November 30th

My focus has really been all over the map this month. At least I haven't gone over to the dark side...

Tomorrow

I'm hoping that all the lists I've made today will help me get my tiny little act together by tomorrow.

Leftover

I'm just glad I'm not having turkey for dinner tonight.

What Did You Do Today?

Tag from Laura on Vimeo.

Happy Thanksgiving

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

May your feast be delicious and may your football team win!

Thankful in Advance

I spent today doing the heavy lifting/cooking for our Thanksgiving feast. Everything that can be done in advance is done. The desserts are nestled on the counter and the turkey is brining.

Tomorrow we will go for our traditional Thanksgiving walk. If the weather holds we hope to have dessert on the porch.

Life is good. Be grateful for it.

Newsflash

Max beats me at checkers again.

The Turkey Has Landed

Thanksgiving Break is upon us. Max is out of school and Janson the Turkey is roosting on my favorite rocking chair.

Quote of the Day

Let yourself be silently
drawn by the stronger pull
of what you really love.

Rumi

Saturday Rap

Saturday Afternoon Rap from Laura on Vimeo.

Such A Day

I have been running all day long - and when I wasn't running or driving in a torrential downpour or using a hot glue gun to attach feathers to paper bag turkeys, I was on the phone with our internet provider, moving cords around from modem to router. The final solution being we can have internet or digital phone but not both until tomorrow. So don't call me.

I did get a squeaky clean bill of skin health from my new dermatologist, Dr. T. (who's a peach). For those of you keeping score, that's skin cancer zero, me one!

Jump Shot

I Have a Secret

I've been carrying this secret around with me in my purse for a little over a week. It's Jen Lee's Take Me with You: A Journal for the Journey and it has worked a little bit of magic for me.

Jen Lee is a luminous powerhouse of creative encouragement. She's a storyteller, a writer, a photographer and most of all an encourager. This beautiful journal is filled with little suggestions and encouragements, not really like the writing prompts you often get in journals like this. The book features little whispers of encouragement, the kind you might get from a dear friend or a sister.

And here's the magic, most times when I pull out a journal to write in the two minutes of time I have in line somewhere or picking up Max from school, I feel supremely self conscious. My gremlins go on high alert and start shouting, What are you doing? You are writing in public. It's weird! Someone will notice! Stop – put that pen away right now! When I pull this little journal out, all I can hear is Jen's encouraging voice saying, Go ahead, write it all down and then I do.

Jen's blog is here and if you have a writer or even a reluctant writer in your life, check out Take Me with You. It might be exactly what they need.

Quote of the Day & Reply

"I'm just sitting here picking out photos to illustrate the book I haven't written yet."

Me: How much coffee have you had?

November Sky

Hockey

We went to a hockey game this afternoon.

Here's what I liked best - the sounds. I kept wanting to close my eyes so I could focus on the thwack of hockey sticks and the shoosh of skates on the ice.

Next time I'm going to bring knitting and not bother watching at all. I'm just going to listen.

Saturday at the McNay with Max

It's only four seconds long - go ahead and watch...



We spent the morning running around the grounds at the McNay which is practically in our backyard. After a while, the boys took off to explore and I found a shady spot to sit and write. I came away with six smoking hot pages of material which is a pretty darn good day's work for a poet.

We found out this afternoon that Max has been accepted into the gifted program at his school (after not one, but two different rounds of mind numbingly boring standardized tests). He is over the moon!

Happy Saturday.

Joy Diet Ingredient of the Week: Laughter

Ha ha ha ha...

This week did not go the way I expected it to. I envisioned a week filled with laughter, with chuckle inducing knock-knock jokes and funny cartoons. I took Martha Beck at her word that 30 laughs a day would be pretty easy. I expected to breeze through – and instead I stumbled upon some pretty hard truths about myself and my life.

I do not laugh as often as I would like to. I did not make 30 laughs a day, not even close, not once.

When I brought my husband into the project and asked him for some jokes, he somberly said, "You do not laugh nearly enough."

I don't know when this happened. I used to be Little Mary Sunshine. I used to be annoyingly upbeat. I mean, really, people used to complain about it!

I don't know where all that laughter went but I definitely know I want it back. (I do know that some of this is the result of being a mother and putting things that are important to me on the backburner for such a long time.)

So tell me a funny story. Tell me a joke. I'm looking to retrieve some of the joyous lightheartedness I used to have.

Stop by Jamie Ridler's The Next Chapter to see more reflections on this week's Joy Diet ingredient.

Better Left Unsaid

I went to get my hair cut today. Yes, cut. Yes, again. Because I am obviously addicted now to having my hair cut. Hi. My name is Laura and I'm a haircutaholic.

This is all very new to me because for the last twenty years when my hair was very long, I would get several inches trimmed off the length like once every few YEARS. Now I'm on first name basis with my hair person/stylist/terrifically hip chica who cuts my hair. It's Tanya, she's fabulous.

So I'm sitting in the little waiting area across from this youngish (late 20's) woman who has on a very low cut blouse and has this display of cleavage that is just stunning. And you know, they are out there, for all the world to see, obviously on purpose and I had this overwhelming desire to say to her, "Your breasts are magnificent."

I think she would have been pleased because some obvious effort had been made to display them, surely she wanted folks to notice.

But I didn't because I am some one's mom and surely don't want the reputation of lady of the inappropriate remarks at the hair place. But those of you who've known me the longest, you know that there was a time when I totally would have done it.

Lockdown

I volunteer once a week in Max's classroom. I listen to the kids read books or have them read their latest story to me. I offer encouragement and a little extra one on one time. For the most part, it's gratifying and it gives me a deep deep appreciation for Max's teacher and the work she does in the classroom. It has the added benefit of giving me a chance to watch Max interact with his classmates and get to know them a little better. It helps to know who's who.

Today was like any other day until about halfway through my volunteer session when the bell rang three times. Complete silence fell over the classroom and they all lined up amazing fast. Fire drill. We walked outside and stood in a line facing the building. (This is how we stood in the fire drills of my childhood too but I have no idea why. ) It's what came next that completely freaked me out.

We filed back into the school and the teacher in charge said "lockdown" as we walked into the building. In eerie silence the kids filed into the classroom, lined up facing the wall, then they sat on the floor, crouching down, making themselves as small as possible. I realized this was so they could not be seen through the window panel in the door or the classroom windows, in case someone with a gun…

and at the point my brain just froze.

The teacher quickly got the kids back to work but I was trembling. I can't believe Max has never mentioned this to me. The kids were very nonchalant and knew exactly what to do, so I'm sure it's a familiar drill. It was stunning to see how casually they practiced hiding from a gunman! It may be no big deal to Max but I am certain I will have bad dreams tonight.