Charlyn’s Web

It’s a dance- to be done with children.

First the parent decides to take the children to an event that would broaden their little minds, expose them to culture and fill their souls.

Then the children loudly proclaim that it will be BOOOORRRRING! And that they don’t “appreciate” that kind of thing.

Lastly, the parent drags children to event, leaving grooves in the cement steps as they dig in their little fingers and scream in agony.

It’s real fun, you need to try it sometime. I just did.

Col. Panic was singing with the local symphony and choir for their Christmas concert. We thought it would be fun, entertaining, interesting and good for the kids to go to the Dress Rehearsal and see their Papa in action. At least we weren’t dumb enough to take them to the real deal thing. I figured they could be a tad restless and we could whisper some if there wasn’t a crowded auditorium. We packed coloring books etc. to help stave off the boredom and headed into town as they moaned and groaned about their ordeal.

Just the trip getting there was interesting. It seems that I don’t know how to drive.

“Do you know how to dim the lights in this thing?”

“Are you going to hit those bumps going full blast?”

I realized the brights were on (apparently I didn’t know how to dim them “in this thing”)and was mentally apologizing to the truck in front of me as I dimmed them when a voice pops up with:

“Why are you turning off the lights?!?”

We some how made it there and managed to sit through Vivaldi’s Gloria. To be honest the kids did very well. The Girls sat on my lap, one at a time. We talked a bit about what was going on and the girls colored. They insisted that it was awful. I enjoyed it.

Then for the ride home they all piled in with Papa and I somehow managed to drive myself home without all that help.

Wonders never cease.

Since my last post. Just a little something to let you know I’m alive.

Because I can’t stand to do it every year.

Have you ever tried to get a decent shot of three wild creatures?

Someone is always doing something….odd.

I told them to look happy for the Grandparents and they looked like they were in pain.

One pouts, another grimaces, someone sticks hands on faces.

Add to that lighting issues, dog’s tails, sheet malfunctions and my patience flew out the window.

158 photos later, I threw in the towel. If I get around to mailing out a Christmas photo, it just very well may be one of the above.

I was in the nursery at church during Sunday School. Normally, I am not there during that time but one of the helpers was gone so I was conscripted. I had to work on the Church’s bills and therefore wasn’t much help, per say, just another adult in the room. One has to be so careful these days. Sigh.

Anyway, I was busy working on things, trying to keep my papers from being stepped on and scattered about when I tuned into a conversation.

Pixie is addressing her future husband: “Please put the seat up when you go pee because if you don’t it gets wet and then I might sit in it.”

Oh my. The nagging begins.

Happy Birthday Pixie!

Ever unprepared for life- that is me. With a birthday coming up and no presents to be found, I scurried off to engage in The Shopping Experience. Now, this may come as a surprise to some of you, but I dislike shopping. It has to do with the painful parting of me and my money.

Around here one doesn’t have a plethora of shopping options- basically it’s one. The Great Out House. Oh well, yes, there is the J.C.Penney store downtown- the one that is so small you could fit about 10 of them in one of their regular mall stores. Plus, the World Wide Web but I was running short on time.

So I headed off to That Place to hunt for the just right gift and also stock up on food. As I wandered the aisles, feeling very out of place because I was about the only one without a cell phone stuck to my ear, I tuned into the Christmas music playing on the loud speakers. Oh Joy. I told myself the advantage to having Christmas come to stores so early was that I had more birthday gift choices. I was trying to find the positive, for once.

But, you know, I just could not get excited about the choices out there. More choices were not necessarily better choices. Everything is plastered with Hannah Montana, BRATZ girls, Princess’ or Barbie. Why can’t they make something without that? Would it not do whatever it was made to do without it? Pajamas used to have cute things on them-hearts, flowers, airplanes- now try and find something as innocent as that. All the things that didn’t have those on them were things that we already owned. The things I liked and thought Birthday Girl would like were things we already had plenty of lying around. I shouldn’t have cared what it was- I should have just bought pink things and called it good. It’s hard and now I dread even more the torturous Christmas shopping experience.

