Afternoons with Christa

     This is the second Thursday in a row that I spent some time learning about clay with possibly the sweetest person on the planet.  Christa does a ton of stuff at MudWorks and teaching me how to make things has been added to her list.  She is patient and clear in her directions as she teaches you the millions of little steps and details that some of the work involves.  Today for my new thing I created magnets.  Dragonflies, teapots, butterflies and flowers.  All from a lump of clay.  Some of them had many intricate little doodads.  It's a nice feeling to make something from nothing.  Ironically, I came home to see that my caterpillars had turned into the chrysalis that comes next...growth and change everywhere.  I will end the first half of my "year of the new" wrapped up in my cocoon.  The next half will bring the butterfly...

Amaranth & Goat Cheese Frittata

     Yesterday we left the CSA with amaranth and our first artisan product...a local goat cheese.   This morning we dined on something brand new and very tasty! 

New habits, new mistakes, new thinking

     The format of this new thing is a bit different and since it is my challenge I get to make up the rules.  The trigger for this post occurred this morning when I realized I had overslept.  Let's rewind a bit.  Little by little I am trying to figure out what has worked as well as what has been unsuccessful in my life.  I am doing all of this to define the life I want to be living instead of the one that was happening around me.  This means hard work, growth, change and new habits.  I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about the duties of motherhood.  I was saying that we need to change what isn't working.  I realized I should be taking my own advice.  So on Sunday night I did the laundry.  Why is this a big deal?  I do laundry during the day.  During the day when I could be spending valuable time playing or teaching my children.  Now if you know me at all you know that it seems like I do that quite a bit.  I spend the summer teaching the "letter of the day" for goodness sake...but I still feel like I don't have enough time to do what I really want to with them.  So this week I did laundry late on Sunday to free up Monday morning for the good stuff.  We spread catalogs and magazines all over the table and created collages...yes, we are up to C.  I didn't have to spread myself over the usual ten things at a time I am trying to accomplish.  Instead, I spent my energy on them.  I ended up accomplishing quite a bit anyway that day...despite my creative time.  I then changed a few things I would've done during the day and they worked out nicely as well.  I pushed dinner up a bit early to do something crazy.  We went to the pool after dinner and closed it down.  Bedtimes were out the window.  I broke out of my own regimen  for the perfect bedtime and realized that perfection comes in different forms.  I watched as my little guy played joyfully in a pool that he feared only weeks ago.  I watched as he dunked his blond little head into the water and how his sister can do flips and handstands already.  I watched as my old father sat there taking it all in.  I also swam and played in the water.  For hours.  This body had adapted nicely to the new food and the new movement it was getting and we were celebrating.  All of us were welcoming the beginning of summer and the new peacefulness it brought to us. 
     Back to the oversleeping.  Seems too much caffeinated iced tea and a few too many laps energized me too much.  I stayed up until normal time but then crashed.  Crashed.  Hard.  The noise of my daughter and the dog leash meant it was 7:30am but the digital clock showed me that it was actually 8:45am.  Everyone had slept a little sounder and a little longer than usual.  I can't remember the last time I slept in past 8 and typically I am up around 5am.  Even when sick as a dog the world makes demands on me that don't allow time for extra slumber.  I got up in a tizzy with panic as I ran around catching up for lost time.  I've overslept only a handful of times my entire life so it must be a comical scene to watch.  I then took a breath and realized the old me would've had been destroyed by such a mistake.  The new me let me off of the hook.  I am making changes.  I am learning.  I will make mistakes.  Maybe this one saved me from a fatal accident or kept my children safe from some incident.  Either way I got ready and made it to work just fine.  I am lucky to have an understanding boss.  One that didn't mind if the smell of chlorine and aloe was still lingering on my darkened skin. 
     I am not only defining the new attitudes that I want to have but I am living them.  It is easy to name a bunch of things you hope to change someday.  It is simple to throw out some ideas.  But to change...really change...is hard.  As I approach the halfway point of this year's journey I am feeling pretty good.  Here and there the new thing might be a negative one...like sleeping in...a flat tire...a loss of some sort...or worse...but they do make you realize you are indeed changing.  They are a testament to the growth.  You don't really know how much you have changed until you are tested.  It is easy to be great when things are simple...it's when things are hard that you either rise or fall.  As I drove to work this morning it hit me...I've been living a bunch of these new habits for quite a while now.  I am aware now because I overslept on a Tuesday...well, that and everything that led up to it.

Order a reward bathing suit

     Every summer the Land's End catalog comes in the mail and taunts me with its pretty new bathing suits.  Sure I've purchased bathing suits before but I have to be honest it has been a long, long, long time.  My last bathing suit was from my 20's I believe and it died and slow and painful death.  The one I'm using now...I will whisper where it's from (it's my Mom's and I have no idea what year it is from).  Pathetic I know.  But this kid who grew up with a pool and went on to become a lifeguard had her share back in the day and I guess I used up some strange bathing suit points early in life.  When we joined the pool not only did I worry about squishing myself into a bathing suit but then I realized I really didn't have one. 
    This coming Wednesday I will hit my four week point on WW.  I have played around with losing this weight here and there.  I have made goals but I have never written them down...until now.  I have an actual thermometer with goals.  Ya know how they have the huge signs with how much money is raised for a charity and the goals that they are hitting?  Yep, one of those but it's only on a small piece of 8x11 paper not a billboard.  My ten pound goal was to get a new bathing suit.  Today as I weighed in I saw the numbers that meant I had a new bathing suit coming to me.  One that didn't have such worn elastic that the shoulders kept falling down.  One that was brand new.  One that fit.  Wouldn't you know I received an email this afternoon from a little company named Land's End.  I'm most certain they heard about my goal and how I had achieved success and sent it for the special occasion.  25% off of any item and free shipping.  Add that to the current sale and I just ordered my $99 suit for about $40!!! I don't know what I am more excited about the weight loss or the pretty new suit.  See you at the pool in my new black bathing suit...I'll be the one treading water for 1 activity point and shooting for those new sneakers!!!

