30 Days Until Halloween…with a Pre-teen!

I love October. I love fall. I especially like October in Georgia.  They pool will be closing in our community today.  Yes, on October first.  Last week, the weather was unusually warm.  So they decided to keep the pool open.  It works out well actually.  The weather will finally be in the 70s.  Hello fall!

This is one of my favorite times of year.  I love fall and I always have.  Living in the south now for four years has changed the way I look at fall and the cold that comes with it.  It was so nice when we had our first Halloween here.  No winter coats to wear over the cute costume like we had in Chicago.  A long sleeve costume, maybe with some layers, was in order.  Down here in Georgia, everyone tends to dress up for Halloween. It is almost the law.  We are let out of work early because it is considered one of the worse traffic Holidays. Halloween.

But my heart is heavy this year.  We will not be dressing up as a family for the first time since Natalee was 3 years old.  She has crossed over into Halloween independence.  She wants to trick or treat this year with her friends from school and the neighborhood.  She doesn’t want mom and dad lurking around.  She doesn’t want to dress up in a group with us anymore.  Where did the time go?

2013

2014

2015

2016

 

Watching her grow up in the past 4 years has been amazing.  I can’t wait to see what her and her friends are going to do this year.  There were some talks about the group being forms of social media.  There was a super hero theme at some point.  And being mom…I am going to have to make and or assist with the costume.

But if you are one of the lucky families that still can dress up together, here is a link for some ideas.  And of course, I did find it on Pinterest! https://www.pinterest.com/pin/125186064619826897/  There are some great ideas on there.

Enjoy your next 30 days! And Stay Crazy!

 

 

Seasoned is the New Old

I returned from Nashville on Tuesday. I am officially 40 and I feel like I am still 39.  I can’t help but think about how 22 years ago, I met my bestie and have remained close.  So close that there isn’t a thing that I wouldn’t tell her!  And she the same.  She is definitely  Thelma to my Louise. We even commemorated the anniversary of the movie with a selfie of ourselves. I am on the left, she is on the right…it isn’t exactly how we wanted it to turn out, but the sentiment is there!!

I don’t plan on boring you with detailed pictures but  I had to share this one.

This, my friends, is an adult beverage that I enjoyed on Music Row.  We had this bad boy at a Moonshine Bar!  Yes a Moonshine Bar! Bootleggers Inn to be exact!  It was a Watermelon Moonshine Margarita. And it went down smooth. Too smooth.  Music Row was awesome. But I easily felt too “old” for the scene.  40 is such an odd age for finding nightlife.

One of the best things that happened on my trip was that I learned a little something about myself.

1. I have become too old to worry about somethings.  It is more of a state of maturity.  It is  almost like a right of passage.
2. Life is going to constantly be crazy.  My kind of crazy. No two lives are the same crazy.  There will always be crisis.  Now I don’t mean life threatening, chaotic turmoil type of crisis.  But a crisis of forgetting to pay a bill, or the electrical in the car has gone out, the dog has a yeast infection in his ears, again.  Things will always come up that will add to the crazy in my life.
3. This refers back to the first one.  I am not about to chase anyone down and beg for friendship.  Sometimes you need to accept that no matter what you say or do, people are just going to walk out of your life.  I have learned that not everyone is going to stick around for every season in my life.
4. I refuse to apologize for being me.  I curse like trucker. I am loud.  My house is far from being uncluttered.  I have no idea what I want to be when I grow up.  I am the mom that lets her 10-year-old dye the crown of her hair pink because it is summer.  I love dressing in loud, bright colors.  My office at work looks like a butterfly garden with wind chimes and wall art that is about loving one another.  It is who I am.  Take it or leave it.
5. And finally,  I need to share my experiences with others; to the ones not so seasoned yet.  That is how I have gained wisdom. I learned from the previous generation and learning from my mistakes.  I learned to leave the past but kept the lessons.  We should never keep our wisdom that we have gained for ourselves.  When we share, we also continue to grow.

I am a well seasoned person.  40 has opened my eyes and my heart to so much more than I thought possible!  And while this is just the beginning of the next decade of life, it is absolutely one of the happiest and fulfilling starts. I love my life, with the chaos, with the crisis, with the love and with the laughter.  I love my seasoned crazy.

Stay Crazy!

The Crazy Kicks in and it Stays, and then Turns 40

Sometimes when my Crazy kicks in…it stays…and lingers….for a long time.  I have been out of blogging lately because I had gotten really busy (pretty typical for me, start one thing and then life gets in the way).

I decide to take a full time-position at a social services agency that serves persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.  The position was a blessing because the hours are your typical office hours! Score!  This was in March.

Oh and there was this thing that my daughter was doing…dance.  May is recital month. And it was rough!! Rehearsal just about everyday for 2 weeks…then recital week.  It was exhausting, but worth every minute.  And May is almost in the books!

Acro

 

Jazz

Oh wait this also happened….In February…. Meet Albert! He is a Beagle Basset mix. We rescued him from the humane society on February 29th. He is so handsome.

Let’s see…this is the last week of school so things are weird in the house. Routine went out the window.

