Reflections, Resolutions and Ramblings

 Every year about this time I spend WAY too much time reflecting on the previous year. I do it consistently the days before New Years trying to decide what my resolutions might be. This should be a tradition I need to avoid, nevertheless, as I look back on the year I tend to focus only on the negative things I might want to try rid myself of the next year. All the times I failed to be there for a friend, or the times I lacked in guiding my child, or the times I got frustrated and wanted to just throw in the towel. This is really not how I want to spend the last days of a truly for the most part wonderful year.

Grace and Mercy. This is the concept (resolution) I’ll focus on next year. Cut a person some slack. We all fall short miserably of the standards we set for ourselves and especially the ones we set for others. I think people spend too much time beating themselves up for not being perfect. This is a terrible dilemma running rampant. A few ideas running through my mind:

 On being a mom- I’m not the best mom in the world nor am I the worst. I am who I am and love tremendously. I would die for each and every one of them without a thought.

 On being a friend- I’m not the best friend you could ever have nor could I (hopefully not) be the worst. I try hard to be the friend you need and want every day. I love all my friends tremendously and would die for each and every one of them without a thought.

On being a wife- I do the best I can with all I have. Excluding my female neurosis and crazy days, I want to be the best thing that ever happened to you. I love with every inch of the heart God gave me and would die for you in an instant.

Grace and mercy allows us to be who we are and love regardless. I imagine how Jesus felt as he was lead to the cross. We were terrible friends and so imperfect and trying. Yet, his love was so deep for us he was willing to die anyway. We don’t have to be perfect (because we will never get there) or try to have others see us as perfect. We just have to be ourselves and accept others for who they are.

Let Them Eat Cake!

Today I have a “ME” day. This is the day that I am all alone at home and can do whatever I want. This may not sound like a big deal to some, but to me, its like a slice of heaven for 4 or 5 hours. After about an hour of doing the typical cleaning and washing, I decided that that wasn’t what I wanted to do so I decided I would bake something. I haven’t baked anything in forever so I chose a cinnamon cake. Yes, it’s out of a box but I still have to add ingredients so that counts. I mixed the egg, water and oil to the batter. Separated the little bread crumbs and did everything it said on the box. As I was ready to pour it all in the pan, my index finger reached down and scooped up a nice taste of the sugary batter smelling deliciousness. I didn’t have that anticipated taste halfway to my mouth when the skies opened up and a huge voice came out of nowhere and exclaimed NO!!! Don’t do it! There’s E-coli salmonella bacteria and lethal matter in that batter! I responded promptly with “You gotta be kidding me. This is my day and if I want to lick the whole bowl, I’m going to do it.” Well, my conscience got the better of me so I didn’t. How did we get here? How did we get to the point where a person can’t even lick a spoon without fear of imminent death? I remember a time ( I don’t know if my mom knows this or not) when we, my brothers and I, used to come home from school we would get out the recipe card for chocolate cake and prepare the batter. It never made it to the oven. We didn’t want cake. We wanted the batter. Eaten right out of the bowl…raw eggs and all. How we survived to adulthood, I have no idea. I feel really sad right now that today’s kids will never be able to experience the extreme joy of sitting patiently in the kitchen while mom is preparing a yummy cake or cookies and then waiting for your turn to lick the spoon, the beaters, and the bowl. In 37 minutes my cake will be done. I’ll probably eat half of it before my husband and son return from fishing. It wasn’t the same working so hard and not licking the spoon.

My Love Affair with Science Fairs

Ode to the Science Fair

The biggest challenge I face in interacting between my son and the school system is the science fair. I think there should be stricter rules and regulations regarding participating in such events as listed below.

1. The parents are required to be less neurotic than the child. If you have a child that is extremely easy going, lives for today and never worries about what tomorrow brings and then you have parents that come unglued over deadlines and changes in procedures that tend to throw them into a tailspin, it’s not a recipe for success.

2. This should be optional. A child with absolutely no interest in doing science experiments nor care what the outcome is, has no business putting his parents through this stressful activity. More than seeing experiments as the science fair, People love to see the kids enthusiasm over what he have accomplished or figured out. Like they had some major revelation.

