Snowed in and other stuff

I voluntarily snowed myself in today at home. It was fantastic. Nails were did. Wrapping was done. More Canon Rebel bible was read. As well as another literary visit to Forks with all its vampire and werewolf goodness. Even had a nice breakfast with my daughter before I sent her off to school. And the day went by at a nice SLOW pace. 

I'm starting to believe in sunglass karma. In my lifetime I have come upon two or three pairs of designer shades in my possession as happy accidents. It seems almost in direct proportion of acquiring new eyewear, the shades that I purchase seem to disappear with as much ease. Its maddening. Someone somewhere is walking around with some nice polarized Revos. And last week, a super cute pair of Jackie-O's went back into the give-and-take universe that is karma. I just hope she enjoys them. 

Last week I was engrossed in wrapping up a project (read: mess) in the guest room. I have been slowly unloading the contents of Barbie's closet filled with clothing from the very beginning and sorting it into labelled and sized totes. Not sure what we are doing with the contents at this point other than stacking them up in the guest room closet while we consider their fate. If Webster is looking for a visual of the word PROCRASTINATION (or DENIAL for that matter), this closet is a pretty good example.

Many tears were shed as the micro-sized onesies and sweet-smelling receiving blankets saw the light of day for the first time in almost 3 years. Barbara was intrigued and raided the piles of the little ensembles and proclaimed 'dibs' on her choices heirmarked for her babies. She had to keep asking why I was crying, which is really difficult to put into words that a toddler can understand. I hugged her a lot during the process and she most certainly now must think I may be a bit more unstable than she previously thought. All this in preparation for her big girl room transformation. Santa will be bringing a big girl bed this year. And a new chapter begins. More on this minor remodel project to come. 

Speaking on procrastination, I tackled a project recently that I had been putting off because of fear... repotting and downsizing my beloved fern. The time had come and I was convinced that it would make it a healthier, stronger plant.

I've been a mommy to this fern since 1988. It has moved with me 6 times. It had nearly died from dehydration more times than I can remember. Its survived the wrath of both a new puppy (who chewed off the entire bottom wrung) and a grabby infant learning to walk (looking for a handle). I bit the bullet a few weeks ago and did it while the weather was still good. Carefully I separated the two overgrown stalks from the smaller, more healthier one and repotted it in a new container with new dirt.

Over the past few weeks it looks very reminiscent of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. I killed it. I am so bummed.

Thanksgiving 2009

It’s been a looonnng time since I relished what a 4-day weekend feels like. Not having to wake up, do hair and don heels at an ungodly hour for 4 consecutive days was pure delight. A brief recap of the weekend’s events....

Wednesday night, the biggest bar night of the year, we joined the revelry at Jack’s in Spring Lake with some friends of ours. Good drinks and an even better band. Classic Fix is a fantastic classic rock cover band! These guys can perform ANYONE! Spot on covers of Journey, Van Halen, Boston, Aerosmith, Skynrd,... etc. We will most definitely follow scheduled local appearances this year and catch them again.  They play Kirby House and Jack’s pretty regularly.

{ Downtown Grand Haven all dressed up for the holidays }

Thursday morning brought the only exception of not sleeping in. I rolled out of bed, rocked a ballcap and braved the local Meijer in 24 hour old makeup to pick up our neatly packaged feast. I totally caved this year and ordered it up on Monday. They put on a mean spread for about $45. No brainer. Holiday meal-- check. 

Parents arrived around noonish and the snorgling of a certain tiny face began. Books were read. Babies were played. Puzzles were put together. 

{ This was on the table by 3. Then again at 7. Rinse, lather and repeat for the next 2 days. }

Once again my tired, bust*ss Christmas tree was taken out of storage and assembled. Once more I swore this is the final year before I put it out of its misery. Branches are snapping off left and right this time.  Evidently there is a limit to how many times the branches can be “fluffed”. B wanted to help, of course. Its a good thing it was a team effort, or else the tree would be about 3 foot tall and resemble a semicircle. That’s about how long the project had her attention.

While the rest of the crazies lined up for an early morning start to the shopping season, we stayed home and sipped hot cocoa, watched cartoons and read the paper. It was pure perfection. Later in the day moms watched B. so we could slip away to finally see New Moon, probably the first theatre experience we have had together in about 4-5 years, I’d venture to guess. Despite what the critics are saying, I thought  it was great! I may even be officially switching my alliances to Team Jacob (well, Edward was sort of a tool in this episode...)

{ Go team Jake! }

On Saturday my folks left for home and our good friends from Alabama stayed the night en route of their return trip home. It was a quiet evening relatively speaking and  a good visit. Lori and I watched Obsessed, that fatal attraction flick with Beyonce in it. Best part of the whole dang movie- Beyonce catches the psycho secretary in her (the family’s) house alone. Ensue butt kicking of one skinny blonde biatch. We laughed ourselves silly.

