Adult children and financial WOAHs

Craft Central

Spent the day yesterday after church working on crafts with Kelly, Andy and Grace.  Andy put the feet I bought on the base of Grace’s box springs. Today or tomorrow I will be upholstering the box springs with black vinyl fabric that is made to resemble leather and hopefully if I have enough left over, I can make her a matching headboard.

Kelly and Grace have been making friendship bracelets since Grace received a kit for Christmas. I had an incredible urge to use the embroidery floss from that kit to harken back to my youth when my mother taught my sister and I to embroider and we would decorate our clothing with funky little 70′s mushrooms and flowers.  So off to the craft store. Kelly asked that I pick her up a small embroidery kit and when Grace and I got to Joann’s we found the kits to be prohibitively expensive. Just as I was about to give up, I turned the corner to see little packages that looked as if they had not changed since the 70′s that held patterns for ironing onto cloth so that you can embroider the design, plus they were priced reasonably at 1.29 and 1.99 respectively!

To top it off, they had cowgirl and peacock designs, two of Kelly’s favorites.  So I purchased those and three embroidery hoops and a bit of yarn for Grace to continue learning to crochet.  Teaching Grace to crochet is difficult for  me not only because I am not the best teacher, but she is left handed and I can try to crochet left handed to show her, but my brain cannot function to speak about it properly to explain any steps to her while I am doing it.  And you cannot just “reverse” what you do when you have been used to crocheting right handed for 30 plus years, it is a muscle memory more than anything else

But once Grace saw the cool designs that came in Kelly’s cowgirls iron transfers, she was ready to try her hand at embroidery.  We found a nice cactus image that I could teach her basic stitches on and set her up.  As long as she keeps her stitches small, she’s a natural.  The funny thing is, kids today expect everything to be immediate, including being able to finish the project that day. I had to explain that this was a project you do not want to rush through. It is a kind of exercise in patience, a meditative type of hobby; that part of the enjoyment of working on the project was to “work” on the project, not just to “finish” the project. I am not sure the concept was fully understood, but I will give it time.

I didn’t get to start a project for myself. I was too busy instructing Grace and fetching tools for Andy to get started. I did get to embroider a bit though as Grace’s fingers began to hurt from pushing the needle through the fabric and I was asked to finish up the outline of the smaller cacti in her design.

Later as Grace and I were watching Downton Abbey, (Season 2!) Elizabeth McGovern’s character was embroidering in a scene and Grace noticed it and mentioned it to me.  Cool…

2012

Wow. Twenty-twelve.

When I was a kid I used to wonder how we’d refer to the year after it flipped over to 2000.  Now, were are a year out from where they were when “The Postman” with Kevin Costner pretends to be a mailman in a post-apocalyptic America…flying cars are just around the corner, I can feel it!!!

Grace and I are finding it hysterical that there are so many mentions of “post-apocalyptic-ness” on TV but only because when she tries to pronounce “post-apocalyptic” it comes out “post-apopcalyktic”. Say that three times fast…

Well, hopefully this year will bring with it a newness of spirit and growth to our family, eh…scratch that – we ARE talking about the Tuggeys here – THERE WILL BE BLOOD…..a ZOMBIE attack or two…and probably FIRE in a quaint, but effective “post-apocalyptic burning trash in a oil drum-esq-ness” in the coming year….wud up 2012?

For a full list of post-apocalyptic movies click here.

Christmas is Coming, the Goose is Getting Fat

Ok, with Christmas almost here, and with our extreme scaled back version (kind of like the Extreme Home Edition Makeover, but in reverse) of Christmas, we have had almost zero time spent on “buying” Christmas. I have gotten to the point where I cannot stand to watch the commercials on TV without any of them leaving a bad taste in my mouth. The hyperventilating lady planning her shopping sprees with breathless, almost psychotic anticipation, who used to make me laugh, now simply reminds me of the rabid shoppers on Black Friday who trample the neighbor they should be loving, just to get the last copy of the latest “shoot ‘em up” video game they want to give to little Tommy to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Sometimes being the “grown-up” stinks…

He's the coolest cat in the world! 1994 - 2011

I had to make the very difficult decision of having my 17 year old cat down. Actually, making the decision was easy, his health had been deteriorating over the last year; clearly he was having health issues. He dropped from about 10 lbs to about 4 and ate constantly, but continued to lose weight. The hard part came about when I had to actually take him to the vet. I had been going over the scene in my head for months.  And once you have done that, you kind of mentally prepare for all of the hard parts. I’d answered a million questions about the process, the humaneness of the procedure and the morality of the choice; weighed the responsibility of being a pet owner against the love of the pet.  In the end I know the decision I made was the right, responsible and correct one, but that didn’t make it any easier to carry out.

