The Boy in the Striped Sweater

Today I saw the light in the form of a bright rainbow striped sweater on a grown boy with special needs.  I don't know his particular condition, but I do know that while he was in church he perpetually jumped in place for minutes at a time and patted himself constantly.  He was very excited or excitable, he pulled repetitively at his brightly colored sweater and when he hugged his mother he smiled and smelled her hair and felt it on his face and she hugged him back every time and comforted him.  His mother was dedicated to teaching him when to stand, sit, kneel and when to do the sign of the cross, all the while trying to settle him and calm him and teach him.  His smile was constant- her patience seemed infinite.  He looked to be anywhere between 17 and 22 years old.  And I saw the light in their family.

Why did I need a boy with special needs in a striped sweater to jolt me?  I was in Philadelphia helping my LG move into her new life.  She is in transition- new city, new job (same company), new car, new commute.  We had just spent two days getting her settled.  There is some trepidation on her part....how will I make it to New Jersey in the morning traffic?  Where will I park my car in this very crowded neighborhood I have chosen to live?  FYI- expensively and no where near your apartment!  How will I pay all my bills?  She thought getting out of NYC would more affordable!  Transitions are not easy.  So much is unknown.  These were the thoughts going through both of our minds for the last three days. 
To end my visit we went to church Sunday morning.  If I am ever lost or have lost perspective, church is a good place to find myself and my perspective.  I hoped it would do the same for my LG.  The church was stunningly beautiful!  It was only a few blocks from her apartment.  The music from the organ filled the building... and my heart.  Still Christmas music!  I had almost forgotten it was still Christmas!  Ahhh!   Time to refocus.  I felt at peace as soon as we knelt down.  Church does that to me.  It is a place for me to bring my fears, cares, worries and praises and leave them at the altar.  Let someone better equipped deal with them for me.  I thought I would tell my LG after mass that if she ever felt lost or lonely, church could be a place to stop in and have some quiet contemplation.  Then they walked in.  Mom, Dad and the boy in the striped sweater.  They were like a bright light... or a hammer that hit me in the head as if to say- loudly, excitedly, patiently, with a smile..."Quit your whining!  What are you so worried about? She has all the tools she needs to handle this transition."  It took a jumping rainbow striped sweater to open my eyes.  The Lord works in mysterious ways, we just have to be open enough to hear Him even if  sometimes He has to shout!  So, I left today with the comfort of knowing she will be just fine.  She may not feel fine every day but eventually her life will become routine again and this will all be a character building memory.  God bless the boy in the striped sweater.

Resolutions

Resolutions....did you make any?  I am not a person who makes New Year's resolutions.  My husband, on the other, hand has his resolutions for the last three years written on paper and readily accessible, with the ones he has done actually checked off.  To say he was goal oriented would be an understatement.

 I have several issues with resolutions.  Having worked in the weight loss business for many years, January is a big business month!  There are thousands of people who commit to losing  weight in the new year and they last about a month in their commitment.  Yes, there were also those people who stuck with it and reached their goals.  I guess I am just a bit jaded in the resolution area.  Maybe I am afraid to put something down on paper and possibly come up short, fear of failure.  Maybe I am just too lazy to commit to "doing" something for an extended period of time.  Maybe I am just too complacent with my life and lot as they are and don't "really" want to change.  Pick one or more....

Self improvement is a slippery slope.  First, you have to admit you are lacking in some area.  Then you have to figure out what it takes to improve in that area.  Then you have to actually do something.  Sounds like a lot of work.  Don't get me wrong, there is no way I think I am perfect and not in need of improvement.  The opposite is true.  There are so many areas to choose from....where to start?  Lose weight, exercise more, drink less, write more, get organized, be a better wife..sister...mother...grandmother...daughter...etc., read more, learn more, figure out the tax code, spend more time with my dog, get more involved in my church, the list is daunting.  It is like going into a candy store, so many choices and not enough resources. 

