The things you could never plan for

There are events we anticipate, plan for, prepare for in advance – maybe days or weeks or months ahead of time. And then there are the other things that come up unexpectedly and cannot be ignored. They are suddenly there, in front of you, leaving you gasping for air with no choice but to stop and rearrange your life as best you can, or, rather, watch as your life rearranges itself before your eyes.

This Saturday, a friend of my family, who we've known since he was just a kid, will be getting married. The invitations went out weeks ago. Ours mistakenly went to my parents-in-law (the Hubs was named after his dad), but, eventually, it made its way to us – hand-delivered by my father-in-law on his way home from work – and we all had a good laugh about the mix up.

But news doesn't always come in carefully selected stationery. Sometimes it's too urgent. I received a text earlier this week telling me that some of my parents' closest friends, friends from another part of their life, who I've known as long as I can remember because they were friends before I was born, just lost their youngest son. I haven't seen him in years, but we all used to play together as kids. He was about the same age as my younger brother – so, mid-twenties. And now he's gone. And I can't imagine what his parents and siblings are going through.

My parents will have house guests this week – one here for the funeral and the other here for the wedding. I went over the other night to help them get ready and brought dinner, because I didn't know what else to do. I guess it doesn't matter what life throws at you – people still need to eat and something always needs cleaning. And, during times like these, we all just take care of each other the best we can. Isn't that what everyone does?

Today, it was a voicemail. Mom's voice was steady, but something told me that when she said "call me back," she meant it. Over the phone, she delivered the news that her Uncle Bud just passed away. When her voice started to waver, we talked about something else. And then we went out to lunch. There's just too much going on right now to process it all. But people still need to eat.

As I was typing this, the Hubs finished his take-home exam for seminary. He came down with a big grin on his face and announced, "One class down, only 23 to go!" (only! 23!)

For now, we have I have my evenings with him back. And on Saturday, we will dress up and go to a funeral in the morning and a wedding in the afternoon. Mom will be checking on flights to Colorado. Everyone will still need to eat, and we'll all just keep cooking and cleaning and working and planning and dealing with the things you could never plan for. And, of course, taking care of each other the best we can.

Wedding shrapnel

You know when you're on the mend when you start noticing your house is a mess.

Last week was brother's-wedding chaos. Then, after I took two of the last out-of-town guests to the airport, I realized I was coming down with something. So this week I've been fighting off this cold/sore throat/cough thing and catching up with work and vaguely aware that the house needed attention, but too exhausted to do anything about it.

This morning (I'm using the term loosely. Does 3:30 a.m. really count as "morning"?) I woke up, mind racing with things (real and imagined) I needed to do. I finally got up to make some tea and realized it looks like some kind of wedding bomb exploded in my house.

The coffee table is littered with silk flowers, collage supplies I had out for bridal shower decorations (the shower was the evening before the wedding) and wedding magazines they keep sending me because I went to a bridal expo with Christine. In the corner of the living room are bags of stuff I brought back home from the shower and wedding. In one bag: two spools of ribbon (one mostly empty), nail polish, polish remover, scissors, lipstick, Bed Head, a vintage caketopper and a box with earrings in it (incidentally not the earrings that came in the box). I ended up with some things that belonged at my parents' house. Some need to go home with Ian and Christine when they return, and some of them need to find their way to my scrapbooking aunt. The rest just needs to be put back in place here at home.

At least the kitchen is clean, thanks to the Hubs. (Who is awesome.)

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Photo by me. Yes, we filled out our census form. OK, the Hubs did that too. Sheesh, I feel like such a bum sometimes.

Quick Takes: Better late than never?

One Friday I forgot to blog, the next Friday I just had some things I needed to finish up - a logo proof, a brochure quote, good stuff like that. Today I'm sneaking this in real quick while I wait for approval on an ad. So some of these items are a little overdue, but, still, here are my quick takes on this week the last few weeks:

(1)
Thanks to everyone who stopped by my blogiversary party! You made me smile and smile! I definitely felt the love! I hope you enjoyed "meeting" each other, too.

(2)
Also thanks to those of you who wrote a poem or chimed in for our Quatrain edition of Perfectly Poetical Tuesday!

