Anniversary

Today was our anniversary. I am really sappy so there are two things I would like to share with you all. The first are the words from the card I got for Doug - I have had a tough year and he has been wonderful, as always:

"My Husband is a man of character who understands commitment and does more than his share to make his family comfortable, safe, and secure.

I adore him.

My Partner is a man who is patient, optomistic, caring and wise.

His sense of humor and support hold me up when I can't do it myself.

I'm grateful for him.

My Friend is the only man with whom I can share my deepest secrets and know they will be safe.

Time with him is always good. I cherish him."

There was more, but that's the sense of the card. I am very lucky to have him in my life.

I have always found the music of The Cowboy Junkies haunting and poignant, and when I listened to them before I met Doug I always thought that the emotions they sang about in their love songs were something I could only dream to have. Now I do. In my opinion true love is when you fall in love over and over again with the same person. Things aren't always perfect, but that is why you have each other.

So without further ado, I would like to dedicate this song to my husband:

Anniversary Song

The Cowboy Junkies

Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful

As that of the rain-soaked purple

Of the white birch in spring?

Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful

Than on a warm fall night

Under a mackerel sky,

The smell of grapes on the wind?

Well I have known all these things

And the joys that they can bring

And I’ll share them all for a cup of coffee

And to wear your ring

Have you ever had the pleasure of watching

A quiet winter’s snow slowly gathering

Like simple moments adding up?

Have you ever satisfied a gut feeling

To follow a dry dirt road that’s beckoning you

To the heart of a shimmering summer’s day?

Well I have known all these things

And the joys that they can bring

And I’ll share them all for a cup of coffee

And to wear your ring

And I don’t know how I survived those days

Before I held your hand

Well I never thought that I would be the one

To admit that the moon and the sun

Shine so much more brighter when

Seen through two pairs of eyes than

When seen through just one

Have you ever seen a sight as beautiful

As a face in a crowd of people

That lights up just for you?

Have you ever felt more fresh or wonderful

As when you wake

By the side of that boy or girl

Who has pledged their love to you?

Well I have known all these things

And the joys that they can bring

And now every morning there’s a cup of coffee

And I wear your ring

"Vogue: Strike A Pose"

If you read the "What not to do when you are bored" post you will know that I royally messed up my hair by trying to do highlights at home.

Morgan has wanted a perm for some time now, and frankly I got tired of crimping her hair for her so we both went to the salon yesterday to get our hair done.

Morgan soaked up all the attention, had all the ladies doting on her. She complained about the curlers hurting and the chemicals smelling but then conceded that (and I quote) "That's okay, I love to be pampered". Oh lordy what have I created. She is going to be a monster when she hits the teenage years.

I must admit, she looks darling. 4hrs and $$ well spent in my opinion. It was a total girls day.

My New Project

I bought a Bonsai book and bought these, planted and will try again.

And The #1 Thing NOT To Do When You Are Bored....

Color your hair at home. Bad things happen when I get bored, and I attempted to put highlights in my hair by myself.

I refuse to post a picture. I look like a brown and white dalmation. It is so funny I can't be upset, it's just too silly not to laugh.

Morgan has been wanting a perm, so on Sat we have an appointment for her to get a perm and for me to get my color fixed. Until then my WRV ball cap is a permanent fixture :))

Crocus

I love the early signs of Spring - the crocus pooping us is usually the first. I spent a whole weekend one fall in WI peppering our small front yard with crocus bulbs and then in the spring they would pop up through the snow. These are blooming in our yard here now.

The purple ones are by far my favorite, but they don't seem to want to "clump" the way the yellow ones do. I think that perhaps since it seems we may not be moving right away, I may "seed" our front yard here with them this fall.

What's On *YOUR* Plate ??

I am supposed to be on a low carb diet - trying to lose the weight I gained this year. But I love sushi. I have tried to curb my cravings for it by making pseudo-sushi (salmon, cream cheese, avocado, caviar, and seaweed), but it's not the same. Doug has been at a trade show all weekend and M wanted salad bar and the local grocery that we go to has a sushi bar. I couldn't resist. Yummm. My favorite by far is the octopus but they did not have any tonight. Although not all octopus is good - when I visited my friend in Atlanta we went out for sushi and he dared me to eat this baby octopus - complete with head and legs and all. I did and to this day I don't know how I didn't puke - sheer will/ego I suppose.

Soooo, what are you all having for dinner tonight?

