School's Out for Summer!

Catchy title, huh? Kinda makes you want to sing a song. Now if only you could remember the rest of the words to that song. I'd google them but I really don't care.

Yeah, I just said that.

I'm a librarian and I'm not going to take the time to find the answer and you can't make me.

So mleh.

Speaking of librarians, this video was messaged to my from a Melodious friend. She asked when I started doing commercials. I could do this. Watch.

So this actress is probably 10 years younger and 10 or 15 a lot of pounds lighter, but still, she looks Just. Like. Me!

Anywho, that's wasn't my purpose of blogging today. This was suppose to be about school being out.

Peanut has completed the 6th grade. Her teachers even decided it would be a good idea for her to go on to 7th grade next year. Amazing. Seriously, amazing.

I remember 7th grade. I remember my mother praying a lot that year, well actually she prayed a lot for three years.  I'm pretty sure she was tempted to put arsonic in my dinner because really, who likes to be around 7th, 8th, or 9th graders? I look back at that time in my life and I shudder. Maybe we all went through that stage where our mother made us clothes that looked similar to sofa covers, black with huge pink flowers and the sailor collars. I shudder because I thought I looked so pretty. It's no wonder I didn't have many friends then. (side note: I did have some friends and I'm even still friends with people who knew me back then, they're awesome for not remembering the huge pink flowered outfit I wore like every other day) I didn't really make friends until 10th grade when I became almost normal again. Almost. I hear we all went through an awkward stage during Jr High but I don't remember anyone else being awkward. Maybe I just have selective memory.

Butter, also finished up a school year. He only went the last 9 weeks. Had I known there was a program for 3 year olds with speech delays I probably still would've been in denial and not attempted to get him in the program earlier. He's coming along. We can understand one in every thirty words now!  (maybe a hint of sarcasm) He really likes school and riding the school bus, but he's missed being able to take an afternoon nap. So I'm hoping that he'll deal with daycare knowing that he gets to take a nap all summer. Not the same, I know. I mean, if it were me I'd rather take a nap than get on a bus and go to school, but to each their own.

So we have no big plan for the summer. Peanut's going to spend some time in the beautiful side of the state with my parents and going to camp. I loved church camp growing up but you couldn't pay me to go now. I value my sleep too much. But other than that not much happening around here. Just work. And lots of heat.

And to celebrate the first night of summer vacation I think I'll go to bed early.

I'm such a grown up. Dang it.

Fresh Air

A breath of fresh air, a change of scenery were just what the doctor ordered. Well, perhaps the Tall Doctor didn't say those exact words to me last time I was in his office. But I'm sure they were implied. And that's exactly what I got this past weekend.

For Mother's Day we packed up the children, gassed up the car and headed east. There's just something about Tulsa and Eastern Oklahoma that sooths my soul. It give me comfort and a sense of peace fills me.

(Though having some funny sounds coming from my car that stressed my husband out didn't exactly help my blood pressure.)

The weather was absolutely perfect. It was warm but there was a nice cool breeze blowing from time to time throughout the whole afternoon.  My wonderful sister-in-law prepared a delicious afternoon meal and the 6 adults gathered around a table near the pool while the 5 children found places to sit among the lounge chairs and parental laps. I had a headache for most of the day but the company couldn't have been better. The conversations, that I mostly just listened to, were lively and entertaining. I do so love Nickel's mom and brother and their spouses. The kids all get along very well though the two three year olds can push each other's buttons as three year olds are wont to do.

I don't know what it is about water but as soon as the pool is open the children have this overwhelming urge to jump in. So they did, all 5 of them took two or three dips playing until their lips turned blue and their parents made them get out. Peanut was told she could only get in if she watched Butter and she did a really good job accepting her roll without complaint. We, of course, were just a few feet away keeping our own eyes on the children as they played and when the three year olds were in the pool an adult was always poolside.

But I just relaxed. Soaked up some sun and Vitamin D. It was hard saying goodbye that evening but  Monday morning would be upon us before we knew it so we headed back west. It was a short day trip, but it was exactly what I needed to recharge my batteries.

This coming Friday is my day off since I work on Saturday. Being the our last chance before school is out next week, Nickel has taken a vacation day. It'll almost be like having a 6 hour date! I'm so excited. We'll probably do really exciting stuff like go to the bank, go out to lunch and grab some stuff from the grocery store. But there are a few other things we're considering. We might go look at some used cars, as reliable transportation is a must with all the trips we make back and forth across the state. And there's even a slight chance we might watch a movie. But if those plans fall through we might just stay home and watch a movie and take a nap. We do love our naps. Silly children, the antinaptakers, sometimes thwart our weekend naps but if they're at school, they can't stop us! Bwahahaha!

