a very smurfilious post...

August 27, 2019 Arlene Giddings

i don’t pick favorites but…this one is kinda my favorite…heehee

here’s a fun fact that
maybe
you didn’t know about me…
i like smurfs.

well…all retro toys really…
but i really have a smurfy-spot
for these little guys…
maybe i identify with them
because they are only 3 apples tall…
but regardless the reason,
i just really love smurfs.

i had planned on collecting 99 smurfs
(including gargamel and azrael)
so that i could have the whole village
and maybe someday build mushrooms
out of paper mache and set up photo shoots…
yes. i apparently do have too much time on my hands.

i had been stuck at 89 smurfs for a bit…
but recently, some kind people have
passed along some new smurfs to me
so, it makes me incredibly happy to tell you
that i now have
ONE HUNDRED AND NINETEEN smurfs!!

I can’t tell you how excited i was..and how
much i love that people will randomly
bring me smurfs…i find them on my desk at work,
in my mailbox and when I am out for walks…
but a couple of weeks ago
my aunt Marie was having a family get-together
which is exciting enough on it’s own because
yay, family!
and double yay, chicken fricot!!! just the way i like it!!

but, as soon as i walked into the house
i saw a plastic yellow bin in the entry way
FULL OF SMURFS

and not just ANY smurfs.
i mean, i love all the smurfs i get…but these…
these were SMURFS I HAD NEVER SEEN BEFORE!

and i seriously couldn’t contain myself…
normally, i am a little more polite and reserved and calm
but i was literally like “ummmmm….
what are these here for” and when she said they were for me
i just about cried.

these were just so smurfingly smurfulous that
i had to do a small smurfy photo session
so i could share them here…
if you are not into smurfs,
well..you probably stopped reading 7 paragraphs ago…
heehee

and i know that now that i have reached my goal
i really, really should be done
but…i can’t…especially now that I have seen these guys…
i am telling you
i would not been more excited
if someone gave me diamonds…
it was sooooo fun to go through them
and see all the different ones…
and the papa smurfs…
sigh.

so smurfingly smurfy it just makes me want to smurf… :)

dear candy....i kinda like you...

April 7, 2019 Arlene Giddings

this candy reminds me
of the little yellow corner store
that used to be
next to my grandparents house…
lois’s
”run over to lois’s and get a can of chicken gravy”
”can i go to lois’s? i have a quarter.”

this was always my favorite
penny candy
(back when penny candy was really
a penny
and pennies
really existed)…

i got stitches just under my eye
from this penny candy…
my cousin & i found a pop bottle
in the backyard
when i was like…5…
he would throw it & whoever got to to it first
could take it to lois’s….
and me being me…i ran out in front of him
just before he threw it…
it hit me in the face and i had to get stitches…
heeheehee.

(i normally just tell people i got hit the face
with a bottle during a fight…it sounds more interesting.
heh.)

they said my biggest concern
was that my cousin william
wasn’t going to get in trouble…
heeheehee.
he was my favorite.
which is pretty obvious from these photos…heehee

goodbye 2018...

December 31, 2018 Arlene Giddings

It’s New Year’s Eve
and I am wishing that I had thought ahead
and gotten food or treats or diet coke (!!!!)
but now it’s dark out
and I am in my pjs
and don’t want to leave the house.

It’s a sad state of affairs.

Heeheeheehee.

I realize I have not blogged since November
but honestly…
my life was kind of falling apart off and on
all through 2018
so I am actually surprised that I blogged as much as I did (93 times).

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram,
then you likely already know that my marriage of 20 years
has sadly broken into pieces & while I spent a good portion
of 2018 just trying to hold the shards of my heart and head together,
I also tried to appear normal…I didn’t want to admit out loud
for a long time
that anything was wrong…but, eventually, I had to
and, honestly, admitting it was a good thing for me, for all of us, in the end.

So. Anyway. That news is soooo 2018
and I really don’t want to talk/think about it anymore.

This time last year, I wrote about how I wanted 2018 to be a year of fun
not realizing at the time that 2018 was actually still going to be a big year of suck.