3. The parents should actually know what all the materials are. When the experiment calls for “Non-Galvanized Nails” in the year 2012, the parents should realize that this is hard to find since all nails are galvanized to some degree and finding the requirements is going to take more research than a 5 minute trip to Lowes. It is also important for the parents to know that they actually have the wrong materials sooner than 28 hours into an experiment that is due in 3 days.

4. The child should not be prone to beg for an F instead of doing science. This just leaves the parents to spend hours upon days convincing the child that failure is not an option and no one is sleeping the night before its due.

After weeks of working on this science project and also having to start all over with a new idea one week before it was due, I feel we have pulled it off. I’m going for D or better and everyone gets ice cream. Please do not tell me this is a yearly thing. If so, I’m going to make him start today on next year’s project.

All and all, the science fair went off without a hitch and I actually learned some really cool stuff from some creative 6-8th graders. My personal blue ribbons go to child #4b who proved that Wal-Mart brand nail polish lasts longer and chips less than your expensive brands and child 3a who proved that chickens lay more eggs when listening to classical music than they do with country music or no music. Both these I will definitely try at home. Stay tuned and I’ll post some pictures.

Virtual Walls

Today my thoughts were about my robot. I have an irobot that vacuums for me. It has patterns and sensors that keep it moving to completely cover the room eventually. I can set a timer to run when I’m not here. It has a voice that states its needs like when its in a pickle it says, “Please move Roomba to a new location.” Or “Please charge Roomba.” It comes with lighthouses and virtual walls so you can let it know where to go next with the lighthouse or not let it in certain areas that you don’t want it to go. One cool thing is the docking station so when it senses that its battery is low, it docks itself and recharges. Its equipped with everything it needs to do the job it was made to do.

Why am I telling you all about my robot? I’m not selling them or anything but one day a friend of mine also bought one of these robots and she asked me, “Do let it run while you’re not home?” I said no because I’m never sure where it will be when I get back and I end up calling for it like some kind of crazy woman…”Here robot, where are you?”

As a person who ponders numerous conversations for days, I started thinking about the robot and the question posed to me by my friend. I also think about kids and teenagers a lot. Then a huge lightning bolt seared across the sky, lights started flickering and I had an AHA! moment. iRobot is like cildren. I am in such a rush most days, I usually don’t take the time to set up the virtual walls or the timers so it just works randomly throughout my house. It takes twice as much time to clean than if it the equipment was used properly. All the information I need is there, I just have to stop and listen to it or maybe read a manual or two. I don’t really set the timer because I just use it when its convenient for me and my schedule. I have never used the lighthouses really because sometimes I’m not even sure where I think it should go next. Imagine what would happen if our children had no virtual walls, no boundaries, no idea what was coming next or where they should go next. Imagine if we didn’t really take the time to read a manual or search out answers that would help our kids run more efficiently. They come equipped with everything they need to be successful and its our job to keep the batteries charged and the direction clear.

Technology Update

Dear Husband and Son,

You may not have recognized this item but I would like to take the time to fill you in. In order to clear up any miscommunication, I will now attempt to answer all your questions about this. The wicker square thing in the corner of each room is called a laundry basket. I understand your not recognizing it since it does not have tires, engine nor propels on the water. It has been used for centuries as a place to put clothes that have been worn and are in need of laundering. Hence the name “LAUNDRY basket”. What this strange item cannot not do is be magnetized to spontaneously attract your used clothing. It cannot sense unclean articles and retrieve them. There is no remote so it does not have to be turned on, unlocked or turned off. It just sits there. It cannot pick up socks or anything else by itself that have been left on the floor next to it. It order for this device to work properly, you must actually feed it every day.

