Short People

You know what's awesome?  What's awesome is when you are absolutely, positively the shortest one in the family...and your kids come up to you and affectionately call you "shorty"...and you don't even care if they smell like stinky, funky little men because you're getting a delicious side hug...and you rejoice in the fact that they occasionally smell like Axe (because it is slightly better than B.O.)...and you are so thankful that the song "Short People" never, EVER plays on the radio any more as surely if it did, it's all you'd be hearing.  All in all, I have to say that being the shortest one in the family pretty much rocks.  And, besides, being short gives you an automatic placement in the "cute" category, right?  Right?!?!  Countin' on it!

The Kiddo Bonus

You know when your kid is in the early elementary school grades, and you're waiting outside their classroom at the end of the day, and you're sizing up all the other moms and dads because you know, you KNOW your kiddo is going to end up spending time at some of their homes, and you're making your own decisions about which of the kids you're going to end up encouraging your kid to hang out with just because you think their parent(s) are uber interesting/creative/cool/awesome?  OK, let me take a deep breath, that sentence was WAY to long.  Whew!  Well, I do!  And, let me tell you, I nailed it!  With both of my children I went through this informal filtering process and I tell you what, I have two groups of parent friends that so totally rock.  Tonight I had the absolute pleasure of hanging with three of my little guy's friends' moms (we met about 8 years ago).  I felt surrounded by passion, empathy, brilliance, breath-taking beauty, self-reflection, and such a sense of "real" that we 40+ year old broads are getting a solid hang of.  I'm so very glad I had children for so, so many reasons, but these friendships are super high among them.  Thanks, kiddos!

Here we are, lovely ladies...

hanging out at our round table, sipping our bevs.  Love!

Yeah, I can totally see it.

I had the great luck this morning of rounding a corner just as a gorgeous white standard poodle appeared with its owner.  You know, of course, how much I LOVE big white standard poodles!  I was all smiley happy as I neared it...and...amazing wonder of wonders, it was wearing a teeny tiny black hat!  Oh, my goodness, my day was made!!!  I kept going, barely able to focus on the driving that was required at that moment.  Well...I'll have you know it stuck with me ALL DAY LONG.  And, if I saw you today you better believe that I pictured YOU with a teeny tiny black hat on top of your head, too.  Awesome, right?  Bliss....

To Infinty and Beyond!

Fresh off another fabulous day of shooting rockets into the sky!

You know what rocketry is to my family?  Well, it's the most awesome way in the world to get my kid excited about science, my little guy and his grandpa get to be BFFs, and every once in a while, things blow up.  It's awesome.

HUGE bonus this time, though.  I drove my dad and the little guy out of town and back for the event.  Lots of talk about the launch plans on the way there, but on the way back I finally got the whole scoop on what my dad was up to all those days of my childhood when he left early in the morning to go to work and then always came home in plenty of time to help us with homework, instrument practice, and general nagging to do chores, of course.  It's funny, as kids we really don't necessarily know what our parents do to bring the bucks home.  What do I remember?  I remember hanging out at UT as a wee one, drawing on HUGE chalk boards, and all those stairs that had to be navigated around campus that I'd revisit 15 years later when I began attending college.  With the office jobs he had, I only remember the company parties, the getting VERY tipsy once at a bar-b-que when I snagged my dad's Coors (his brand of choice in the 70s) and my ensuing personality change...freakishly introverted to WAY out of my box.  I also remember his super nice secretaries who, in retrospect, spoiled me rotten.  My dad's work history is awe-worthy in my eyes.  I won't go into the details, but it was a wonder to hear the path he took from being a physics professor at UT as a young man to a rocketry enthusiast in his retirement.  I know it seems like it could've been a direct path, but he took the creative way around. 

My kids, on the other hand, are all in my and Dave's work life.  They've both helped in my classroom while I taught and Dave has hired them to help on many set-ups.  And, so far, they've maintained their sobriety and are seriously lacking in the spoiled department.

Ain't Life Grand

Driving in the car today with my little guy.  I'm rambling on as I do when we're together.  I start reflecting on just how very lucky we are. 


Me:  "We have a life full of love and beauty."

Little guy:  "Uh huh."

Me:  "You get to go hang out with grandpa and shoot rockets."

Little guy:  "Uh huh."

Me:  "I get to paint every day."

Little guy:  "Uh huh."

Me:  "Gosh, we are so lucky!"

Little guy:  "Uh huh."

Me:  "I'm so happy."

Little guy:  "That's enough of that," as he reaches for the radio knob.  "Boom...boom...boom"

Me:  "We're so lucky we even get to listen to hip-hop."

Little guy:  Eyes roll.


Yeah, he heard me.  He knows his life is pretty darn grand.  And, gosh, I actually got five sentences out before I lost him.  Seriously a new record.

We've Gone Batty

I don't even remember how it came up.  Somehow Dave and I started talking about my artwork on stuff and how it would TOTALLY work on underwear.  No, we weren't drinking...we never drink.  Can't blame that.  Anyway, we focused in on underwear with my Congress Avenue Bats picture on them.  And, gosh, what's underwear without some message on it, right?  Brilliant, and terribly clever people that we are, we came up with these (feel free to applaud as you read them):

"Gone Batty"

"I'm guano get you!"

"Baby's got Bat"

"Sonar Powered"

Tag line to get people to buy them?  "You're guano want some of these!!"

Yeah, we're pretty awesome....

On Being Useful

You know, when we think of our children, we want them to be happy in life, we want them to do what they love, we want them to have amazing relationships, and we want them to think of their lives as having some point, some usefulness.

Well, my parents must be SO proud of me!  Yes, I'm happy, yes I do what I love both in work and play, yes I have amazing relationships, AND, as of now, I find I'm fulfilling the usefulness piece as well.  How did I find out?  I bet you're wondering.  Here's how it went.


In the process of making my bed I found a crumpled up piece of paper.  Hmmmmmm.

Turns out it was a ZAP (a thing teachers give kids when they don't turn something in on time - Zeros Are Prohibited).

Me:  "What's this?"

Little guy:  "Oh, I found that in the library book I checked out.  It's not mine."

Me:  "OK, so why was it in my bed?"

Little guy:  "Well, after you fall asleep I always put my bookmark on you.  You're useful mom."


Well, there ya go!  Yes siree bobbers, this girl is USEFUL!

(So what if it's in a bedside table kind of way...it's awesome!)