Orange Crush

I have a giraffe...with weird eyes. I think he should be spray painted orange. Like this. He will then live on my credenza in my living room and be set free from the box set aside for ceramic animals with weird eyes. Sister and sister-cousin, thoughts?

(image: i don't know!)

my follies :: march

I got into a school-yard brawl, and I didn't keep up with my February Photo-a-Day.

fail*fail*fail*fail*fail*fail*fail*fail*fail

I teach middle school math so it's accepted that there is a certain amount of teen drama that I am privy to at any given moment. Mostly it's silly "I like him, but he likes her (cause she has bigger boobs)" immaturity. But this last Monday was another story all together. There were five girls out for blood...or at least some scratches, hair pulling, and general rolling around in the gravel. And somehow, I ended up right in the middle of it!

One fight had already been broken up, when two of the friends of the girls in the original fight decided to take up where the first fight left off. Problem was, I happened to be standing right in between the girls that now wanted to fight. One of the girls reached past me to grab the other girl's hair, and she took the right side of my head and a handful of my hair with her. Let me reiterate, I was standing right in the middle of the two girls before the fight even broke out.

I reached behind me and kinda did a football hold with my right arm on the girl with my hair, and I had the arm of the other girl in my left hand. Kids were crowded everywhere. The girl I had in my left hand started beating on the head of the girl I had wrapped in my right arm. As she did that, she then had my hair too! I was literally head down in a fight holding on to the girls as they fought over my head.

Because they had my hair, I couldn't raise my head to stand totally up. I finally screamed in the face of the girl in my right arm, "Stop! You're hurting me!" She let go immediately when she realized that I was getting a good brunt of it. The other girl was now being pulled off by another
teacher and decided to take that last cheap shot...and not realizing that she had my hair as well, she pulled back and broke out of my left arm and took a good chunk of my hair with her!

I'm too old for this she-it; I've been on the Advil all week for my sore neck and my aching-missing-hair scalp.

"I like my money right where I can see it...

hanging in my closet." - Carrie Bradshaw

My high heels have been stored in a clear rectangular shoe bin since the end of November. That's cruel and unusual incarceration. My excuse: I have a very poorly planned brand new closet. Clearly, it was designed by a man...one who had no thought for my need to display my stilettos.

I'm in a "let's build it" kind of mood. And then I happened upon this gorgeous shoe rack.

martha

Those racks are crown molding! As in, I can hop over to the DIY warehouse, purchase and cut some molding, paint it, and attach it to the wall?!? Done.

I got so motivated that I sketched a plan. My only decision: do I want to extend the rack all the way along the back wall? Or do I keep the racks short? I kinda think I want to extend the rack all the way 'cause 1) it will totally force me to purchase more shoes, and 2) until I buy up all the Guess stilettos I can find, I can still hang my clothes in front of the rack.
Sister and sister-cousin, what should I do?

I Can. I Will.

I can so I will. I can and I will. I must.

I watched Oprah's Next Chapter with Anthony Robbins, and I have to tell you that it was muy inspiring. I like Oprah. Always have. She's like Martha to me. Love them both but not in humongous daily doses. Weekly Oprah is speaking to my heart. And her interviews have me thinking about my role in the world.

What is it that I can do with this life I lead?
What change can I affect?
What me can I better if I just start to say, "Sure!" with no reservations?
What would happen if I turned my "I'm not sure if I want to." into "Okay. Yes."?

Go to the gym? Sure. Drive up the California coast and stop at museums along the way? I'm in. Paint a mid-century credenza teal? Sounds like a plan to me. Make big dinners and give the left-overs to the guys at work? Done. Stress less about things I can't control? Perfectly do-able.

You know what happens when you look at possibilities? Lots. Lots of things can happen. And they will.