Pleasant Birthday Sunday

Oh, if only the fun birthdays can continue without the age increase. 

Many thanks to my friends Bruce and Liz Crosby and Sholee and Tev Kreps for making a Sunday birthday a fun one! Leap year making my birthday land on a Sunday is a cruel joke, by the way. 

And this might sound mean regarding increasing age, but it's not.  Chris and the kids got me all the Oil of Olay "Pro-X" stuff that I had been hinting at forever! And last night at the Crosby's, I received the Voodoo Revenge Kit! I put a short video of it on Facebook since posting videos on here is all in vain. I gave it a public link (below).  It picks up after I read Bruce's very different and creative card.


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150776091849568&set=vb.763629567&type=2&theater 

And many thanks to Sholee and her daughter Ryann for the YUUUU-MMMM-YYYY Cookie-like Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Cake. Yum Yum Yum! I know I could have taken leftovers home, but that would have been a bad idea! That is HOW YUMMY that cake was.  

 I have to move on from that, because now I want more cake....

That's  Mikelle hiding on my shoulder. And I think Christian was still upstairs.

And today, I received a nice present from my mom via UPS and Alexander was extremely happy to get into the fun that it entailed. 

And remember the mouse-pad giveaway last week? Well despite it looking like nepotism and other favoritism, the random names that were drawn were my sister Rebecca and friend Shantell.  It really was a random drawing though. 

Becca received her mouse-pad today and here is my niece Brisa proudly modeling it. She upstages the art!

And that's April! 

If only the awful summer months can fly by as the winter ones do! Sadly, it doesn't seem to work out that way.

Haircuts, Heifers and Half-Days

Funny how the perspective of "half-day" changes depending on the role you're playing in life. As a kid, we loved them. As a teacher, I liked them. As a mother, I dread them. This past Wednesday, Mikelle and Christian had a half-day. 

Part of the dread is the interruption of quiet. Also part of the dread is how quick the house isn't clean anymore. But most of the dread is how Mikelle and Christian fight. It's ridiculous. 

Mikelle provokes him, Christian screams, and it goes from there. Then if she decides to leave him alone, Christian does something to provoke her.Then, after she yells or reacts in another equally seismic manner, she begins to lecture him about how wrong he is in life.

Therefore, this particular half-day, I knew the answer was to leave the house. Sure, I had to take the kids with me, but it seemed to work out better to just remove them from the house. 

We took Alexander to get another haircut. He's in a stage where he hates going to other people and really has a Mr. Drama Attack, but that doesn't apply when he's getting a haircut. He does rather well! It breaks my heart to see those precious locks hitting the ground (I love my boys' luscious hair!), but as you can see, he has quite the handsome results. 

Then after that, we went to Michaels to pick up a custom ordered matte for my Yellow Cow (that's where those pictures are taken). The kids complain aboutgoing to Michaels. I don't know why they hate it so much (I mean, it's not Wal-Mart, but we don't go to Wal-Mart, so maybe that's it. They don't know how bad it can really be!). 

I found a great frame for my Yellow Cow at IKEA and finally got the matte ordered so it could go in the frame. I was waiting for a large frame to buy so it could be part of a triptych, but it just wasn't happening. Therefore, I decided to have it framed in a large frame (even though the cow print itself is rather small) and take it to Sundust Gallery. The price point will probably have it in the outlet and not the main gallery, but at least it's there now! But I'm getting ahead of myself. 

So I had the cow all pretty in it's frame, thanks to the matte I picked up (and I have a wonderful frame lady. She's my frame angel). You may remember the Yellow Cow from this entry. 

How it appears with a black frame.

Normally, I wouldn't go to the gallery alone with all three kids, but this was an unusual day. It was also coming up on rush hour, which really made the trip harder. It's in downtown Mesa and there really isn't an easy direct route there. But one thing you can count on - traffic. BUT...we made it. 

So after the gallery (and a Drama attack Alexander had while there because I dared go to the bathroom) I decided to be nice and get the kids McDonalds ice cream. No, we didn't go in. Drive-Thru, baby! However, leaving the McD's drive-thru, something strange happened. I think that day is the first time I've been flipped off since I started my sabbatical from teaching high school. Maybe not, but I certainly haven't been flipped off in awhile.  

We were in, let's say, a not so great part of town and a couple that looked a little....um, I don't know how to describe it, wanted me to stop and talk to them. Sure, they may have had a legitimate problem, but I was being Mama Bear and with all my kids in the car I wasn't going to take any chances. My window was down and said, "Sorry, my kid has to pee..." and I kept going. They didn't like that. I wonder if it was the right thing or not. However, when it comes to protecting your kids, you can't be too careful. 

