Ten Random Questions

Number 1-10 and answer in the Comments.

1. Would you rather be a Warewolf or a Vampire?
My Answer: Vampire (the kind that makes you an even hotter/younger version of yourself)

2. Whom is your favorite Alien?
My Answer: Megamind (he's bleepin hilarious)

3. What is your favorite day of the week?
My Answer: Thursday

4. Do you wish you were taller or thinner?
My Answer: Thinner, I'm tall enough.

5. If you were to spend 24 hours as any one celebrity, who would it be? My Answer: Jennifer Aniston (no kids, beach house, great clothes)

6. If you had to live life in a cartoon, which would you choose? My Answer: Jetsons (they just push a button in the morning which showers and dresses them... sometimes... preparing to shower or choose an outfit... just seems SO overwhelming.)

7. Which superhero power would you choose, if given a choice? Invisability, the Ability to Fly or Super Human Strength? My Answer: Invisability

8. If you had to choose one country, to spend the rest of your life (other than USA) which would you choose?
My Answer: Italy

9. If you had to eat at one Fast Food Restaurant, every day for a month... which would you pick?
My Answer: I hate to admit... probably McDonalds.  But I would REALLY have to search the menu.

10. New Orleans or Las Vegas? (During July)
My Answer: New Orleans (but it would be sweaty)

His name is Maximus Decimus...

Thumbs up! It's your 18th birthday and I will randomly honor you with a series of quotes from the greatest Man Movie of all times. Full of quips about being a person of virtue and real Man-ness.

Ambition. That can be a virtue when it drives us to excel. Resourcefulness, courage, perhaps not on the battlefield, but... there are many forms of courage. Devotion, to my family.

Decimus- As you age, I hope you are able to find a comfortable relationship with your parents.  To realize the adults in your life, have loved you and have done the best they could.  I hope you are able to recognize their moments of patience and devotion.  They have tried (as most parents all try) to do right by you. The gift of aging?? It brings you clarity.

He enters Rome like a conquering hero.

 But what has he conquered?
Give him time. He's young, he may do very well.

As an adult, I hope you find a real love. An unique and fulfilling profession.  A sense of purpose.  You have been anxiously fighting to become an adult for several years now... Well son, here you have it!  Be a kind man.  Leave the world better than you found it.  Help more people, than have helped you.  You have a vibrant energy and an array of talents, you have yet to discover.  You are a fighter... fight for good.  Make yourself proud.

What we do in life echoes in eternity.

(Artwork by Warhol)

Ancestors, I ask you for your guidance. Blessed mother, come to me with the Gods' desire for my future

Happy 18th Birthday, Decimus.

The walker of my daughters to the concession stand.

You have been painted, so perfectly Irish Catholic. 

Take your gifts and conquer the world!

You are capable and able.

And last, just to please the crowd, the greatest Gladiator quote Eva.  (Which has zero to do with becoming a man but if you expect to be a Man's Man... you had better at least pretend to love this quote.)

My name is Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Legions, loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son, husband to a murdered wife. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next.

Soo... Coco sorta has this Spring Allergy thing Happening...

and we're at a Preschool Play night.
And all of a sudden Coco sneezes pretty hard.
But I'm turned trying to help Tink with her project.

Slowly and quietly with a look of total disgust, a man across the craft table says (finger pointed) "Uhhh... um your boy has uhhh something hanging from his...."

I look.
Two perfect thick trails of green snot, hanging out of nose, down her lips and at least 3 inches past her chin.

My first instinct?
To shout: "Hey, Jerkwad!!  She's wearing a purple Tinkerbell shirt, purple pants and pink Hello Kitty rain boots!! Obviously, SHE'S a girl!!"
(And no... there was no sign of rain.)

My second instinct??
To text Warhol, maybe his opinion is correct, about cutting my hair too short.

So I hate my Hair....

