Trust and Respect

It's our parenting mantra. Trust the children to make the right choices and respect their decisions. I'm not always successful at it, but it is certainly the way I aspire to raise my kids. And I really love it when I get to see glimpses of my success.

I'm a huge fan of music of most kinds, as are Claire and Ben. I encourage them to listen to and appreciate music, whose lyrics I rarely censor because I don't believe in censorship. An artist puts lyrics to music in a way that describes what is meaningful to him or her, and I like to choose for myself whether or not they are appropriate. When a song comes on the radio that has a "bad" word in it, Claire just doesn't sing that part. Her choice.

With that in mind, HBO recently aired Lady Gaga's Monster Ball Concert, and neither the kids nor I had ever seen her perform. I prefaced the watching by telling them I did not know what the show would be like, but considering her provocative nature, we might have to turn it off. As the show progressed there were a lot of "wows" and "she's so weird, but I love her music" comments being passed around. I have to admit her whole sexual persona was a little embarrassing, in the way in which, at age 12, your DAD takes you to see Saturday Night Fever because you begged and begged and then you have to sit next to him during the sexy parts. Things were edgy but fairly appropriate until Lady Gaga came out wearing a see-through mini plastic dress, complete with bikini underwear and taped nipples, with a plastic nun's habit on her head. Ben looked at me and said "Okay, that's enough for me" and left the room. Claire and I almost made it through that song too, until we were overcome by gyrating pelvises and decided to shut her down.

Looks like I've been fighting the good fight. Good job Mama. For those of you who question my choice to let them watch Lady Gaga in the first place, just suck it :)

Hello Monday

And hello May.
And hello 400th blog post!
And hello to my dad, who recently shared with me that he's been missing my blog.
In addition to my regular Mama/Fabulous Wife/House Goddess/Crafting Queen duties, I've been in the job "dressing room" trying on a few and figuring out which one fits me best.
So, a fond farewell to the greenhouses and hello to Paper Pals, where I'll be working and teaching again. It feels good, like a warm comfy glove when your hands are cold.

I've also been spending some time getting to know my iPad. "Someone" (children) broke the hinge on my laptop and Mark convinced me this was the very best replacement. He was so right. However, having never worked with Apple products before, my learning curve has been a little steep. But it is really FABULOUS! We had a little fun playing on Face Time last night, getting versed before Mark heads off to Sweden later this week. Oh yes, you heard right, SWEDEN! FOR TEN DAYS! Lucky, lucky boy. He'll be meeting up with his science cohorts for a pow-wow and a little sightseeing. (You better bring me back something good :)

We're trying to get outside whenever the sun shines, which hasn't been much lately. Sounds like it's a wacky spring all across the states. We're very much looking forward to enjoying some heat next month, when the kids and I will meet my family in Tennessee for a little R and R. Ben has been working hard on his swimming in preparation; he's out of turtles and into frogs!

My awesome book group.
These ladies are a very bright spot in my schedule each month.

An Artist Trading Card I recently made.
I am really feeling the love for butterflies right now.

Of A Friday Afternoon

Gotta love the first bare feet of spring.

Tales from the Greenhouse

Chapter 2: Beauty

There's always something blooming at the greenhouses, so I took my camera to work with me last weekend for a photo safari.

Anise

Peperomia


Aristolochia

Tomatoes

Datura

Henbane

A bouquet of petunia, basil and mint

Message In A Bottle

Mark and his friend were floating boats last weekend and they found this mason jar washed up in some grass. He kindly brought it home for me.

These are the contents: a rolled up poem, a sticky pad with a note, a tiny pen. Turns out this jam jar is part of an English project at our college. A group of students sent jars floating around our area. If you find one you're encouraged to contribute and send it out again.

HOW COOL IS THAT?

'Round Here

Despite our recent illnesses (knock on wood, I'm the only one who hasn't gotten sick), we've been having a little bit of fun.

Mark and buddy Jon have been spending some time oaring on our small, local rivers. Early spring runoff is about the only time there's enough water to actually float on them.

Here's me and my girl before she headed out to play the flute in her Spring concert. I wasn't able to attend, but I saw the video footage and they sounded fabulous.

After recovering from a lengthy illness, Ben rallied on Friday to take home a 2nd place ribbon in his school's first-ever chess tournament. It was also crazy hat/hair day, so he's sporting his favorite zombie cap.

One more week until Spring Break. We don't have plans, but I'm itching to get out and take a long walk somewhere warm. It may be time for a photo safari to spot buttercups and grass widows in the coulee country.

A Little Change

Turning 45 propelled me to get a haircut and and add a little "spring" to the blog.