(3)
The next PerPoTues is three weeks from Tuesday. Since the style is haiku, you could write one line each week and totally be done in time.

(4)
Work is still staying busy. I'm grateful. And tired.

(5)
The Hubs was pretty disappointed he didn't get to execute his meal plan last week. So he told me he'd take care of dinner this week. Have I mentioned lately that he's awesome?

(6)
We had a nice, relaxed Independence Day celebration with part of the Hubs side of the family. We didn't go see fireworks, but we did - at the insistence of his cousin's four-year-old - put candles on a cake and sing happy birthday to America. The kids blew out the candles on the country's behalf.

(7)
I'm pretty far behind on dealing with photos - getting them off the camera, posting them, etc. There's also a few things I've felt like I should post about, but haven't for one reason or another. I'm thinking of instituting Things I've Been Meaning To Tell You Thursdays. What do you think?


What are your 7 Quick Takes? Dish it at Conversion Diary!

A quick update

Philadelphia International Airport, originally uploaded by Suffrboy.

Remember how things were up in the air with the Hubs last week? Well, before we knew it, the Hubs was literally up in the air - flying to Philadelphia to be with his extended family and attend his Uncle Karl's funeral. He was gone most of the week, and, I have to admit, it was hard for me. We've been married almost 5 years without being apart for that long before. Needless to say, I was superglad to have him back!

So. This week. I'm not posting a menu plan, because we really haven't gotten back into our routine or figured out things like what we're going to be eating yet. All I know is that I'll be working late (at home) on a client project, and that the Hubs is picking up dinner on his way home. (Yay!)

Also, yes, PerPoTues will be tomorrow! So write up 4 lines that rhyme and get ready to join in the Perfectly Poetical fun!

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Photo by suffrboy. Haven't even seen hubby's pictures yet, much less gotten them off the camera!

On the Menu: Up in the air

Business is booming on Bold Avenue - lots of custom design and writing projects have been coming in. Which, of course, is fabulous! But busyness comes with its own challenges.

As I was looking at this week and feeling overwhelmed, one thing lead to another, and I ended up asking the Hubs, "how would you like to deal with the food next week?" And he was up for it! (He likes to cook.) I am so grateful! He already made a plan for Monday through Thursday and went shopping.

His plan (written on the back of one of my new menu plan pages):



Which means:

• potatoes and eggs (omelette) with carrot soup
• tuna casserole (which I didn't make again last week)
• chakchouka
• chicken and rice
  

Ok. So I wrote the above last night. But there was something neither one of us took into consideration.

Friday, my hubby's Uncle Karl passed away. (That's the uncle we stayed with when we went to Pennsylvania.) At first, the Hubs wasn't going to fly out for the funeral. Now he might. So a lot of things are up in the air.

So what's on your menu this week?

On the menu: change

This week it's back to menu planning. And, as usual, back to plans changing before we even get started.

Tuesday my parents are going out of town, and my brother is moving to Flagstaff (three hours north of here), so it was decided that Monday we're all going out to eat. Probably to Serrano's, which is quite possibly our family's favorite Arizona Mexican food.

So here was plan A:


Here is the revised plan:

• Monday - (eat out w/ fam)
• Tuesday - 7-bean soup (with a little bit o' chicken sausage)
• Wednesday - tuna casserole and spinach salad
  
• Thursday - chicken sausage, potatoes and onions with applesauce
• Friday - spaghetti with red sauce
• Saturday - (Independence Day partying)

I don't think I told you that when I finally got around to making that "Hearty Tuna Casserole" (the one with the zucchini and no peas), it was really good. So I'm making it again. It'll help use up all these green onions. We'll pretty much be having green onions on everything except our cereal this week, since I already had extra and will inherit more when the parents leave town. Got any other good green onion recipes?

Let me know. And post your plan at Chive Talkin'!

The one where I get all old skool

I wasn't supposed to have Barbies as a kid. Instead, I had the Sunshines - a very sweet, wholesome, approximately Barbie-sized (but much more realistically-proportioned) family of dolls.


It was my Granddaddy, Mom's own father, who (probably unknowingly) went against her wishes and bought me for-real Barbies for my birthday. What could Mom do but grin, and let me welcome them into the Sunshine family?