Whatever we do it'll be nice just to spend some time alone without being interrupted, without choosing a restaurant based on if they have a kids menu, and without having to stop in the middle of a conversation to explain what certain words mean. Wow, doesn't that sound nice?

So, uh...is it Friday yet?

Time

Time has a way of passing without one really noticing. Or we notice but still it seems to take us off guard, or at least it does me. Tonight I was having a serious conversation with Peanut that as a mother I'd hoped to never have but knew it was necessary.

During our conversation we were talking about online privacy and I explained that on this blog she always has been and always will be known as Peanut. For the most part only friends and family read this blog but it is an open blog and according to my site meter people from all over the world have at least stumbled upon the blog.

Peanut later asked what exactly was a blog. She's known about mine for years but wanted to see it. So I pulled it up and showed her some of the funny things she has said over the years. Conversations that made me laugh and wanted to remember for all time. She was highly amused and impressed with herself. The pictures made her laugh and on more than one occasion she said "I was so little!".

Yes, she was. In many ways she still is but time is passing and with it each day she grows not just in stature but in maturity and wisdom. There will come a time in the next few years when her bones will set and I won't have to buy whole new wardrobes every year. Both happy and sad that day will be.

I'm glad that even though I didn't write much for a few years there I kept this blog. I had on more than one occasion thought about deleting it but always stopped myself. This way, I can keep track of time as it slips past me like a ninja. And Peanut and Butter can look at it in years to come and see what I had to say, what they had to say, and follow time's progression in our lives.

"Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past."

1936 Poem, ‘Burnt Norton’, by T S Eliot (1888 – 1965)

Creativity

Do you ever feel like the creativity is being sucked out of you by a giant vacuum?

Last week a well of creativity sprung forth into life. I was excited. I was happy to dream big, imagine the possibilities, to try new things. I wanted to write again. I wanted to draw, take photographs, be a part of nature.  That creativity spilled over into my work. I made little signs.

And I believe that was where I went wrong.

Some places, you see, frown on creativity. And though my creativity wasn't belittled or mocked it wasn't appreciated either. I can recognize patronizing smiles from a mile away. So I stopped. I put away my creativity and the well that had so freshly sprung was once again dried up.

Now I look at this white box and I've got nothing. Nothing to say. Nothing going on worth writing about.

Nothing.

I'm empty. I wish I could call in sick today and just head out of town by myself for the afternoon, but that isn't a possibilty so instead I'll try to take a trip in my mind. Where do you go to get away from the pressures of life? Where do you find your creativity?

Overwhelming Generosity

Where do blog posts come from and why do they always hit when you're in the middle of doing something else, like washing the dishes or better yet, sleeping? At 2:45 am my muse woke me up with a great blog idea and creativity held me captive until I told the story from beginning to end. But just telling the story in my mind wasn't good enough so here I am at 3:18 am penning my post

What started my muse thinking was the fact that it was getting warm in the bedroom. Being only May 6th we don't run the air conditioner 24/7 yet. When I'm sound asleep I don't really notice it being warm. But obviously, my muse did. And she remembered life without air conditioning at all.

Last summer as the temperatures started to rise we called upon a friend who for the last few years has had to charge our central air conditioning unit. Each year he would comment that he didn't know how much longer it would last and each year we survived the summer without issue. It took him about a week to come over as he had been on vacation at the time of our call, but he did come.  But the charge didn't last longer than a day. I'm not even sure it lasted a day to be honest with you. He gave us an estimate for a couple different ways of approaching the situation and told us to let him know when we decided.

I was devistated. Best case senario, we were out four or five thousand dollars.

After Butter was born we used up all our reserves and racked up new debt with me staying home with him and later only making minimum wage. We didn't have anywhere near four or five thousand dollars to spend on the air conditioner we were having trouble just making our monthly mortgage payment.

So I took really cold showers, several times a day, and tried to stay positive and open to creative ideas from God. This was no easy feat as heat makes me very cranky.

Then on Sunday afternoon CurlyHaired Princess called. She and her husband were moving to another Airforce Base and wanted to stop by for a moment. We had already said our goodbyes but I thought this was just another one. But when I answered the door there she stood with her husband and a window unit. I don't remember if I cried then or after they had gone but I do remember being overwhelmed by their generosity. Nickel installed the unit in our bedroom window and for the first night in weeks I slept soundly and comfortably. Peanut slept on our floor and Butter slept in bed with us (well, at least until he decided it was too crowded and moved to his couch in the livingroom).