I've maybe mentioned, Tink and I were (blessed/cursed) with naturally curly hair.
And more than ever, it has been wearing me out.
So... I'm thinking about cutting it all off.
Dramatically.
Honestly, I've sorta been inspired by Coco!
Sure.. if my hair is actually done... it can be rather pretty. Unfortunately, it is ALWAYS pulled back in a pony tail or loose bun.
Expecially, during Yoga (which is 4 days a week) ..or pajama day, cleaning day, days at baseball games, Wal-Mart day...etc. Hence: it is NEVER done.
Here are a few of my ideas:

You'll notice, I have selected pictures of women, about 5 foot 1 inches and maybe 95 pounds... which makes total sense, as this is obviously my body and face type.

So... go ahead. 

Give me your feedback.  Be totally honest.

No chance, you could be more brutally blunt than Warhol or The Kid as they strongly expressed their opinion/vote.

Please... Leave your Comment.

What should I do??

Ok, it's not a Baby Shoe but...

Have you Eva seen anything even half as cute as these tiny hot pink Addidas??
Especially next to her Big Broda's giant man shoe?

I'll go out on a limb and guess Aunt Doc will agree.
Doc may also be able to picture how excited HER Lil Broda's face was... after Tink begged her Daddy to take her to the field to practice with her new shoes AND apparently show-cased the early signs of a pretty decent Short Stop.
Sooo... I suppose Big kids are fun too.

Disclaimer: Shoe store was out of Man size Addidas.
I guess we'll see if a person really can play sports, without a new pair of Addidas.  Doesn't seem possible... but we'll try any crazy idea to get The Kid out of his hitting slump. Even Nikes.

That's a Cute Baby...

After no less than 57 viewings of Teacher Kaffee baby's pictures on Life and Times, the girls were very anxious to meet their newest little cousin. (Technically 2nd cousin.. but at this point, does it really matter?)

After the visit, this is what I learned:

1. THAT... is a pretty baby. Beautiful. The kind of baby, you lay against your chest and can feel yourself letting him sink into your physical heart. The Mrs. did not exaggerate... not even a little. 

2. If you've heard mention from his mommy, he will not sleep during the night... I'm gonna have to guess, that is no lie. During our entire visit, Wilder was passed around like a doll. Without so much as a wiggle or fuss. Deeply asleep, smack in the middle of the afternoon. Resting up, for a long night, I suppose.

3. My kids, look cute holding a baby.  Even little Tink, whom typically remains totally indifferent to most people or things, which do not directly affect her daily existance. All three kids, asked when we were getting our new baby. Ouch.

4. Baby stuff continues to become even cooler, with each passing month a child is born.  Items, I had purchased just 3 years ago... already seem antique.  How is it possible, receiving blankets have become awesome-er?? And I'm pretty sure Wilder's playpen (if it's even called that anymore) was practically robotic!  Lights, bells, whistles, canopies, mechanical arms folding from below to burp the baby for you...

Last: My baby fever is NOT diminishing with age.  If anything... it's gone into hyper drive.  I literally could have melted that baby into my neck and snuck out the door with him.  Ugh!! To the Powers that Be.  One more baby, wouldn't have been too much!

From Wilder's Driveway, I texted Coach the following:

I want a Baby.

He replied: Well, you can't have one.

To which I replied: You're mean.

He then declined to answer.

Therefore: Please contact me

at 1-800-trustoriesneedsanotherbaby

if you've got an extra laying around... or think being a totally free surrogate sounds like a super fun idea.  But... maybe don't ask to speak to Coach.

Otherwise... Somebody or Someone Else...

is gonna have to make me an aunt again. Soon!

Inside our Dark Family Secrets...

Confession- Currently set to record on our DVR,
over the next 6 days:

1. The Office
2. Grey's Anatomy
3. The Pauly D Project
4. Grimm
5. Once Upon a Time
6. Mad Men
7. Khloe and Lamar
8. Smash
9. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (nightly)
10. Glee
11. Modern Family
12. Law & Order: SVU

Ok... what's on yours??
Are you brave enough to tell us?

