Blizzard 2009

Wow. I don't know where to start... I haven't seen snow this deep in 25 years. We grew up in Liberty Township between Valpo and Chesterton in a farmhouse with a 600 foot long driveway. My mom was a single parent with 3 kids, and on yeah no snowplow. So when it snowed like this back then we parked the car in the road at the end of the driveway, loaded our arms with the groceries or tote bags or whatever, and the 4 of us would trek up the driveway in 4 ft snowdrifts. We loved it; I'm guessing the mommy probably did not:) Anyway those are some very old memories that I return to today, after taking pictures with my kids of snow at the top of my SUV's tires this morning. It's actually sunny and very pretty out right now...and thankfully I don't have a 600 feet driveway to walk! Snow stories anyone?

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I wrote a letter to my kids who are in school, as I sat in my store alone on this snowy day, watching the Inauguration. Other nations have royalty...positions one has to be born into...thus excluding the masses. The great thing about America (in theory if not always in practice) is that being born into poverty or obscurity doesn't guarantee it has to remain that way. Historically the reality has not always lived up to this ideal, but today don't we feel as though it might? And so I wrote to my daughters as Rick Warren prayed, blessing them and our family and our nation and reminding them that we live in a day when and where THEY CAN BE ANYTHING. And that we as a people don't just say it but mean it. No excuses. There are no longer any excuses! What a blessing--out of all the years or places I could've been born--that I was born when and where and who I was. What a privilege to have witnessed what I witnessed today, as a part not only of American but as a part of humanity. Of human-ness. That we're (pardon the cliche) all in this together. Wow.

FACEBOOK

Prepare to be proud. Ready? I had a Myspace page put up a few weeks ago (had an employee do it. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too complicated for moi). Last night, after much "encouragement" from my good friend Elizabeth, I put up a Facebook page ALL BY MYSELF. Let the accolades begin! Seriously. This is big.

First Loves

Hollywood, America, girlfriends...all point to this syndrome, at one time or another, of "first love" and especially "the one that got away." It seems everyone has a skeleton in their closet of someone they loved from afar, or someone they loved who never returned it, or maybe they returned it but then left, whatever. Most of the people I know who have one of these have them from back in the teens or early 20s, before husbands and children and mortgages, and reality! Thus the lost love then takes on this fantasy-like quality, putting the person on way more of a pedestal than he/she ever would deserve in real life! I have one of these, from eighth grade. Went with him for 9 months (that's a long time in eighth grade!) and he broke up with me after cheating one me (which back then was he kissed someone else) and I was DEVESTATED. Anyone else have a story like that? First love, first breakup? Have you seen them since?

Hoosier Arctic

"Brrrrr" doesn't begin to describe it. Seven was the high yesterday and it got to zero. ZERO. Those of you who live here know what I mean when I say it's possible for cold to burn you. Those of you who've moved are grateful to forget. Those of you who live somewhere warm and don't know what I'm talking about: you suck! Today it's supposed to warm up (I say with a smirk) to fifteen but the windchill is still negative 25. Quick, somebody check my countdown to summer and remind me of how many more days...

Just Call Me Amish-boy

In an episode of Friends (my all-time favorite show) Chandler talks about his cool new laptop and how he can make lists with cool fonts, and Ross asks can't you just use pencil and paper; to which Chandler replies "No, Amish boy." This is how I feel. I've been on blogspot for awhile now and love it for staying in touch with my friends, but I've been accused of lagging behind the rest of the world by not having a myspace page. Especially for my business. So, reluctantly I allowed one of my employees and my brother to construct and instruct... and now you can see me and my store stuff on myspace.com/bridehelper. Mind you I'm not sure I'll know how to respond to you or post or do any of that stuff, at least not yet; myspace seems much harder in that you have to request and invite and stuff...rather than blogspot where anyone can post a response to me and it doesn't require any effort on my part:) Lazy lazy lazy I am! Wish me luck, there's a million brides on myspace who will hopefully find me now! Of course I'll still be here, blogspot is my first love:)

Home Alone

When I was in middle school my mom worked 3-11's so we were home alone after school for literally the whole afternoon and night, and I hated it. But my kids love the idea of being home alone, and because they're only in 3rd grade and 5th grade we limit it; but because of single mom working (just like my mom was) the schedule dictates that they are alone for 30 minutes twice a week til I get home. They love it! There are lots of rules for safety of course, and phonenumbers in case of an emergency, etc etc. Well for the first time we've been faced with the idea of the oldest home totally alone, for about an hour and a half, and she's totally excited she's big enough to be trusted with something this huge. Of course mommy's less excited. And yet I was babysitting OTHER PEOPLE'S kids by 6th grade, so I'm preparing her (and me!) for that by allowing her small amounts of freedom, little by little. What do you guys think? Is eleven too young?