My mother told me she and my dad wanted to do the same for us because she knew the one unit wouldn't be enough so off we went to buy another window unit. This picture is from that purchase. Doesn't poor Peanut look hot?! Heat makes her cranky too.  We found one a little bigger than the one CurlyHaired Princess gave us and installed it in the dining room. So for the summer we survived with two window units. They are fancy enough to come with remote controls and timers. The timers are wonderful! I could turn them off and tell them to come back on in so many hours, like maybe just an hour or so before we get home from work. Or I could time them to go off in so many hours, like the middle of the night. The kitchen didn't have any air, but to be honest, even with the central air the kitchen was always hot. And I just don't spend a lot of time in there in the summer, making meals as quick and easy as possible. The children didn't have AC in their bedrooms either, but it's not like they sleep in their rooms most of the time anyway. To this day, I often find them both asleep on the couches in the living room year round. As long as they sleep I don't care too much if it's in their beds or on the couches.

A year later we're still using the window units. Nickel just got the one in the bedroom back in the window last weekend. Bless that man!  Our electric bills last year were no different than with the central air so we've opted to use the window units for at least another year. We will eventually fix the central air and will hopefully be able to bless someone else with the window units. But until then, whenever I'm hot and turn on the AC or am cold and turn it off I will be grateful for the generosity of my friend, her husband, and my parents, who all agree I'm much easier to get along with when I'm not hot!

(Almost) A College Graduate

I started college the fall semester of 1997. Fresh from high school I hit the ground running. My first act of business was taking a CLEP test to advance out of 10 hours of Spanish. That was fun. For three semesters I took a full load of classes and had 50 credit hours under my belt. 

Then I got bored. Truthfully, I just met Nickel and chose to spend my time with him instead of studying. So I sat out a semester (or three). I moved to the next town, got a full time job and fell madly in love. In the summer of 1999 I married that man and we moved halfway across the state. Being newlyweds I needed to work full time to help pay the bills. Peanut was born in 2000 and still I worked. But in the spring of 2001 I decided it was time to head back to school. I transferred all my credits to the local college and for three semesters I took classes that I needed, and some I didn't really need. I only took 3-6 hours each semester so that I could continue to work full time and take care of my family.  At the end of the fall semester of 2002 I lacked one Biology class to graduate. 

Five years later I finally took that class as well as a Creative Writing class.

There, I was done. All I lacked was the degree audit and the diploma. But funny thing happened. Well, not really. Maybe a better term would be a Lazy Thing happened. That semester we got pregnant with Baby Butter. By the spring I was waddling around, working part time and napping as much as possible. Then he was born and I became a creature of habit in my stay-at-home mom routine. Friends often encouraged me to just go do the final step and get my degree but that takes time. That takes gas to drive across town (this isn't a big town). And the truth of the matter is, it just wasn't that important to me. A degree, even a simple Associates Degree, didn't come into play with any job I had ever applied for. But it was always there in the back of my mind. Something left undone.

So today I dropped the kids off at school and empowered with a Carmel Machiatto I drove straight to Northern Oklahoma College, walked into the office and made my requests. After a little bit of paperwork I was sent to see my advisor. As luck would have it, he was in his office and was willing to take the time to do my Graduation Check. I only needed 64 hours to graduate and I have 79, well only 76 NOC would accept because I took a 3000 level Public Speaking course my freshman year, still I had enough hours to graduate. I just needed the right combination of hours.

My advisor jotted everything down. The only possible holdup will be the 2 hours of Physical Education. I never took bowling, square dancing or any sport. Years ago when I spoke with my advisor he said I was exempt and I of course never questioned that statement. However, I did take a 3 hour Personal Health class that he thinks should count. At first he had written down "waive" but decided to count this class instead.

I'm going to be honest, if the only thing keeping me from graduating is a 2 hour Square Dancing class I probably will not finish. I have no desire to take Square Dancing at this point in my live. I am 33 years old. I know the importance of physical activity in my life.

So now I wait. Two more people have to sign off on my degree check and once they do I will be issued a diploma. An Associates Degree in General Studies. A two-year degree that has taken me 15 years to accomplish. Better than some people I suppose. 

I'm a little nervous, but I'll keep you posted.

Blogging....Again...again.

Whoa! After blogging for 7 years Blogger has decided to update things. I'm a little freaked out at the moment.

But maybe that's just the coffee talking.

Probably the coffee talking.

So I've been looking for a picture on my blog today. A few years ago when I got a new computer I transferred all my pictures to my new computer. Only, somehow I missed some. And now they are lost. Forever. One particular picture was taken sometime between 2005-2007 was of me in my office at the church I use to work at. In this picture I am drinking a cup of coffee. Well, I want that picture. Why? Just because I want it, that's why!

