It's My Life

Here is a known fact about me. I tell everyone that I am 32 years old. I have been telling people that since, well, since I was 32 years old. Obviously my husband knows this is not true. The Boy knows this is not true. The Short Chic has not yet figured it out but she is highly suspicious and will probably figure it out next month when I turn 32 again. Here is another fact but this one you probably don't know. My being "32" makes my Momma mad. Not like mad like I am mad about chocolate. Like crazy ridiculous mad. I do not know why. But over the years I have found that she will take whatever step she can whenever she can to make sure to tell everyone that I am really not 32 years old. So, let me be straight, I know I do not look like I am 32. I do not think I look as old as I am but I seriously doubt that I am fooling anyone when I say I am 32. So, why claim to be 32? Thirty-two was when so many things in my life came together. My dad died when I was twenty-nine, I...

Bonjour!  The weatherman threatened us with snow all weekend but once again we got very lucky and the sun shined on our birthday girls party. This year we selected to have our birthday party at a local social painting place. For those of you who are local, we selected  Blanc Palatte  in Liberty Missouri. I really liked the party package. They offered instructor lead painting, personalized photos or the ability to select from their library, as well as the space is amazing!  Our host for the day was Jamie and the girls loved her. The Mommies loved her. The birthday girl selected the painting she wished to paint, an Eiffel Tower no doubt. I did ask the instructors before I booked if 7 year old could really paint and I was assured as long as the Mom's let go they could. I took that as code for keep the Mom's busy. The birthday girl got all dressed up for her birthday party. I purchased her a new black dress and a strand of pearls. We were hoping to look l...

Happy Oscar Sunday! It has now been 18 years since I started my love affair with the golden statue. I love his movies and I love his fashion and I love his night! I managed to squeeze in all eight Best Picture nominations  by midnight last night. I am not a movie critic so I know nothing other than what I respond to. So, here are my reactions to the movies: The Grand Budapest Hotel: quirky and fun. I wish I would have re-watched it again since I watched it so long ago. Boyhood: Impressive that everyone dedicated so many years to making this movie. Beyond that, I did identify with Patricia Arquette's role  as she watches her son grow up and moves on. This is the chapter I am in with my own life. Other than that, do I dare say, I just thought it was okay. American Sniper:  I love Clint Eastwood. I love Bradly Cooper. It was a good movie and I enjoyed it. Selma: I loved this movie. I did not really think about the controversy of nomination snubs until I watched t...

Why is it that adding chocolate to strawberries can alter a persons life? The Boy and his girlfriend hand dipped Strawberries this weekend. They made the entire house happy! I made The Short Chic a new necklace. As I mentioned before in this  post , The Short Chic is in love with Paris.  So, I tried my hand at making some jewelry.  This is an 18 inch chain that I added a bottle to. Inside the bottle is a message and some red crystals. The message reads, "May all of your dreams come true". I added a few charms: a lock and a key, an Eiffel Tower, and an Arc de Triomphe. I debated about leaving the key off as it would be more representative of the locks on the Pont des Arts but then The Husband piped up that France officials are stopping the practice of love locks. So I added the key.  The Boy's girlfriend also got a message in a bottle. Her message was a little sweeter but that is not my story to tell. She elected to make hers a key chain. ...

I am so excited to finally be able to show you a small project I have been working on. My daughter, The Short Chic, is about to have her next birthday and her invitations are ready to be shared. In the "olden" days I came up with the theme for her parties but those tides have turned. I am not sure how she comes up with her ideas. Sometimes they reflect her current passion  and other times it appears as if she just grabbed a random thought. That is what she did this year; grab a random thought.  They say an invitation sets the stage for the party. I truly hope that is the case. The Short Chic is madly in love with the Eiffel Tower and wants an entire party focused on it. Finding the right invitation was difficult. I personally did not want the words "Ooh la la" anywhere on the invitations so that eliminated most of the printables and store purchased invitations.  I made the decision to make my own. To create the invitation I used pink  5x7 cards, black card...

As I consumed the news this morning, I found myself muttering aloud. The kind of muttering you do when you just can't fathom that what you are hearing is true. The kind of muttering you do when something so logical to you seems so foreign to others. Surely, I am not alone and you all do this at times. The state of Alabama dominated the news this morning.  The Supreme Court denied Alabama's request to deny marriage licenses for same sex couples making Alabama the 37th state to recognize marriage equality.  Atlas it was not to be so easy.  Alabama's Chief Justice, who apparently does not believe in marriage equality, ordered the state's lower Probate Courts to not issue the licenses.  Couples seeking licenses were met with two different responses. Some lower courts ignored Alabama's Chief Justices' order and granted same sex marriage licenses while others continued to deny the request for marriage. As I listened this news, I have to ask the most obvious questi...

I have said this before, but I am once again reminded of how quickly the sand leaves the hour glass. The Boy only has just under 14 weeks till his high school graduation. That is less than 100 days. High School life has been a challenge for us. Although The Boy has been encouraged to attend college his whole life, he never felt a connection to become something. He contemplated the military, factory work, and at best a community college. The one thing he did promise me was that he would obtain his A+ diploma. For those of you who do not know, an A+ diploma is awarded if a high school student maintains a minimum GPA, has a minimum attendance, scored proficient on some exams, and completed 50 hours of tutoring hours. Last summer, The Boy volunteered at his old elementary school to get his A+ hours. Almost immediately, he began coming home with stories of children and learning. Every day he talked about it a little longer. Finally, I asked him if teaching was something he would be ...