oily mess

the bp thing is making me more and more upset every day. it just kills me to think about how much havoc is being wreaked on the gulf and the entire ecosystem that depends on it. i couldn't pull myself away from national geographic - i know everything has its own personal spin, but some of the facts and images there just speak for themselves.


there is a pod of whales who live near the oil spill and they are endangered. if even three of them die from reasons related to human fault, then their entire pod could be at risk for extinction. this makes me so bummed.


and if you couple the environmental garbage with the people whose lives are being irreparably turned upside down, then this is a super epic catastrophe. and it stinks.


i don't know very much at all about how bp is taking care of stopping the oil from spewing, but it just seems like they would have had something in place to avoid this disaster.

coulda, should, woulda...

that part doesn't matter now. all that matters (to me) is a solid fix so that our earth can begin the arduous process of healing itself.

(sigh)

i can't imagine what it must feel like to be walking in the shoes of someone whose life has been turned inside out because their career is gone or because their company is faltering and struggling to find a solution to this disaster. i feel bad for everyone who is being impacted by this.

be sure to check out the aransas project...the texas coast is already in a smidge of trouble. they are working hard to protect the population of whooping cranes that reside on texas beaches. i hope the oil doesn't negate the efforts that are already in place to help these birds survive.


okay, i am going to go hug a tree now.

peace, love, and clean salt water...

images in this post can be found on national geographic and the aransas project...

sources say...

...that research rocks in the sixth grade. my kids have worked on an independent research project about inventions and inventors for the last three weeks. this week they have been presenting their nuggets of wisdom to their peers.

it takes guts to get up in front of your classmates and talk...especially when you're 12. i have had stage fright for about 33 of my 35 years of life (ironically, i just submitted a proposal today to present at a conference this summer. i will die if i get it. literally.). i am amazed by the confidence and knowledge these kids have.

that said, there have been some entertaining moments this week. i thought i'd recap a few of the best for you.

-regarding einstein: 'so he invented this thing called "e = c.m. two" and it was pretty popular back in the day.'

-regarding the invention of hair color: 'i picked this topic because, like, some day i want to dye my hair. and i like hair gloss because i know i'm going to have a good day if my hair is, like, really shiny.'

-regarding lady bird johnson: 'is she larry bird's dad?'

-regarding matt groening (simpsons dude): 'he got a masters degree in being a cartoon drawler.' (yes, drawl-er)

-regarding bill clinton: 'he was the first 42nd president.'

-regarding davinci: 'is leonardo davinci related to leonard dicaprio? because they're both, like, in the movies.'

-regarding george bush of the 2000's: 'he had twin girls named jenna and barbara with his wife who was also named barbara.'

-regarding someone who married their cousin: 'you might be wondering how many deformed babies they had. the answer is three. but they weren't deformed.'

-regarding her bibliography: 'i also used www.answers.com. it turns out that website doesn't actually give too many answers.'

-regarding james carville: 'in new orleans in 1993, he married mary magdalene, and...wait, isn't that jesus's mom?'

-regarding davinci: 'in 1476, davinci was charged with 'saw dome ee.' you can ask ms. ________ (me) what that means.' (whoa and thanks.)

i know how to spell that word that starts with "saw", but i didn't want any perverted searchers to end up here on my blog!!

while i was ever-so-attentively listening to their presentations, i was jotting down notes of cute (and not-so-cute) things they said so that i could share them with you. i left it laying on my clipboard next to my grading sheets.

after class, a sweet little one asked me, 'miss, who picked saddami hussein for their research project?'

i said, 'i don't think anybody did. how come?'

'i was just wondering because you had his name written on your note card.'

ummm...yeah. that would be the word that starts with 'saw'. not 'saddami'.


ahhh, i love these kids. and there are only five four days of school left. i'll love them a whole lot more next thursday right around 3:25 1:31 pm CST. ♥

peace, love, and blatent plagiarism...

p.s. - being the rocket scientist that i am, i just figured out how to change the ring tone on my phone. is it weird that i was thinking about which ring tones would absolutely push me over the edge? obviously the ring tones are there because some people at some point in time have agreed that they should be options. i would like to sit in with that committee next time it meets.

p.s.s. - i learned today that one of my coworkers has a special ring tone for his ex-wife. it's the sound of tornado sirens. how awesome is that!?!

imperfect birds

this is anne lamott:



a.) i love her;
b.) she can do no wrong in my world; and
c.) she is my author idol.

imperfect birds is her newest novel, and i have been waiting for it since 2002.

(unfortunately, i am dead serious about this. and like many things in my life, i fully realize that this confession adds substantial weight to the credibility of my loser status.)



i started it last night, and i am now settled in for the evening ready devour more. this one seems darker than her others...

'laughter redeems this book, and so does the fact that it’s ultimately not just a novel about deception and drugs but about the great big bloody battle of love and sorrow that is parenthood.'
...new york times...