I will miss you Max.  You were the  best cat a person could ask for. Rest well.

Those that know

Well, either you’re closing your eyes
To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge
Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated
By the presence of a pool table in your community.
Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,
I say, trouble right here in River City.
Why sure I’m a billiard player,
Certainly mighty proud I say
I’m always mighty proud to say it.
I consider that the hours I spend
With a cue in my hand are golden.
Help you cultivate horse sense
And a cool head and a keen eye.
Never take and try to give
An iron-clad leave to yourself
From a three-reail billiard shot?
But just as I say,
It takes judgement, brains, and maturity to score
In a balkline game,
I say that any boob kin take
And shove a ball in a pocket.
And they call that sloth.
The first big step on the road
To the depths of deg-ra-Day–
I say, first, medicinal wine from a teaspoon,
Then beer from a bottle.
An’ the next thing ya know,
Your son is playin’ for money
In a pinch-back suit.
And list’nin to some big out-a-town Jasper
Hearin’ him tell about horse-race gamblin’.
Not a wholesome trottin’ race, no!
But a race where they set down right on the horse!
Like to see some stuck-up jockey’boy
Sittin’ on Dan Patch? Make your blood boil?
Well, I should say.
Friends, lemme tell you what I mean.
Ya got one, two, three, four, five, six pockets in a table.
Pockets that mark the diff’rence
Between a gentlemen and a bum,
With a capital “B,”
And that rhymes with “P” and that stands for pool!
And all week long your River City
Youth’ll be frittern away,
I say your young men’ll be frittern!
Frittern away their noontime, suppertime, choretime too!
Get the ball in the pocket,
Never mind gittin’ Dandelions pulled
Or the screen door patched or the beefsteak pounded.
Never mind pumpin’ any water
‘Til your parents are caught with the Cistern empty
On a Saturday night and that’s trouble,
Oh, yes we got lots and lots a’ trouble.
I’m thinkin’ of the kids in the knickerbockers,
Shirt-tail young ones, peekin’ in the pool
Hall window after school, look, folks!
Right here in River City.
Trouble with a capital “T”
And that rhymes with “P” and that stands for pool!
Now, I know all you folks are the right kinda parents.
I’m gonna be perfectly frank.
Would ya like to know what kinda conversation goes
On while they’re loafin’ around that Hall?
They’re tryin’ out Bevo, tryin’ out cubebs,
Tryin’ out Tailor Mades like Cigarette Feends!
And braggin’ all about
How they’re gonna cover up a tell-tale breath with Sen-Sen.
One fine night, they leave the pool hall,
Headin’ for the dance at the Arm’ry!
Libertine men and Scarlet women!
And Rag-time, shameless music
That’ll grab your son and your daughter
With the arms of a jungle animal instink!
Mass-staria!
Friends, the idle brain is the devil’s playground!

People:
Trouble, oh we got trouble,
Right here in River City!
With a capital “T”
That rhymes with “P”
And that stands for Pool,
That stands for pool.
We’ve surely got trouble!
Right here in River City,
Right here!
Gotta figger out a way
To keep the young ones moral after school!
Trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble…

Harold:
Mothers of River City!
Heed the warning before it’s too late!
Watch for the tell-tale sign of corruption!
The moment your son leaves the house,
Does he rebuckle his knickerbockers below the knee?
Is there a nicotine stain on his index finger?
A dime novel hidden in the corn crib?
Is he starting to memorize jokes from Capt.
Billy’s Whiz Bang?
Are certain words creeping into his conversation?
Words like ‘swell?”
And ‘so’s your old man?”
Well, if so my friends,
Ya got trouble,
Right here in River city!
With a capital “T”
And that rhymes with “P”
And that stands for Pool.
We’ve surely got trouble!
Right here in River City!
Remember the Maine, Plymouth Rock and the Golden Rule!
Oh, we’ve got trouble.
We’re in terrible, terrible trouble.
That game with the fifteen numbered balls is a devil’s tool!
Oh yes we got trouble, trouble, trouble!
With a “T”! Gotta rhyme it with “P”!
And that stands for Pool!!!

