A Sidewalk Chalk Story

It's 4:20 am and like any respectable empty nest parent, I am WIDE awake and looking for things to do.  Yes, unfortunately I have fallen back into the 3-5 am wake up pattern my body seems to love so much.  So, tonight, I have stumbled into one of my children empty rooms to organize............there's always a corner or closet that needs help.  Laura's room is no exception. 

The corner behind her guest day bed is a treasure trove worth of items to organize........I discover a new purse she's never, ever going to use.......I will take it to Goodwill.  There are Christmas balls left over from when she decorated her room from last Christmas...............I will move them into the garage with all the other holiday decorations.  And then I see an odd looking white plastic bag.  It holds  a collection of sidewalk chalk.  The bag is tattered from all the years she would drag the bag out to the driveway to create her masterpieces.  Her sidewalk chalk was probably her favorite playtime activity from ages 4-8.  She's now 21, so who knows why this bag is sitting lodged in the corner of her room now.  I open it up and discover there are at least 12 different pieces in a variety of colors and lengths.  I can see that blue was her favorite because they are the most worn.  She loved the ocean even back then and many a night I would come home from work only to find waves and a beach welcoming me.

I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic nanny who was artistically talented.  Being artistically challenged (remind me to tell you about this weekend's craft project and the kitchen chairs.....), I really appreciated Darcy covering me in the arts projects!  The sidewalk chalk was used to create whole villages or beach scenes and once I arrived home to find the whole Phoenix Suns team laying on my driveway. But my most favorite sidewalk chalk story came on a weekend some 16 years ago......................

I was dating Bill #2....(now husband) and he was extremely helpful around my house.  I lived in a wonderful neighborhood called Arcadia and I had a charming house.  And when I say charming, I mean falling apart.  The windows needed to be replaced.  The carpet was getting dingy and the cedar roof was leaking and would soon need replacing....(hence, the move to North Scottsdale).  It was a beautiful Fall day, and we were all busy doing projects outside around the house.  The boys were playing next door as was often the case when work outdoors was being done.  But Laura was tagging along "helping" us with the weekend chores.  I had decided to tackle the gigantic oleander bush along the side of the house and along the street.  I suggested that during this task it would be best if Laura followed Bill around for awhile.  Bill decided that he needed to do some work on the roof along the edges.  It was a one story home but the roof was filled with branches and debris from the large trees on the property.  Laura followed him along the grass and talked to him as he worked....sidewalk chalk in hand. 

Now, as the story goes, somehow Bill managed to fall off the roof and knocked the wind out of himself.  He landed about 3 feet from where Laura was playing.  She ran over to him and said, "Hey, Bill, what are you doing"......no answer......"are you okay?"........no answer..........."are you dead?".......Bill attempt to muster an answer, but he is in pain and cannot seem to speak........."because if you are dead, I will write your name on the wall with my sidewalk chalk!"  She proceeds to get up and start writing 'BILL' on the brick siding of the house.  Bill looks up and with a grin on his face, says, "I'm not dead Laura, come help me up!"

If you are a parent of young children, I highly recommend you go get some sidewalk chalk.  Sure your driveway will be a mess 90% of the time, but it is so worth it!  And I am ready to go back to bed now, but I decide I should take this chalk down to our great nephew's house so he can make a mess of his Mom's or Grandmom's driveway.  I also think I will save the largest blue piece of chalk to keep in Laura's room.............

(I am participating in the Ultimate Blog Challenge this month)

Striving To Be Perfect

Photo by Laura Stone

Day 12 of Daily Blog Posting with the Ultimate Blog Challenge:

No one ever said I was perfect, well maybe one of two may have said that, but it doesn't really count when they are in a drunken stupor. But, I strive for perfection every day.  All around me I have examples of perfection to look to for inspiration and guidance.  The key is to not be disappointed when, by the end of the day, you are no closer to being a perfect human being than you were when you woke up in the morning.  The central point is that you tried and that you enjoyed trying to be good, better, best.

I am often inspired by the sheer beauty of things...objects....around me.  Take the full moon hanging longer than usual in the sky this morning.  It was 6:25 am and the sky was a noncommittal shade of blue.  Below, the recently seeded winter lawn popped up to say, "I may be young and weak now but soon I will fill in and provide golfers with a plush landing for their golf balls".  (Yes, the grass does talk to me!)

The morning walks with the neighbors and their dogs is filled with relaxing commentary on all things political while we are entertained by the constant frolicking of our four-legged friends.  Animals make you be better people by sharing the master-servant positions; we dutifully pick up their "deposits" in small plastic bags without hesitation.

I am inspired by the writing in the Wall Street Journal each morning and get excited to put something down in writing. I am inspired as I flip through the gorgeous pages of this month's Architectural Digest magazine.  While I may never have a room with furniture that looks cohesive, my home can be clean and organized and I can be appreciative of the items I have collected to date. 

There is a laser-like focus when it comes to the work I do with clients.  Every word on their website or sell sheet must feel perfect for their business objectives.  Sometimes, I have written and rewritten a paragraph so many times that my head spins, but in the end, I feel good that the effort put forth has produced something good and decent.

Parenting is perhaps the hardest area to prefect.  The presentation to the kids is often times derailed and off-target, but you always mean well!  Tell that to a child who you have just told they look like s**t or that they are not trying hard enough, and their feelings are hurt!  But, you keep trying by repeating that you love them dearly and that you only mean well.

It is the process of becoming a better, more perfect being that I find fascinating.  It never gets boring.  It is a worthy cause.  It lasts forever........

Why We Clean Our Homes and Party Planning

Image via Wikipedia
I am now planning a 60th Wedding Anniversary party for my husband's parents to be held in my backyard in about a month.  Thank goodness, we have decided to host the party here, as it will make me clean this pig-sty of a home.




My windows are so dirty I thought I saw Jesus in them the other day.  In my defense though, I thought the dirt was actually  acting as a shield from the blazing Arizona summer sun....therefore using less electricity to cool my house down.  See, there is a method to my madness.

Image via Wikipedia

There is a bit of a problem with the party, though.  I was told that the guest count was 60 and I had down a basic layout of the party and had just figured out how I could fit that number of people in my backyard when I then learned that number did not include the 20 extra family members!  Back to the drawing board.



It would be nice to have a household of people in the house again.  My empty nest home has three very sad and lonely bedrooms with adjoining bathrooms just dying to be filled with out-of-town family members!  But as family politics come into play, the rooms may remain empty.  I cannot worry about family politics anymore than Federal politics; I am just one person in a sea of people with opinions and ideals. But I will still scrub and clean each room.....just in case.

I decided to take the covers off the cushions of my outdoor furniture this weekend, and wash/bleach them before the big event.  What a fiasco!  It took about an hour to actually get them off; they are very tight.  Then, the filling has basically disintegrated so putting the covers back on was a major task, taking two people and another hour of labor on Labor Day to get them back on. A few of the cushions now look like I have stuffed the neighbor's cat into the cover or something equally as lumpy!  These are expensive Gloster cushions, too.  Just goes to show you how very brutal our weather is here in sunny Arizona.

Writing this blog post is actually my little stall tactic.  I need to contact the caterer, the guitarist and the photographer.  I need to find more rectangle tables to borrow.  I need to do another layout.  I need to decide on the food and wine to be served.  Minor details, really.  But thanks for allowing me that extra twenty minutes before the real work begins.  And, wish me luck.....