Snow and Family

Our snow family.

The view from our driveway, kids at play.

Sledding experts.

Pure snow joy.

Admiration.

As for the cold and the fibro, I found that the more I moved and the more fun I had, the more I was able to ignore it.  My current motto is this: I am going to hurt no matter what, so what is the point of sitting still?  I know there will be days this isn't enough to get me moving and overcome the pain, but this weekend it was.  Triumph!

Childhood Secrets

So I was at a coffee shop this morning (after spending 45 minutes at a lottery getting my daughter into preschool--PRESCHOOL!!!), and a painting caught my eye.  It depicts a little girl lounging on the grass outside a house.  Something about the angle of the home, the way it wraps around the girl, makes me think she is tucked away in a favorite spot of hers.  Perhaps she is hiding or in a place she goes to pretend.  With her in the painting is a golden retriever and the girl has her left arm lazily thrown over the dog's coat.  The childs knees are tucked up to her chest and in her right hand she clutches a candy bar.  Did she steal it from her mother's secret stash?  Did she run away to this sacred spot to devour it in solitude?  And why doesn't the dog snatch it away, you wonder?  Because the dogs mouth is full as well!  Hanging from its jaws is a bra!  Yes, a bra.  These two creatures, child and pet, are both partners in an unholy alliance.  They are both thieves.  They are both on the lam.  They are both content, even happy.

What does this picture say to you?  It speaks volumes in memory to me.  I remember the so-called secret spots of my childhood homes.  I remember the things I thought I was sneaking.  And those memories are as beautiful to me today as the action was at the time.

Project for Booklovers and Parents

I am a reader.  I LOVE BOOKS.  I love them so much I am writing my own.  In fact, that is how I got into the blogging thing.  My first blog (my main blog) is Southern City Mysteries.  It wasn't until I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and needed a place to bleed and emote that I began this one.  Luckily, it has turned into more of a happy place than a drown your sorrows type of cesspool.

But back to the point of this post...My father's birthday was January 9th and he is an avid reader as well.  He reads mostly mass-market paperbacks and doesn't hesitate to break their spines or dog-ear their pages, but I thought a nice accessory would be a good gift.  Enter the bookmark.

I have children.  My son loves to draw and my daughter loves stickers.  But you can't just cut a bookmark out of regular notebook or construction paper - too flimsy.  So resourceful me grabbed an old birthday card and cut it into strips.  Because of the card's design, I was actually able to make five bookmarks.  Some superhero/Scooby Doo stickers and several shades of ink later--voila!  Homemade bookmarks!  The kids loved it, the grandfather will love it and I appear the creative mom for a day.

Just thought I would share.  Do you have any creative ideas to share?  I'm always looking for new projects to do with my children, and I am sure other readers are as well.

My children do beautiful things

I have good news.  The arthritis panel came back negative yesterday.  I cried.  I cried because for what seemed like the first time in so long things were going right.  What I have is manageable and my future is a positive one.

I also treated the diagnosis as postive, to be honest.  I have been on a cloud-skimming high since about last Thursday.  (It took me a couple days to fully swallow and digest living with Fibromyalgia.)  But TO KNOW!!  To be able to say, "This ache is the disease, I don't need physical therapy, I need to accept it and work through the pain" and "I am not crazy!  This pain is real and I can embrace it and be happy I can feel anything at all!" - those are the kind of emotions the diagnosis settled in my heart.

So today I share this good news.  And I share something beautiful done for me.

I had my first case of utter exhaustion to the point of inactivity last night (first non-child related, for all you parents out there!).  I wasn't able to go to my Junior League volunteer event.  I was barely able to fork spaghetti into my mouth and run to the pharmacy.  I collapsed into bed and fell asleep before my husband, which he will attest is about the fifth time this has happened in seven years of marriage.

This morning, my whole body ached.  My joints hurt with sharp, knifelike pain.  I felt feverish and worried that I was getting sick, but I really knew it was just the exhaustion and accompanying fibro symptoms.  (Read here for assurance that I know to separate what is and what isn't fibro-related.)  My mood, of course, went straight the farthest point south and I wasn't sure I would be able to function, let alone take care of my children.

And then we got in the car.  My son, Jake (4yo), made an absolutely ridiculous pose and said, "Look at me, Mom!" and my daughter, Natalaie (21mo), copied him and screamed, "Look at me!"  Immediately the negative reverie was broken and their precious voices began to sing out in my heart.  We turned on music and had a wonderful, stress-free (that's relative, as moms will know) ride to school.

So my children did something beautiful for me today.  And I am here, writing a positive post instead of the opposite because of it.