The Ladybug and the Frog (actually there is no frog I just thought it was catchy)

I got out my magnifying glass to read the small print of the rules that I had drawn up for myself prior to starting my blogging adventure and, by golly, it was there - - the rule I was looking for. Rule No. 7 states: if you feel absolutely certain that, upon reading the door’s designated task, there is no way possible to complete the task in the amount of time necessary to write a timely blog, you may move on to the next door. I am not going to tell you what was behind door number 2, but I will tell you that I looked over my calendar and my list of regular chores for the week and came to the conclusion that I would indeed lose the blogging game (by the standards that I mentioned in my last blog) if I attempted to accomplish that task. So…on to door number 3.

Two autumns ago, while driving the streets of Kansas City, I spotted a sign for an estate sale. I have looked high and low for a bumper sticker that reads “Caution: I not only brake, but I come to a screeching halt for estate sales”; I have yet to find one. So, cautiously, I slowed down to catch the address, proceeded to the sale, and then spent a lovely morning amongst someone else’s discards. This particular sale was a rare find. It was not a “real” estate sale where someone had died and a company came to sell everything for the family. It was more like a garage sale; only it was throughout the house, the owners of the “stuff” were there, and they weren’t ancient. I think it was the circumstance of two individuals joining together in a new home and only half of each person’s “stuff” made the cut to make the move. Hence, we are talking quality - - at least as far as “stuff” goes that is. Unfortunately, most of the prices were above the limits of what I would spend on this type of venture, plus these places don’t take plastic which is all I usually have on me. However, I did find a few things that I had enough cash for. I can remember two. One, a crazy, but good pair of linen pants with hydrangeas on them, that yes I do wear (and have received compliments on), and a water color of a ladybug. Total cost: under 20 bucks. A steal considering the pants had never been worn and the painting is numbered. So why were these two items not selected to get packed up and moved on? Well, I think, as far as the pants go, it would take a special person to not look at the pants and say “what was I thinking,” especially at the price they probably had paid for them. The picture’s frame had seen better days. The frame, which had a black, almost moldy looking substance on it, actually had me even deliberating for a long time as to how wise this purchase would be, but I just couldn’t put it down. The picture spoke to me. “Jane, Jane, you love me, you want me, I belong in your life.”

And it did, because ladybugs have crept into many parts of my life. As a mother of two daughters, I happily fulfilled my duty of passing on to my darlings the myth of the ladybug that my mother taught me: “If a ladybug lands on you, they magically bring you luck.” Ladybugs live in our lovely garden and many a summer day they touch us with their luck. In “Under the Tuscan Sun,” embarrassingly one of my favorite movies, Katherine, a very eccentric woman, tells the main girl, Diane Lane’s character, about the magic of ladybugs. And then later, Lane (after having had an incredible weekend with a guy she meets in an enchanting Tuscany town), glowingly and simply replies to Katherine’s inquiry of her weekend , “ladybugs, lots and lots of ladybugs.” I loved that line, I get it. And then, as most of you know, I am a coach for a program for little girls that promotes healthy, both physically and mentally, living habits called Girls on the Run. During the lessons, we give what we call energy awards to encourage positive behavior. The girl’s very favorite (and mine too), the “ladybug”. To perform this cheer, the coach or whoever’s giving it must get down on the ground, lie on their back, and flail their arms and legs. During and after, laughter abounds. So, yes, ladybugs and I, we connect. As I mentioned before, I purchased the picture.

