Cupcakes, a Park and Time Well-Spent

I have a chronic malady. It's seems I have a complete inability to live in the present moment. I'm quite aware of the problem. I try very, very hard not to over-plan every detail of the future with intricate lists. (And decidedly, I'm succeeding at letting a few areas of my life go. Dusty house. Tombstone pizzas to the rescue.) But just as I've always assumed my eyes were forged on the future, life makes me blink and think twice about the past.

Alex and the dessert at Jones Brothers Cafe

This weekend I insisted that our family activity consist of something interactive. No movies for the Kramer cinema-junkies.  No siree. Perhaps we take in a friendly game of Laser Tag. Or brush up on some hitting in the batting cages at Rockbrook Village. Whatever. At least we wouldn't be watching...we'd be mixing it up by DOING.

Yeah. Well, that baseball movie came out this weekend. You know the one. Moneyball with Brad Pitt? So. It's a rare occasion that the hubby is so ardent about a film. But it's about baseball.

I found a compromise. The Aksarben Village sponsors a Farmers Market - right next to a theatre. So, perhaps we could take in the Farmers Market, then the movie. Well, the idea was a lovely one. Until we arrived at the event by approximately one hour too late. Sigh.  So we were down to just another weekend at the cinema, right?

Wrong. Before the movie, I became incredibly enlightened. Thus, my realization of my inability to live in the present moment began to dawn...

• At the Jones Brother Cafe, I watched an adorable baby/toddler (age completely unknown?) make an interminable mess of a cupcake and himself. It was obviously hilarious for the onlookers. The amazing part? His parents were laughing as well. Roll back thirteen years. Not me as a parent...I would NOT have enjoyed that moment. And why? I would've been thinking about getting the stains off Alex's adorable outfit. Silly. Stupid. Unimportant. That baby we saw yesterday? He has cool parents. Maybe I should get a nose ring and a tattoo.
• Cole has grown up. We went out to the lovely park (where the Farmers Market had been set up) to soak in the sun and watch the baby of the family climb around in the play area. Not an option. A ten-year old scares little kids away. (Did you know that?) We still let him run like a lune a across the wide lawn of grass. And yes, we timed him. Good scores too. We told him that, anyway.
• There were assorted dogs, puke on the sidewalk, kids on bikes (with helmets!) and parents trying to fly a kite in a breezeless sky. And I wondered why we didn't do this with our kids more. What did we do with our kids when they were young? Watch Spongebob?

Hope you enjoy-my Hydrangeas

Did you catch it? I'm either completely concerned with making plans for the future or immersed in what I didn't do in the past?  

You see, I had a wonderful day yesterday- and I almost forgot to notice it. 

My Daughter is Sick and Other Stuff

In the past week, I've heard of two cases of children with cancer. Both of the kids were approximately Cole's age. The word, "cancer", is ugly enough, but when it's mixed in the same sentence as "child"...unfathomable. The thought makes your stomach plummet. Your heart palpitates as you grieve for the family. And guilt takes over as you're terrorized by the possibility of cancer invading your own babies. You say a million little prayers as fast as you can. And no matter how deep your faith, you still wonder why.

Today I received a call that my Alex was sick. So, of course, I'm super paranoid. Should I take her to the ER? Boy, her fever didn't break very easily. And when it finally did, I was ready to dance a jig. My jigs aren't pretty, but I would've been willing to YouTube it.

I also played frisbee with Cole tonight. When was the last time I played with my son???? It's been way too long. And I'm a bit ashamed. (No wonder no one has been calling to nominate me for Mother of the Year.) Yesterday, when he told me he had to write about a really happy memory and his response was, "When I saw Harry Potter 7.2", I thought to myself, "enough of the movies already!" Our family needs to do some stuff. And once Alex is well, that's what we will do. Do stuff! Not sit around and watch. We're going to do stuff and LIVE.

And pray - never stop praying.

On another bright note - I was driving to work the other day and saw a canary yellow VW beetle. It made me smile. What would this world be like without bright yellow cars? BORING! And to think that my mother hates yellow cars. Mom - let's learn to let go of the hate and love all.  After all, doesn't it take all kinds to make the world go round? I think you taught me that.

And for any of you who want to read some recent book reviews here are some links to my other (not-quite-so-popular) blog:

Sister by Rosamund Lupton

Bossy Pants by Tina Fey

Good day!

Ode to Laborers

So, I'm getting ready to head to bed on this late hour on Friday night, and I catch sight of my laptop. Some centrifugal force is forcing me to blog. It's not my fault. My fingers just keep typing despite my exhaustion...and I just have a few things to say.

Do you ever see your life as a television series? Perhaps I watched too much TV as a kid. It seems I'm always categorizing my weeks into themes.  This week: WORK! Alex started her first "real" job as a dietary aide at the nursing home. So, of course her Dad and I have been hoping she'd make us proud by whipping up the best pudding at Little Flower Haven's kitchen. The verdict is still out. Anyway, this new job of hers has got me thinking about purpose, working, career and that whole bit. Would you agree that there's a  cyclical nature for the affection of how one feels about their job?

                    Excitement-Disillusionment-Reward-Boredom 
                    (Repeat in any order.)

As a teenager, it's most important to learn how to work. That's our objective for Alex anyway. And she's really lucky to have been able to land such a great job in our little town of Earling. But as an adult, it's so easy to forget that we have choices. Here's a list of choices we have about our careers:

• The type of job we want
• The pay we want
• The amount of time we want off
• The people we want to work with
• How much TV we can watch during our shift
• If we want to work at all

Okay, maybe we can't choose all that. But we can choose this: our attitude about work. Having Alex start work this week made me reevaluate myself. And sometimes my outlook isn't all that rosy; and for no particular reason. Newsflash!We can all have a positive impact on the people around us every day - no matter if we count beans or pitch hog poop. It's simply our choice.

Percy, after a hard day of guarding the grounds.
So, here's to a happy Labor Day - and a great four day work week after that!