Happy Birthday, Puck!

Photo by Brandi Gilbertson

Tomorrow my sweet boy turns seven.

I can hardly believe it.

Puck has grown and changed so very much in the last seven years. We've had some challenges and successes, but overall he's healthy and happy and on his way toward becoming the person he wants to be.

Puck is smart. When you give him something to do, he'll pick it up quickly and effectively. He likes being a helper, and he likes knowing how to do interesting and useful things. Some of his favorite toys are puzzles and anything he has to build.

Since we've started homeschooling, he's excelled in math and science. He's passionate about science, too. He reads non-fiction books (particularly those about animals) nearly every day. He can recall facts about animals easily, and it has given as a way to nurture a love of learning in him. He's an excellent student.

Photo by Brandi Gilbertson

Now that he's securely in the "school-age child" portion of his life, other aspects of his personality are starting to emerge. He's funny, and has a very sarcastic sense of humor. He loves to trick people (playfully, of course), play pranks, and tell jokes.

Puck is clearly his own person. He does things his own way, even if it means he sometimes does things the hard way. Eventually, though, he figures things out on his own or asks someone for help to figure it out.

I am honored to be his mom and to get to be a part of his growing up.

I'm eager to see everything that's still to come in his childhood. I'm eager to see the teenager and young adult he grows into years down the road. And, for now, we'll celebrate seven.

Happy Birthday, Puck. Mama loves you.

Photo by Brandi Gilbertson

Today is my birthday

I'm 33 today.

There are days I realize that I'm not where I wanted to be at this age, and other days when I can see just how far I've come. Those are the good days.

I have goals and dreams that keep me pushing forward, and things I want to have done. So, in the spirit of it's-my-birthday, I'm making a "40 before 40" list of things I'd like to do and see and accomplish by the time I turn forty. (Plenty of time.)

Some of the things on my list are small, others are ongoing things. But they are all goals I have that I want to accomplish over the next seven years. After all, it's my list. I can do what I want.

1. Buy a house.
2. Finish writing the collection.
3. Write the waiting play.
4. Get the semicolon tattoo I've been wanting.
5. Blog twice a week, every week, between now and my fortieth birthday.
6. Learn a language (Spanish or ASL, preferably. Or both. Both is good.).
7. Go to a professional women's soccer game.
8. Make a quilt.
9. Buy a new car (to replace our poor, reliable Corolla).
10. Go on an Alaskan cruise.
11. Take piano lessons.
12. Volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
13. Cut soda out of my diet for good.
14. Do yoga at least once a week, every week, between now and my fortieth birthday.
15. Make a family album/scrapbook (multiple, if needed).
16. Get the Gallifreyan tattoo I've been wanting.
17. Go see a ballet.
18. Get an old fashioned card catalog for my office.
19. Learn Reiki massage.
20. Go to a writing conference.
21. Take at least one trip out of the country (preferably Europe).
22. Read 100+ books in one year. (I started this before my birthday, but there's nothing saying I can't repeat the challenge.)
23. Visit the Emily Dickinson Home & Museum in Massachusetts.
24. Visit the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum in the Keys.
25. Get the quote tattoo on my right bicep I've been wanting.
26. Get the quote tattoo on my left bicep I've been wanting.
27. Meditate inside a Buddhist temple.
28. Make an herb garden (potted) either in my house or on my patio.
29. Get a bamboo plant for my desk. (I had one before, but it was sick to begin with, so it didn't make it.)
30. Take a self-defense class.
31. Go see an opera.
32. Attend a con of some kind.
33. Go on a yoga/spiritual retreat.
34. Take a mental health day.
35. Go to a pride event.
36. Have a home office with a door that closes.
37. Write a collection of poetry associated with the collection.
38. Go to an Orlando Pride soccer game. (Or several.)
39. Write a screenplay.
40. Visit the Library of Congress.

Six on the sixth

July 2015

Puck is six today.

And I can hardly believe it.

Each year that passes, Puck continues to amaze me with all he learns and does and how he grows and changes. From the little skinny scrap of a peanut way back in 2009 to the tall, funny, silly boy he is today, Puck is a great kid.

He is sensitive and sweet and can be so, so kind-hearted. He's a good brother (when he's not being ornery) who cares for his sister fiercely.

He has always been a good kid. When he was a baby, he was clingy, but not colicky. He didn't have a lot of health problems. He was a happy, happy baby.

Now that he's in school, he's so eager to learn and grow. Most recently, he's decided he wants to be a geneticist so he can bring the dinosaurs back to life. But only the plant-eaters.

Spring 2014

And if he can't do that, he's going to make robotic dinosaurs.

