Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Scrapbooking

     One of my old hobbies besides crocheting and sewing was scrapbook making.  I made baby books for my children with our hospital bracelets and first haircut, milestones, etc..  Also, I put their achievements in them like the carnation and ribbon from the principle when David was on the high school swim team and Teddy's honoroll award.
     Since then I have made some scrap books just for fun.  All you need is a book, either with sleeves or just paper pages, stickers, icons, favorites photos, scrapbook paper to cut into any shapes you want or to back and frame photos and corner holders if you like.  It is really free in terms of how you want to design it.  There is usually a theme, wedding, special times with kids growing up, my mom's book coming out party, whatever you want to make a book about.  It is like blogging, the subject is subjective.  That was a pun.  Ha ha.
     So all you really need is a pen to label things and you are set to go. I did have wedding books, but I let my ex have them.
     I am being just silly now.  

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Parties Before and After the Summer Solstice

     Now that Memorial Day is over, Father's Day and then Independence Day are coming as well as Gemini and Cancer birthdays.  I have some great ideas for warm whether entertaining and leisure.
     In the warmer weather during southern living, there are many ways to stay cool and colorful in every way.  It is time to grow refreshing garden herbs on the deck or windowsill, such as sage, parsley, chives and basil.  Basil has a delicious smell and livens up salads and pasta, cool or hot.  Olive oil is a good healthy replacement for butter.
     It is a good time for petunias and geraniums, because they like the bright sun and heat, although they do like wet feet.  
     Iced tea, herbal or plain black with sugar, sugar substitute and lemon left in a jar in the sun makes sun tea, great on ice with fresh mint, another great garden herb.  Fresh mint either bought in produce or grown in your garden is a nice touch.
     Pasta salads with olives and feta cheese are easy to make chilled and are very refreshing, great with chicken salad with grapes or baked chicken.
     For the fourth of July, red, white and blue daisies make a nice table decor, and red, white and blue decorations for your door.  Of course you can also fly your American flag.
     As long as you use sunscreen, hats and bug repellent and do not overdo it, it is great to be outdoors, especially after three o'clock in the afternoon, when the sun is not so bright.  Since the days are longer the evenings can be enjoyed outside under a canopy or beach umbrella over the picnic table.  Just do not let the food get in the sun, a good breeding ground for bacteria.
     So get on your swimsuits and sarongs, sunglasses and summer wear.  Get out the ice chest, fill them with ice and line with sodas, beer and wine.  Have a wonderful late Spring and Summer.

Why Women Reinvent Themselves; From My Experience: A Feminist View

     Everyone changes.  Yes it is true.  I have often wondered what it would be like to be a man, and I see why women can feel less liberated, let alone the workplace, equal pay, politics, etc..  It seems like men might feel less self-conscious about being loners, drinking too much, being frustrated artists, being insane (just kidding).  It seems all this becomes them.  At least in the movies it does, but women are stuck in this thing of having to be feminine and ladylike, and all that seems butch on us.  I have behaved in all those ways, but never mind.
     When our lives change, we change.  When I was married with two small children, I dressed and wore my hair very neat and smooth and tied down and went to soccer games and cub scout meeting, sang in a talent show at the elementary school, had birthday parties with balloons or chucky cheese for my kids and had cookouts with my husband and company with cocktails.
     My brother remembers coming to a yard sale at my house after I was single.  I guess I was selling everything, unable to pay the mortgage on my own with the kids or at least David.  We had split custody.  He had Teddy, the older one and I had David the baby.  Then of course he ended up with both for a little while and then I ended up with both of them for the rest of their growing up years.
     Anyway, my brother, Chris, said I looked different.  My hair was really wild and I was wearing lace up work style army boots.  I am not sure what that was about.  
      And really the rest is history.  In 2001 I changed my name to 'Sage' because the Cherokee Native Americans used sage sticks to smudge out bad vibes and evil spirits.  Then about two years ago I went back to my birth name Leslie, although some people still call me Sage, like a nickname.
     I think when our lives change we change.  Perhaps the boots I was wearing represented some sort of protest, and the wild hair as well.
Who knows, but how could I stay the same when I could not really hold my life together.
I have regrets.  The marriage I could not do anything about, but I dream about that house and have wanted it back so desperately.  I missed my kids the times they were with him. I wish I could have been a different kind of person, one that made every right decision.  I suppose that is a bit unrealistic though when you really think about it.  
     Perhaps it is time to forget the past, to surrender to what is and accept myself but that is easier said than done.