faith

failures, heartaches, disappointments, yet somehow I know it will all be okay

we're men

"Do you want me to go in with you?" I asked as I dropped them off at the dance. This was Finn's first.
"NO!" Finn exclaimed. "We're men!"
And as he unbuckled himself from his booster seat, and he quietly admitted that he was a little nervous, I couldn't have felt more proud to send my two fine young men out into the world on their own.

we've reached stage smart ass

"Can I have the hot glue gun?" he asked.

"What do you need it for?" I asked back.

"For hot gluing," he smirked before grabbing the tool and heading to the basement.

I should have seen that coming.

sunday in the kitchen

 As the overwhelm of the season threatens to get the better of me, I pause in gratefulness for our abundance.

life

"Life is what happens to you
While you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

And so it has been with me - life. The everyday busyness of life that has kept me from this space...from completing a project I set out to complete before I turned 40. And now here I am...40. And life is still rolling along, project completed or not. And I'm okay with that. There was a time I would have beat myself up for not finishing something. But I'm 40 now. I'm done beating myself up over the silliest of things. I deserve better from myself. I'm over the guilt trips, the fear trips, the I'm-too-busy traps. It's time to live this beautiful, crazy life unbound. Here we go!

40 in 36

"You know what my greatest personal stumbling block is? My shyness." - Susan Lucci

40 in 37

My mom was the homemade-cookies kinda mom. No store-bought cookies were sent in our lunch pails - not until we were older and the time came when buying pre-packaged baked goods became cheaper than actually making them yourself. I was always envious of those kids who pulled out the crisp, black and white Oreo cookie from their Star Wars lunch pails. The dull, brown homemade peanut butter cookie that came out of my Holly Hobbie lunch pail certainly paled in comparison. Oh, what I wouldn't give to trade for one of those store-bought beauties? How far would I go to get me some mass-produced baking? I'd ditch my little brother in the streets of Hensall, that's how far!

It was a beautiful sunny day, and all the kids in the neighbourhood were outside playing in the cul-de-sac. It was the perfect spot to play - quiet, no traffic, all the parents could keep an eye out for our shenanigans. We must have grown bored with the game we were playing at the time - probably Dukes of Hazzard on our bikes - because one of the kids asked if I wanted to go back to his house for a snack, a snack I knew would have come from the store. Well, my little brother caught wind of this plan and wanted to come along. I had no interest in sharing this moment with him, so off we ran, leaving him in the dust. He tried to keep up, but we were older and faster. We left him in the dust. He finally caught up to us as we sat in the neighbour's kitchen eating Fudgee-os. Fudgee-os! Oh the rich, chocolately deliciousness. I had never had them before in my life and I enjoyed every bite as my brother kicked and cried at the front screen door. Completely ignoring him, I ate the last of the cookies before we waltzed out of the house, ready to play again. I can't stand the taste of Fudgee-os anymore - guilty?