Serenity

Layered Necklaces

My mother gave my little boy a broken necklace to have as his own.  It was half a heart locket with my mother's picture in it when she was about 2o.  The photo is scratched and faded.  My heart wrenched when I saw it and that she had given it to Jacob to play with. 

I stole it from him. 

In grief, I wondered where the other half was.  I knew my father's photo had to be in it.

This is Dad, about the time of the locket photo. If you look very carefully over his head, you can see my ill-tempered grandfather, William Brantley.

Why hadn't she given it to me?  I would have handled it gently, reverently, rather than playing with it, swinging it around and around, heedless of the treasure that it is to me.

 

This is probably my favorite photo of my parents, from November 2003.  We took them to Savannah, Georgia for Thanksgiving that year.  They lived there when I was very small.  We visited Civil War sites that they remembered, and we ate dinner on a River Boat Cruise. This photo is from the woods at the trailer park that they had lived in.  The clothesline my Dad had strung for Mom was still there and the tree had grown around it, making it a part of the place. 

Dad died 5 months later.  I am forever grateful that we had the means to take them on this last trip together, to revisit a place and time that had been important to them.

I guess that is why the locket is important to me.  I found this photo online and wished that I had the other half to make a memory necklace to keep both my parents with me.

And now I can.  Mom gave Jacob the other half of the necklace.  Dad is so faded, you can barely see him.  But I know he's there, just like he is in my heart.  Always.

So I stole it, too.

Today in the kitchen

Since I've been sick and out of work over the last two weeks, I have been finding a lot of interesting recipes online and cooking them up for the men folk.  Today, I decided to go Middle Eastern / Indian.  The menu included falafel from the A Year of Slow Cooking blog,

 

puffy, soft Naan bread,

 

and a mild chicken dish from Northern India called Chicken Korma. 

 

I also did some rice in the microwave for Eric, but I didn't eat any.  The falafel is very savory and filling, as was the Naan.

To make these dishes, I used ingredients that I've never used before, including several Indian spices.  I used ginger root and minced garlic, as well as cashew nuts.  The dishes were very interesting, and Eric and I both enjoyed the meal. Josh was noncommital.

Being depressed to be stuck at home sick for the last eleven days has become a real drag.  I am more content now that I have found cooking is so pleasant, especially when I'm not rushed or being harrassed by short people.  I even enjoyed washing the numerous dishes.  The medications I'm on are making my hands draw in, like muscle cramps.  It is extremely painful, and the hot water helped ease that off.

All in all, a good day in the kitchen

 

I have Gummy Envy. I do.

 
Seriously, the most yummy gummy on the planet.

3-Dees Gummies, by au'some are......awesome.

We bought Jacob a bag of Kung Fu Panda 2 gummies to take into the movie, but they never made it that far.

Oh. Delightful.

Never in my life has any food item (or any other item that I can recall, for that matter) hit me with such a comfort force that I HAD to take not one but two photos of it, compose a post on my blog to it, Facebook it,  and send it out to my entire email address book.

Serious. Gummy. Envy.

 Master Shifu, you are divine.

Kung Fu Panda 2  3-Dees Gummies

Go there.  They have games and gummies.  What could be better?

 

 

What you do on a Saturday when you're awake a 5:00. AM.

Well, you check to see if your paycheck was direct deposited, like you were praying it would be....

YaHoOOO!

Clean up and Eric and I are on the way up the mountain to Asheville. 

First stop, waiting in a very chilly line at Sunny Point Cafe in West Asheville for hippy breakfast.  Eric had a fabulous looking breakfast burrito, and I had the Heuvos Rancheros with chorizo, black bean cakes, goat cheese, chips, and diced potatoes.  Wonderful.

 

One of the waitresses had on a black cotton tutu skirt, which went well with her platinum and purple hair.  Interesting....

After Sunny Point, we crossed the street to the Viva Deli, where I spent a ridiculous amount of money on corned beef (3lbs. @ 12.99 - he didn't tell me how much it was a pound until he'd already cut it!!) apple bread, two croissants, and a jar of anchovies.  Anchovies?  A recipe for another day....

 
The croissants were to die for, and I know the rest, although very expensive, will be great, too.  We'll go back there, I am sure, but now I know how to ask for what I need.

I had to go to the restroom.  We went to Barnes and Nobles.  I found an excellent book to use for my 8th grade North Carolina studies this coming year.  It is called Weird Carolinas.   I can predict some very interesting research projects springing from it!

 

Barnes and Nobles led to Bed, Bath & Beyond for cooking utensils and a new spice rack, Michaels for Yudu supplies, Target for paper products
and then Lifeway for Becca a new Bible for Graduation.

We stopped in Black Mountain at Ingles to finish our grocery list, and then made it on home. 

It has been a lovely day with Eric.  We took Mom, Aunt Ruby, and Jake to Timberwood for dinner.  Yet again, the screaming child curse erupted as soon as we walked in the door.  What is his problem with this place?!

Lovely day, wishing I was feeling better.  Wishing I hadn't spent so much money today.  But it was a good day.

