The Graduate. Someday!

IMG_2771
Originally uploaded by joylawrenceclark

The whirling odyssey of, 'NOW!'.
A listed Thought pool....Dear Teenager: I Thought There Were Only 24 Hours in A Day, Quebec, Shantaram, My House Smells Like A D.H. Lawrence Novel, The Sunday New York Times, New York City 2011, Glee: You've Made Life Worth Singing, Red Box: Suck It.
FABLES. FABLES.

'On Saturday Afternoons in 1963', Rickie Lee Jones

pre-tornado on the West Lawn
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

The days are long and the years are short. A pic of Hayley and Robert during our family vacation to Baltimore/DC 2007...seems like decades ago.


I've been reading The Happiness Project and cooking up recipes from a deliciously simple Indian cookbook, 5 Spices 50 Dishes
I'm doing the near impossible; like staying sober for thirty days, going to bed early and rising early, exercising daily, AND keeping the house picked up!!! I'm practically huffing Meyer's Lemon Verbena Countertop Spray.
Small (yet AMAZING!) feats: Completing laundry from start to finish!! No smelly pile in the basement for days. No folded clothes, abandoned on the dining room table. Kitchen cleaned every night. Seriously?! *shakes head & a wry laugh*
Truth: I feel like I'm a boring person sleeping on clean sheets in a delicious-candle-scented house.
Anywhooooo! Hayley just returned from a week-long band trip to DC/New York. I'm crossing my fingers that she aims higher than Cornish! (NEW YORK CITY!!!!)

Necesito Mariachi!

Necesito Mariachi!
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

Check My Style

That's My PhoneBank!
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

Robert and I have been hit head on with the cell phone saga. Hayley (14), My mother (55), and Father (60) are all in the club. Their mantra is growing more deafening: WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN YOU NEED TO BUY A STICK OF BUTTER AND DON'T KNOW IT???
Robert and I spent a weekend driving an old fashioned car, using pay phones, playing pinball, and enjoying FOOD! : Each a nostalgic enterprise. The most delicious, satisfying, and Loving experience tops out at 'Of Montreal': Its a car drive sing a long. 'How To Cook a Wolf': Discover your hearty soul!

Aw Shucks!

Really this should say "Happy Faux Mother's Day" And thanks Hayley and Robert! I feel Supercalifragilisticexpialidociously loved! Cheers to many more purple rooms and crazy vacations!

The Avocado Seed

The Avocado Seed
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

I'm wishing that spring would just get here already, AND am happy to not feel terribly guilty for sitting in a cold, dark basement laughing at the likes of Amy Poehler and This American Life when its dark and yuck outside. I'm still trying to navigate my darn Ipod, and wrapping my mind around this podcast stuff.
This is a pic of an avocado seed that Hayley and Robert rescued from the compost pile last fall, and now its busting out of its bud vase. There's not much I love more than a soft, fatty avocado! I'm naively excited at the prospect of pulling it off a tree in our living room. I say naive because I have no idea if this will demand hand pollination (which sounds perverted!).
I haven't had a drop of wine in three weeks and life is just starting NOT to be agonizingly BORING! I am motivated to plan a garden- totally strange but true. Robert is trying to contain his glee. He can hardly imagine a life where someone actually helps with yard work.

I'm finally out of a planning funk and onto San Francisco Family Vacation 2009. Its a mystery why every occasion needs to end with a resounding two thousand ----?!!!! I invite you to sing,"In the year two thousand...' at the top of your lungs!

We Painted. He Sanded. We Fought. And Now It Looks Awesome.

All Grown Up
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

The living room finally looks like adults live in it. It was a tiny taste of hell getting it here, but we made it with all of our appendages. I'm still traumatized when we scratched the newly finished floor by moving the piano. Robert can recant the story punctuating it with a nonchalant shrug. Mind-blowing.
Its been impossible to do something at home other than sit on the couch and admire the room (and the TV). Last night we tried to play a family game from our respective positions on the couch- its difficult to draw cards from a table that is about a foot away when you're lying on your back..... We just can't get enough of this darn couch! (Thanks Tori and Dave and Danny!)
I naively thought that Robert and I would be honing our skills to finally win the 'Amazing Race' with each home improvement project. Instead we're creating our own version of 'The Honeymooners'. I was relieved when a customer related that he and his wife didn't talk for a year when they gutted their house. Hmmm...... I think I'll go out and buy a card instead.
So here it is! The finished product. Robert and I are in the mood to purchase art. The walls need some pops of color. I hear the price and time is right. Any suggestions?

In Bed With Clothes On.

In Bed With Clothes On.
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

You saw it! That is one High Definition TeleVision in our bedroom. My birthday was full of decadence: Eating like it was Thanksgiving, taking naps, reading books!, purchasing orange juice (ah- screwdriver!), and talking with old friends.
The floor+walls are soon to be finished and we can live in the rest of the house...... I'm daydreaming in Ikea Kitchen- I'm preparing my sledgehammer moves.

Dear Me: Meet Yourself.

robert and wendy.
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

Since we haven't spoke since 2008- its best that I list the facts first and then get on to the blag that I usually post.
1. My husband is a saint. When there was something to be done Christmas-ish he did it. Present Shopping. Cleaning. Decorating. Cooking. Wrapping. Fuse checking. (True genius! He got me a subscription to BUST! and didn't roll his eyes when I purchased a Nano for myself the DAY after Christmas). He showed Christmas who was boss. He deserves a Pinto with one black door that he can fold into like a sandwich and putter on to a tennis match.
2. If I thought I knew what the hell was going on..... well, I just woke up. Its been an epiphany that will put a smile on my face in about 10 years.
3. When I wake up again at 3am on the couch still in my Johnny Cash work clothes- tell me to get a degree.
4. Work is a monkey on your back- and if you're like me- It will always entertain you.
5. My deepest regret is that there was no 2007 Mariachi.

Ah! The blog cloud has lifted. Next up? Acupuncture experience??

The Short List.... And the Long List.

PJs
Originally uploaded by wendysteere

I've been hinting at it, and now I'll come out and say it: I'm onto a new job with a gazillion times more complexity. Its completely invigorating, blush-inducing, and humbling. Once again I'm addicted to my planner and daydreaming about the hour and a half I get to spend with Franklin Covey every Monday morning at exactly 0800 hours. That coveted time sounds a little like this: 'Chores? NEVER! Work? ALWAYS! Veg Time? ABSOLUTELY! Let's Prioritize!'
Today in a fit of denial (procrastination) I surfed through Netflix Watch Instantly! and found a strange gem called ' A League of Gentlemen'. Its a Kids In The Hall-Monty Python-Twin Peaks sandwich. Double on the Meat, extra cheese, and frenetically weird. Watch it! Its conflicting for me to advocate- since I've been a complete mouthpiece for 30 Rock. (Recite any 30 Rock dialog to a 70 year old dude ... Its a barrel of confusion.)
Christmas is on- and its hot and heavy: Try explaining that to the East Germans (Retailers). The wish lists have been copied, pasted and attached. The tree is awaiting purchase. We retire the fraternity house couch and usher in the SECTIONAL! I've finally grown up. Every day I turn into another tiny little piece of my mother.
Pancakes on a Sunday morning, homemade pizza, and Jenga.... and a Biggest Loser sob story. Ah! The homebody life of winter!