April is National Poetry Month! And unlike all the other National whatever months out there, it is one that this particular Smith family enjoys and actively participates in. NYC used to also have something called "Poem in my Pocket" week. Maybe they still do, I don't know. But the subway cars would have poetry where ads usually were and people would post poems on their cubicles. Such a nice month.
Anyway, I will be posting a poem here every day throughout the month of April. If you have any favorites you would like to share, please email them to me.
Happy almost April!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Friday, March 28, 2008
Photos
Seriously, is there some sort of cosmic law that dictates that all official photos must turn out badly? My college ID is the only one I don't hate. I look stoned in it, but other than that it looks fine and it made me blend in with the rest of my fellow underclassmen.
I had to go to BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) today to get a new license. Unlike every other time, I at least remembered to first brush my hair and put on a little chapstick. And also unlike every other time, the woman behind the camera didn't tentatively say, "Um, are you sure? We can take it again." Yes, my pictures are THAT bad.
I had a drivers license in college that cut off the bottom of my chin, giving me a weird King Tut like appearance. It is still a source of humor for the people who saw it then.
My passport photo from ten years ago was another one where people said, "Um, really? This is the picture you want to use?"
I've learned to live with it. Just not gracefully. Harrumph!
I had to go to BMV (Bureau of Motor Vehicles) today to get a new license. Unlike every other time, I at least remembered to first brush my hair and put on a little chapstick. And also unlike every other time, the woman behind the camera didn't tentatively say, "Um, are you sure? We can take it again." Yes, my pictures are THAT bad.
I had a drivers license in college that cut off the bottom of my chin, giving me a weird King Tut like appearance. It is still a source of humor for the people who saw it then.
My passport photo from ten years ago was another one where people said, "Um, really? This is the picture you want to use?"
I've learned to live with it. Just not gracefully. Harrumph!
Monday, March 24, 2008
Birthday
Today is my 32nd birthday.
That used to sound really old. It no longer feels old, though. Probably because I spent my 20s being thoroughly exhausted. College, teaching, wedding, pregnancy, birthing, nursing babies, and generally being chronically sleep deprived thanks to children did not lead to feeling young and carefree. Now that my boys are old enough to sleep through the night and don't hang on me all the time and I get regular exercise, I'm feeling pretty good. So, I'm good with my thirties.
Other bonuses for being 32:
-I don't have to get my heart rate quite as high for it to be considered a good work out.
-And I'm another year closer to being old enough to be a Red Hat member. Yes, I adore those ladies who lunch in purple feather boas and red hats. I'm going to start my own chapter when I turn 50, because the leader gets to be "the Queen Mother" (Sorry, John, baby. I'm stealing your title!). Who doesn't wanna be known by that title?!
My in-laws and parents were here to celebrate and I received lots of well wishes from friends and family that I don't get to regularly speak with. Thank you everyone for making it a special day.
That used to sound really old. It no longer feels old, though. Probably because I spent my 20s being thoroughly exhausted. College, teaching, wedding, pregnancy, birthing, nursing babies, and generally being chronically sleep deprived thanks to children did not lead to feeling young and carefree. Now that my boys are old enough to sleep through the night and don't hang on me all the time and I get regular exercise, I'm feeling pretty good. So, I'm good with my thirties.
Other bonuses for being 32:
-I don't have to get my heart rate quite as high for it to be considered a good work out.
-And I'm another year closer to being old enough to be a Red Hat member. Yes, I adore those ladies who lunch in purple feather boas and red hats. I'm going to start my own chapter when I turn 50, because the leader gets to be "the Queen Mother" (Sorry, John, baby. I'm stealing your title!). Who doesn't wanna be known by that title?!
My in-laws and parents were here to celebrate and I received lots of well wishes from friends and family that I don't get to regularly speak with. Thank you everyone for making it a special day.
Nathaniel the Movie Critic
Today we went to see "Enchanted" at the dollar theater. Mondays are "Family Days" and a group of three or more can get in for 50 cents each! And popcorn and a drink together cost $2.50. I love this place. Anyway, Enchanted is very cute, but is probably best appreciated by little girls. My boys enjoyed it, but I think Nathaniel summed it up best when during a particularly quiet part of the movie, he groaned and said (loudly), "AAAGGG! Why is there so much kissing in this movie?!"