 

Finally, finally, it's done!

From: Elaine Waters <elaine.waters@mcdowell.k12.nc.us>
Date: Mon, May 16,
2011 at 11:25 PM
Subject: Finally, finally, it's done!
To: #efestaff
<efestaff@mcdowell.k12.nc.us>

I only told a couple of people, because it upset me so, but our adoption
was declined in March because someone didn't send the birth mother a notice that
her child was being adopted. 

 

Imagine that. 

Do they think she doesn't know?

 

She had the legal right to contest and ask for her child back. 

Eric said, "There's not enough body bags to go around for that to
happen."

 

So from the first week of March to the end of April, DSS, the attorney, and
the adoption agency pointed fingers that it "wasn't their job."

 

I called all three, used some loud, colorful (not very nice) language and
stated my intention to file grievances against all three parties, if it was
not dealt with immediately.

 

Tonight, just before I threw it away as junk mail, I realized the envelope
said ADOPTION REVIEW TEAM.

 

No confetti

just one small piece of paper

Congratulations on your adoption

Send for a new birth certificate

The case number is closed and ready for microfilm.

 

He's really ours.

Finally.

 

Thank you all for your support and loving this little red spitfire. 
He loves you all, too.

So do I.

 

Where the heck have I been???

One year. 

In four weeks, it will have been one whole year since I blogged. 

Where the heck is your mind, girl?

I know its been a tough year at home and at school, but come on.  Seriously, a whole year?

Do  better.

Do better now.

Well, the Lord has a reason, I am sure.....

Well, I am supposed to be there, the last night in Rio de Janeiro, celebrating World Cup fever and Brazilian culture. But instead, here I am at home.  I am sure the Lord has a reason for me being sick, but I am still bitterly disappointed.  Yet another reason that I HATE Field Day!

I got sick after spending all day outside for Field Day, and it got worse after cleaning classrooms, moving furniture, stirring up dust.  I had shots, antibiotics, a small pharmacy of drugs, and the dreaded Prednisone, again.  Still sick.  The pulmonologist said that it would be dangerous for me to go, with the suppressed immune system and exposure to new allergens and general virus/bacteria.  So I prayed about it, had a healing prayer at church.  While I am a lot better, I still don't have the stamina to clean my bathroom, let alone carry a backpack and keep up with a group on tour.  So I conceded defeat and canceled my trip.

So disappointed.  So hate field day.

So, I have moved my knee surgery up to next Wednesday.  Hopefully it will be the "minor" procedure that he says it should be.  The worst part will be the crutches for 4-6 weeks.  No weight on the knee to allow the bone to heal.  At least I won't be missing a week of school, as the original date would have required.  I hope things go well, and that this is the reason I am here, instead of on my way to Salvador and Bahia Street.

My Last Class of Fifth Grade....for now

"Moving on up, to the East Side...to a DEEELUXE apartment in the skyiii!"

Oh wait.  That's the theme from the Jeffersons.  Oh well.  It still applies.  I'm moving up to 7th grade, leaving behind my last class of fifth graders.  I love them, can't you tell.  What a bunch of hoodlums we are!

 

This has been my Letterboxing class, my stamp artists, my Percy Jackson lovers.  I will miss seeing them every day, but I am glad that I will have them some next year in Global Studies classes. 

Bye guys.  Love ya.  Mean it.

The End is Near.....

The end of the year is in five days.
I am going into a new position as the Global Studies facilitator and the 7th grade homeroom Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. I am worried about the change. I don't know if I am going to do the job people are expecting me to. I hope that I am up for the challenge.

What I didn't expect at 6:30 on a snowy Sunday morning....

 Well, we have power and only about 7 inches of frozen stuff, it appears. Would be wonderful sleeping in and snuggling weather......

But I was awakened this morning at 6:30 am by a child with a cranberry brownie in his hand saying he didn't know how to turn the tv down. I stagger to the living room which is freezing, turn down the blaring tv, muttering that "The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao" is probably not appropriate for a 3-almost-4 year old, and finally squint at said child.

OMG. Not brownie on his face.

OMG. What HAVE you done!!??

Oh. My. BLANK. BLANK. (Not said out loud, being a 3-almost-4 year old AND Sunday) Cat's Eye pigment ink. Black. All over his face. In a decided pattern.

I closed my eyes and stomped into my office. There it is, the stamps neatly nested back together.

And my uncarved, just transferred stamp for my pirates swap smeared and delicately stamped all over in bronze cat's eyes. Talk about OMG.

3-almost-4 year old currently howling in his room, "I don't want to stay in my room all day!"

Grandma lives 2.2 miles away. I wonder how long it would take us to walk.....

(Picture to follow, when I can take it without being angry.)

 

I had to use rubbing alcohol to get the ink off his face.  There was much screaming, tears, and comforting.  Many promises of never doing that again, staying out of Mommy and Daddy's tools and work, waking Mommy up when he gets up.  None of which he'll remember the next time he's tempted.  Tomorrow. 

But we love him all the same.

January 31, 2010 

I hope the rest of the year goes better than this morning!