I just don’t get it. I know I am old, my brain is feeble- my children sucked whatever was up there out and we don’t watch much TV but I am so very different? I guess I get discouraged because there isn’t a choice unless I pay a whole lot more (see aforementioned money and parting issues). I may only have one store in town to really shop at but if I had ten I would bet that there still wouldn’t be much choice. I wonder what retailers are thinking when they put some of these things out there. I bet they are thinking “This will really sell!” and the sad part, in my mind, is that it does sell.

I have a new friend. Aren’t you all proud of me? Now I have about 12 readers of my blog, maybe. Actually, she doesn’t always read my blog- that is until I nag her to death about it. “Have you seen my post? Did you read it? What did you think? Huh? Huh?” You should be glad you don’t live close to me?

But I digress. We, this friend and I, have talked about how there are people in our lives who have the knack of saying negative things right off when we tell exciting/good news. They are the people that take the wind right out of your sails.

The good news: I dyed my hair purple!

The response: You getting ready for Halloween a bit late, aren’t you?

The good news: I’m pregnant!

The response: You know how that happens, don’t you?

Note: Just to stop the rumors in their tracks- those were totally hypothetical conversations. I do not have purple hair nor am I pregnant.

I wondered at the time how many times I do such things to other people especially with my tendency to see the negative side of things so much.

I got my answer this last Sunday, and it ain’t pretty.

I walked into the nursery with the girls a few minutes past when Sunday School should start. A lady commented that we were there early today. I was a bit flustered because I had hoped to get there earlier than we did and said that very thing. She kindly said that she hadn’t meant to offend but was trying to be an encouragement. I thought- geez! could I have been any more ungracious?

Then, after pot luck, one of the ladies told me she had put my left over rolls into an old hot dog bag for me. Instead of saying a simple “Thank you!”, because I was thankful, I said “oh I had some bags over here.” Talk about spitting on people’s kind gestures.

It’s those small things sometimes that show us our true nature. And if I mess up on the small things- how will I handle the big ones?

Graciousness. Something to long for.

After last Christmas, I decided to go the “minimal” route and leave most of my knick-knacks packed away. Even a beautiful object doesn’t look good under a coat of dust. Also, even though I try, there are the odd balls, stuffed toy, sock or airplane being thrown around which can wreck an artfully laid out display in seconds. Then, there are the little hands that just have to move things around and re-organize the display. It wasn’t worth playing havoc with my control issues to have it all out.

This Autumn as the leaves started to turn, I thought it would be nice to put out a few “fallish” items to celebrate the season. But everywhere I turned I found the spot already “decorated”

On top of the piano.

On the antique buffet.

Here’s a detail of the tractor- the other tractor gets hooked up to the “implement” every other day. You know, for variety.

On the printer.

On the shelf.

The shelf and printer are unique because they not only have tractors but also have airplanes. The airplanes were there first and then it was decided that it was the season for tractors. A close up of the planes.

They are everywhere. I don’t know where this decorator came from or who gave him permission to decorate my house but come Christmas time I’m staging a coup! I will take back what is mine! There will be no lights on tractors! No shining balls on airplanes! I am woman and I am strong!

Who is with me?!

I recently made a German Chocolate cake from scratch for a certain Somebody’s birthday.

It took a bit of effort but I thought it turned out pretty well.

(See the all important Chinese Chili Sauce in the background? It has permanent residency on the table but not on the cake.)

The important person liked the cake. And The Boy thought it was great. The Girls, on the other hand, didn’t like the “frosting”. Coconut and pecans swimming in sweetness doesn’t appeal to them. As with most of the dinners I fix, I have found that you can’t please everybody so I don’t even try anymore. In this case, there wasn’t much sadness about it- in fact there was some joy as it meant more for the ones of us who liked it.