“Nature will bear the closest inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain.”

— Henry David Thoreau

Happy Earth Day, y’all.

–wm

The Easter Bunny left three plastic eggs under a tree out front this morning.

One contained nothing; the other two had fortunes inside.

One said: THAT WHICH IS TIMELESS IS FOUND NOW and the other said: IF YOUR COMPASSION DOES NOT INCLUDE YOURSELF, IT IS INCOMPLETE.

(Hint: It was Buddha, not the Bunny.)

Happy Sunday, y’all.

love,

wm

The sun is out for the second day in a row. I had fun at Fuchsia SATURDAY at fred meyer yesterday (fuchsia saturday, how I love thee), Wacky Girl and I had our nails done today, shopped at Target and enjoyed lunch out. Now I’m going to sweep and mop the kitchen floor and sit on the porch and drink wine.

Wine that I bought at Target.

I am incredibly classy this weekend.

ps i want chocolate now not next weekend, so guess who’s getting their Easter baskets early? That’s right. Hockey God and both kids.

pss they don’t believe in the Easter bunny anymore, so it doesn’t matter.

ppss maybe Steve still believes but I sincerely doubt it.

ppsss — i will always believe in you, Easter bunny. Gimme the goodies.

OK, you know how last Valentine’s Day differs from this Valentine’s Day?

Last year my son wasn’t counting his candy.

Damn.

My awesome sister picked up the kids from aftercare, then our awesome babysitter (note to self: find new word for “awesome”) swooped in and this meant… I got to run errands… (“Got to.” Only a busy mom would say “got to” run errands with a “whew” thrown in there… yes! errands! woo-hoo!) to the pharmacy and the library and then?

Dinner out with my husband.

Hmm. I think we just got to celebrate Valentine’s, a little late. (We couldn’t celebrate last weekend, 3 out of 4 of us were sick.)

xxox

wm

HAPPY VD! Clap, everybody, clap!

xoxo

wm

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” — Vixen

I am such a follower of Ms. Vixen. She makes me laugh my ass off, she makes me cry, she moves me. She deals with stuff and she moves on. She doesn’t forget, ever, but she is constantly moving forward. I can appreciate that. She and her family have been through some tough times this year, and I send them so much love and a ton of best wishes for this new year.

A number of my friends and family members have gone through some exceptionally awful times this year. They have learned things I wish they had never learned. Never had to learn. I wish them peace, and happiness, in this upcoming Year of the Ox.

Here is what I just found out about our friends, the Oxen:

The Ox is the sign of prosperity through fortitude and hard work. This powerful sign is a born leader, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things. As one might guess, such people are dependable, calm, and modest. Like their animal namesake, the Ox is unswervingly patient, tireless in their work, and capable of enduring any amount of hardship without complaint.

Ox people need peace and quiet to work through their ideas, and when they have set their mind on something it is hard for them to be convinced otherwise.

Maybe this means a year of calm? Peace and quiet and lots of good work? I hope so. I hope the American war against Iraq ends soon. I hope we learn to leave the rest of the world be and focus on what we need to do to heal at home.

I wish all of you the best, my readers. Look into your heart, decide what you really want. What you can’t live without. What you need to change. What you can’t change. Find some peace and quiet. Work on what you need to do. Please get going. We don’t have all the time in the world, here. Sometimes I wish we did; other times I’m thankful we don’t. Count your blessings, every day.

I have been wondering a lot lately about where I’m going with my writing, my blog, my career. I like my new job. I more than like it — I have found myself a career and something I want to do until I retire, which (I hope) won’t happen anytime soon. I’m thinking twenty more years, then, after that, I’ll volunteer at a library for as long as I can. Are you hearing me out there? I found something I will be happy with for the rest of my life.

Whew.

All of you who said that English degree would never do anything for me? Nyah nyah nyah. I love books. I love getting kids reading. I love it.

I am satisfied with the work, the students, almost everything about it. But I need to earn my master’s degree, and I need to find a way, like Hermione in “Harry Potter,” to turn back time so I can be two places at once. And (for obvious reasons) I can’t write about work here, so you miss the funny stories and all that. So I am not all yours anymore.

As my kids get older, I do not want to share as much about our private lives. They’ve asked me not to, and I respect that. But this is a domestic blog, at its heart, and so… So, so, so. What next? Recipes and book reviews, hair tips and sex advice. Political stuff and news about the Nekkid Neighbors. (Although their kids are getting older, too, and maybe won’t want their crazy tales told by their wacky neighbor.)

I don’t like some of the strange e-mails and nasty comments that I’ve received. I love the funny comments and sweet e-mails I’ve received. I mostly ignore the rest and delete as needed. I’ve gone back and marked some of my older posts private.

We’ll see where the new year takes us all, eh? I do plan to spend a lot of time studying, playing with my kids and husband, working hard. I take my work seriously and hope you understand why I’m not always over here, or stopping by your blogs as regularly as I used to. I miss my blogworld, but the “real” world is pretty cool, too. (How can you say anything is more “real” than the blogs though? This is raw and pure.)

And, since I let Vixen have the first words, I’ll let her have the last words, too. Happy 2009, y’all.

nancy

“I wish that your every dream for 2009 come true. That you find yourself surrounded by friends, laughter, and good times. I wish that your every cup runneth over financially, romantically, spiritually, and creatively. That good health be your faithful companion, peace your guarded ally, and love your perpetual guide.”

(OK, can’t resist one more song from “White Christmas.” Just watched the movie again this week — Rosemary Clooney’s commentary on the DVD is frickin’ hilarious. What a class act. I love that girl. wm)

happy winter, happy solstice, happy happy happiest holidays to you and yours.

we’re still snowed in, but it’s melting, and no big storms are predicted. it’s alright.

peace & love,

wacky mommy

We have more than a foot of snow here in scenic North Portland, Oregon, where every yard looks like a picture postcard. I cannot speak for the rest of town, as we are unable to go anywhere to see for ourselves. From what I’m seeing on TV, it looks pretty out of hand…

Just kidding. That’s from a couple of years ago. It says Seattle and Queen Anne Hill in comments but I believe it was actually in Portland — isn’t that Civic Stadium there on the right? I taped it, too, cuz they kept playing it in a loop for about two weeks.

Let’s be careful out there.

and it’s… still snowing.

and a wonderful life.

xoxx

wm

IT SNOWED HERE! Real snow, not this little “half-inch of powder and Portland shuts down” kinda snow.

Real snow.

A whole foot of it.

Oh, wait. Now it’s raining.

We’re screwed.

So far I have baked the following: Russian Tea Cakes, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Crinkles, Rainbow Cookies.

And so far, we have not run out of vodka… wooooooooooooooooooo!

It’s a wonderful life.

xxox

wm

ps I had mimosas at Pause for lunch can you tell? Wacky Girl and her darling friend-from-across-the-street had Chocolate Decadence. We had fun walking there and back, wooooooooooot! Santa will be here in four little days.

watching the Simpsons with my husband, eating chocolate covered cherries and drinking a glass of wine.

the holiday season has fully begun.

have a peaceful week.

wm