Because he's practical like that.

He does well in school, though he's impatient which can lead to messy handwriting at times. Still, he reads well, and loves math.

In fact, one of his favorite car games is solving math problems from the backseat. Even if he gets tripped up and frustrated, he feels proud once he finally gets the answer correct.

Puck also likes to build things. It started with Legos and Chima figures, and has moved on to metal model vehicles (like the ones he got for his birthday from Mimi and Papa G) and wood (like the coin bank he built with Papa G this summer). I love watching him create with blocks or other tools, whether he follows "constructions" to make something specific, or creates his own structure based on his whims.

Fall 2013 (with his pre-K teacher)

And, of course, there are the Puckisms. He's a treasure trove of misspoken words (like "constructions" instead of "instructions") that keep my Facebook feed amusing.

One of my favorite is his consistent use of "rahmbo" for "bravo." He's said it that way as long as I can remember, and I don't think he has any intention of changing it.

Puck is also a bit fastidious.

There are days he doesn't want anything on his hands, even finger-foods.

And he likes to line things up "properly." Stacks should be even, and things on his toy box should be lined up with the edge appropriately.

He is full of spunk and personality and keeps us on our toes.

I'm so, so proud of the boy he is becoming every day, and I'm looking forward to seeing the young man he will become over the next twelve years.

Happy, happy birthday, sweet boy. Your mama loves you.

32 things for 32 years

Sometime last fall, a mom blogger I read posted a birthday post like this. It was one item for every year of her life, and it was interesting. So I decided to steal her idea for myself. Enjoy!

1. I've been working on this post since late last year.
2. I'm getting married this year.
3. I had planned to propose to Bo, but she beat me to it.
4. When I turned thirty, I told people it was the second anniversary of my 29th birthday.
5. I've since let go of that, and I embrace my 32ness.
6. When I feel frazzled or overwhelmed, I have the tendency to organize (update my calendar, make task lists, etc.) to help calm myself.
7. Once I have lists, I use them to keep me on task; I try to take just one item at a time until everything is done.
8. I keep an editorial calendar to help me plan out my blogging about a month at a time.
9. But I often switch posts around as blog-worthy things come up in my life, career, and reading.
10. I have a big desk-size calendar I use only for deadlines, editorial calendar, and days off so I have a monthly overview of what I have to do without taking up too much room in my book.
11. I often have a movie or television show on while I'm working during the day so it's not overwhelmingly quiet.
12. I find myself far less interested in TV than I once was, and listening to music more.
13. There are four tattoos I want/plan to get: a quote in Gallifreyan on my left forearm; a semi-colon on my right wrist; ART HARDER on the inside of my left bicep; and Take no heed of her.... She reads a lot of books. on the inside of my right bicep.
14. I don't journal as often as I'd like, especially when work is busy.
15. My daily wardrobe is highly influenced by my target market for work, which works because that's what I'm usually most comfortable in.
16. However, I'm working toward a more polished base wardrobe in which everything is coordinated so I can pick anything out of my closet and have it work, especially for client meetings.
17. I'm terrified of heights, but I like to fly. It's scary when I think about the fact that I'm flying and up so high, but once we're up in the air, I'm usually okay.
18. One of the reasons I eat a plant-based diet is because my body doesn't like animal products and lets me know through its reaction.
19. I want to become a certified Reiki practitioner.
20. I'm moving my career from freelance work to an official business.
21. I have tried (and failed) several times to give up soda. Still trying.
22. It would be harder for me to give up coffee than soda.
23. I like tea, but don't drink it nearly as often as coffee.
24. I have always been more of a night owl, but am working very hard to switch to being an early morning person. I like the quietness of early mornings when you have the whole day ahead of you, full of possibility.
25. I did a life audit toward the beginning of this year, and it has drastically changed my life and perspective (for the better).
26. I always try to keep a notebook with me or nearby because I frequently feel the need to jot down some thoughts or ideas.
27. At the beginning of this week I finished going through The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. It was my third attempt, and my first completion.
28. I like meditative music, and I'm trying to move toward listening to that type of music while I work (instead of turning on the TV and listening to it).
29. I also really like folksy/indie music, like Harpeth Rising.
30. I listen to music on a first generation iPod Nano. It's green.
31. Sometimes I still struggle with my demons from high school and college. But I have an amazing support system to help keep me headed in the right direction.
32. I truly feel that I am living my happily ever after.

Renew your spirit with a party in Pixie Hollow

We celebrated Tink's birthday on Saturday. She's four. She's ready for school now. Because she's a big girl with big girl dreams.

To celebrate her birthday we made a big tree in the corner of our living room with butcher paper and leaves of construction and poster paper. We hung paper fans as flowers. It was Pixie Hollow. Tink wore her costume wings.

We made peanut butter roll-ups for lunch (because that's how fairies eat their sandwiches) and cupcakes in flower-shaped cupcake papers (because fairies make their cupcakes in flowers).

We watched movies and played games and opened presents and Tink got all the lipstick (chapstick) from Dantyelle.

It was a great day.

Happy birthday, Tink.

Renew your spirit: For Tink, on her fourth birthday

May 2012 (Tink's first birthday party)

Our sweet Tink is four years old today.

She's spending the day with Monty, so we'll be celebrating her birthday this coming Saturday instead. She doesn't know it yet, but we're doing a fairy-inspired party for her, complete with small-ish finger foods because that's what she would eat if she were a real fairy.

Whenever the munchkins hit a milestone, like a birthday or an important first, I can't help but think about how far we've come since they were born. How much they've grown and changed. How wonderful our life has been and is and will be. I think it's kind of standard practice for moms to do, isn't it? (Let's just say it is.)

March 2013

Tink has been my challenge child. My pregnancy was more difficult, the delivery was more difficult. She had to be on light therapy for a while after we brought her home. Then, she wasn't growing properly, so we had to adjust how we cared for her, including a year of physical and occupational therapy.

It was scary for a while. She had appointments with her pediatrician every week to check her weight, and was having blood drawn every two weeks or so to check various levels and run various tests. She went to several specialists, all of whom felt like something was off, but couldn't find anything wrong.

The best answer we got during that time was from the pediatric geneticist who thought she might have something, but was too young to reach the diagnostic criteria. His medical opinion was that she would either be fine, or she would continue to not be fine and be able to be diagnosed. Thanks, man. So helpful.

February 2014

Tink is doing better now. She's healthy and has grown quite a bit. She's still incredibly, ridiculously skinny, but is almost as tall as Puck. (Her size makes it hard to find clothes that fit her, so it's likely that she'll be wearing a lot of skirts and dresses. Not that she would complain.)

She has caught up to her physical developmental milestones, and is ahead in many of her social and cognitive milestones. She can write her letters (and her name), and is beginning to read. She's definitely ready for pre-K!

She gave us a bit of a scare early in her life, but she's growing into a sweet, happy little girl. She is compassionate, helpful, and definitely has the Acres* Irish attitude. But, as my grandmother would say, "We like our Acres girls spunky."

Tink is definitely spunky. That can be a challenge at times, but I'm so glad she's come into her own personality. She's brave and funny and knows exactly what she wants.

April 2015

I don't know what's coming in the next several years. But I know that school will be good for her. She'll be able to learn more even faster, which she'll enjoy. She'll get to meet new people and make new friends, which she'll love. And she'll continue to grow and change and make her mamas proud.

Whatever comes, I know she'll meet it with the perfect mix of compassion and stubbornness to make sure that she achieves her dreams, helps others, and isn't walked over by anyone.

She is already strong and determined and awesome. I know her strength will see her through whatever challenges meet her along her way. And I know her determination will keep her pushing past the challenges to move into better, happier times.

I am so, so proud of you, my sweet girl. Keep doing exactly what you're doing.

Happy Birthday, Tink. I love you.




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*Acres is my grandmother's maiden name. Her father was born in Ireland.

Happy happy to Bo!

Tink and Bo
Labor Day 2014

Yesterday was Bo's birthday. We had lunch together, but she and I will be celebrating today. And then we'll have cake when the kids come back from Monty's next week.

Last night before bed, Bo told me she had a good birthday. Her last few birthdays were a little rough, so I'm glad that this year was different.

Bo deserves to be happy. Every day.

Happy Birthday, Bo. May this year be your best yet.

Nanny's birthday

Nanny reading to Puck and Bug, 2011

Today is my mom's birthday.

This is the second year in a row I haven't been able to celebrate with her because of the whole I-live-in-Florida-now thing.

I don't like that I can't celebrate with my mom. I'd love to take her out for lunch or coffee or drinks or something.

Moving to Florida this time around has led to a bigger change in my relationship with my parents than the last time I lived here. Sometimes it's hard to talk as much as you'd like to when you're working (more than) full-time, you have a munchkin in school full-days, and you have a girlfriend with a traditional office job who can't just pick up and go whenever you want. (So annoying!)

I don't get to talk to her as much as I want, and I definitely don't get to see her as often as I'd like. But we both know that sometimes you have to do what is necessary to take care of your family, and that's what we're doing.

