Blog Off

Hey, what are you doing here??! Reading? Laughing at Hobbes? Looking for hibernating frogs?

It's Sunday--you are supposed to be relaxing, taking a nap, or annoying your family members by spending some quality time with them. Go on, turn that computer off and chill, pallies. Have a life away from electronics for a day. Take Hobbes' cue and take the day off. That's what I'm doing.

Painting stories on Monday.

Home Improvement Day

Sorry, no exciting tails of worms invading the patio or rat butts in planters today, pallies. As off season as it is for me, I'm doing a little home improvement work in Col's room today. Yep, I've got the painting overalls ready for the wearing and my trusty assistant, Joe, hopping today.

If I could wear my waders for painting I would. Nothing makes a project more fun than waders.

Or a orange stripey ottoman "helping" us. Ugh.

The Magic of Sunshine

I saw an old friend the other day that I hadn't seen for quite awhile. You might remember that friend--the SUN. Oh gees, it's been hiding for so long, I forgot how just it's mere presence makes your mood improve and your heart sing.

While I was driving home from work I just felt the need to go for a nice walk, so I quickly changed, tied on the 'ol jimmies and hiked Weirdville--and I did it all I-pod free. It was just so darned lovely not to be freezing or getting wet, I didn't want to dampen or dilute the moment by drowning it out with tunes. I wanted to hear the birds sing and the leaves crunch under my feet.

Hiking Weirdville is just that--weird. There are folks leaf-blowing to Metallica cranked out of their car stereos. There are odd lawn ornaments and scaffolding permanently set up to do I don't know what. There are houses with strange additions that couldn't possibly be code in any other town and overgrown bushes the size of Manhattan. There is some odd stuff going on here in Weirdville and nothing surprises me anymore when I'm walking the 'hood checking out the other houses. Typically, walking around here just makes me crazy--this time was different, it was making me laugh. I credit the sunshine.

Joe came home later and we compared our sunshine stories of the day. He went out for a walk at lunch and enjoyed downtown Chicago while I was strolling Weirdville. I told him of my ability to laugh at the wackiness that surrounded me and look beyond it all to see what a lovely day it was, and he shared his own story.

Apparently, Joe, like me, was digging the sun and smiling at the sight of squirrels bustling around the planters in Daley Plaza. Due to budget cuts, the city of Chicago cut down on the huge amounts of fall planters and decorations they typically display, but the Plaza was still tastefully dolled up to impress visitors.

As he walked by one planter, a small furry body had his little bottom up in the air, sniffing about for something yummy to eat. Joe spied the little guy and made a step closer to see the squirrel amongst the mums. It was then that he realized that this was no squirrel--it was a RAT. There was a rat digging around in the fall spectacle that was Daley Plaza! Joe, needless to say, was creeped out, changed course, and skeedaddled to the train station a little less joyfully.

It's amazing on how much the sunshine improves our mood--how it can make even the ugly look good in it's rays. Both Weirdville and the rat were somehow transformed into Cinderella for a short time thanks to the golden twinkle that is sunshine sorely missed.

I love sunshine and it's magical powers. I hope I see it again soon.

Happy Weekend, pallies. Remember to take some time out for you and to breathe deep. I hope the sun shines on you and brightens your day.

I Love Hobbes Thursday --Feelin' Groovy

On the long 4 hour ride home from Western Illinois University a few weeks ago, Joe found some oldies channel on the radio and we cranked it. Now, I'm not typically a fan of oldies, but they were playing stuff from the 60's and 70's, which I don't consider "oldies" per se--that's more classic rock, but whatever. I think I was actually sort of miffed that they considered these tunes oldies--this is from when I was a kid for god's sake! Either way, I stayed tuned and sang along.

So, we're riding along, listening, when the old Simon & Garfunkel "Feelin' Groovy" comes on. Gees, I love singing that song--what a happy tune that is. You absolutely cannot sing that song and be bummin'--it just doesn't work.

Hobbes reminded me of that song with his pose this week. Look at him chillin' by the fireplace in his basket, warming his goodies. You just cannot be sad and look at his orange tummy--it just isn't possible.

Why doesn't anyone use the word "groovy" anymore? I think I'm gonna start a new trend. Groovy, eh?



Uh, can somebody tell me what the hell kinda instruments these people are playing???!

Semi-Wordless Wednesday -- Family Portrait

"Lean your butts on the pole" Jo said, so we did--literally and obnoxiously.

I love this photo of the family that Jo took a few weeks back. She truly captured our family--from the wacky parents to the solemn teen son who didn't think we were quite as funny as we did.

Is it the Christmas card photo? Nah, but it sure would represent who we are at the moment--just having fun trying to keep our sanity with two teens in the house. I love how she saved this moment for us, when our family is too quickly changing and time together under one roof is fleeting.

It's goofy, yet sweet in so many ways.

Settin' and Thinkin'

It's just one of those days when I'm doing more thinking about a ton of little stuff rather than fixating on one giant issue. I guess it's a good thing when there is nothing major going on in our lives to write about, so instead I'll just spread the chaos of my mind out on the blog table for all to see. Feel free to dive in and stir up the mess that is the snow globe of my mind.

Things I'm thinking about:

1. There are literally 24 days before they start playing Christmas music on that radio station here in Chicago. It's all Christmas, all the time until December 26--then it's GONE! I actually have Christmas song withdrawal after that. I'm already singing some Spanish song that goes "Mommasita, donde esta Santa Claus..." I just like the beat and the fact that Joe has no idea what I'm singing.
2. We spend last evening at the band meeting and then searching the entire high school for Em's biology notebook. In her locker? No. In the band room? No. In the band locker? Uh, no. Three phone calls later, we find it in the biology room on the desk. Thank you, Mr. P for walking us through the whole school to let us in to look for it. Is murder too strong a punishment?
3. Can someone tell me how the frogs are still getting into the skimmer? And is there some way to communicate to them that they will DIE if they overwinter in there? Is there some frog sign language or something that I don't know about? Sigh. I'm tired of looking for them each day and scooping their sleepy butts back into the pond.
   