But going back to the subject of that part of town, growing up, that particular area (In Mesa, Gilbert Road and Main) wasn't considered a "bad" part of town. It is now. I think it's sad how as we see something change from year to year, we usually see it going downhill. There's another area of Mesa that has really gone downhill that I think of (over by Fiesta Mall), where growing up and even into the 90s, it was just another part of town. But now? It's sad going back through there. 

Anyway, just some solemn observations!  

I miss my Yellow Cow already, but I think he'll be happy with all the other framed artwork surrounding him.I hope someone loves him and wants to give him a home!

Clocks

...is a title of a Coldplay song and it happens to be my latest "Big" motif to go to Sundust Gallery. I'm hoping it makes it there in about a month (as I have to snag a good deal on a frame and have a custom matte cut).

In the meantime, for today only, anyone that "likes" my Circle Motifs by Jill Henrichsen page on Facebook by midnight tonight (4/23) will be in a drawing for a mouse-pad with my signature Sun Motif Design! (if you've already "liked" the page, you're automatically in the drawing). I have two of these (pictured below) and I thought it would be fun to do a giveaway. 

Mikelle gladly decided to model one for me (though I did have to say something goofy to achieve a natural smile out of her). 

Happy Monday Motif!

Baptism Day Icebergs and 13 Steps to Survive a Rough Day...

Christian was baptized on Saturday April 14th, 2012. It was a nice experience for him. However, I am glad it was over, because this time it was anxiety-ridden for me. I shouldn't go into details, but let's just say this was a time where I needed the support of some family and friends, and that support was not there. It was one thing when someone said they weren't coming (which was blow number one), but then there were those that said they were coming and then later said they were not coming (blow number two). And to even add more insult to injury, I was told certain people were coming and they did not show either (blow number three).   I do not even know why I sent out invitations. 

I don't know why I got two big lasagnas at Costco, when I could have just bought one. It is quite apropos that it occurred on the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster. My emotions hit a huge iceberg that day. 

Despite hitting the huge iceberg, I am especially grateful for these lifeboats:

• The presence of grandparents and our good friends the Crosby's. 

• The the unusually cool April day in which we got to have his baptism. 60s for a high here in hell? In April? AWESOME

• I'm also grateful that my friend Sholee allowed me to vent my frustrations late Saturday night on Facebook chat.

And I'm glad the whole thing is over.

In an effort to add humor and move beyond the sadness and anxiety, here are 13 Steps to survive a rough day:

(originally found here, but I changed them up a little since some pictures from the original source were too mean and didn't reflect my feelings)

 Step 1: Print this picture and hang it over your desk or on your refrigerator.

Step 2: Be uplifted by this inspiring corgi cross stitch.

Step 3: Feel pretty. 

Step 4: Imagine you are this penguin.

Step 5: Feel empowered.

Step 6: Remember that these dogs are on your side.

Step 7: And this dog with a goat will fight for you as well.

Step 8: Be happy that you aren't one of these people.

 

 

(by the way, horsie is okay)

Step 9: Be happy that these are not your taco shells.  

(but they would still be yummy with salsa!)

Step 10: Hey look, Johnny Depp had to iron cheese sandwiches too!

(I would not have minded eating those with Johnny or even being those cheese sandwiches!)

Step 11: Allow yourself to enjoy these pictures of dogs.

Step 12: Look at this cat riding a rooster.

 

 (Yes, I realize the obvious joke that can be made here. However, moving on...)

Step 13: Look at this hedgehog wearing a tiny hat.

 

Easter Pause...

Easter was last Sunday, and I've got to say: "don't try to do too much!"  

On Saturday I shoved so much into one day to try to accomplish everything, that I was sleep-drunk tired on Easter Sunday. 

Part of my irrational tasks included eight of the eggs ordained a la' moi style. Those were done well after midnight. Next year I plan to have more time and accomplish the same task much better and more effective. And that's just the eggs part.

As you can see from above, attempting family Easter pictures this year was challenging as well. 

This is a short post because it's been crazy busy and I didn't want to get too behind. I will catch up with more details soon!

Yes, this is MY BOY!

I was going through Christian's school folder Monday morning and I found this:

Does the above really need any added words? I didn't think so.

And going from funny to just plain adorable, I found this as well:

 The assignment was "write a paragraph about your best birthday or another special time." 

 I posted a funny ADD/ADHD funny on my Leap Day post. Someone posted this on FB a couple of days ago. This just adds to the hilarity. And since I am afflicted, and this post is about Christian, who is as well, it seems like a great time to add this one:

 And this seems apropos as well: