Family

It's a totally simple yet utterly perplexing premise.

It's the people with whom you share genetic material, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

It's the people who raise you, right? Maybe. Maybe not.

When a concept can be defined with nearly unlimited variants, you have to wonder about the viability of the word to be able to convey a unified idea to anyone who hears it.

And yet. (Yes, I started a sentence with a conjunction. And I'll likely do it again.)

And yet... say the word family to anyone in the world and they will know know deeply. They will first think of their own family. If they can get past all the thoughts that process engenders, they may be able to conceive that your family (in all likelihood) differs a great deal from their own.

Beyond that, well, that's where all of life's greatest triumphs and tragedies reside, no? There are people related to me by blood for whom I have strongly negative feelings, while there are people I've known less than a quarter of my life for whom I have the fondest of feelings.

Your family is comprised of all those people you love - whether that be one person or a hundred and fifty. The people to whom you can turn for help, even if asking for that help is the hardest thing you've ever done. The people, regardless of their genetic composition, that form the basis of your life. You never know when they'll enter your life... or when they'll leave it.

I'd like to think I have something profound to say to close off this post, but I don't. I've just been thinking lately about all the folks I love and it's quite a list. A list I'm very proud of, at that!

Two Finished Projects and Some Fun

Like all the other (laundry) things I've been procrastinating, I've been holding on to pictures of some of my FOs for a while. (I recently discovered this term "FO" for Finished Object and its counterpart "UFO" for Unfinished Objects... me likey mucho.)

Here is a small afghan that I gave to a co-worker anxiously awaiting the arrival of his first-born:

I like it - it was soft and simple and easy and pretty. Doesn't get much better than that!

Here's my first full-sized afghan, for a good friend who needed something nice:

Again, it was simple, but it pleased me greatly to have the patience to finish something so large - it's about 6' long by 3.5' wide, my largest completed project to date.

And for a little levity...

I tortured my Noodle Dude by wiping water all over his face after we finished washing our hands. He hates it when his father or I do it... so we do it, every so often, just because.

(Yeah, it was as loud as it looks.)

Organized Doodles: A Friendly Little Game

I found this post over at Organized Doodles: A Friendly Little Game. I laughed so hard, really deep belly laughs, all the while ignoring my son's demands of, "What's so funny, Mommy?" Since he's only three-and-a-half and he doesn't really get poo humor (toot humor, well, he loves that), I didn't even try to relate the story. I can honestly say that we've had no poo stories of note in his whole life (so far) with the exception of being surprised at the sometimes prodigious amount of the stuff. But I appreciate having the oppportunity to laugh at other people's interesting adventures in kid-raising - Thanks Rick!

Feeling Artistic

The "Creative Spirit" has been lingering about our abode for the past several days (if she ever really left us at all). It's been a positive thing and a not-so-positive thing - we really have been avoiding the other sundry responsibilities that go along with homeownership and parenthood. As a result, we had to focus all of both of our attentions on the little Noodle Dude just to get him to eat one small serving of baked chicken (which he usually gobbles up without incident). It was frustrating in the extreme but I treated myself to a little R&R after the ordeal and finished this:

Wind-Fire

I'm not totally thrilled with the color job (or the photograph) but I am quite enamored of the media: pencil, sharpie marker, and watercolor pencils. These last are quickly becoming my favorite way to "paint". I haven't had much success with acrylics, oil pastels or tempera (see my previous attempt). The watercolor pencils, though, they seem easier and faster - and accomplish exactly the look I'm going for without a lot of theory or practice. Lazy? Maybe. Perfectly fine by an over-stimulated, high goal-setting wife/mom. So there.

I Love Ani

I have tried three times to embed a video of Ani DiFranco from an interview in Spinner without success. So I guess I'll have to settle for the link. She's a mommy now and the video of the same song ("Both Hands") from her website has her little munchkin in it. Cute. Enjoy!

Apparently, I'm a glutton for punishment. I just have to try again with her new song "Present/Infant":

Meme Avoidance

I'm not (really) ashamed to admit that I'm a meme virgin. I just Googled "What is a 'meme'?" I still don't get it. But I've been tagged (and I bet she thought I forgot), so I'll give it a go.

First, the rules:
1. Link to the person who tagged you. See above.
2. Post the rules on your blog. Here they are!
3. Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. See below.
4. Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs.
5. Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

Six (sechs, six, sei, seis) Non-important Things About Moi

I like French. The language, the country where it originated, La Francophonie - and I occasionally butcher it with as much grace as I can muster. Excuse me while I do some more boucherie... Si vous parlez français, venez-ici pour un jeux j'ai trouver: http://www.xs4all.nl/~tluif/EngFrans2.html

I used to LOVE watching those crap kung fu movies where all the dialogue is dubbed and the barely existant plot is mostly related to some sort of vengance/retribution.

Hmmm... I'm trying to think of things I might not have mentioned to my friends, the ones most likely to even read this post...

I take on certain characteristics of the people around whom I spend most of my time. I don't realize I'm doing it right away and once I am aware, I usually just hope that the person I'm immitating doesn't notice. Or doesn't care.

I'm a little obsessive about daydreaming. I do it a lot. Really, I leave my mental back door open all the time, just in case a nice Spring breeze blows by. I'm sure it annoys people who are trying to talk to me about important stuff while I'm in la-la land. But I can't help it; I started doing it so long ago I can't/don't want to slam that door now.

I'm a late-blossoming Sci-Fi geek. I love Stargate in all its incarnations and especially Jason Momoa (Whoa momma, yummers - I'd swing from his dreds ANY day). I'm a Browncoat (Ay, ay, Captain Tightpants) through and through. But I never read any of the stuff as a kid.