Homelessness Across North Texas

My friends, Jody, Lin, Elizabeth and I along with many more volunteer collectors are determined to collect 5723 coats and blankets by THANKSGIVING.  Why the odd number? That is one for every homeless person in Dallas.  There is a link to our site with all of the details on this blog (look right).

I just read a post on another site that made me stop and think.  Maybe you will too:

“How come when we see homeless dogs or cats, we all think “poor thing”, we ask our friends who can give them a home, post their photos all over facebook and in ads trying to find them a home … but when faced with homeless PEOPLE we cringe, we don’t want to talk about it, and we make judgments as to why they’re homeless before we even think about helping them find a home. Just my personal random thought of the day.”

http://ntxyouthconnection.wordpress.com/category/homeless-youth/

I’m Sorry

Have you found yourself apologizing today? I have, for large goofs and minor gaffs…feeling extremely repentant and guilty over both..here are my questions:

On average:

1. How often do you “over hear” someone apologizing in a day?
2. Do they sound sincere or are they just going through the motions?
3. Do you find yourself apologizing to people a lot?
4. If so, in your opinion, does that make you
•  a kind, empathetic person?
• or someone who is so inconsiderate as to NEED to apologize multiple times a day?

I found myself needing to apologize for an honest, but clear mistake the other day.  It wasn’t anything done on purpose, so I didn’t feel horrible; I was honestly sorry and have made every attempt at reparation and feel like that is enough.  I’ve learned, albiet late in life, not to sweat the small stuff.  I am sure the journey I have been on these last 45 years has helped me to see that, but so has a TON of soul searching and agonizing over small things for years.

I know people who run and rerun scenarios in their heads and make themselves crazy with “what-if” thoughts. I used to do that. I have found that I can’t do that and remain a somewhat functioning member of my family or society (hold your laughter until the end of this, please).  That is not to say that I don’t care about the possible outcomes of situations had I acted differently, I do, and I will give any situation where I think that my acting differently would some how have made a bad situation better and mentally note it for the future. But to continuously berate myself does NO ONE any good, especially me, so what’s the point?

Apologize, mean it and move on.

Hillbilly Livin’ in Frisco, Texas

Yeah, I looked around today and thought, wow, hillbilly.  We have a laundry basket floating in our pool. Hillbilly. It is there because when our dryer threatened to pull a Talking Heads “Burning Down the House” earlier this summer, I had to resort to hanging our wash on the line outside to dry. GREAT money saver, but I think one should really bring in the laundry basket in before it ends up in the pool…

Then there are the band-aids I have noticed that seem to have been placed around the edge of the pool by anyone except me because I don’t swim.  I think “HILLBILLY!”  I hear the twang of the mouth harp …..”twow-wow…..twow-wow…..” and visions of toothpick suckin’, dirty clothes wearin’, shoeless and brush free hair cloud my vision….

“Pa! We’re havin’ road kill chili tonite! And whoopee! It’s Saturday!  Heat up the hot tub, it’s BATH NITE!”

……help me…..

Soul Sucking Summer

This has been a doozy of a summer.  Just when I was at a breaking point, mentally, physically and spiritually from the immense and unrelenting heat of this summer, a reprieve! I wonder more and more every summer…”why do you still live in Texas when it is so unbearably hot in the summer?”  I have lived in north Texas my ENTIRE life…and I tend to be a creature of habit, but I seriously think you may not find me here next summer.

It’s funny too, I tend to approach each summer with goggles of denial firmly attached to my head: “Certainly I will get project A, B, C , etc. done this summer..”and invariably I end up subject to the whims of my family members (kids) whose summers are far more flexible and dependent upon my interaction than I have time for (did I just say I don’t have time for my kids???  I will come back to that later ;P)

I have just come from outside and I literally feel like I weigh less because it is cooler outside today.  Why is that? It must have been the air pressure that was associated with the heat.

And now fires are raging across Texas…people are losing not only homes and cars, but entire neighborhoods…

Everybody say a prayer that this soon will pass.