I'm pretty sure my parents were similarly un-thrilled when Granddaddy decided that Michael Jackson doll clothes would be the perfect Christmas gift for me. But what could they do but help me write a thank-you note and sigh as I struggled to pull a single sparkly white glove (more of a mitten actually) over Crystal Barbie's built-in ring?


I was excited about the clothes, though. My older cousins had introduced me to Michael Jackson, and I thought he was pretty cool. So I happily dressed those formerly-contraband Barbies in red and black (fake) leather pants and jackets with all these extra zippers that didn't actually open, even though everything was just slightly too big for them.

In recent years, I haven't been a fan of Michael Jackson. Or Barbie for that matter. But scanning the radio stations in the car yesterday made me smile. When you look back at history, things aren't always so black or white. Remember the time before all the controversy? Before Michael Jackson - or the world in general - seemed so dangerous? Watching the Thriller video with my cousins. Trying to moonwalk on the playground. Thinking we were "bad," because we knew that bad meant good.

Those songs brought back happy memories from when I was growing up. At the same time, it made me sad to think that Michael himself didn't have a happy childhood. And neither did a lot of other kids. It made me want to do something. To protect the children, to make a brighter day, to heal the world...as if I'm the one who can do all/any of that. But, really? What can you do?

All I can think of is this: If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.

*****

PS Oh yes, you did catch some MJ references in the last half of the post! From the "In recent years" paragraph to the end, there's about a dozen Michael Jackson song references, mostly titles. Find them all and you'll get....well...not a prize exactly...but definitely some survived-the-80s cred! Need a hint?

PPS Not sure where my old toys are, but I found them on Flickr - yay! I'm pretty sure those are the two MJ outfits I had. (Not the dolls, though.)

Photos by:
1) elasticcamel
2) Brimley
3) Sakurako Kitsa

Quick Takes: Igniting Phoenix to Dads' Bad Rap

Ok, I'm getting ready to go, so this week's quick takes are gonna be QUICK!

1)
This past week the Hubs and I went to an event called Ignite Phoenix. Ignite is all about sharing information and sparking ideas within a local community. It was entertaining, interesting and I met (and reconnected with) some great people. There are Ignites in other places too. If you have an Ignite event where you live, you should definitely check it! I took a few pics, and there are lots more if you search "ignitephx" on Flickr.

2)
Speaking of things to do, this weekend is the first of those fee-free National Park weekends I told you about. Get outside and explore!


3)
Chanelle and I finally made it to The Coffee Shop - what a neat place! It's surrounded by a garden. And they have such pretty cupcakes! I should've taken pics, but I just didn't.

4)
So I've been doing a lot of talking about thinking about where LSL has been and where it's going. Next week I'm going to start sharing some of that with you. I'm going to have a series of posts that either REPLAY past posts from the archives or RETHINK (out loud) aspects of Little Stuff of Life. So stay tuned!

5)
Had an absolutely lovely dinner with E, Christine, and Christine's mom Rebekah last night. Just...yeah...at a loss for words here, but good times. And Christine is a fablous cook.

6)
Oh! I don't know how I almost forgot this! But I got my hair cut Tuesday. It's...shorter than I asked them to cut it. But ok. You'll definitely see pics next week when I post my California stuff, but I'm gonna hold off for now 'cuz it's kind of outta control today.

7)
Happy Father's Day (a little early) to all the dads! Don't you think dads get a bad rap sometimes? I do. I think this weekend is a good time to say something encouraging to the good dads you know.


So that's it. My very quick takes. But wait! there's more! over at Conversion Diary!

Can we build it? (This is the part where you say, "Yes, we can!")

Looking for a fun summer project? If you have kids between the ages of 4 and 17, you should check out the SKIL Building Memories Contest. ("SKIL" because it's sponsored by SKIL Power Tools - and Lowe's. Not because you have mad skilz. Although I'm sure you do.) Anyway, I think it sounds like a neat idea. It's a little inspiration to get parents and kids working on a hands-on project together.

Here's what you do:

• Sit your kiddo(s) down by the computer with you.
  