Creative Writing

The following is a story that my daughter wrote and I am so proud of her. M is only in the 5th grade and all her teachers love her though she struggles with ADD. She reads with a voraciousness that I find mind-boggling and she is so creative. There are times when she is a bit much to handle because she is very abstract and "drifty". So, without further ado, here is her writing (p.s. I have typed this exactly as it was written, punctuation, spelling, and all, but she typed the majority of it):

Dou you believe in mythical beasts and beings? I do, because I turned into one not too long ago. I wsn't always like this, I was once like you.

My friend Kelly and I where walking in her uncle's apple orchard, and I was telling Kelly in great detail how grateful I was to see her. (Kelly had move to the country five years ealier.) Later that afternoon we sat down to take a rest. Soon I started to get hungry, so on the way back to the house I picked an apple and bit into it. Sometime later in the day when I was sitting in my room reading about harpies Kelly came in and stared at me, horrified. Kelly pointed at me and said "Your ears! They have feathers growing on them!" I told her she must be seeing things, but she just shook her head and pointed at the mirror. I rolled my eyes as I got up to look in the mirror. When I looked in the mirror the blood drained from my face. Now it was my turn to be horrified, my reflection looked normal except for my ears and my eyes. Kelly wasn't seeing things! My ears were growing feathers! That and my eyes had turned a shade of midnight blue. Suddenly Kelly found her voice again. 'M...m...Morgan.' She stammered. "Yes?" I asked. "I think your ears are the least of your worries. Lift up the back of your shirt." "What!?!?!" I shouted. "Are you kidding?" She stared with annoyance as well as concern. I glared back at her and said "Fine but it had better be for a good reason." So I did as I was told and lifted up the back of my shirt. I heard Kelly gasp. "What!? What is it!? What's wrong with me!?!?" I started to panic. "Calm down! Shh! You're going to alert my uncle." "But what's wrong with me?" Kelly drew out a long breath. "Morgan...you have...you have...wings." I forgot to breath. I was about ready to faint. "W...w...wings?" I asked. "Wings."She replied. At that moment I knew that I was turning into the creature I had been reading about. The only thing I didn't know was why it was happening. I rushed over to my book and flipped over to the section on how and why someone turns into a harpy. After I was done reading it I was pale as a sheet. "This is not good Kelly. This is not good at all. Listen to this." I sadi and began to read her the page. "The book say and I quote; a person turns into a harpy when he/she eats an enchanted apple. The effect is permanent." I closed the book and said "I say it again this is not good." "Where will you go?" Kelly asked. "The only place I can go...the Himalayas land of oeternal snows."

It was sunset. Kelly and I had decided that it would be best if I traveled at night instead of day. This was so if someone looked out their window they would not see me. I was sad that I would never be able to return home, but I was also happy that I could fly around the world now. It had taken many tries before I was airborne. But, once I was in the air I was proud as could be! As I took out my compass I shouted a quick good-by to Kelly and began my journey. When I got to the mountains I began to look for other harpies. I soon stumbled into a large clearing. I saw a flock of harpies at the end of the valled and started soaring towards them. Soon I was directly aove them. I remembered that harpies are solitary creatures, so I flew away into the mountains. It was hard trying to adapt to my new life. One of my daily chores was to find edible plants such as pignuts and lingon berries. But of course I have learned to live with eating berries and many other strange things.

On my seventh year of living in the mountains as a harpy I decided to read my harpy book. I was reading the part on how an dwhy someone turns into a harpy when I saw that I had miss-red the book! The effect of the enchanted apple wasn't permanent, but only lasted eight years! "Four days from now will mark my eaihth year! I can go home! Yes...wait, what happens if I'm not home beforeI change back? I'll fall out of the sky that's what. Let's see...if it took me three and a half days to get here,and two hours to get from my house to Kelly's at the speed of 60 miles an hour, if I fly at speed of 120 miles an hour I would be on the front porch 11 hours before I change back! I was so overjoyed that I did five sumersalts in the air. Swift as lightning I picked up my book and started flying twards home. It was a long journey but an easy one nonetheless. I arrived home later than I had expected, almost a quarter to midnight to be exact. I waited fifteen minutes so I would change back before I entered the house. That way I would not scare my mom half to death. Once I changed back I rang the door bell and waited. I did this so I would not alert the security system. When my mom answered the door she let out a squeal of joy when she saw it was me. When we where all together again and I had finished telling them what happened, we all went to bed. The next morning we all went to grandma's house to tell her that I was back.

The time when I was a harpy was scary, sad, lonely, and at times realy fun, but I am still glad that I changed back into a normal person.