3rd Annual Silly String War and Holiday Recap!

Ah, the Loose Lemons household does not have a Norman Rockwell or Hallmark Christmas...we have supreme and utter chaos with a heck of a LOT of fun...participants were threatened with a spanking if silly string was sprayed in house (Moi, had to clean that mess up for two hours last year) As you can see we take our silly string very seriously, Carl III "come and get me sucka"

McKinley evaluating the level of silly string coverage! Everyone must participate in silly string removal before re- entering the casa!!!!

Lovely Picture, thank you, in the midst of a hot flash, hair up and a mouth full of silly string...I was just here to take the pictures...thank you very much!

Enough already!!! The grown children and the children ran around and played and played....great grandma (MiMi) chased great grandchildren through the house and then she was chased...you can imagine the hilarity of that moment!

Meech and the "Charlie's Angels" pose. Do not mess with me!!!

No, no. no you can't make me laugh...

Engagement announcement, Carl III and the very lovely Kay with an October wedding coming up! Woohoo! We are sooooooooo excited and happy about this development and the ring is stunning!

Playing nicely together after many years of making each other cry. Thank goodness!!!

Taking a break from the chase! Notice MiMi coming SLOWLY around the corner! We had one of our best Christmas festivus ever!

I will be on the couch in my pjs ringing in the New Year as I am relapsing with the creeping crud respiratory infection...two painful injections (and I am no wimp) later and antibiotics has me throwing up the white flag in surrender. I am chillaxin until Monday!!!! I wish each of you a very safe and Happy New Year!!!! Peace and Love!

FOURTH OF JULY

Tomorrow will be the fourth of July whereby our nation celebrates its independence from tyranny. We must all be thankful for the many blessings we share by living in the United States and having life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness readily available to us. I personally will have a long moment of silence to honor those who serve our country both past and present.

Dear Husband and I may spend the day at the Fogle Family Compound in Neeses, SC. There is a huge convergence of Fogles with singing, eating great food, water sports and much laughter. I still owe Uncle Bobby a couple laps around the pond. Just so you understand the depth of this promise...the pond is a full size, competition sized water skiing, swimming, fishing and boating sized pond!

We will enjoy a 4 day weekend. THANK YOU! I have lots of things to do around the house and I have tons of great books to peruse! YIPPEE!

We will celebrate Chloe's 4th birthday on the 4th. She shares her birthday with her other grandma, so Happy Birthday Chloe and Gayle!!!

Little Miss Firecracker, born on the 4th of July. Full of love, life, joy and laughter!!!


Happy Independence Day to you where ever you may be tomorrow! Have a Great One! Show some sparkle!!!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

ARISTOTLE: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

Why did the Chicken cross the road? Ah, the age old question. Recently someone sent me a hilarious list of possible reasons "the chicken crossed the road". One indicated that the chicken needed a change. We all know that the other side of the road always looks better than the side on which we are currently standing. We cross over only to find that what we were looking for is not there, the view is just different! I remind myself over and over with a little help from my friends that I have everything I need right in this present moment and within myself. So many people are "unhappy". The key to happiness for me is really very simple. I have a Heavenly Father who loves me and I wish to live by the example shown by his Son, Jesus Christ. I adore my family and enjoy spending time with them. Most of the time, I like who I am!!! If I am having one of those "I don't like myself, pity party kind of days, I do something kind for someone. This immediately removes the focus off of what I am not liking at the time. My friend, Jayne introduced me to a book called "The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz and I have found myself repeating those agreements over and over to myself and it really helps me stay focused on what is important! One of these days, I will be "blog" proficient and be able to put links in here correctly! I highly recommend reading "The Four Agreements". I do not tolerate boredom well, so I have little things I do to avoid it:

• I take exotic mini vacations in my mind. Anywhere in the tropics. Meditating on a mountain. Anywhere that gives my mind a momentary rest and change of pace.
• I take alternate routes when going places. I know I am driving the same route too often when I automatically go somewhere and it is not where I intended going!
• I listen to a huge variety of music
• Turn off the television. Too much television creates boredom, dissatisfaction and ennui!
• Learn something new!
• I love to read a wild selection of books. I am not hooked on one genre.
• Play!!! Bubbles are great. Fingerpaints and Playdoh are very therapeutic. Borrow a child if you feel silly doing it by yourself!
• Laugh. Laugh. And Laugh some more! There is humor in just about everything. Don't take yourself so seriously all the time.
• Be a tourist in your own town. I have been amazed seeing something with "fresh eyes"
• Try on clothes that you would not ordinarily wear.
• Clean and Organize. I love the satisfaction of organized closets and shelves.
• Cuddle with someone you Love!

