Cleats instead of Biscotti

I usually write about feelings rather than events. Maybe I should try writing about events. But you know, the events in my life aren't that extraordinary. I suppose the feelings in my life aren't that extraordinary either, but they are certainly the part of my life that I don't understand - therefore more interesting.

There are a lot of kids in my life these days. A lot. I dream of having a job where I'm surrounded by grown ups. Lately I've wanted to have a job at a cafe in Salt Lake. Something to leave behind every time I drive home. Quirky co-workers that have entertaining problems - like being in love with their professor at school or trying to convince their brother to move here from Toronto, or deciding whether or not to get a cat or a tattoo. I would love to work at the coffee counter at the SL lib. That is a loaded statement. Why do I want these things? It seems like these are jobs for young people. Do I want to be young? Or experience a different life than I did when I was young? When I was 24 I had 2 kids and was pregnant with my third. I was teaching school at BHS and clipping coupons and hauling big wheels and trikes. And playing in fountains and reading story books. It was a great life. In a thousand ways more fulfilling than filling coffee cups and cutting biscotti. But still... I want to read some good books on a train on the way to work and have to walk at least 3 blocks to get to there, and eat out of a brown paper bag on the lawn for lunch. I want a boss that tells me what to do every hour and I don't want to be responsible for anyone's happiness. I'm probably not responsible for anyone's happiness now, but it feels like I am. Is this a midlife crisis?

I don't want to work in a clothing store or a bank. I don't want to be a bus driver or a parking attendant. I think it sounds fun to work in a hotel, but maybe that's just because I'd like to go on vacation. It also sounds really fun to be a farmer. I think I'd be ok with that for one season. Wouldn't it be fun to take a year and do a different job every month? I'd like to be the secretary in the music dept at the U for a month. I could work in a high rise for a month. What do they really do in high rises? I think I just want to ride the elevator.

Well, its late and tomorrow I'll go to work and teach kids about music. And I have to get there really early. And it will be dark. And I'll be so busy at lunch that I'll eat a protein bar. And I have rehearsal after school so by the time I get home it will be dark again. Guh.

I could be a ski lift operator for a month.

Corinne is currently sobbing because Rich is taking her big toe nail entirely off. It died weeks ago after she wore cleats that were too small to an indoor game. Who knew?

Gotta go....

Happy National Bubble Bath Day

2012 a year of celebration.

I'm not sure why I'm so set on celebrating this year. Maybe it's something to do with three consecutive months of celebrating this last fall and a particular walk up the hill and an emotional discovery that I am happiest when I have something to celebrate. And it doesn't have to be grand (but it could be - grand is good) it can just be a simple acknowledgment of something notable. Celebrating is gratitude in action isn't it? Birthday - grateful to be alive, so blow up balloons and eat cake. Independence day - grateful for independence, so send beautiful bombs to explode in the sky. Thanksgiving - grateful to be grateful, so eat. St. Patricks Day - grateful for the color green and a man named Ned (who has a heart the size of his head in his chest). This year I'm going to be more often grateful and act upon it by celebrating more. Maybe this is a resolution. I'm not sure. I shy away from that kind of pressure, worried that the right thing in January will be the wrong thing come July. A year is a long time isn't it? Well, at any rate - I'm going to celebrate this week. 3rd - Festival of Sleep, 4th Trivia Day, 5th National Bird Day, 6th Epiphany, 7th Nicolas Cage's birthday. (I was going to skip Nicolas Cage's birthday, but I really like Raising Arizona and Moonstruck so much that I thought I would show my gratitude by doing some celebrating.)

I'm hoping this celebrating will be a bit of a magic pill. I love music so much that I'm celebrating by teaching kids how to sing and how to appreciate it. I love feeling organized so much that I'm celebrating by cleaning out closets or the garage. I want to celebrate color by painting my bedroom. I'll celebrate breakfast by making it. I LOVE breakfast.

I really think one of the reasons I love Europe is that there have been so many people live in that place and love and make mistakes and walk and dance and think and die. The place itself is a celebration of lives lived. All of them all at once. I want to celebrate the planet and all of the incredible people who've lived on it by seeing all of it. And all of them. Is that reasonable?

It's 2:03 am. Off to a stellar start. I'm going to celebrate pillows by resting on some for a while. 4 of them. I really LOVE pillows.

Happy New Year.

2011 was a year for thinking. 2012 will be a year for celebrating.

National Trivia Day

A camel has three eyelids. One is transparent so he can see in a sandstorm.

The first TV dinners were created in 1953 when someone at Swanson overestimated the number of turkeys Americans would consume for Thanksgiving. Inspired by prepackaged airline food, Gary Thomson, a company representative, combined the leftover turkeys with dressing, peas and potatoes in aluminum trays and thus TV dinners were invented.

Babies are born without kneecaps.

Richard's - Phil Mickelson, who plays golf left-handed, is actually right handed. He learned to play golf by mirroring his father’s golf swing, and he has used left handed golf clubs ever since.

Jessica –1. In the olden times it was a common belief that a murder victim’s body would bleed when the murderer was present. They used this gruesome process in murder trials. 2. A butt is an old English unit of measurement. It indicates a large barrel – usually full of wine. So, a butt load of wine is an accurate term, and not as crass as you might think.

Douglas - Queen Amadala’s decoy’s name in Star Wars episode II, the Clone Wars, is Corde.

Corinne - Carry Fisher’s (Princess Leia) real life mom is Debbie Reynolds, who plays Kathy Seldon in Singin In The Rain.

David - In any given day, more fresh mangos are eaten than any other fruit.

It's pretty incredible to be in a family. Tonight at one point Douglas was singing Agony from Into The Woods, Corinne was playing Sousa something-or-other on her flute and Jessica was playing Flogging Mollies on the guitar. All at once. In their separate locations, but - woa.

Yesterday Corinne annihilated a pile of laundry that was at least the size of a large boulder. Douglas has done the dishes two nights in a row. Jessica is the best math tutor in the house - and the happiest. David doesn't ask for a song anymore when we tuck him in. And he's sleeping without the hall light on tonight.

Here's to my family -

"Oh, the comfort, the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all out, just as they are, chaff and grain together, certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."
~ Dinah Craik