Random Ramblings of a Saturday

 Splinter loves when we open the windows.  He climbs, more like scrambles, to the top of the couch where he perches in hopes of catching a glimpse of a passerby, bird, or a random bug that dares get close enough.  There is actually a small ledge outside the screen, and Caleb thinks that we should slide up the screen and let him stand on it, but I'm hesitant.  We live on the 3rd floor and I'm afraid he'll jump... Maybe I'm being an overprotective mommy.

Us Whitted's like to be lazy on the weekends.  Me, I like to curl up in an afghan in my sweats.  Splinter rolls around on the floor until he finds the perfect position in which to take a catnap.  He rolls and rolls and rolls.  I think he hopes to get a nice belly pat.

Okay.  This part doubles as my simple joy#2.  Nail Polish.  Not just any nail polish.  It has to be bright, and as Val likes to say, garish.  The more obnoxious the better.  My sister-in-law had this metallic silver and I couldn't agree with her more that its amazing!!  Hey.  Don't judge.  I tell myself its okay.  I work with kids, right?

Doesn't this make you so happy?!

Usually the weekends are our time to go grocery shopping.  Usually this is an enjoyable experience for me.  I like to plan out the weeks menus and imagine myself cooking each meal.  I like to think of new ideas for dinner that I think Caleb will enjoy.  I'm trying to be more eco friendly so I have recently made it a point not to use the plastic sacks that the grocery store provides.  And you know what?  These are SO much better.  No more broken plastic bags halfway up to my apartments and a trail of cans behind me in the hallway like Hensel and Gretal.  So much better.

See.  Splinter likes grocery day too.

The daffodils are blooming!  I'm always tempted to pick a few to bring up to my apartment.  I restrain myself because I know that they are for everyone to enjoy and they will last much longer planted in the ground where they belong.  Aren't they beautiful?  They are one of the first signs of impending warm weather, outdoor picnics, and long walks along the trail by our apartment.  

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is my dream house.  And guess what?  It. is. for. sale.  I can just imagine coming home from a long day of work and relaxing in front of the fireplace or cooking dinner in my kitchen with not one, but two ovens and a walk-in pantry.  Oh, and the brunches and get-togethers I would host.  Don't forget the Christmas tree that I would place in the front room, visible from the window.  Me and Caleb here.  With a little baby one day.  Hey!  A girl can dream can't she?! 

This is the Frog Baby fountain.  Don't you love it?  I love the Copper frogs turned green from the rain and fountain water.  Oh frog baby, with your little green froggies spouting water as you frolic and play...

Shadow kisses.

These are my favorite.  Caleb apparently has an ongoing love affair with Legos.  He requested going into the toy store with the front that we were going to look at a new video game for our Wii.  Caleb rarely wants to buy anything frivolous so obviously I went along with the request.  We proceeded into the store, passed up the video games, and walked down every aisle looking at toys.  His favorite were the Legos.  I received a lesson about how Legos are actually very difficult and complex and that one day he will work on these intricate structures with his own child.  Toys R Us.  Where a kid can be a kid.  :)

My big kid.

I hope everyone is having a happy weekend!

The Refrigerator Door

I was standing in front of my refrigerator the other day, staring at all of the crap stuck to the front, and I started thinking about how much the front of a refrigerator really says about someone.  If a stranger stood in front of my fridge and examined the contents, they would probably know quite a bit about me.

Like the fact that I love goofy fruit magnets.  Doesn't everyone?  They actually belonged to my great-grandmother... a future family heirloom might I add...  You will notice that the beloved apple (he looks kinda sinister, doesn't he?) holds up photo booth-style pictures of me with my hubby.  These are right by the Marsh magnet that outlined the Ball State Football schedule.  Definitely a must have when your husband works in athletics.

And the menu for the local organic market/restaurant located around the corner as well as a guideline for all things recyclable in Muncie.  I haven't actually eaten at this market, but have very good intentions of becoming a regular customer.  Someday.  The bottle cap magnets were made by my friend Jess, by the way.

It tells you that I love learning to sew and buying new and beautiful fabric.  My favorite online fabric shop.... Hawthorne Threads.

That I have a thoughtful friend who sends thoughtful gifts in cards, belong to the Cardinal Varsity Club, and love a little boy named Cannon.

Oh, you know... my refrigerator also advertises the fact that I am lazy and can't keep up with my schedule.  :)  Oops!

Now, don't get me started on the inside of my fridge... I don't think you want to see a picture of that!

Simple Joy #1: A Little Piece of Heaven

I'm going to start something new.  We will see how it goes, but I want to post at toward the end of every week about a "simple joy."  Simple joy #1 was obvious... Tim Hortons.  There is nothing better than a trip to Tim Hortons with my coworkers or grabbing lunch to bring back to the office.

Oh, come on people!  Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about!  Where else can you get an amazing cup of coffee, a hot delicious sandwich, and array of baked yumminess?  Okay, well the real reason that I like it is that they consider a donut a side dish.... Yeah, you heard me right.  A donut as a side dish.  Move aside bag of chips and carrot sticks.... here comes donutty goodness.  Who else does that?  A donut as a side dish?!  This is the best idea I have ever heard in my life!

And sometimes when you get your order to go they put the donut right in the bag with the hot sandwich and the chocolate on top gets all nice and melty.  Mmmmmmmmm-mmmmmmm!  Yum!  See?  you can see how the chocolate is so melty that it is kinda sliding off the side...  :)

Look.  This is me.  Happy.  Because I have a hot Chipotle Turkey Panini calling my name.

Just a little history...

This is the sad part.  The End.  All Gone.

Well, all gone except this little smudge of chocolate that got on my desk.  Let me me honest.  I seriously thought about scraping this off and licking the chocolate from my fingers.  Sick I know, but its that good!