Recruit and Paint

So I called Danyele, my sister in law. She is always redecorating, moving something, updating, fixing, restoring, reorganizing…well, you get the picture. I went to her with my awesome idea and my terrible dilemma. “But I can’t paint” I said sadly with puppy dog eyes. She was more than happy to help and we planned a Saturday to do the paint job. Since we live so far away and its hard to get people together these days, I had a brilliant idea to make a day of it. Make a big dinner, have family over, paint, eat, play. Well, I wouldn’t say it was brilliant, more like addicted to chaos.
Danyele comes over with her supplies. She has on these cute shoes, nice pair of jeans, button down shirt and the cutest leather jacket. Hmm. Where’s the sweats? I guess she’ll change later. I, in my ripped jeans and baggy shirt, start helping to get the room ready. She opens the paint and gets right to it....in her cute outfit. So I waited, surely she’ll realize she forgot to change? Meanwhile, the family is here, kids are running everywhere wanting in that room that they are sure all the toys are in. I left the paint job to Danyele as I prepared dinner and tended to the guests. Not to mention the fact that I am not allowed anywhere near paint. When the day was finally over, the room was painted, not a drop anywhere, not even on Danyele’s shoes, dinner was good, the company was great and all in all a successful day. Thank you for your help. The painting was perfect and better than the people I originally paid to paint the orange.

Next...We Paint...Maybe

Getting excited about seeing the orange disappear, I asked my son what color he thought his Antique Car room should be. Since he was going to be a teenager in a couple of years, I knew it had to be a pretty mature looking room. He said black. Compromise lesson #1: If one persons idea is crazy enough to make you pass out,don't just say 'No Way!' I thought I would appeal to his love of cars and say, "How about we paint the base color gray and have black and red pin striping just like this car here on the cover of your Hot rod magazine?" Bingo. He thought that would be perfect.

I announced to my husband about our plans for painting and the ideas we had for the room. I was starting to get excited and couldn't wait to get to Lowes and get started. The only small glitch was his response. In the nicest, warmest way possible he said to me, "If you touch another wall with a paintbrush, I'm moving out." Ouch! Although I did still have fresh memories of my attempt to repaint a small bathroom in our house. I am reminded of it every time turn on my blue tinted light fixtures or clean the blue spotted commode or pull down the shades over the blue accented window frames. Not even to mention the brush strokes that are wearing off the walls.

Now I have a small dilemma. Hmmm. I can't really paint(walls) and I don't have a design team. I have already cleaned out the room and am set on doing this project. I need a team. I need professionals. I have got to get some input from someone that loves this stuff and can coach me on this. I just now realized that some planning is going to have to be involved and that's something I lack. I just had the best idea. I'm going to call......

A Decorating Excursion

Ever since my son was very little, he has had an obsession with the color orange. I don't think it had anything to do with us hanging UT flags, banners, hats, memorabilia all over his room since birth. Or maybe it does. When we built a house we let the kids decide their room color and agreed to paint whatever they wanted. Well, as it happens, my son picked orange and it was done. Its been 5 years of the orange bedroom and I think I'm pretty oranged out. I finally talked him into redoing his room with the promise of antique classic car theme. This picture is the before picture and I'll update it as progress goes on.

I did realize that redoing a bedroom is NOTHING like you see on TV. There is so much involved especially for someone with absolutely no sense of design. So here it is, before.

Staying in AWE

There are so many things we lose as we age. Our hair turns grey, wrinkles appear, joints don’t move as well as they did and we seem to just be all around slower. I am pretty much ok with all that. I call it my successes. The only thing that I want to be careful not to lose is my awe. I have to practice it every day. Sometimes a vigorous workout is required. I would suggest 20 to 30 minutes a day, at least three times a week.

I remember when we rented a little house at the bottom of Brady Mountain. The location was just at the end of a few downhill hairpin type turns. This was a major route for tractor trailers to travel from the north to Chattanooga. As the trucks would make their way down the mountain, you could hear the screeching of wheels or the roughness of the engine as they downshifted to maneuver the road. Each time a tractor trailer would make its way down the winding road, the engines would scream and my then 3 year old son would stop everything he was doing and run to the middle of the driveway to be in awe of this huge mechanical giant on wheels. He did this every time. For hours regularly I would watch him race to get just one fleeting glance. He never tired of it. Each time he saw these trucks was like the first time he ever saw one. That is awe. He marveled at the size, the speed, the colors, the sounds they made.

Every morning I wake up early just to run outside to watch the sun rise. I marvel at the color, the cloud formation, the reflection, the speed in all its gracefulness. When I am lucky enough to be still at sunset, I wait and be in awe of that too. The sky is something that has always amazed me. Its where quiet comes from.
As I grow older, my body may fail me, my youth will leave me, but I hope I never lose the awe of looking up. My Challenge, find something today that amazes you.