Juggling Life

Thinking About Literary Stuff

Usually on Thursdays I spend some time pontificating and sharing my opinion about something newsworthy and culturally relevant. Today, not so much. This is what I'm thinking about. It's okay if you're not interested. Neither am I. I can't wait to get down to fleshing out my thesis statement to a satisfying 7 pages (in MLA format).

Mrs. Bennet, in Pride and Prejudice, and Emily Tallis, in Atonement, share a similar quality of ineffectuality. This ineffectuality is not as benign or stagnant a characteristic as it sounds. In their respective novels, you can clearly see how each mother has influenced the family dynamic and thereby shaped the action of the story. Were these mothers stronger or smarter or more present, neither novel would have unfolded the way it did.

This will be way more fun than blogging!

Seven/Earth

For this week's Weekly Word Challenge, I give you Seven things I love about my chosen corner of the Earth.

First off, there's my house itself. It started out at 1100 square feet--we've more than doubled the size through the painless (hahahahhahaha) process of two major remodels. Okay, so it wasn't painless. In fact, it was oh my gosh, I thought my husband and I were going to kill each other pretty painful. But it is as close to exactly what I want as you can get without starting from scratch.

Of course, you're always welcome at Casa Juggling Life.

Yes, I do actually have a white picket fence!

The trunk of this Kumquat tree is actually in my neighbor's yard, but the rest of the tree is on our side and everyone in the neighborhood shares in the bounty.

Even now, with the youngest being 13, these two swings get a workout from the kids in the summer. The tree the tire swing hangs from is about 70 feet tall. The pepper tree in the background (with the swing designed and built by Social Butterfly and her friend a few years ago--you stand up and swing out over the canyon) was completely barren after the Cedar fire, but came back bigger and more beautiful than ever. That's one of our Beagles, Buddy, patrolling the fence line.

This oh-so-fragrant Star Jasmine covers the fence in the side yard--just a few feet from the windows in the great room. It fills the house with a wonderful scent during the summer when all the windows are open. I wish I had smell-o-vision capability!

 

This the view from my bedroom window. I don't know much about Feng Shui, but I just have a feeling that waking up to this view is good Feng Shui. The birds in the springtime are another story!

Warning: If You're Over 25, You Don't Know Cool!

You know how small businesses sometimes put things out for sale at the place where they manufacture it? Mr. Fix-it works in the same business park as a company called SRH. They sell all the gear our teens wouldn't be caught dead in wear--sweatshirts, tees, hats; cool looking stuff. SRH stands for Supporting Radical Habits. Plus, as a bonus, the initials SRH are the same as the initials for the kids' high school. So, when they were closing out stuff, Mr. Fix-it thought "Score. The kids will love it if I buy a bunch of this totally rad clothing and bring it home as a surprise."

Ummm, not so much. MVP informed us that the more common interpretation of SRH is not Supporting Radical Habits; rather it is Stoners Reeking Havoc. Obviously, there is no way my kids are going to support the improper use of the word reeking when it should be wreaking. They aren't the offspring of the grammar and spelling police for nothing!

Okay, the actual reason they won't wear it is the whole stoners thing. I guess we're going to consider it money thrown away for a good cause.

Spreading the Love (and the Food) . . .

The other day I received this in the mail.

 

Inside was a lovely card

 

and a beautifully wrapped package

containing this book.

This package made was sent from the U.K. by Hen at Diary of Domestic Hiss. I was the lucky winner of her contest to send this book around the world. So this coming weekend I shall be cooking a meal from this book, sharing it with friends, and sending it on its whirlwind tour. Of course, this means I have to find the next person to send it to. If you're interested, leave me a comment on this post. I make no promises as to how I'll pick a winner; I'll make the decision after a wonderful meal, a delicious dessert, and 2 or 3 glasses of wine!

P.S. Thanks Hen--It was delish!

Things My Momma Done Told Me . . .

This post is part of the From The Frontlines Mother's Day Tribute

 

My mother used to sing this song to me when I was a girl, a wee thing with the thinnest, wispiest pigtails imaginable. My mom had quite a hip swing and throaty voice; she could work the song.

  

                         Carol: October 23, 1940 to May 1, 2002

My momma done told me
When I was in pigtails
My momma done told me, hon
A man's gonna sweet-talk
And give you the glad eye
But when that sweet-talkin's done
A man is a two-faced, a worrisome thing
Who'll leave you to sing the blues in the night

In my mom's experience, a man was a two-faced, a worrisome thing. Luckily, she didn't think that meant all men, just the ones (okay, two) she had the bad judgement to marry! She also had the brains to realize that if you make one bad choice it could be a fluke, but two means maybe your judgement is all that you'd like it to be and you oughta get out of the game.

