Change of Scenery

We're attempting to get our house ready for the market in the next four weeks and right now are at the point usually described as "it always looks worse before it looks better". While I love our home, we have simply grown beyond its capacity. Five beings in a two-bedroom abode is not an ideal living arrangement so we are looking for bigger and better...and unfortunately with that comes more expensive. This is our hefty "To-Do" list in the next four weeks:

• - upgrade electric service and install new breaker box (scheduled for May 3rd)
• - new roof on the carport
• - paint the bathroom (which I steamed the wallpaper off of on Thursday for 6 1/2 hours)
• - new floor trim in bathroom
• - new floor in kitchen
• - new floor trim in kitchen
• - paint one kitchen cupboard
• - paint kitchen counter shelf
• - replace kitchen faucet
• - repaint floor trim in kitchen
• - empty and clean basement which includes packing crap
• - paint basement
• - clean garage
• - scrape two windows (that Jeff painted the trim on two years ago and never scrapped)
• - remove pond from backyard and replace with something inexpensive
• - replace door on girls bedroom (buy, drill, stain, seal and hang)
• - fix or replace lighting on front walkway
• - general yard clean-up and mulch replacement
• - random touch-up painting throughout house
• - CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN!!!

The good news is that it looks as if we can do all of these things for under $2000, the bad news is it will be a lot of work. Since I am overwhelmed to say the least, I thought I would make a change in my life that was fun and easy...so here's introducing my new blog skin inspired by the many thoughts swimming around in my head. I hope you like it.

P.S. As I was typing this post, I broke a nail. Fu**!

Heavens to Betsy

I work with a superb woman, affectionately known as Grammy Pammy. She isn’t a Grandma by any means and could easily pass for mid-late 30’s rather than her mid-late 40’s. She is a brilliantly hip professional, divorced and remarried mother of two who takes trips to Vegas with her girlfriends and wears sparkly paisley tops while drinking Jamaican rum on the deck of a cruise ship with her hubby. Lunch table conversations are peppered with her tales of growing up on a farm with two sisters and two brothers and drunken escapes in her 20’s (and 30’s…and 40’s). When she gets flustered or starts to bitch about something, or someone, her voice gets high-pitched and her words drag on… “I-I-I-I-I-I-I don’t know what he was thinking.”

So what earns her this matronly nickname? I have kept a Post-It note on my monitor for the past week keeping track of the hilarious phrases that Grammy regularly colors her speech with. These are just a few of the things I had noted as of this morning:

“Heavens to Murgatroid”
“Those damn pot-lickers”
“Dog-on-it”
“Yow-zer”
“Eye-Corumba”
“Well if he’s not a monkey’s uncle”
“Don’t have a conniption”
“You parked all kitty-wompass today”

I adore Pam, to say the least.

We have a game night planned this weekend and I can't wait to hear what comes out of her mouth.

Derby Prom, 2007

Everyone should have the opportunity to relive their prom and take some pictures like these...

Mr. and Mrs. Tot, sporting matching mohawks

Amanda, Bombadee and TaterTot

Toni and Tot

That's Mr. Tot in the background and one of our several buckets of beer in the foreground. Yeah, Tot enjoyed herself a bit more than she usually does.

Dear God...

The Color Purple has long been known as my favorite movie. Without fail I cry every single time it graces the screen, and I'm not someone who is known for crying very often (I'm made of stone...remember). The story moves me in a way very few ever have. It’s about strength, heartache, survival, faith, the human spirit but most notably it’s a story of love. Love between sisters, love between friends, but most importantly the love you have for yourself. I once had a friend who had never seen it and I was so excited to share it with her…and she simply didn’t get it and my heart was broken. (No, we’re not friends anymore) Who wouldn’t be mesmerized by lines like these:

Shug: Yeah, Celie. Everything wanna be loved. Us sing and dance, and holla just wanting to be loved. Look at them trees. Notice how the trees do everything people do to get attention... except walk?

Celie: The jail you plan for me is the one you're gonna rot in.

Sophia: All my life I had to fight. I had to fight my daddy. I had to fight my uncles. I had to fight my brothers. A girl child ain't safe in a family of men, but I ain't never thought I'd have to fight in my own house!

Shug: See Daddy, sinners have souls too.

Celie: I'm poor, black, I may even be ugly, but dear God I'm here, I'm here!

While I have seen the movie well over a hundred times, I only recently bought the novel and have been reading it slowly chapter by chapter, savoring each word not wanting to reach the end. The musical opens in Chicago on April 19th and I will be taking Sister Stephanie for her 23rd birthday in May. In anticipation I recently downloaded the soundtrack on my iPod and have been amazed with what I've heard.

I recently had a talk with some of my girlfriends and found it difficult to articulate my faith and explain my self-esteem. These songs help to say it for me, The Color Purple and I’m Here:

The Color Purple

CELIE: God forgot about me!
SHUG: God takin' his time getting around to you, I admit, but look at all he give us. Laughin', and singin', and sex. Sky over our heads, birds singin' to us. I think it piss God off if anybody even walk past the color purple in a field and not notice it. He say, "look what I made for you."
CELIE: God just another man, far as I'm concerned, he triflin' and lowdown . . .
SHUG: No, Celie. God not some gloomy old man like the pictures you've seen of him.God not a man at all.
GOD IS INSIDE YOU AND EVERYONE ELSE
THAT WAS OR EVER WILL BE.
WE COME INTO THIS WORLD WITH GOD.
BUT ONLY THEM WHO LOOK INSIDE FIND IT.
GOD IS THE FLOWERS AND EVERYTHING ELSE
THAT WAS OR EVER WILL BE.
AND WHEN YOU FEEL THE TRUTH SO REAL,
AND WHEN YOU LOVE THE WAY YOU FEEL, YOU'VE FOUND IT
JUST AS SURE AS MOONLIGHT BLESS THE NIGHT.
LIKE A BLADE OF CORN,
LIKE A HONEYBEE,
LIKE A WATERFALL,
ALL A PART OF ME.
LIKE THE COLOR PURPLE,
WHERE DO IT COME FROM?
OPEN UP YOUR EYES,
LOOK WHAT GOD HAS DONE.
CELIE
DEAR GOD, DEAR STARS, DEAR TREES, DEAR SKY,
DEAR PEOPLES, DEAR EVERYTHING, DEAR GOD,
GOD IS INSIDE ME AND EVERYONE ELSE
THAT WAS OR EVER WILL BE.
I CAME INTO THIS WORLD WITH GOD
AND WHEN I FINALLY LOOKED INSIDE, I FOUND IT,
JUST AS CLOSE AS MY BREATH IS TO ME.

I’m Here

CELIE:
I'M GONNA SING OUT . . .SING OUT.
I BELIEVE I HAVE INSIDE OF ME
EVERYTHING THAT I NEED TO LIVE A BOUNTIFUL LIFE.
WITH ALL THE LOVE ALIVE IN ME
I'LL STAND AS TALL AS THE TALLEST TREE.
AND I'M
THANKFUL FOR EVERYDAY THAT I'M GIVEN,
BOTH THE EASY AND HARD ONES I'M LIVIN'.
BUT MOST OF ALL
I'M THANKFUL FOR
LOVING WHO I REALLY AM.
I'M BEAUTIFUL.
YES, I'M BEAUTIFUL,
AND I'M HERE.

This TaterTot is as Hard as a Rock...

It was decided after and long and insightful discussion on such topics as feminism, politics and faith that the following picture would be an appropriate representation of me.

Apparently I am made of stone.

But I believe that those who are around me and chip away long enough will someday find my elusive gooey center.