mom. i think i got puberty.

me and T

As per the norm, yesterday Tristen called me on his walk home from school.  He tells me about his day and rambles the .5 miles home.   I half listen, half find something on my desk to work on that requires half my brain, and I tell him what he needs to do when he gets home. But yesterday’s convo was not exactly the norm.  Here's how it went: 

Tristen:  So mom, you know how we have FLASH class right now?

{FLASH: Family Life and S  ex  ual Health} 

Me:  Ya

T:  Well today in FLASH we learned about Puberty.  And Mom, I think I got it. 

{I immediately stop multi-tasking and I scream WHAT?!!!  Just in my head of course.}

Me:  oh really!?! 

T:  yep.  I think I got Puberty mom.

Me:  realllly??  What makes you think that?

T:  well, you get a lot of emotions when you have Puberty.  Like emotions that come out of no-where.  And you get really stressed out when you have Puberty.  Remember when you told me to put my shoes on and I got really mad and took it out on you cause I thought you thought I didn’t know how to put my shoes on? 

{ummmmm… I must have missed that he was so mad, cause I don’t remember}

Me:  um, ya, I remember that.

T:  I think that was puberty mom.

Me:  ooooooooooooh…

T:  ya, and remember when I got really mad and I got really hot so I went into the garage and turned the lights off and laid on the ground? 

{ohmygad, I was sooo annoyed with him when he did that.  It was like dealing with a two year old throwing a tantrum all over again.  And I chose to just let him work it out and lay there.  And he got a spider bite.  And I told him that’s what you get when you lay on the ground in the garage.  I know.  I’m such a stand up mother}

Me:  YES, I DO remember that.

T:  well, I think that was Puberty.  Cause you know, Puberty has a lot of emotions.

{right about now I’m experiencing waves of mortification, while doing my best not to giggle, and I’m freaking out cause he’s right: my little boy is entering Puberty and he knows it; and I’m smiling at how absolutely precious this conversation is, so naturally I grab my note pad and start scribbling fiercely to get down everything he’s said because this conversation must be documented, and I start asking leading questions.}

Me:  it sure sounds like it.  What else happens when you get Puberty?

T:  well, your muscles get bigger and you get taller.  And that is definitely happening to me.

Me:  yep, it sure is.  

T:  oh!  And mom, you get facial hair when you have Puberty!  

Me:  facial hair?

Tristen:  ya!!  And guess what mom.  You have to get like an inch away from my face to see it, but I have a full beard. 

Me:  You do!?!

T:  Yep. 

Me:  You have to show me when I get home.

T:  Okay.  I will. 

Me:  I think you might be right.  I think you might have Puberty.

T:  Ya.  I think I got it mom.

Me:  well, I think it’s going to be really helpful to know what’s causing some of these things, right?

{'mom' inserting a thought ends the conversation.  

I betcha that’s a symptom of Puberty too}

T:  ya, okay mom.  I gotta go.

I got home from work.. 

we chit chatted a minute and my boy brings it up, I didn't even have to. 

T:  mom, that’s crazy 'bout Puberty, right?

Me:  It sure is Bird!  Ohmygosh, let me see your beard!

{he puts his face next to mine so I can get a good look and points a finger to the skin under his nose, and above his lip}

T:  see mom, I have a beard.  It’s not dark yet, but it’s a full beard.

Me:  WOW!  I do see it!

{we’re about three inches away from each other, staring at each other’s faces, and I’m thinking wow.  Wow oh wow.  This has happened so quickly.  He’s eleven.  He’s learning about puberty.  My precious precious boy.  Who is literally on his way to being a young man.  How time flies.  And things change.  Literally.   Our bodies, our thoughts, our emotions, our awareness.  I’m about to gently tell him, so he won’t have an embarrassing moment of someone laughingly telling him that his “beard” is actually a “mustache”, cause man, the kid is like me and embarrasses easily, and the way he’s looking at me so intently.. my heart is just melting.  And then he said...}

T:  jeez mom, your beard is bigger than my beard.