So I've been obsessively combing through my blog trying to find the picture. No luck. But I did find something greater. No, no pictures, but I found a piece of myself. A piece I had forgotten I even had. Seems that life has gotten in the way again and I lost track of something. Sometime valuable to me.

So here I sit, at my computer less than an hour from when I need to be at work and I haven't even showered for the day. TMI, I suppose. But I'm here at the computer typing away because I miss writing. I miss blogging. For years I used this blog to tell my stories of Peanut and Nickel and the things going on in our lives. I had crazy caption contests and posted funny pictures. I posted links to fun quizzes and random interesting facts. All pieces of me.

But then I had a baby, Baby Butter, I love him so much. And with a baby I got busy. But not really. I stayed at home with him for the first few months and then later I worked nights and weekends. I could have at any point in those days paused for 10 or 15 minutes to type out a little something. I guess what held me back was the fear of turning into a "OH MY BABY DID THIS TODAY" blog. Something I really didn't want. So instead I just didn't blog. Much. Not really, a random post here and there declaring that I would indeed get back into blogging again. But it never really stuck.

Today I read stories of the funny things Peanut said and did and I asked myself why I didn't write things like this for Butter. He's funny too. Granted, Peanut was 5 when I started this blog, so why can't I pick it back up now that Butter is almost 4? Another thing holding me back is my desire to catch up. But really lengthy blogs aren't so fun to read and really, no one cares so much. I might post some old pictures I threw up on Facebook just for grins and giggles.

So here goes, initiate blog version 9.78.

New Blog

I'm writing about my birthday in retrospect. I've had time to let the events of that settle in my mind and I'm ready now to talk more about it. Each act of kindness will have it's own post. Feel free to comment or ask questions.

A Birthday to Remember

Wow, what a day. I've had almost 24 hours to recover and honestly, I'm still a little tired. I'm not sure where to begin, so I guess I'll start at the end, that's always a good place. At around 7 pm I stood just outside the church sanctuary with a platter of mini-cupcakes and tried to guess how many people were affected by my acts of kindness and I could not come up with an answer. And that, to me was a good number.

Please be prepared for a rather lengthy post as I recap the 33 Acts of Kindness.

At  7 am Eric, Lyndsay, Peanut and I arrived at a local coffee shop. I unloaded a few things from my trunk as Eric carried in a case of water from his. Inside I dropped off half a dozen pumpkin chai muffins, some apples, an orange and three bananas for the Enid Runner's Club. They were excited, though I do question their sanity as it was 16 degrees and they were out running. Next I gave a similar gift to the two hard working baristas and bought a $25 gift card and asked them to use it until it ran out. They gave me my coffee for free since it was my birthday. Peanut dropped off our 3 pairs of shoes plus a pair that YogaTeacherLibrarian had given to me to drop off for her, in the Soles 4 Souls donation box. With the first four acts of kindness down we sat and enjoyed a cup of coffee, a visit from a friend that came to drop off shoes too, and prepared ourselves for the bitter cold day ahead.

Our second stop was at one of the four fire stations Enid has where we gave them some donuts. I picked the one closest to my house because if I'm ever in trouble they will be the ones to come rescue me. The fire station has three firefighters at all times. They have 10 twelve hour shifts a month we were told. The first guy we met gave us a quick tour of the fire station. If you haven't ever done that I recommend you do so. It was a fun experience.

The third trip was one of our collective favorites. Just down the street from the fire station is a Laundromat. I have never used it but that doesn't mean that at some point in my life I won't need to. Nickel had give me $26 worth of quarters earlier that week so I armed my mini army with $2 of quarters each and we went inside to hand them out. The first lady I spoke to didn't really want to take my quarters at first but I explained that for my birthday I was giving instead of getting and it would really make my day if she would take my little gift. She did and so did the other 7 people in the Laundromat. Every single person in that place had a big smile on their face as we left and we felt great about it!

Next we donated clothes and moved on to the post office. Inside I took my box that was full to the brim of books, snacks, a magazine and a card for a US Soldier. I have no idea who will get my box, when they will get my box, or if they'll even like anything in my box (but I did put two kinds of girl scout cookies in there so maybe whoever it will like at least one of those), but I hope they do. I also sent my nieces and nephews some Valentines and candy that I'm sure they need. And then I mailed a few cards to some really cool kids that I know. I want them to know just how awesome I think they are. I don't think kids in general hear that enough.

By 9:30 am we had the first 10 acts of kindness down, but the rest of the day wouldn't pass as quickly. We set off from the Post Office and met up with RebornGirl at the nursing home her uncle currently lives in. We took him some cookies made with Splenda and told him to share with his friends. If there are any left that is. I also gave the nursing home a large print copy of The Help by Kathryn Stockett. It is an amazing book that I'm sure any of the residents that like to read would enjoy reading. RebornGirl also went with us to Leonardo's Discovery Warehouse where she donated some costumes her daughter had outgrown and I made a small cash donation.

