From Chaos Comes Happiness

Today we are deep in the Halloween festivities as we prepare for 14 family members to gather and have some fun. I've been really surprised this year by the people who have become so anti-Halloween, but it's alright - I truly support whatever you choose to do, or not do, in your home. In our home, Halloween is NOT a day to celebrate death or evil things, it is NOT a day to beg for anything from anyone, it is NOT a day to judge anyone. It is a day for our family to have some silly fun. . . To dress up as whatever we want. . . And a day for me to wear my ridiculous headband while making silly cakes, ghost cookies, witches brew punch, hot dog "bug" bites, pin the nose on the pumpkin games, Halloween charades games, and a super big pot of chili for all to enjoy. (Sorry about the photo without the make-up. Katie wanted to take my picture. While I do have my headband on, I'm not completely ready for our guests. You get the idea, though. I LOVE this headband. How can I...

I don't care what you say about them . . . scary movies are NO FUN for me. I just came to this realization a couple years ago - right about the time I was sitting in our local movie theater with some dear neighbors and friends, watching that Rob Zombie's Halloween Movie. It was 2007, and I remember the moment like it was yesterday. . . . it was about 30 minutes into the movie, and I couldn't see anything. Why? you ask? Because I had tucked the greasy buttered popcorn napkin over my glasses (I was desperate) in an attempt to block out having to look at the horrific scenes being played on the screen before me. Then I decided to block out the sound of the movie as well, as I stuck my buttered popcorn hands over my ears, and started rocking back and forth in my seat. Yes, I was that terrified (and I was quite a scene to those around me, I am sure.) That movie was so gross and scary and horrific to me. I could not watch it, or hear it, at all. So there I was sitting in the ...

Did I ever tell you that my Dad was a Butcher? I thought of him yesterday as I stopped at a local meat store. CP Meat Market is a great little shop in our town and I just love going into that store - because when I am there, I always feel closer to my Dad. My Dad worked for a meat packing company in the city - around 39th & Morgan, actually. I don't know much about the company that he worked for, because Dad didn't talk about his work much. He was a hard working man, Dad was, and he left his work AT work. When he was home - he was Dad. Doing Dad things. So, I don't know much about the company he worked for or what the building looked like or even what types of meat he cut at work. He took care of all of that. And I was just . . . his kid. I remember shortly after Dad had passed away I wanted to make a beef stew. Now, I have to start off by telling you that I know ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about meat. Never did, and probably never will. I never had to, as Dad took care of tha...

What better way to spend a day than . . . playing in the leaves Collecting leaves (and the kids) in garbage cans . . . Cleaning out our pumpkins . . . Carving the pumpkins . . . Lighting them . . . and getting all ready for Halloween? To me, there was no better way to spend today. (Well, maybe a nap would have made it a little itsy bitsy bit better. But that's ok. We'll catch up with that later!)

Shhhhhh . . . . I've got a secret . . . I have a little place I like to go . . . when I need to get away from it all . . . it's a tiny space . . . not far from loved ones . . . where I can hide away from all of the chaos . . . there are no windows . . . no telephone lines . . . only gentle reminders of a good way to live . . . a positive way of thinking . . . with hopes and dreams . . . like this one . . . and this one . . . it's my quiet time space . . . my place to rest and reflect . . . with only one "seat" and a small "desktop". . . it is a tiny tiny place . . . but it's my sanctuary . . . . Where is this place, you ask? Yes, it's true. My bathroom. And I find that I often visit this space to just get away from screaming children, loud televisions, phones ringing, and blackberries going off. It's my place where I can wash my face, paint my toes, play sudoku, read a book, meditate, pray, all in a quiet (and mostly uninterrupted) space. I...

It's Friday. We made it through another week ( Thankful ). And while I'm feeling a tad bit drained in the brain, (and am spending this wonderful day off getting caught up on laundry laundry laundry) I seem to be having a big ol'Love Fest in my heart today that I just had to write about. You see, I feel like I'm in a good place right now (YEA!!!) Those of you who have been reading along in my blog have witnessed some "not so good" emotions the past couple months. But lately . . . Clarity. Peacefulness. Balance. Thankfulness. Gratefulness. Ah. That feels good. The thing is. . . . I am blessed, and I know it. I've written before about my ARMY . . . and today I feel I have to write about some more blessings. You see, I am surrounded by amazing people. People who I know, and people who I don't know. People who I speak with daily, and people who I've never spoken with at all. People who, by their words and actions, have managed to fill my heart with joy...