I turn 40 in 12 minutes…not that I am counting down or anything.  Or would that be counting up?  I am looking forward to what 40 has in store for me.  It has been really neat to watch everyone from high school turn 40 on Facebook. And we all seem to be taking it very well.  I look at it like a new chapter in my life; which can use a fresh sheet of paper and new pen.

I am celebrating my milestone with my dear friend from college, Sara.  She started it all off in January.  And she is making 40 seem phenomenal!  We are headed to Nashville for the weekend.  So excited. Wine, music, laughing, wine, swimming, talking, wine. When we first started planning this trip we didn’t care if it was a weekend in a  run down shack with a working (clean) pool drinking cheap wine and eating pizza all weekend. We were going to make it happen.  We have raised our standards significantly.

As I have grown older, I have realized that most of the things that were important to me; aren’t anymore.  I am learning that joy comes in my life through experience and community and most important love.  I am finding so much joy in seeing, experiencing , giving  love.   Joy is seeing my daughter realize we were bringing Albert home.  Or watching her be so surprised when we show her her bedroom for the first time after redecorating it.  Or standing in the conference room down stairs with my co-workers praying together.  Oh hearing my husband’s voice over the phone as he tells me about how his mom was so shocked to see him on his surprise visit home.

My hope is to continue to see the joy in my world through love. And that 40 will knock my socks off so hard, I will have to relax at the age of 49 in order to take on 50.

Stay Crazy.

Georgia Snow

It is January. And like most of the country we are experiencing warmer weather for the winter.  Here in Georgia, we will get the occasional ice storm, a day of snow, freezing rain, etc. We are lucky down here because it goes away in a day..sometimes two.  It didn’t take us long for our blood to thin and enjoy the no hassle winter.

Our first winter here in Georgia was in 2013.  It has been labeled Snowmegedon or SnowJam.  We made national news.  Not because of the snow, but because how we (and the state) handled it. Here is a great description in one picture….

SnowJam

(Check out the Article for more great pics from this life event.)

We have learned a lot since then.  When they say stay home, we do. The state pre-treats the roads.

But there is something magical that happens to a 10 year old that I admire when it snows. Natalee is a January baby. She has always loved snow.  Since we moved here when she was seven, she has had a good chunk of years playing in the the snow in Chicago.  She even experienced a blizzard!

Last night, we got some snow. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to make 10 year old girl squeal with excitement.

This was taken at about 11:30 pm.

“Mom, can I play in the snow tomorrow?”…. asked in the tune of “Do you want to build a snowman?”  Of course!!!

Up she jumps out if bed at 9:30 am. “There is still snow on the ground…can I go out?”.  I sigh, cause of course I am still in bed (fighting another round of bronchitis). So I get up, get her dressed and out she goes.

And the magic begins.

It doesn’t seem to phase her that the snow is on the cars only.  She makes snow balls anyway off the car.

There is her snow ball!! So proud she was! I wished I would have caught a picture of here with her tongue out trying to catch snowflakes.

For a brief moment…I felt the magic that my daughter felt.  It was like a wave of complete joy that came over me.  Nothing but the lightest dusting of snow made her happy! So simple. Snow.

Now the wind has picked up since the morning.  She is gonna want hot chocolate with marshmallows.  She will want to be under a blanket on the couch with her phone or the remote control.  She will probably doze off.

I want to hold on to that simple feeling that she made me have of joy.  As I get older, I need to remember to search for those moments more often.  To hold them so close. To llet the smallest simplest things bring me Joy!

Stay Crazy!

All I Need…

Starting out the New Year with a coffee cup the size of my head and a new perspective on how I need and want 2016 to go. To be honest, it has been a long time since I have really been glad to see a year end.  About 15 years!!

My family and I rang in the New Year with our church family and a great game night.  Uh oh…she said church family. Really it is more of an extended family.  After the year I had, I figure it would be nice to ring it in low key and around people that don’t judge, love, accept, and are just all out fun to be around. Besides, I really didn’t want to have a hangover the first day of the year! My Christmas stuff needs to come down!!

I was contemplating if this post was going to be about New Years Resolutions.  I guess it sort of is.  My Crazy is all about making changes. I mean don’t we do that everyday?  We make  decisions that will affect how the rest of our day, month etc. will go.  I had to make some tough decisions  days before the New Year came!  And I am glad I did.  As each day has passed, I am slowly feeling stress being lifted, I am seeing clearer, and it feels good to start off with feeling a little lighter.

Also, I have to have a clear head for what is headed my way…I will have a 10 year old in 2 days! I will have to deal with the fact that she is growing up.  Lord, give me the strength!  My husband and I are hosting her birthday party.  She wants a Murder Mystery Party. Please don’t send me mail cause I used the word murder…there isn’t blood and gore.  And she wants it on a cruise ship.  I have to some how transform my living room into  the grand dining room on a cruise ship.  Yep! I have to make that happen.

I can’t wait to share with you the tips and tricks and links to how I pulled this all off!  Sigh! Only in my Crazy!! Happy New Year!