Oh Crap! – Musings of an Unperfect Mommy

Wednesday Wisdom

August 12, 2015

There are two quotes today, but they actually go together. The first one is this from Ray Bradbury:

“There are worse crimes than burning books. One of them is not reading them.”

The next quote came from an episode of The Waltons – The Firestorm – and it ties in nicely with the above Bradbury quote. This episode of the show is the one where John Boy was going to have excerpts of Mein Kempf in his newspaper and the outrage that ensues in the small community . Even the book burning in Germany is misconstrued by the people of Walton’s Mountain. They burned books in Germany to limit knowledge and freedom, these other folks just tossed them on the fire simply because they were German books. John-Boy recognizes one of the books in the fire – a Bible.

There is a lot in this awesome quote, and this episode remains my favorite to this day because of it.

I started this whole thing with my newspaper, I know that, but you misunderstood me. I was trying to show you what people are capable of out of fear and ignorance and hatred. You realize this kind of thing is happening all over Germany? All over Germany! And right now Germany and Walton’s Mountain are not very far apart in my mind. I read that a foreign tyrant was publishing his plans to take over the world and was carrying out those plans, and I thought you ought to have the opportunity to know about it. Just like I’d take the opportunity to tell you if there was a blight that was threatening your crops or some kind of scandal was threatening your government, because that’s freedom as far as I can see it. And if you choose not to know about it, that’s freedom too. But if you take the book and you burn this book then you can’t know about it and you’ve had your freedom taken away from you. Do you understand me? If there is anybody here who feels that this book is more dangerous in one piece than it is burned to ashes in that fire then I want you to come up here…I want you to take it out of my hands and I want you to throw it in the fire right now. Throw ‘em all in the fire.

So, there’s more I could say, but I think these two quotes speak volumes. Listen to what they are saying.

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If I Had A Bucket….List

August 11, 2015

So, because I don’t have anything scathingly brilliant to say, I thought I’d go through my drafts and actually post some of these. They aren’t bad, I just was never sure about them. Here’s the one I wrote on bucket lists sometime this past spring.

I’ve tried to write on this before, but maybe now is the time. I’m feeling a need to break out, but being a mom to so many it’s almost impossible. I said “almost” not “completely”. My oldest child gave me the gift of a vacation last Christmas. He asked me what the one thing I really wanted was and I told him:

“What I’d really like is a 3 day weekend in a hotel by myself. Someone can even drop me off there and leave me for the weekend. I could watch my Audrey movies, read magazines I like, eat foods I like, and go where I like. That is what I really want.”

Ask and you shall receive – it was an amazing gift. So far I haven’t booked a hotel because I’m busy thinking about what I want it to be. That and I’ve been too busy. Yeah, ironic huh. I want to plan it out right and if I do I could get more than one Mommy Weekend away.

So, that brings me to bucket lists – which I loathe. I saw an article about this woman who lost a bunch of weight, changed her job, and got married by drawing up a bucket list and working on it a little at a time. Hmm, food for thought although 99% of what she has on her bucket list I’d never do – like sky diving. I just want a break! BUT…If I had a bucket list here’s what’d be on it:

1. Visiting Laura Ingall Wilder’s Rocky Ridge home in Mansfield, Missouri. I want to see Laura’s stuff and cry in front of Pa’s fiddle. I love her books and I think she must have been an awesome woman. I want to see the house I’ve only read about. If I had a hero she’d probably be it.
2. Going to the Mall of America – preferably with a ton of money.
3. Going to visit my son in California – although I’d either have to take a train or bus or get drugs for the plane ride.
4. Martha’s Vinyard – OMG – it is just so beautiful and I am looonging for the beach and ocean.
5. Kicking the bucket. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Now, while they’re doable at some point, it isn’t now. They’ll have to wait most likely. Raising kids, needing a new vehicle fixing up the house – those are my priorities right now. So, that little hotel vacation I’m planning on will have to see me through for awhile. Still it is nice to think I could actually do those things someday.

