From Chaos Comes Happiness

My goodness . . . my mind is a bit silly tonight. I miss my dearest blog friends (that would be YOU) so very much, and decided the best way to jump back in the saddle is to just . . . DO IT! So please forgive me for the randomness of this post, but I have much to share and can't think of a better way to do it than this. In no particular order, here is a bulleted list of the updates of life in our "happy chaos" the past week, or so . . . just to bring you up to speed: The girls have both started their school years off with flying colors! Ella has taken so very well to Kindergarten, and happily exclaimed, "I LOVE IT!" when stepping off of the bus that first day. My eyes were filled with tears for missing her, but seeing her smiling face made it all the better. Katie feels she has the BEST 4th Grade Teacher in the whole school, which makes it extra easy for us to get moving in the morning. She has started setting her own alarm this year (a new thing for us a

I wanted to do something special this year to mark the end of the summer and to christen the beginning of a new school year.  A celebration, of sorts, that all of us in the family could take part in. So, I decided we'd have a ceremony . . . a little presentation . . . to talk about our wishes for the coming school year, and then end it with a special lighting ceremony (yes, I must be going through some sort of withdrawal from the pomp and circumstance of the Olympics.) We started by each of us making "wish" pages that could hold our individual wishes for the new school year. From "making new friends" to "focusing more", each of us had something that we wanted to wish for in the months ahead. While the concept was a little hard for Ella to get, she still came up with "I want to learn more math" and "I want to make friends". I was pretty proud of her! They did a great job with their school year wish lists. We then ga

Oh, dear . . . so sorry I've been MIA, my friends. I've been on another amazing adventure last week, and have just now recovered enough to write about it. This one was completely spontaneous . . . probably, the most spontaneous thing I've ever done. And boy-oh-boy, it took a LOT out of me. If you follow me on facebook, you probably already know what I am talking about. If you don't, allow me to tell you my story. One of the things PG and I enjoyed most about our single, childless days, was living life off the cuff. To wing it, go with the flow, see where life takes us. Often we found ourselves hopping in the car and heading out for a ride, all ready to explore someplace new . . . it would be nothing for us to realize we had a day off together and end up in St. Louis, or Cleveland, or anywhere imaginable, actually. Life is an adventure, after all. Well, last Monday night . . . we went on the biggest adventure of our life . . . to New York City. Yes, we've b

I went to dinner with an old friend of mine last week. Susan. She makes me laugh until I cry, this Susan girl. And then when I calm myself down, I laugh some more. Friends like that are good to have. Susan and I have known each other what feels like a lifetime ago, when we both were childless and single, living our days working full time and doing community theater at night. We were young. We were fearless. We lived life to the fullest. While we are still pretty fearless and still live life to the fullest, we now do so with our spouses and kids in tow. Susan still does a great deal of theater, except now she gets paid for it. Me? I make art. The last time we had dinner together was probably 5 years ago. Facebook has kept us in contact with the little updates here and there, but it has been way too long since we sat face to face and talked. But it felt like we just did it last week, that's how comfortable our friendship is. We each had long stories to tell of our lives the

A couple of weeks ago, I had two hours to myself. Two whole hours. Katie and Ella had swimming lessons, and since Phil was scheduled for an upcoming business trip that would have him away (and free from parenting duty) for 10 days, I thought I would take advantage of the time and decided to stay home instead of going to workout. Phil took the girls to the club, and I was all alone. For two hours. Isn't it crazy how fast two hours can go? It's really just . . . 7,200 seconds. Really. As I closed the front door and took a great deep breath, I started to think about what I could possibly do with my new found free time. The house was so quiet, not a television or computer game was on, and only the sound of the air conditioner running could be heard. What to do with my 7,200 seconds? While I could have worked on my robot dance, cut coupons, or done some online shopping, I stepped into our kitchen, and saw this mess waiting for me . . . . . . as if we just received

A happy song is playing in my head today. You know the one . . . Three Little Birds , by Bob Marley. I love Bob Marley, a true genius at putting words together with a rhythm and beat that moves my soul. I have always been a fan of his, way before I took that trip to Jamaica in 1995 with a friend of mine. When I hear Marley, my eyes close and before I know it, my body is swaying to the beat with little dips of the head taken here and there. Today, I'm singing his song. Rise up this mornin', Smiled with the risin' sun, Three little birds Pitch by my doorstep Singin' sweet songs Of melodies pure and true, Sayin', this is my message to you-ou-ou Singin': "Don't worry 'bout a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right." Singin': "Don't worry (don't worry) 'bout a thing, 'Cause every little thing gonna be all right!" Oh, how I love that song. A week or so ago, my friend Leslie from "Words o

During our trip to Milwaukee last week, I knew that I had to do everything in my power to get myself over to Madison. Not only the state capitol of Wisconsin, but Madison is the town where my very favorite store in the whole wide world is . . . Anthology. Have I ever told you about Anthology ? I first came across Anthology at The Creative Connection event I attended last September in Minnesota. The store was a vendor in the amazing marketplace at the conference, and I immediately fell in love with their table of vintage paper goods. I could have stood at their booth for hours (. . . wait a minute . . . I think I did stand there for hours), and I even threatened to pack myself up in one of their boxes so that I could find my way to their store. I knew their store had to have been even more wonderful than the booth . . . and it became my dream to visit it someday. The owners of Anthology are sisters Sachi and Laura Komai, and they remind me very much of me and my own sister (who is