Tuesday, March 31, 2009

The Art of Imperfection, simple ways to make peace with yourself

This is the title of a book I bought for myself several years ago. It is full of some good ideas and sprinkled with a little craziness here and there, but, there are parts that are worth sharing. I thought I'd start a little mini series focusing on different things for all of us self-critics out there. :) The ideas that come from the book I will put in quotations.

We'll start here:

Part 1 -The art of of making a mistake

"Imagine a different world, one in which people don't spend an inordinate amount of energy fuming against their fate each time they make a mistake. A world in which one takes for granted that if things can go wrong, they probably will.

It would be so civilized. Folks would bump into furniture, miss deadlines, get lost on the way to the airport, forget to return phone calls, and show up at parties a day early, without getting unduly annoyed with themselves.

You and I would not be personally insulted when we dropped the sugar bowl, backed the car into the mailbox, burned dinner while on the phone, or failed to meet quarterly projections.

Dream on. This forgiving world is as utopian a vision as Shangri-La. Though we all agree that to err is human, each of us individually believes that he or she is the exception. What's good enough for you, isn't good enough for me. Make a mistake? Not on my watch!.....

Unfortunately, thinking that being right will save us from being wrong is a misapprehension.

Today some of the most advanced electronic devices, from satellites to pacemakers, are engineered to be partly inconsistant, in accordance with the dramatic findings of "chaos scientists."

A case in point is an energy-efficient Japanese dishwasher designed to be "chaotic," that gets china, glass, and silverware cleaner by using two rotating arms that spin erratically.

Next time you break a plate, lose your keys, or jump to false conclusions, why not take it in stride? Consider the possibility that there is a hidden pattern to your random acts of blunderism....Chaos follows precise rules and patterns."

Saturday, March 28, 2009

Make sure that is really Chewbacca before you pick it up


We had another bath time adventure the other night. Greg was bathing the kids and was getting towels ready when Parker shouted "Dad! I touched poop!"

Upon quick investigation Greg discovered that Meadow had had an accident in the bathtub.

Greg: "What in the world, why did you touch the poop."

Parker distressed: "I thought it was my Chewbacca!!"

Meadow: "I want outta the tub Dad!"

Greg trying not to laugh while scooping out the fake Chewbacca "Ok, one second Med."

Parker: "Dad! I accidentally touched my teeth with the hand I touched the poop with!"

Thursday, March 19, 2009

My poor Parker

I am no longer coaching but I am on a sub list when another coach needs someone to cover for them so I went in last night for 2 hours and came home to find Parker with a giant cup hickey. He gave it to himself in the bathtub with his star wars cup unbeknownst to Greg while Greg stepped out of the bathroom for less than 30 seconds to get something. It is amazingly red and I really don't know if I can send him to school like that tomorrow. lol. The pictures don't do it justice because the whole chin is kind of a purplish color. I think Parker felt fine about the whole situation after a few jelly beans :)


Monday, March 16, 2009

Morrissey Concert


Ok, So I am playing catch up a bit. We went to see Morrissey in concert last week in Durham after we drove to Asheville first to see him, but he was sick and cancelled. ANYWAY, he released a new CD called "Years of Refusal" that is pretty good and he played 4 or 5 songs off of that. He also played 4 or 5 songs from when he was the lead singer of the Smiths and those were really fun to hear and then of course some songs off of other Morrissey albums. He played for about and hour and a half which was great and also left you wanting to hear more. They came back on stage for one encore and then the drummer kicked the drums apart so we figured they probably wouldn't come back after that and they didn't.

We thought the stage backdrop was pretty cool and we also liked that before he took the stage they played vintage clips of shows and music videos. It was very entertaining and fun to watch. At age 49/50, he takes his shirt off when he gets sweaty and throws it into the crowd and then puts on a new one. That was funny and I also liked the way he makes the cord to the microphone dance. Good stuff. We both decided that he can really write a song!

The School/House of Rock

Baby we was making straight A's,
But we was stuck in a dumb daze,
Don't take much to memorize your life,
I feel like I've been hypnotized,
and then that magic man he come to town,
whoo wee,
he done spone my head around,
he said recess is in session,
Two and two make five,
and now baby,
oh I'm alive,
oh yeah,
I'm alive.

And if you wanna be the teacher's pet,
Well baby you just better forget it,
Rock got no reason,
Rock got no rhyme,
You better get me to school on time.

~Jack Black



Thanks Henderson's - you guys rock, of course!

Free sandwich anyone?

Stumbled upon a neat website that has coupons and free stuff. Click here to get a coupon to try the new sandwich from Arby's and other stuff.

Sunday, March 15, 2009

2 1/2 year old soccer






Meadow had a lot of fun at her first soccer practice. They did actually kick the ball some and run a bit. Her favorite thing was the shark game, It went a little something like this:


Drive the boat.

Look for Sharks.

Yell SHARK!!! when you see one!

Stand on your boat so the shark can't get you and yell some more! :D

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Adventures in Photography



Ok, so I am taking this awesome online photography course offered through jessicasprague.com and I am having so much fun with it. I feel hopeful and empowered that someday I might actually deserve to hold our cool camera and make it do my bidding. lol. But for now I am having fun. This week we are practicing with different apertures and we are not allowed to use the flash.


We took a trip to Hickory to visit Greg's family this weekend and then made it up to Asheville from there on Monday to see Morrissey in concert (It CANCELLED!!) We still had fun in Asheville with Greg's cousin Jason and while we were there we were able to stock up on the Gluten free/egg free chicken nuggets that you can find at Earthfare and take lots of pictures.


This is what $65 worth of chicken nuggets looks like.

Our other Earthfare tradition is to try new and bizarre carbonated beverages. Greg goes for the crazy stuff ex) China Cola made with chinese herbs (We renamed it dust cola, because it truly tasted like dusty cola) Perhaps dust is considered an herb in China. This picture refuses to remain rotated when I bring it into blogger what is up with that.


I take more of the "I think this might taste pretty good" route. It doesn't always, but don't the bottles look pretty in the sun? ;)

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Saturday




Soccer started up for Parker this Saturday. Meadow's class starts on this coming Friday. Parker was very proud of his uniform and his shin guards which he loves to wear OVER his socks because then he looks like a clone trooper. He was so proud of it in fact that he didn't want to change his clothes to go hiking with our friends the Caldwell's. :) The weather was beautiful and it was great to get outside with the kids. :)




Here is an art project Parker made at Preschool this week.
Mom reading the caption at the top followed by: "Wow, Parker that is great."

Parker: "Mom, the black one is Darth Vader."

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Conversations

This morning:

Greg: "Your hair looks nice."

Me: "Thanks, I think I get more accomplished when I curl my hair in the morning." Laughing..."I'm doing an experiment."

Greg. A pause with a blank face followed by "You are one weird dude."

lol.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

6th in my 6th



Well there you have it folks, it's a santa dog. lol. Apex has a Christmas Parade on Salem Street every year and there are all kinds of groups that participate from kids athletic teams to different associations, etc. One fun thing is that there are always the Grey Hound dogs. :) I have added some other pictures from this time to make this post a little more exciting :)


Pregnant with Parker

Our friends The Schoentrup's

I am tagging everyone who reads this and wants to play. Just post the 6th picture from your 6th folder.