Earlier today Brent called me the homemaking version of the cable guy: "Oh, I'll get to it, be ready to leave, etc. sometime between 8 and 5...."
It's true. I hate being tied down to doing things at a certain time. I much prefer in a while or later or I don't know to the concrete. This could be a problem when I go back to school in the fall.* He has also noticed I can't stick to a recipe (or any directions for that matter) without tweaking it to suit my own taste. Well, I just have better ideas I guess. :)
*Yes, for those I've yet to tell, I've been accepted to Utah State and will be going back to school in the fall at the local extension! Here come the recurring nightmares of me flunking out of high school again because I'm too dumb. No, I didn't flunk out of high school. My dreams just immediately sink me down to the lowest common denominator.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Is Everyone Crazy?
Maybe it's just because church starts at one and I have too much time to kill on Sundays. I was standing there in my dress. A dress that is clearly past it's prime since I bought it right after Isabella was born. It's an ugly dress. A jumper. I used to love the jumpers but they have long ago gone the way of rolled up jeans and midriff baring tops. All of which are certain to come back in style any day now. Most likely the midriff baring tops will make their way back first since they are never gone for too long. Unfortunately. So I'm standing there in my ugly jumper thinking how my shirt looks ugly with my ugly jumper. I've always liked the fabric and the length of this jumper (very long). Many times I've thought it would make a nice skirt. So right then I take it off and cut the top off and Voila! Instant skirt. I suppose later I should hem it up at the top. But not today, I'm wearing my cut off dress with my long shirt and cami covering the cut part. I don't think anyone can tell, at least not unless they read this. I do realize I am the last person anyone should take fashion advice from. I've been told repeatedly over the last twenty years by my own sister, no less, that I have no style. I don't think I dress like a complete loser but I'll be the first to admit that since I gained twenty unnecessary pounds I hate buying clothes. So, I ask you, is this crazy?
A couple of months ago I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at my sort of curly hair. Last summer I discovered I suddenly had curly hair. "Enough with the curly hair already!" as Brent would say. So I thought it was kind of cool at first so I decided to try to let it grow and see what would come of it. Well I was looking in the mirror thinking, "I hate that frizzy looking part at the bottom." It wasn't really growing into the beautiful crown of curls I had delusionally envisioned. So I took out the scissors and cut it myself right then. I had nothing but a four inch mirror to see the back of it. I know, this goes against the code of all that is sacred and true for a real woman. But then I don't paint my nails or wear high heels. I'd sometimes like to wear high heels, if for no other reason than to be six feet tall; but alas, they hurt my back too much. So I've always had a sort of "screw the code" attitude. In my defense, it was Friday afternoon so if I really botched it I'd still have Saturday morning to go fix it. It turned out to be one of the best haircuts I've ever had. I don't have much luck with professionals anyway. I've been to the expensive stylists and the super cheap stylists. The results are all pretty similar. Very few stylists have even an inkling of know how when it comes to cutting very, very, very, fine hair. And sadly, that is what I have.
Those are just two examples of things I do when no one is around to stop me. So I wonder, does everyone do crazy stuff like this when alone and left to their own devices? Or is it just me who is a little crazy? Either way it's okay. I'm of the belief that crazy begats creativity.
A couple of months ago I was standing in front of the bathroom mirror, looking at my sort of curly hair. Last summer I discovered I suddenly had curly hair. "Enough with the curly hair already!" as Brent would say. So I thought it was kind of cool at first so I decided to try to let it grow and see what would come of it. Well I was looking in the mirror thinking, "I hate that frizzy looking part at the bottom." It wasn't really growing into the beautiful crown of curls I had delusionally envisioned. So I took out the scissors and cut it myself right then. I had nothing but a four inch mirror to see the back of it. I know, this goes against the code of all that is sacred and true for a real woman. But then I don't paint my nails or wear high heels. I'd sometimes like to wear high heels, if for no other reason than to be six feet tall; but alas, they hurt my back too much. So I've always had a sort of "screw the code" attitude. In my defense, it was Friday afternoon so if I really botched it I'd still have Saturday morning to go fix it. It turned out to be one of the best haircuts I've ever had. I don't have much luck with professionals anyway. I've been to the expensive stylists and the super cheap stylists. The results are all pretty similar. Very few stylists have even an inkling of know how when it comes to cutting very, very, very, fine hair. And sadly, that is what I have.
Those are just two examples of things I do when no one is around to stop me. So I wonder, does everyone do crazy stuff like this when alone and left to their own devices? Or is it just me who is a little crazy? Either way it's okay. I'm of the belief that crazy begats creativity.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Anne
Isabella had to do a book report on a historical fictional character recently and dress up like the character for the report. She chose Anne of Green Gables and so she was Anne Shirley. I still wish we could have dyed her hair red!
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Things That Are Stupid....and I'm an Idiot
We finally returned triumphantly from Arizona yesterday after driving for about a thousand hours. It turned out to be a good trip for the most part. We did some fun touristy stuff: went on paddle boats on Tempe Town Lake, visited the Desert Botanical Garden where we saw the Chihuly Glass (an exhibit from a famous glass artist named Dale Chihuly), toured the Riordan Mansion in Flagstaff. Remember we wanted to see Taliesin West? Well that was out because of the price and we didn't really have time anyway. We ran into this place in Flagstaff, we were staying there on our last night and needed something to do and it was on the map so we checked it out and it was a cool old mansion that a prominent Flagstaff family lived in, built around 1903 in the Arts and Crafts style of architecture. Something a little educational thrown in for good measure. Brent wanted to show us this natural bridge place he visited with his mom last fall but it was closed due to budget cuts. Darned recession! Oh and we also visited Montezuma Castle (old Native American ruins) and did the usual visit to the neighborhood lake which is great to walk around at night. That and family stuff, of course. The kids loved playing with the Arizona cousins.
