Sinking

This waiting and not knowing if we'll get this house is killing my soul. My mind, will and emotions are slowing down and I recognize that I'm going into turtle mode. Remember when Artax sinks in the Swamp of Sadness in the Neverending Story?........ Delena, you can be Atreyu. Jesus, you be Falcor.

Melodrama. Pity party. Focused on self. Blah blah blah. I know.......yes, I know. Sometimes days just suck. And then tomorrow is better.

Master of his Universe

Just want to introduce you to a gem of a guy, a waft of fresh air in today's murky Jersey Shore, Katy Perryesque, Teen baby drama land. This is Erik, my 16 year old nephew. He has enthusiastically agreed to let me show him off on my blog. I'm pretty sure he doesn't know what blog means but hey, he's game.

I mentioned him in one of my first posts as a pipe cleaner extraordinaire and today I will display his gift.

He makes these characters, these "warriors"  and gives them an incredibly detailed back story and history. For the longest as he talked about them I thought they were recreations of characters from some game he played. His in
depth stories of their "battles", their betrayals of and alliances with one another, their planets of origin, their temperaments...... 100% nerd fodder. I was impressed with the depth of his imagination. He spends most of his time RPGing and has gone the way of far too many creative teen souls. Through the Gateway of Game System Succubi down into the valley of Creative Potential Coma...... How can I rescue him, I ask myself? I can totally relate to his creative retreat. I can relate to the lack of family enthusiasm that deadens the artistic nerve..... I am trying to fan his tiny flame. Blowin the embers, engaging him in conversation over his "craft" and even here now in this expose. He was so alive as he demonstrated their little weapons and unique abilities/powers. Passion poked it's tiny head out for a brief moment.
So, if you've got a minute, take a look. Take a minute to appreciate one young man's hidden and under appreciated talent. It's a gift.

I made him pose like this. Only after I gave him an acceptable explanation.

Battle scene.

While setting up his battle I frustrated him to no end. I was "helping" but I kept posing the wrong guys together in fight scenes. I was properly  schooled on who were natural enemies and who were adversaries, to say the least. Won't be so daft next time, whew!

Epic.

You're surrounded!

An honorable death. Respect.

Last man standing.

Jerome's not available. Leave a message......

Dear Jerome,
    It's a mystery to me why you have no interest to see my blog. If you had one I'd be all over that like flies on poo. Just now for instance when I said "Hey, how come you never wanna see my blog?" you were all like "I need to put this pie up" and then I see you going out for a smoke...... Is it because I have always had my hand in so many pots, making stuff left and right and making you look at it? Do you feel bored at the thought of me making you look at one more thing I made?........

But as much as I can't relate to your lack of interest, I also am not surprised nor offended. I have become accustomed to it. We are as married as it gets, I suppose.

You just came in from your smoke and said with all the saggy, weariness you could muster up , "Man, I'm so tired. I gotta get all the sleep I can tonight"..... And there you go to bed. Dodging once more the opportunity to mesh with me. I am the circle that resides in your square.

Roseannigans

Reunion weekend stretched on and on to my delight. Sunday my older sis, Michelle, came out and met us at church. It was pretty obvious that God had read her Lisa Frank journal, He was most definitely conversing with her heart. I miss my Roseanne clan so much, lately. My little Emli, my sweet Patel even though you have retired the name. And Evie evolves more into Rhianna each time I see her. I wish she'd pick a more wholesome image. You know, someone like Whoopi Goldberg or Della Reese. Della's one classy woman.

  Emli is my perpetual playmate. We have some pretty exciting choreographed dance moves that were developed  specifically for our frames. Science stuff. You wouldn't get it even if I explained it in layman's terms.

                                                         This is the "She said what?!"

                                                   And here is  "Oh no she di'nt!"

                                My all time favorite, "A-Ha's Take on Me Keyboard"

                                               And finally, the "Purple Rain guitar leg solo".

                                 When we get our house, it's on Wright/Mercer/Rector family.