If I listen to my former weight-loss-leader-self, it is better to start something and come up a bit short than to never start anything at all.  Ok, stop talking to me!  I get it!  This year I will spend more time with friends (because I have some really great friends), travel more, get in better shape (because really...if I'm going to do all this hanging out and traveling I need to be in shape), learn something new (like a language I will need when I do all that traveling), pay my taxes (there is no figuring out that code...), and maybe write more...because lately I can't write less!  I will also try to keep at least one of my "resolutions". 

Good luck with your resolutions and  Happy New Year!

Just in case you read this entire post and were left wondering how our Christmas was or where the pictures were....here is your answer!  Christmas was great and here are some pictures to prove it!

I think these two had a Merry Christmas!

She had a pretty great Christmas too!



There were party hats involved!



The costumes were a big hit with the boys!

AND there was snow and sledding, making it a perfect holiday!!!





The long and winding road...in the snow.  You can never have too many snow pictures if you ask me!

Good luck with those resolutions!

Pocket Change and Ugly Sweaters

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care, the gifts are all in the mail, the Christmas cards (with letters included) are in the mail and "most" of the shopping is done... because, really, what would Christmas be without some last minute gift buying?  Why be totally prepared when you can be scattered and do a little scrambling around for those last items a few days before Christmas?  I don't think I've ever been totally ready for Christmas, maybe I should give it a whirl one year and see how the other half lives....those perenially prepared people.  Nahhhh!

At least the tree is up and it is even decorated!

This year we will have two Christmases!  Our first Christmas will be in Houston and the second will be in Wisconsin.  The first will be the adult Christmas and the second will be the kiddie Christmas!  We plan to enjoy all aspects of both! 

We are all really looking forward to some of our Christmas traditions.  What traditions does your family have?  Ours are probably a bit bizarre!  One of my favorite traditions is a recent (last 5 years) addition.  It started when our kids were finally of legal age and in this case our youngest was of legal age when we lived in Canada, so she was only legal by Canadian standards at age 19 or 20.  It's the Eve of Christmas Eve pub crawl.  On December 23rd we have dinner at TJ's favorite little Italian restaurant, drive around and look at Christmas lights in the ritzy neighborhood of River Oaks and then hit a few pubs wearing our tackiest, ugliest Christmas sweaters.  We have quite the collection of them too because we were stylin' back in the '80s...and we never throw anything away!  I saved enough ugly Christmas sweaters to outfit several other family members too!  Another aspect of the pub crawl is that we spend all the pocket change we have been collecting over the year.  We used to just take the kids out for pizza with the money but now it has evolved to buying them beer.  The "change jar" took on a whole new meaning when we lived in Canada!  With Loonies and Toonies in the mix we had some serious money in the "change jar".  It almost covered dinner and the first pub.  This year we will be lucky to cover the bill in the first pub with the change jar money but it is fun to see all that spare change pay for something for everyone. 

TJ's favorite ugly sweater!  He has left the price tag on for over 15 years because.....
the original price, 15-20 years ago, was $175.00 and after 4 markdowns it was purchased for $9.99 by my Mother. 
 She probably used here employee discount on top of that so $7.00 is just about the right price for this gem!

The rest of our Christmas traditions are pretty....traditional.  There is Mass on Christmas Eve, then we all open one gift (usually matching pj's for everyone to be worn on Christmas morning).  In the morning there is a marathon of gift opening while we eat Monkey bread and listen to Christmas music, followed by brunch and then later in the day, a roast beast dinner.  Sometime over the holidays we watch Love Actually because...".if you look around love actually is all around us"! 

This year we may be fortunate enough to enjoy all of our traditions twice!  Once in Houston in our balmy Christmas weather and the second in Wisconsin in the cold and snow!  The snow and cold will be a real gift to me because everyone knows that I love the cold weather.  I am really looking forward to sliding down a hill on a sled with my grandsons!  Merry Christmas Lisa!

