Mom is Just a Nickname

I’ve read that dreams cannot come true until we acknowledge them and release them into the world. Until we plant the seeds, giving them soil and water to germinate, they cannot grow.

I’ve also read that today is a great day to plant some dreams. It is the first day of the year, the first day of a new decade, in fact.  Only slightly better was ten years ago today, when we started a new year, a new decade and a new century all at once.  Still, in order to plant these dreams on this auspicious day, I would have to know what these dreams are.

I have a dream….no, that phrase has been used…

Well, I’m in school now. I started back a year ago.  I’m working to earn my Bachelor’s in Education so that I can teach.  I feel like I’ve always wanted to teach, to work with young kids.   So, that’s one dream…that I will work hard and make good progress towards the goal of the Bachelor’s degree this year.

We have also bought a new home this fall.  So, I have this dream of making into a warm, welcoming sanctuary for family and friends.  I have this dream of it being an active hub for the kids’ friends and ours.  I have this vision that it can be a restful place. Can it be both an active hub and a restful place all at once?  I guess time will tell.

I also have this vision of my yard in this place being a beautiful garden, that I will be able to work in it and enjoy the process of changing it from just a yard to a place of sanctuary for me and for wildlife.  I’m such a novice gardener…I guess time will tell here too.

More dreams linger…turning my garage into MY place. I have a workshop there already, but it’s very unfinished and basic…I want to decorate it.  This dream may be years in the future though, I guess.

If dreams must be planted in order to germinate and grow…and each dream takes its own sweet time to grow…time will tell how big these dreams get.  Dreams in the darkness of the year, soon to be exposed to the sunshine, the rain and the harsh weather of reality.

Our NYE is going to be spent at home. We’ll probably watch the Muppets Movie and eat popcorn. We may burn a giant sparkler my dad left with us at some point. We may drink champagne. We may ….

Go to bed early. Early, even for us. The kids want to stay up until midnight, but Toph and I are more interested in sleep than ringing in the new year.

Is that terrible? Are we boring? Oh well.

Missing: One cell phone. If found, please return to my daughter.

And earlier this week, my phone was lost…thankfully, it’s been found. What’s with losing phones this week?!

This blog is mostly defunct. Maybe the new year will change that. Maybe it won’t. It’s not as if I don’t have a million and one other things to do.  In September, we got a new dog. She’s an Australian Shepherd, about a year old, and in need of training and amusement.  Then in November, we bought a house.  So, of course, there’s all of the unpacking, organizing, and decorating to do there (not to mention the cleanup of the old house).

I’ve just finished my second semester in school.  It was a rough one and I didn’t finish everything I was supposed to, but luckily in the program I’m in, the class I didn’t finish will carry over.  By January 1, I’ll be starting a new semester and have more schoolwork to do.

Here’s to 2010 and the new adventures it will bring.

I love jeans that have been worn in, that are soft and comfortable, that mold to my hips but are boot cut so that my calves and ankles are unhindered by the fabric.  I love the faded blue denim that only comes from washing it a hundred times.

Because of that, I have a really hard time buying brand new jeans from a retail store.  The jeans, no matter how well they seem to fit in the dressing room, are always stiff. The colors, no matter how distressed or washed they are supposed to be, are always too bold and brash.

Instead of buying them from retail stores, when I have the time and energy (and need, of course) I go browse at a thrift store or Goodwill.  My size isn’t real common to find there so it takes some time to sort through everything to find my size -I suspect everyone my size does what I do: wear the things that fit until they are too worn to be worth giving away!   When I do find something, though, it’s like finding a buried treasure!

I recently wandered into a Goodwill store to find some jeans for my son.  I did find a pair for him, which he loves.  While I was there, though, I couldn’t resist browsing for myself.  I was pleased to find several pairs of jeans to try on.  I found the same brand and style in two sizes, but the sizes were one above and one below my normal size.  The bigger ones were way too big. The smaller were a mite snug.  I hadn’t had any luck finding a pair that were my perfect size.  Still, I opted to get the smaller size jeans since they weren’t too tight and the price was right.

In retrospect, I got the perfect size. I’ve had them on all day and they fit just right. They aren’t too tight, they aren’t sliding off my hips. They fit where they are supposed to and I feel good wearing them.  How great is it that they cost less than a quarter of what I would pay for them retail, and they were a size smaller than I’m used to buying!?