• Go to www.skilbuildingmemories.com.
• Pick out a building project - there are four different ones, categorized by age.
• Click on "download project plans" to get a handy (but not totally printer-friendly) PDF that has a checklist of the tools and materials you need, plus directions of how to make the game or birdhouse or whatever you picked.
• Take said kiddo to the hardware store to pick up anything you don't already have around the house. (Guess which hardware store they suggest. Yep. But the rules don't say you have to buy your stuff at Lowe's. I checked.)
• Designate a photographer or videographer to document the process. (You could do this yourself - after all, you have mad skilz. But you don't want to forget to take pics or be too distracted from the task at hand.)
  
• Have fun building your project together and try not to hammer any little fingers!
  
• Enter the contest.
• Win the contest! And share your prize with me 'cuz I told you about it! (Kidding.)
  

For dads who are into building stuff, this could be a really fun thing to do on Father's Day. Or maybe afterwards. The contest goes until July 12. You could also just download the plans, save them for the next time you want to do a project with your kids, and not worry about the contest/deadline. Either way, have fun!

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Photo by 1) pmsyyz

Quick Takes: free to funny

My 7 quick takes on this week....


Free stuff is so much fun! I'm thinkin' it's kind of addictive, too. After the Hubs and I got our free rootbeer floats at Sonic, I must've been hungry for more. I say this because my mom called to see if I wanted to get up and go wait in line with her for free Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tickets, I agreed without question. We had fun hanging out, though, and I'll let you know how the show goes.



Good week for exploring new coffee places! After Mom and I scored the above mentioned free tickets, she took me to try the Human Bean. It was a cute little place with good coffee and a delicious blueberry scone (not too sweet - perfect!), and then....

...today I'm meeting Chanelle at The Coffee Shop at Agritopia. I've never been there before either, but she loves it!

I know I've referenced the book Guns, Germs and Steel here at least once. It sounds super interesting from what Dad and E (*my brother) say. So Christine (*girlfriend of E) and I are both going to read it now. I fiiiiiinally got my copy from the library. (It was only on hold for a couple weeks, but it seemed like a long time.) I've just barely started it, and he's still kinda setting things up. But I think it's going to be a thought-provoking read.

I'm putting together a t-shirt catalog to showcase the different styles of t-shirts and polos I offer (including some that are not available in my online shop) with quantity discounts for groups, etc. You'll be able to download it from my website once I get the Big Redesign done. In the meantime, if you want one, let me know.

Some of you who get around in the blogosphere know that Mr. Linky has been having server problems. If that last sentence didn't make sense to you, all you need to know is that Mr. Linky is that box where you post your link on Perfectly Poetical Tuesdays, etc. and it's been having technical problems. Anyway, the point is this: whether the little Linky box shows up on Tuesday or not, the show will go on! We'll still have PerPoTues, and you can just leave your link with your comment if there's no where else to put it.


Also? "Write epic poem" is a funny to-do list item.


More Quick Takes at Conversion Diary!

Are you ready?

I haven't really discussed the swine flu here much (if at all). The thing is I kinda felt like it was getting enough attention already. I did toy with the idea of a post on decorating face masks, but, by the time I was getting around to that, the (real or perceived) threat to North America was dying down.


This morning an article about the media and people's reactions to the swine flu caught my attention. On Exurban, Inc., Ted Villa wrote:

"One of the most interesting things to me has been the reaction to the 'pandemic' as defined by the WHO on places like Twitter: skepticism, lack of concern, some outright mockery. Meanwhile, compare this to some of the reaction in the print and broadcast media where it seems it’s time to stock the water, rice and beans and line up for the Tamiflu vaccination."

Good article. (And worth reading the rest of.)


But I'm wondering: what's wrong with stocking up on water and rice and beans? I mean, pandemic pandemonium aside, isn't it just generally a good idea to keep some of that stuff on hand just in case of...whatever?


I'll admit, we're not always so great about that emergency preparedness stuff around here. (My parents - good scouts who are very into Being Prepared - are cringing as they read this.) Maybe it has something to do with living in Phoenix. We don't have a lot of natural disasters here. No blizzards or hurricanes or earthquakes (if there's a biggie over in L.A. we might get a little swimming-pool-sloshing tremor, but those don't really count). So we tend to get a little lazy and put off filling the water bottles or stocking up on staples.