He can just get embarrassed.  ;)

Birdie examining my "beard"

Linking up right {here} with Stephanie, 
cause by golly, I gotta share this moment. :) 

-m-

my try at the trend challenge v 1

dress: Ross
scarf : boutique
shoes: old

i've been dying to participate in Marion's trend challenge.. just for the fun of it!  and, of course ~ an excuse to shop.  i just didn't swing it well this month tho.  i sent myself tweets and everything, but it was tuesday night as i dashed into Ross on my way home that i found something "yellow" to wear.  it was the best i could do.  

this darn little yellow sundress just couldn't hold up my ta-ta's properly so i improvised and sewed on an old pearl necklace as straps.  and it totally worked!  this def won't be the best yellow trend you see over at Marionberry, but hey ~ i tried.  go see Marion to see how it is done.  i'm serious.  just click {here}.  and then come back and tell me what you would do for Marion's legs.  there's not a lot I can think of that I wouldn't do.  dead serious.  ;)

now i'm going to go slip on my nude pumps, a blazer, and get my booty to work.

Linking up with Marionberry Style, The Pleated Poppy, and Rolled up Pretty!

ps. miss me ~ on-the-way to pro ~ jacked up my camera settings thus the grainy yucky pics. eeeeeek!! so much for yesterday's yipee look-at-me! these pics are all {badly} edited. 

-m-

lessons and aimless wanderings

Monday we woke up with no agenda other than popping in and seeing some of Rhett's long time friends from Seattle, who were staying in a fab suite at the Marriott on the waterfront.  Amazing view, right?  Wow.

Rhett's friends are professional photographers and I mentioned that I had brought my camera and was thinking about selling it and getting a simpler point and shoot cause my Pentax sucked.  Wrong Right thing to say.   Alan sat down with my camera and explained shutter speed and shooting with Av, Tv, adjusting the ISO, white balance, and on and on.  He stopped when he said I really wouldn't be able to digest more, and then we went on a walk. What began as a pop in visit, became a five hour excursion with vital lessons in photography and my camera along the way.

See that bridge on the left of the photo above?  That's the Hawthorne bridge.  We walked out of the hotel, across the bridge, out onto docks on the river, and popped into OMSI (the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry- it's the white building on the river on the right side of the photo).  Along the way, I manually adjusted my camera settings, tried to picture motion, consciously framed my subjects, and shot 150+ photos.

I did a quick photo dump and here are a few from our day.. 

All photos, for the first time ever, are unedited.  

and yes, I'm silly happy about it.  

(this one is from the phone :) 

We were walking back to the hotel, crossed the bridge, and noticed a gathering.  We wandered up to the crowd and our eyes followed the hands pointed to the sky as we watched fighter jets buzz the waterfront.  Our eyes went back to the crowd, and I noticed the crowds hands' were no longer pointed to the sky and were now covering their ears.  I said "jeez, the jets weren't THAT loud".. and then BOOM times 1000.  "Holy &!#@ !!!!"  The National Guard fired round after round from their guns and mygad, it was a moment.

  

Good company.

Learning new things.

Aimless Wanderings.

Some Awe and Shock... 

The Perfect Day.

-m-

Dear Cheese Balls

Dear Wal-Mart:  32 oz's of Cheese Balls.  In one container.  Leave it to you.  Dear Babe:  thanks for not letting me wallow in misery, getting me out of bed, driving me to Wal-Mart, and making me buy things.  I feel better.  Dear No-Sun-Shine-Blues: I swear to god, if I could give you a hard back-kick to where the sun really don't shine.. I would.  Dear 5th Grade:  I must admit, I am tired and worn from 5th Grade mothering.  19 days left.  And I am counting.  Dear Messed Up Garage:  I know, and I'm sorry.  You were just rid of all that crap via the garage sale and now I've messed you all back up with my crafty ambitions.  Dear American Idol:  Well, you have your new Idol, Phillip Phillips, and now my Wednesday's and Thursday's are all freed up again.  And I don't have a clue what I will do, and I'm already fretting.  Dear Family:  I am so excited to see you this weekend.  I cannot wait.  Dear Cheese Balls:  You're making me laugh. I should have got you.     

well, that was therapeutic!