On Sunday with all of our company gone, we retreated to the mall for some light Christmas shopping. While strolling past the North Pole, I hoisted Barbara up to get a good look at Santa Claus... “the REAL Santa Claus” she was informed. To my utter disbelief she started to make a beeline to completely bypass the line of kids waiting and get up close and personal. My kid- the one that is forever hiding behind me in social situations and practically crawls up my backside when strangers dote on her in public. When I asked, she stated matter of factly that she wanted to see him and would not cry. $20 later we have the moment captured on Kodak Gold. She did it, folks. Sat on his lap-- talked to him-- the whole works. If I didn’t have the picture as evidence, I’d swear it never happened. 

It wasn’t 5 minutes later she was flailing on the floor of Bed, Bath and Beyond in full tantrum mode. Within earshot of the fat man. I have a new bargaining chip in my arsenal.  

Sweet.

Gratitude: Illustrated.

The above is one of my favorite photos of all time. It was taken by Gerald Waller in 1946 as he toured an Austrian orphanage with the Red Cross. Most likely the first pair of new shoes this kid had ever owned or seen. 

Shoes, people.

May all of you experience this level of joy and gratitude in the simple things this holiday season.

**P.S. Composed Fresh returning soon to regularly scheduled posts.**

Goulish Greetings

We are happy to report that we made it through a successful Halloween 2009, healthy and happy... and with slightly more expanded waistlines.

Barbara and I spent the day together doing all sorts of fun fall-themed activities and resting up for the big night ahead. Some highlights of the scary variety:

* Exhibiting my best zombie dance sequence ala "Thriller" in the kitchen in front of her saucer-wide eyes. Yes, that was truly frightening. We don't need to see that again for at least another year.


* Attempting a new Gluten-Free cupcake recipe for my sweetie. Found this little catastrophe in the pages of Parents magazine this month. They look good, yes. Upon tasting one, the comment from him was, "They're good (hesitation here), but they're missing something." Yes they are.... that tasty gluten.

While a much-anticipated nap was going down, it gave me a chance to whip up treats of the adult variety. Namely, pudding shots. They were a big hit with the frozen moms and dads freezing their hineys off that night. I think our cul-de-sac will be a destination spot next year.


The recipe for this sweet little sample of chocolatey goodness is as follows:

Pudding Shots yields 48
Small box of instant chocolate pudding
1/4 C. milk
8 oz. Cool-Whip
1/2 C. Vanilla Vodka
3/4 C. Kahlua

I prepared mine in a large ziploc bag, smushing all the ingredients together real well. I cut the end off a corner and piped them into small disposable sample cups and Viola! Work fast because it sets rather quickly. I found the cups at GFS. One bag will do ya a while. They come in 250 qty. Read: Plenty stocked up for the holiday season.





Trick-or-treating commenced at 6pm sharp, so we headed over to little buddy Nick's house. Nick rocked a Batman getup. So the Caped Crusader and his trusty sidekick, er, Elmo, returned an hour and a half later, slightly frozen and toting buckets of sugary goodness. The booty was spread out promptly and taken inventory of... again, and again, and again, etc. I think he's still probably dumping his bucket out yet this evening for closer examination. The beauty of it is, neither one of them wanted to EAT the candy. They were just happy to look at it! Yeay for the simplicity of toddlers!



Fricano's pizza and leftover pudding shots rounded out the festivities for our spooktacular night. Hope it was a happy Halloween for all of you!

We're Getting Ready!

Pumpkin Masters Carving set from Target: $1.99

Pumpkins from Meijer: 2/$6.00

Watching your toddler experience making Jack-o-Lanterns for the first time ever: Priceless.

Into Hibernation

The looming time change this weekend brings with it the limited ability to wander to the beach at the end of the day. This spring we were overjoyed to be able to return to our walks once again with some regularity, after Barbara proved that she could walk the mile there and back. Not the fastest hiker yet by any means, but it was a welcome return to life as we knew it before she came along.

This summer we enjoyed many after dinner strolls to the shore— making sandcastles, wading in the lake and watching Scouty fetch driftwood. Last night was one of our last weekday night visits, and here are some images captured on that walk.

A Weekend Visit

Friday night found us on the Highway to Hale for a visit with Grammie and Poppa. Good times and a nice visit enjoyed by all. Some highlights include:


Taking it easy...



Working on the concepts of winning with our first board game, "Hi Ho Cherry-O". Barbara has the winning part down pat. Now we just need to work on the losing part.


Mmmm... Sunday morning tradition of Poppa's chocolate chip pancakes.


And a little side trip to see some fall color and visit KoKo bear (who decided not to be a gracious host and come out of his den on Sunday morning).

See you soon Grammie and Poppa! xoxoxo, Ms. Binkypants

My Present.

