Thursday, May 15, 2008

Movin' On



The wall is coming down. The wall with my fun sketch of water birds painted in a flash to cover up a ratty looking wall. Much more delightful than plain paint. We'll try to preserve the birds but if not, c'est la vie. Dorrie and Nemo that I painted were sacrificed when Martin's wall was the access point to bathroom repairs.

The Coke machine is now in the pub and it looks awesome. Andrew found the very one we have online and so maybe we can actually locate a key and get it going again.

I am so excited about the revamp of my tiny website, SandyBands. It is definitely a work in progress. Selling this type of product online is pretty much a non-event so I decided to create a joyous website and let the muses take it where they will.

I sit here in what Donny's calls my Chinese office. Clutter (organized of course!) surrounds me. But for the moment I really cannot do much, so I look at it like the figure changing stages of pregnancy when your body is not your own and there is not a thing you can do about it, or would want to. So you enjoy the watermelon look with the ass wider than that, eat what you want, and beam knowing the end result is pretty cool.

Sunday, May 11, 2008

Happy 100 Years Mother's Day



Anna Jarvis would be proud of my day today, nary a gift in sight. Just personal contact of one sort or the other all around from Twitter to talk. And that is exactly what Anna proposed when she started the movement a hundred years ago in 1908. But in no time it seems her simple plan had sprouted into an annual gift giving responsibility. She cringed and pouted and even protested one Mother's Day celebration to the point of being thrown in jail. That girl had spunk. How dare they ruin her beautiful idea of honoring mothers with maybe one white carnation and definitely a hand written letter of thanks. Period.

We get it, Anna. In this family, we get it. No frills and no stuff, just a chat and a smile.

Smiles across the miles.

My smile lasted the entire trip to Springfield midweek. Right before I left Em called to report that Lydia had gotten up early (for her) and dressed and gone downstairs. Martin found her sitting and looking out the front window wearing her birthday crown from her recent party at school (summer kids get a party before school is out). He asked her what she was doing. "Waiting for Grandma," came the reply.

I was not due until early evening.

And more smiles the next day from Mr Martin. We had a great time playing board games betwixt Lydia's bedtime and his to the point of overstepping his bedtime. I kept telling him he was going to get me in huge trouble as we sailed past the official time and into later. He promised to not be grumpy in the morning and Em later told me he actually did pretty well, for Martin. Then as I prepped for the trip home Em tells me that he asked her if I would be there when he got in from school. "I need to play with Grandma more," he explained.

Miles of smiles...all the way home