The sucky part of the trip was seeing Chuck, my Stepdad. He is now about 74, thin as a rail, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. My Stepdad has a good heart but he is also mean as the day is long. It's now like his spirit is broken. I was almost missing his embarrassing, demoralizing comments that he can make. He was so quiet and childlike. It's just STUPID that this has to happen to people often when they get older.
Of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't throw in some idiocy for good measure. Brent and I and the kids took Chuck out to lunch and he really wanted to go to the store and find a bike. He was in a car wreck a couple of weeks ago, he will likely lose his license as a result, so he really wanted a bike to get around. Made sense to me so we took him over to Walmart to look at the bikes. I didn't know if he'd be able to ride one but it couldn't hurt to see, I figured. Chuck used to be quite athletic, played lots of tennis, ran a few marathons. But now he's so thin and he hasn't exercised in some time so he couldn't ride the bike. He kept trying to talk us into going to another bike store but I didn't see the point unless he managed to strengthen his legs and recover some balance somehow. So he was naturally disappointed and I was trying to figure out how I could help him when I saw the scooters. You know how I love the scooters so I thought why not let him try one out. We went outside and he tried out Noah's, we had the kids' scooters in the van. He was doing fairly well so we went back in to check them out some more. He tried out one in the store and was doing pretty good but not so sure still so we told him we'd buy one and we could take it to the park for him to try out, if he didn't like it we'd just keep it ourselves since we had a scooter stolen recently. Well at the park he tried it for a few seconds and he fell. I felt terrible and was thinking, Great I broke his hip! He was all right but he and I both agreed it wasn't the ride for him. I was also thinking this reminded me of the time when Brent and I tried to buy Isabella a bike helmet when she was 4 months old (4 months old!) so we could put her in the newly purchased bike seat and take her on family bike rides. Another dumb idea. It shows the inexperienced should not be left alone with babies or senior citizens. So no bike or scooter for Chuck. I just really wanted to help him out if I could.
Another interesting thing was seeing hobo cats at the park. We were at Pioneer Park, across the street from the Mesa Temple, practicing the scooter. They have an old train in the middle of the park that has a metal barred fence around it. The train had a bunch of stray cats that looked like they'd lived there since they were kittens. Someone had stuck cut open bags of cat food under the fence for them so they had plenty of food. The kids thought it was highly interesting and I named them "Hobo Cats".
The sucky part of the trip was seeing Chuck, my Stepdad. He is now about 74, thin as a rail, and in the early stages of Alzheimer's. My Stepdad has a good heart but he is also mean as the day is long. It's now like his spirit is broken. I was almost missing his embarrassing, demoralizing comments that he can make. He was so quiet and childlike. It's just STUPID that this has to happen to people often when they get older.
Of course it wouldn't be me if I didn't throw in some idiocy for good measure. Brent and I and the kids took Chuck out to lunch and he really wanted to go to the store and find a bike. He was in a car wreck a couple of weeks ago, he will likely lose his license as a result, so he really wanted a bike to get around. Made sense to me so we took him over to Walmart to look at the bikes. I didn't know if he'd be able to ride one but it couldn't hurt to see, I figured. Chuck used to be quite athletic, played lots of tennis, ran a few marathons. But now he's so thin and he hasn't exercised in some time so he couldn't ride the bike. He kept trying to talk us into going to another bike store but I didn't see the point unless he managed to strengthen his legs and recover some balance somehow. So he was naturally disappointed and I was trying to figure out how I could help him when I saw the scooters. You know how I love the scooters so I thought why not let him try one out. We went outside and he tried out Noah's, we had the kids' scooters in the van. He was doing fairly well so we went back in to check them out some more. He tried out one in the store and was doing pretty good but not so sure still so we told him we'd buy one and we could take it to the park for him to try out, if he didn't like it we'd just keep it ourselves since we had a scooter stolen recently. Well at the park he tried it for a few seconds and he fell. I felt terrible and was thinking, Great I broke his hip! He was all right but he and I both agreed it wasn't the ride for him. I was also thinking this reminded me of the time when Brent and I tried to buy Isabella a bike helmet when she was 4 months old (4 months old!) so we could put her in the newly purchased bike seat and take her on family bike rides. Another dumb idea. It shows the inexperienced should not be left alone with babies or senior citizens. So no bike or scooter for Chuck. I just really wanted to help him out if I could.
Another interesting thing was seeing hobo cats at the park. We were at Pioneer Park, across the street from the Mesa Temple, practicing the scooter. They have an old train in the middle of the park that has a metal barred fence around it. The train had a bunch of stray cats that looked like they'd lived there since they were kittens. Someone had stuck cut open bags of cat food under the fence for them so they had plenty of food. The kids thought it was highly interesting and I named them "Hobo Cats".
Arizona Trip Pics
Desert Botanical Garden and the Chihuly Glass in Phoenix
Tempe Town Lake
Red Cliffs in St. George, this was totally dry last year when we wanted to take the kids swimming there. This year it was too cool (and a little too green!)
Riordan mansion in Flagstaff
Hobo Cat
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