My mother's advice to me, in no particular order:

Iron everything; wrinkles are tacky.

Do not ever put a man before your child.

Life can be very hard.

A good haircut is essential and worth paying for.

Actions speak louder than words.

Don't wear white shoes before Memorial Day or after Labor Day.

Make sure you can take care of yourself; in the end you're the only one that has to.

You do your children a disservice if you let them get away with stuff because a) they're cute and b) you're soft. Once they get to a certain age, no one will care why they're brats, they'll just dislike them for being brats.

Treasure your girlfriends.

Don't put things off of to the last minute, you never know what will come up.

Hard work is a virtue.

Don't ever start smoking.

Grounded

Who says I'm rigid and too tied to a schedule? I can post my Sunday Funny on Saturday if I have something special planned for Mother's Day. So there.

Not that my teenagers would know anything about that!

Fresh Trout, Summer 2001

Caught at Lake Mary. Sauteed in butter and olive oil. Served with grilled rosemary red potatoes, salad and cold beer (okay, not everybody got the beer). Delicious. Followed by a night of swimming, dancing, and cards.

 

Happy To Be Me

 

Overheard the other day:

Care Bear: I have a type A personality.

Social Butterfly (looking at her BFF)????

Grown-up Girl: What do you think type A means?

Care Bear: Laid back.

Grown-up Girl (pointing at me): She's type A.

Drum Roll please . . .

Care Bear: Oh! So it means uptight.

---------------------------------------------------------

I am an oldest child. I am a type A. I am RESPONSIBLE.

There have been times when I've felt these traits are a bit of a curse. Why can't I be more carefree? Why do I always have a schedule? Why don't I just blow off work and school and go hang out at the beach? Sometimes I want my middle name to be footloose and fancy free. Maybe I shouldn't always know the due date and be the group leader and have a system for everything. But I do.

This is all not to say I'm a huge drag. Well, I am sometimes. But I truly can be quite fun and funny. I'm just a work before play person. Protestant work ethic and all that.

Anyway . . .

Over the last couple of weeks my best friend needed a person like me. A person with the skills of taking charge, organizing, thinking of all the details and getting a whole lot done in a short amount of time. This person needed to have the time to do this job on no notice. I got to be that person. Because I possess those (sometimes annoying) skill sets and because I make it a practice to work as far ahead in my schoolwork as possible (my momma taught me that you never know what will come up), I got to be that person.

I helped make a hard time in someone's life easier. I was a key part of giving a wonderful man the send-off he deserved. I gave his girls something to remember forever, when they've had so much taken away from them. I did a job that could never have been done by Miss Footloose and Fancy Free with no systems in place.

So today I salute myself and all the other Type A, borderline OCD, neurotic, uptight, workhorses of the world. There's more to us than just being fun-suckers; we're useful! And while that may not be fun it certainly is fulfilling.

Three/Fire

I am totally a wee bit frustrated because I have been unable to locate (on any of 3 computers, the external hard drive, or on the back-up cd-roms) the pictures from when we came this close to losing our house in the Cedar Fire. Instead, I'm stealing from this guy.

For today's Weekly Word Challenge I give you Three pictures of the Fire that almost consumed our home in October of 2003. I will tell the whole story one day, but just know that were it not for the bravery of my husband, my brother-in-law, and two neighbors, in conjunction with the support of the fire department, we would definitely have lost our house that day.

Our pictures look just like this, but they were taken by my husband from the roof of our house, while he had a hose in his other hand.

Tuesday Tribute

Because there always seems to be something to celebrate at even the most tragic of times.

 

It is my privilege

to glimpse the looks

that pass between the two of you.

 

The looks that yield a view

to what’s deep inside

your hearts and souls and minds.

 

Each look

a connection; invisible, yet

strong and delicate

as silk.

 

There is no mistaking

the love, the tenderness, the caring;

pure as a mother’s love for her newborn.

 

The cares of the material world

have fallen away

leaving behind only what is most important.

 

Not money, not possessions,

not work, not play,

just family and friends and especially each other.

 

Hoping for more time

while making the most

of the time there is;

whatever that might be

 

In a time of incredible sorrow

I experience wonder

at what this adversity has wrought.

 

Bringing to the surface

what was always there;

honing and sharpening and clarifying

until all the love in the world is contained in one look.