That's it . . . I've got it. This time, it's gonna work. Definitely. I've got a plan. An idea. Something that I want to do - that is going to really make my dreams come true . Something that is going to help me become SOMEONE . Something that is calling me . Something that I believe in. Yes, I've had these plans before. My sister reminded me of them this morning, as I spoke with her on my way into the city. We were talking about life/work/money and I said something like, "Whatever is meant to be . . . will be. I'm not worried. I'm on a new mission. I have a new quest that I am going to embark on." "You are?" she said. "What is your new quest?" "I'm going to write a book . I'm going to be an author . That is what I am going to do." "Oh," she said, "You are, huh? Like your Witches ??" OUCH!! There she goes, again. Bringing up the Witches . You see, the Witches were a "Million Dollar...

My Auntie Sylvia passed away on Saturday afternoon. Sylvia was my fathers sister. She lived 84 years on this earth . . . pretty wonderful, don't you think? She was a great lady. In honor of Auntie Sylvia, I wanted to share just a couple things with you about her. One of the things that was true "Auntie Sylvia" behavior, was her ability to weep openingly at pretty much . . . anything. If she was happy, she'd weep. If she was celebrating a wedding, she'd weep. If she was mourning the loss of a loved one, she'd weep. If she was celebrating the birth of a baby, yep, you guessed it . . . she'd weep. I remember my Mom telling stories of how Auntie Sylvia would call her on the phone and ask her how all of us kids were doing. When Mom would tell her we were all doing well, Auntie Sylvia would break out in tears and say something like, "Oh, Carol, you've got such good kids." So funny . . . Another thing that is probably my very favorite memory of Aun...

Do you ever feel like you really need to s l o w down? I do. So, today I did what is probably the s l o w e s t thing I've done in a while . . . I started a puzzle. Seriously. I needed to do it. You see, the name of this Blog "From Chaos comes Happiness" was chosen not only because I really liked it - but because it is quite fitting for me . Ask anyone who knows me. It's really me . And lately, I've been making a conscious effort to s l o w it all down (a little, anyway.) Phil is home (YEA!!) He was here by lunch time, and let me tell you - all the ladies in this house are THRILLED to have him back! As the late afternoon approached, I found myself with some free time - and that hasn't happened in quite a while. So I decided to take advantage of it and start a puzzle. I bought this particular puzzle probably 8 years ago - when I had alot more free time and alot less responsibility in my life. Funny . . . I never opened it 8 years ago. Even with all of that...

Katie and I shared a really sweet moment this week, and I want to share it with you. It was so special, that just thinking about it right now is putting tears in my eyes. I received a HUGE awakening into what my child needs most from me, and it came at quite an unexpected moment. This weekend she was introduced to the whole idea of "playing card houses". She has seen a deck of playing cards before, and is just now starting to take an interest in learning different suits and learning how to play different games (she will learn "Kings in the Corner", as that was a major favorite game of her Great-Grandma Josephine!) But a couple days ago we started building a house out of playing cards and she absolutely LOVED it. It was the coolest thing she had ever seen! (It's just amazing to see your child learn something new and actually witness the sparkle in their eyes!) Because she was so fascinated at how you could actually build a house out of the cards, I went online a...

Yes, I do. I realized it this morning. I used work out of my home for almost 5 years, and regularly received packages from the brown truck. (This was before our office became more cyber based, as we now are able to do most, if not all of our work, electronically.) But back in the day (a whole 5 years ago) we would do a lot of mailing of items through UPS. It was natural that the UPS guy became our friend. I say "our", because in those early years, Katie and Ella were right by my side answering the door and receiving packages - since I was lucky to work from home and have the girls with me. We have had the same delivery guy for years. I don't know his name (I'm a little mad at myself that I haven't asked him), but at somepoint in the past few years I started to refer to him as "BUDDY", and the name kind of stuck. When we (the girls and I) would greet him at the door, they would say, "Hi, Buddy!" and he always responded back with a great big, ...

