Jenny On the Spot: Caffeinated mom, lover of dancing, glitter and glitter.

Who knows if this is half as funny as it was to me. But you know how moms are… we all think OUR kid is the smartest, the funniest and cutest…

And really, what happened Sunday morning was probably more adorable and ushy-gushy precious than funny. Maybe. Naw. It was funny. 4 year olds have that effect on life…

Look at the picture. Do you see that little rainbow doo-bob spinny thing in my daughter’s hair? She found it Sunday morning. And she was ever-so deeeeelighted to have found her long-lost, and apparently beloved rainbow hair doo-bob. For when she found it she gasped and exclaimed,

I FOUND MY FING MAMA!!!!

*SMOOOOOOOOOOOCH-SMACK!!!*

MAMA! I JUST KISSED IT!

Oh and did she ever. I heard that *swak*.

Here’s the thing. I get it. I am also an emotional kisser. I too have kissed my beloveds…

After Lucy looked over her lost love… she asked,

MAMA!?

*I love that she calls me Mama, and I love that she speaks in all caps…

IS THIS TWISTY HAIR FING MADE OUT OF RAINBOW LICORICE??!!!

Oh how I long to think like a four year old! Like, how much fun is that?

As we all take on a new week… may you find your own rainbow licorice… be it the gift of 5 extra minutes, be it pre-shredded cheese, be it a chilled mug for your root beer… Delight in the small, but wonderful surprises that are hiding in your Monday. There has to be at least ONE in there somewhere! I’ll be looking to my Lucy. She’s sure to sniff one out for us both :)

***Meanwhile, at BlogHer… do you think we are living in anti-social bubbles? When the words :online and “family are used together… what thhoughts come to your mind? Visit my newest contribution there and join the conversation!

********

Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

Get Jenny On The Spot by RSS or EMAIL

Follow JOTS on Twitter, join the Facebook Fan Page and/or Networked Blogs!

… so that others can be brave with theirs.”

You MUST watch this video. MUST. It is dynamic. Significant. Moving. Touching. Powerful. Tender. If ever a piece of media reflected a mother’s heart…

Last weekend I went to Houston for the Mom 2.0 Summit. This video by Katherine Center was a highlight of my time there. I don’t know about anyone else, but I often get lost in the “mechanics” of motherhood… I forget to look. I forget to be intentional. I forget the powerful role I play in the lives of my children.

On Friday evening the attendees were taken by party bus to the Mom 2.0 Foto-Fest Gallery. While there, Katherine Center  asked… “What do you do that matters?”… and painted those words on us…

Me and Amy

I know, I posted this pic in an earlier post, but… I love this picture. Amy chose “love”. I chose “shine”. We both added the Twitter hashtag  – #… cuz we are always representin’.

I want to ask YOU… Had you been there… what word would you have chosen? What do YOU do that matters? Because what you do… does matter.

********

Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

Get Jenny On The Spot by RSS or EMAIL

Follow JOTS on Twitter, join the Facebook Fan Page and/or Networked Blogs!

The following statement may or may not alarm anyone… or may. I’m not gonna judge you:

My mind is constantly spinning. Constantly. Like a hamster on a wheel. On uppers. And a caffeine steroid.

I can’t sit without doing something, I can’t do without mullling over a rat’s nest of “to-do” items or stringing words or stories together… or remembering the things I forgot and then forget them until I remember them at the wrong time again. I swear, I go to the grocery store almost every. day.

I make myself NUTS.

When I share my “spinning” state of mind, some people are either 1) “Yeah, me too.” or 2) “You should see someone about that.” With the former I think, “You don’t even know.” And they prolly think, “She has no idea.” And we are so busy in our hamster wheels… And the latter (#2)… are probably right.

I don’t know if it’s because I am a writer-y kinda gal… always formulating stories… or if I am certifiably Of the Crazy. I do know I have an alter-ego that has her own Facebook profile, and this happened AFTER therapy. So. *greases the hamster wheel*

All that to say… I’m an idea girl. But most ideas stay strapped inside… by the chains of time, or commitment, or age (I will never be a Fly Girl), or fear and intimidation, or that there is simply not enough red carpet in the world (i.e. FAME) or crowns.

