Maybe Hope

There is so much boogling around my brain right now.  It is a quarter past eleven P.M. and I have nothing to offer my "maybe" readers other than hope.

(photo courtesy Craft Hope) 

My girls have broken into my secret stash of embroidery floss and are making these little beauties by the dozens. The organization, Craft Hope, is offering hope to the orphans of Russia by sending them "friendship bracelets" of every shape, size and color.


This will be the 12th project from this amazing charity.  You can learn how to get involved by reading this page.


Maybe together we can offer a little hope to children in need.

Edited to add:
Craft Hope has just added Project 13 to the rolls.  This project will benefit the tornado survivors in the Southeastern States. Please, if you can participate do so.  All the info you need to get started is on the Craft Hope website.

Just Maybe

Maybe.  Just maybe, I should blog something of consequence.


Maybe. Just maybe, I will stop beating myself up over the things I have no control.


Maybe.  Just maybe, this one time, I can make a skirt that will fit...me.


Maybe. Just maybe, I will stop to smell the roses.


Maybe. Just maybe, I should fold some laundry.


Maybe. Just maybe, there will be enough hours in my day.


Maybe. Just maybe, I will hatch some eggs in the redneck incubator.


Maybe. Just maybe, Summer will come and I will plant my sad, leggy tomato sprouts.


Maybe, I will make it through a month of posting about the maybe's in my life. Maybe, I will post every day. Maybe I will post pictures, maybe I won't. Maybe there will be content worth reading, maybe there won't.

Maybe, just maybe, someone will gift me a new camera for my birthday. *hint-hint*




Maybe?



OK. OK. So...maybe not.

Party pooper

Four young boys men+two half racks of caffeine+video games galore= Katie needs a nap. BAD!

At five AM I told the boys they had to shut it down and go to bed. I had not been able to get to sleep (I am a very lite sleeper) and was about to go mad. So, call me a party pooper. It can't be helped.

Message in a bottle::

Help! S.O.S! MAY DAY!

Katie is lost at sea. The Sea of Testosterone.

On this night the Calamity boys and a few brave friends have taken over Katie's living quarters. These rapscallions have banished poor Katie to the galley, with strict order not to return without Pizza Pockets, French Fries and lots and lots of Mt. Dew. And cake.

Miss Katie thinks they may make her walk the plank.
If she doesn't stop taking pictures

Dear ones, please send the cavalry . And chocolate. And booze.

UGh!

OK! I'm a big whiner, I know, but sometimes it just can't be helped. Take for example my deperate need to post pictures on my blog. I have so much to share with y'all. I NEED to post pictures on my blog dern it!

BUT NO!

The dadblasted post editor is STILL (sorry I don't mean to yell) WONKY!

It does no good to yell at the computer and throw a tanturm, I know. It's just that sometimes, ya know, PMS happens. PMS and wonky blog editor thingie, don't mix.

UGH!


Send some reinforcements. This could get ugly.

It's Tradition

When my son was in Kindergarten his class did a small Thanksgiving production. The musical mastermind of the show was a famed Mrs. N. She inspired the Kindergarten class with a classy little ditty called 5 Fat Turkeys Are We. And in turn all 15 of the 5 and 6 year old's thrilled the audience with their crooning.

This sweet melody has been sung by our family for the last 7 years. It is our tradition.

Five. Fat. Tur-Keys are we....E!
We. Slept. All night in-A tree....E!
When the cook came around.
We couldn't be found.
And.
That's why we're here.
You see....E!



Have a blessed Thanksgiving Evening!

Just a little crafty

I had grand plans of showing you this cool thing I am working on but as luck would have it blogger's post editor is wonky so...check out this link if you get a chance.


http://www.marthastewart.com/how-to/greetings-tree?lnc=55f7e0917df4d110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD


I'll see y'all back here on Friday. Hopefully by then blogger will have gotten this whole wonkyness straightened out.

Have a fabulously fun Turkey Day!