Giddy as a school girl

What a cool reunion weekend. My best buddy came to spend the night with us Friday. We used to live down the street from each other but since our "displacement" we've only seen each other once. From the minute she got here and the garage door was "broken" and kept getting "stuck"  we were cheesin it up. 

It was so good to just be with my friend :) Our friendship is straight out of a late 70's Judy Blume book. Yeah.....that's what it is.

It was funny that I saw you reading my blog. It was extremely vain of me to sit and watch your reaction. You're such a good friend, you oohed and ahhhed  just enough to seem real. 

 It was extremely satisfying to see your face as you saw the "punishment" bestowed upon you for telling the blog secret.

 And in the end you were not amused.

 Like a big ol' baby I tucked you in. You know that when I die you can have my quilt so quit asking.

The next morning like a dweeb, you woke up at 5:30 and out of politeness shared a whole pot of coffee with my dad on the porch. I would've told you how horrible my parents coffee was had you only asked. How was I supposed to know you were gonna get up before I could warn you ?!
The coffee was well worth the time you got to spend with a dad. You may certainly call him your own if it ever feels right to you. Remember that.

Jerome did what he knows best. Potato salad and burgers, your only request. Jerome loves you like a sis. You better believe it. 

 Sure, Sarah put her tongue in the potato salad, but bein family you ate it anyway. 

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 You were so happy you played air guitar but told me that no one could see the pictures. See, I do remember everything you say, buddy.

My only regret is we didn't take any pics of our adventures at the barn sale. And I didn't get one picture of the world's best jacket :(  But another time, right? Love you re re.

Punishing best buddy and Farrah hair

A blustery day in Southeast Texas! What a rare treat. You know, we wear winter boots, scarves, coats and all that cool weather fare as soon as it hits below 70 degrees. We're just sooo eager for a respite from the muggy, humid blanket we endure most of the year.  I always laugh though when I see those girls in daisy dukes with a sweater and Uggs on. Uggs shouldn't be worn with anything, I wonder when the scales will fall off these ladies eyes and they will see Uggs for what they truly are.  I think the southern term "hot mess" was thunk up just for em'. I'm feeling super country this morning. This weather puts me in the friskiest of moods. I feel like a springtime squirrel. If you know what I mean by that, you'll either blush or laugh ;) And man, my hair is so Farrah Fawcett today I just gotta get gussied up and walk around Wal-Mart or something! The trick is going to bed at 12:30 am with wet hair still wrapped in a towel. Brushes prohibited.

Well, I do have one order of business today. My best buddy, my one official "follower" of this blog has broken the ONE rule I gave her. She told an acquaintance about the blog. Oh wait! She told two acquaintances! But she told one of them the name. Hello there, Ericka ;)...... It does seem weird, I know, but I never wanted this journal to be like an extension of facebook or other social media where just anyone who ever knew you in passing could waste a few minutes while they're bored. I have so little of my own anything in my current living situation, this is my favorite thing right now. So here's your punishment, buddy. I'm taking away one of the gifts I have stored away for your Christmas and I am going to let you see what you have not won in the showcase today.............

                                 Here's a close up. As close as you'll ever get, buddy!
See you tonight at our adult sleepover, Lener. I love helping you retrieve the childhood you never had. That's why I buy you so many toys and gifts, friend :) You're reaction to said gifts are just like Ava's and Sarah's. Makes it so rewarding. My gift is giving presents and yours is properly receiving them. We make a great team.

Makin do........

We were told that we were in "a 48-72 hour window of closing" this Monday. Now this morning we hear that they need more documents (exact same documents we sent 2 weeks ago, go figure) AND an addendum to our buying contract with the seller. The realtor is cursing, stressing, saying that this deal is just too much for her and she's about to drop out. Helpful, right? Well, thanks to the internet and all it's snoopy rabbit holes I saw that she has only sold 3 houses. Two of them to the same man. So, her diaper can sag all day. I aint changin it. Wouldn't it suck if she saw this? HA! I've heard from several folks that this is the norm, despite our Baby Jane realtor's meltdowns. And that's keepin me encouraged. Will ya'll pray that the seller is compelled to hold out for us? I know that this is our house down in my gut. Other's have told me to move on, even one church lady told me some cheesy testimony about giving up on certain house she "knew" was hers but turned out she got the one that was truly meant to be. This lady must've forgotten telling me a short while back that she was unhappy in her neighborhood setup and wished they had gotten something with a little land. Yeah. Chapped my hide. Still talkin about it, obviously..... So, let encouragement be sincere. Let it be G rated, R rated or NC-17 but for goodness sakes, let it be something the hearer can latch onto. Lofty means "high up" and if you throw out lofty life preservers the poor drowning sap can't catch it.......In the meantime, we're just makin the best of it here on the "farm" as Sarah calls it. This is a little bit of what's been goin on.......