As if preparing for Christmas were not enough to do I decided to have a few upgrades done in the house.  Perfect timing!  It is always nice to have your house torn apart and covered with dust days before the biggest holiday of the year.  Maybe I wasn't thinking straight when I made this decision.  Having workers here for two days has forced me to stay home and get things done around the house.... things like wrapping all of our gifts, addressing Christmas cards and getting organized.  Hmmm, maybe I should do this every year!  Nahhh.

I hope all of you have a perfect Christmas with family and friends.  Enjoy your traditions and take a moment to thank God for sending his Son to earth in the form of an innocent child.  God Bless you all!

The Christmas Before Technology

After a few grueling hours of online shopping today I decided to take Sadie the Wonder Dog out for a walk.  We were enjoying the arrival of a "real" cold front and feeling just a bit of the holiday spirit with all the houses in the neighbrhood decorated for Christmas.  I even listened to a little George Winston's "December" on my ipod.  Then it hit me!  Technology is ruining Christmas!   Let me explain.....

I had just spent hours online at my kitchen table purchasing gifts.  Without technology I would have been out shopping.  I would have been in and out of the car several times and would have totally enjoyed that cool breeze at each stop.  I would have been shopping, listening to piped-in Christmas music all day and enjoying all of the store decorations.  I might have even purchased a few gifts...but maybe not, I have such a hard time making those decisions!  It may have been frustrating but I would have been out among other holiday shoppers and felt the bond of being in the trenches for the day.  Instead, I drank tea, listened to whatever I wanted and purchased an alarming number of gifts in record time without talking to a single person, looking for a parking place or standing in line.  Bah humbug!

Before technology I would sit down and compose an annual update letter to include in our Christmas cards.  I would attempt to include a bit of humor, an update on each person in our family and a Christmas greeting.  With Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blogs there are now about 5 people on my Christmas list who do not know what most of us have done this year... or this morning for that matter!  What is the point of writing a Christmas letter anymore?  I guess I could just make stuff up and send it!  Bah humbug!

Before technology, I would spend hours personally addressing my Christmas cards.  I can now just press a button and print labels and stick them on my cards, but I won't.  I used to print pictures to include in the individually signed cards, now the picture and our signature are the card.  OK...that has been around for a while, but you had to go to the store with a negative (remember them?) and get the store to make the picture cards for you and then wait at least two weeks for the cards to be printed.  I got mine in 24 hours this year and I made them from the comfort of my sofa using my laptop.  Bah humbug!

I am still one of the few people in the world who has a real Christmas tree.  You know, the kind the grows in the ground and drops thousand of needles the minute you put it in your house!  We can now program our lights to turn on and off at the appointed times.  I used to go outside to turn the lights on and off, I sometimes would see a neighbor doing the same thing and we would visit for a while.  Sometimes the lights would get left on all night and we could knowingly nod at each other the next day.  Technology has taken care of my absentmindedness.  Bah humbug!

I am sure there are some of you saying things are a lot better now with technology.  Who wants to go shopping and fight the crowds? Who wants to sign and send Christmas cards?  Who needs a real tree, they only litter your house?  Life is so much simpler now, right?  My question is, are we in more of the Christmas spirit with all our extra time?  Maybe once I start wrapping all those gifts I bought online I will feel the spirit...haven't found the gift wrapping app yet...but it probably exists! 

Fun and Games

The best part of our Thanksgiving, which I know was weeks ago...., was not the dinner.  It was the post-dinner games!  We had a table full of friends and family, playing games was the logical conclusion to the night.  We love to play games.  We have a few family favorites, Apples to Apples is one, "the name game" is another and now we have a new one.  We call it, or the people we learned it from call it, Chemistry Taco.  I really don' t know how this describes the game though.  I will make an attempt to share this game with you....because it is awesome and can make you laugh until you cry and you are going to want to play this at home! 