Our next resting stop was Public Library. We gave the wonderful librarians hard at work a plateful of cookies that Lyndsay had made. Then gave a homeless man that comes to the library frequently a game of UNO. He likes to play cards, is good with math, and is small enough for him to carry around in his bag. He was really excited. I wish we would've had time to play a game with him but he was busy using his computer time. The final act of kindness there was simply taping 5 quarters to the vending machine so that someone got a free soda!

Here's where the day turned complicated. The next two locations I had planned out were closed on the weekends. Or at least their offices were. One was the YWCA and the other a boys home. So we took some cookies to the Enid Police Department and the cook staff at one of the local hospitals. At the hospital we asked our cookie recipient if she knew of anyone that needed flowers. After a moment's thought she directed us to the 5th floor south's nursing station. There we met a Nurses' Aide that had recently lost her brother. We gave her a small bouquet of flowers. She seemed pleased but she still had sad eyes. Maybe she's sick of flowers. I don't know.

We ate lunch at Chilis and afterward we gave the waiter a big tip and I bought a $20 gift card. As we were leaving I handed the gift card to woman who had just sat down wit her two kids. She was flabbergasted that a total stranger would just hand her a gift card to use for lunch. That was another one of my favorite gifts of the day.

We took about 50 Valentines and a bag of Smarties to the skating rink where one of my friends work. She agreed to put the Valentines and candy in the shoes of the kids so that they picked them up as they were leaving. I hope some of those kids smiled.

You know how crazy Walmart is on a Saturday? Well we went there anyway. I wanted to take one or two shopping carts back to the store because they were everywhere all over the lot. Peanut and Lyndsay got a little carried away and were trying to push about 12 back to the store. They got as far as the front door when two Walmart associates stopped them and said they'd get in trouble if the girls pushed them in. I think what they meant was they'd get in trouble by being shown up by two girls (one of which is 11 years old). Then, since the Homeless Ministries is closed on the weekends I bought some oral hygiene care products that I will drop off sometime during the week. And since Walmart is crazy I let another customer go ahead of me in line. The guy checking us out that I was insane and more so once I told him I was doing 33 nice things today. Oh well, can't please everyone.

After all that we were thirsty again so we stopped at a Sonic. In Enid, the Sonics have drive thrus as well as the pull up and park spots. We went through the drive through and while paying for our drinks I also paid for the car behind me. It was happy hour and they had only ordered two drinks, it was a little over two bucks, but they saved two bucks! Then we took the hard workers at EMS our last batch of cookies.

After that we took a little break. Eric had left us after lunch to go practice with the bands he was playing with this weekend and I dropped Lyndsay back off at her mom's house so she could play with her nephews. Peanut and I went home and I managed to take about a 33 minute nap.

At 5:30 Peanut and I met back up with Lyndsay (Eric was there too but he was busy getting ready to play in the worship band). The three of us greeted the attendees and gave them their weekly bulletin. Peanut passed out carnations to the women and I handed the kids Valentines. I gave both Lyndsay and Eric thank you cards with little gifts inside and I also gave the Nursery worker who takes care of Baby  Butter when he doesn't sleep through church and the Children's pastor and his wife a little card and gift as well.

My final act of kindness, as you know from the start of the blog, was handing out mini-cupcakes after church. Lyndsay and I both took a door and so did LibrarianFriend (she made the cupcakes AND took off the little papers before hand). As people exited I told them it was my birthday and asked if they wanted a little bit of birthday cake. We gave the kids cupcakes too of course as their parents went and fetched them.

The day was long but it was worth it. It was, by far the most memerable birthday of my life and out did last year's crappy birthday by a long shot! Will I ever do this again? Probably not just like this. I do think everyone should do something like this at least once in their life because it is a truly amazing experience and I will gladly help anyone that wants to tackle something like this themselves. But I probably will make giving a part of my birthday ritual. We'll see what next year brings.

The Itinerary

I've had a few friends ask me about my itinerary for the Saturday's 33 Acts of Kindness. Here's where we're going to be starting at 7am and ending around 7pm:

Davincis

Fire Station on North Grand

Suds Yer Duds on North Grand

Hope Outreach

Post Office

Highland Park Manor

Leonardo's

Library

Sequoyah Enterprise

YWCA

Skatetown

Lunch--unknown location at this time

Walmart

Sonic

Enid First Assembly

Several of these are just going to be quick 10 minute or less drop offs. Others will be more time consuming. And most have more than one act of kindness associated with it. Further details will be provided the day of the event.