Today I had a GOOD MOM Day! and I want to share it with you. It started around 9am when my dear friend brought her daughter over for the day . . . . and from there on . . . . it was all GOOD! We hand made cards and craft projects. We made a card for a beloved aunt's birthday, and a get well sign for mu-mu. We made HOMEMADE Oatmeal Clay and played and played (thanks, Lill, for the recipe and support! And, no - I have NO IDEA what is on these plates. But, it's what our little artists created - and they're perfect!) We had a yummy chicken/pasta/peas/carrots salad for lunch. And a yummy cookie for dessert. We played a game of "I am a . . . " (which I made up about 5 minutes earlier). I wrote down the name of about 30 different animals/persons/things and put them in a bag, then picked them out one at a time and had the girls act out what it was. This occupied at least 45 minutes (yea!) Above they are a plate of spaghetti and meatballs, can't you tell? (I think Kat...

Alright . . . . here we go. So, this afternoon I was sitting here at my desk, playing some nonsensical (I love that word) game on Facebook, minding my own business . . . when a dear friend of mine sent me an instant message. It went like this: She wrote: "Hi" I wrote: "Hi" She wrote: "How are you?" I wrote: "Good. How are you?" She wrote: "Good. I was wondering if you wanted to try WW with me again ?" And there you have it. . . . WW = Weight Watchers. Try + Again = I've been there before. For a brief moment, I thought about quickly signing out of Facebook and calling her to tell her that my computer crashed and I didn't get her IM. But then I realized that I would be actually TALKING to her, and she could just ask me the question DIRECTLY . . . on the phone. So, no . . . that wouldn't work. Then I thought about telling her that I was moving to Yemen ( Friends reference, for all you Friends lovers out there), but she...

Years ago, long before I had daughters and long before I was married, I was browsing through an antique shop in downtown Naperville and came across this photograph (above). In my eyes they are two sisters. I don't know who they are, or where they are from, but I had to buy this the minute I saw it. It reminded me of me and my sister - the way the older sister has her arms so protectively around the younger girl is both familiar and so endearing to me. I've often wondered about the girls in this picture - what their names were, where they lived, how did they interact with eachother. Don't you wish you knew the stories behind those old photographs that you've seen? I do. Especially this one. This photo (above) is of my sister and me. I am blessed to have a sister. No matter what happens in this world and what happens in my life, I know that my sister is there for me. We may not always agree, but we care about each other enough to never walk away. My sister is my rock. She...

Last night I spent 3 hours getting caught up on “ GLEE ”. Phil and the girls were all sleeping, and although I probably should have been doing the same – I had a date with my DVR. I find that I rarely have time to sit down and watch anything on T.V. these days. That is probably a GOOD thing. But last night, it was me, and “GLEE”. Do you watch that show? It’s – silly . . . and I LOVE it. Now, if you are one of my conservative readers, I will tell you that I do understand it is sometimes raunchy and probably not very PC – but you have to take it with a grain of salt. It’s plain silliness from start to finish. That’s what it is meant to be. It is on primetime, so definitely not something that young children should watch. But for me – it’s 1 hour of silly fun, and brings me back to my own high school years and makes me smile. I was in my High School’s “GLEE” club – although we called it Show Choir. (However, in honor of the Fox GLEE television show, I will refer to my high school show choi...

With Halloween swiftly approaching, I thought I would share with you two of my most favorite "grown-up" Halloween Costumes. (Actually, I'm in the midst of trying to organize old photos and just came across these two and thought, "I'm not meant to enjoy these all alone . . . I must put them on my Blog!" ) So, without further ado, I give you . . . . Elizabeth Taylor - on the way to the Betty Ford Clinic!!! Now, you can't quite get a good look at the whole thing, and mind you . . . this was probably around 1995 or 96 (when I believe Liz Taylor had been in and out of Betty Ford) - so it probably was a little bit funnier back then. I already wrote briefly about - that is, I told you what happened to me on the way to this party. (Read my old Scrapbook Cellar post to refresh your memory.) Yes, this was the outfit I was wearing when Mr. Officer Man pulled me over for speeding, when I was then prompted to "Step out of your vehicle, Ma'am", and...

Oh, my goodness, it's TIME! (And boy, is it rough!) How did I do this once before? Yikes!! We are trying to potty train Ella. The girl just cracks me up - which doesn't make it any easier. She has a number of "conditions" in which she must have to using the potty. Please, let me share them with you, if you don't mind (if this is TMI - then join me tomorrow when I'll do my best to blog about something less potty related.) Condition #1: She has to pretty much strip to nakedness to use the potty. Condition #2: You must kneel on the floor in front of her . . . but DON'T look at her (which leads to condition #3). Condition #3: She will instruct you to "close your eyes". I mean, the girl needs her privacy, you know? She will not make any move until your eyes are CLOSED! Condition #4: She must celebrate! Once she feels she has completed the task at hand . . . she screams "I DID IT!!!" The kicker, though, is that she usually hasn't reall...

