Quiet and Witty

Thanks to those of you who signed the guest book in response to our Marijuana Shirt Conundrum. Your advice and all your funny comments were most helpful. Not to mention entertaining. It's nice to know that we have a virtual community of friends that can help us through the sticky wickets of life.

Actually, I'm not sure if I just used sticky wickets the proper way but I've always wanted to find a way to incorporate sticky wickets into my writing. And that means that I have just fulfilled one of my Life Goals!

There now. Wasn't that easy?

That's just one example of why it's good to set the bar low when it comes to goal setting. What if one of my goals had been to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro? Do you think I could have accomplished THAT in ten seconds on a Friday morning? I think not.

So what have we learned, boys and girls? Set SMALL goals for yourself!

(I'm kidding, okay?)

Which brings me to an interesting query that I always love talking with people about. Have you set any "life goals" for yourself that you have reached? Or have you set some goals that you haven't yet reached but you are quite certain that you will?

What are they? Do tell! I think we could all use some inspiration today and what's more inspiring than hearing about a variety of goals that have been reached? (Or are at least reachable!) I promise you that you'll have plenty of avid avid readers if you'll write something.

And speaking of inspiration, I could definitely use some extra "inspiration sprinkles" in my life right about now.

The last couple days have not been easy ones for me. I'm started to feel "soggy" (Sarah's term for not feeling happy) and disheartened about how long this whole transition process is taking. And because of that stress (among others), it seems like I've been tempted to cry over any ol' thing.

For instance, yesterday I was in Wal Mart and ran into an old church friend. We chatted a minute and she closed the conversation by saying how much she loved us and missed us.

That was it. Just a few words.

Well, those few words set my tear ducts to hoppin'. (If tear ducts can indeed hop.) I quickly made my way to the sparsely populated bread department and stared furiously at the selections of wheat bread while sniffling my way through five Kleenex and trying to get a grip. I was concentrating on keeping my back turned to the store and hoping that no one would come near and wonder why the sight of a hundred loaves of wheat bread was reducing me to tears.

Woman Found Weeping In Wal Mart Bread Aisle. Story at Eleven!

I feel stressed right now over a lot of things but especially the thought of moving and finding my place in a new town, community and church. I think about the challenge of finding a dozen "replacement" doctors and specialists for Sarah's long term follow up and I think about Sarah having to start at a new school in the 8th grade--probably one of the most difficult ages to make a new start. (Plus, she'll be wearing hearing aids which won't make the transition any easier.) And of course, if you've ever moved, there are many other things to worry in advance about, as well.

Hmmmm. I think that "worrying in advance" may very well be one of my gifts! In fact, I can worry in advance, I can worry while going through something and then I am also able to worry while looking back at it. Although I may make it look very easy to do, don't try this at home!

Anyway, as hard as the whole transition thing is to contemplate, it makes it all the harder that it's not happening yet. And the longer we wait, the more stressed I feel. And then I end up crying in Wal Mart.

And eating Little Debbie snack cakes.

I don't suppose anyone out there can relate? At least to the snack cakes? Someone? Anyone?

After I got home from Wal Mart yesterday, Steve and Nathan helped me unload my groceries and then the three of us ate lunch together. I was trying to pull my fragile, enfeebled emotions together and make an attempt to be somewhat cheery but after about six minutes Nathan gave me one of his intuitive glances and said, "Mom, you seem to be in a funny mood."

I looked at him with great innocence and said, "Funny? What do you mean by funny?"

He said, "Well, you're saying your usual interesting and witty things but you seem kind of quiet. Like you're being sort of quiet and witty at the same time. Are you okay?"

I had to smile at his keen observation. Nathan is the kind of guy who doesn't always say a whole lot but he's always watching, observing, and noticing things other people overlook. I wasn't at all surprised that he stuck a proverbial finger in the air and got a "reading" on which way the emotional winds were blowing. He will make some woman a great husband, especially in the "feelings department."

