Living in a material world and I am a material girl

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Posted on October 27, 2009

I love fabric. Sometimes before I go to sleep at night, (and I share this without a hint of embarrassment or awkwardness), I will place different swatches on my bedroom carpet floor and imagine. As my mind unwinds from the day, I move the squares around and see the different patterns I can create. The Hubs will walk into the room and ask me, “What are you doing?” He doesn’t get it as he just sees a junky mess. It’s a fabric thing. And I have a ton of it. Yeah, I am a material girl.

This past weekend, I journeyed to one of my favorite places. Mary Jo’s in Gastonia. It is the promised land on earth for someone who finds fabric fascinating.

Thankfully Mary Jo’s is conveniently located only an hour away from some of my favorite people on the earth. I have a large extended family in South Carolina and although they alone make the trip worthwhile, Mary Jo’s is a must-stop on my emotional map. And I am equally blessed because I have two of the most awesome OS a girl could ever have usually traveling with me. The reason for their respective awesomeness is that is I have trained them on how to behave at Mary Jo’s.

The rules are quite simple.

1. Don’t bug Mom when she is shopping for material.

2. Don’t ask her when she thinks she is going to be done.

3. Cheerfully hold the fabric bolts for Mom and don’t drop them.

4. Keep annoying jokes to a minimum.

5. Encourage Mom when she is shopping. Compliment her fabric choices.

6. Smile when Mom wants to take pictures of you holding the fabric bolts.

7. Don’t tell Dad how much Mom spends.

These seven simple rules allow us all to maximize the Mary Jo’s experience. This time, as an added bonus, we also found material for the OS. Aaron and Ike both selected fabric for me to make them unique, one of a kind pajama pants for Spirit Week 2010. I can’t wait to reveal their fancy pants in the future. I assure you no one else will have these pajama pants…stay tuned sometime in February for their unveiling.

You’ve got to love a store that has everything. You can upholster your couch, make a bathing suit, sew one of those horrible, overly frilly beauty pageant dresses for a little girl, design your own wedding gown AND buy fabric of nearly every vegetable imaginable. I saw garlic fabric, eggplant fabric, grapes, corn, olives, lettuce and more.

One day I’m going to make my own dream skirt…I want to make a salad skirt, no joke. And I know exactly where to go and two of the coolest, most secure with their masculinity guys to take with me. Sorry ladies, they aren’t for rent, them’s boys are mine!

MaryJo’s + Aaron + Ike + camera + credit card = Happy Mama Sew Much Fun!

Bus driver, move that bus!

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Posted on October 23, 2009

The clock ticked away and the vision of Aaron’s room materialized. Surveying the house, I began collecting items that matched the room decor. I just love “shopping” in my own house for treasures! So does the Hubs!

With Ike and the Hubs essentially done with painting, my job began. I got to do the fun stuff. The poster of Aaron’s favorite

music group Switchfoot was placed in a frame, a vast improvement from the previous method of display, plastic tacks stuck on the wall. I assembled photos of Aaron’s mission trip to Guatemala and put them in another frame. On his dresser, I placed a cool percussion instrument I had given him from El Salvador. We have an old globe which looked perfect in his room. A horribly ugly clay vase I made in middle school

surprisingly matched in Aaron’s new room. And Aaron’s cherished photo of him and his dad when he was a little boy, found a prominent place on a wall.

This picture is one Aaron used to carry around whenever the Hubs was angry at him and Aaron was feeling guilty. All these little touches gave the room a cozy feel.

Isaac suggested painting a kitchen stool for his brother’s room. The stool had been taking space in the garage and with a few coats of spray paint, Isaac’s ingenuity led to Aaron having an awesome place to sit while playing his guitar.

The Hubs did one more thing before Aaron arrived home. Using a special paint, Mark made a chalkboard on his wall. We knew he would love that extra touch.