For work I recently had to take a personality assessment that divulged my top 5 personality strengths. While a few of them came as no great surprise (Hello... EMPATHY anyone?), I was intrigued to learn about a few new little quirks that I have never been able to put a label of sorts on. The quiz revealed that I had strong FUTURISTIC tendencies. Now that's a new one.

In context, Futuristic went on to describe someone as:

"Pondering what you can upgrade, enhance, or perfect motivates you to excel at higher levels than you have in the past. You routinely imagine what you can do better in the coming weeks, months, years or even decades. You envision in vivid detail the things you need to enhance and perfect. These could include your environment, yourself, another person, a system, a project, a product or a job. Your imagination ordinarily pulls you into the future even as you work on current assignments."

Sounds great for someone who fancies herself as a creative designer. I chewed on this newfound description of myself for a few days, even wearing it as a badge of sorts, as it was discussed at our strategy retreat last week. Afterall, I was the only one on our team rocking the Futuristic label. The definition kept rolling around in my head over the last week, to the point of annoyance. Like some bad 80's song you can't get out of your head. Why? How did this go from being cool to this unexplained icky feeling I had every time I thought of the concept.

Fast forward to Wednesday night. I was uploading some new photos to Flickr which I had not done in ages. I took a quick minute to review some of the images I posted over a year ago. Pictures at a playground in South Haven. She didn't even look like the girl I had just put to bed. She was cherubic and clumsy. It was almost as if I was looking at someone else's family photos. I couldn't remember what had brought us to South Haven that day, or what we did before or after those pictures were taken. What did she sound like... was she even talking yet? And that saddened me a great deal. As cliche as it sounds, I went to bed wondering that night- where had the time gone? Have I been asleep? Have I not been paying attention?

And then the proverbial lightbulb came on. "Your imagination ordinarily pulls you into the future even as you work on current assignments."

I realized then that my newly-discovered character "strength" is actually my Achilles' Heel in life. My insatiable tendencies to plan the consummate future is robbing me of a perfectly imperfect present.

My weekends are typically heirmarked for a catch-up that never seems to happen. The amount of time spent planning to maximize the weekend, desperately trying to find the time to fit it all in is enough to drive any sane person mad. The endless lists, the filled-in Franklin pages, the volumes of archived magazine tears, the overloaded inspiration boards... all evidence that my pursuit of all things splendid has gotten downright ugly.

Another little gem this personality assessment brought to light.... I am an INPUT junkie, Futuristic's evil twin. That's right... books, magazines, blogs, DIY shows... all my drugs of choice. And all feed my addiction to the future. More articles suggest more ideas, which become more to do's, to makes and to buy's. Which then all need to be planned for. A vicious cycle indeed.

Its high time I use my propensity to envision in vivid detail the things I need to enhance and perfect to do some good in my life. It's late though, and I need to get up early tomorrow morning. I have a full weekend planned...

of living in the moment.

Autumn Goodness

So its shaping up to be quite the busy autumn thus far. So busy in fact, that I have had hardly any time to keep up with Composed Fresh (which was basically my fear from the beginning). We keep trying- so off we go.


I endeavored this weekend to make some headway on projects around the house and have some fun in the process. Mission accomplished on both fronts. My office is clean- and more space/lighting has been made to accommodate my crafting supplies. My husband can attest to 'our' need for some designated project space in this house... otherwise bits and baubles tend to accumulate in just about every room in the house.


Friday night my good friend Sarah and I had our weekly "adult programming and beverages" night. For those not in the know, truly we don't watch adult programming in its most frequently referenced definition. Rather we strictly avoid anything animated or otherwise targeted to the wee ones. ....Typically anything from the Style Network or TLC is decent content ('cept that horrid spectacle of J&K+8). This week my dear friend indulged me by DVR'ing Oprah from Wednesday, featuring my blogging inspiration/superhero Nie Nie. If you are looking for some pure inspiration in the face of adversity, check out the Nie Nie Dialogues blog. Great segment, to read more click here. Mr. Nielson is every bit as dashing "in person" as NieNie makes him out to be. Edward Cullen who? Every girl should find herself a man that would literally break his back, and walk through hell (and disfigure himself in the process) to save the life of his true love. Utterly amazing.



The next day we ventured with kids in tow for an excursion to Lewis Farms and Country Dairy in New Era. It was a day of petting exotic animals and wholesome lunches at the farm. Nick and Barb had a great time. It was alot of good ol' fashioned exhausting fun. And the kids were pretty tired too.