I will have to do that again.

And now.. it's on to a 3 day weekend!anyone wanna put your hands up,and Whoop Whoopwith me!!?
Whoop Whoop!!!! from here in Oregon to wherever you are!
Laters gators, Holiday Well!
-m-

A Snoop! v.3

i did it.
snooped.
again.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012:  
Tristen:  Are yo mad at me ? 
[Mimi did not respond]

Mother's Note to the Children:

Tristen: you straight up got ignored.  This means one of two things.

1. She's figured out that playing hard to get, gets you muuuuuch further with a boy, and that's why she didn't respond.
2. She is PIST and ignoring you is the most heinous form of disrespect and intolerance there is.  If you really really REALLY want to show someone just how mad you are:  Ignore them.  There is nothing worse.  Nothing.  That said, I must take this moment to say~ if you were torn up about it, you could have talked to your mother about it.   Just sayin'. I would have felt the pain with you.  Or I could have told you that bombing her with further texts and maybe a flower would have gotten you an answer.  Now you know.  

Mimi:  I have mad respect for you.  Though at 11 years old, I think you have learned rather young the ways of the boy.  And I think I'd rather you stay away from my boy.  

Saturday, May 5, 2012:
Mimi:  Hey its mimi
[Tristen did not respond]

Mother's Note to the Children:

Mimi: my dear.  Did you think he deleted your name from his phone?  That's what GIRLS do.  Not boys.  No need to inform him of who you are, you're still in the phone sweetie.

Tristen:  really, no response at all?  Son, that's just rude.  See #2 above.



Friday, May 18, 2012:
Mimi:  Hey 
[it cut out of the screen, but it's there]
[Tristen did not respond]

Mother's Note to the Children:


Mimi:  hey girl, it's always worth another shot.  That's what I say.  Kuddos.  But, you should have asked a question or something.  Something to warrant a response.  "hey" is just not gonna get a response after all that has happened honey.  He doesn't know what to say.  He doesn't know if you're still gonna have to talk about the whole-being-mad-thing, or if you just want to talk basketball.  He's a boy.  He has no idea what to do with "hey".

Tristen:  "hey" is an opportunity my son.  It may not sound like one, but it is.  But.  Maybe you really don't like her.  And since I'm just going to assume and wish on a falling star that That is truly the case, your mother is signing off to go do the happy dance.

Snoop v.1 {here}

Snoop v. 2 {here}

Till the next snoop...

-m-

wanderings..

via

via

via

via

via

via

via

via

via

i sorta love wednesday's cause it gives me a legit excuse to browse pinterest, my boards, and to throw together a post dedicated just to things that make me stop and stare.

for one reason or another,

these are things that grabbed me as i wandered pinterest,

from my "cool" board.

linking up w the pinning party at the vintage apple.. 

seriously.  if you like pinterest, browse the ladies that link up to this..

there are such people as amazing pinners. and you'll find them here.

-m-

will i ever get over it

That bass.
I heard it rollin and I knew it before I saw it.
Dr. Dre on the radio.
I'm a product of the 90's.
gangsta rap baby.
it just does things to me.


i don't condone the "message",
i recognize all the nonsense that it is.
mostly likely the world is better now that gangsta rap has taken it's 
place in history.  but it has had its place.  if you were in high-school in the nineties, you likely heard it, you bumped it, you moved to it.


and if you were there,
the movement it induces just comes from deep inside.
just a little bump up top,
a slight move,
moves it's way,
making my hips figure eight all the way..
I just can't help but feel it.
so s ex y.
takes me back,
I must admit.
and I just googled the lyrics.
and i'm like gad Makaila.
seriously.
so stoopid.
so very very stupid.
but i don't even care.
i just love it.

will I always feel this way when I hear it?

is whatever the sound that was ~
during those form-able, impressionable, so very intense moments of adolescence ~
the sound that just takes you back right there and makes your body roll, the way you once did, no matter your age.. a sound so brilliantly unique about the generation you hail from..  the sound from your youth...  will you always just love it?  will I ever get over it?