I always thought I’d add more but I think it’s good as is. As an update, this past weekend I did finally have a weekend away in a hotel. It was really nice, except I wish I had brought some crafty thing to do like a small scrapbooking project, my vision journal, or my coloring book. I did watch two movies and got through a few magazines while listening to some of my favorite music. All in all it was very, very nice.

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Music Monday

August 10, 2015

Okay, folks, it’s time to have a good cry. C’mon get out those boxes of kleenex – you’re going to need them.

Today’s song is “Like A River” by Carly Simon. She wrote it as a tribute to her mom who died from cancer in 1994. It is so sweet and I cannot help but cry every damn time I hear it. It is the most loving tribute I’ve ever heard and the video is even better as there are pictures of her mom in it.

Dear mother the struggle is over now
And your house is up for sale
We divided your railway watches
Among the four of us
I fought over the pearls
With the other girls
But it was all a metaphor
For what is wrong with us
As the room is emptying out
Your face so young comes into view
And on the back porch is a well-worn step
And a pool of light that you can walk into

Everyone who has been through the death of a mother or father knows how these things go. Dividing up the stuff, selling the house, etc. Everyone is leaving except Carly and she is talking to her mother one last time. And it’s like her mother is at the house too – going through it one last time.

I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter,
That part of our life together is over
But I will wait for you, forever
Like a river…

The first time I heard those words I cried like a baby. While my mom is still living, my father is not. I have also experienced the deaths of other people close to me and it’s just so hard sometimes letting go of what had been. Not to mention regrets of what might have been.

Can you clear up the mystery of the Sphinx?
Do you know any more about God?
Are you dancing with Benjamin Franklin
On the face of the moon?
Have you reconciled with Dad?
Does the rain still make you sad?
Last night I swear I could feel you
Moving through my room
I thought you touched my feet
I so wanted it to be true
And In my theater there is a stage
And a footlight you can always step into...

Here Carly is asking her mom – what is it like where you are? Do you know any more now than you did down here? And the tenderness of the act of her mother touching her feet and wanting so much to feel that one more time. It’s amazing what we take for granted while we are here and not until it’s gone do we realize how much it meant to us.

I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter,
That part of our life together is over
But I will wait for you, forever
Like a river…

Still crying…

In the river I know I will find the key
And your voice will rise like spray
In the moment of knowing
The tide will wash away my doubt
‘Cause you’re already home
Making it nice for when I come
Like the way I find my bed turned down
Coming in from a late night out.
Please keep reminding me
Of what in my soul I know is true
Come in my boat, there is a seat beside me
And two or three stars that we can gaze into

In the video Carly Simon is walking by a little brook in some New England state in the fall (please God, I’d like to live there some day). Her mother’s voice will call to her letting her know that all is well and that maybe, yes, there is heaven too. A comfort for her. But that line, “Because you’re already there making it nice for when I come”, has a double meaning for me. Her mother is waiting for her in heaven and making a welcome for her when she arrives and they are reunited – just like she used to do when the children were growing up. But, as a Christian, I also think of what Jesus said: In my house there are many rooms. God is making my room ready for me when my time here is through and He is waiting for me.

I’ll wait no more for you like a daughter,
That part of our life together is over
But I will wait for you forever
Like a river…

Blowing nose loudly….

Okay, sniff, I’m okay. Really. Here’s the link for the video – do take a look. With Kleenex. I sometimes think of my own death and hope that I’ll be remembered as lovingly. I know not all memories will be great, but I hope in time my kids can forgive my weaknesses and remember the good stuff.

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Five Year Blog Anniversary

August 9, 2015

Congratulations to me – today is my blog anniversary! I started with this post here and this one here. While I haven’t exactly posted daily, this is still a special place to me.

My blog started as a journal to keep my family informed of our goings on. Also to write about my days as a diary of sorts that I could look back on from time to time to gauge how my life is going. To look back on the good and the bad, the plans and plan failures too.