Movies at the Casino with Tina and Gabby

     It was Tina's first time ever at the Casino Theater and my first time there with Tina so it was a new thing for all!  The Casino is a cute little theater with a play area, mini golf and snack bar.  Today we went to the early show which saves you about half of what you would normally pay at a regular theater.  We saw Cars 2.  I will refrain from a review about the movie but the event itself was something different and definitely fun!!!
     As a little extra new thing on the way back down 611 we stopped at the haunted candle shop.  That turned out to be quite the event in itself.  It might just be the strangest store I have ever been in.  Giggles were plenty as we walked through the odd assortments of stuff.  I'm a tad bit afraid of the nightmares I might have tonight and I didn't even enter the "haunted" part.  All in all it was a blast and a wonderful way to spend part of our  Sunday. 

Bear Mountain Butterfly Sanctuary

     I have a thing for butterflies.  I have seen them at the Bronx Zoo and the Museum of Natural History and Reptiland.  If there is a fine mesh containing them and classical music playing in the background I can spend hours in there with them.  Hours.  When I discovered that there was a whole place dedicated to them I couldn't wait for the spring to arrive.  Today we made the trip to Jim Thorpe to a strange little building that was the Bear Mountain Butterfly Sanctuary.  There was a movie and small talk about the butterflies.  It was funny and informative.  But then the magic...we were allowed to enter a room that upon first inspection was a bit odd but turned into a world of pure bliss.  Monarch butterflies fluttered about us.  Landed on us.  Tickled our cheeks.  We were allowed to put sugar water on our hands and hold them ever so gently.  At one point the woman ran outside to get milkweed and placed it in a vase.  She then looked for females and put them on the leaves...within seconds we watched her lay an egg.  Thoughts of The Very Hungry Caterpillar streaming through my brain.  Classical music was put on as she explained that the butterflies seem to like the vibration of the strings.  We now know how to discern a male from a female and learned about their anatomy and stages.  All those fancy places I've watched the butterflies and I learned more today than I've ever known.   There is something quite wondrous about holding a butterfly.
     I've been talking about butterflies lately and how I feel like I am changing as well.   It was surreal when the woman speaking to us about their developmental stages went on to tell us something quite special. We sat there completely intrigued by her words and demeanor and knowledge.  She said that once the caterpillar had its cocoon it changed within it.  Each day it became a little bit more butterfly and a little less caterpillar.  Each second it shifted from one to the other.   She said that the heart of the caterpillar lived on as the heart of the butterfly.  It was the only part that stayed the same as the creature changed from one stage to the next.  Its heart stayed true.  It was there within the creature that transformed.  This brought tears to me eyes.  Who would've thought that a tiny little building with diagrams and fake flowers could sum it all up so tenderly. 
     Another beautiful moment was when the woman described how the butterflies we were so gingerly holding were slowly dying.  Their wings were fading and some were even tattered.  They would be laying eggs and starting the next generation.  She went on to say that it didn't matter because they loved all of the butterflies...even the older ones with wings that weren't so vibrant and perfect.  When you leave a place and your five year old has remembered facts about what he has learned that day it makes you feel good as a parent and educator.  When your kids spend the car ride pretending to be butterflies looking for nectar and flowers you realize it was fun as well.  When your nine year old mentions how things don't need to be perfect to be wonderful you realize something much bigger has happened.  And when you leave a place feeling like something spiritual has occurred you are blessed that all things led you to that place at that very time. 
     I pulled a sheet off of one of those inspirational quote-of-the-day calendars back in March and have had it up near my bed as a reminder...
    "A butterfly and caterpillar seem very different.  Yet the power to transform existed within its being from the beginning."

A Day with the Ladies

     It has been hard enough to find the time to spend with anyone.  Our lives are full.  Yet today turned out to be a day full of my friends.  It started with a breakfast at Compton's.  Jenne and Greta met me and the kids for some giggles and pancakes.  I can't believe how big they are all getting.  Our outing was extended as we headed to Target.  I will take them any way I can get them!
     Next, I received a text from Tina asking if we could get the kids together.  So we ran over before the skies opened up and enjoyed a few hours with our other girls.  Tina created a loft space in the garage complete with fresh canvases, paintbrushes and an assortment of paints.  We caught up on life while the kids listened to songs in between booms of thunder.  Some beautiful artwork was created and the kids can't wait to do it again.  I'm sort of glad the rains came...it made for a cool little vibe. 
     Tonight was the MudWorks party to celebrate the Grand Opening!  I caught up with my girl Leigh Ann and giggled with my other minions.  It was a lovely evening for a family that deserves much love and success!
     Life can be busy.  Mine has been challenging lately as well.  I find myself floating sometimes and in need of the tethers of friendship.  I love to spend time with the women I have found to be such great blessings in my life.  They keep me grounded.  They make me laugh.  They are the "sisters" I've always wanted.  I miss them.  We are far from the days when we could shop for hours or go out drinking and dancing.  Now we find little pockets of time for coffee or a movie.  We schedule things around our kids' events.  We are there for the big moments...we wouldn't miss them for the world.  Someday it will all balance.  Sometimes when I see an older group of women sitting in a diner laughing and talking I think of us and how we will be.   Our hair will have some grey and our faces will have lines but we will have decades of friendship between us.  Life has thrown us plenty...and we haven't gone anywhere yet...so I think it's safe to say we are stuck with each other and I wouldn't want it any other way! 

(PS...Sandi, I haven't forgotten about you! We'll do something soon I promise!!!)