Is there a sound that takes you back?

if you wanna hear the throw-back to my youth, here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJc0M4CjmNg
Kendrick Lamar ft. Dr Dre.  Live and on the radio in 2012,
on my drive home today...
and it made my day. 

-m-

we killed it. and saw the avengers. and maybe met a bff

{me and my littlest sissy}
no joke.  I put these 3D glasses in the Free Box.
T pulled them out, popped the lens,
and said, "Mom.  Be Cool".
he regrets it big time.
I wore them the whole day.
on the way to the theater, he said,
"Mom, actually it's 13 year old girls that wear
those to be cool.  Not 31 year old girls."

T had a dream.
and it was a good dream.
He wrote, backwards,
Garage Sale
on our front window
Genius if I do say so myself.

Ya so.
THAT was the demise of my diet for the weekend.
We ate the entire dozen by 4pm.
Shoot.  Probably shouldn't admit that shiz.
But there it is.  

the highest price item we sold was $7.50
we priced it to move it,
and that it did!

is that not the cutest little convertible bug you ever did see?

We are over it.
Can you use it?
Take it.

good god.
seriously.
we were wiped!!
having a garage sale is so tiring!
who knew.

reward:  dinner at Olive Garden.
and that Skinny Pomegranate Limetta is DELICIOUS!! 

v  We did it!  Had the garage sale.  It was a crazy success.  They came in droves and took all our crap.  And god bless the souls that couldn’t pass up a free deal.  By 2pm we were over it and I posted a sign that said so and they took it all.  I’m parking in the garage again!  AND.  We met a lot of neighbors, and guess what:  It was cool.  Really cool.  I’ve never been a know –your-neighbors- kinda girl.  Things are changing..

v We split the proceeds from the garage sale between the three of us and celebrated by going to dinner at Olive Garden.  We each paid for our own dinner and I think we’re on to something.  Tristen kept looking at the menu and saying, dang, this place is expensive!  Usually he’ll order the $18.95 Shrimp Alfredo with the $3.50 Strawberry Lemonade.  This time, since it was his dime, he got the sampler and forfeited a drink he had to pay for, for water.  And even then, my god, you should have seen his face when we told him he needed to add a tip!  Nothing like having to pay for something yourself. 

v  We saw The Avengers in 3D on the IMAX.  It was AWESOME.  Tristen threw himself back in his chair a couple times, freaked that the dagger was indeed going to come flying out of the 3D and strike him square and fair.  Poor Rhett had red, sweaty palms due to my red sweaty palms gripping him through almost the entire movie.  I think now he gets it.  Truly, I CANNOT do scary movies. 

v  Sunday I struck up conversation with a fellow mom on the basketball team and the conversation about our kids was an exchange of  “me too!”, “us too!”, “me too!”.  It was amazing.  With Tristen’s dad living 3 hours away, and explaining our situation, we are always hit with the sympathetic, true statement of “ohhh, that must be hard”.  And ya, it is.  And I know that people that say that are being sincere.  But it was soooo nice to talk to a woman with a family that has very similar dynamics and situation as ours…  It was just five minutes before I met her that I turned to Rhett and said, “we need to find T a BFF”.  And guess what?  They live 10 blocks from us. 

v  It’s Monday and the rain has returned to the Pacific Northwest.  They say it will be here all week.  I barely rolled out of bed today.  The melodic rhythm of rain dripping across our world makes it hard to move.  I am going to start a project.  This is the time.  When you can’t go outside, and there is nothing to do.. maybe a project will keep me distracted and looking forward to a end result. 

-m-