The game is a cross between the old fashioned "telephone" game and pictionary...
Sorry for the poor photography quality, you get the idea though...right?

Any game that starts with "Squanto gives the first Thanksgiving turkey to the Pilgrims" and ends with "Turkey Badminton"  is fun in my book!  We had 11 people playing on Thanksgiving so everyone began with 11 pieces of paper in their stack (the same number as the number of players).  Each player writes a statement describing a "scene" on the first/top piece of paper.  Then everyone passes their stack of paper to the person next to them.  Right or left...your choice!  The next person reads the statement and draws a picture of the "scene" on the next piece of paper in the stack and puts the statement on the bottom of the stack of papers.  Everyone passes the stack of paper, with their drawing on top, to the person next to them and that person writes a statement on the next piece of paper to describe the drawing, and so on.  Eventually, you get back a series of drawings and statements that evolved from your original statement.  Sometimes they stay pretty close to the original statement throughout and sometimes they go horribly or hilariously wrong!

Just in case you wanted to see more poor quality photography!

Take this series for example.  It began with "grandma got run over by a reindeer".  The drawing underneath is the first drawing.  Somehow that lead eventually to "Life or Death reindeer games" with the resulting drawing with reindeer shooting each other and some of them belly up on the ground.  I think there was a "border patrol by reindeer" thrown in there somewhere too.  The drawings and statements get more and more creative as the adult beverages flow.  At the end everyone does a sort of show and tell with their series of papers and that is when the laughter begins.  It is always funny to find out what you really were supposed to be seeing or drawing.  I highly recommend this game the next time you have a group of friends or family around....like at Christmas!  This is my Christmas present to all of you!  You can thank me after you catch your breath from all the laughing you will do when you play.

In other fun and game news.....

Regular college football season has ended.  Sigh....   This season has been one of surprising results.  For the first time since I can remember, Notre Dame has ended up at #1, at least for now.  Go Irish!  Having two daughters and a son-in-law who graduated from ND, we are very big fans of the Irish.  My beloved LSU Tigers are at least in the top ten but did not have their best season.  I am surrounded, down here in SEC country, by ND haters.  The Irish get no respect down here....I guess we will see how they perform in the National Championship, I will be wearing my blue and gold!  After the bowl games are over I will be in post college football withdrawal, which could result in more blogging.  For now, let the decorating, shopping, baking and mailing begin!  Yikes!

Normal November

Hello my very neglected blog!  I have not forgotten you, even though I have not paid much attention to you lately.  I could say life has not been exciting or inspirational but I would be lying.  Even everyday life can be exciting and inspirational, we just have to pay attention... maybe I haven't been paying enough attention.   Life doesn't come with a built in theme either, so maybe I'll just get started and hope a theme pops up somewhere along the line.  Can you tell I'm reaching here? 

 I was lucky enough to spend some quality time with my daughters recently.  There was that beer infused trip to Denver with Katie in October and last weekend I spent time in NYC with Rachel and Kelly, you can read all about it here.  We planned this trip well before Sandy "the super storm" and the ensuing snowstorm.  The city was alive and well, at least the parts we saw.  There was a two hour trip, usually only an hour, from the Newark airport to Kelly's apt. that might have been due to Sandy but I am not going to complain, I got there.  I hardly even noticed all the recycling piled up along the streets waiting for pickup either.  We had a great time together and did our best to walk all of the streets in NYC....or at least it felt like we did.  I am sure all of that walking countered all of the food we ate over the weekend....right?   New York City is a great city to eat your way through!




I could live on a street like this!



Maybe I could be the crazy holiday decorating lady on the street like this one!
Happy Thanksgiving!



