February In A Nutshell

Cross Country Skiing to Woodstock Park will help a girl with cabin fever.

Bucksome Gnoma's boy-toy had to stay in the garden

My new reading friend and member of our household - "She who was formerly known as Kiki and looking for a new name"

Happy Birthday Super Nana!

As a mother, I am constantly finding myself mentally comparing myself to my own mom.  I cringe now and then when I say things that are identical to what she once hollered at me.   For a majority of my life, I have been in awe of her, aside from your typical teenage embarrassment crap.  Which I have to admit, I now feel a bit sheepish over.  With confidence I can say that my mother safeguarded my older brother’s heart, and mine with all her might.  As a mom now, I realize there is no question to the sacrifices you make for your children.  You just make them, no hesitation.

My mom was admittedly the young and cool mom.  A woman who taught me that life is too short to mince words and to be honest with myself and to others.  She on many a night taught me how to dance to the tune of Jerry Garcia, Starship or Hall and Oats.  She taught me the art of the maternal instinct, whether it be catching me climbing in my bedroom window, or knowing that I was going to be sick in the middle of the night.   A woman who knew something was bothering me before I did, and still does.  A woman who worked her ass off for two kids and was for a long time both our mother and our father.

Over the last three years my mother has shown me a new layer to her love as a grandmother.  It still amazes me the love she has to give.  Every time that my little man spends quality time at the Lutz Farm he is bursting with joy and stories of how he did this or that.  To have my child spend the day with my mother and then catch her eye, I feel and know how keenly she loves us both, can take my breath away. 

To you my beautiful mother and best friend on your 59^th birthday (and of course wedding anniversary to my sweet Daddy Dan) – We love you and cherish you.  You are the first person I think of when I am bursting with someone to talk to, vent to or just to see how you are.  I couldn’t imagine any key moment in my life in which you weren’t a part.  Dust off your shoulder to another year and be proud of who you are, which is amazing.  

Farewell 2013, May 2014 Begin Renewed

This last year, like each year before shapes and defines us.  For me, 2013 was bittersweet.  It was missing quite a large presence in my immediate family’s lives.  I have however, for the first time in many years been able to reach out and form new connections with my paternal side of my immediate family.  As good ol’ Reverend mother says in Sound of Music - When someone closes a door, God always opens a window.  So I threw up the shutters and opened a long neglected window.  I hope that over time, the closed door will unlock itself as well.  I’ll be there waiting without judgment, if and when it does.

This was also a year to stretch our legs and travel with our son on an airplane for the first time.  I’m not entirely sure why we waited so long, as I truly wished we had taken advantage of the free airline ticket before he turned two.  He loved it, and inherited our love of travel and discovery.  Everything is new to him, and it is a true joy to watch him discover even the simplest of things. 

We have also had an enjoyable year watching some of our close friends become parents, and have relished sharing that aspect of adulthood with them.  For our group of Portland friends we were pioneers of a sort, and it is nice to be joined in the ranks and watch our friend’s joys and pains in parenting.  We love our childless friends just as much, but it is nice to commiserate from time to time.

Our new year, like many is to gear up to sell our house and not necessarily upsize, but find a home that fits us.  We have been in our little South East Portland Farmhouse for almost 10 years.  We had different ideas of what was needed back then, and hopefully it is the right time to make our move.   Sellers markets might mean we are in limbo for a time, but at least we are pet less so that will make it easier.    Also on the game plan for 2014.  My husband is pretty anxious in adding a four-legged friend back into our lives, and if not for the pending move, I’d have snuck one under our Christmas tree this year.  Hopefully our spring moving will be purposeful so that we can find a furry friend for my boys to play with. 

Resolutions are typically empty, so while many make them, I’m going to make one that is easy to live by.  I vow to be true to myself.  Many of you already know me to be honest and blunt at times already, and this may be a slight cop-out as resolutions go.  However, I think that it is a healthy way to live with the hope that living true will bring me inner happiness and self-respect.  While living honestly may not always please others, at least I bring myself unfettered to the table.  I raise my keyboard to all of you, and wish you a lovely year and may each book you read touch a piece of your soul.

Day 30 of Book Challenge

Final day 30 of 30 day Book Challenge - My Favorite Book of All Times

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, by J.K. Rowling

It is no secret that I love the Harry Potter series.  The moment I finished the final book I nosedived into my first and only bookish depression.   There is a special place in my heart for Harry, Ron and Hermoine.  Seeing these three wizard friends finally go off on their own on a mission to eliminate Voldermort was incredibly satisfying.  Harry Potter from start to finish was mastery story-telling of epic portions.  I try and avoid using the word epic, but it always ends up coming out - IT WAS EPIC.  The ending taking place where it all began - a battle of good versus evil.  Wands down, my most treasured book to date. 

Day 29 - A Book I Loved That Everybody Else Hated.

Day 29 - A Book I Loved That Everybody Else Hated.

Shatter Me, by Tahereh Mafi

This post has me in a quandary because it is ultimately admitting that my opinion isn't golden.  Then I went through my bookshelves, both physical and virtual, and had to really think.  There are many books I hated that others loved.  Who is this "everybody" book police anyways.    After my muses, I recalled thoroughly enjoying Shatter Me.  It was written in a unique style that I believe others felt put off by.  It took some getting accustomed to, but I found it refreshing.  It was not something I would say that I ultimately "loved' but I enjoyed it, while discovering others had not.

Day 27 & 28 of the 30 Day Book Challenge

Day 27 - The Most Surprising Plot Twist or Ending:
Days of Blood And Starlight, Laini Taylor

So spoilerific that I mustn't tell a thing.  I can say that it involves the White Wolf, Karou and
someone from Karou's past.  It's mind blowing, and I cannot begin to express how eager I am to the next installment.

Day 28 - Favorite Title of a Book
Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them (A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right,  Al Franken

Nothing political about this title, no sir.  Paired with the cover of the book, there is a high probability that most conservatives are going to avoid this political .  I tend to run a bit liberal in my political beliefs, along with Al Franken's antics I was enthralled when I first caught a glimpse of this book.  

Day 26 of 30 Day Book Challenge - A Book that Changed My Opinion About Something

The Parables of Jesus: Red Letter Edition,

The Jesus Seminar

During my final semester of my senior year at a small liberal arts college I took an anthropology course called The New Testament. I figured it would be an insanely easy A being a child who spent her first eight years of education at a Catholic school. What I didn't realize was to take religion down to a anthropological level, beliefs that were always assumed can easily be questioned. Many of those questions began with an incredibly simple under 100 page collaborative manuscript written by gospel scholars on the fundamentals of the few documented spoken words of Jesus Christ.

I have no desire to preach, but I will say that when you interpret the five parables of Jesus, written from four different perspectives, then as students discuss our own interpretations between 25 other individuals the fundamental focus tend to evolve and change.  This class and book humbled me and gave me the ability to question what I had always known.  I pulled that A I was hoping for, but also gained a lifetime of questioning my beliefs as an adult.