Getting Things Ready

With my birthday just a week away I'm trying to get a good start on the things I know I can have done before the busy day. Today I spent part of the day getting my valentines ready to go in the mail. Which reminds me, I need to get one address from my mom. Note to self....

I wrote out some cards to a couple of kids I know telling them that I think they're pretty awesome and to keep up the good work. I still have lots to do though. One of places we're going is the skating rink and I need about a hundred valentines ready to go into the shoes of these unknown to me children. It's a little thing, but a valentine and a piece of candy when they pick up their shoes might bring a smile to their faces. Candy usually works that way for me at least.

There are still plenty of things I need to do between now and then though. I need to clean out the closets and gather outgrown shoes and clothes for Soles for Souls and Hope Outreach.  And then there's the baking, but I'm saving that for the 10th so that everything will be good and fresh. And finally there are some phone calls to make. I'm exhausted already thinking about it, but it's going to be so worth it!

Almost Seven Years, But We're Not Counting

I've had several conversations lately about this blog. People always seem amazed when I tell them I've had it for nearly 7 years. In some ways it doesn't feel that long but in others it defiantly does.I've met some pretty amazing people, strengthened acquaintances and formed lasting friendships thanks to this blog.

I've introduced you to my family through pictures and stories and I don't see an end to this blog for some time even though my posts are sporadic at best these days.

Here's the first picture of Peanut I ever posted here in August 2005 with her then new dog.

My gosh is she just a little thing. Snoogans looks the same though even though the leash has faded into an ugly, dingy, ratty blue.

Here is Peanut in a recent photo. I mentioned in my last blog that she had recently attended her first winter formal. She's in middle school and they think they need to dance with boys in middle school. Yuk! Bleck! Ew!!! They have cooties. But she doesn't seem to care as much as she did once upon a time.

All grown up, my girl. Isn't she beautiful?! She's not finished amazing me yet. And her brother, well, he's just getting started on his adventure. I hope you'll continue to watch my family grow and mature over the years.

Leave me a comment. Let me know I'm not here by myself.

Copy Cat? Nah

My friend Danielle asked me tonight if I really made all those cookies on my blog.

[insert my confused look on my face]

I pulled up my blog on the computer.

[insert a confused look on her face]

She whipped out her phone and brought up my blog. Only it wasn't my blog. The name was ever so slightly different.

FreshCutFlours.blogspot.com is an adorable website (started 3 years after this blog I will only note is a hushed whisper) where this lovely, I'm sure, lady named Terri makes some wonderful looking cookies. Her blog is better designed and I will admit that I'm a little jealous.

But I also don't update this blog like I did once upon a time when Peanut (who just attended her first winter formal) said such clever things. As Butter grows up he'll be saying and doing more fun things that will require a blog post I hope and then I can blog like the wind again.

But anyway, go check out Terri and her beautiful cookies. Tell her hello from the other fresh cut flowers. :)

12 days and counting

In 12 days....well really, in 300 hours....or in 18015 minutes I will begin celebrating my birthday.  My birthday has always been my favorite holiday of the year. It is closely followed by my very least favorite holiday, and that's Valentine's Day. But if you want to read about my hatred of V-Day you'll have to read about it here because that's not what this post is about.

No, this about about my birthday. The happiest day of the year. Well, at least is for me. But this year I want to share the happiness with my friends. With total strangers. With you.

How? Well, if you've been within talking distance or on this blog you've probably heard me talking about my birthday wish. That's to do 33 Acts of Kindness for my 33rd birthday. I don't mind people knowing how old I am, mostly because they usually don't believe I'm that old. Thank you mother for giving me life and great skin!!

So today I had lunch again with my friend Eric. We were joined today my our mutual friend Lyndsay who kept me entertained with her phone saying "Expecto patronum" every time she got a text message (it's a Harry Potter thing if you don't know already).  Our details are all set with the day broken down into two hour blocks of time and we're ready to go. More or less. The easy part is done. The work has yet to begin.

On February 10th I will be making one batch of muffins and three batches of cookies. There is some shopping to be done as we will be mailing out a care package to one of our brave soldiers overseas and valentines to some pretty neat kids. I need to gather up shoes we've outgrown or just don't wear for Soles for Souls, and clothes for Hope Outreach. And I also need to prepare about 100 valentines to be given out to random kids at the skating rink.

But we can do this.

And wouldn't it be crazy if we did MORE than 33 acts of kindness in one day? Is it possible? What would happen if you spent an entire day doing one act of kindness after another?

The possibilities are unimaginable.

T Minus 26 Days and counting

When you last heard from me on this blog I was telling you about a crazy idea for my birthday. Well guess what, my birthday is closer and I'm still on board for this crazy idea.

