My New Year's Revolution

I have an aversion to that 'r' word. I believe that word is used too loosely. Resolution has a flaky, waffly quality about it. It's a soft word, it even sounds wimpy.... like serendipity or redundancy. To acknowledge my goals as resolutions I may as well be saying 'things that sound nice ideally, but I'm not putting much stock in the idea of them actually happening'.

I gave a lot of thought to them last week. In light of my recent epiphany in regards to planning and goal-oriented forward thinking-ness, I came to the conclusion that less is more. I'm committing to doing more with less this year, in so many more ways than one.

Below is my edited list posted not so much as to impress my meager blog following, but more as an effort to hold myself accountable. They say writing down your goals is the first step in bringing them to fruition. Well if that's the first step, then proclaiming them for all your family, friends and otherwise to read and hold you to them should bring me a few strides closer than that. Without further ado, I present my list for 2010:

1. Make some really great art with my little Rebel.


2. Learn how to sew; specifically window treatments for the house and matching sundresses for Barbie and I to rock this summer.
   
3. Finally have loosened hamstrings. All my life I have never been able to do this (this is the stuff that keeps me up at night, folks):
   



4. Try to do something physical every day. (I hear those snickers... Oh that he would be THAT lucky!)


5. Practice my interior re-design skills on a semi-professional level for friends and acquaintances with the intention of figuring out what to do with this God-given talent of mine.


6. Pay off my credit card (note singular) EVERY. DAMN. MONTH. This implies spending less... but everyone says that on their resolutions, don't they?


7. This one is omitted to protect the identities of the innocent.


8. Ditto for this one.
   
   There you have it friends--my 2010 New Years Revolution. Happy new decade.

Christmas: Acts I & II

A few shots from Christmas weekends at both of our families' homes. It was a whirlwind tour from December 18th until December 26th... So whirlwind that I am now just getting around to blogging about it.

And with that draws close 2009 year in pictures on this blog. I look forward to keeping better tabs on Composed Fresh- if only just a small post every other day or so.

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.