Running Red Momma

We decided to get out of the house this weekend--finally! We went to a local Christmas lighting ceremony. There was free hot chocolate and ice skating. What fun. As I had a very young baby, we set ourselves down to watch the older kids skate. Since I had recently lost some weight, it sure seemed cold that night. Although I was outfitted in my thickest coat, hat and snowboarding gloves, I could not stop shivering. I tried doing a small dance to stay warm. I drank hot chocolate. Alas, it was useless. I needed to get some warmth. After loading myself and the wee ones in the car, I thought to myself, "Sheesh that was cold! With the wind and cold, what must it be? 15 degrees? Maybe 20?" I excitedly looked over to check the temperature to gauge how much of a hardship I had endured. I scratched my head, 38 degrees? Not even at the freezing mark? For years, I have read books about ascending Everest. Someday, I imagined myself there. Yup, I canceled my mythical journey to Eve...

Oliver's journey began a long time ago. I couldn't shake the sense we needed another child. Despite many valid concerns, I carefully prayed for a long time. Some of the story is personal, but the end note was a decision to move forward. The pregnancy was full of the usual complaints any pregnant woman would share with you. However, I was stunned by the ultra-sound revealing it to be a boy. I somehow had not made that part of my planning. None of our other health concerns became fact. However, a boy did bring up our fear of autism. (Boys have four times a greater chance of having it.) In our decision to have a baby, we had already discussed concerns of NICU, downs or autism. We felt that even if those events did happen that we should still have this child. In fact, our prayers would still be "answered." Yet when I realized we were having a boy, I was nervous. As the months continued, I observed I had become quite ambivalent about having a boy. It is a terri...

Yes, I did give birth recently. I'll comment more on that another day. My brain is working on the trivial today. While working on being the sole food source for a youngun, I have watched more tv than is usual. Hence, I will share all of the tremendous wisdom I have gathered in the past week. Green Day needs a new look. The hot, rebellious look of punkness looks ridiculous on older dudes. The drummer looks like a middle-aged guy on Halloween. I would include a picture, but I am worried about copyright laws. It is more like eeewwww than oooooooo! There are some FREAKY fans of the Twilight series. Wow! There are fans and then there are women who bedazzle their t-shirts/pillows/whatnot in favor of team Jacob or Edward. You would think a 34-D is hot....yet it is not. For some of you, this is not a big number. For me, wo stop the conversation people I am past a B! Since I have gone there, let's talk more letters. Some nursing bras go up to K. Really? How do you walk? Coll...

My son hid himself in the blankets of our bed yesterday. He shouted out, "Mom, Dad come I'm lost, come find me!" I whispered, "If I were a sibling I would pop him on the head and say, 'looks like I found you.' " My husband looked at me with puzzlement, " I wouldn't have done that. I don't think my siblings would have done that. What kind of family did you come from?" I gave him a deer in head lights stare-- hmmmm, I thought: a pack of hyenas, blame the brothers, lack of supervision in the home, is he serious, am I just cruel, what for the love is the right answer here? I never did answer the question. He could have been dead on fooling me. Or, he could be right, what kind of family did I come from? Or, worse, do I just have spontaneous evil that springs from the dark recesses of my heart?...........still waiting, guess I just don't have an answer.

We have seen the strange phenomena of trucks, yes only trucks, with low hanging double-sided sacs. Is this compensation? Is this local culture? Could someone please explain this to me. I don't think I get it. I just know I'm guilty of judgement--which I find hard to stop. I want to sing out "really, is there such a thing as stereotypes?" My children encountered their first "love sac" this week. My oldest daughter wondered what it was. My son, who knows his own equipment, smiled with recognition. My youngest turned to me and said it is a bum. Well, sheesh, thank-you mister, for providing necessary anatomy discussion. See, I was giving in to stereotypes. It could have been a middle-aged, career woman getting a kick from baffling people. Yeah, right.

I would love to say I have been so busy! Really, I contemplated topics on health care, modesty and middle-age. Alas, nothing felt sharp. Instead, I am going to share a shame, a blight on the level of detail worthy of Seinfeld. I was not much of a facebook person. My brother encouraged me to do so and it looked fun. I have enjoyed connecting with lost roommates, old friends and such. But, I am not always into the facebook "whoring" of some or the odd people who ask me to be friends. Really you want to be my friend? A while back a friend of mine, from my early days in church Sunday School became my friend. Later, his sister and mother became "my friends". Whatever, I thought, they are from my hometown. So, I let them be my friend. This is why FB can feel just wrong. Somehow, in this world of electric connections and small worlds, I figured out my original friend was no longer my friend. Already, I am a bit hesitant to share this, it really got to me. My husba...

As much as I love the summer--which I do. I have forgotten the spectacular joy of fall. It has a sense of abundance and reflection that makes me grateful. The light is less piercing, the heat calms down and the nights are cool. The southwest still maintains temperatures in the mid 80's. So, I get the best of all worlds. One bonus from fall is the delightful colors. The sky is bright blue instead of a faded too hot. The grass is recovering from the summer and looks good again. My favorite set of colors is the produce. Right now you can eat corn, peaches, tomatoes, black berries, blue berries and green beans. We have had corn chowder, blue berry muffins, peach cobbler, tomato salad and so on. I have a challenge to anyone who reads this to try a little organic this fall. There are 12 foods that are of most benefit to buy organic. They are: peaches apples bell peppers celery nectarines strawberries cherries kale lettuce imported grapes carrots pears I know organic is more exp...