'imperfect birds is a well-informed wake-up call.'
...time magazine...

'this is brilliantly witty, powerfully emotional fiction that has the power to change how readers think. in my book, that's the highest compliment a writer can earn.'
...dallas morning news...

'anne lamott is beloved for writing down-to-earth personal essays and fiction that dig into the nitty-gritty of faith, addiction, sex, discipline, trust and other domestic issues as if they're hashing it all out with a best friend.'
...npr...

how can you possibly argue with those rave reviews? personally, i can't. ♥

peace, love, and happy endings.

images in this post can be found on the writing mamas and at amazon.com...

bliss

i love the sound of laughter. i love it infinitely more when it's coming from cee and jay.

the girls are home from their dad's house & full of laughs. they even decided to coordinate outfits!! this really never happens without serious bribery and very high stakes (like, 'santa won't bring you presents if you don't smile for your christmas picture.').

my house is clean (if you don't count the massive mountain of laundry that is still waiting for me...i'm hoping it will either disappear or wash itself and hop back into the drawers and closets).

brown dog is much better...he rocks.

soccer season for thing one is over.

soccer season for thing two is over.

soccer season for *me* is over!!!

eight days of school left.

life is good for the henry girls.

life is very, very good. ♥

peace and blissfully sunny sundays...

wounded heart

browning is sort of making my heart hurt.

he went awol for awhile late this morning, and he had a nasty run-in with a coyote. he has 5 puncture wounds. luckily his shots were all current. after the 'incident', he was rescued by the dog catcher, spent some time at the animal shelter, made a stop at the vet, and is now home resting. he probably isn't comfortable, but at least he's home.

did i ever tell you about the time he ate so many crawfish (not by invitation) that he couldn't move any part of his body except for his eyes?

his leg looks really gross. the girls' jaws hit the floor when they saw him.

we have been giving him lots of love, and he has been telling us 'thanks' in his own special way: sloppy dog kisses. and drool.

i had to put a warm rag on his hip, and i was supposed to massage it. i thought the heating pad might feel good, so i covered his hip with a thin towel and then layered the heating pad on...he rumbled the happiest groan ever. he really doesn't mind the attention at all. the girls have been rubbing his ears and belly, and i think he is in hog heaven.

he deserves it.

i snapped this picture of him post-massage. i took several in a row, and this was my favorite because he looks like he's glaring at his wound. :) it's kinda gross...sorry if you have a weak stomach.



just in case you are worried that i have stumbled upon a black & white photo streak, put your worries to rest. while i do *adore* the one of cee from yesterday, i only put browning in b/w for one reason: it looked less gross in b/w than in color.

that's all i've got for now. peace, love, and tlc.

predators running amuck

what a doozy of a day...i encountered a plethora of predators today. i had the following at school:

-a parent called me and asked me to change her daughter's test grade from a 50 to passing because her daughter 'has been really tired lately.'

-another parent called me and asked for a instructions so they could complete their child's research report today. i suggested that the parent ask their child about the project, but that wasn't an option in this parent's mind because said parent is going out of town this weekend and won't have time sunday night.

-several kids have decided that they are just not going to do anymore work this year.

-one kid who is done working for the year refused to do today's assignment, destroyed a pen, scowled and cried, threw a pen, went to the office, proceeded to do very little work, and even took a nap for awhile.

urg, grrr, and aggghhhh!!!

and that was just the beginning.

i found out that there has been a creeper cruising my neighborhood.

my. neighborhood.

it's some old man in a black car who is telling kids that he'll give them a ride home, and i am very freaked out by this. plus the daycare was notified (thankfully), and then the daycare took it upon themselves to tell cee and her after school friends (not so thankfully).

cee is absolutely terrified and has seriously not left my side. jay knows something is off, so she is scared, too. i hate that my babies don't feel safe in our neighborhood right now. but this, too, shall pass. the sooner, the better.

the girls had makeup soccer games tonight...they were worn out from school, and they played their sweet little hearts out. we got home at 8:20, i dipped them in the tub, and now they are snoozing away. in my room. to be honest with you, the mere idea of the creepy guy in the black car is very unsettling to me and i feel much better knowing they are right by my side.

i think i griped more today that ever, and i hate being a griper. (sigh) sorry for being negative. i am really not cut out for days like this. i prefer zen days, rainbows, butterflies, laughter, security, and no conflict/weirdos in my life. yeah. that's not reality, i know.

i do have to say that one of the best parts of my day was being at the soccer fields in the evening light. i know i am a dork, but dawn and dusk have the best light for pictures...at least that's what i think. i got some cute ones. see?

happy smiles from sweet jay...

cee took a big water break while co-coaching jay's team...

mommmmmmmmy. is. it. over. yet?

