This is what happens...

when I allow Eden and Clara to play Cupcakes on my iPhone while I make dinner.




Cupcakes quickly turned into a photo shoot for Rudolph, Murphy, Pegasus, Clarice and the dalmation (I am not sure he has a name).

The Seven Year Itch

Lately, (and I will explain why later) I have been very curious as to the meaning and origin of the expression, "The Seven Year Itch." I have been wondering what it originally referred to and how it was used. The seven year itch was actually a contagious and irritating skin condition that didn't begin after seven years, but lasted seven years. Yikes. It soon became easily treated with an antibioitic and was virtually never heard from again.

The derivation we now know it as, "The inclination to become unfaithful after seven years," comes from the 1955 film starring Marilyn Monroe and Tom Ewell, The Seven Year Itch. In fact, that famous photo of Marilyn Monroe, you know the one, the skirt blowing up while standing over a subway grate, comes from this movie. The plot has Ewell's character working for a company that is about to publish a book suggesting that many men crave extra-marital affairs after seven years of marriage.



No, I am not having a seven year itch and I don't believe Dave is, but I do believe my house is. It all started two years ago. We had lived in the house exactly seven years when the downfall began. First, our refrigerator. It started with the ice maker and then the filter. After living without an ice maker for months, we finally called out the service company to repair it. An $80 service call later and we had a new $200 ice maker.

A few months later, our washing machine and dryer decided it was their turn. Our washing machine decided to stop spinning, or at least decide when it wanted to and when it didn't want to. After six months of ringing out clothes by hand, manually trying to get it to spin and then restarting the cycle, we finally decided it was time to invest in a new set or get it repaired. Another $50 service call later, we learned the replacement part would cost as much as we paid for the machine. So, we opted to invest in a new washing machine and dryer. The perfect pair. They are so pretty and after six months of ringing out clothes, on the day it arrived and was installed, I sat in the laundry room and watched it wash and dry clothes, no kidding. It sounded like an airplane and my clothes were so dry when they came out of the washing machine, I began questioning the need for the dryer.

For the next three days, I washed everything in our house, comforters, towels, slipcovers, etc., you name it. And I still get a little giddy when I go into the laundry room.





Needless to say, that is not the end of this story. Within weeks of our new washing machine and dryer being installed, our dishwasher started acting up. It was leaking water onto our hardwood floors during the cycle. We always run our dishwasher in the evening, so we were waking up every day to a puddle. And if you know anything about wood, standing water is not so good for it. I tested several theories on its malfunction. Maybe it was the disposal. So I ran the disposal religiously for a few minutes before starting the dishwasher. Maybe it was the espresso grounds. So I started emptying those into garbage. Maybe the egg shells. Nothing. So, we called the dishwasher repair man. Two hundred dollars on parts - it still was leaking. We got a second opinion. It was time for a new one. So for Christmas 2010, I got this ...





Not exactly the purse I wanted, but it sure looks good now.

I was really hoping that would be the end. But, not a day later, our built-in microwave stopped working. It runs, it just doesn't heat. What the @#$*%^&? I called Factory Direct Appliance, who we purchased the microwave from just three years ago, they wanted $80 just to send a guy out, plus some crazy amount for every 15 minutes he was here. No way. Finally, last week, Davis asked if I would please fix the microwave so he could make his own lunch (read ... reheat noodles). No mother could say no to that.

Brings me to today. Factory Direct repairman shows up. My microwave, which cost $300 dollars to buy and install three years ago, needs a $248 Magnatron, a $52 Drode and a $54 Cap, plus labor. And the kicker, they guarantee their work for a whopping 90 days. What! Needless to say, I am not fixing it. The cost is one thing, but my biggest fear is that I will fix it and then my oven will break or my gas cooktop. I need those! I am going to Lowe's today to buy a countertop microwave. Nothing wrong with having two, right? Which brings me to a very funny story.

When Dave and I were dating, we were sitting at this dad's house talking with his dad. We were either watching or listening to a Jeff Foxworthy show. You know, the "You Might Be a Redneck..." series. As we were watching TV we heard, "You might be a redneck if you have a working TV on top of a non-working TV." We all started cracking up. Not only were we watching a TV sitting on top of a 1970s non-working console TV, Dave and his dad knew that they had two sets of those in that house on Monrovia. So, I am okay with it. Call me a redneck if you will - but at least my oven works ... today.