Everyone around us was extremely amused.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Painting the Dining Room- The Saga
We have been wanting to paint our dining room ever since we moved into our house 3.5 years ago. So naturally we waited until a week before mine and Todd's parents were coming to stay with us. That procrastination thing-worked for writing papers in school and still works today. "I work best under pressure."
Anyway, here's what it used to look like:
Click here to see all the colors we considered and eventually rejected, because it turned out that they didn't actually work out that well with our furniture.
Now for the saga. I went to Lowe's because I love Valspar paint. They have a lovely thing now called "Auditions". For $3 you can get a tiny can (maybe 1/2 a pint) of whatever color paint you want to try. So, armed with three tiny cans of paint and some practice boards, I headed home to try them out.
SO Cute!
Todd painted the practice boards and then we watched for a day to see how the various colors caught the different light in the room. Then we argued over what color to choose. Click here for argument (See Letter F.)
We finally decided on two colors. One on the top then the chair rail painted white and a darker color on the bottom portion of the wall. My lovely golden color for the top, and a burnt orange for the bottom. The third color we had tried out was rejected, and I put the can away thinking perhaps we could use it to paint next year's pinewood derby cars or something.
Then I carefully wrote down the names and numbers listed on the labels of the two cans and went back to Lowe's to purchase my paint. After they mixed it up for me I did think it looked a little dark, but it's hard to tell in the lighting there and the dab of color they put on top is never dry enough to tell how true it is.
That night, Todd was doing the cutting in, so he opened the lighter of the two colors I had purchased and started painting. When I came in to start rolling, I again thought that it was darker than I remembered, but again thought that it was just because it was wet.
We had finished the entire top portion of the room before I realized that there was a problem. I ran and retrieved the third tiny can of paint that I had rejected and put away. And this is what I found.
You probably can't read that, but the color I wanted and the color I didn't want had been labeled with the exact same label! I had written down the name off the can that I wanted, but it had been labeled with the wrong label.
Here's the color I ended up with next to the color I wanted:
Of course all this happened on a Saturday night, so not only could I not deal with it right then while I was very annoyed, I couldn't deal with it until Monday. We ended up painting the whole room in the color that originally was just for the bottom half of it.
When I went back to Lowe's on Monday, the woman at customer service looked at me and informed me of their policy of NOT taking back custom tinted paint. So, I went to the paint guy. I showed him the little cans and had that "I dare you to tell me 'no'" face. He quietly took the can of reject paint and made up another of the one we needed to do a second coat. I didn't even have to growl at him.
So we went from this:
To this:
(Ignore all the breakfast stuff on the table.) So, it wasn't what I was going for, but it's done. And family is in town now. Our parents are united (if in nothing else) in horror at our color choices. We grew up in homes of white and pastel walls, so I think our parents are just genuinely confused by us.
Saga over. Until it's time to put up the crown and baseboard moulding. And curtains? Let me just say that that whole valance scarf draping thing is WAY harder than it looks!
Anyway, here's what it used to look like:
Click here to see all the colors we considered and eventually rejected, because it turned out that they didn't actually work out that well with our furniture.
Now for the saga. I went to Lowe's because I love Valspar paint. They have a lovely thing now called "Auditions". For $3 you can get a tiny can (maybe 1/2 a pint) of whatever color paint you want to try. So, armed with three tiny cans of paint and some practice boards, I headed home to try them out.
SO Cute!Todd painted the practice boards and then we watched for a day to see how the various colors caught the different light in the room. Then we argued over what color to choose. Click here for argument (See Letter F.)
We finally decided on two colors. One on the top then the chair rail painted white and a darker color on the bottom portion of the wall. My lovely golden color for the top, and a burnt orange for the bottom. The third color we had tried out was rejected, and I put the can away thinking perhaps we could use it to paint next year's pinewood derby cars or something.
Then I carefully wrote down the names and numbers listed on the labels of the two cans and went back to Lowe's to purchase my paint. After they mixed it up for me I did think it looked a little dark, but it's hard to tell in the lighting there and the dab of color they put on top is never dry enough to tell how true it is.
That night, Todd was doing the cutting in, so he opened the lighter of the two colors I had purchased and started painting. When I came in to start rolling, I again thought that it was darker than I remembered, but again thought that it was just because it was wet.
