Merry Monday 10.28.2013

We had the best weekend. Sister's surprise 30th birthday party was a success- good people, good food, good fun :) Perfect. The party took place on Friday, the 25th, so I have to admit, Saturday and Sunday were rest and recuperation days for me. I did a lot of nothing. Although I did clean the catering dishes, work on my stitched painting and stream a LOT of Netflix movies (Top Gun, Broken Flowers, Heartburn, The Great Gatsby (the original), Manhattan and Who is Harry Nilsson). Wow! That is a lot, isn't it?

As you can see, the candles are not lit. She had to reenact blowing out the candles because I missed the shot!

What has been on my mind quite a bit, though, since then, is how hard it is to believe that I have a thirty year old child. Really. I can hardly believe it!  But, it really has been thirty whole years. And looking through her pictures and putting them in order, by year, confirmed it. And made me realize (or, rather, re-realize) what an amazing girl, woman, wife, mom, sister, daughter, grand daughter and niece she has been, has become and IS. And how much I look forward to spending the next thirty years watching her become even more. I'm a very proud mom, can you tell? And this is just about one child! Just watch out when I start talking about all three of them!


So, having this thirty year old child can mean only one thing. I'm not young any more. And you know what? I couldn't care less. Or, maybe I should say, I care less and less as the years go by. That's probably more accurate! One thing that makes me feel better about aging is the video below. I came across it a couple of years ago and whenever I'm feeling kind of down or depressed about getting older, I try to think of it. Who would not want their "old age" or their "golden years" to look like this?

When I watch it I understand that there is something to look forward to as your years progress. Sure, you don't look, feel or think the way you used to. But I actually think that might be a good thing.

In my youth (meaning 40 and under) I remember being obsessed with the way I looked, always feeling uneasy and restless-like I should be doing "more", and always dwelling on the past or worried about the future. I am finally feeling like I'm learning to live in the present. Yes, I still worry (about my looks, about the past, about the future,etc.) but it certainly is not consuming me. And that is such a good thing. Because now, instead of worrying about things I can't control, I find myself wondering how I will be remembered by my kids and my grand kids. And this is something I at least have some control over. Because I know it's possible to teach by example. Yes, I know my kids will remember the young mother who worried a lot and lost her patience a lot. But I also know they will remember the mother who listened to them a lot, talked to them a lot and cared for them a lot. And as I get older and wiser, I am better able to think ahead and plan a little. So, I've made a short, "leaving my legacy" wish list, inspired by this post.

I hope to teach by example:
1) the value of living in the moment 2) the value of  living and having a healthy lifestyle 3) the value of  being satisfied with simple things and 4) the value of being creative and making things with their own two hands. Yep. Those are my wishes. Oh, and 5) the value in living in a tiny shack/cottage, doing yoga outside and growing and cooking your own food :) That's it.

Have a great, remaining, Merry Monday :)   Juli

Lately...

So...lately I've been pretty busy. When I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off for too many days in a row, I tend to get sick. So I've been laying a little lower for the past couple of days so that doesn't happen :) Here are just a few of the highlights of my busy-ness:

I'm finished stitching the grapes, vines and leaves on my stitched painting.

Now it's time for the text, which will be a quote from the movie "Sideways". It's a pretty long quote, so I hope I finish this in a timely manner, since, as I mentioned before, it's a gift. And I'm also debating about the thread color for the text. I'm leaning toward a very light, almost white, green. But...I'm open to suggestions on that ;)

I had some quality time with Peanut and Little Man on Saturday. Here they are doing their "homework" together. For Little Man- actual, real life, homework (Psychology test) and for Peanut- circling the toys he likes in the toy catalog and showing us how good he is at clicking the ink pen open and closed! He cracks us up!

And he cracks himself up, too!

Yesterday, an unexpected thunderstorm rolled through and left an awesome rainbow, which you can barely see by the time I had a good spot to pull over. It was pretty, take my word for it! haha

And finally, by the time I write my next blog post, this beautiful girl will have turned 30 years old. Oh, my. It's hard for me to believe!  I was only 17 when she was born, so I'm glad she made it through those first few years with such a young, inexperienced girl for a mother. It really does seem like just yesterday that she looked like this :) Happy Birthday, Sister!

Have a great evening!  Juli

Leaving a legacy

Leaving a Legacy is our theme at school this year. And, although I'm not really into some of the themes they've come up with in the past,  I think this is a great one. So, I'm stealing it and using it as the theme for this post :)


 leg·a·cy  

n. pl. leg·a·cies

1. Money or property bequeathed to another by will.

2. Something handed down from an ancestor or a predecessor or from the past.

*freedictionary.com

 

Leaving a legacy is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. Since my children lost their dad, there have been a lot of court dates and lawyer visits to deal with money and "stuff" he left behind. It's very easy to get wrapped up in being angry, bitter and resentful over some of the things that they've lost throughout this process. But I keep reminding them (and myself) that they have the things that no one can ever take away from them. No one can ever take away Eddie's brown, puppy-dog eyes, Sister's long eyelashes and freckled cheeks or Little Man's smile. Those are physical traits that they inherited from their dad and that no one else in the world could possibly have. Those things are part of his legacy. Money, stuff and property are the things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things. They will always have memories of growing up with him as their dad. And they will always carry with them his best character traits: his fun-loving,silly, carefree attitude; his over-the-moon love for them; and his dedication to taking care of  the people he cared about. They will always have those things, because those things are now a part of them. I truly believe that this is how people live on. And he is definitely living on in them. I witness it every single day. They are his legacy. And he would be proud!

 

 

 

 

It is the two year anniversary of Gary Schuster's (aka Ruben J's) death. And I thought is would be most appropriate to use this space, today,  to keep his memory alive. 

So... lots of time for art talk next week (and the weeks thereafter), as, hopefully, that will be part of the legacy that I leave behind :)

Juli

Merry Monday 10/14/13

Just a short post for this Merry Monday. It's getting late here and I'm getting an early start tomorrow to drive to Columbia to watch Little Man play in his last golf tournament of the season. Sister, Eddie and my parents are going, too, so it will be a nice family day out. It would be their (my kids) dad's 53rd birthday tomorrow, so it will be a bittersweet day. But, they aren't the type of kids to mope around, so they will be celebrating his birthday just the way he liked it, with all of them together. And, even better yet, on the golf course, watching Little Man play :)

“My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me.” Jim Valvano


"If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together...there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart...I'll always be with you."  A.A. Milne

Merry Monday- 10/07/13

Okay, I'm going to grin and bear it and say "Oh, what a wonderful Monday!" Even though it was actually a typical, 'case of the Mondays' cliche, BLAH Monday. But hey, I got to spend some great time with family this weekend- a belated birthday/family dinner night for Falicia on Friday, some quality BiBi (that's Peanut's name for me-Swahili for grandma) and Peanut time on Saturday, movie night with Little Man and M. Saturday night, and shopping with Little Man on Sunday. Wow. I didn't realize how busy the weekend was until just now! No wonder I'm tired :) Here are some Peanut highlights and a little shot at some progress on the making front that I got to on Sunday afternoon.

Our little cowboy. He loves this hat, a hand-me-down from Little Man :)

Making progess on the stitched painting. I see more of these in my future :)  And the free form crochet pieces will be appliqued onto reclaimed wool (sweaters), embellished with stitching and made into pillows. It looks better in person, I promise. It's not looking so hot in these photos. But they are "in progress"!

Sorry for the short post tonight. It's Monday. And I'm merry, but also really tired :)    Juli