And yes, the majority of this programing is mine.

One Hundred Years and 1 Day Ago.

Maybe you've heard... or
maybe you're lucky and you haven't heard.
The sinking of the Titanic observed (celebrated) the 100th Anniversary, this past weekend. Possibly, for the majority of you, this event was nothing more than a blip of a mention, on your popular news show. Then.. for some of us, this was an event of Titanic proportion.

(Christmas 2010)

If you have met The Kid... even in mere passing... you may have noticed his fondness (obsession) with the historic ship. He has a habit (uncontrollable tic) of drawing sketches, randomly through out his day. On restaurant napkins, in notebooks, on the back of homework assignments... he owns at least 8 or 9 or 14 books, which cover the subject matter of the ship.
The design and building of...
The detailed accessories in each room..
The ice burg, the weather,
the sinking of... the recovery.
He has acquired a wealth of knowledge, which actually surpassed that of a Titanic Historian at a recent Titanic Dinner event.
Raise your hand, if you know the eye color, of the Titanic's Captain??!





The Kid looked forward to this Dinner Event, as if it were court side tickets to the Bulls game. He spent days re-reading, his already worn Titanic Factual books. He became nervous and excited, while waiting to met the historian, similar to Coach having the opportunity to shoot hoops with Michael Jordan.



This weekend, we generically entered only the word 'Titanic' into the DVR and set it to record. Every 15 minutes, a TV from one room, after another, clicked over to record COUNTLESS hours of Anniversary coverage. Coach nearly lost his mi-zzind. We currently still have at least 16 hours of yet to view Titanic footage clogging up the DVR menu. And...honestly, I like me a clean DVR.
At the Dinner, The Kid was selected to read a part in the Act. He confidently, delivered his line, with a microphone and a large crowd of strangers.



He also spent his week, participating in the school Spelling Bee finals, once again gracing the High Honors Grade Report and this evening...
he Struck out his very first TWO batters.
In what is (please God, fingers crossed) the first two, in a long line of thousands..

Now... if we could just work on HIS batting, the positive and gracious Go Team! attitude and that lil (HUGE) problem we call The Temper... he'd easily be the most awesome Kid of all times.

PS- If anyone missed Titanic's Achilles Heel or Titanic at 100 or Titanic: With James Cameron.. please accept our invitation to view these exciting programs (and COUNTLESS others) at our home.
We'll be serving: Ice Water.

My Yoga Studio:

Years of dreaming, hours spent online researching, MANY hours shopping and then shopping again... countless trips to Menards, a long list of amazing volunteers and so much ceiling scraping we nearly lost a few siblings as friends.
And this... is the result.



Artwork exclusively painted by Sweetbreads.

Bathroom entrance... it's all in the details!


Ooooh.. look at that BEAUTIFULLY restored ceiling!!
In addition, old plaster torn down, to expose the original brick work.




How perfectly hung are those mirrors??

And THAT... is what a dream looks like!

If you have wondered about yoga, considered a yoga class, thought for even a second.. that your body, health and spirit would benefit from a yoga class... please just stop by!! To each NEW student...
your first yoga class is FREE!

Our Class Schedule-

Monday mornings:
Chair Yoga 9:00-9:50am
Gentle Mat Yoga 10:00-11:00am

Tuesday evenings:
Children's Yoga (Ages 3-7) 5:00-5:50pm
Intermediate Mat Yoga 6:00-7:10pm

Wednesday evenings:
Mat/Prop Pilates 6:00-7:10pm

Thursday mornings:
Gentle Mat Yoga 10:00-11:00am

Yoga is perfect for ALL ages, sizes and temperaments.
I dare you, to leave a yoga class and NOT feel like a better person. (Yes.. it is totally cool to dare people, at BlacKbird sTudios.)

What is in a Name?

BlacKbird sTudio. The explanation.



