What a crummy day but, look what I found!

I'll spare you the details, but today was not so great. It started with my cell phone having gone missing (I have no land line) Turns out kid "picked it up off the floor (why was it there?) put it in his pocket, then went to school" Could I call the school to find out if he has it? NOoooooo, because THEN, if he DID, he would get detention. ....day didn't get much better after that, until:

While cleaning and sorting boxes in my basement (another fun part of my day!), I found the autobiography I wrote when in sixth grade (age 12). No, it ws not for entertainment, although I did write plays and cartoons; it was for an assignment.

"...At 6:34, after waiting for Dad and the doctor, I made my
appearance. Headlines, "Stacey [R] meets the world."

"There's not much to tell about the next few months unless you
call moving from the bassinet to the crib exciting.

"I have always loved animals and music. When I was
eighteen months old, I liked to sit on our manx cat, Screwball, and
hold his ears back until the cat howled. When he howled, I would sing
with him. You must not think that sitting on a cat is very good, and it's
not, but this is a very large cat.

"I had a big collection of instruments. Mom's pots and
pans, a baby piano, and a a xylophone, but I played the cat
best."

It is so funny to read your 12-year-old perspective (from 26 years ago!) Here is more:

"One of my favorite places to go was the zoo. My first time at the zoo was
at age eighteen months. I went with my mom and my mom's friend, the
photographer. I kept running around and they were trying to catch
me. I ran around so much that they threatened to put me in the monkey
house."

And some more:

"Now, I belong to Hollin Meadows. Kindergargen was fun.
Sometimes we would have parties and the teacher would bring her daughter to
them. Once we got to fingerpaint with chocolate pudding. I think
that the kids were eating more of the pudding than they than they were painting
with."

Please understand that I am typing EXACTLY what I had written; now, I know better than to end a sentence with a preposition!

"My first operation happened when I was ten years old in the summer
(luckily). I had an appendectomy. I thought it was just a stomach
ache. Mom went to New Jersey for a boat race and left me and [H] with a
friend. The next day, I was walking around bent half way over not eating
anything. Finally, the friend called the hospital and told the doctor
everything. Then he (the friend) took me to the hospital to be x-rayed and
pushed on. I wasn't allowed to have a drink of water because my appendix
broke. The friend called my father and mother. I had the operation
that day. After the operation, when I woke up everything was blury.
They [took] me to a room in the children's ward, where I spent seven days
hurting, calling people, watching TV, reading, and going to the bathroom."

Wow, clearly, my lack of self-edit goes WAY back!

"I get to start my career at acting. In fifth grade we had a program
near Halloween. There was a poem with an old lady and a cat in it. I
got to act out the old lady. I wanted to use my pet cat for the part in
the play, but Mom wouldn't let me. I only had to say about four
words."

Please keep in mind that I just found this book after it's being in some box for well over eight years! So, it is a little bizarre to read:

"For my future, I want to become a very successful veternarian, model, actress,
or singer. I want to have one child and a puppy. I'd like to live in
a townhouse in a very nice neighborhood with good friends."

Aside from the career specifics an "very nice" neighborhood (which depends on your perspective; I am picky, but the neighborhood is improving), it sounds like I am on track! Notice how, even back then, 'husband' wasn't a part of my vision of my adult life!

Let this be a lesson: if you have a dream (specifically singer, in my case) don't let anyone derail you. Now, I am working on the acting aspect of my 12-year-old self's career dream. And maybe all of those years of voice lessons will pay off.

To my friends: thank you for being my "good friends"; truly a dream that did come true. :)

I'll scan some of the photos, later, then add them. Right now, I need today to END...goodnight!

It has been awhile...

...an will probably be awhile, still, since I have posted.. I have been crazy busy. In fact, in the past /four /.Mdays, I have had a total of 10 hours of sleep MAXIMUM....I think tonight may be a good night/morning to try to catch up.

Then, it is portfolio upate/resume sending time! I do have a couple of freelance projects, but that isn't full-time work. Although, I DO love the idea of springtime looming and the fact that I can go to my garden at any point in the day and play in the dirt.

(FYI, my D key seems to be sticking so if I type wors an am missing the D, you will know (I know they are missing in THOSE worDs; I was making a point)

Garden: Last year, per the advise of my darling child, I only planted about 10 tomato plants, compared to my regular 30+. SO, no salsa, no marina, hardly any fried green tomatoes, etc. This year, I am going to get SEEDS of heirloom tomatoes and start them myself. Sure, it is easier to just plant your standard Better Boy and Romas you can get at Home Depot, but I want VARIETY! I like my salsa with red, green AND yellow tomatoes...actually, it is more like a pico de gallo than salsa because it isn't cooke an very chunky; you can SEE the veggies in it.

Wow! Thinking about summer veggies, I sure could go for a salad right about now, considering that dinner was a whey protein shake with yogurt an blackberries; it WAS supposed to be london broil, balsamic onions, and roasted root veggies topped off with chocolate mousse!) Oh, I am sure that what I had was better for my body that the other, which is better for my SOUL! I know! I'll go running THREE times this week, then eat like that NEXT weekend. Swimsuit season is upon us! This year, I am WEARING ONE! (some of you know why that is a big deal for me, but not everyone needs to know.)