We had finished the entire top portion of the room before I realized that there was a problem. I ran and retrieved the third tiny can of paint that I had rejected and put away. And this is what I found.
You probably can't read that, but the color I wanted and the color I didn't want had been labeled with the exact same label! I had written down the name off the can that I wanted, but it had been labeled with the wrong label.Here's the color I ended up with next to the color I wanted:
Of course all this happened on a Saturday night, so not only could I not deal with it right then while I was very annoyed, I couldn't deal with it until Monday. We ended up painting the whole room in the color that originally was just for the bottom half of it.
When I went back to Lowe's on Monday, the woman at customer service looked at me and informed me of their policy of NOT taking back custom tinted paint. So, I went to the paint guy. I showed him the little cans and had that "I dare you to tell me 'no'" face. He quietly took the can of reject paint and made up another of the one we needed to do a second coat. I didn't even have to growl at him.
So we went from this:
To this:
(Ignore all the breakfast stuff on the table.) So, it wasn't what I was going for, but it's done. And family is in town now. Our parents are united (if in nothing else) in horror at our color choices. We grew up in homes of white and pastel walls, so I think our parents are just genuinely confused by us.Saga over. Until it's time to put up the crown and baseboard moulding. And curtains? Let me just say that that whole valance scarf draping thing is WAY harder than it looks!
Earthly Treasures
I know that money can't buy happiness, but a well placed $20 sure has me smiling a lot. =)
Especially since now I can jump in puddles again! Or just slog through my swamp of a backyard to throw the compost in the bins...but that part doesn't make me smile quite as much.
Happy Spring!
Monday, March 17, 2008
It's All Who You Know
At every single play that I've gone to see since we moved out here to Ohio, I scour the playbill to see if there is anyone I know in the traveling company since I have a few friends in that profession. I was beyond thrilled then when I found out that my friend, Chris-Ian, is going to be performing "H.M.S. Pinafore" with The New York Gilbert and Sullivan Players at the Southern Theater in Columbus in April!!!
This is me and Chris-Ian sleepy in Princeton last Spring. Aren't we cute?
Anyway, so Benjamin had received tickets to see "Annie" as a birthday present. The blizzard canceled that performance, but even before that happened, he asked if he could get a refund so he could go see King Tut perform! (Benjamin first saw Chris-Ian perform the roll of King Tut in NYC for a touring children's show and the image seems to have stuck in his mind.) Then he asked if we could wait by the stage door afterwards to get Chris-Ian's autograph. Apparently, we have raised a theater geek.
But, the most exciting part is that Chris-Ian is going to fly out a day early and stay with us before the show! And then (like we needed any more excitement?!) he promised us comp tickets!!! Really, I didn't know he could do that! It totally made Todd's day. Gilbert & Sullivan + Chris-Ian + Free = Hooray!!!
Here's a picture of me and Chris-Ian last spring at what is to become my annual sleepover party in NJ. There aren't even words to describe what a character this guy is:
"We are the Lions. Roar!"- Chris-Ian's impersonation of our college mascot.
Life would be miserable without good friends, wouldn't it?
This is me and Chris-Ian sleepy in Princeton last Spring. Aren't we cute?
Anyway, so Benjamin had received tickets to see "Annie" as a birthday present. The blizzard canceled that performance, but even before that happened, he asked if he could get a refund so he could go see King Tut perform! (Benjamin first saw Chris-Ian perform the roll of King Tut in NYC for a touring children's show and the image seems to have stuck in his mind.) Then he asked if we could wait by the stage door afterwards to get Chris-Ian's autograph. Apparently, we have raised a theater geek.But, the most exciting part is that Chris-Ian is going to fly out a day early and stay with us before the show! And then (like we needed any more excitement?!) he promised us comp tickets!!! Really, I didn't know he could do that! It totally made Todd's day. Gilbert & Sullivan + Chris-Ian + Free = Hooray!!!
Here's a picture of me and Chris-Ian last spring at what is to become my annual sleepover party in NJ. There aren't even words to describe what a character this guy is:
"We are the Lions. Roar!"- Chris-Ian's impersonation of our college mascot.
Life would be miserable without good friends, wouldn't it?
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