she was *so* done at this point. tired + hot + sleepy = dangerous combination. if i would have brushed my hand over her eyelids, she would have fallen asleep. standing up.

looking at them gives me happy butterflies...and that works for me.

peace, sweet dreams, and i hope you have a fabulous & freak-free friday...

p.s. - this pic in black and white melts my heart into complete gooey mush...and i mean that in a completely biased way. :)

sometimes black and white just speaks to me and rocks my world. this is one of those times.

face lift

well, i decided it was time for one, so the blog went under the knife earlier this evening. things went better than expected, and i have no reason to doubt that we will all make a full recovery.

i really love the swirly flowers, and the turquoise part is especially fabulous. in a non-shallow and completely environmentally conscious way, it reminds me of the ocean. i ♥ the ocean, it makes me oh so happy.

speaking of the ocean, i am really sad about the whole bp oil debacle for lots of reasons, but mostly because of how sick (as in ill) it's making the water look. if it looks that bad, i am sure the residual damage is immeasurably worse (in my humble, non-oceanographer opinion).

i feel like the waters in the gulf have been invaded by an angry, vengeful breed of cancer. :(

okay, folks. that's it for my tree-hugger diatribe for the day. and...my work here is done (for the time being).

peace...

p.s. i am not crazy about the 'hot bliggity blog' do-whopper at the top left, but i am sure i will manage to get past that.

roger that

i forgot to tell you something really important: i got a **new camera** for mother's day!!! you know i am super happy about this, and the pictures are flowing once again. i felt like i was missing a limb without a camera of my own. thanks, mom, for letting me borrow yours in the interim.

the girls got home this morning and were ready for fun. i asked cee what she wanted to do, and she decided to make me a 'to do list.' i had to chuckle because she pretty much knows that every sunday we go to the grocery store, so she put that first in hopes of getting it over with.


i threw a curve ball at them and we went to play @ the park instead...they crack me up when they are running and yelping and having as much fun as they had today.

okay - this is the opposite of crazy yelping fun, but i swear she was happy & just being silly here...


true happiness...

and sweet jay ran so hard that she was sweaty and worn out by the time we finished.

they were so good and asked so nicely that i took them to target to buy a new toy. they have been saving up their money, so i was actually just their means of transportation today instead of their sugar mamma. :)

i am very close to regretting that i approved their purchases. cee picked a magic 8 ball. she has been talking to it pretty much non-stop since she found it in the store. i'm not exaggerating at all. she keeps asking it if she is going to get a new iphone, a car, a beamer (??), and to meet taylor swift. unfortunately for me, the ball keeps lying to her.

jay picked a set of walkie-talkies. i thought this would be a fun way for them to talk, and i actually had visions of making them work out their arguements via walkie talkies. jay doesn't quite understand the concept of the walkie talkie transmitting her voice into other parts of the world, so she *yells* into it, making it impossible for even the neighbors to misunderstand her.

all in all, i would call this a pretty darn good sunday afternoon at home.


i don't think we'll accomplish everything on the to do list, but we'll get close.

peace, love, and rubber duckies.

over and out.

(10-4)

green thumb?

i love flowers. i love gardening. the smell of tossed earth makes me happy. after hours of hard work today i have a really good start on my garden for this summer.

there aren't very many things that make me as happy as freshly cut flowers and fragrant blooming bouquets. plus, it's really gratifying to see the payoff from an afternoon of sweat, blood, and tears.

but here's the deal. i don't actually have a green thumb. i only dream of being an esteemed gardner. the truth is i am not very 'good' with keeping plants or flowers alive. those two pictures you just saw are evidence of my aspirations of having martha stewart's gardening panache. unfortunately, i had nothing to do with either of those.

but today i took a stab at starting a garden of my own, and i have really good intentions of nurturing it to its fullest potential (is fullest a word? if not, it should be).

i started with a trip to home depot. i had 3 things on my list:
-dirt
-shovel
-flowers

did you know that there are LOTS of choices when it comes to buying a shovel? there are pointy ones, rectangular ones, long ones, not-so-long ones...ones without handles, ones with handles, and even ones that are apparently made for dwarfs.

so i purchased only the items on my list (including a not-so-long shovel with a point instead of a rectangle), headed home, and i seriously spent about three hours 'gardening'...

in retrospect, three hours seems like a really long time. but time flies when you're having fun. i had ten plants to plant and two corner flower beds to unearth.

because i wanted to kill two birds with one stone, i started with the corner that has full sun so i could plant and get my daily dose of vitamin d. while digging, i found lots of earth worms and lady bugs. jay would have *loved* rescuing them and putting them in her bug house with her dead rolly polies (the girls are with their dad this weekend). and here are the fruits of my first hour of labor:

this was another hour's work...

i feel very accomplished now...and i have a lobster-red face to boot (so much for my two-birds-with-one-stone theory). being a 'glass-is-half-full' kind of gal, i am thinking of this as the beginning of my summer 2010 tan. i have enough vitamin d running through my veins to last me at least a week. plus, my burns usually turn into tans overnight.

what a productive way to spend a day that threatened to be filled with rain and thunder!

i am now going to settle in for the night with a nice glass of savignon blanc and enjoy a quiet evening at home with my freshly planted garden, a movie, and some popcorn.