And he is already making "some woman" a great son. I do love my oldest male child enormously and am so thankful to have him home for the summer.

Steve is glad to have him around, too. Especially today, when the next job on his To Do List was to stain the deck. Don't they look like they're having a swell time? (Double click on picture to make it larger.)

They're outside being productive and I'm inside being quiet.

And witty.

And eating snack cakes.

Hey, it works for me!

The Marijuana Shirt

Before I get on with the gist of this update, let me mention a couple miscellaneous items.

First of all, the question was asked in the guest book about what tiramisu is. (Since it's been mentioned in several recent posts.) Tiramisu is a mysterious dessert that can only be properly prepared (and spelled) by people with a superior intelligence, people who are able to grasp the complexities of putting together mascarpone cheese, a certain kind of ladyfinger which I seem unable to locate, coffee and other mysterious ingredients and turning it all into a delectable dessert which is usually served at nice restaurants. (But alas, never served in the Smith house, although the Smith Mister loves it.)

Some of you out there in Smithellaneous Land actually took pity on me after my recent plaintive posts on the subject and gave me some leads on where I could buy it; I was also sent a recipe that looked fairly do-able. So maybe, just maybe, our house will not remain tiramisu-less forever.

My second pre-Marijuana Shirt subject is Sarah's Spot. I know I promised (in an unguarded moment) that I would mention it here whenever I posted on her site. But I seem to always forget to do that and then I always feel badly about not doing it and then I promise myself that I will do it the next time and then I forget and then then . . . well, you can see the problem.

So here's the deal. If I happen to write about something of great import on her site--for instance, if she suddenly grew nine inches overnight, or if she were invited to play Taboo with the Obama Family or some such thing, I will mention the update here. Otherwise, just click your way over there whenever you have an extra moment to check in. And then I will be able to stop feeling guilty and conflicted and stressed over not remembering to tell you that I posted.

Got that? Good.

Okay. Finally, on to the Marijuana Shirt.

Recently, Steve found a shirt on clearance that he really liked. He bought it. And wore it. And looked exceedingly handsome in it.

However, some of his minister friends started giving him a hard time about it, saying that his shirt was sporting marijuana leaves.

As most of you know, Steve is a minister. And as a rule, ministers don't make a practice of advertising marijuana on their clothing. And more importantly, Steve is also a former marijuana user who is very much aware of the many damaging effects of that particular substance. So Steve was more than willing to get rid of the shirt if it truly was spouting marijuana leaves; he just hoped he wouldn't have to.

In case any of you happen to be marijuana leaf experts (you don't have to raise your hands, or anything) here is a picture of the shirt in question.

And here is a marijuana leaf.



If you carefully study Exhibit A and then compare it with Exhibit B, you will clearly note that a marijuana plant has seven leaves and the plants "growing" on Steve's shirt have only five leaves.

Whew!

That is great news for Steve's wardrobe; the shirt is LEGAL in all fifty states! And better yet, he can wear it with a clear conscience.

Now if anyone knows precisely what plant it is that sports FIVE leaves, please let us know so that when one of Steve's minister friends feels compelled to give him a hard time, he can whip out his newly acquired knowledge and say, "Marijuana plants have SEVEN leaves and (fill in the blank) plants have only FIVE leaves." That way he'll be fully equipped to defend his shirt wearing choice.

Since I'm on the subject of shirts, I took Steve with me to Goodwill this past week and he found four great shirts for fourteen bucks! Go, Goodwill!

So as of today, he's not only got four "new" shirts but also a newly sanctioned non-marijuana shirt that he can keep on wearing with no guilt! How great is that?

Well, I guess I've written enough about marijuana leaves for one day. (smile) I'll be leaving in a little while to take Sarah to Duke for her speech therapy. A four hour slot in my day devoted just to Princess Groovy Chick?

Sounds like a good deal to me!