and don't get me started on bras...

frozen dog poop

in the front yard

is just as icky as non-frozen dog poop

when it comes to cleaning it up

~~

the paper shredder in the office

will not shred

a forgotten metal rabies tag taped to the vet's receipt

and

instead will make a god awful noise

and

then make you spend a half hour with needle nose pliers

trying to pull out the mangled mess

~~

no matter how much hair conditioner you use in the winter time

your hair will still be dry

and

if you use too much

you look like lady ga ga getting ready for a performance

which isn't too terrible I guess

if you're staying inside all day where nobody can see you

~and honestly I happen to love lady ga ga~

~~

potato soup

that boils over onto your stove top

can be used in place of

elmer's glue

~yucky starch~

~~

grocery shopping

can be fun

if you use really cute re-useable bags

and

hang out with the interesting people at

whole foods

~~

the fabulous tasting

de-tox tea

I've been living on

probably isn't doing anything for me

since I tend to eat cookies and chocolate

while I'm drinking it

*

how's your weekend going

?

or what I would tell HIM, over and over again.....

because

my own words aren't making any sense today

and

the few that keep trying to escape through my chapped lips

tend to bruise my already tender heart

even when I whisper them

so

I'm just going to use these

warm and fuzzy...

when I'm outside

and

the winter day is too bright

I put my sunglasses on

but

when

the winter day is too bright

on my computer screen

I add a texture to it

and

the brightness fades

~~

the

old

"vintage

postcard looking"

photo

that is born

from

a

winter day

"that makes me squint"

photo

makes me feel

warm

and

fuzzy

and

in wisconsin

in

the winter

warm and fuzzy

is a

good thing

*

sometimes simple things can be big things when they live in your heart...

the softness of my furry baby after her bath

~

a perfectly crisp apple

~

the smell inside the aveda store at the mall

~

finding some old photos I had forgotten about

~

wrapping up in a blanket to watch

"proof of life"

again

and

loving meg ryan even more than I already do

~

meeting girlfriends for lunch

where the eating only took us ten minutes

but

the talking and laughing went on for hours and hours

~

loving my mom for taking and understanding my side

when somebody said

something

that hurt my feelings

~

a warm kiss on the back of my neck that I didn't see coming

~

jumping up and down when my son came home from school

excited about an upcoming project

*

these are some of the simple things that happened in my life the past two weeks

~

thanks to the wonderful and ever amazing christina

many of us are sharing

simple things

today

~

please visit her if you want to play along

or

if you just want to read all the many many blogs

sharing

simple things

*

I really don't know why either...

the climbing goat from yesterday

brought lots of questions

and

I wish I had a really smart answer

but

I don't

~~

maybe the climbing thingy majingy is just to test their

intelligence

and

agility

and

to add some excitement to their otherwise kind of mundane life

or

maybe to add some excitement to ours

~~

who knows

~~

what I do know is that first

you make friends with the goats

then you let them know you have food for them

and

they watch intently

while you attach their food to one of the spinners

the brave goats

start climbing

hoping that the middle stand is where the food stops

but

like the picture from yesterday

they will go all the way to top to get the food

if that's where you send it

and

then it's over quickly

~as they tend to inhale their food~

and

they head back down

and

wait for the next person

sending a bucket of food up the ropes

~~

they have been doing this for years

at this little animal farm/vegetable market

and

it's safe

and

obviously the goats love it

as do the kids

~~

well

and

some adults too

*

i'm still playing with the polaroid coloring

as it seems so fitting

for the grey days that have settled over wisconsin

it doesn't matter who won, it's about how you played the game

wrong

no it's not

we only say that to be good parents

and

to make sure our kids feel good about themselves

when the other team grounds them up like coffee beans

and

buries them in the dirt

~~

but

for adults

it's all about winning

because

it's gives us a reason

to throw our arms up in the air

and

dance around the house in our bathrobe and messy hair

almost tripping over the dog

while shouting

"I won I won"

while

totally embarrassing the above mentioned children

~~

SO

the winner

of my

winter wonderland drawing

is

kathy kathy ko kathy

banana fanana

fo fathy

mi my mo mathy

KATHY

~~

thank you all

so very very much for loving my photos

and

entering the drawing

and

making me feel really special

~~

you're the best

*

i played around with the photo above to create a polaroid effect

~not sure if I pulled it off or not~

and

yes

that's a real goat climbing really high to get to the bucket of corn on the spinner

that was filled on the ground where we were standing and then sent up to the top

by the spinning rope

~lord there must be a technical term for this~

anyhow

am i the only one who loved this stuff as a kid

and

now as an adult

will still stand there and watch this for hours

*

but I can't...

too often

he doesn't realize how hard it is to be his mother

~~

too often

he doesn't realize how much I love him and want to protect him forever

~~

too often

he doesn't realize

that on the nights he keeps me awake with worry

and

my bed pillows swell with tears

that

I want to run away for a bit and become someone else

~~

but

I can't

because

I'm his mom

and

mom's aren't supposed to run away

ever

~~

but

they can think about it

*