Alas, One Last Minute Summer Trip!

Alas, I will be traveling tomorrow with my three youngest children to help my Mom and sister move out of the town they've lived in for the past four years while my sister has attended college and now graduated. It was a last minute decision hedging on whether or not my car needed major work, etc. so here I am at the last minute driving the 12+ hours to go help out. Hopefully, it will be fun and an adventure for the kids. As I drive by the Floyd, VA exit I will be waving to and thinking of Colleen And, I'll be thinking of my dear friends, Beth, Carrie and Laura as I drive within an hour or so of each of their towns. If only I had time to stop at each one and say hello, have a cup of coffee and give each one a hug. These last three women, along with others from a former online group, have been my friends through thick and thin for the past 9 years. I've met all in person on various occasions and it hurts to not be able to stop when they will be in such close reach! Ah well... I'll be back online next Monday so I'll see you all then. You will all be in my thoughts and prayers as I drive by your various exits.

WTF Or Don't Mess With My Kid...

What would you do if your daughter, whom you know has already accepted Jesus as the Son of God with as much knowledge as a girl of her age of then 5 could muster, was somehow led to believe she needed to ask again during the last day of VBS (Vacation Bible School)? Yes, my now 8 year old daughter made the joke that there were now "two Jesus'" partying in her heart. I am Christian. I will readily admit that but I don't believe in alter calls for little kids. The first time she asked Jesus into her heart came about as her own decision in a natural setting after we had been reading the Bible together. But, this time... I am not even sure what was said. Supposedly my 5 year old did the same and overall, I think asking Jesus into your heart isn't a bad or negative thing but it is when you don't understand what you are doing or are led to do so out of a feeling of following the crowd. And, even if she was ready to do so, I dislike the fact that my 8 year old felt the need to do so again. I've heard too many stories from people who have either left their faith or are bitter about their faith who attended churches where they felt so guilty that they responded to alter calls on a regular basis. I think the decision to put faith in Jesus is a one time deal that grows with you as you mature especially if you have made such a decision at an earlier age. Ugh. So, I am left with an icky feeling and the need to have a discussion with my daughters that I didn't want to have. That's what I get for signing up my kids at a friend's church so that our kids could have some summer fun together and learn a little more about our faith at the same time.

Dear Diary... (Sunday Scribblings!)

Dear Diary,
Looking at so many blogs and seeing all of the creating and writing and wonderful things going on in the world around me, I begin to wonder where I fit in. I feel like a little girl twirling and twirling and twirling until she gets so dizzy she falls down and see stars whenever I try to focus on that which I am most passionate about. I look at Laini Taylor's Grow Wings blog and feel inspired to edit the fairytale I finally wrote last year. But, then, no wait, I check to see what new work Audrey Smith is doing in ceramics and I want to return to my college roots and start thrusting my hands into malleable dirt, messy and forgiving, and form it into ten foot tall beings or miniature pods or a bowl to serve my children from. I spin around one more time and my interests turn to the art quilts I read about in the quilting magazine I picked up at the ever-enticing fabric store. Quickly, I grab my fabric scraps and eek out two "inchies" as they are called, mini-art quilts only one inch by one inch.




People from the outside looking in at my life sometimes say my children are my creations and I've tried to make that be enough for me, but it's not. But, it is. To my first daughter, I've passed down my love of fashion and shoes, of designing my clothes and not being happy with the status quo. She also writes infinite stories. To my oldest son, I've passed down the idea that one size definitely does not fit all and that where there's a will, there's a way especially when you have access to the vast knowledge available on the internet. He also loves to paint, draw, write poetry, talk Shakespeare, write music and make movies....(you can see a couple of the Heinz Ketchup commercials he made further down on my blog). To my middle son, I've passed along a love of sculpture and creating something out of nothing. My second oldest son is harder to figure out because, like me, I think he spins from one passion to the next and often times falls into his big brother's shadow the same way I did as a child. And, that leaves me with my youngest who embodies the child I used to be... always pushing myself physically to teach myself how to jump and spin on ice skates or flip off the monkey bars or do a flip off the high board. I am happy that I've created free thinkers. I don't want to be the Mom behind the child or the wife behind the husband. I am Dalissa... but who is Dalissa?

PS: Diary, I can't take full responsibility for how my children have turned out. They also have a highly creative Dad with intense green eyes who has made his own contributions.

PPS: In an effort to find myself and stop spinning long enough to focus on ONE THING, I will be joining Megg (of Sunday Scribblings fame) in creating a ritual on September 2nd to energize my mojo. Read her post here for more info.

PPS: I'll upload photos of my inchers once I download them from my card. I'd also like to get Audrey's permission to post one of the photos of her work.

I <3 automated postal centers!

What has pulled me out of blog oblivion you ask???
Not friends, not glamour, not meaningful drivel but, but the Automated Postal Center.
Never before have I been so pleased to be in the post office. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of community and humans doing jobs but the APC it's just so right, so perfect, so ingenuous. Why has it taken this long to create a machine that could weigh, figure postage and print it out immediately and at all hours of the night? I walked into the post office today after running errands all day long only to find myself in an eight person deep line with maybe two employees working the front desk. Luckily, I peered to my right and spied the APC. It called my name. I looked around and realized that, yes, it was me the APC was beckoning. Who am I to ignore a formal invitation? I approached the machine and placed my package on the shiny silver scale and instantly a weight appeared on the screen and the APC asked me what I would like to do. Naturally, I proceeded and entered the zip code on the package and chose my shipping option. I slid my debit card into the machine and within seconds a neatly printed label popped out of my beloved APC and asked me if I wanted a receipt. I placed the label on my box, addressed it and put it in it's bin. Smiling, I left the post office and the line that had still barely moved an inch.