If you are feeling the need to "cross to the other side" I suggest looking around and making a few changes on your side of the road. Sometimes a change of perspective is all that is needed to enhance your day to day existence! If you do cross the road with the chicken, remember we are over here cheering you on when you choose to come back!!! Just don't get stuck in the middle of the road.

The Home Office Gets Sorted!

soooo...my office is almost finished! Thanks to Christy at http://thedailydish.wordpress.com/ and her post on "collecting". This motivated yours truly to get a move on. I do not want to be the crazy lady that saves everything that her children will have to go through someday and wonder why did Mom save all this crap kind of thing! The office has been my nemesis for awhile and I just could not figure out what was bugging me about this space SO much. Holy Ugly Desk Batman. I hate the computer desk, it is cheap and it is not my taste. Moment of revelation....drum roll...my ex-husband picked it out and bought it! It is the very last piece of furniture that we owned together that is still in my house. Guess who will soon be desk shopping!!! My computer is fast becoming an antique and since I spend the greater part of the day at a very nice computer with a huge screen, I would like a laptop for home use. I am picturing wireless ANYWHERE in the house, not just the office! Anyway, I do share the "office" with my husband and we purchased a television this weekend JUST so he could put his playstation in there and get it out of our bedroom! We call it the office, it is more of a multi purpose room. Three trash bags later and there is light at the end of the tunnel. I have a couple of boxes of things that may go to Goodwill or somewhere like that. I moved furniture around again because I just can't seem to wait for the men in my life to do it and I am exhausted today. I missed church on Sunday because I was tired, achy and my feet refused to be put in any type of shoe you would wear to church! Sometimes, you just need to rest. I think God and I are okay with that. He knows my heart. I did receive a phone call from a friend and while this should have made me feel better, I found I was very irritated with her. She takes on a tone that I do not think she realizes that she is using and that is her "righteous tone" Instead of gee, I hope you are okay, I got " why didn't you go to church today". I started to say "none of your #$% business"...but since I already missed church, I thought it would be safer to be nice and try to explain some of my issues. This gal was not interested in my issues! Just as you must clean your "office" and sort and toss, sometimes friendships encounter a shift and you must sort them or move them to another level, and some may be discarded when they become toxic for you. I am reminded of some words of wisdom from Christine Kane, "If it is not an absolute YES, it is a NO". This has become my mantra in just about everything I do. So no to the desk, no to the friends that are not supportive and yes to the friends that accept you, issues and all, including your very bad feet. As I was sorting through my file cabinet, I found the "Rules For Being Human" I have no idea who wrote it or who gave it to me, maybe you will agree with some of it, part of it or none of it:

1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.
2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called LIFE. Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons. You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of trial and error experimentation. The "failed" experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately "works".
4. A lesson is repeated until it is learned. A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it. When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.
5. Learning lessons does not end. There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.
6. "There" is no better than "here." When your "there" has become a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that will again look better than "here".
7. Others are merely mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects to you something you love or hate about yourself.
8. What you make of your life is up to you. You have all the tools and resources you need. What you do with them is up to you. The choice is yours.
9. Your answers lie inside you. The answers to life's questions lie inside you. All you need to do is look, listen, and trust.
10. You will forget all this.

Let me know if you want a box or two of undisclosed "stuff" I will be glad to share the wealth!

Corners and Wabi Sabi

Anna found her much needed corner because she was not tired and did not want to go to bed!