How have you treated yourself lately?

Content

He loves his Aunt Micah.

Struggle

I typically keep things pretty light hearted here, but here it goes....

Struggle.  I hear it in the voice of the child whose mother abandoned him.  In the eyes of the little boy who just can't seem to sit still.  On the cut up arms of an adolescent girl.  I sit.  And I listen.  In hopes that they can work through a piece of their struggles and give it to me.  Just a little piece of that struggle, a tiny fragment of their worry, that they can put away, tucked neatly in a drawer inside my head and out of theirs, not to interfere again, or at least for the time being.

Is being a therapist as easy as just listening?  Well obviously no.  It is a fine art involving the task of helping client's to come to a realization, discover their own ability to change, or work through a problem with a tray of sand, a glob of Play Doh, or construction paper and crayons.  Sometimes is difficult to tell if you are making any little bit of difference at all.  My friend Sayward says you just have to "hope that it sticks."  After all, that's all that you can really do.  

But listening is the hardest part.  Taking it all in.


Where do the struggles go once they are locked in the drawer inside my head?  They stay there.  They are filed neatly in a way that allows me to leave them behind.


Now, some of you may be asking yourself how I ever focus on anything else beside the little locked drawer?  I'll admit that there are some days that I leave the office barely able to breath with the heaviness of having heard the horrors of the world for an eight hour workday, but really its simple.  It is.  I walk to my car and begin thinking about all the possibility that awaits me at home.  


Oh possibility.  Possibility is such a beautiful word.  Some of the tiniest, simplest things hold the most possibility for an amazing evening/weekend at home/life.  Sewing.  Cooking.  Petting my cat.  Snuggling my husband.  Dancing in the living room.  A trip to see a ballet.  A glass of wine.  My cardio fitness class.  Laughing with my friends.  Learning about the environment from Val.  Reading a book.  A "mind numbing" TV show as my husband likes to persuade me.  Looking in Etsy shops for hours.  Antiquing.  Daydreaming about having babies (well not necessarily the having of the babies, but more the mothering part!).  Writing a blog entry.  Doing all of these things help me to become the best me that I can be and in turn, the best social worker I can be.


I do, however, have my own struggle.  I consistently teeter totter between a social obligation to contribute to the greater good of this world (being a social worker) and the loveliness and possibility of starting my own Etsy shop, blogging all day, and working in the flower shop located on my street all while cooking my husband gourmet meals and maintaining a perfect home complete with fresh flowers on the table.

But knowing that I have maybe. just maybe.  just maybe made a little fraction of a sliver of a difference in someone's world makes my world, my possibilities, my blessings, and my life so much sweeter.  

What I remind myself is that amidst the struggle of others there is also possibility for them.  For Change.  For Growth.  For  Hope.  And I see it in the eyes of the little boy who made an "A" on his math test, the letter of forgiveness written to a mother who abandoned her son, and the healing arms of the girl who hasn't cut in two months.


March is social work month.  Thanks to all my fellow social workers who surge forward in hopes, and for the possibility, of "making something stick" and improving the lives of so many.



Lindsay





Lindsay and Brandon





Sayward





Jenny, Jackie, Steffany



And so many more.....

Good Friends, Good Food, Good Fun.

Muncie Gras.  I know what you are thinking... well, actually I don't because you could be having a variety of thoughts regarding the faux Mardi Gras held in the streets of one of Indiana's most thriving metropolis'.  Are you thinking ridiculously tacky?  Horribly fun?  Outrageous? Wild Party?  Drag Show?  Street so packed that you can hardly move?  All of these thoughts/assumptions would be accurate.  Amidst the Mari Gras beads, bad costumes, and blinking headgear that various Muncianites that probably isn't a real word was a group of girlfriends having a really good time and not because of the afore mentioned happenings.

But because we were together.

The theme of the weekend was a Mardi Gras themed celebration of our friends Dianna and Tyler's engagement.  It was a great excuse to get together, have a little fun, eat too much food, and congratulate the couple.  We get together too few and far between, but when we do we know how to have a good time.

Here we are.  Guilty as charged.  You can tell we are wild by our cardigans and racy outfits.

No matter how old, professional, maternal, or busy we get, its always amazing to get together and celebrate the fact that we are friends.  Now, being the planner that I am... I couldn't stand to have just a simple get together.  Jess (purple cardigan on the right) co-planned this celebration of epic proportions with me.  Let me just tell you that she makes an amazing Jambalaya! 

No Mardi Gras::: Ahem Ahem::: Muncie Gras celebration would be complete without a few sparkly decorations and a King Cake.  Now, I would like to take this opportunity to brag on myself just a little.  I made that Kind Cake from scratch... it involved yeast so I think a little bragging is in order considering the amount of time I had to wait for that sucker to rise and fall and rise and fall and rise before putting it into the oven.

Those are Mardi Gras coins and I am still a little unsure of their purpose... aside from
the fact that you throw them at people...

Here it is... a purple and green wonder.  Okay, so it really looks kinda nasty in the picture, but it was pretty tasty... I promise.

Lets have a closer look....  if you have never had a King Cake it is like a giant cinnamon roll, but even more amazing... and don't forget the baby.

Oh the baby... how exciting to be the one to get the magical slice with the baby.  There she is... or he... Apparently the person who finds the baby in their slice of cake has to plan the party for the next year.  What a strange tradition.

Jess obviously found the baby and seemed pretty excited about it.  Doesn't this seem dangerous?  What if the baby gets eaten?  Seems like it could cause a whole host of problems....

But the highlight of the evening was definitely the mask wearing.  The feathery wonderfulness and mystery that they added to our cardigans can be rivaled by none other...

Congratulations to the happy couple!