            Just cookin with granny.

           Sweet moments readin up on holiday recipes.

 My nephew displacing me in my own bed to watch movies because my sister took over his t.v. My husband     seems to be cool with this situation.

 Secretly bringing a (formerly) stray cat into Papa's house. If my dad even knew what a blog was I wouldn't dare post this picture.

Catchin up with my poor abandoned pug, old man Toby. His story is so sad and tragic, could've been written by Shakespeare, himself.  

                 Playin in local dirt.

                                   Eatin local dirt.

                      Movies in grandma's tempurpedic memory foam bed. Here's to old!

                       Porchin it up like old timers.

Lots of time outdoors. Been so good for us!

I'm startin to catch the revelation that this time here may not be about us as much as it is a gift for my parents. I would be overjoyed to get time like this with my grandchildren when that time in life comes.

God is good, so multi-faceted and beyond our full comprehension.

Long post full of sincere flattery

So I'm not messin around on this blog for much of any reason. I just found out about these online journals this year in spring. I never knew what to do on the computer after I checked my 2 spam emails and read what everyone thought was important enough to share with the world on facebook. I think I must've googled something about "retro home" and in the clicking away process found some really interesting blogs. It was cool to see photos of other people's neat stuff and most often I had a keen ear to what what they were sayin.
I liked those folks. I wish there were some around here. In my life right now I am pretty much on an island. I have 2 friends, my best buddy Delena and my sister Michelle.  And 2 is a good solid number when a person comes to counting friends.

 Ladies, it's my blog and this is not facebook so you can't make me take down a single picture. Just deal.

 But back to what I was sayin, I like this community online. It's been a source of good on a lot of ends. When I was feeling homesick for a home that didn't exist yet, I eased it up a little looking through posts from Say It Aint So by Rae Sock. Ten years of borrowing other people's property for hard earned dough and not being able to paint a darn wall?! Clicking through her kitschy super vintage home had my envy as green as her living room walls. But a good envy, mind you. An appreciative envy.  In a spiritual funkitude I stumbled on From Under His Feathers by Brooke Hammel and after a little reading was encouraged so deeply within to stand and endure, God isn't at all like my dad's here on earth. No way was His love conditional and I didn't need to walk the line of perfection to stay in His affectionate gaze. Brooke's a Christian like me, I've always felt like a hippie in my church. Good to meet another one ;) When I felt the itch to start sewing, makin, paintin and doin again I got over the mom slump through inspiration from Laura Mazurek from Roots and Feathers. I even stopped by her little town this summer and looked at her wares, it's not far at all from San Antonio where we were visiting family. Not in a stalkery, school girl crush kinda way. In a respect for her putting hand to the hammer kinda way. Seeing people go for it in the realm of "doin what you love to make a livin" is sooooo good for my inner person to see. I live in a family of practical, insurance buying worker bees. Not really anyone to hobnob with over things outside of the box.

A little bit of Laura's work

Proof that I was there. Because you always need proof.

So thank you, internet savvy women of the USA. You're vintage treasures make me smile inside and out, your transparency of the spirit goes beyond curious voyeurism and has a divine appointment and purpose and your tenacity to create for a living inspires me to just do it. Thanks for your contribution, it's not at all superficial or petty. It's treasure.

*Feel like I need to state that even though this sounds like a paid testimonial for bare minerals or a Jack Lalanne Juicer, this is not a "sponsored post" (whatever that is, I'm still pretty geen). Just solid appreciation soundin off.*