Do you ever wonder why corners are so appealing? Corners offer a little haven of protection. To a child a corner can be the no fun corner when misbehaving or it can be a place they go to "not be seen" Small children often think if they can't see you, you can't see them! Corners can be comfortable little nooks where one might sit in a chair or on pillows to read, knit, watch television, meditate or daydream. Corners can be decorated attractively to enhance the ambiance of the entire room OR sadly, corners can be the catch all place for all the STUFF that hasn't made its way back to where it really belongs or doesn't have a place, yet. My friend Jayne embraces feng shui and decorates accordingly...me, feng shui is a little on the confusing side so I am embracing the Japanese practice of Wabi Sabi! "Wabi-sabi nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect. For the Japanese, it's the difference between kirei-merely "pretty"-and omoshiroi, the interestingness that kicks something into the realm of beautiful. It's a richly mellow beauty that's striking but not obvious, that you can imagine having around you for a long, long time-Katherine Hepburn versus Marilyn Monroe." (I have completely lost the architect"s name to give credit to for this information) Make no mistake, Wabi Sabi is not an excuse for sloppiness or laziness however it acknowledges the imperfection in all things and is used frequently in art. I am in love with the theory of imperfection. Imperfection is what gives each person, place and thing its character! I really do not want my home to be a cookie cutter copy of the one in a magazine. I may get ideas from a book, magazine or home show only to put my personal stamp on the look. I love my home, it is always a work in progress, that would be the joy of home ownership. We remodeled about six years ago, I love the changes but am now thinking what I would have done differently, however I do promise there will not be another remodel. I believe I am too faint hearted for that these days!!! We have a screened porch that will be the next really big project. Oh, I have plans for that space!!! We already have the windows and the floor tiles. The floor tiles were a donation from an electrical job we did and I love them. Bright Red, 12x12 I believe. I was thinking Asian influence...I waffle back and forth...I would really love an in fared sauna and small bath...give it a spa feel...or an artist's studio for when I have time to be an artist again...I have created and recreated this space so many times, that is the real fun, the fantasy of it...I hope the reality will be as great!

For your viewing entertainment...dum, dum, dum...pictures of a few corners in my home...some are works in progress and I call them the corners of shame...the garage, who's corner is worse, mine or Carl's, you decide!!! The "home office space" is my nemesis at the moment, there is much sorting and discarding to be done...I can find an excuse to avoid this every weekend...it is getting to the neat freak in me...hmmm, I am babysitting Anna tonight and most of the day tomorrow....

You would be very amazed at what you see in the "corners" of your home when you capture them on film!!! What's in your corner? Or see you in the corner! Looks like I'll be spending some of my weekend in the corner, bad girl that I am.

Spring Cleaning

It's that time of year, when the obsessive begin obsessing about the big Spring Clean!

I recently saw something that piqued my interest, it was about a new holiday(yea right who needs another one of those) called "Discardia" invented by Ms. Dinah Sanders. I gathered it takes place during solstices, equinoxes and new moons or pretty much whenever you want it to. "Discardia is celebrated by getting rid of stuff and ideas you no longer need. It's about letting go, abdicating from obligation and guilt, being true to the self you are now. Discardia is the time to get rid of things that no longer add value to your life, shed bad habits, let go of emotional baggage and generally lighten your load." The website I visited has some excellent tips for every area of your home and life at http://www.metagrrrl.com/discardia/

I asked my husband why we had so much stuff in the garage and to sum it up he says this, well YOU buy stuff, arrange it in the house for awhile, you get tired of it, move it to another room and then you put it in the garage. Sorry I asked! Of course none of the two or three gas powered remote airplanes and all the paraphernalia that goes with it is his JUNK! The last couple of years I believe I have purchased less and purged the house of more. Not quite minimalist. I just have to love something to keep it. So...how many of your Granny's doilies and tchotkes do you keep out of obligation? How about the gifts that you receive that are not really you or you have a gazillion of them already? I abhor clutter, so I rotate things, give stuff away or toss it. If you haven't used it in six months you probably won't use it six months from now. I LOVE a clean house. The rewards for a clean house are too numerous to mention, however after the chores are done I allow myself to get to the fun stuff. Yes, I did mention I am obsessed, right? Confession time, cleaning, while hard work, allows me to vent my frustrations, meditate (yes, meditate) or lets my mind wander aimlessly. Taking care of your home when done with mindfulness can be positively spiritual. In addition to other responsibilities you may have, making your home a haven from the storms of life is an utmost priority.

We often make resolutions at the beginning of a new year that are often "discarded" before said year is off to a good start. I prefer the discardia idea of getting rid of things that no longer work for you. Toss the archaic thinking and embrace the new you. I stick little notes everywhere. One thought that I love comes from William Shakespeare "to thine own self be true" Amen to that Brotha! I once saw a skit where the lady was carrying a bucket in each hand and she was being very selective about what went into those buckets for the day. Do we really want to carry around a bucket full of anger, irritation, petty annoyances and so on? I would rather carry a bucket full of laughter, love and joy. Even those words sound lighter! Lighten your load, clean out your heart and mind while you are cleaning your house! Happy Spring Cleaning to You or Happy Discardia My Friends!