Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Really?


I stopped in my tracks yesterday at the grocery store when I noticed this in the cereal aisle.  Are you kidding me?  Finally someone has invented a product to make my life easier.  Slicing bananas can be so tricky and dangerous....I often have to use a butter knife.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The man with a really long fingernail.

Last night before bed, all four of us were hanging out in my son's bedroom.  I picked up a piece of plastic that had fallen off a trophy.  It fit perfectly on my middle finger and it looked like a super long finger nail claw.  No one else had seen it so I said, 

"Have you ever heard the legend about the man with a really long fingernail?"  Both kids eyes got wide and they scooted closer to me.

"Well," I continued, "the story goes that there is a man with no hand, but just a long fingernail that comes out of his arm.  He travels around looking for kids with really soft skin.  He doesn't hurt them, he just likes to scratch their skin."  (I was trying to be as tame as possible.  I thought, HEY!  No blood, no guts, no death, perfectly harmless.)

"I heard that on Saturday, he was down south and traveling up this way.  I think he's probably around our neighborhood tonight.  Close your eyes and let's see if he's near."  (Both kids obey me and close their eyes....just about the only time they have followed my directions in the past week.)

I reached over and scratched their face with the plastic toy.  My daughter began to laugh but then it turned into sobs.  

I had to sleep with her last night.  

I was trying to be funny and I ended up scaring them. My husband claims that the way I told the story made it really scary because it was so odd.

Watch out "Clown Killer".  There is a new legend in town...."The Man with the really Long Fingernail".  

Monday, April 20, 2009

An amazing tribute.


Yesterday was the memorial service for the son of one of my closest friends.  It was a wonderful tribute to him.  The service was held in the school gym.  They had set up 550 chairs and when the service began, there was standing room only!

I was asked by my friend to read something that she and her husband wrote about their child.  It was a touching, moving and funny piece.  They captured him really well.

At the closing of the service, they opened up the mike to people who would like to share a story or memory.  Imagine my surprise when my son stood in line to say something.  He shared two sweet stories and delivered his impromtu speech really well.  I had a hard enough time standing up in front of the crowd....I was very proud that my son handled himself so well.

Instead of signing a guest book, they had a bunch of Sharpies, and the attendees signed the Scooby-Doo van.  (The little boy who died loved Scooby-Doo and his artistic mom painted their old van to resemble the Mystery Machine from Scooby-Doo).

All in all, an emotional day, but an amazing outpouring of love.

Monday, April 13, 2009

2009

2009 was going to be fine.

So far, 2009 has been a big wad of slime.


Thursday, April 9, 2009

Together they make a masterpiece.


So, I'm a bit behind.....life has been life and for some reason it's chosen to be in super-over-drive with turbo-injections.  

This is the class art work I "won" at our school's auction.  I just love it.  I had the good fortune of helping out in the classroom when they worked on the project.  Each child was give a square of "Starry Night" and then asked to reproduce it on a different piece of paper.  I walked around the classroom that day wondering how in the world it would ever turn out.....but it is just breath-taking beautiful.  It reminds me that when we stand alone we can be ordinary, but together we can be a work of art.