Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Exposure

My teenage grand/daughter knocked on the door while I was taking a bath. "Come in", I said without hesitation.

Yes, after 38 years of bath-time interruptions, it no longer occurs to me that I should attempt to maintain a shred of dignity.

So on the topic of parental exposure, let me say that I think every parent should write an autobiography. It isn't that I think our dirty little secrets should all be out in the open, but rather I believe it's important that all children understand that their parents had lives before they had them.

I'm not a psychologist (although I play one at home), so I can't say for sure why children hold their parents to an unattainable standard of perfection. We must be 100% fair at all times. We shouldn't have feelings of our very own. We can't be swayed by prior acts, whether committed by that particular child or someone else.

We are supposed to be robots.

I'm not a robot. I'm a real person, raised by real parents, with real siblings, judged by real people, dealing with real problems...all while living in the real world. It ain't easy, folks. And kids need to know that everything that happened in our lives prior to this very moment affect who we are and how we react to every situation.

Some day I'll write my book. Maybe by then the kids will have gained enough maturity to understand.

Until then, children, take note: It's not all about you.


Monday, July 18, 2016

Simple Thank You Card...plus a story


This card was made from the Cricut cartridge Simple Cards. And it was just that---simple.

I had made several of these for my grand/daughter to send after graduation. I didn't take any pictures because I hadn't done any real "creating" other than choosing paper, and I hadn't planned to post to my blog. Until one card came back to me in my mail...

The story behind the card can be found on "Blessings Before Breakfast" (shameless rerouting to my new blog)

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Difficult Choices

I guess it's time for another pity party.

(I've noticed that it's really hard to get others to attend my pity parties. But I'm throwing one anyway.)

First, let me say I'm so very grateful for everything God has provided. And I try with every fiber of my being to be content and to trust God to take care of my family and me. But every single day I take on a new burden or two (or three). And this old lady has reached total burnout.

Yesterday my oldest grand/daughter's car broke down on the side of the road. (She wasn't where she was supposed to be, but that's one of those "burdens" I'll have to save for another time; I can't handle them all in one day, even though my procrastination is leading to serious backlog issues.) The repair bill for today was just under $500. But of course, there's more work that needs to be done soon. (Thank goodness I have that "procrastination" bin--I'll worry about those repairs later, too.)

Today my younger grand/daughter learned that a spot had opened up on our church's youth retreat and there's now room for her to go. Why on earth a church thinks every family has $500 to spend for their child to do a week's worth of charitable work is beyond me, but again, that's a discussion for another time.

So in less than 24 hours, my husband and I have been hit with another $1000+ in expenses. He's doing all he can to support the family, so the only option left to improve our family's finances would be for me to go back to work.

I don't know that there's much of a market for a woman nearing the age of 60 who hasn't worked in nearly two decades, and who had limited skills (and energy) way back then. It's only gotten worse in the ensuing years. I have no healthy body parts left, so selling them is out of the question. I guess I could consider exotic dancing, but I think the only way anybody would pay to watch me swing from a pole is if I'm part of the primate exhibit at the zoo.

Choices, choices.

And if you're still here, thank you for attending. I'll try to put together party favors at a later date.





Friday, July 8, 2016

Baby Girl Card


This simple card was made using the Cricut cartridge Baby Steps. And by "simple" I mean there was no designing involved other than choosing which paper to use. The images on this cartridge are some of my favorites because they really don't need anything fancy to turn them into adorable elements for cards or scrapbook layouts.

Thanks for visiting!