Running Red Momma

Years ago, my husband took me cross-country skiing.  No big deal unless you understand I have no tolerance for myself in learning things.  I am a perfectionist with no patience.  Can you think of a more toxic combination?  That day as I attempted to climb a hill in my slippery skis, I had it.  I sat myself down, ripped off my skis and hurled them over the hill.  I was proud to keep the swear words in my head.  My husband hid behind a tree watching the whole scene.  We had been married long enough for him to know the monster.  To this day, I have only played chess twice with him. (Yes, I was learning how to play.) Yesterday, my two-year-old daughter decided it was time to learn to dress-- it was time to walk away from the toddler years.  During her first attempt, her two legs got stuck in the same hole. As I walked in, she sat on the floor refusing help from anyone.  Her screams were enough to scare anyone away.  My husband chuckled, "Yup she is yours."  Besides the wonderful

It is sad to say that I seem to get more done when I am not on the internet.  I just get sucked in to facebook and blogging. What am I working on?  Yes, I am still trying to get organized.  I can't seem to get the stuff I don't want out of my house. It just stays in bags.  Sigh.   I am thinking of a possibly cultural no-no. I thinking of selling my wedding dress. I have great pictures of it.  It is not the right color, ivory, for my daughters.  It will not fit them as they get bigger.  They both seem to headed for a height much more than mine. I don't wear it anymore.  How taboo is that? And do I care?  It just sits there. I'm getting rid of my menus feature.  Originally, I put it there for my sisters.  However, I don't think it is helping anyone.  I thought I might change a menu to a list of acts of kindness I see in strangers.  That might be a positive note.

The introduction to Stevie Wonder's greatest hits album describes a scene in the desert where a man riding a camel listens to "Superstition" on his boom box.  Fast forward to the present at the Grammys.  Stevie Wonder sang with the Jonas Brothers last night.  At first, I thought what crap is that?  I'm sure "Burnin' Up" is hot with the twelve-year-olds.  But, through the muck of the vocals and sad guitar,  I wanted the boys to back-off and stop putting their heads right next to Stevie. Step away from the legend dude.  Were they really worthy to jam so close to him?  When they shouted "Come on Stevie!"  No, you come on, I thought.  Yes, I know the Grammy's celebrate the transcendence of music.  I sat there squishing my eyebrows,  suddenly, the noise stilled and music entered. Superstition's universal dance chords were being hit and I bopped my head in happiness.  (I know this seems like lazy blogging--but you can check out what I mean.)

Each person you meet has a struggle. There are those that struggle with exercise, overspending, or temper. I struggle with clutter. Just as some may have a public goal which declares exercise, I would benefit with an open goal of "getting it together".  Sadly, I am the person who loses keys, school forms and yes--sometimes important mail. I don't like living this way. I declared defeat and went to my favorite place, the library, to research my problem. I checked out four books on organization. One was from the cute guy with the accent: Peter Walsh . I got excited to read "How to organize just about everything."  It begins with obvious concepts of making a to-do list or dealing with mail.  All of it was helpful.  As I continued to peruse, I came upon some titles of this form: Become a brain surgeon, get into an elite law school or become a talk show host.  The broad sweep of topic spurred me on and I continued to read. Nestled between family calendars and

We (my husband) just purchased a blue-ray player.  Not a big deal for me. I'm not a techie. However, to demonstrate its amazing sound, we had a concert from Queen playing loudly in our basement. Yup, you may think that is not my kind of music. While I did have a brief love affair with weak hair bands for a while, I was snooty and didn't think I was a Queen fan. After singing along to a number of their songs, I gave in and accepted it. Go ahead. Go to i-tunes or youtube and look up Queen. You'll sing a-long and have a good time.  This band plays shake it, sing at the top of your lungs, nod your head real hard and sometimes dance music. I was ready for Wayne's World right then. Ohhh and that Freddie Mercury, what a talent.  He can sing, play piano, play guitar and dance.  BUT, watching him dance, I was struck by how different he was.  He just didn't come across as the typical arrrg/roar heavy metal singer. Heaven knows we need to celebrate the different in each pe