Just a quick update from my " Emoting " post on Saturday night. . . things are looking up. If you read that post, I just wanted to first let you know that Ellie is doing a little better each and every day. We return to our pediatrician on tomorrow (Tuesday) at 1pm. I'm keeping my fingers, toes, legs, arms and eyes crossed that she will continue to improve each minute of the day. I'll keep you posted . . . Also, regarding my "Emotion # 7" from that same post, I have to tell you - Our "cleansing" didn't just stop on Saturday closet cleaning day. No, Sireee! Dearest PG awoke Sunday morning feeling energized and decided to hit the garage! He cleaned, he swept, he painted walls and floors (seriously!), he packed away pool toys and pool, he hung tables and bikes, he was AMAZING! We honestly could host a 5 STAR meal in that garage right now - it looks that GOOD! And just when you'd think that was enough . . . oh, no, oh, no! We did the ever dread...

As I mentioned earlier this week (and all due the creative brain of my dear friend Cindi), I have begun working on a "30 Random Photos" Scrapbook. I first started scrapbooking almost 6 years ago - after Katie was born. It started as just a thing to do with a couple neighbors/friends and has totally become my creative outlet. I LOVE IT! But lately I've been feeling like I have so many events and memories that I want to scrap, that I am never going to get caught up. So, last week I forgot about the piles of photos I have to scrapbook, and decided on making cards instead. Well, my dear friends allowed me to take the easy way out and make my cards . . . that is, until I appeared bored and done with the card business. My friend Cindi said, "Grab 30 pictures [from your stash] right now, random, and put together an album." Huh? She said it again, "Right now, just grab 30 pictures. Grab some paper. Start cutting your paper and adhere 1 picture to each page, and ...

Tonight I am feeling a plethora of emotions , and have nothing witty or exciting to write about - but just thought that if I sat down and wrote a little about what I am feeling, I might just be able to work through some of this. . . I feel completely and totally distressed (emotion # 1 ) about my Ella. She has been sick for about 4 weeks now, and I've had her at the doctor a total of 5 times. It first started as the croup. Then she was bit by something on her inner leg and developed a bad reaction to the bite. Then this allergy she was battling from the bite turned into a really BAD rash. Then the antibiotic she was taking started to cause another reaction to the first reaction and she developed an ever WORSE rash that has been spreading, off and on, for a few days. After another trip to our pediatrician (who I absolutely respect, cherish, and trust whole-heartedly), we've been told that this really is a virus that is working through her system. Our physician has decided to d...

As I blogged earlier in the week, last Saturday I was a lucky girl who got to spend a day in the Scrapbook Cellar with dear, inspiring friends. And while I was there, all kid-free with creativity flowing, my dear husband was home playing Mr. Mom. Let me tell you, he is an incredible Mr. Mom. The girls love nothing more than a day with Daddy all to themselves. And me . . . SO INCREDIBLY LUCKY . Not only for my "day", but because when I returned home I was greeted with a beautiful bouquet of the most gorgeous red roses . Katie was so excited to show them to me, "Mommy, we bought you Roses! We bought you Roses!!!" she squealed. And I was equally as excited to receive them. Phil doesn't give flowers very often, and believe me, I am NOT writing this to make him feel bad (HONESTLY, HONEY! I'm NOT!). He just knows that I would probably not want him spending money on flowers for me and would rather he use the money for something else (like, maybe a bottle of wine, ...

I MADE IT! After a pretty exhausting work week, I am proud to have just completed my last client visit and am officially DONE! Wahooooie! I'm pretty tired right now, but have about one hour before Katie is home and thought I would just put a little note out here to wish you all a HAPPY FALL!!!! My favorite time of year is NOW upon us, and now that this work week is done for me, I can relax a little. I am feeling . . . wonderful! I hope you take some time during the remainder of this week for yourself. Take some deep, relaxing breaths to release some stress right now . . . it feels oh so good. Tonight I am going to return to work on my "30 random photos scrapbook", and will share some pages with you this weekend. It's a cold, rainy, gloomy day out - but I feel like there is a bit of cleansing going on in the universe right now. Have I ever told you about the "Gong"? Oh, it's too much to get into right now. I'll save it for another day. Until then . ...