So when I see videos like the one here, I feel inspired. I cry. Not lying. I breath deep… and the spinning stops… if only for a moment. And I feel it is O.K. for me to be an crazed idea girl. To dream. To reach. To bend. To flex. To fall in and out of love with an idea…

Tips for Better Ideas from Andrew ‘Big Show’ Blodgett on Vimeo.

Another tip? Seek out quality idea-makers. Befriend dreamers who dare dream with you… who will help you let go of or build on that first idea… People who think you’re crazy, but count it as endearing. A little weird, but endearing.

**********

Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

Get Jenny On The Spot by RSS or EMAIL

Follow JOTS on Twitter, join the Facebook Fan Page and/or Networked Blogs!

My friend, Jen… the woman who has only missed 4 of my 37 years of existence — lost her dad to his battle with ALS 2 weeks ago… Ugh.

The whole experience drove home the blessing I have in this life-long friendship…

Jen and I discovered Disneyland together…

We pretended to be ballerinas on the soccer field together…

She gave me her hairbrush cleaning job at the local hair salon my 8th grade year when she had to move to Fresno, and she came to my 8th grade graduation… And we braved the large framed glasses together too….

We were roommates in college. 2 years of… oh there is just too much… This is her in our dorm room our first year… She went with a navy/white theme – I was all pastel-crappy. $100 for Who will be the first person to spy the Caboodle? 1992, yo!

There were weddings and babies. During this span there were 10 years we never saw each other… but anytime we got to talk on the phone it was like no time had passed at all…

Finally, we were physically reunited. We braved BlogHer ‘08 together… And for the first time we drank together. She introduced me to Caroline (on the left in the pic below *Hi girl – miss you!*) as “Drunk”… Jen has always been the quick witted one!

So, with the blessing of my little family at home, I stole away in my minivan and drove 800 miles to be with the friend who is more like a sister.

Here is the video of my trip there:

I would never survive solitary confinement. Never.

*sigh*

I’m not sure if I’ll write about our visit or not. There is just something about the time I was able to spend with Jen and her family… It was like going home. My parents were there too. Our families grew up together… and I’m not so sure I could ever express the depth of sadness and also the joy that was shared over the 2 short days I was there. Besides, I think I may just feel like holding that close. That’s a weird thing for a girl like me :) I suppose even I have limits.

I love you Jen. Deeply.

**********

Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

Get Jenny On The Spot by RSS or EMAIL

Follow JOTS on Twitter, join the Facebook Fan Page and/or Networked Blogs!

JD, may I use that phrase? I know you own the whole, “I *insert action here* so you don’t have to” concept. And it’s true! She does it ALL so we don’t have to. She’s a giver like that. She even ate sardines! I would NEVER do that for you… but mostly because my tummy is so full of Oreos and coffee all the time.

Aaaanywho. I digress.

I want to re-post my story about a cleanse I did a little over a year ago, in case you missed it. We are embarking on a season of resolutions. A time when we feel motivated to eat our veggies or purge our inboxes… or colons. Depends on the individual.

Here’s a picture. Totally unrelated. I’m getting too wordy. *eyes cross* Lucy got “polka bot” jammies for Christamas this year… I got my own last year. She made us wear them together the night she got hers. We took pics. I love how she puts on her best face for pictures:

Continue reading ‘In Which I Save Your 2010: I Did A Cleanse So You Don’t Have To’

May your day be full of the delight and wonder of a child. There is a reason Jesus came as a child.

OR…

May it be full of the delight and wonder of the most adorable Christmas Eve organist that has ever played the pipes…

From my heart to yours…

Jenny

**********

Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

Get Jenny On The Spot by RSS or EMAIL

Follow JOTS on Twitter, join the Facebook Fan Page and/or Networked Blogs!

I just feel moved to write about this treasure… as an outsider. I am not an adoptee, nor have I adopted…

Oh, but to bring a child into a circle of love and family where there was none… moves me deeply.

I hold adoptive families in the highest regard… for the effort and sacrifices they make to be able to make an adoption happen. It is time consuming. It is expensive. It can be emotionally draining and taxing in ways I am certain I have no clue.

I just want to use some of the space I usually fill with silliness to acknowledge families who adopt – whether local or children from other nations. A good friend of mine recently adopted a young brother and sister from Ghana. If you browse the blog of Kristin at The Jag 7, you can read about their journey. It was a difficult and long process, but if you peek, you will see it was worth it all. So precious.

