Everyone Needs a Marianne!

My sister Marianne sent me this thought-provoking poem in response to my earlier post, "Long Lost Poem."  Unfortunately, it was in the form of an attachment.  I smell a complication.

First of all, it took me 10 minutes just to figure out how to open the blasted thing.  Then it took me another ten to conclude that I can't simply copy and paste it into the blog.  So...



(Sigh, I wish I were as smart as Marianne, who is probably fully capable of copying and pasting and would never need to manually type poems into her blog...Plus her attachment had a cute little border around it.  I shudder to even think about it.)

I Didn't Want to Be Me

Author Unknown

All my life, I didn't want to be me.

I wanted to be like Harriet Wimpleton.

So I walked like Harriet Wimpleton

And I talked like Harriet Wimpleton.

And then one day I noticed a strange thing.

Harriet Wimpleton wanted to be like 

Connie Savorson.

She talked like Connie Savorson

And Connie Savorson was walking and talking like

Donna Heberson.

And so here I was walking and talking like

Harriet Wimpleton's version of Connie Savorson

Acting like Donna Heberson

And guess who Donna Heberson was imitating...

That pesky kid, Wanda Droolsen

Who walks and talks like

me.

This is, in my opinion, not as brilliant as good ole D.H. Lawrence, but still makes me pause.

The thing that gets me about this poem and its source is the irony involved.  Here's where I am turning serious for a short moment.  (No worries, it won't last.)

I've known Marianne since I was about 15 years old, four years before I married her good-looking brother. One of my first memories of her involves sitting on the floor next to her little sister (one of my best buddies since forever) watching her cut out and iron together a flannel-board story for one of her education classes.
 (She was a COLLEGE STUDENT.  Waaaayyy older than we were!)

She was (and still is) beautiful and creative and smart and funny and SO NICE!!!

I've observed her with her amazing husband as they worked hard to finish years and years of school, raise amazing, beautiful children, serve others around them, follow our Savior, and just basically set a good example.  She's always been a few steps ahead of me, and I'm watching her more than she knows.  I still feel in awe of her.  I'm still trying to be like her.  (In spite of the well-meant poem.)

So I like the poem, I really do.  And I get it.  I need to be myself.

But, some of the best parts of me are the ones I became as I tried to be like her.  

What a blessing to have a Marianne!  If you don't have one, I highly recommend mine.  Thank you, sweet sister.

(Next time you send me something, will you just copy and paste?  I'm sure you know how.)

Prom Part II

Well, this year's prom theme at our house could almost be called "Less is More."

The practice 'do was swell, but maybe not enough, so we added flowers.  (Also, Grandma shopped four different parlors for the right hair product.  It really worked!  That hair's not goin' anywhere tonight!)

Bling!!!

 You can never have too much jewelry, so we added a bracelet and ring to the ensemble.

I decided to go with her to help her, so I changed into my sweats and housecoat...Just kidding.  ;)

My favorite.

Too many pictures?  No way!

 Right about now, a herd of girls burst in to announce that the date had arrived.

This is who answered the door. 

There will be "Real" pictures, but I needed just one.  (Note the little sister.)

 I hurried them a little--should have let them get their flowers on and pose.  Oh, I should have taken a picture of the corsage.  Dang.  Nice boutonniere, though.  

 Less is more...

My favorite part of the story is where I asked my mom earlier today if she was very involved in my dances.  She just sighed and rolled her eyes.  As the night progressed, I sort of remembered her grabbing stuff and running around and offering ideas, and running around.  The only difference here was that I was quite possibly a tiny bit moody and hard to please, whereas Nellie was agreeable and pleasant and fun.

Well, not to worry, the Mother's Curse will still have a chance to manifest itself in the next 5 girlies.  (Plus, it's bitten me in the butt so many other times, enough's enough!)

PROM

New shoes for Cinderella.

It's prom time!

L Nellie and I looked online and started to make a shopping plan, when by chance we passed a hole-in-the- wall consignment store with some dresses in the window.  On a whim, we stopped.

Shazam!!!  It was the "Miracle of the Budget Prom Dress."  (I always pray before we shop for a big-ticket item and the Lord always comes through!)

We were able to find TWO dresses for a lot less than we planned on spending for just one.

Grandma provided the bling, and here is the dress-rehearsal hair I gave her.  (I can do fabulous hair with amazing humility, and I have 6 girls, but NO ONE lets me fix them, and NO ONE wants to wear "hair-pretties".  Sigh.  L Nellie will let me do it now, but I don't have time and she's old enough to do it herself...)

This is the dress she'll wear this time. 

I think when I do the real hair, I'll get rid of the part--it's too pronounced.

Bonus prom dress for another day.

I french braided upside down.

Reflections of an Evil Queen

The "Evil Queen" look with Mr. Cool being, well, cool.

Long-lost poem

Just for your viewing pleasure, (whoever you are) I'm posting a cute little poem that we read in AP English a million years ago.   It has stayed with me all this time, and I finally found it.  LOVE IT!!!  Oh, to write like this!

INTIMATES
D. H. Lawrence:

Don't you care for my love?  She said bitterly.
I handed her the mirror, and said:
Please address these questions to the proper person!
Please make all requests to head-quarters!
In all matters of emotional importance
Please approach the supreme authority direct!-
So I handed her the mirror
And she would have broken it over my head
But she caught sight of her own reflection
And that held her spellbound for two seconds
...While I fled.

Little P

Little P

Handsome Prince and I invited Little P to go on a date with us this week.  We told her we'd do whatever she wanted to do; she chose ice skating.