And then there was the coffee cup. I can’t tell you how many times my OS has told me how he loves that nubby, bohemian mug. It was incredible how Aaron’s favorite coffee cup perfectly matched his room! I think it served as the inspiration to the entire room. The thought of my OS sitting in his room, having a candle lit, sipping on some Peruvian coffee served in the world’s best coffee cup doing his homework, man, if that ain’t the coolest thing! I was so eager for him to get home to see the drastic change!

As we toiled away on this project, I seriously thought about God. Without trying to be overly spiritual, I feel that my OS’s room was a perfect representation of what the Lord did for me, for my family, even for you…

Aaron didn’t do anything special to merit a drastic room change. And we didn’t spend a fortune on his room. We probably spent about $150 to do everything. Yeah, his room had been a mess but something overtook my desire to merely clean the room. It was love. Aaron didn’t get straight A’s, or accomplish some magnificent feat. We did it because we loved him. Plain and simple. I felt like we totally poured ourselves out for Aaron. Doing this made me think about Jesus and what He did for someone as unworthy as myself.

Aaron knew we were going to be decorating his room but he had NO idea we were going full-out for him. “Wow, that’s a whole lot better than I would have done!” Aaron said as he looked around at the freshly painted walls, his treasured guitars secured to the walls, all the sweeping changes.

This Bible verse ran through my mind as we unveiled the room to Aaron for the first time, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory…” Ephesians 4:20-21

Tell me what you think about our Extreme Makeover!

Part Two – The room begins its transformation

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Posted on October 19, 2009

With Aaron’s room now fit for habitation, I decided that though it was clean, just being clean wasn’t good enough. The walls were pocked with holes and the room was bereft of any personality. And if you know my middle OS, personality is something Aaron has in abundance.

It was at that moment, that I decided we (as in the Hubs and Ike) were going to undertake yet another doozy of a job. We were going to give Aaron’s room an Extreme Makeover a la Wal-Mart style. Our deadline was to be finished by the time Aaron returned from a weekend trip to the mountains with a friend and his family. To my delight, everyone was in agreement.

Although I’m not a big fan of Wal-Mart and have rarely shopped in one for years, they have recently built one nearby and I must say, it is really nice. I felt certain that we could find something that could work without spending a fortune. I know better than to even walk into a Pottery Barn store, my flesh is weak enough that I’d surely find something wayyyyyy out of our price range. So the Hubs and I left the OS with the dirty kitchen to clean and found a bedspread, a rug and a few incidentals for Aaron’s room in short order.

I wasn’t sure exactly what we were going to do but then it all began coming together. Soon, the idea of transforming his room into a coffee motif of sorts drifted into my brain. There was some left-over paint in the garage and we decided to use a warm tan on three of the walls and to paint one wall a contrasting color, sort of like a dark turquoise. The once drab room was developing a personality!

Just to clarify, I must say that Aaron wasn’t a slacker. Prior to leaving on his mountain camping trip, Aaron exerted some effort into his room. He had patched up and sanded some of the holes on the walls but he wasn’t home for long to do much. Friday night the Hubs and my freckle-face, orange haired, nearly teenaged OS faithfully worked on Aaron’s room with nary a peep or complaint the entire weekend. Ike sanded, painted, even suggested decorating ideas which we actually implemented. As I looked around the house, I found things which would make the room flow even better.

Could we meet our Sunday afternoon deadline? Would the room look as cool as it did in my mind? What would Aaron actually think about the drastic changes we had made???

Ah, such a cliffhanger! I will tell you this, the whole idea was

inspired by this coffee cup…

Killing dust bunnies and other various enemies, part one

We love you dry ice

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Posted on October 11, 2009

If you have a nearly 13 year old boy on your Christmas shopping list, have I found an inexpensive gift item for you! It’s cheap, it’s fun and slightly dangerous, what more could a nearly 13 year old boy want!

Ok, so here it is. Brace yourself, it’s really special…

It’s…drum roll, please…

Dry ice

Dry ice?? Yep, dry ice.

I wouldn’t have thunk it myself but let me attest to how wonderful you will be in the eyes of an almost 13 year old OS if you get him a chunk of dry ice. I think if Ike could prepare curriculum for 7th grade boys, it would involve only two classes – P.E. and Dry Ice. The end. Class dismissed.

It all started when the Hubs, Ike and I went to work out and on the way home, we went to buy some lettuce. Excitedly, Ike begged and pleaded the Hubs and I to also purchase a bag of dry ice.

Oh, if you could have seen the look of utter joy as the dry ice went down the conveyor belt and our bag boy slipped the chunk it into the plastic grocery bag! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the child this happy even about ice cream!

We arrived home and Ike was eager to experiment. After placing the slab in a bowl, he went to work. In school, he learned that if you place a nickel on dry ice, it wiggles. The Hubs and Ike used a quarter and shazam, observed similar results. Then Ike marveled at the billows of cloud-like smoke swirling just above the bowl after putting water in the bowl. Another experiment involving dry ice and soap created foamy, dramatic bubbles.

He loved it so much, I think if Lebron James himself would have sauntered into the kitchen, Ike would have merely given him a passing nod, maybe a little, “Wuz up” which is saying something because Ike has already determined he WILL have a child named Lebron one day!

This past summer, Ike had a lot of fun making a brain but it smelled funny and what do you do with a mushy brain when you’re finished with it? As long as you don’t put your hand on it for long, I have learned the dry ice is pretty cool with no unpleasant odors.

Every thing about the dry ice produced a “Mom, come look at this!” moment! I will admit it was interesting. The only thing that was rather annoying was when we sat down to dinner. The dry ice had been placed on the table. We were bowing heads, holding hands and as we began to pray; gurgling sounds came rising from the bowl. The bubbling was so loud, it nearly went above the petitions we were making to the Lord! You know how your stomach sounds if you are having diarrhea-like symptoms or if you’ve had food poisoning? Well, those are the sounds of dry ice if you put a lot of water on it. Ultimately, it became so gross and disruptive, we had to banish the dry ice outside until we were finished praying and had had dinner!

For three hours, our almost teenager, played with dry ice. That had to be the best $5 I have ever spent on a child. Based on how much fun he had and apparently how much he learned about dry ice in class, I think we will be getting some again in the very near future!

It was fun seeing our boy wildly loving something as simple and cheap as dry ice. If you have been reading any of my recant posts, then you know “we” are having a lot of wild moments lately (if I could only blog about more of them!). A perfectly content, pre–adolescent boy is a thing of great beauty these days.

Oh what a beautiful day!

One of those days

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Posted on October 3, 2009

I called my sister Denise last week and the sounds of one of my adorable nephews made our conversation brief. Two year old Josiah was wailing, the agony so loud you would have thought his arm was being amputated without anesthesia.

“Wow,” I thought to myself as I hung up the phone. “Am I glad those days are over!” A twinge of pity and relief waft over me as I went along my merry way.

No sooner had I taken that trip down Memory Lane when I found myself metaphorically speaking, driving down that

once familiar road. Only I wasn’t with a toddler but with my orange haired, freckle-faced nearly 13 year old OS. At the end of the day, as I tucked Isaac into bed, I was glad the day was over. Tears streamed down my face as I prayed over my boy. I was as weary as I was when he was a feisty toddler.

I’m not complaining, it’s just I guess I was a little surprised to have one of “those” days. I can never give up on raising my OS, even on days when I feel like a failure. I must be resolute in all things. Despite the drama of the day, I was grateful because I recognized that we still have more work to do in the lives of our OS. Soon I will be the mama of three teenage sons. The job of mother gets easier on some level but more difficult on others.

I don’t really consider myself a very strong person, physically or mentally but this I know with all my heart. I will never give up on this job. On the days where there is boy drama (and there is boy drama) or bad grades or poor choices, I know where my strength comes from.

