Matt and I at Casey’s Birthday Party.
18 February 2009

I always tease Matt that the children are a product of our lovemaking — basically that from the power of sex comes a new human. But, as I watched the children sleeping in the bed this morning and gently stroked Lily’s hair, I realized that they are actually the product of our love, from conception to adulthood.

And that’s pretty cool… the power and magic of an honest and deep love between two people. With sex, one can create a new human, but with love, one can create life.

What is one’s body but a blank canvas
with which to explore art and self-expression?

My husband’s parents left this morning. They stayed with us for nearly three weeks. It was really sad to say goodbye. Matt said when he moved to the U.S. that, though he missed England, it wasn’t the familiarity of his homeland that made it so difficult to move away; it was being so far from his family. Now that I have come to know them and how kind and fun they are, I understand intimately the depth of his feelings. It’s really hard to say goodbye when it’s time to leave.

Damian playing in the sprinklers.
04 March 2009

Faith (or trust or belief or whatever word you use to signify following your heart — your inner calling — but being afraid of where it might lead or what you might become, or being afraid that it will, in fact, lead nowhere and that you are, in fact, completely full of shit and all of your inner dialogue is ridiculous fantasy) is not easy. It is very very hard at times.

The children playing computer games together.
05 December 2008

Recently Tab uploaded a couple of really beautiful pictures on her blog. She was experimenting with color, and there is also a lot of texture in the photos. The photos are beautiful. Here are the links:

Colorful pictures
A tunnel of trees

There isn’t anywhere to post comments on Tab’s blog, so I’ll post them here: Those photos rock, Tab! I like them very much.

We had Tumama’s birthday party yesterday.
Most people could make it and we had a
really nice time.
21 February 2009

Tumama’s paparazzi (and this doesn’t
show me with my camera 🙂 ).

I’ve thought of two new entries on my Austin residency form.

11. Do you recycle?

(If you lie on this question — simply to gain residency in Austin — and say you recycle even though you don’t, the city planners strongly suggest that you stay in the closet regarding your non-recycling habits or be prepared to be run out of town on the light rail while having organic produce thrown at you.)

12. Do you find 90s Grunge Lite clothing appropriate apparel for the opera?

I’m so pleased with my Austin residency form, I’ve created a page for it. There are only 12 questions right now, but as I think of new ones, I’ll add them. Earth Day, organic produce and products, vegetarianism and veganism, zero waste, light rail, UT Longhorns, cinema, and micro-breweries really need to be referenced in there somewhere.

For the family Christmas present this year,
we bought a new piano. Matt plays all the
time, and it’s really nice having live music
playing in the house.
14 December 2008

I’ve been keeping a food journal since starting this mostly raw diet. I thought Tuesday’s entry was significant, so I decided to share it on my blog:

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Day Twelve

17 February 2009 

Mood:

Today was the worst I have eaten since starting this diet. I had a Starbucks toffee almond bar with lemonade/tea for breakfast, and then an apple oatmeal pancake with lots of syrup and molasses for lunch.

I felt crap all day, but about an hour after lunch, I went from feeling crap to feeling sick. Then I switched into hyper-ultimate-bitch mode. I started yelling at the kids and bitching at my husband. I knew what it was — my body and my spirit felt like shit and it was exploding out of me.

Yeah. This diet is not about losing weight, although that is an excellent bonus. Nutrition is about feeling good on the inside and outside, and being a kind, stable person. Poisonous food creates a poisonous spirit.

————————–

I know a lot of people think that the New Age folks are a bunch of fruit cakes, but after my experimentation with this diet and how I felt before and how I feel now, I have to say, they have — by far — the best information on nutrition, and we would all do well to listen to them. By eating more raw fruits, vegetables, and nuts, I am consistently in a better mood and have more energy. I just feel so much better. And I’m not even being strict about the diet… just a lot more raw fruits and vegetables than I ever used to eat.

Damian
13 February 2009

Though you may not know
     where your gifts may lead,
and it may not show at the start.

When you live your dream
     you’ll find destiny
is written in your heart.

“Gosh, Angel, where did that sage little quote come from?”

That would be, ahem, Barbie as The Princess and the Pauper. 😉

I sent this photo of Nana and the grandkids
to one of my mom’s friends. My mom liked it
very much and asked for a copy for herself.
It is really cute. (The photographers out
there can probably see the experimentation
that I’m doing right now Photoshop’s
brightness adjustment layers. It adds a
dodge/burn look, but, by using layers, I have
more control than using the dodge/burn tool.)

Conroe, Texas
06 July 2008

Eds3 keeps posting very interesting blog entries, and therefore, he is making my blog updating easy. All I have to do now is link you guys over there, and voila! I have an interesting blog post by association.

Heh heh. 😉

This is a picture of Lily taken on 17 February 2007
when she was just over two years old. I did not
dress her or pose her in any way.

This picture was taken this past Friday, 13 February 2009,
and she is just over four years old now. Once again,
she dressed herself entirely.

Our kids make us laugh every day. 🙂

If you are in the mood for a hardy laugh, read this post by eds3. Very amusing.

Happy Valentine’s Day, all. 🙂

The children in front of the fire.
(Lily is laying in the dog bed.
That’s how big our German Shepherd is…
or how small our daughter is.)
24 January 2009

When I was in my early 20s, one of my favorite cartoons was Mighty Max, and from this cartoon I learned a deep truth. Many people have said it many ways, but the first time I heard it was from Virgil, the wise fowl on Mighty Max.

Bravery is not lack of fear; it is acting in spite of fear.

This little quote from Virgil was my mantra many times throughout my life. Recently, while watching my children’s shows with them, more pearls of wisdom were laid in my lap:

Cody Maverick from Surf’s Up says about Big Z:

He lived so hard because he wasn’t afraid to live.

How many of us are afraid to live? I know I have spent most of life afraid of what people will think of me or if I might spectacularly fail at a project.

Early in an episode of Kim Possible, Yori says:

Change is a part of life and leads to growth, wisdom and happiness.

And then later in the episode, she says:

Like change, we must always welcome destiny.

I love the destiny quote. It is currently my new favorite. And there are too many awesome quotes in Kung Fu Panda. Just watch that whole movie and absorb its wisdom.