it's friday...

i should be all about friday love
and linkage
and pictures and happy posting
but i'm cranky
and i didn't get enough sleep last night
and i'm stressed about jobs and money and
change and transition and decision
and i feel like i sent the kids off to school
with my negative voice in their ear
cranky that seven drew on himself
in bed last night
with what appeared to be
a crayola marker on the outside
but on the inside
must have been the mother of all
permanency because i spent
half an hour
trying to scrub the skulls
off the palms of his hands...
and complaining about twelve's hair
thinking after
how nice that was of me
to send her off to junior high
thinking that her hair looks unkempt and messy
...
bet that's good for a pre-teen's self esteem.

what is wrong with me today.
why do i feel so close to snapping,
like i am barely balancing
on that edge
between
normalcy
and
lunacy...

like i can barely contain myself...

maybe i will be back with some friday love.
maybe not.

where we were.

this is where
we were over the weekend...
twelve wearing make up and dressed up
as her alter ego
for the movie
she was making on the computer
seven-very-soon-to-be-eight
waiting for me to take
my place
next to him on the couch again
and watch foster's home for imaginary friends with him
while i knitted.

the day after my birthday...





as part of my birthday present
we packed the kids up the next day
and went driving
looking for places to use my new camera.

we found dirt roads and lost wooden bridges,
barns ready to retire and purple trucks
parked in a field.

i adored this day.

the kids were reluctant at first,
especially twelve...
but she took her hand-me-down camera
and in the end, they both had a lot of fun
and said
we should do this more often.

i agree.


friday i'm in love!

it is funny
how all summer
i felt like maybe i had exhausted my blog
and had nothing left to say
but then september came
and suddenly,
i am foaming at the mouth
to get back on here...
wanting to talk about things
i have read, i have heard, i have watched...

it's a good feeling.

and an equally good feeling
is the "good-mail-day" feeling...

not so long ago,
i made a guess at the number of buttons
in a jar on one of my favorite blogs...
a pitiful guess, but a guess nonetheless.

i didn't guess right,
but i did win a prize though...
for this
"And, I have decided that the person who guessed the smallest amount, a number that just had me giggling a bit, also wins a prize. And yes, my dear, that would be you gk girl."

teehee....

and then,
this came! i am so in love...with the colors, the inside pocket,
the cutecutecute fabric! and squeeeee! a cute little notebook
tucked inside!



and a little teaser of liz's beeeeeautiful card...because i think she hinted
to them but has not blogged them yet and i don't want to take that away from her,
but it was just too scrummy to leave out of the shot!

thanks liz! i love it!