(yes, i realize it's saturday night, i have no children in my house, and i am staying in watching movies. it's okay if you call me a loser...i've earned it.)

tomorrow i will focus on the tornado that hit my house.

until next time, peace, love, and massive prayers for my flowers to thrive...

p.s. - i got the book 'the wednesday sisters' today...i think it's going to be one of my all-time faves. next on deck are 'the help' and 'i am ozzy.'

we survived...

i was convinced i would be a weepy mess tonight...but tears are honestly not possible when surrounded by this much happiness!



i deserve some type of medal for getting them to stand still for the second it took to snap this - they were beyond excited...


her crowning moment: i really think this might be her pick for the most awesome experience she has ever had. it's very near the top for me, too.


remember i mentioned how much i would have loved for the 2 ladies who raised cee and jay to be there tonight? and how i wished the amazing woman who taught them for the last three years might be there? God is so very good. two of the three were there!!! what an amazing surprise!! the kids were beside themselves when they realized there were special surprise guests ready to congratulate them.

celeste and lupe, you are rock *stars*!!!

what a great night - loved it!

jay told me that it was okay if i read her new Bible after she fell asleep. and i think i will take her up on that right now.

peace, caps, and gowns...

the graduate

where on earth did the last five years go?

jay graduates from pre-k this week. i am so sad about this for some reason...

i did not get to see the actual ceremony when it was cee's turn to graduate - she threw up right as we parked to go into her ceremony. all over her lovely smocked dress...if you know this child at all, you know it was a small miracle in itself that i even got her into a dress. i heard that i was actually lucky because of the sheer volume of tears shed by the parents.

i did watch cee's friends who are a year older than her because she wanted to go and wish them well. i cried for other people's kids at that one!! and i very clearly remember thinking, 'oh my. i am not going to handle this well when it's my turn.'

so technically this will be my maiden voyage for watching one of my babies wear the cap and gown and receive their Bible. plus this means i have to accept the fact that my baby will be in kindergarten soon.

i'm also really sad that the two ladies who practically raised both girls and one of the teachers who was such an amazing soul to them for the last three years aren't going to be there. they were part of the daycare debacle in march and have moved on to greener pastures. i think things would be completely perfect if they were able to be a part of it. i am so thankful for the nurturing love they gave to my girls.

regardless, jay is so excited for graduation and kindergarten, and her happiness and optimism about it really are contagious!

more pictures to come later this week. wish me luck. :)

(p.s. - in case you haven't noticed by the pictures in all of my previous posts, i am generally not a fan of 'school portraits.' this one just tugged at my heart strings.)

the good, the bad, and the ugly

the good: our neighborhood pool is open and ready for business!

the bad: the girls now want to go there every single day.

the ugly: truth be told, swimsuits and i are generally not on good terms right now. in fact, we are barely speaking.

but i do wish you could have seen the priceless looks on the girls' faces when we drove by the pool sunday and saw the big sign hanging from the pool gates:


this was probably the first and only time i have ever been bummed that cee is able to read. imagine being either five or seven years old and seeing this sign...they were both bubbling over and over and over with truck loads of excitement.

i could barely contain myself for about 8 entire milliseconds...and that's when i realized something really, truly, graphically, and brutally horrid.

it is swimsuit season.

my body was not expecting swimsuit season to be here until memorial day weekend, and i had plans to conduct many productive rain dances immediately prior to memorial day weekend.

i fully realize that memorial day is only 27 days away, but you would be surprised at how much can be accomplished in 27 days...

-working out
-fasting
-starving
-working out
-using the sauna
-creating a base tan
-working on desperate and last minute mind-over-matter mantras such as...'i think i can. i think i can.'

because i am me, i am going to play a mind game with myself (i usually win these) and pretend that it is still 27 official days until swim suit season arrives. in my world, this means that i will only appear at the pool wearing at least jeans and a t-shirt. people might stare at me funny. i might suffer from heat exhaustion. i might become medically and clinically dehydrated.

but i will be ready to stare swimsuit season sqaurely in its beady, red, hollow, angry eyes no later than may 31, 2010.

mark.

my.

words.

game on.

(i really wish that phrase didn't end with a preposition)

blog drought...

i am praying for rain.

even a little, tiny bit of verbal drizzle would make me pretty happy right now.

however, rumor has it that my muse has been robbed.

please help me find it.

the end.