So, oh yes, the task, you ask? The paper behind door number three instructed me to take the picture to be reframed. That doesn’t sound too hard. I loaded it in my car and off we went to the mega chain craft store Hobby Lobby . On the way there I remembered that frequently they have weekly offers of discounted custom framing. I forgot to check on that before I left. But thanks to my handy, dandy navigation system (of course when I am safely at a red light), I found the number and called. “Ladybug” luck wasn’t with me. No discounts this week. Immediately after hanging up, my delightful neighbor (you know my tea partner) calls me and I tell her my predicament. “Do I pay full price and get the task done? Or do I save money and put it off in hopes that next week they have the discount”? “Wait” she advises. So then, yesterday, I am driving down our main drag and I spot a small custom frame shop. I hear my sister Susan’s voice. “Go to the little guy. Support the mom and pop.” So, I whipped into the parking lot and proceeded into the shop (I still had the picture in car from the other day). Again “ladybug” luck, nowhere to be seen. The Mom and Pop were brothers except they were both gone for a long weekend (probably off fishing or something) and they asked Pop to come in from the fields and fill in. And guess what? He didn’t know much about framing. He was just there to tell customers the boys would be back on Monday. He did know about his sons’ clientele. I saw dollar signs for my little project. The man rambled on for about 40 minutes about various incredibly difficult projects his sons had done. I think he was lonely. Kelley said, after telling him of my venture, that just the right person walked in the door for him. Do you think he was indicating that I tend to ramble too? Why would he think that? Anyway, an hour later, I walked out the door with my picture left behind for one of his boys to look at and get back with me. We would go from there on Monday. I think I will check the ads for Hobby Lobby Monday morning just in case. So, task completed? Not sure, you can be the judge.

Disclaimers, Progress Reports, Thanks,Tributes---another long blog.

Disclaimer: Part of what you are about to read is not quite true. When I started this blog, my intent was to save it until it was true (I have excess time right now away from home, alone, with a computer). But then I put things in the blog that signified the date so I had to post it now. I could have just pretended it to be true now, since it will be for sure by the end of the week but one of my followers could have called me on it and would have. Okay? Read on.

Progress Report: First of all, before I make my major announcement I want to state that what I am about to reveal did not occur because of any comments from my last blog. I will not be intimidated by people who love to say "we told you so" or by people who accuse me of cheating or breaking rules or other such nonsense. The time had come and I took care of it. The announcement.... ALL OF THE CHRISTMAS DECORATION ARE PUT AWAY (okay,okay very, very close refer to disclaimer)(except of course you know). No, nothing or no one influenced me what so ever except maybe the need for the card table (which housed a lot of the decorations) for a party I am having this weekend or the need to protect myself from any embarrassment if, eeks, one of my guest would happen to stumbled (literally) into that room while on a self guided tour of the house looking to see if there was anything "new" we had done to the place. But blog commentors, rubbish, there little snips did not phase me one bit. (Obviously, now not only am I breaking rules I am lying--again disclaimer).

But while we are on the subject of rule breaking and who told who so, I would like to thank Gail for declaring that there are no rules and I would like to thank Carley for being a constant source of motivation (oops, did I let that slip). I would also like to thank Cayden, my youngest daughter, who Carley has pointed out to me has not had much play time in my blogs, for her current apathy. About the time she decides to start following the blogs, I am sure that I will have opened a door that is all about her. And,I must address this whole competition thing. Judy, the second blog thing won't cut it, Gail already has a second secret blog which I found tonight. If there must be a competition (you really think Judy, that Bill and I are a toss up for the funniest? Are you sure I don't have him by a tenth of a chuckle?), then this is what I think it should be. I think that the last person left blogging wins. I am not really for sure about this (since you know, we are the closest family that really don't know each other very well), but I believe that we have a problem with sticking to things. Now, I have gone back through the blogs and Judy, Bill and I are pretty close in the longest time between blogs but sadly I went the longest with 18 days. So....I would say we need to add to that just to give us a little breathing room, but we are all on a roll now so I propose that the only rule and competition is that we stay connected at least every 18 days. If we all stick with it we all win. Because, this is so very fun.

Oh yeah, the door, what is behind door number two? I have no clue. I am up in Kansas City, all by myself. Tomorrow, is Danielle's (Connor's wife) birthday and I am going to take care of Nico while they go out. I am so excited. She texted me today and said that Nico was a little fussy and that I might have to rock him for a while to get him to take a nap and she hoped that I did not mind. My reply "that is music to my ears." So, tomorrow as you all are doing your thing, know that I probably will have a sweet little boy in my arms.

