Lucky Number 13

(The day after we got engaged)

i carry your heart with me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

- ee cummings

Madeline's Birthday

Being the lazy mother that I am, I don't do big birthday parties for the girls every year. We do big parties (i.e. lots of friends and mucho dinero spent) on what we consider THE BIGGIES- 8, 12 and 16. So birthdays around here consist of their choice of dinner and cake and then presents with the family (and which ever extended family happens to be around at the time!).

This year Madeline asked if some friends could come over for dinner and then spend the night. She caught me at a weak moment and I said yes. We ended up with two friends for dinner and one friend who stayed the night on the 11th (the day before her actual birthday).

Madeline requested homemade pizza for dinner and then ice cream sundaes for dessert. On her actual birthday she wanted nachoes and chocolate chip cheesecake. The girl has pretty good taste. ;)

Her big present was a guitar. The music teacher at her school teaches a free guitar class to Fifth graders after school once a week. She actually got the guitar as an early gift because the class started before her birthday. But she also got an American Girl Hair Care Center, which she had been wanting. She told James and I later that her birthday was perfect, and I guess as a parent you can't ask for more than that, can you??

My Husband Is Made of Awesome

Three days after I met James, he told me he loved me.

Fours days after I met James, he told me that he wanted to marry me.

At this point I wasn't even sure I wanted to date him, let alone *marry* him.

Five days after I met James, he fixed my car for me.

It was at this point I seriously began to consider the marriage potential. After all, a man who can FIX THINGS is very, very handy.

Yesterday my sound judgment was reaffirmed (not for the first time!) as he was able to replace the EGR Valve in my van in under 30 minutes, something that a mechanic would have charged us hundreds of dollars to do, mind you. It's not the first time he's worked mechanical miracles, and I'm sure it won't be the last time.

It makes up for the unfortunate incident that happened on Sunday when he thought it would be fine to move this bookcase.


This bookcase that is full of my preschool books. This bookcase that I spent a WEEK over the summer organizing alphabetically and by theme. This bookcase that is a cheap, not-at-all-well-made Target bookcase.

This bookcase that proceeded to have one whole side fall off of it when he tried to scootch it across the carpet. This is what happened.



*sigh*

200+ books in a big pile on the floor.

At least he was able to put his handyman skills to use and repair the bookcase and REINFORCE IT WITH MONSTER SCREWS. All is forgiven.

There's hope for me yet...

As I was driving home from school last week I came across this song on the radio as I was flipping through the channels. I don't go much for the 'easy-listening Christian rock' genre, but hearing this song two days in a row was too much of a coincidence to be ignored.



The message was something that I very much needed to hear right now at this time in my life. Far too often I lose sight of the "big picture" as I get caught up in this earthly experience my spiritual being is having. Sometimes God sends you an answer to a prayer that you didn't know you were praying.

The Swayze

Some might say he was at his best in "Dirty Dancing". My mom would probably vote for "Ghost". But to me, he'll always be Adrian.

Patrick Swayze - Chippendale
by tressage

*Nods*

Kindness may begin with me, but it's a fact that some people are out of their ever-lovin' mind.

Happy Birthday, Madeline!!

This is not the blog post you're looking for

I'm not really blogging here. It's more like I'm giving you all the reasons I'm not blogging. Like-

...School is in full swing and it's keeping us all busy.

...I'm darting between doctor's appointments and family functions and guitar lessons (Madeline, not me. And "Free Guitar Lessons From the School Music Teacher Once a Week For 5th Graders Who Make the Commitment" is Reason #428 while I love the school the girls are at.)

...There are books I'd rather be reading.

...There are TV shows I'd rather be watching.

...There is sleep I'd rather be, err, sleeping.

So, like I said, I'm not really blogging here. But! To make it up to you, I will leave you with pictures of two of my minions washing and vacuuming my car of Labor Day. In the legacy of my father (who always made up clean out the garage on Labor Day, rather than driving the short 30 minutes to the nearest beach) we are not one of those families who jet off for a fun three day weekend. Instead we stay home, do laundry and clean the cars.

"...But so many more so happy"

September has come, it is hers
Whose vitality leaps in the autumn,
Whose nature prefers
Trees without leaves and a fire in the fire-place.
So I give her this month and the next
Though the whole of my year should be hers who has
rendered already
So many of its days intolerable or perplexed
But so many more so happy;
Who has left a scent on my life, and left my walls
Dancing over and over with her shadow
Whose hair is twined in all my waterfalls
And all of London littered with remembered kisses.

- Louis MacNeice, Autumn Journal