Psalm 28:7

The LORD is my strength and my shield;
my heart trusts in him, and I am helped.
My heart leaps for joy
and I will give thanks to him in song.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign

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Posted on August 8, 2009

Our family has a tradition we have enjoyed for years. Whenever we find a business or a sign which has one of our names, we will stop whatever we are doing and take a picture in front of that sign.

I’m not sure when we started it but I’m always on the lookout.

All across the fruited plain, if I spot one of our names, I grab the camera and capture the moment. Yes, it has annoyed “certain” family members but that doesn’t stop me.

Join me on a trip through Memory Lane…

We took these pictures during a camping trip through Maine and Pennsylvania. We will never forget the time spent in our pop-up in Freeport and Bar Harbor, Maine.

When the Hubs and I returned to Maine for our 20 wedding anniversary, I just had to stop by this street sign!

During A-Day weekend, I stretched the rules a bit and had Ike stand by this sign since it was made just for him. For your information, yes, Isaac was really excited to do this-NOT!

And then, despite a broken foot, I prodded the Hubs to make a weird turn on a busy street just so I could hop out of the car and get this picture of my mom and I in front of this restaurant in New York!

Of course, I also couldn’t pass up this sign near Philadelphia when we went to see Nate and the Army/Navy game.

This summer in Raleigh, Ike paused for a photo-op at his hip-hop store in Raleigh. Who would have thought that a freckle-faced, orange haired 12 year white kid could be so enterprising and multi-cultural?

And wow, how cool to see that Isaac has branched out and now has a store in downtown Wilmington! You’ve got to check out Isaac’s hats and suit selection! Stop in and see for yourself!

As we were returning back to our condo, despite a threatening thunderstorm, complete with dramatic bolts of lightning, I made Aaron stand by this sign.

And I guess we got our oldest OS on a good day because after miniature golfing at Carolina Beach, I was able to successfully coax this pose in front of THIS sign!

For days I had been begging for a picture and when he finally said yes, I leapt in the Equinox for joy! You gotta love it!

What are some of your family traditions? I’m always looking for new things to make memories and create family identity.

Earth, wind and fire

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Posted on August 1, 2009

I don’t want to deceive anyone and make you think that we are just one big happy family all the time. We fuss and argue, we agitate and frustrate. Try as we might, there are times, far too often, when we even get disappointed in one another and yell. Even on vacation. Apparently I have a certain look, my children know too well where my jaw tightens, my eyes bulge out, it’s quite lovely I’m told. Luckily there are no pictures which have captured such a moment. If there are, I will delete such photos immediately. You will only see this look in person, never on film!

To prove my point, I wanted to share a very W-H moment we had during our trip to the coast. It was a cool summer night on Carolina Beach. There is a long stretch of beach at Carolina Beach where you can camp or make fires. Put this on your list of things to do before you die. It’s really awesome. And it might just be a guy thing but my men like to burn things. So on this crisp July night, Nate, Aaron and Isaac create a mighty bonfire and the hubs and I join them. We gather around the aluminum fire pit that was placed in a hole dug in the sand. (Remember this part).

Ike grabs a reed he had pulled from the sandbar and fashions a skewer for marshmallows. Quite resourceful. Apparently Isaac unwittingly adds extra fiber to the marshmallow which I note upon biting into my gritty summer treat. Then Nathan adds additional sand in my mouth when he kicks up his heels walking past me, not on purpose but whatev. (This might have been a eye-bulging moment.) Thanks, Soldier/Son!

The hubs and I depart and the boys continue their time by the roaring fire. (Remember this part.)

Legend goes that the boys were putting out the fire on the beach, ready to retire for the evening. It’s around 11pm and Aaron says smugly, “I’m just gonna enjoy the hot sand while you guys work.”Aaron holds the flashlight while Nate and Ike pick things up.

