Decorate Your Soul

The most interesting thing that I have to report is that I finally took the broom to the cobweb that has been hanging out in the corner above the front entry door since the day after we moved in.

I mentioned something to the babysitter as she was leaving tonight about taking care of that cobweb and she giggled and said, "That’s what you said on the very first night I baby-sat."

That was in reference to the first night she watched the girls– which was  four months ago.

So there you go. I was waiting until I remembered to buy a Webster, but it turns out that the end of a broom does the trick, too.

Ho-hum, back to nothing more interesting…

These are some {bright} pictures from the girl’s morning "outing" to the beach. The wind wasn’t too windy, the sand didn’t get everywhere and we didn’t leave any shovels near the shore.  A perfect beach day. ha.

Once a week, we have a local paper delivered that tells of the community’s happenings and such. There is a section not too far past the front page titled "FACEs of the Future " that is an acronym for Fraternity of Academic and Civic Excellence. High school students are chosen throughout North County that exemplify outstanding academic and community service. As if Andy and I live in our hometown, we are always interested and fascinated by the short bios and photos of four talented teenagers of tomorrow right here in our community.

A few weeks ago, Andy made mention to me that the FACES seemed to always be females with high GPAs, members of prestigious societies that high schoolers can become apart of for college resumes (and bragging rights), volunteers for community organizations, tutors for biophysical medicine (yes, really, I read it in there once). I was taken aback since I could remember very recently reading about a couple of guy scholars having made the FACEs column… and then he showed me that the four people on the page were sure enough X Chromosomers. And then two weeks ago, it was four young ladies again. And then last week, a guy was selected to be showcased here. He was proving to me that he was right and then two nights ago, he came across the FACEs page once again while I was watching some nonsense on the tube. He didn’t even tell me what he was reading but I could tell by glancing over.

So I asked, "How many?"

And without batting an eye, he answered, "Three and one."

And that was it. I didn’t have to engage him into a side story about the article. I know Andy. I know what he likes. I know what he was shaking his head about. We have arrived in that comfortable spot right now where we have "inside stuff." I am sure we have been here for awhile but it feels good to just be reminded of that.

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We met for lunch at Carl’s today and the guy taking our order was incredibly rude, among other non-friendly qualities. I am not very confrontational but believe there is something called a little respect you should give to the people contributing to your paycheck. I was on the verge of saying  something (but there is that little voice inside that says to be compassionate, maybe we could bring him the smile that he needs) when I looked over at my husband and we both gave each other that look that basically said, "Dude, what’s your deal? If you don’t want to interact with people, quit this job and go live in Antarctica."

But neither one of said anything of this sort to the guy.

But we said it in our look to each other.

Because we’re just like that. We have inside stuff.

While rummaging through the bottom drawer of my paper products this afternoon, I came across a small box of old keepsakes and such. I can’t believe these precious little photos were among them. I must remember to put them in a safer place, I thought.

This first picture is of my Poppy, Bubby, Nana and my mom as a little girl. Can you see their cute little faces through the crease?

How about this one?

I cannot help but wonder about old photos like this… what year was this picture taken? And what are their ages? Who is behind the camera? Were they celebrating a special occasion that night?  Was there fresh coffee made? Did spaghetti get spilled onto the floor?

One of the things that has really drawn me into scrapbooking is the ability to tell the story behind the picture. A slice of history for my children, maybe for their children to learn about, laugh with, know that we aren’t all too different from one another. That every person has a story to tell. I wish they would have told it. Louder. Because when I was younger I didn’t listen very carefully. I wasn’t very forthcoming with questions.

Where are your old treasured photos? They might be apart of your story.

I wouldn’t have ever imagined this, but I really did marry a rocket scientist.

Andy headed out to Cape Canavereal today for the launching of the Atlas V 551 launch tomorrow morning.

And just so I wouldn’t miss the rocket geting launched, he bookmarked the site for me right here.

Now you can watch the play-by-play with me And it won’t be a long, long time, Sir Elton . He should be home by the end of the week…