But hearing about how one of the world's biggest cities basically shut down because of a little teeny virus made me think. And, flu or no flu, I think we shouldn't be quite so reliant on being able to zip out to the store at any moment. You just never know.

So, we're gonna work on that. And I bet my dad could help us come up with a check list.

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Photos by me. Apple pie filling bottled by Mom, who is most likely ready for anything.

On the menu: week of 5/3/09

I didn't have my shopping list handy when I jotted down this week's menu, so I grabbed the back of a mailing label and wrote the first draft there. (Recycling!)

Then I remembered that we didn't end up eating stir fry last week, so I still have stir fry ingredients to use up.

So here's the revised plan:

• Monday - stir fry with tofu, almonds, etc.
  
• Tuesday - taco salad
  
• Wednesday - baked chicken, mashed potatoes and veggies
  
• Thursday - family get together or tuna casserole
• Friday - homemade potato soup

A few notes:

• I have some potatoes that need eating, can you tell? :)
  
• I had taco salad on the menu, but I forgot about Cinco de Mayo until I read Jenna's plan. Then, I thought it would be better suited to Tuesday.
• I haven't made tuna casserole in a really long time. Let me know if you have a really great recipe to suggest.
  
• We might be getting together with my family Thursday night and making pizza or pasta. It's kind of up in the air until we get some work schedules figured out.

Have a great day! And don't forget to stop by Jenna's blog to see what else is cookin' this week!

Quick Takes: possible poetical burnout to general awesomeness

I feel like we have some catching up to do! After Monday's menu plan, Perfectly Poetical Tuesday, Earth Day and Earth Day overflow, there's just been some things I haven't been able to get to. Good thing I have 7 of these Quick Takes!

1. Ok, is it just me or am I sensing some Poetical burnout? I think this poem-a-week project may be a little more challenging than we figured. There's one week left in April, and we're scheduled for an epic poem. What I want to know: are we up for the challenge? Would Perfectly Poetical work better as a monthly event (say, every second Tuesday)? If so, would you like to reschedule the epic poem for a couple weeks from now? Would you like to just say "Yay! That was fun for three weeks!" and forget about the epic altogether? I would really love your feedback on this! What sounds fun to you?
   
2. Tuesday was my sweet Mom's birthday (if you're thinking didn't you just have a parent with a birthday? You're right - Dad's was just a couple weeks ago.) Happy (belated) birthday to my brilliant, beautiful, kind, loving Mom!
   
3. Girl time update #1: Last week I went with my Aunt Roberta to NU at the Heard Museum - that's the monthly event where the museum (devoted to Native American art and cultures) stays open late, has live music and guest speakers, etc. We met up on the light rail (I got a few stops after she did), sat in the courtyard and had dinner, then went on a whirlwind tour of museum highlights. She knows the museum well, and it was fun to see some of her favorite exhibits.
   
4. Girl time update #2: Last night my sister-in-law Liz and I went to This American Life - Live! We had a great time going, and then a great time coming back and sitting in my living room chatting, long after the Hubs had given up on us and gone to bed. She and I haven't done anything like that since...well...actually, I don't think we've ever gone out just the two of us. We'll have to do it again! Of course, it's great to have the guys and/or the fam hanging out with us too, but there's something special about one-on-one time, don't you think?
   
5. I don't know if you've headed over to SortaCrunchy yet, but she's having a Bold Avenue gift certificate giveaway. And, really, you should stop on over there anyway. 'Cuz she writes a fun, thought-provoking blog that's full of insights on life and parenting and is always a delight to read. Also? In case you needed further proof of Megan's general awesomeness: when BlogHer made it so that she was no longer allowed to let me sponsor a giveaway on her blog, she generously volunteered to it on her own dime. Yeah. For reals. Just to help spread the word about my little biz. How generous is that?!! Sooo, seriously....go check it out! And best of luck to you on the giveaway!
6. Very good, very convicting list of real priorities - Drowning in Home Management
   on Preschoolers and Peace. I had never visited that site before, but would like to check it out more. (The link came from Holy Experience.)
7. I'm cheating here, but I just ran out of things to tell you. Who would've thought that'd happen - ever??
   

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary.