I'm hoping that next year will be different. Maybe we'll be able to visit sometime next year, or Nanny will be able to spend some time here in Florida with the munchkins. Until then, I'll be wishing her a happy birthday from three states away.

Puck is five now.

Yesterday we celebrated Puck's birthday. He was with Monty for his actual factual birthday, so we had our party yesterday with Tink and Bo (and Clara because she can't be left out). It was quiet and fun, and an all-day affair, just as birthdays should be when you're young and it's exciting.

Puck got some fun toys, but his favorite by far is the remote control car Bo gave him. Once he opened it, he played with it the rest of the day. We even took him over to the tennis court nearby so he could run it in a wide, open space without any obstacles. Then, this morning when he got up, he immediately asked if he could play with it.

I think Bo picked a good gift for him.

Puck, August 2009

While we played all day, I tried not to think too much about the fact that my son is five, and will be starting kindergarten next week.

I know time goes by quickly when you have kids, especially once they start school. You get into a routine each week, and the days just go by.

That being said, I think part of the reason time has gone by so quickly for me is because of how much has changed in my life since 2009.

Five years ago, I was on a very different life path. I was married to Monty and thought we would be together for the rest of our lives. I thought I'd keep working from home and we'd have more kids and live happily ever after. I thought it was a good path, and the right one for me.

Since then, things have changed drastically (and for the better). We did have another child (the beautiful, precocious Tink), but I also came out, we divorced, and I moved back to Florida. My career has taken off, I met Bo, and I'm headed in a very different direction than I once was. A better direction. And things are still changing with the upcoming move.

I have wonderful memories over the past five years. (Yes, I divorced Monty, but we had good times, too.) That being said, I'm so excited to see what the next five years brings for Puck, and for our herd.*

Happy Happy to you, Puck. You're going to have a great year!






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*Bo calls us her "herd." I like it. It's apt.

Not two anymore

Saturday was Tink's third birthday. It was a wonderful day full of not-so-healthy food, presents opened throughout the day, and lots of memories made. She spent the day reminding us that it was, indeed, her birthday, and occasionally breaking into renditions of "Happy Birthday to Me." We played hard, laughed a lot, and took pictures and pictures and pictures.

It was a good day.

It seems that time is slipping by more quickly these days. It could be that my life is a bit more settled than it once was, so the routine of the days makes them seem to pass more quickly. It could be that I've been focused on some big things lately so the ordinary-ness of everyday life seems to fade to the background a bit. It could be that whenever a milestone--like a birthday or holiday--comes around on my calendar I feel like we've just had one, so time must be going by quickly.

After all, my daughter is three, and it seems like just yesterday that she'd just been born. (Isn't that what's most commonly said?) This time next year we'll be getting ready to register her for pre-K.

Tink has changed a lot in the last year. Her strength and mobility have caught up, she's gotten taller and smarter. She's much more communicative (read: she never stops talking). She's developed her own personality and sense of style. And Sister is really good at rolling her eyes.

Welcome to three, Tink. I can't wait to see what it has in store for us.

For my daughter after her birthday

April 2013

Tink turned two this past Friday, and we celebrated on Sunday.

I can hardly believe my little pixie is already two! It's gone by so quickly, and we've had so many changes in our family already. Some good, some bad, and through it all, Miss Tink has been growing into her personality.

As my grandmother would say, she's "spunky." She's sassy and fun and full of energy. She definitely a girly-girl, but she isn't afraid to get dirty for fun. She loves princesses and books and cars and hats, and has a slight addiction to purses/bags.

Happy (belated) birthday, my sweet girl! May your life be full of as many blessings as you've given me! I love you!

Happy Birthday (and death day), Mr. Shakespeare

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought (Sonnet 30)

When to the sessions of sweet silent thought

I summon up remembrance of things past,

I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,

And with old woes new wail my dear time's waste:

Then can I drown an eye, unused to flow,

For precious friends hid in death's dateless night,

And weep afresh love's long since cancelled woe,

And moan the expense of many a vanished sight:

Then can I grieve at grievances foregone,

And heavily from woe to woe tell o'er

The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,

Which I new pay as if not paid before.

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,

All losses are restored and sorrows end.

--

About William Shakespeare:

William Shakespeare was born on April 23, 1564, in Stratford-on-Avon. The son of John Shakespeare and Mary Arden, he was probably educated at the King Edward IV Grammar School in Stratford, where he learned Latin and a little Greek and read the Roman dramatists. At eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman seven or eight years his senior. Together they raised two daughters: Susanna, who was born in 1583, and Judith (whose twin brother died in boyhood), born in 1585.