It is about this time that Isaac pours sand over his brother’s foot. The sand near the fire was warm and good but the sand Ike dumped on Aaron’s foot had been directly on the coals. It was poker-hot. In Aaron’s vernacular, “insanely hot.” Ike wasn’t trying to hurt his brother but indeed he did, giving him a second degree burn on the top of his foot! While the hubs and I are chilling in the condo, Aaron is screaming on the beach, Nate is getting angry both at Isaac for doing it and Aaron for shrieking, and our 12 year-old, orange-haired, freckle-face Ike is numb. A precious moment? Hardly.

In the middle of the night, Aaron had trouble sleeping because of the pain. We helped him the best we could and in the morning, it was feeling somewhat better. If you ask nicely, Aaron will show you the singed foot hair.

Thankfully, though we were laughing about it by the evening. Aaron might have another scar to add to his collection. Ask him about the scar he obtained while running into a urinal, or hopping up a brick step to our house. He’s quite the conversation piece.

When all is said and done though, it is well with my soul. I still have three OS who when together, still say “I love you” to each other before bedtime. This includes if they are on the phone with friends. How many teenage boys do you know who interrupt a conversation with a buddy just to shout, “I love you” to their annoying kid brother? Yes, I am blessed beyond measure.

Woefully imperfect, etched memories are sometimes burned into our lives forever, pun intended. (This is a picture of our family on a ferry to Southport, days before the charming burning incident.)

I’d love to hear your vacation stories! Got a scar story? Tell me!

We did it! Thanks Pistol Pete!

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Posted on July 13, 2009

I’ve never been a big fan of 11 year old kids reading the f-bomb. I don’t know, I guess I’m weird like that.

And so you can only imagine my horror 18 months ago when my orange-haired, freckle faced, youngest OS announces one day that the book his daddy got him had that lovely word printed ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE! I nearly fell out of my chair.

It was a basketball book entitled Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich and the reason the hubs bought it for our OS is because Isaac loves basketball. Our OS needed to work on his reading and boy, was I glad our OS said something about the curse word! Faced with a dilemma, do I throw the book in the trash or take it back to Borders, I took immediate action. I chose to do neither but I did do something with that book I never expected.

I read it out loud to my son. The G-rated, completely edited and censored version, of course.

And guess what?

I loved every minute of it. We finished the book on Friday. 323 pages, 18 months, we did it!

If you know me at all, you know I am not a sports person. Much to my OS’s chagrin, I still can’t remember the positions they play in their respective sports. It drives them nuts! And for the last year and a half, Ike and I have been reading a book about the great basketball legend, Pete Maravich.

When we finished I seriously wanted to cry. It was an accomplishment and a blessing. We didn’t merely read the book; we took it deeper. We talked extensively about the book. Pistol Pete Maravich was a complex man with a difficult life. He had many excesses and demons, he had a complicated childhood ~ there were many dimensions to this man. This book touched both of our hearts.

And we did even more than that. We did A LOT of vocabulary. Always by our side was the trusty Webster’s. At times, my OS loathed that dictionary with a passion but together we learned words such as:

mollify, triumvirate, augur, majordomo, chaw, vestigial, bonanza, vituperative, excoriate, progency, ignominy, assiduous, junto, bifurcated ~ nearly 200 words my OS searched. It turns out I don’t think Ike could have read this book without me. It was an advanced read for both of us but so worth it.

We learned so much ~ about Pete Maravich (he came to know Jesus and died of a heart condition while playing basketball with Dr. James Dobson) and we learned things about each other too. Sometimes, while I read to Ike, he would draw and despite countless emotional outbursts “I hate this stupid book!” “I don’t want to read!” (read this in your loudest, most emotional 12 year old boy voice!), we didn’t give up. The time we had with each other makes me feel that this “fait accompli” has blessed us with an “inexorable” experience which has left me feeling “ebullient” inside. How’s that for using my new words?

I must share with you another book we read together which was delightful which was very different than Pistol. I’ll do that soon, it’s just the best.

Any ideas as to what to read next are welcome. I’m really proud of us. Don’t let anyone tell you you can’t read to older kids. You’re missing out on a treat, seize those special moments.