Perfectly Poetical: Dr. Seuss

Thanks for joining us for another Perfectly Poetical Tuesday! This week's style is Dr. Seuss, so I hope you're ready with some fun, Seuss-esque poetry!

If you're just tuning in, here's the deal:

• April is National Poetry Month
• Tuesdays in April are Perfectly Poetical Tuesdays here at The Little Stuff of Life
• Each week features a different style of poetry (announced the previous week)

Here's how to play today:

• Blog in "Dr. Seuss" style. (Something that reminds us of Dr. Seuss - you can define exactly what that means. Have fun with it!)
• Link from your post to this post. (Buttons are optional. But cool.)
• Leave your link and a comment here.

Style for next week - the final week of April: Epic. (This doesn't have to be pages long - just longer than a limerick. Tell us a tale of adventure and bravery in your every day life!)

Also, today...

• Starts a sweet contest over at SortaCrunchy (or so I hear) - you'd better go check it out!
• Is my mom's birthday. (Which is somewhat relevant because of the amazing children's literature she introduced me to. But mostly I just wanted to say "happy birthday, Mom!")
• Since every life writes a poem, tell us what yours says - Dr. Seuss style!

[Mine was inspired by Fox in Sox. And by hanging out with hubby's family this weekend.]

Kids in Pics

Kids
Kicks
Tricks
Pics

Kids with pics.
Tricks with kicks.
Kids take pics.
Kids do tricks.

Grown ups chit.
Grown ups chat.
All they do is sit, sit, sit.

Sitting and chatting makes kids sick.

I don't like to sit, sir.
I don't like chit chat, sir.
All this sitting and chitting makes me sick, sir.

I like to do kicks.
I like to do tricks.
I like taking pics of tricky kicks!

Kids do tricks with kicks for pics.
Kids take tricky pics for kicks.

Taking pics and making tricks, tricky kids don't sit and chat.



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Photos by me. But they were the kids' ideas. :)

On the menu: week of 4/19/09

Thus another week begins and another menu plan is posted.


I have the handwriting of a doctor sometimes, don't I?

So. On to what we're eating (or planning to eat) this week:

• Monday - Spaghetti with marinara sauce, veggies on the side
• Tuesday - Stir fry with tofu
• Wednesday - Spicy chicken pinto bean soup
• Thursday - Pizza for the Hubs (Steph out with Liz)
• Friday - Baked potatoes with chili (if we're not at the parents' house)

Yes, I'm leaving the Hubs at home alone again.This time to go out with his sister. She's taking me to This American Life—Live!, because 1) she's awesome. (I really lucked out in the sister-in-law department!) 2) as you may have guessed, we're both total NPR nerds. (And I'm sure she's totally ok with me saying that.) Anyway, the Hubs knew about all this girl time in advance, and I think he's happy to indulge his introvert side with some quiet time at home - especially during a couple of very social weeks like the last two have been!

Also, on Caregroup nights (two Wednesdays out of the month), I'm trying to stick with things that can be ready to eat as soon as the Hubs gets home - soup, salad, etc. He already gets off work too late for us to ever make it there on time, but at least we can be less late.

So I think that's that.

Stop by the Chive Talkin' Menu Plan Blog Roll for more menu plannin' goodness!


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Photo by me. Liz with niece Dana yesterday.

Easter baskets

My parents are so sweet. Mom still makes us Easter baskets each year (without peeps, of course). This year she came up with a creative - and calorie-free - new twist: hanging baskets filled with lovely plants.


She even took into consideration where we would hang them. With the help of a nursery owner we know, she chose plants for the Hubs and I that would do well on our east-facing balcony: sweet alyssum, hanging lantana and vinca. They'll fill in the gaps, hang down and look even more fabulous in no time. Also, those are all hearty plants that should be able to survive our scorching summers!


E and Christine got a completely different set of plants that would thrive in northern exposure.


Because hanging plants require extra water - especially in Arizona with so much sun and evaporation - she also got us those Aqua Globes to help keep them watered.

The Hubs hung our basket up, and it makes me smile every time I look out our bedroom window.

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Photos by me. Ignore the keys clipped to our basket - that's the hubby's system for making sure we don't forget anything. The funny thing is that we remembered the basket, but somehow left without our Aqua Globe. Sigh. Good thing my parents don't live far away.

