I Could Be...

Have you ever stopped and wondered what you might have become if you didn't become what you are? (Wow... deep...) But really... like, if I hadn't moved to X place and met X person then I wouldn't have married my husband, etc. Of course, sometimes you wish for that alternate reality, right? No??

Ok, so today I am wondering... if I weren't married with kids, could I be a crazy cat lady? 

 

I mean, I have 3 cats right now... and am contemplating getting a 4th (VERY seriously, in fact). But I have a husband, and kids... so I'm exempt, right?? My co-worker assures me that we don't become a "crazy cat family" until there are more cats than people. I am hoping SURE she knows what she is talking about.

And just to cap off this crazy little blog with a good laugh (cuz I know you weren't already laughing)... I just discovered that there is, in fact, a Crazy Cat Lady action figure!! How awesome is that?? Wondering what to get me for the next gift giving occasion? Wonder no more!!

Saturday Musings

I was making breakfast this morning and had multiple "that would be good to blog about" thoughts. I decided to combine them into one... Consider this three tiny blogs in one!

• Sauerkraut is GROSS. I'm sorry, but that stuff makes me want to throw up. I mean, it actually SMELLS like throw up. I mean, I just can't understand why someone would want to eat "finely shredded cabbage that has been fermented by various lactic acid bacteria". GROSS! So anyway, my dear husband has this package of the disgusting stuff in the fridge and it was LEAKING. And I got it on my hands... and yes, I actually ran through the house screaming. 

• My children talk to themselves in the shower. They don't sing... well, sometimes Brady does, but more often it is the talking. And it cracks me up, because I talk to myself in the shower! I don't do it loud enough for anyone to hear the way that they do... but I've done it forever. And, given how much I love to sing, it is pretty strange that I talk and don't sing. And apparently it is genetic... 

 All this guy needs is a shower

• And finally, and most adorably, my younger son (5) was so very cute this morning and I couldn't resist a little tickle attack. Of course, he starts shrieking "STOP TICKLING ME" immediately. So I stop... and then he climbs back into my lap and whispers "Tickle me, Mommy". Oh how I love my little mercurial boy (thanks for the good word, dear friend who made me blog! LOL)

Happy Saturday and First Day of Spring (even though it is snowing in my corner of the world) to all!

Oh to be a cat...

There are just lots of some mornings when getting up and getting going is so hard! And when I've been fighting a virus for almost 2 weeks and feel drained dry... well, I would just love to spend the day curled up with a good book friend.

My "girls"

And then this morning my girls were having a grand time chasing each other around the house and I thought "Wow, wouldn't it be great to just choose a good time for some fun and then go back to sleep for the rest of the day?" Yeah, I really was lazy unmotivated today.

Of course my dear friend points out that there are sucky things about being a cat... fur balls, for example. And then being at the whim of the humans that you depend on for food and shelter. In my house, they get what they need, but they also have to deal with stuff like this:

 

Ok, so maybe being a cat wouldn't be perfect... but it might be pretty darned awesome for a while!!

Turning the World Upside Down

My five year old loves looking at his own reflection. LOVES it! He will stand in the bathroom making faces at himself in the mirror for ages instead of washing his hands. So last night he was looking at his reflection in the back of a spoon... fun!

Then he flipped the spoon around and there he was... upside down!! WOW!

To his five year old mind, this is just about the coolest thing, EVER! He has been carrying this spoon around with him all morning and admiring himself... both upright and upside down. Oh the joy of still loving our own reflection, huh?

My wish for my baby boy: should the topsy turvy image in his spoon be the most drastic turning-upside-down of his world that he ever experiences... unless, of course, it is the good kind of turning, like falling in love with your soul mate or holding your babies for the first time. And I hope he holds each of those types of moments with just as much wonder as he is holding his spoon today!!

Happiness is...

Today, happiness is...

• Adding a Robert Pattinson "skin" to my Firefox browser. Yummy!