Holy crap, I've been working on this post for a long time. Too many things to stop and search.

I was terrified, thanks to my great-grandmother, of indians when I was a kid. In particular, I was afraid that they would be hiding under my bed. When I was in fourth or fifth grade, I pushed the matress off my bed onto the floor between the bed and the outside wall so that (kid logic follows) if an indian came in the room to scalp me, he wouldn't see me and he would continue searching elsewhere for hapless victims. I never have completely discarded the fear that something might be lurking under the bed, but it no longer strikes me as being (insert war-whoop here)-type. More of the dark, insidious creature that likes to grab ankles sort.

Urgh - I'm crapping out on the last part of the meme - the blogger from from whom I received the tag and the blogger who tagged her are the only two bloggers I know personally. If I cultivate more friendships in the future, I'll come back to this section.

There you have it! Now, it's almost 10 p.m. and my Mr. Momoa is coming on in just a few minutes. Later!

Yes, We Can

To my mind, this is a beautiful example of the way music can send a message more powerfully than the unadorned words in the much same way that color brings a photo to life.

A "Gaggle" Got Me Going

Gaggle
–verb (used without object)
1. to cackle.
–noun
2. a flock of geese when not flying.
3. an often noisy or disorderly group or gathering
4. an assortment of related things.

gaggle. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/gaggle (accessed: February 05, 2008).

I looked this word up (on my fourth browser tab this sitting) because I was reading a newsletter from a link in my email that talked about writers establishing websites for themselves. I have had a couple blogs, this one included, that I have kept up only sporadically and a domain I have never used... Just like the last domain I never used prior to both the hosting and the domain running out. (Fifth browser tab opened to check and see who's using that old domain - hmmm... not terrible: http://www.craniumstudios.com/)

Anyway, I was thinking of my currently unused domain/hosting services and began to ponder text for it. What else does a writer do if not ponder text, eh? I envision some melding together of my like-minded friends' talents and in such a vision, some of the intro text might look something like this:

Our gaggle of gals boasts impressive talent in a variety of creative milieux. Passion for community in its myriad forms brought us together and we've all grown thanks to the experiences we've shared. Now we would like to share those experiences with a larger audience.

I know, it's raw, but I like the words "gaggle" and "milieux" - And I know what I mean, so let's just call this a rough draft. Maybe I'll lose the alliteration at the front end.

Okay, so here's the call (don't worry, I'm sure I'll make it again in person) - To all my Black Hats and other like-minded female folk, I would like to extend the invitation to launch Persnickety Me with me. I might need some whipping (won't that be fun?) to keep at it, but I need (on so many levels) to complete this one thing. I'm happy to find space for links, arts & crafts for sale, recommendations, articles, whatever floats anyone's boat. I'm learning the computer side so it might be very basic at first, but I've got a couple tricks up the proverbial sleeve.

See you all real soon!

Playing at Painter

I've been playing in my son's tempera paints this evening, enjoying myself, but wishing I had some actual idea of what I was doing. To bring it to this point, I then had to take a picture on my digital camera, upload it to Google's Picasa Web Album, then figure out how to embed it here. I'm sure plenty of folks have figured this out prior to me, but it felt like a bit of a coup for me.

coup n. - 1. a highly successful, unexpected stroke, act, or move; a clever action or accomplishment

I guess I was paticularly pleased with myself because it didn't take a day-and-a-half to figure it out, which indicates (to me, at least) that I'm finally gaining some proficiency with this blogging thing.

Sheesh - I'm sleepy. I'll leave my photo of my amateur painting up for all to adore (hahahaha) and climb in the bed... That's still unmade. At least the sheets are "hork-free"!

21 Days, Multitudinous Habits

What got me thinking about all the habits I would do well to improve upon? Kitty hork. Hork is our generic household term for anything that spews forth from the front end of our centuries old feline fellow. He donated a rather generous hork to the carpet in our front living room this morning before I could skid stocking-footed into the vicinity to alter his trajectory. Tragic.

Further pontification on the subject reminded me that we've been displaced from our bedroom for a whole week due to an unfortunate combination of Kitty hork and a poor habit of mine. Laundry. The great demon whichs spawns itself anew with each passing day. A dear friend says she rather enjoys doing this hellish task - here's her blog, where you can psychoanalyze that proclivity.

So the question becomes: on which poor habits should I first focus my attention? Laundry inattentiveness, nail-biting, procrastination, less-than-optimal eating/exercise routines, poor skincare regimine? (Yes, friends, there are others, but need I air all of my "dirty laundry" in order to make my point?) One of my son's favorite TV channels is running a campaign called Kick One, Pick One - Get rid of a bad habit and replace it with a good one. I think it's reasonably admirable; kids by in large watch an inordinate amount of television, something we've had limited success curtailing. Might as well be pumping SOME good messages into them!

I'm almost sure my husband would suggest that I tame the hulking laundry beast first. It too often occupies the majority of the floor space in our (quite large) master bathroom. One time when I cleaned it all up, Noah came in and cried, "Oh no!" because he missed his climbing pile! That's kind of sad. And don't suggest that I turn the job over to hubby - I promise, he does quite enough as it is. Plus, I would have to teach him how to do it and that just seems, well, pointless.

I think my steam has run out - apparently I need refueling. Had my tea already, but I've been up for two hours with no actual food. Plus, writing this post has been so interrupted by normal morning functioning that I've gone quite off course. Two loads of laundry are in progress, so I guess this could be considered Day 1 of 21. Let's see where we go from here!