Camping in

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Photos by me. | For the story, see my acrostic poem from Perfectly Poetical Tuesday. | For more Wordless Wednesday, visit www.wordlesswednesday.com.

Perfectly Poetical: Encampment Acrostic

Welcome to the first of our Perfectly Poetical Tuesdays! Because it's National Poetry Month and because every life writes a poem, Tuesdays in April I'm inviting you to write a poem about your life (or whatever it is you would normally blog about that day). Each week will feature a different poetic style.

To join, blog in the style for the week and include a link to my Pefectly Poetical post for that week (i.e. this post). Then leave your link in the Mr. Linky and a comment. (Note: links to non-poetical posts may be deleted.)

Button images are here, if you'd like to grab one. I'm having trouble getting the code copiable, so let me know if you need help.

Of course, anyone is welcome to leave a comment in good ol' prose (or you can acrostic there if you don't have a blog.)

Today's style is acrostic (that's the one where each line of the poem spells out a word).

Next week: limerick. (Despite what Wikipedia says, let's keep 'em clean.)

Did I miss anything?

And, now for my acrostic post...


Camping In

Expect the unexpected: birthday boy's extra work nixes expedition
Nevertheless, at night we hike in parents' neighborhood instead of journeying north
Cook in kitchen: stew, pie, biscuits, hotcakes and hasbrowns
All fall asleep warm in living room while moon and stars shine on roof
Morning tea, just Mom and me, after late night talking with Christine
Packing up pillows, rolling up bags, unpitching tents
Masterfully at last minute, dad makes duct tape repairs to reunite my boot and sole
E.J. Peak: we try to reach, incomplete, agree to retreat
Nosh late afternoon - a pleasant end to a pleasant weekend
Things, at times, come together better than expected.

****
Photo by me.

Quick Takes: birthday wishes to maybe camping

It's Friday. You know what that means: time for quick takes - the post where I wrap up the week, catch you up on my plants, and sometimes wax poetic about recent laundry adventures. Good times!


First of all and most importantly: happy birthday to my dad, who makes us laugh with his brilliant sense of humor but always offers a shoulder (and a hug!) when someone needs to cry, who is my friend, teacher, encourager, adviser, and the absolute best father a daughter could wish for! Love you, Dad!


One thing I forgot to mention last week was that the Hubs and I were working on (and now have finished) a Lord of the Rings puzzle, which you may think is kind of a nerdy thing to do, and I'm fine with that. Here's the thing. Sometimes, especially during allergy season, I get too tired at the end of the day to even read a book. I end up in front of the TV, even though I don't want that to be a really big habit for me. So when Liz and Matt said, "Do you guys want this puzzle?" A light bulb went on and I said yes. The Hubs and I had fun putting it together. And it was a great non-TV activity for those tired days. I could just zone out and try to figure out which part of the Ring of Power I was holding in my hand. So I think we'll do another one. Thanks, you two! :)


Rufus is doing great! He's sprouting up, and it looks like he might bloom.


In case you missed it, I did finally get a (real) post up yesterday. Well, it was yesterday in some parts of the world. Anyhoo, it was all about Perfectly Poetical Tuesdays, so you'll wanna check that out.


So this has been a week of late posts, hasn't it? It got me thinking, what if I just started posting later? Not as late as yesterday, but maybe in the early afternoon instead of the morning? What would you all think of that? Hmmm....


When I talk about being busy with work stuff, are you wondering what I'm up to? Wellll, I won't bore you with details, but here's a little overview: quoting (for design projects mostly), following up on quotes, getting my product info/client info/project info organized, learning about organic apparel, adding it to my shop and promoting my new stuff, trying to figure out what I'm going to do with my website, planning all kinds of poemy funness, designing coupons to be given out at the Heard Museum's NU event in May (if you're in Phoenix - mark your calendar for May 15 - I'll tell you more when the date gets closer), and...yeah...that should give you an idea of what I've been up to workwise.


For my dad's birthday, Dad, Mom, E, Christine, the Hubs and I were all going to go camping. We still might. Or we might just do a day trip. It's kinda up in the air right now. Either way, I'm sure we'll have fun, and there will be pics next week.

Make sure to check out the 7 Quick Takes headquarters!