Little is known about Shakespeare's activities between 1585 and 1592. Robert Greene's A Groatsworth of Wit alludes to him as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare may have taught at school during this period, but it seems more probable that shortly after 1585 he went to London to begin his apprenticeship as an actor. Due to the plague, the London theaters were often closed between June 1592 and April 1594. During that period, Shakespeare probably had some income from his patron, Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton, to whom he dedicated his first two poems, Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece(1594). The fomer was a long narrative poem depicting the rejection of Venus by Adonis, his death, and the consequent disappearance of beauty from the world. Despite conservative objections to the poem's glorification of sensuality, it was immensely popular and was reprinted six times during the nine years following its publication.

In 1594, Shakespeare joined the Lord Chamberlain's company of actors, the most popular of the companies acting at Court. In 1599 Shakespeare joined a group of Chamberlain's Men that would form a syndicate to build and operate a new playhouse: the Globe, which became the most famous theater of its time. With his share of the income from the Globe, Shakespeare was able to purchase New Place, his home in Stratford.

While Shakespeare was regarded as the foremost dramatist of his time, evidence indicates that both he and his world looked to poetry, not playwriting, for enduring fame. Shakespeare's sonnets were composed between 1593 and 1601, though not published until 1609. That edition, The Sonnets of Shakespeare, consists of 154 sonnets, all written in the form of three quatrains and a couplet that is now recognized as Shakespearean. The sonnets fall into two groups: sonnets 1-126, addressed to a beloved friend, a handsome and noble young man, and sonnets 127-152, to a malignant but fascinating "Dark Lady," whom the poet loves in spite of himself. Nearly all of Shakespeare's sonnets examine the inevitable decay of time, and the immortalization of beauty and love in poetry.

In his poems and plays, Shakespeare invented thousands of words, often combining or contorting Latin, French and native roots. His impressive expansion of the English language, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, includes such words as: arch-villain, birthplace, bloodsucking, courtship, dewdrop, downstairs, fanged, heartsore, hunchbacked, leapfrog, misquote, pageantry, radiance, schoolboy, stillborn, watchdog, and zany.

Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays. These are usually divided into four categories: histories, comedies, tragedies, and romances. His earliest plays were primarily comedies and histories such as Henry VI and The Comedy of Errors, but in 1596, Shakespeare wrote Romeo and Juliet, his second tragedy, and over the next dozen years he would return to the form, writing the plays for which he is now best known: Julius Caesar, Hamlet,Othello, King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In his final years, Shakespeare turned to the romantic with Cymbeline, A Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.

Only eighteen of Shakespeare's plays were published separately in quarto editions during his lifetime; a complete collection of his works did not appear until the publication of the First Folio in 1623, several years after his death. Nonetheless, his contemporaries recognized Shakespeare's achievements. Francis Meres cited "honey-tongued" Shakespeare for his plays and poems in 1598, and the Chamberlain's Men rose to become the leading dramatic company in London, installed as members of the royal household in 1603.

Sometime after 1612, Shakespeare retired from the stage and returned to his home in Stratford. He drew up his will in January of 1616, which included his famous bequest to his wife of his "second best bed." He died on April 23, 1616, and was buried two days later at Stratford Church.

--

Photo source

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today is the anniversary of Ted Seuss Geisel's birth.  Were he living, he'd be 105 years old.

In honor of his birthday, I urge to you take a few moments, head back to childhood, and read your favorite Dr. Seuss book.  There are so many wonderful stories to choose from, and no matter which one you choose, you won't be disappointed.

Happy birthday, sir.  And thank you for your stories.

--

Photo source

The Coffee-Stained Writer, Resolved

Tomorrow is my birthday, and in an effort to remind myself of my dedication to my writing career, I made “New Year’s Resolutions” to begin Friday. It’s a new year (for me), so it’s a time for new beginnings, change, and jettisoning old habits. Some of my resolutions have to do with writing, while others have to do with my personal life. This is what I’ve resolved (in no particular order):

I will make at least $5,000 between now and May 2009.

I will create and maintain a website for Coffee-Stained Writing.

I will finish and submit for publication my coffee house book between now and May 2009.

I will read at least one book a month.

I will experiment with at least five fiction genres outside my comfort zone.

I will spend less time in front of the TV and more time with my husband.

I will do yoga at least three times a week.

I will take an evening walk at least once a week.

I made New Year’s Resolutions in January, but I was awful about sticking to them. These will be better. Not only are they more realistic, but I feel more energized about making life changes now than I did in January, so I’m more motivated to stick to them.

I think this is going to be a good year, actually.