Adoption is so heavy on my mind and in my heart simply because of people like Kristin above… and also because of new connections on Twitter… and one made recently via this blog. I want to tell you about them…
Continue reading ‘Adoption and Goodwill Toward Men’

December 9, 1994.

I remember 2 things from that day, the day before my wedding, 15 years ago…

I remember sitting under a table at The Old Spaghetti Factory… crying. No, weeping. Not from cold feet, but from overwhelming stress. Wedding planning and a college senior who turned in all her papers and took all her finals A WEEK EARLY. Yes, sobbing under a table over there at the Riverside Old Spaghetti Factory.

I also remember our Best Man making hand puppets out of the bread at the rehearsal dinner. The only laughing I did all that day, I’m sure.

Come to think of it, I never did have a bachelorette party… That’s OK, I have BlogHer ‘08 & ‘09… and perhaps ‘10? *prays*.

December 10, 1994… I got married.

I remember the cake-maker-person didn’t add the basket weave design to the top of one of the cakes.

I remember us getting in kind-of trouble for having a money dance. We were married on campus at our Baptist college… where only the Devil himself was more evil than dancing. The big joke on campus was “Why can’t Baptists have sex standing up? Because it might lead to dancing!!!” Yup.

The money we received from that dance was all the money we had for our honeymoon… to the exotic locale of San Francisco :)

My husband’s precious father married us.

I covered my mouth when my groom got the “You may kiss the bride”. I was embarrassed. My sweet daddy had never seen me kiss a boy before. *blushes*

The fire place in the reception room didn’t work.

Instead of a gift table, we had a Christmas tree for guests to put the presents under.

It was arguably the most beautiful the A.J. Staples Room had EVER looked – before or since… Trees decked with white Christmas lights and burgundy bows… garland… a wonderland, as far as I am concerned.

I don’t remember our budget, but it was small compared to many. A couple thousand? Dress, food, fees, cake, flowers… I’m amazed at what we did. We were young… 22 and 23. I was still one semester from graduation. My groom had just graduated the semester before.

SO young. Just. Starting. Out.

“They” said the first year would be hard. “They” didn’t marry my husband. Sure, there were “things”… and there ARE “things”, but… yeah… that was probably our best year. Our poorest year too. Go figure.

——-

In these 15 years…

I still don’t have a wedding album…

I have many of the same towels.

I have 9 china place settings I’ve used less times than the number of years I’ve been married.

After 15 years, I need new everyday plates.

And new pots and pans.

And a knife set.

I have 3 kids.

And corresponding stretch marks.

I am not the mom I thought I’d be. Nor wife.

I was way better at both roles before I became them.

I have learned to identify “small things” and let go of them.

Were I to have another rehearsal dinner, I would not be found crying under a table.

I would be found drinking at the bar. I didn’t drink then.

But I do now.

In 15 more years???

I cannot imagine, but I have my hopes… like, plastic surgery. Kidding.

**********

Keep up on the ridiculous, the insightful, the always digressive…

Get Jenny On The Spot by RSS or EMAIL

Follow JOTS on Twitter, join the Facebook Fan Page and/or Networked Blogs!

Happy Thanksgiving! Let’s not forget the real meaning of Thanksgiving… to remember our forefathers that came across on the Cauliflower…

I mean Mayflower… and their union with the natives of this land as they worked hard to play nice.

And also, do you this this 9×13 of brownies will make my butt look big?

Much love,

Jenny <3

*Butt before I begin… my butt still hurts. A LOT. Please click here for the “skinny”… heh:) Also, I am already working on new drawwrings because I tried out my new exercises by myself today and dern-near hanged mah bad self. #notkidding #cablemachinethingsareofthedevil

Favorite Things Friday!

I had this great post idea – anchored neatly with the finest of alliterative titles. I thought I was all “original”. Turns out the concept of “Favorite Things Friday” is as original as ketchup. Yay me.

Being the investigative “reporter” that I am, I Googled “Favorite Things Friday“. I just wanted to have proof. I wanted to bring my post before you and say, “Look at my originality! My creativity!” Instead I come to you with internet “ketchup”, if you will. Except for the fact that while standard and commonplace – KETCHUP IS AWESOME.

Aaaanyway.

I have been nursing a fever. A fever brought on by Etsy and I also suffer from a chronic illness called Graphic Tee Envy.
Continue reading ‘Favorite Things Friday!’