4. I'm actually desensitized to our new Forever Christmas pine smell air fresheners that Joe bought last week. Finally. I wonder what our visitors are thinking when they come in? Where's the tree?
   
5. Who's up for Thanksgiving? ME! I love turkey and some wacky relatives that make me laugh until my stomach hurts. Nothing like kicking off the holiday season with a heated discussion at the table or a little F-bomb dropping. Can't wait!
6. I was picking out Christmas cards last night online. I think I'm gonna get them pre-printed this year--I hate writing "Merry Christmas, Love The Kautz Family Singers" four billion times. I wonder if they'll address them and put the stamps on for me too?
   
7. Speaking of Christmas cards--my friend, Judy, knows the folks who's kid fell into the gorilla pit at the Brookfield Zoo like 15 years ago. I go over to look at her Christmas cards every year to stare at monkey boy. No, he doesn't remember the incident--just in case you were wondering like I did.
8. Joe thinks he's cool 'cuz he got a new car this week. Okay, so Mr. I'm Old has a snappy new vehicle that includes a cool moon roof AND Sirius radio. It takes so little to make him happy. And me jealous.
   
9. I lost a follower yesterday--why does this bother me? Does anyone else worry about this? It's just so.....so.....middle school. Ugh.
10. I don't like the time change. I nearly fell asleep at my desk yesterday and it was only 2:00 p.m. Why do we do this every year??!

Oh, there's more, but I didn't want to bore you. Gees, I need something to worry about like college costs or what everyone wants for Christmas. My head is spinning!

The Humble Beginnings.....

My pally, Chuck, wrote the other day about his bloggy beginnings and it made me think of my own. I wrote my 500th post this past week and I didn't even realize that I had done it--it has just sort of become my life all this writing and taking of photos. I never even knew what a blog was 2 years ago, nor did I ever read one--well, I don't think I did anyway. I'd heard the word before, but like so many others, I just pretended to know what it was and hoped the conversation shifted to something like butterflies and rainbows.

After years of being a stay-at-home-mom, I was slowly becoming obsolete at home. Everyone was growing up and didn't need me anymore--well, not until around 2:30 or so when someone needed a ride home from school. I had tried some silly retail jobs, but I was quickly bored and sick of idiot customers--retail was not for me. I was sad a lot and felt that I was lost--I was needed by the kids, but not really. I wanted to work, but not full-time. It was a sort of mid-life crisis, I guess.

Always a creative person, I dabbled in sewing, quilting, knitting, scrapbooking, stenciling--anything that was tactile and artsy. I have always had the need to create and when that isn't a part of my life, I am miserable. After years of neglecting my writing, I ventured into a creative writing class and continued a love that I had since I was a child. My class was a very powerful experience, both meeting some new creative friends and opening a part of me that had been shut for a very long time, and it made me happy again.

My class facilitator opened a blog that was for our class to post their stories, poems, and photos on. It was meant to be a place to "publish" our works, to find positive reinforcement, and to overcome the fear of having others read our work. It took guts to make those first few posts--but once I did, I was addicted. You can find this blog on my profile--it is sort of stagnant now, and I don't post there anymore, but it is interesting to see my feeble blog beginnings there.

So, the Reader's Digest version is that I learned very quickly how to blog by this group of people, helped a ton by the ease of Blogger, and progressed as I went along. I have met the most incredible people along the way and have made friendships from one end of the good green Earth to the other. I feel loved, encouraged, creative, and most of all, happy again. My writing soul came alive with that first blog and the fire continues here--as puny as it may be.

My blog began in early April 2008 albeit very tentatively. Those first posts were things that I wrote for my writing class. They were well thought out, written in Word, edited, modified and proofed before ever being copied and pasted onto the blog format. I was afraid of being hated, debated, or possibly told that I couldn't write very well. It was me and so putting "me" out there was quite a frightening thing.

There were two major factors that have changed my writing and blogging: 1) NaBloPoMo and 2) author Jon Katz.

NaBloPoMo is a blogger site that encourages daily posting and has a monthly challenge of posting every single day. I never wrote every day until last November when I took the challenge. That was incredible for me and it forced me to make my writing a discipline. Okay, some days are better than others, but I do it everyday. I may not post due to logistics here at home with the family, but I do write. And because of this, I have earned a fab part-time job where I write constantly, edit, and publish a corporate monthly newsletter for a nationwide company.

Author Jon Katz, through his writing, his blog, and some truly inspiring emails to me, encouraged me to make that leap and blog freely. I save his emails that pushed me to climb on that rickety limb of doom and to expose myself and my heart to the world--or whoever is listening that day. Have you ever heard that there are people that you are just supposed to meet? Jon was my writing angel at the time--I believe I was being given a very important message and he was the vessel.

I love how Chuck made me think of my blog beginnings and how I got where I am today. I'd be curious to hear your stories as well---either in my comments or on your own blog. What makes us do this? How does it begin?

Oh! The name??? Go here for the true story behind Duck and Wheel with String.

As for the photo--Nancy sent me a Major Award for being a dedicated commentor (commentator??) at her place. Gees, this little coin purse is cool--a colorful hand-knitted dream with a snappy 3-button accent. The lining is hand-sewn with the most incredible tiny stitches. Go on over and check her out--she's one of the great blog pallies of the Duck and Wheel. Have I mentioned how lucky I am to be a blogger??