Funny Story

Sixteen years, three kids and one house later, Brad and I still aren’t married. Not officially anyway. One year Brad surprised me with a ring. It’s so simple and I fell in love with it. I wanted to give him a similar gesture but a ring wouldn’t work. He just uses his hands way too much. Since he bought the ring at Tiffany’s, and since he loves to wear french cuff shirts when he dresses up, I thought matching cuff links would be the perfect answer.

Geneva and Agatha (who were five and two at the time) came with me to pick them up. The girls are normally so well behaved that I thought nothing of bringing them. I don’t think the staff at Tiffany’s are used to children being in the store. The gentleman helping me was slightly amused by them but the women in the store were not impressed. The longer that I talked to the man about the cufflinks, the worse those two children were becoming. They started to argue and their voices were getting louder. I gave them my stern looks and severe tones of voice and I thought that would be enough. No. We were now there maybe five minutes. They were getting worse, not better. They started running their grubbly little fingers down the glass to get it to make that unbelievably entertaining squeak. The ladies were clearly rolling their eyes. At last the appeal of the squeaking started to fade. I was very grateful that they were finally settling down and that I was finally paying. I turned to tell the girls that we would be leaving in a few short moments only to see the two of them making blowfish on the Tiffany display cases. The ladies were now standing open mouthed in utter shock with distaste and impatience etched in every line of their faces. I closed my eyes to take in a deep breath and could feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. It was hard to escape the embarrassment. I don’t remember leaving but once the girls and I stepped out onto the curb, package in hand, I burst out laughing. The whole experience was just too ridiculous. Tiffany’s needs this kind of entertainment to lighten the intensity.

Something that is probably a pretty serious favourite for most is now my funniest. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I love that the girls are a piece of the story that I carry with my ring.

Quilt Wannabees

I keep a giant tupperware full of clothes and material that is somehow special to me. This picture is a just a sample of the treasures that lie in that box.

I have plans to make it all into a quilt. I keep saying that I’ll do it when I get some time. After years of repeating that same sentence over and over, I’m beginning to realize that I’m going to have to make time. Free time isn’t just going to magically appear one day.

If the house was burning down and everyone was safe, I would definitely be grabbing this box. Admittedly, it would be a lot easier if it was already a blanket.

The Greatest Compliment

I love to paint but I don’t often have time to do it. One day when Agatha had a play date and the other girls were at school, I spent a few hours painting. It was pretty comical. There was paint on the floor, paint on my sweater and I even managed to drop my painting onto my palette full of paint. I mustered through it and ended up with this.

When Emily came home and saw how I had spent my day, she asked me all kinds of questions about it. Then she asked if she could keep it. My heart melted and I agreed right away.

The next day while I was in her room, I noticed that the painting was missing. I asked her about it at the end of the day and she admitted to taking it to school to show her friends and her teacher. My heart melted again.

I get to see this painting all of the time and every time I see it I think of her and how she gave me one of the greatest compliments I've ever received. That’s what makes it a favourite.

Knitting

I’ve just discovered that there is a word for someone like me. I’m a Process Knitter. I constantly have a knitting project on the go and the aim is never to finish it. I just knit for knitting’s sake. I always finish what I start but it often involves restarts because I’ve changed something or discover how I could do it differently once I’m halfway through. Starting over rarely bothers me. There’s something very satisfying about turning a piece of string into a treasure. I guess that’s why knitting made it into my favourites.

Favourites

Saturn, Antique Star, Antique Clay

Mossy Rivers, Antique Clay, Stone

This past week the focus of the course is favourites. The question was posed, “If your house was burning down and everyone was safe, what would you want to save?”

This question seemed so easy when I first read it. As the week progressed and as I looked around the house, I realized that I have a lot of stuff. Mostly junk. I don’t have many special treasures. I really had to start looking around. I’ve been saying that I need to get rid of the “stuff”. I just have too much. What I never considered until now is that the “stuff” doesn’t mean anything to me. It’s just unnecessary baggage. I need to keep fewer things and only things that I love.

Throughout the week, I’m going to post some of my favourites. Today it’s marbles. I LOVE marbles. I think of them as little balls of colourful magic. I had so much fun going through my collection and making little groupings. I could have done it all day. I smile everytime I see these photos. Granted, the fire would have to be pretty far away for me to grab these. My other treasures would be first.