Therefore, I reserve the right to re-use my plan of attack & make
2019
a year that I focus on fun. :)

Every year, I go back and re-read my blog & journals for the year that is passing.
This year, well, I just didn’t want to read my journals because…that’s just depressing
and for the first time ever, I am considering burning journals.
But, for my blog, I mainly only talked about the good things, the funny things,
the stuff I love…so here are some of the highlights:

I read 36 books! My goal was 24 so yay me! I realize I didn’t write about all of them on here so I am planning to do a short summary again of the ones that I missed writing about. And now, I need to set a new goal for 2019. Is 25 setting the bar too low? Heh. Oh…any recommendations??
I sold a bunch of watercolor cards (and journals & a canvas!). This blows my mind. Seriously. And makes me incredibly happy. I have big plans for expanding this in 2019 so stay tuned! :)
I sang Mony Mony on a speaker & didn’t get kicked out!
I saw real live eagles.
I went to the air show and sat in a Hornet (a stationary hornet, but still….)(and I had to line up with 50 little kids to do it…but still….)
I joined a writing group, started nanowrimo, got further on a story than I ever have and submitted a story to a contest (I didn’t win…but I submitted it!)
I got to talk on a taxi CB….always a goal of mine.
I created an online dating profile. This has been both amusing and horrifying.
I got my thumb stuck in a box of cold shots at the liquor store which prompted the cashier to say “Well. THAT’S a first.” Heh.
I tried cabbage. I learned how not to stir fry it and that stir fried cabbage could actually kill me. And they keep it by the turnips if you are ever looking for it. And cauliflower and cabbage are not the same thing.
I got in a car accident. Goodbye little accent…I still miss you. :(
I ate a lot of jujubes, broccoli, ice cream sundaes, cucumber sandwiches and popcorn.
We had unplanned kittens.
I did a whole month of Inktober! :)

I am not going to lie though. I didn’t love 2018.

But I learned
that I can do this…we can do this…
that a separation does not mean the end of the world
and it doesn’t mean we failed…
things happen, people grow and change…
(24 years together is a long time…we should just be proud of that)

And that, yeah, there are days it’s going to totally fucking suck
but there are also little bits of good in every day
if you look for them…some days, you have to look really damn hard
but they are there.

And that it’s ok to accept help or support.
That’s one I am still struggling with.
I know we have such a strong support system of friends & family & co-workers…
and I felt like I should write
”thanks for being there for me even when it
felt like all I was doing was pushing you away”
in EVERYONE’S Christmas card….
because…that’s what I learned I do…

The truth is we are alive and healthy…
and 2019 will not be about spinning my wheels any longer.
2019 will be about getting some traction
and moving forward…about having fun and being open minded…
making new friends and reconnecting with old ones…
laughing so hard you spit your diet coke through your nose…

and lots and lots of adventures.

Happy New Years Eve to you…if you have stuck through this
long and painful post, hahahaha, thank you.
I am always totally surprised when anyone reads this
(and always always always so appreciative….)
so thank you so much for being here!

Now…is it too late to order Chinese food?
:)

suddenly 19...

October 15, 2018 Arlene Giddings

this kid…

i went back and read old blog posts
written on earlier birthdays…
every year, I am surprised by his age, it seems…
every year, I am like…
how can this be?
how can he be nine? ten? 12?
17?
18?

19.
really?
nineteen.
old enough to go places he wasn’t before,
old enough to drink…

it boggles my mind.

happy birthday, bighead.
every year, I am also so happy
that you are who you are…
independent, strong minded, responsible
and so funny, creative and original…

you’ll be just fine as a grown-up, I think…
but I’ll always win in an arm wrestle.
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

the weekend of planes...

August 26, 2018 Arlene Giddings

I don't think it is a secret
that I
like the air show.

I go every time it comes to Summerside.

And, by "go", I mean, I don't just buy a ticket
and go one day...
on Friday, I drive around until I can find somewhere
to sit and watch them and practice
(which means sitting in a field from about 10:30
until 4:00 in order to see anything...)

Then, on Saturday, I make my son drive around
with me until we find a spot to watch them from...
this year, we found a great spot
but unfortunately, the CF18 was down for repair
but we did get to see the Snowbirds!

But then on Sunday, I go for the whole day.
18 came with me today and we got to see my brothers for a bit, too.
It was a beautiful day with blue skies
and fluffy white clouds...
and the CF18 was all fixed!!!!

PLUS I got to sit in the Hornet.
Completely stationary but...still!!!!
I was pretty excited...
even if I felt a little silly being the only grown up
in a group of 5-7 year olds waiting to get a chance
to sit in a stationary plane
and pretend they were driving it
(don't judge me...the little kids already did that.)

All in all....
it was a VERY successful weekend.

I can't wait for next time!