NaBlo

This has sure been an interesting month for me and mine. With all that has gone on this month I still feel the pull of my commitment to finishing NaBlo . I am NOT A QUITTER! That said, let me just say this:

NaBlo-mePoMo is sucking my will to live. My will to live I tell you! I have such a huge blockage, it surely must be constipation.

Yes! Constipation of the brain. Yeah, gross I know. At the very least I must be suffering from brain damage.

Hey! I hear there are only 5 days left in November. Really? I hadn't noticed. I was sure that November was the longest month, say, EVER! Sure feels that way.


Alrightythen.

In light of all that has gone on this month, I need a vacation. Anyone else need a holiday?

Sad day

Today Katie found out her cousin aged 37, has been brutally murdered and the body left behind a dumpster.

The family is heart broken. It is a sad day indeed.

Bloggers help eachother out

Well friends, my dear, farm sweet friend is under the weather. She is ill with the nasty flu/cold/who-knows-what bug. She is home suffering and writhing in pain resting quietly on her chic new sofa, sweetly sipping her red wine tea, whilst her engineer husband puts out the fires adeptly handles life on a hobby farm. And, of course her children are behaving like perfect angles.



Fellow bloggers, the only thing standing between Miriam and certain death is comments. It's all about comments, I tell you. Won't you head on over to the Suite and give the girl a little comment love? Let her know she is missed. Cuz honestly I can barely blog for my own dang self, let alone TWO people.

A little calamity madness

Let me just say that I repel technology. The fact that I was born in the wrong century may or may not have anything to do with this fact.

So.

The washing machine has gone tits up AGAIN!! (after spending 150 bucks to fix it just a month ago) the dishwasher was broken then magically replaced by the dishwasher that fell from heaven (PTL), the toaster only works when its in the mood, the blower on the wood stove sounds like "The Vent" from hell AND now the refrigerator has decided to die. Mind you, this is not a dodgy old fridge but a five years young little number. I guess I should have paid more attention to the signs. The thing has been bleeding for awhile now.



Like the day I came home to find that my trusty food preserver turned Old Faithful was gushing a milky substance all across the kitchen floor. Wha??

Since that fateful day, my good ole Whirlpool has been well, pooling.

Whhhhyyyyyy!?!

Last night-after grocery shopping no less-I returned home to a friendly aroma. Ode to spoiled milk? Parfume du soggy broccoli? Ah, the heady nose of Onions Ala Room Temperature, plus all of the above.

Rather than actually deal with the situation at hand, I am complaining blogging lazily contemplating a course of action. What the... freak and frack am I going to do with all the groceries I just bought!?!

It's calamity madness I tell you!

Old Women

photo by Starshine

This photo reminded me of a poem I read in the book, When I am an Old Woman I shall wear Purple.

excerpt from
OLD WOMEN
by
Barbara Lau

***
Now twined around each other
arm in arm down the sidewalk,
defying the dark grave
with their colors and perfume,
old women
tending time more fragile than youth:
poinsettias in the snow.

Friend

I have a good friend, Misty, who encouraged me to read the Twilight Saga, which I willingly did. I got totally wrapped up the the lives of these crazy love struck teenage creatures. I searched out the Twilight Soundtrack at her encouragement and loved it. Misty and I email back and forth with news and tidbits we have found on the net. We discuss the lives of these characters and plan on taking a trip to Forks WA, someday. Our kids even made up their own Twilight theme song, aimed strictly at their mothers silly obsession.

We are Twilighter Momma's.

Misty has already secured her tickets to tomorrow's midnight showing of the movie. I am skulking around wishing I could hop in my car and drive the 500 miles to her house and go see Twilight with her. I would do it too, if gas were cheaper. You see, none of my other friends would read the books. Miriam says they rot your brain pfft!

So here I am, a Twilighter with no pack, no coven of my own Twilighters. I am an outcast. Should I go to the theater, sit all by my lonesome and watch a movie about being part of the pack? All by myself?

What is a Twilight girl to do?