A Tribute: Eight years ago today, or at least when I started this--it is after midnight now, our mother passed away. Oh, how I miss her so. I think she would like us all "connecting" and she might even join in and out wit us all. Remember on their I believe 50th anniversary, when I ask her if they still...and Bill interrupted and said "Jane!" and she replied "Twice a day". Then, I think the lights went out. And when they came back on Mom and Dad were making out (or at least that is how I remembered it, I could be making it up!) Here's to you Mom, Love you

Lights are going out here now, good night.

Okay, Now it is Official

With Mid February rapidly approaching I am shamefully reporting that the decorations are all up, just maybe not put away. I decided that instead of hauling all of the grey tubs down, filling them up and then trying to find someone who would help me carry them back up, I would just carry all the decorations up to the play room, pull out the tubs from the attic adjacent to the playroom, fill them and slide them back to the attic. A problem exist with this plan and “out of sight, out of mind” only begins to describe it. So, I am considering changing the title of my blog to ”Everything is put 'up' but the Advent Box;” versus put “away” and if I were to march back to the girls hall right now and move the one grey tub that I brought down for my daughters to fill with the Christmas stuffed animals and Christmas books that during the holiday (and beyond) adorned the passage to their rooms, that, indeed, they did fill 4 days ago, I could honestly say that all of the Christmas decorations that were inside this past holiday season are put “up“. (Carley ignore that run on sentence, sometimes they are necessary, sort of.) Oh, wait, I guess the guest house is still decorated. Well close enough. After reading Bill’s blog a couple of days, I decided I really need to get on the ball so he can also know what is going on in my life.

So the way this works is that I wrote 25 things on individual paper that I wanted to accomplish to get me that much closer to an organized life. I then gave my oldest daughter, Carley, the pieces of paper to randomly put into each of the doors of the Advent Box. Then, on days that I feel I can do a little something extra, I will open a door and attempt to accomplish the task. Then, and here comes the part you have all been waiting for, I will blog about it. Before you all cross my blog off as one that you follow, let me just say that I promise not to write every detail of the procedure. Think Bill’s blog, now how much have we really learned about making a violin? (Not complaining here.) I figure that a glimpse of my disorganized life may shed some light on exactly who I might be. The many years of poor efforts to stay connected that all of us are guilty of will just vanish and you will all know through my disarray, what I have been doing since you last knew me well. And for those of you who might find this blog that have no idea who I am, well, now you will.

So I just couldn’t stand the wait any longer. I opened the first door. It was a good thing that I was still laughing at a conversation that Carley and her dad had this morning because the first task was a real let down. “Delete files from the computer”. Understand that the computer and I are often on shaky ground. So painfully I trudged to the computer and started with “documents”. I really thought that the delete button and I would quickly become best friends, but after an hour of working on this I only managed to delete about 6 things. Surely someday my almost 30 year old son Connor will want the papers he did in college. Or better yet, maybe my 17 year old could pass them off as hers in a couple of years. Kidding Carley. I found a few of my husband’s contracts from about 2 jobs ago (that would be about 13 years ago). He might need them. One thing I knew I didn’t want to delete was the first thing I pulled up. A picture of Carley’s brownie troop. Oh, it is (or was) so adorable. The problem was that I continued to find it in several locations. By the fifth location, I decided that I did not need to have so many copies of it so, yes, “delete” it. When I found that deleting it in that location deleted it from all, I abandoned the project and went to have a cup of tea with my delightful neighbor. I am thinking green right now. I will recycle that piece of paper back into the box for another day.

If anyone would like to hear the funny conversation between Carley and her dad, let me know. I would have shared it here but I think the length of this blog is already past what, I learned from a certain sibbling of mine commenting on my first blog, is acceptable. Plus, I learned from sharing it with a few people already that you probably had to have been there. Funny how that works.

One more thing, on the subject of computers, did you all see the Google Super Bowl add? I thought it was very cleaver and cute. Check it out if you missed it. http//www.youtube.com/searchstories?utm_source=en-us-bkws-sem-ss&utm_medium=ha&utm_campaign=en

Thank goodness for the recycle bin. Carley is in the far back.