November 24, 2011

This Thanksgiving, I'm thankful for...

  • running water
  • laundry soap
  • any kind of soap (that has to be the only thing keeping me well)
  • kids that want to snuggle when they're sick
  • my husband because I have been LOST without him while he's been sick
  • that it's only a virus
  • Cloves, oranges, and rosemary, because I needed *something* to freshen up this house today...

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I hope you all are having a wonderful Thanksgiving, warm and close to friends and family and good food. 

Much love,
~Michele

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October 30, 2011

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Pumpkins were carved.
Seeds roasted in the oven.
The smell of pumpkin soup filled the house.
A fall breeze flowed through the open windows while the kids watched Hocus Pocus.
Tonight we'll read Goodnight Goon again.

I.love.fall.

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October 6, 2011

My middle child came running into my office yesterday--dirty, sweaty, out of breath, and talking a mile a minute. The house had been awfully quiet and I figured my husband and the boys were up to something outside, but I didn't have a clue as to what he was talking about. Then I went out and saw they were digging in a little space in our front yard. Instantly, I realized exactly what they had found.

10 years go, my husband and I buried a time capsule for our future children. We'd been married just a year and hadn't even started to think about having kiddos at that point, but we had this crazy idea to make a time capsule and decided to go for it. I specifically remember we wrote letters to our future children (we thought we were only going to have two and we already had their names picked out...Tristan and Amerlyn. Thank goodness she came along to fulfill our prophecy). Over the years, I've thought about when we might dig up the time capsule with the kids. To be honest, I couldn't really remember what else we had put in there, but I was *really* excited to read what we had written to our future kids. 

When they first started digging, the boys had no idea that *we* were to ones who buried it. They were so wrapped up in the excitement of finding treasure...they were convinced it was at least 100 years old, LOL. I was crushed, however, when I saw that the bag protecting it had fallen apart and the tin was severely corroded. Everything that was paper inside the tin (including several photos, my copy of this book--which was a HUGE part of my life--newspapers, magazines, and oh no!!! THOSE LETTERS!!!!) was ruined. I may or may not have cried a little bit over that.  

However, some things did survive...

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That's a Polaroid of my hubby and I when I was in college and there's my genie watch (I was obsessed w/ all things Disney growing up) and somehow, a little miniature plastic Hungry Hippos game survived, too. There was a bunch of old jewelry (almost all of it was corroded beyond recognition), but the greatest find was our high school class rings!! I totally forgot that we had put them in there and I have spent countless hours searching the house for them over the years, LOL. That almost makes up for the lost letters ;-). They say diamonds are forever, but now I'm thinking it's plastic, Polaroids, and gold.

The boys enjoyed the time capsule much more than we ever would have imagined. We've decided to make another one for our family to dig up in another 10 years. I'm excited to see what they choose to put in there and I *hope* we can come up with a water-tight container that won't fall apart on us--any suggestions...something besides gold?

Have you ever created or recovered a time capsule? I would LOVE to hear your stories and share them w/ our kiddos (talk to me on Facebook). 
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September 19, 2011

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A few years ago, I decided to try my hand at something completely new.
I picked out a small plot of land and made a little clearing.
In that clearing, I carefully planted a few little seeds.

After a few weeks of constant vigilance, life started to grow in my garden.
It was small, but it was beautiful.
It made me excited.
It made me happy.

As with most gardens, a few weeds sprouted here and there.
At first, I was diligent in removing the weeds.
However, after a short time of neglect, they became bolder, more plentiful.

I couldn't keep up, so I decided that a few weeds were okay.
I told myself that they were natural.
I said the weeds were pretty.
I even photographed in them ;-).

Eventually, I could no longer see my garden.
I had actually forgotten what I had planted there.
The weeds had taken over.
There were too many.
The weeds became the garden.

I didn't want to go to my garden anymore.

So I started to visit other gardens.
Their gardens were so well-maintained.
They had the prettiest blooms.
They had the best-smelling flowers.
Even the bees liked other gardens more than mine.

I didn't want to visit other gardens anymore.

I'm a terrible gardener.

Gardening sucks.

**********************

But I still like flowers.
I miss my flowers.
I wish I could dig up all of those old weeds and see those flowers again.
Maybe I should.
Ugh, but there's too many. 
I can't even face it.

What if I just pull one?
Just one.
Hmph.
That wasn't too bad.

Didn't make much progress though.
Tomorrow, I'll pull another one. Maybe two. I can do three--no, four.
If I can keep this up every day for just a week, I might find what I loved again.

Maybe.
Weeds aren't that pretty after all.
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May 26, 2011

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Oh, I could definitely get used to nights like this.
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