Goings on::

Wow! I had nothing to say yesterday and I had the highest number of visits to my blog...EVER! A record breaking 85 visitors! I am reeling, slightly...

What does that mean, exactly?

I write and few read it. Is the blog O'sphere against me? I don't write and they come pouring in. Is the cosmic pull of the universe going to dump me on my bloggy little head?

If I write it, will they come??

OK!
Moving on now.

I first thought I would share all the funny things going on around the farm.
Nope, to boring.
Then I thought to tell of the excruciating pain I am experiencing lately.
Whoa, too depressing.
It occurred to me that I might share of my recent dishwasher from heaven.
Too, weird.
The dog story?
Too sad.
Chicken news?
Blah.
Thrift finds?
No pictures.
School?
Nah.
No.

THAT"S IT! Nano! Nation Novel Writing Month. I have unofficially taken on this project as well as the nablopomo. I know, crazy. Like I don't have anything to do, right? What can I say, I like a good challenge. And I'm cracked.

Without further adieu I give you my Nano excerpt.

Morning came painfully slow to the forest floor. The darkness, a greedy beast, was not easily convinced to leave. The Sun must sing her lullaby to the Night Beast.

The faint pink blush of morning light crept carefully from its resting place in the east. The light grew slowly, moving over the mountain ridge, laying its pink face on the earth below. Building in intensity as it grew, the sun spread its warm fingers, stretching after a long night of rest. The new dawn chased the Night Beast from Althea's fitful slumber, bringing her slowly awake.


What do you think??

Placeholder

Consider this my placeholder till I can think of something fabulous to write about. Thankfully I am not the only one ...

Mrs. G., I feel your pain!

T'was Not Me..

• First off... I did not get sucked into Not Me Monday by my dear friend Lexie. I did not do it of my own accord. :)

• I did not sit in my bathrobe till noon IM'ing with said friend and miss a very important meeting.

• It was not me who has stayed up till 1 in the AM reading blogs.

• I did not ignore all four children and their pleas for pancakes. I did not tell them there was plenty of cereal and that I was too tired to make pancakes. Nor, did I tell them that pancakes were bad for you, first thing in the morning.
  

• It was not me who, last night, pigged out on Pumpkin Pie and Redi Whip.

• It was not me who had to stop myself from squirting Redi Whip directly into my mouth. At the church potluck.

• It was not me, who, accidentally shot Redi Whip onto black shirt as I was not jerking the can away from what was not, my face as it was not me there in public, doing such a childish thing.

• It was not me who looked around frantically to see if any one had see the whole Reddi Whip debacle.

• It is not me who is still sitting at the computer, in a bathrobe. Needing more coffee and a shower.

• It was not me who dreamt of running away to Paris. In my bathrobe.

• It was not I who told the children to play outside so that I could have a few more minutes at the computer before lunch.

Feeling like a little Not Me fun? Just click on over to MckMama's place for lots more Not Me antics.

RE: Calamity number five thousand and eight

Dearest reader, Katie is up and running again. Interweb challenges are no match for a swashbuckling brother-in-law with Dick Daring's Katie's sanity best interests at heart. Life, as Katie knows it, shall blog on.

All is well in Calamityville.


Now, if Katie only knew where her blasted dog sauntered off to...

Better than T.V.

We are avid readers.

We have our own not so mini library. We L. O. V. E. love to read. In our library the titles run the gamut, from 100+ year old treasures to well worn classics, children's books to mysteries, you name it, we probably have it.

We're not much for T.V. shows about creepy puppets and purple dinosaurs. Give us a cozy spot in the sun and good read and we call that heaven.

One of the favourites at our house is a book from 1949 called 900 Buckets of Paint. It is a beautifully written and illustrated (the pictures are the best) children's book.




Who wouldn't the love story of a dissatisfied old woman, a few beloved animals and a freshly painted house? Who needs T.V. when you have all that.

Best movie ever or there abouts...