I believe my searching is over for the bedding I needed to find for Barbie's new big girl room that will be taking shape very soon. Bed, Bath and Beyond has the perfect match to the canopy top I bought at IKEA last year for her real big girl bed. We are going from sweet little bees to a fun circus theme. Hoping that its not too boyish. Part of me is feeling guilty for not getting some Dora on in her new space, but lets face it—she'd pick Diego anyways. I'm sure the time will come someday she will want to rock a pink and purple palace of her own, accented with some sassy leopard print. But then the 'boys on the brain' malady usually follows soon after that. BRING ON THEM ELEPHANTS AND TIGERS!

I finally got the chance to crack open Yoga Shakti and give it a whirl. Unlike the other gazillion yoga DVDs I have in my library, this one appears to have the potential to keep me challenged and interested for quite some time. Its safe to say I will be stuck on the beginner set of asanas for A LONG TIME. Typically once I work out for the first time in a long time, I hurt on the second day afterwards. I was smarting all day today and just can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store as official Day #2. Allegedly I am waking up at 5:45 tomorrow am to practice again. Allegedly.

The weekend went way too fast—again. I need like three more days to gut the flustercluck that is our utility room. You better bet some before and afters will appear at some point.

This Little Light of Mine

Those rumblings are happening again.

I can describe it only as a voice of suggestion— a gentle nudging that could almost be dismissed if I weren't paying any attention. Its the reverberations of discontent. The word discontent is loaded with so much negativity. I mean discontent in its truest form— literally 'not still', or in my case, not on auto-pilot. Its actually an exciting and coveted place to be, and I need to keep reminding myself of that. Some people spend their whole lives never once touched by the fires of creative possibility. And baby I'm burning alive.

With the blessings of talent and vision come the responsibility of doing something meaningful with them. And therein lies the rub.

My mind reworks the components every day like some jigsaw puzzle that you have no idea of what the finished picture will look like. That feeling like a word that you are trying desperately to remember is right on the tip of your tongue but you just can't get it— that's how close I feel I am. And its frustrating at times.

Its not just some idea for a new business, or some project or hobby. Rather, I believe this is the thread that will weave itself through all the experiences I have had in life thus far and bring me full circle. God gave me this toolbox of natural abilities to work with. I know what inspires me. I know what makes me feel alive. Now how can I use these tools so as to reflect God's glory and live the life He meant for me to live?

In Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus states: "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven""

So I keep praying the prayer of the constipated creative... for that breakthrough. Divine Ex-Lax anyone?

A Letter to the Editor

Dear Composed Fresh,

I am panged by guilt everytime I pass by my desk. I know I have neglected you and been a bad blogger mommy. Its not for lack of thinking of you- I think of you everyday... what we would talk about, what has been new in our lives. I just have not had much of an opportunity lately alone at my desk when I am not consumed by the act of creating money (rather than spending it- but that's another post entirely.).

In reality though, I must admit that you are a bit lower on the priority scale. Unfortunately for you, you stand behind time spent with my darling girl, time spent being a good wife and a good business owner, (and a good employee, good friend, good housekeeper... etc.)

I do intend to resume work on our relationship diligently. You are good for me-no doubt about that. I just wanted you to know. I hope to talk to you again very soon.

XOXO,
me

Family Vacation (x2) 2009

A new frontier was crossed by the Dawsons last weekend—the family vacation. We thought that was too much fun for any family to handle by themselves, so we called for backup. Good friends of ours joined us for what was their maiden family voyage as well. Yes folks, 4 adults, 3 children, 2 dirtbikes and 1 RV made its way northward to the Upper Peninsula on Thursday for an extended weekend in Marquette. It was an excursion full of unexpected surprises... but all made for a delightful (mis)adventure.

"We found what that mysterious burning smell was..."

Contented campers for the moment

We were barely on the road an hour before calamity struck in the form of a blown tire on the trailer we were pulling. "Darn, we may have to leave the dirtbikes here all weekend, honey!'"

Mr. Bear passing his noisemaker. Poor Mr. Bear...

Barbara "skipping" rocks on Presque Isle

Beloved Mr. Bear required some major elective surgery over the weekend. That cute little rattle isn't quite as cute when you are sharing the same bed with your toddler. After a crude colonoscopy and removal with the cheese knife, Mr. Bear was feeling better (and now thankfully silent). Later that day we took the kids to Presque Isle. It was actually beautiful despite the rain and gloom, and the kids loved climbing on the rocky Lake Superior shoreline. Other highlights included a much-deserved trip for Ann and I to the casino in St. Ignace sans husbands and of course, children. A good night at the casino, meaning we played all night, had a couple drinks and a pizza, and still left with most of the money we came in with. Good times.

Allen and the boys take on Sleepy Bear
We took the scenic route on the way home, which included a stop at Empire and the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Allen the Fearless made the descent with children in tow, and unbelievably returned in less than twenty minutes- which is an amazing feat considering small children involved. Being a first trip with another family, we did more than survive- we thrived. Now if we can just get our husbands to make good on that offer to ride dirt bikes in Hawaii....

I.Love.This.Camera.