What crazy idea? Well, in case you have slept since my last post, or are just too lazy to scroll down a tiny bit to read it I'll recap. Ready?

33 Acts of Kindness
1 Day

There, now you're up to date.

Today I had a late lunch with my truly amazing and talented friend Eric (FollowEricdotCom). Eric has masterfully coordinated a few blog-a-thons (which you can read about on his blog) in the recent past and I decided if my plan was to work I needed someone even better than me at planning this day out.

I went in to our meeting with a list of a baker's dozen of intentional acts of kindness I'd like to accomplish. Only one did we really cross off. Giving blood would be great but I can't actually give blood, I had just written it down after seeing it listed on a website.

Throughout our meal we brainstormed and I was in awe of how much we came up with. Our list doubled in just an hour with the possibility of more after some phone calls are made.

Giving to local charities is high on list as is giving to people who serve our community. I see a lot of baking in my future.

Do you want to help?

Several of my friends have expressed the desire to help out with a couple of the Intentional Ats of Kindness but don't want to commit to the whole day. That is fine! In our next meeting Eric and I (and anyone else that wants to join in on the fun) are going to map out our plan of attack. Because of the time limits I have placed on myself (roughly 12 hours) we want to minimize travel time and will zone these acts of kindness the best we can. Anyone interested in helping can comment here on the blog, comment or message me on facebook, or call/text me if you have my number.

Want to help but can't be in Enid or just have other plans on February 11th? Well, we're taking donations. Gently used clothes, shoes, and canned goods will all be donated to various charities throughout the day. You can give me any of those items up until we drop off.

Like to bake? Well, I have a list of baked goodies I'd like to pass out from sugarfree (or rather Splenda-made) cookies, to brownies and cupcakes.

I'm really looking forward to my birthday and I hope that follow along and join in with your own intentional acts of kindness!

Acts of Kindness: Planning Stages 1

Already ideas have been pouring in for my birthday celebration. Thank  you to those that have tweeted, facebooked, and simply just bounced ideas around with me.

The feedback has been very positive with only a few raised eyebrows and a reminder that I would only have about 45 minutes per act of kindness IF I worked the 24 hours straight. I plan to sleep a few hours of that day starting somewhere between 6 and 8 am so really I'm looking at 12 hours or roughly 20 minutes per act of kindness. But I still feel this is possible with the help I hope to have. That and some great planning.

Some of the ideas I've got so far are (remember this will be just days before V-Day)

• Giving away homemade valentine cookies 
• Giving out valentines or just special notes under some windshield wipers
• Prepaying for someone's coffee (or several someones)
• Helping elderly put groceries in their cars

There have been other really really great ideas but I don't want to give everything away already! Some of these things will require more than my allotted 20 minutes but other things will take much much less so I'm confident that this will all work out.  I want to hear from you so please keep your thoughts and ideas coming!

Kindness can become its own motive. We are made kind by being kind. --Eric Hoffer

I Need Your Help

A Call To Action.

Actually, it's Saturday, nearly 10 am and I'm not exactly pumping on all cylinders here yet. But I do have some ideas percolating along with my coffee. Or at least the coffee in my mind as I'm currently at work and am drinking the hard stuff- Coke.

A thought has been rolling around in my mind for a few weeks now. Now normally, I don't start planning my birthday before Halloween but this year is different. On my next birthday I will turn 33. That's 1/3 of a century and reason enough for me to go all out.

But I'm not going to celebrate in what many would consider a normal way. There will be no big party, no balloons, no cake(there will be cake)  and heaven help us all if there is another blizzard and my husband and kids have the flu this year.

Next February I'm going to celebrate my birthday with 33 Acts of Kindness. There are only 24 hours in the day so this will take some careful planning (probably involving a few lunch meetings) to map out a plan for these 33 Acts of Kindness.

My friend Eric has already signed up. He's always looking for a good reason to have a blogathon and helping me perform acts of kindness sounded like fun. I, of course, am taking additional volunteers and more importantly, I'm taking ideas. I have five or six already and am also checking out the ideas from HelpOthers.org but that's far from my goal of 33.

So the call to action that I mentioned earlier, here's where you come in. Comment here (if blogger will let you) with your ideas or support, comment on Facebook, or tweet your help to @leslee79z.

I'll try to update this blog at least monthly as more information becomes available. I look forward to hearing and reading all your ideas and implementing them as well.

Road Trip

My friend Eric loves any excuse for a blogathon. Today he and his merry troupe of friend a doing a road trip blogathon. They got up early this morning and after breakfast set out on a road trip taking in some of the sites, and coffee and food along the way. You can read about it about here.