I am a movie maniac buff. Really. So when I read the prompt from Starshine for today I thought to myself: Self, which one shall you choose?

I watch a lot of movies. I am not joking when I say I have seen them all. I get Blockbuster Online and lurve it to pieces! I lurve to watch a show, sip tea and knit. Oh yeah, I am a multi-tasker that way. I can waste time and feel like I am getting something done. Who 'da thunk?

Andywho...

I really have so many favourites. Some are old, some are new. All of them qualify as great in my book. So, I will share a couple with you.



PRIDE and PREJUDICE::
This is at the top of my best movie ever list. I saw this and was brought to sighs and then tears. This movie made me sigh like a love sick girl, wishing for empire waists, the English countryside and true love.

Sound of Music::
Julie Andrews is amazing! The music is amazing. Everything about this one is amazing. (Thesaurus anyone?)

Anne of Green Gables PBS mini series::
Oh, Anne! That just about sums this one up. I watched it back in the 80's and was instantly swept off to P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island, Canada) I remember going over to my Gran's house to catch the weekly installments. It was like torture having to wait a whole week for the next show. I would dream of Anne's antics all week, then on movie night, armed with popcorn balls and tissues, Gran and I were transported to another time and place, by the stories of this little red haired girl.

Love Actually::
I just love it, actually. This movie stars a few of my favourite actors; Liam, Collin, Hugh to name a few. The story takes place 5 weeks before Christmas. The first time hubby and I watched this movie it really was 5 weeks to the day till Christmas. Every year since, we rent this movie at the 5 weeks till Christmas mark. In my book it is a must see love story.

Lonesome Dove::
Robert Duvall. Need I say more?

Gun Shy::
This is one of those really weird comedies that leave ya quoting the whole movie. At dinner. At the grocery. At WalMart. Also starring Liam.


Nemo::
I can pull a quote from this movie for any situation. It's true. This is the most brilliante' kids show ever made. I am sure of it.

*****

Trust me when I say that this is just the very beginnings of my must see movie list. Reader, what is your "Best Movie Ever"?

Playing nice

Today, I wasn't in the mood to play nice. I am grouchy. I just want to have my interweb back. I want to blog and read blogs. Blog, blog, blog! Despite my crappy attitude I just have to say: Hoooraah for the library! Today I had to travel 20 minutes to my not so local library for interweb access. ((sigh))

In the parking lot I met a sweet young gal who immediately pressed in closer than was comfortable and asked me how my day was going. I replied that I was having a fine day and how would her day be going?

"I am frikkin' awesome" she replied. "I just called my boyfriend a p*ssy!"


Well now. Really??

She proceeded to follow me into the library and continued on with her chatty ways. The only computer available to me was one directly next to her. So down I sat and on she went.

Upon reading her newest Myspace message she found that her brother who just finished a tour in Iraq had gotten himself a new "tat". A tattoo that he himself had designed. On and on this girl went with her life story and the story of her brother and how efffin' cool this and the other thing were.

After about half an hour of nothing but effin' mind blowing conversation the girl stood up got right into my face and asked me my age. Well, I faltered. Then told her " I am 33." She took a step backwards exclaimed "wow, you look effin' great! I am 21 and I thought you were younger than me! My name is Ariel what's yours?"

Reeling slightly from the flatteries dumped upon me, I gave her my name and wished her the best of luck with her effin' life.

After Ariel had left the building the librarian came over and pulled up a chair. She thanked me for taking the time to invest in Ariel, she is not well. She is mentally lost and homeless.

I told the librarian that it wasn't any problem. I didn't mind talking to the girl, in fact she told me I looked great! I thought she was a sweet kid! Heck I had contemplated taking her home with me! The librarian laughed and told me what a good person I was. I thought: you are effin' right! I am a nice person.

Rather than do my blogging like I had been dying to do, I sat and patiently chatted about life and love with a mentally unstable homeless girl, who claimed that life was good. Effin' good!

Well reader, life is good! Did you play nice today?