Aside from my NYC adventure, life has been pretty normal.  Normal meaning a regular schedule of ESL classes with my British colleague who insists on teaching the Queen's English to Mexicans living in Texas (my son says I am living a Saturday Night Live skit in this class!  I totally agree.).  Rounding out normal life is lots of golf, church, dinners out with TJ, long walks with Sadie, watching college football, occasionally cooking a meal, blah, blah, blah...  I search to find inspiring topics to share on the blog but sometimes just having a regular life is inspiring enough.  Some people would pay good money to have a "normal" week or two!  November once again has proven to be one of my favorite months down here.  It has been amazingly perfect almost every day and I have done my best to spend countless hours outside enjoying the cool crisp air!  There is peace in having a routine, even if it only lasts for a couple of weeks.  I think the next month will be less than routine!

Passions (Boundless Enthusiasm)

As life would have it, I have been to several events lately in large convention centers.  You remember the Beer Fest  where I was surrounded by people who love beer, right?  There was a lot of beer loving going on in that convention center!  Last weekend I went to yet another beer fest (at least this one was outside) and the beer loving passion continued. 


This week I witnessed thousands of people exhibiting and enjoying a very different passion.  I went to the International Quilt Show in Houston.  I left with my mouth wide open in awe.  I am not a quilter and I do not play one on TV but I do know how to sew and I can appreciate the masterpieces at the quilt show.  I was surrounded by thousands of people who were/are passionate about quilting.  The atmosphere was a bit different than at the BeerFest!  The similarity was each's passion about a certain craft.  Yes, brewing beer is considered a craft. 

The much more subdued crowd at the quilt show

The quilt show was like going to a museum exhibit.  These quilts are works of art!  I went with my two very good Canadian friends who are true Scotia women!  They both quilt and could appreciate the quilts on a different level than I.  One of them even had a quilt, well... part of a quilt, in the show.  It was very exciting to find her quilt.  Hers was in the "group" quilt section, meaning each square was made by a different person and then the squares were sewn into a cohesive, beautiful, interesting quilt.

My friend and "her" quilt!  She is famous now!

One of my favorite "group" quilts, Balancing Act.  It explained how each rock was done by a different person and how life and group projects are a balancing act just like putting this quilt together.

The quilt that won Best in Show was amazing!  It was a patriotic quilt, very appropriate in this election year.  (Have you voted yet?  If not, don't forget to vote!)  We happened upon it when the quilter herself was talking about the quilt.  I could feel her passion and was actually choked up listening to her describe the quilt.  It was truly a work of art and most likely a labor of love.  She was passionate about her work.

The description of the winning quilt

Zoom in if you can! It is amazing!


After the quilt show I started thinking that each of these exhibits was a result of passion.  At each event I was surrounded by passionate people.  Passion can produce some interesting and amazing things.  What am I passionate about?  Is there anything I am passionate enough about to spend hours, days, weeks, months or years to do or produce?  I am still thinking.  I am envious of these people who have this deep passion inside them and enjoy something enough to dedicate a good percentage of their lives.  The rewards are apparently great.  Judge for yourself.

Look closely, there are a pair of hands quilted into the sky!

One of the winners

I took this one for my LG!

My Canadian friends had a great visit in Houston.  It was fun to let them see some of my life... away from the shore.  Their observations were interesting.  They frequently asked about public transportation....or the lack thereof.  Yes, there is no real public transportation in Houston and what little there is, is not used to a great extent.  Houston is just too spread out and it is just too damn hot for most of the year for public transportation to be effective.  We will all have to do a lot of adjusting for public transportation to be a reality here. 

Another conversation was initiated on Saturday when college football took the stage.  Talk about passion!  We are passionate about our college football.  Fanatical might be a more appropriate term.  I tried to explain tailgating and the passion that many of us have for our chosen teams.  They were amazed and probably baffled.  There is nothing like it in Canada, not even hockey.  We take sports and pre-sports partying to an extreme.  My husband witnessed one of the premier displays of this passion Saturday night with 93,000 other crazy fans at the LSU vs. Alabama game in Baton Rouge.  I cheered for my Tigers with passion that night at home but they came up short. 

What is your passion?