I have kept it simple here and I am content to have it so. I’d rather my blog be about my words and the occasional picture than loads of pictures and nothing to really dig into.

Also, I want to add that if I link to something I like that I’m just sharing my finds. I am not affiliated with anyone.

So, happy blog anniversary Oh Crap! and thanks again to my son, Matt, who made it all happen. Here’s to another five years and maybe some new things here. Promises, promises, right? :-)

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Music Monday – Girl of 100 Lists

August 3, 2015

This is in the category of I can’t believe I haven’t written about this song – there seems to be a lot of those! Girl of 100 Lists is a song from the Go-Go’s “Vacation” album and it came out in the summer of 1982. It is obviously about making lists – a lot of lists – and my life has been punctuated by them since I was in Jr High. Since that time, I have made loads of lists and I often have many going concurrently. Do I use tech devices to keep them on? Heck no! I’m strictly a pen and paper gal which is a lot easier to keep my lists with me or in different places where I want to see them. I just don’t use that much technology for stuff. Outside of internet shopping. :-) Anyway, here’s the song, and I’ve noted what would be on my lists.

Ghetto blasters, phony jewels
Cathedrals, castles, makin’ up rules
Trashy novels and leather gloves
This is a list of the things and I love

Things that I love – coffee, chocolate, books (you know about those). Period piece movies and tv shows. Charles II of England, Mozart, and Marie Antoinette.

I am the girl of 100 lists
From what shall I wear to who I have kissed
Check items off, let nothing be missed
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists

Checking items off a to do list is such a rush!

Pick up your laundry, doctor’s at ten
We’re out of toothpaste, rehearsal again
Stop by the bank and cash my pay
These are the things I must get done today

Things that I have to do today – Laundry (girls’ clothes), take a kid to work, basic everyday housework, and getting things ready for a new school year (but that’s actually fun).

I am the girl of 100 lists
From what shall I wear to who I have kissed
Check items off, let nothing be missed
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists

Have I made a list of who I have kissed? Yes, I have!

Ricky and Danny and Terry and Jim
Dean lasted six months, don’t forget him
Perhaps some day this list will end
Till then I tally my gentlemen friends

Well, I’ve not had just loads of boyfriends so I’ll just mention a special few – Michael (boyfriend), Steve (crush), and the guy who kissed me in a truth or dare game in Venice.

I am the girl of 100 lists
From what shall I wear to who I have kissed
Check items off, let nothing be missed
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists

I am the girl of 100 lists
From what shall I wear to who I have kissed
Check items off, let nothing be missed
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists

I to myself and my 100 lists
Sing I to myself and my 100 lists

I don’t quite have 100 lists, but I do have a lot of them going right now:

Christmas ideas, books I want to read, movies I want to watch, and a mega list of things I need to do, want to do, or dream of doing.

Take a listen if it’s been awhile and maybe write a list or two of your own.

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Weekend Gallery

August 2, 2015

Take a stroll through my gallery of photos from July.

The seeds that my girls planted went from this…

…to this! Then we forgot about them and they died in the heat. It was a lot of fun while it lasted.

I finally bought this book about Laura Ingalls Wilder and her Pioneer Girl book – the precursor to the Little House series. Lots of new information as well as photos that just enrich our knowledge of her and her family.

The pond in midsummer.

This cicada molted right on the door. It always amazes me when I see the shell left over how that big bug could have fit in it!

Our Hobby Lobby finally had the MAMBI Create 365 Planner I had been lusting after. :-) Have I told you I’m a school/office supply junkie too?

I found three classic books by Peg Bracken. Filled with a lot of recipes and ideas, but also laugh out loud anecdotes as well.

And I finally finished Season 4 of thirtysomething the other night. I went through the entire series in about 4 months. Can’t wait to watch it all again..and again..and again. :-)

Hope you enjoyed this week’s gallery. Next walk through should be more stupid stuff seen in stores. It never ends.

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