Nickel and I have been on a few out of town trips. Some more fun than others. I can recall a road trip I took with three friends about six months after graduating high school that ended with my head next to a tree on the side of a mountain, but that wasn't so much fun as it was scary, at least part of it. But none of which  I really feel are worthy of a blog. So instead I will bore you with vehicles that may or may not be fun to take a road trip in.  Enjoy.

The stiletto. Everyone woman needs at least one pair of these in the closet and one in the garage is what I'm saying. Lipstick to match is must!

 For a short bus, this big yellow is pretty pimping!

 I think the turtle and the duck should go together. For those friends with large groups that have to take more than one car. I call shotgun!

Peanut would love to have a purple and pink shark to cruise around town in.

 The snail and horse and carriage are pretty steampunk! I love them! And bonus with the snail, the kids ride on top!!

 And last but not least, the Oscar Mayer wiener van. "Oh I wish I was an Oscar Mayer wiener..."



Sandwich Maker

In my house we often have what I like to call, "Choose Your Own Adventure" meals. Growing up I loved reading the Choose Your Own Adventure books. For those of you who might be unfamiliar, these books start out much like any other other book on page one (or 3 as often is the case). At a pivotal point in the book the reader is given two options. If they want A to happen they turn to page XX and if they want B to happen they turn to page YY to continue reading.  The point of the story is that the reader gets to choose what happens next. 

My Choose Your Own Adventure meals are much the same except each eater starts with whatever they want. Say Nickel and I both want a salad he can add chicken, tomatoes, croutons and cheddar cheese while I add strawberries, blueberries and feta.  

Tonight TheBoyWhoDoesNotTalk(much) wanted a ham sandwich. Since he's only three I gave him half of a sandwich. 

That wasn't enough for him though. And true to his name he didn't ask for sandwich. No, my 3-year old went into the kitchen got out the bread and ham and made himself a sandwich, thank you very much.

Guess who just joined the Choose Your Own Adventure supper club?! I'm stoked. 

Be Still

It'll take more than 140 character to express my love for silence so I have to blog instead of Tweet. Darn, right? The three of you that read my blog might appreciate a few extra words now and then.

Today my supervisor took me out for a milkshake on our break today. She was worried that I was overstressed and perhaps unhappy with my job. Overstressed yes, but for the most part I really do love my job. I'm surrounded by books all day long. I get to talk about books all day long. And I get paid! What's not to love there? Now, the people well there lies the problem. I'm teasing. Mostly.

Over the last seven months I've met a lot of people. Several of these people don't have jobs. Several of these people probably don't sleep in a house most nights. But most of these people are still very kind and polite. And after seven months I've even started remembering names and faces. I know there aren't very many people in their lives that care enough to remember who they are. One gentlemen, I know, lives in his car. He stays in the library for most of the 12 hours we are open. I guessed his name when he walked up to the counter the other day and he smiled the broadest smile because I knew his name. We may exchange only three or four sentences every day or two and he never expected me to remember. But it's not just the names of the everyday homeless that I remember. A well to do patron comes in every so often to bring us gifts of books he just couldn't wait to read and went out and bought himself. Several months ago he was telling me about some Michael Connelley stories (author of Lincoln Lawyer and Fifth Witness) and mentioned another series by this author that we didn't have in our collection. I requested them and a volume containing three stories was purchased. When he was in a few weeks back checking out different books I asked if he had seen the one we had just bought. He was surprised I remembered a conversation from back in early spring. Some people, some conversations I do remember. Others I don't. But it's people like these two guys that make me really love my job. That make me look forward to going in to work to help.

The flip to that coin though are the patrons that come in that have had a bad day. Or just a bad life. They're rude. They're never satisfied. They're impossible to please. They are no fun to be around. But they're everywhere, in every job especially jobs that deal with the public. And then there are the children. The children whose parents come to play on the computer for two hours while their children loudly run amok with no supervision. The children whose parents kick them out of the house at 9 am and expect their kids to stay gone all day long so they can sleep or whatever, and no they don't always go home for lunch.  This group of people I don't like, or rather the irresponsible lazy parents of the children and the mean people. This group of people tends to dominate the library in the summertime. With temperatures rising peoples nerves are getting thinner. Luckily, school here starts in just a month and hopefully our days of 100+ degree weather will end soon as well.

But no matter what kind of day I'm having, good or bad I look forward to when I'm off work, the children and Nickel are in bed fast asleep, and when the house is totally quiet except for the hum of the air conditioner. When I close my eyes and take a deep breath and just savor the peace. Savor the quiet.

Psalm 46:10a says “Be still, and know that I am God". Often I shorten that verse even more and remind myself "Be still, and know". And when I'm savoring the quietness I shorten it even more to simply "Be still".