Life and It's Frailties.

There are constant reminders surrounding us daily of the fragility of life. I'll admit that I am the there's no milk for my cereal; FML, self absorbed type of person that it usually take a tornado, hurricane, or someone I know personally to be faced with something terminal in order for that concept to really reach home. 

As good, funny, or atrocious things usually do, I ran across something going viral on the book of faces (facebook, ya get it?) the other day. I started watching. The length was a lil daunting (23 min? Really? Surely there is some important pint of ice cream begging to be eaten that I could use this time assisting.) But alas, I was glued. The message was beautiful, the person was even more so. 

Ya know what gets me the most about death? 

I can't help but think after every passing day, woah... yesterday that person was alive... 2 days ago that person was checking their Facebook... a week ago that person was eating dinner with their family.... It is just so surreal to me. What were their last thoughts? Did they know it was coming? Did they get to say goodbye? Who did they leave behind to survive the Hell that is life without them? 

And then I get sad; sad thinking about the nightmare their loved ones are currently going through. Sometimes I even cry on their behalf. We'll blame the birth control for that impulse.

Here's the video I ran across. If you have 22 minutes, you can share the sweet, gratitude filled, empathetic, WHYYYY-are-the-good-the-first-to-go?! experience that I had.

Papa Stratford, make a note of this: when I die, and you are 103 and still kicking, I want you to make a sweet video montage in my honor to leave my loved ones (or 30 cats.... however fate would have it.)

Have a good night guys! As for me, I think I will pray for Grace.

When The Husband is Away, the Girls Will Play.

Ryan is out of town for a few days (including his birthday, boo.) for some networking, and interviewing opportunities. 

This would be the perfect opportunity to go a lil cray-cray, am I right?

When I go out of town, my husband takes that as an invitation to pound a whole pizza by himself, rent a bunch of movies, and to not shave. So that got me thinking, what should I do?!

I thought, oh hey, I could prance around in my unda-getup! So, ya know... the second I got home from dropping him off yesterday, we had a lil bit of this action:

(don't tell my husband that there were suddenly a bunch smoke, lights and jiving guys in our living room...)

And then it was about lunch time so... well...

But that's nothing out of the ordinary.

What next? I know! A bubble bath. Me thinks:

Or, a luxurious shower (because you just can't shower unless your husband is out of town?)

And like the wild stallion I am, I went to church, and repented for having all those hulking black men hip thrusting in my living room on the sabbath :)

Later I had some girl time which lead to pounding a full dish of brownies:

and other than that, I've just been sneaking around the housing and pretending no one is home whenever the doorbell rings,

Eventually I went to bed at the wee hours of the morning. And, no. No, I wasn't just so lonely, and couldn't fall asleep without my spouse which led me to calling him at 3 am to which he did not answer.... Because that would be pathetic. I'm a party animal and was up late doing totally awesome party animal-stuff.

Here's the thing though: I'm really unoriginal, and frankly pretty shameless. I do ALL of these things when he is home anyways, so what am I supposed to do in order to seize this rare occasion? 

Yea, I don't know Either.....

To the Mom...

To the mom who was strong enough to naturally birth 7 children, and gracefully bury 1...

To the mom who was organized enough to dress her children in themed and matching clothes...

And still does....

To the mom who didn't get mad; she got the camera:

To the mom who loves her children despite their oddities...

And to the mom who taught me how to woooork it.

(High heels and pajama's anyone?)

How many people do you know, who, rather than getting boiling mad over spilled fucsia paint on the stairs, solves the problem by painting the stairs fucsia?

That's what I thought.

To the mom who rarely is in the pictures as she is always the one taking them.

And hasn't aged a day since 25... 

And who is the world's best cheerleader,

I love you! 

AND let's not forget the other momma's in my life!

To the mom who was strong enough to birth 5 children and adopt 1,

 and to the mom who created my favorite person in the world:

To the mom who makes me feel like I've always been a member of the family...

And to the mom who is a chef, a band groupie, a chauffeur, and party planner. 

To the mom who is just as beautiful inside as she is out, (and who's warmth and kindness can make the devil himself sing rainbows)

I love you!

TGIF

Tomorrow is Friday!!!

Who's ready for the weekend?

And for your weekend viewing pleasure...

The cutest thing ever.

Why are teens so self conscious?

I'll be the first to admit that I did not have perfect self-esteem when I was younger. Likewise, I'll also be the first to recognize that I was (and frankly still am) a chubbers, with all of my wobbly bits and dimples firmly grounded and planning to stay :)

We blame the media for a lot of false senses of how we, as humans, should view ourselves. With photoshop and hollywood mass producing life size barbies, it's hard to not feel a little inferior when you stare at yourself in a swimsuit for a few minutes before going out, mildly defeated and regretting the horizontal stripes, to the summer air. For years I have racked my brain trying to figure out how to provide confidence to my future daughters who will be, most undoubtedly, condemned to mature in a confidence-deficit world. Occasionally I think that I've come up with a game plan to thwart the critical  ideas of the world, and then I run across an article like this. 

Title:

"Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Explains Why He Hates Fat Chicks"

Yea, you read that right. 

Abercrombie and Fitch, (known for their expensive "cool" clothes, and advertisements selling cosmetic surgery) honestly tries to repel plus sized women. Is anyone feeling a little less confident in yourselves, or is it just me? I'm ashamed to admit that I remember wanting to wear Abercrombie and Fitch clothes in High School thinking that they would make me cooler and prettier, so I guess in that aspect their marketing strategy was pretty successful, but heavens! My mom used to tell me I couldn't shop there because of the "Teen Porn" on the walls and because they were outrageously expensive, little did I know that they probably wouldn't have had my size anyway!!!

“He (the CEO) doesn’t want larger people shopping in his store, he wants thin and beautiful people,” Lewis said. “He doesn’t want his core customers to see people who aren’t as hot as them wearing his clothing. People who wear his clothing should feel like they’re one of the ‘cool kids.’”

Call me naive, but I'm just appalled. 

DIY side tables

So a million years ago we snagged these old side tables at a yard sale with the intention of re-doing them and then, there they sat.... and sat... and sat....

With a week break before school (yes, I have 2 more classes, psych!) and work start back up, I thought I'd use one of those days to re-do these side tables. Silly, silly, Valerie. 1 day turned into 5 and almost a week of sanding, painting, and varnishing later, they are done!!!

So much sanding....

and painting...

and varnishing... and then it rained.

and here we are 5 days and 15-20 movies later :)

It's true what they say: when you do it yourself you really do appreciate it more!

For the very, very beginners, here are the main points I followed:

1. The varnish was Minwax stain+ polyurethane. That poly-yadda-yadda stuff seals the wook from the elements and gives it a nice glossy finish. I used about 3 coats to make the color a little darker.

2. I did just paint right on top of the wood without sanding it all off. That will probably come back and bite me in the rump later, but for time-reasons I just roughed the surface up really fast with some sandpaper and called it good :) 

3. To get that matte professional finish, I got the most satin, non-gloss paint possible. I also purchased a color that was not stark white, otherwise it would make our walls look dingy. The color was eggshell... or white sand... or something fancy like that. haha I also sponge painted it on in multiple layers so that it was not perfectly smooth. 

Overall, it was worth it, but I reeeaaallly appreciated it when it was over! haha

I'm a Big Kid Now

The deed is done.

FREAK YEAAAA!!!! 

Bask in the glory of night-time pho-tog.