 

• Wearing shorts sleeves

• Having a regular patron bring me a brownie

• Knowing that I can sleep in tomorrow and it is likely to be raining! Ahhhhh!

• Yummm... brownie!!

• Did I mention that it is Friday??

• Reading a good book (wishing I could do more)

• Two good movies to watch this weekend

• Blogging instead of working

Brushes With Fame

So people around here say that I have all of these "brushes with fame" things because I am the California girl (Midwesterners are kinda impressed by that...) It would be interesting to know if the average California native has as many of these brushes.
I think my first one was Jay Leno... he accosted me in the parking lot at our grocery store when we lived in Glendale. Seriously... I was trying to load my car really fast and he came running over to me. Yes, you guessed it, he was filming a "Jay Walking" segment. It was National Nutrition Week or something and he was going through people's grocery carts. Of course I was shopping for a party so I had a bunch of junk food. He especially liked my cheese log (and no, that isn't a euphemism for anything...)

Then there was the time that I pushed Karl Malden (may he rest in peace) and his wife, apparently, off an elevator. No, really! We were attending Jim's Student Academy Award's reunion dinner. I think it was the 25th Anniversary. Anyway, my buddy Karl was attending too, because he is a past president of the Academy. The dinner was being held on the top floor of a Universal City hotel and everyone was waiting downstairs for an elevator. Most of my party got onto an elevator but this older couple moved in front of me and started to take the remaining room... I kinda pushed them out of the way (I hope think I said excuse me... ) and got onto the elevator as the door closed. My husband and his friends were looking goggle-eyed at me... "Do you know who you just pushed off this elevator??" Oops!

So my most recent one is a more of a "now he's famous, I used to chase him around the playground" brush. But it still counts!! So The Hurt Locker won Best Picture at the Oscars the other night and I heard them mention a certain name as one of the producers. "Oh," I thought, "I had such a crush on (a guy by that name) in elementary school." I kinda looked and thought "Huh, if that is him, he looks really different." Well, it is HIM! And not only that, but apparently he is dating a certain actress named Robin... yes, the Robin who might just actually be divorcing a certain actor named Sean this time. WOW! I think I'm going to be dropping this story for a long time!

Spring Is Coming!

This morning we have our first rain of the year. There is something about the sound of the drops on the roof and skylights that I just love. And the thought of the world being washed clean...

So I haven't posted a blog entry in almost two years! Yikes! Too much to write about in one blog, really... but maybe as a "new beginning" I will let my mind flow over the general ideas of these last two years.

I have experienced lots of changes in those two years. I just started to say that the biggest of those was my hysterectomy... but then thought better. Physically, yes, that has been a huge change. As far as a change in *me*, possibly yes, possibly no. I do think my anxiety lessened with the reduction in pain and, probably, anemia. But I am definitely not defined by my lack of a uterus.

I think the biggest change in *me* has been in my search for a definition for my religion/spirituality. Somewhere in the last few years I finally said the words "I don't consider myself to be a Christian." Despite a mostly Christian upbringing, I found conflict in myself in the worship of a man over other men. Not that Jesus wasn't an amazing teacher... he, like many before him and many since, was one who taught important points about being a good person to the world. But I don't see him as any more a son of God than you or me.

Ok, so I came to this great revelation and really felt the need to figure out what I do believe, if it isn't exactly all of that stuff that I was raised with. My search has lead me away from organized religion... nothing seems to really seem like a good fit for me. A lot of Eastern religious traditions hold a lot of meaning for me, but nothing from one in general. I have truly come to believe that the spirit... God if you will... is in all of us and around all of us. I have been trying to learn to meditate in order to find a more pure contact with that spirit inside of me... I don't do it well, but I'm working at it.

And as my corner of the world verges on springtime, I like to think of waking up from a hibernation. Every day I am trying to look for the beauty and meaning in the things around me, even in those things that might not normally be sources of positivity. And in this way, I strengthen the energy inside of me and send it back to the world in the most positive way that I can. Again, I'm not perfect... but I'm working on it!!