To blog or not to blog...

So the last post I made was in 2009. Holy. Poo. 2009! At the time it felt like I had nothing else to say and we were working through losing Sam the year before. The years since have been full of growing-up and understanding that this is the brokeness we've heard about. The losing of people, of trust, having to decide if some things are worth the fight and discomfort of rebuilding.

Our boys are obviously older: we went from having "kids" to having a teen and a pre-teen. One going into high school this coming fall and the other will be starting jr high. They've seen loss and watched how people deal with it. They've struggled in their own ways and thankfully God was there to catch them when we had no idea they were ever in danger of falling.

But there's been fun stuff too: We have another nephew! Went on many roadtrips, spent time with people we love, met new people to love, swam in the ocean, drank good beer (and brewed good beer!), and got a dog. Can't ask for more than that, really.

The last big thing is that we moved. More on that later.

So this pretty much sums things up. I think we need a redesign around here. It may not be an everyday thing but with everything going on in the house and with the boys, this is probably still the easiest way for everyone to catch up outside of Facebook.

So yeah. Thanks for reading!

At Tara in this fateful hour...

[With my friend] in this fateful hour
I place all Heaven with its power
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness,
And the fire with all the strength it hath,
And the lightning with its rapid wrath,
And the winds with their swiftness along their path,
And the sea with its deepness,
And the rocks with their steepness,
And the earth with its starkness:
All these I place By God’s almighty help and grace
Between myself and the powers of darkness.

~ St. Patrick's Rune (variation) quoted in A Swiftly Tilting Planet

Offering up prayers for a friend. And St. Patrick and his rune help me remember God isn't sitting at a desk taking incoming faxes.  He is the Lord of all creation; not only the fire, winds and seas but also of the strength and fury they possess.  He is a strong God.  And He is forever on our side.  I know we will win regardless.  But hoping it will be in a way that's a little less painful for people I care about.

Yo.

There's no good way to start a new post after taking four months off totally ignoring this blog for the last four months.  I stopped blogging for a while.  That's pretty much it.  I'm not sure if I have anything to say right now, to be honest.  The Faith & Art Blog should pick up here again soon (it slowed down after Sam died.)  I've had a few friends ask about it and over the last few months I've been processing the crap we've been through and realized, once again, that I was right all along with regard to the fact that I am nothing without my creativity as it's one of my strongest life-lines to God and my faith.  I just really feel incomplete if I'm not able to create something... anything... on a regular basis.  I'm not sure why I've fought that off and on for so long (maybe because it doesn't pay the bills and often takes the place of doing other, more "responsible" things like folding laundry or unloading the dishwasher?)  

We'll see.

Thinking.

I posted this: My Faith. And art. over at the Faith & Art blog. Still processing.

Thanksgiving recap.

I hope you all had a really great Thanksgiving.  Lianne and the girls were with us and the rest of our immediate family at my parents house.  And most of the day was good.  It was just long.  And still so close to having lost Sam that things just felt odd.  I can't say, "we'll get used to it."  Because I don't think we will.  I know Lianne never will.

In an attempt to remember that we do still have things to be thankful for, here's my little recap of our weekend...

Wednesday evening I cooked turkey #1.  All 20 lbs of him.  Rusty carved him up and we stashed it in the fridge for the next day.  Thursday morning I cooked turkey #2 (a mere 12 pounder.)  He went to my parents house all in one piece.  By the time we left we had one carved turkey, one whole turkey, multiple pans of buttered egg noodles, cranberry-orange relish, stuffing and butter beans leaving the house with us, heading to my mom's for dinner with multiple family members.  It was yummy.

Friday morning I hauled my booty out of bed only so I could meet up with three friends from high school.  My WW posse, if you must know - Jen, Amer and Laurie.  Laurie was in town from KY and it was so good to see her.  We spent three hours at Panera and it was just so comfortable.  I forgot how nice it is to be around people who've known you your whole life.  I appreciated not having to explain the stuff with Sam... because they were living it as well.  I've known Jen since kindergarten and Laurie since first grade.  Amer came along in high school and we were best friends almost the moment we met.  I honestly love these women and cherish their friendship.

Friday night, Jen and Amer showed up to party down (a.k.a. order Chinese food and watch ELF though we ended up ordering the food and talking for five hours instead.)  Much needed talk.  

On Saturday, Rusty finally made his way home from his overnight of fun and somewhat inebriated frivolity at Chris and Derek's.  We took the boys out and picked out a Christmas tree!  I'm excited because in Maryland we always ordered a live tree from our church (Cedar Ridge spoiled us - every year our tree was beautiful!)  When we got here for some reason we put up an artificial tree that bugged me.  This year Rusty and I made the executive decision to go live again.  We picked up a beauty for cheap!

It's all lit up... old school.  

But we have yet to dig out the ornaments.  It's been a long few weeks... we'll get to it!  The candles are in the windows and other stuff is around so it's getting more and more festive every day.

Yesterday was my niece, Callie's, birthday party.  She turned three today.  She's a riot and a sweetheart and I'm so glad she's ours.  Lianne's house was full of shrieking girls and rowdy boys with my parents, the four of us kids with our spouses and our own kids running around like loons.  There was dancing (to the Wiggles.  The birthday girl requested it.) and hysterical laughter as we watched some of the grandkids bust a move elf style.  If I can embed it, I'll post it here.  It's cute.

Then today Sean was home with a sore throat.  Not strep, thankfully, as we were at the pediatrician's office this morning.  

But it was cold and then snowy so we came home and ate soup and watched it snow while I did laundry.

So there you go.  I know you all believe I live the life of a rock star (it's ok.  It's an understandable mistake, I'm sure.)  But that was our long weekend.  I didn't promise excitement, just a recap.  And if I owe you email or a phone call, have mercy and know that life is kicking our butts right now.  We'll get to it eventually...

House update photos

Well, there's the front door. Four coats of paint. A new kick-plate and the door knocker is back in place. It looks so much better than it did a few months ago. And the red door/black shutters/white trim color scheme matches not only our Lakota East school district but also our University of Maryland Terps flag. There is balance in the force.

In other news, we finally got the family room painted. The only major thing left to do in there is to put up the crown molding. I'm not worried, it'll happen after the holidays.  Probably during the long, cold January when I'm banging my head against the wall out of frustration at the horrid weather. But now you can see more of what Brent did.  He's a rehab genius (and the guy can sing.)  I can't believe he's willing to be friends with two schmoes like Rusty and myself.

And yes, that is a cozy fire in the fireplace.  A fire that I built, while Rusty is away with Liam on the fourth grade trip to Camp Kern until Friday.  It's been cold and rainy all day.  I had no choice.

And this is our new Ikea purchase.

We needed something behind the sofa so the boys wouldn't put their foot through the back of it as they slide around the kitchen floor. And we need storage for the random hats, gloves, scarfs and shoes that are strewn about the entire first floor of our house. This was the best solution. The lamp on the side is not staying there.  There is also an oval, black framed mirror waiting to be hung above the fireplace but I'm too tired so there you go. 

P.S.  Notice the empty shelves.  I need to unpack some boxes in our storage area downstairs (some things I haven't seen since we packed to move to Maryland in 2003.)

Cake Wrecks, anyone?

Holy cow.  If you haven't read the Cake Wrecks blog and you're looking for something to make you laugh hysterically? Click the link.  To get the full appreciation for the author, go back to the archives and read from the beginning (May, 2008.)

I'm going to be making sure I take a more in-depth look at the bakery case at Kroger next time I'm there...