4 November 09
one for you and two for me.
On Halloween night, Beckett was the officially candy distributor. I half expected him to dump the entire contents of our candy bucket into the first kid’s treat bag and call it done. I was SO wrong. The Fireman took his post quite seriously and kept those candy stealing kids in line. He wouldn’t allow their hands in his candy bucket and would choose a singe piece for each Trick-or-Treater. It was, in a word, ADORABLE.
30 October 09
the naked truth.
I LOVE makeup. LOVE. I adore the changes you can create with an artfully applied contour or a subtle pop of color. I am endlessly fascinated by the fact that a face can be a canvas. In college I spent countless hours in the makeup room (I was a theater major) either learning new techniques or being altered myself. There was always something liberating about watching personalities change along with the visual. In everyday life, makeup has become an issue. My coloring is atypical. I’m fair, but with blue and red undertones that make my skin a difficult match. Freckles can complicate the issue. I have always felt like I had to have something on my skin to help even out the tone. Pale is one thing, but sallow and ruddy are another, and as a girl who spent her teenage years being mocked for an almost transparent complexion, giving up the foundation safety net is a hard concept to swallow. But an odd thing has happened. Tonight I saw a photo of myself sans makeup. Completely bare faced. The college me’s worst nightmare, right there, on the digital equivalent of film. In that moment I realized that somewhere between the need for a streamlined morning routine and various makeup matching issues, I may have become ok with my naked skin. Naked. Well, naked, save some moisturizer. All of the sudden a little light went off and I realized that I didn’t have to live up to the southern social norms that were put in place in high school. I can ditch the foundation and the world will not stop sinning. I know. I’m just as shocked as you. (Deep breaths, HB. Try not to hyperventalate.) And you know what? It’s oddly liberating. Sure, I may be uber white, but I’m cool with it. Granted, I’m not giving up the mascara unless you pry it from my cold, dead hands, and there might be the occasional blush, but the base layer has left the building, at least for the moment. So these days, if you see me naked in public, try not to comment on my shocking paleness or ask me if I’m sick. High school is over.
23 October 09
wanna see something cool?
Check this out! This site has tons of 360 degree virtual tours of various spots in Vietnam. So pretty…
14 October 09
rain, rain, go away.
Since the 1st of July we’ve had 43 days of rain. No, I do not live in Seattle. All the grey days and rain based white noise make for awesome napping conditions.
Bex and Tyronne agree.
13 October 09
daily posting, wallpaper: fail.
Hey, remember when I said I was gonna post everyday for a bit? I lied. Not intentionally, mind you, but life just got in the way.
Between the volunteer work that I do, plus real work, plus family stuff, time has been getting away from me. And then, just when I think I might have time to breathe, Bex decides to give me a new project.
In a move clearly taken from his mother’s playbook*, the wee dude put his head through the bathroom wall. He’s fine. The wall is not.
Nice, eh? I’m so proud.
So, the gaping hole was formerly in a wallpapered wall. A wallpapered wall that I have hated from the moment we bought this place and had fully intended to revamp upon moving in, but one thing let to another, and after all of our remodeling funds were reallocated to accellerated baby bringing home, well, it just didn’t happen. At least not until Saturday. That’s when B started the demolition and I got all crazed and removed all of the wallpaper during his naptime. Sadly, there were multiple layers of paper. Multiple layers that alternately removed the drywall paper and/or had been skim coated over at various times, resulting in not only the world’s most complicated run on sentence, but also a terrible mess of a bathroom.
So, this is where we stand. I’m waiting on my brother to tell me when he or his sheet rock buddy can skim coat this mess and start over. We’re trying to decide on a color family, and then I’m sure it will be weeks before I make a firm decision on hue and paint brand as I refuse to use fumey paint with a developing brain in the house. Clearly the adult brains are already shot. Any suggestions on a low/no VOC paint that can be tinted to acceptable colors would be happily accepted.
So, that’s it for my weekend recap. Lots of things happening over the next week, including (fingers crossed) a mini vacation. More on that later.
*In one of my less graceful moments, I fell out of the shower and put my head through the wall of my bathroom. Head + Wall = Bad. If your REALLY want to hear that story maybe I share it with you tomorrow. Maybe.
10 October 09
shameless self promotion
Sure, everybody thinks their kiddo is adorable. I don’t just think so, I know so, and I think you might agree. I mean, have you seen him?
To that end, he needs your vote. On his extreme degree of cuteness, not for the nobel peace price or anything.
Click here to visit my page and VOTE FOR BEX! Wanna see all the kidlets who have equally proud parentals? Check out the Gap casting call main page and go vote crazy. You can vote every day until 11/17, so get clickin’ already!
And, lest you forget what web page to visit, I’ve added a button on the blog. Just over there to the right…
5 October 09
clear.
The MRI was blessedly, if somewhat perplexingly, clear. Clear. No malformations. No structural abnormalities. No evidence of stroke or brain bleeds. No severed, torn or otherwise damaged nerves. Nothing of any diagnostic significance whatsoever.
All clear.
The good news is that this pretty much rules out many of the ugliest possibilities. The bad news is that we are really no closer to an answer.
I am at once thankful, ecstatic, and confused.
I’m tired of taking shots into the dark… tired of the unknown. I feel like I am a much more effective advocate if I know what I am advocating for. I know I am a better fighter if my enemy has a name. Alas, I have no names. I have nothing to research and conquer it whatever tiny ways I can. I feel completely powerless and that doesn’t sit well with me. So. We continue to wait for further testing and hope that this all just turns out to be a quirky holdover of institutional living. We continue to hope for improved functionality and more words and we rejoice in all of the progress that has already been made, because Bex is an awesome little dude and none of this crap is gonna hold him back. He is a fighter, even if he doesn’t know who he is fighting. I’m the only one who has a problem with that part, so, in the meantime, I am just trying to be ok with all of the lingering questions. I’m trying to be ok with taking shots in the dark. I’m trying.
The one thing I do know is this: “Clear” is an awesome word.
