coral.

As a teenager, I fully saw what I was missing because of my mother's illness, and God brought me my church mother. She took me under her wing and made sure I had someone to talk to. She got me through YW, helped me finish getting ready for college, gave me a job and a place to live. She came and visited me at school, and although I can't say for certain, probably helped pay for my mission. I brought Kevin to meet her, cried with her about lost loves, she helped plan my reception, hosted a bridal shower and generally showed me unconditional love. And, as her body eventually gave way to a 7 year long battle with cancer, she taught me about hope and endurance. Sheila Moore, you were more a mother to me than anyone on this planet and I can't wait to hold you again!

While my own husband was dying of cancer, God sent me another mother to help me through the next phase of my life. She was there to include me in her family, a listening ear whenever I needed to vent, gave me a spiritual perspective, showed me what blessings were in store for someone who loved all...She watched my kids so I could go out. I want to be like her when I grow up. Even now, her thoughtful advice is amazingly, just what I need to hear. God speaks to me through her. Thank you Julia Carter.

Now with a busy life filled with 5 kids to mother, I have realized how very lucky I am that I got more than one mother in my life. They all have shaped me into the woman I am today. All the things I missed out on, I will be extra vigilant about giving to my own children.

So next time I feel cheated because I can't just call up my mother and tell her about my day or get advise on some matter, I can look back on this post and remember to be grateful for what I have been given and what I will be able to give.

I love being a mother more than anything else....