S60eth5ng is wrong /with /.my keyboard...odd....now it seems fine. //.M / SHOOT!! /.MZzc,xv /.Time for /.MZCazc,xv new laptop! I am /.MZoff /.Mto .ebay /.now!

A place of his own...

is what I want to build for my nephew. Actually, when I conceived this idea, my sister was pregnant with #2, so this was to be a place of their own.

When my own son was little, I didn't own the house we lived in (I was a stay-at-home, but freelancing, single mom, which is almost an impossibility financially, but I think it was good for him), so I wasn't able to build him the tree house of his (my?) dreams. Being an freelance architectural designer gave me inspiration if not the funds to use AutoCAD to draw outlandish, modern forts, etc. But, someone else's breeding has given me the opportunity.

The idea started from some pine logs I found on the side of the street. I don't know how, but I mentally striped away the bark, revealing corners of a little log cabin (the 'logs' were about six feet long each) I rounded up some muscle (my kid) and my SUV and scavenged these logs who are now residing in my sister's shed.

Can you see the log?

Ceiling, interior walls
Roofing

Floor

Me: "I would like to build D a fort."
Sis: "WHAT? [groan] Why?"
BiL (coming in from the driveway where he had to help my son unload the logs): "Why
is Stacey bringing these logs HERE?"
Sis: "She wants to build D some type of fort."
BiL: "Uh, OK...I need to go...[something unintelligible as he walks away]"
Sis: "This cannot be something that drags out for months and months (uh oh she is on to me!)"
Me: "oh no. I will plan it out. Plus, I don't want D to get bored with it before it is even complete."

After numerous concepts, I came up with plan: A TIKI HUT! Ohhh YES! This will be SO COOL!!

I obtained samples of:
roofing material (grass, of course)
bamboo matting for the walls and floors
photos of landscaping ideas (this is where I should have realized it was getting out of hand, but it will be SO PERFECT: ferns, fake orchids, etc)

The entire project will need to be drawn up in AutoCAD, and presented to my sister with sample products, etc (BiL couldn't care less as to what I do; he, unlike she, completely trusts me in my creative pursuits; he and I are more alike than she and I!) The project needs to be modularly built in the shed (more like a 2-car garage) as panels that are quickly assembled on-site, which won't be more than 100 feet away near the stand of bamboo they cannot eradicate.

I guess hula girl lamps will only work if I run electricity out there, huh? Maybe I can rig one that isn't wired, but you put a crack stick where the bulb goes.

My darling child strongly feels that this 'hut' should be about 40' x 50'. I am thinking more like 6'-8' x 10' with a 2' deep covered porch across the front. There will be space inside with a built-in bunk for camping out when they are a bit older (considering that nephew #2 is only three months old NOW, it will be more than a few years) There will be space inside for a table and a couple of chairs, toy storage, etc...I haven't worked out all of the particulars, but that didn't stop me from shopping for hula girl lamps, surf boards, masks and lots of 'tiki' related paraphernalia

I am encouraging J to incorporate his creativity; we talked about his carving tiki poles (are you seeing where these pine logs are coming into this project now?) Pine is a soft wood and easier to carve by hand. By hand meaning with your hand wrapped around a Dremel tool NOT a pocket knife or chisel: I am not THAT crazy!

Why am I writing about this right now? Yesterday, the birds were singing, the snow melted and I was walking around in jeans and a tank: SPRING is here (God willing) It is time for me to get my act together if I want this construction completed by summer. I figure this will cost me no more than $500 and that goes mostly toward lumber, woven mats and thatch roof. Craigslist perusing has provided plenty of contacts for free bamboo for wall exteriors. I can get free windows from window replacement companies and will work out the rest this spring.

Resources:
http://www.tikifocus.com/
http://www.safarithatch.com/default.aspx
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/

It is just WRONG...

when your 13-year-old kid is walking around, no shirt, flexing his triceps and abs, talking about how sexy he is!

There is a girl who keeps calling. He said she likes him. I had to check my phone bill for something and found the calls to be mutual (he is unaware that I know this). I teased "Come on, you KNOW you like her."
"She's OK. But I get so many, it is tough to keep track." [muscle flex; muscle flex]

I hold out hope that one time he tries to leap frog a fence post or traffic barrier (what are those phallic looking painted concrete barriers?) and doesn't quite clear it. The only problem is that he would probably go face first into the concrete sidewalk and lose some teeth. But, I won't have to worry about buying the condoms I promised to supply if he waits until he is at LEAST 16.

Speaking of SEXY, you should see some of the shoes I found on ebay (of course, right?) He needs some moderately dressy shoes because he was chosen, with 20 other boys, to represent his school at this conference sponsored by Nike. I was thinking something like Dirty Bucks, Doc Martins, something like:






but look at THESE:












I am so tempted to get the blue snakeskin (top/right) for him, but it may clash (slightly??) with the rest of the ensemble! I see those with basic black pants and one of those black/blue bowling shirts. The great thing about J is that he'd WEAR IT! Perfect for a movie premiere; SMIII is in May, yannow. He can wear that while I work on finding a Tadashi I like.