On her birthday last month, we went skating with some friends.  It was Little P's first time, and she just got on the ice and skated.   She had been roller-blading enough, I guess...




Anyway, I had taken people to the rink quite a few times, but I hadn't skated since I was a kid.  I had to hold the wall the first time around, but then I got my skating legs and I did it!  Totally the coolest thing ever!  I was such a PERSON!

Little P showed us her jumping and twirling skills.  What a cutie!  She is amazing with her physical abilities.  And it was so fun to have her alone.  We made a big deal about how much we love her and how special she is to us, etc...(She sometimes gets lost in the shuffle of being one of the middle children, and really needed a princess treatment.)






Awesomely fun night!  As we walked through the dark parking lot, I kept saying things like, "Man!  Did you see me when I did that triple-spin-flip!?!   I was so awesome!"

She'd say, "Really, Mom?"

I'd go, "No.  Just kidding...But did you see that back flip I did over those two kids!?!  It was amazing!"

Again, "You did?  Really, Mom?"

Me, "Nah, I'm pulling your leg...But I DID do that fancy-dancy spinning thing where I was so fast no one could even see me.  It was like Dash in 'The Incredibles!'"

"MMMOOOMMMM!"



Man, I just love that kid!  Her daddy is pretty hot, too.  Of course he could skate without the wall on the first try.  But then, he hasn't given birth eight times since the last time he laced up, so, whatever.

On the way home, we stopped for ice cream and got conned into buying her a Happy Meal.  That way she could walk in the door with ice cream, food, soda, and a prize.  NO FAIR!!!  Plus, it was super late--9:30--way past her bedtime!

Wish I had some pictures.  (This isn't us.)

Dear Little P, some day maybe you'll read this, and I just hope you always know that your Daddy and I love you so much it hurts!  You are such a blessing to our family--there's no one like you in the whole world!

It's so fun to watch you learn and grow.  We're honored to be your parents!

Mr. Cool goes to College!!!

Mr. Cool was on a waiting list, and then was accepted at a Charter school that is on a local University campus.  He will take HS and College classes and graduate with an Associates Degree and HS diploma at the same time!  I am super-psyched that he has this opportunity--It will save us at least $20,000.  Plus, he'll have an associates degree under his belt.  Yeehaa!

He just took the university's placement test and qualifies for the English and Math 101 classes as a HS freshman (Sophomore next fall)!    Oh, I am so very tickled!!!  (Dude, he's gonna have to work his brains out at this school!)

The school requires that the parents of the new students write a little paper about their child.  Hot dang!  A writing assignment.  So, of course I've been excitedly mulling it over--any excuse to write is a happy thing for me.  (Geek!)

Here's my parent letter to the new HS.  I've changed some identifying stuff in it to publish it in the blog.

April 10, 2012

Parent Letter for Mr. Cool

            As, I anxiously scanned the crowd, they caught my eye.  Five little old ladies, casually strolling down the endless expanse of airport as a frantic sea of humanity flowed around their unhurried island.  Then, whOPSie daisy!  Like a mini-wave at a sporting event,  they each threw their hands up in turn; and did a small, startled hop.  Their line broke, and a rogue pirate king disguised as a rumpled four year-old with a balloon sword emerged triumphant.  Mr. Cool.

 

            At 1st grade Parent Night two years later, his father and I stood reading the "Wall of Hopes and Dreams" created for the occasion. There's nothing cuter than invented spelling, and we chuckled as we scanned his classmates' illustrated goals for the year.  One kid wanted to get a new kitty, another hoped to learn to skip.  Barely legible, there was a lopsided illustration of two computers hooked together with the words, "Systems integration with classroom Mac and home PC."  Mr. C.

           He was the preschooler who couldn't walk past a peer without roughin' 'em up; the Kindergartener who could tell you how many seconds were in 5 minutes, or how many boxes of band-aids we should buy to total 450.  He has an amazing sense of humor, and uses it to get out of scrapes.  Plus, he's cute as a button.

            I would have to say that one of Cool's greatest strengths is his ability to immediately size up a situation and instinctively know how best to handle it.  He can play a football or video game and later describe in great detail the positions and actions of even incidental players.  He anticipates his opponents' next moves and uses his quick reflexes to control the situation.  He can also glance at his brother or one of his six sisters and know the most effective way to make them squawk. For several years, I feared that this quick ability, along with his inborn fascination with weaponry, would result in mass destruction.  Fortunately, he is learning to channel his impulses.

            Last year our family moved from ___ to ___.  My husband began his new job here in Utah and left me in Idaho with the kids to sell the house and tie up loose ends.  Mr. Cool stepped up as man of the house, and not only did the heavy lifting stuff, but he helped to keep the peace, and organize the troops.  Incredibly, he also finished up his Eagle project at the same time.  (For his Eagle project, he worked with a Special Education teacher and his troop to provide a classroom set of "Balance Stools" for the children with special needs.)  He has since earned one palm and is close to another one.

            School comes easily for my son, and he usually has a 4.0.  He is a dependable, hard-working kid;  yet he is most productive if there is a fire under his butt.  (Fortunately, I am an expert nag.)   Because he has had absolutely no homework this entire year, Mr. C has had time to volunteer at a local auto repair shop, working with his uncle.  He has currently logged more than 35 hours of service, while learning some basic automotive and other manly skills and working with an awesome adult mentor.  I am excited that he has this opportunity to work hard and become even more self-sufficient and knowledgeable at _____.

            He has the ability to succeed and excel--the next few years should be an awesome experience for everyone involved.

 

            My life has been exciting, entertaining, and exhausting since the day he was born.   The world is a better place because Mr. Cool is in it.