Life. Is hard. Life is not designed to be easy. Life can be tedious. Mundane. Full of schedules, appointments, places you JUST have to be. Life is unfair. WHY can't my son win the Spelling Bee? Why did the dog HAVE to bite her beautiful face? Why can't I afford new carpet?
The questions, complaints and 'why nots' can overwhelm the average person. Can make your day feel heavy. But the majority of us... continue to drudge on. Just living to keep living.
Then, sometimes... Life becomes unbearable. Life will knock you down and while you try to pick yourself up.. it trips you again. Just to be funny. Occasionally, life takes a few of us and tries to break us. To see if it can. Unfortunately, it leaves a trail of broken and wanting people, trailed behind in it's wake. People who are unable, unwilling or just not strong enough, to battle back. Those people become lost. They learn to settle. To live with less, than they had dreamt for themselves.
Clarification: Learning to accept and feel gratitude for what Life is able to gift you... is different than settling for less than what your heart deserves.
I have been broken.
I have been without.
I've experienced loss for myself, my child, my brother. I have crumbled to the floor, in the midst of defeat. Then, told myself, I had not yet been defeatED.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise

Black bird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
all your life
you were only waiting for this moment to be free

Blackbird fly, Blackbird fly
Into the light of the dark black night.

Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise,

This town. My husband. My family (new and old), my amazing new circle of friends, my babies... My life. They healed my wings.
This Yoga Studio, is the culmination of a dream realized. A Life lifted and rebuilt, on love and trust. My studio? Coach's shop? This is our 'moment to arise'.

Yoga is an exercise designed to connect the student, back to themselves. Giving yourself, one hour to better your mind and body. To heal, what is broken. To shine light on your dark night. I hope my studio, is a space of peace and relaxation, to hundreds of students for many years to come.
__________________________________________

Last night, as we were falling asleep, Coach's body did the most dramatic hazy-in that space between total sleep and sorta awake- body jerk Eva. He's whole body seized up, as if possessed. Shaking the sheets.
I couldn't help myself.
I started giggling hysterically.
Unfazed, he fell deeper into sleep. Oblivious.
This made me laugh more, alone in the dark, at my husband's sleep-jerk. It became so funny to me, I almost wanted to wake him, just to make him giggle with me. Because is there anything better, than making Coach contagiously giggle?
That moment?
Was MY very happily, comfortably, settling into the best simplicity of Life. I am grateful, to have reached this week. I am blessed.
Living in this home? Parents and Small Business Owners in Small Town Midwestern America?
Sounds seriously pretty amazing to me.
Thanks to ALL of you, who helped us accomplish this flight. We are eternally grateful and in your debt.
(But at some point, we may need you to start paying for yoga classes and haircuts... not in the next couple months... but maybe one day!)

Dear Street Sweeper And Wife:

Easter has passed and I assume you should be heading home soon. Given that all of us are not as worldly and royalty-like wealthy... we are unable to Winter for months in Arizona. (Though, trust me SOME of us, check the airline prices often.)
But things have changed around these here parts. I thought I'd create a cheat sheet of life across and around your alley.

Who needs AZ when the average temperature 'back home' have been breaking the record books?? February and March were the warmest months, I can remember. If you were hoping to return home, in time to experience beautiful Midwestern flowers and the smell of lilacs... well, you snooze, you lose. I'd like to pretend the warm weather inspired Coach and I to clean up our side of the alley, to near picture-perfect like Spring time Menards Ad... but our yard may be at it's worst. (Who came up with the idea to 'Cute up Your Corner' anyway???)
Curb lined with old junk from the shop? Check.
Porch piled with boxes of worn-out tools? Check.
Tired and dead mums, from Fall? Check.
Kids bikes knocked over on the driveway? Check.
Basketball hoop AGAIN blown down? You betcha.
We'd hate to have you return to a pristine yard. Just wouldn't feel like home. If you are getting nostalgic for sweeping your curb... we have Catalpa beans, collecting thickly in the gutters. Just waitin for ya.

Now something you may not recognize, while gazing out your window... our new son. Sure he looks a lil like Coco. And yes, he fancies himself an afternoon snack of playground rocks and rain water resting on the slide, similar to our previous baby. Never the less, thanks to a distracted moment by moi... our youngest may look boy-ish, from your direction.



Your yard is still being tended to by The Bride's father... though I am pretty sure, he threw a big kegger of a party on Sunday. Cars parked ALL over your drive. It's odd... because his only daughter was delivering a precious bundle of bouncy boy joy. Even a grand-son can not keep The Bride's Father from throwing a killer party in an empty house. But who am I tellin?? You know better than I, how much he enjoys a good Miller Lite.
The new cousin is too cute.
And being born on Easter or Thanksgiving?? Definitely the best holiday Birth Day. Great story... and you don't ALWAYS have to share your day with a turkey or a bunny rabbit. That can't be cool, for a boy.



You've maybe heard, we have ignored our children for a good month, while preparing our new business. No biggie... just grand opening right and left. When you are ready for a trim, you may want to call a few days ahead of time for an appointment. Coach is pretty big time now. And I will happily accept your beautiful bride as a new yogi! Stroll her up there, during your morning walk.

Otherwise, while we weren't looking, Tink got big.
I mean... Big for a little person. Signing up for Kindergarten. Starting an every day preschool. Taking a field trip on a Big school bus. And tomorrow.. she has her first Tball practice!
I know it's been awhile but you will need to re-adjust to having a yard full of homerun hitters, again. Better pull out some shutters. I imagine my father or uncles cracked one or two of your windows.



And The Kid??
When he is not glaring into my camera during sweet Easter pictures, he is eagerly anticipating the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic... but really, what 10 year old boy isn't??



Temperatures are dropping back into the 50's this week. The perfect time for you to drive ALL the way back across the country, to your home. I'd more than appreciate it... your street front has been a serious eye sore.. really bringing down the property values, in the neighborhood.

Opening Day!!

Ok... no, not the Cubs.
Though, this feels pretty Major League to us.
After a TLC worthy 52 hour marathon redecorating spree.. in a cloud of spray paint, sweaty hard-working siblings and brooms... Coach debuted his new Shop with Opening Day worthy festivities.
Per tradition, The Kid sat comfortably in Coach's chair, for the honorary First Haircut. And also, per tradition, The Kid squirmed and complained (as if he is unaccustomed to having his hair cut every 3 weeks.) He's charming.



We filled the Opening Day book, with a long list of Coach's favorite people. Unfortunately, we were much too busy to snap pics of everyone. Not to mention, how many obnoxious pictures can one wife take of her annoying husband??






Hey... DQ... how about a Spell Check program, in the cake decorating department??

The biggest news of the day?
Dreams realized?
Hopes and struggles finally triumphed?
Hard work, paying off??
Yes, all were pretty awesome.
But the Opening Day miracle, was really the best story of the day. Near the end of the day, Coach flung a bag at me, as I entered. Eww... a bag of hair?? Gross. Except.. wait a minute.. who's hair is this?



Best. Shop Warming Present. Ever.
A living, breathing, walking advertisement, of the Most Talented Barber in town! Celebration.



Congratulations, Coach.
All of the long hours and hard work have paid off.

And yes... it's still weird you're a Barber.
And a husband.
And a father.
And a grown-up, in general.

Side Note:
Thanks to the stealthy National Geographic-like photography skills of CTodd, for snapping the near impossible pic of Poppop's icky long hair. Apparently, the quote was "You can take a pictures of the back but NO pictures from front. I don't want HER putting any pictures of me on the %%@@$# Internet!!".
I assume 'HER' is a reference to his only daughter.
WhatEV. I don't care.
Poppop can #$$%#@ my blog all he wants... as long as he is doing it, without a pony tail. Win.

Is it just me...

or does remodeling a building really wear a sista out??

Only a matter of hours remain until Opening Day!
We are almost, sorta, kinda ready for this...