... and if my oven goes - there goes my children's college education. Because the new range I want requires a kitchen remodel.

Charmed and Dangerous

In a recent Vanity Fair article titled, "Charmed and Dangerous," Leslie Bennetts wrote an article about Hollywood's femme fatals.

"They have just met, and they're downing shots on a steamy patio in Bogota as thunder rolls across the sky. She's wearing a white cotton skirt and lace-up top that might look virginal on someone else, but since this is Angelina Jolie, they seem brazenly, I-want-to-rip-them-off-me wanton.

"When she starts undulating to the music, inviting him to dance, she insinuates her voluptuous body around his so provocatively that it makes the viewer's jaw drop. As she slithers like a sly cat, rubbing herself up and down against him, Brad Pitt is mesmerized by lustful anticipation. At this moment he would do anything she told him, even flap his arms, jump off a cliff, and fly.

"Watching the seduction scene in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, a movie Jolie and Pitt filmed while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston, one can't help but think: There is no husband on the planet who could have resisted that woman under those circumstances.

"This is the very definition of a femme fatale. It doesn't matter if the man is married. It doesn't matter if his moral code or his religion or his politics or his job or his government or the last shreds of his common sense warn him not to succumb to her wiles. It doesn't matter if she's his best friends wife, or the crime boss's mistress, or the daughter of a vengeful king. In that moment of choice, he doesn't care what the consequences will be.

"The question is: Yes or no? And with a woman like that, the answer is always yes, even if that choice launches a thousand ships or destroys an empire. No matter what it will cost, the poor guy simply can't help himself."



So ... what do you think? Are you one of those people who would swear that your husband, boyfriend, etc. would be able to resist? Do you truly believe that in that situation, your spouse could really walk away? I wasn't sure what to think, so I read this article aloud to Dave. I wanted to know a man's opinion. After his initial reaction (typical male), in which he thought I was reading him porn and then wanted to promptly go rent the movie (for research purposes), he shockingly agreed it was true. Though he was quick to say it wouldn't be Angelina Jolie for him. He continued his explanation that it isn't the decision at that moment that is the real problem. The problem is letting yourself get into a situation where that scenario even exists - purely circumstantial.

I agreed. I asked around. What would your husband do? Not surprisingly, I got a lot of, "He would never do that." And then I thought to myself, what if I could conduct an experiment. What if I had a friend who would volunteer up her husband? Someone so sure of her relationship that she would allow me to put her husband in a questionable situation and see what happens.

I will be married fourteen years this August. I love Dave. I love our family. I love our life. And as challenging and crazy as it sounds and as much as I trust him - I am not willing to play with that kind of fire.

A woman like that is "the very personification of trouble, and when she fixes him with her hypnotic gaze, the man is toast. By the time it's over, he may lose everything: his reputation, his fortune, his freedom, even his life, all for this moment of glory with her incomparable self. And if he had it to do over again, he wouldn't change a thing."

And yes - I am putting that movie on our to watch list - I am intrigued.

Don't Fall Off

Since Friday, I have been at home with sick kids. It is okay. Though I hate when they are miserable, I find that our entire family takes a big, deep breath. We find ourselves coloring, resting and mostly, watching movies like crazy.

Several years ago when Davis was just five years old, a friend of ours recommended the movie Fly Away Home. It is such a great movie and family friendly, aside from the use of the "s--t" word once. It is based on the true story of Bill Lishman, a canadian, who with the help of Joe Duff and Dr. William Sladen, proved that wild fowl (geese) can be taught new, safer migration routes. He proves that "migration is not actually instinctive...it has been passed on from one generation to the next."

Now the movie, takes some liberties and creates a story around Mr. Lishman's experiment. The movie tells the story of Amy, a young girl, (played by Anna Paquin) who, after her mother dies, moves to Canada to live with her father. She comes across 16 goose eggs, displaced when the woodlands around her family home are bulldozed for a commercial development. Amy's story and the story of these geese is inspiring. We shared this movie with our daughters this weekend and I can say we watched it seven times from Friday afternoon until Sunday evening - and though I did not sit through each showing, I found myself stopping and then sitting down, again, often.

The only reason we would stop Fly Away Home and not start it again, was to watch Secretariat. I saw this for the first time on a snow day in January. My kids had seen it in the theater with their grandparents. If you have not seen this one, I highly recommend it. Again, a film based on a true story - Secretariat - the greatest race horse ever. We have watched it four times since Monday morning.

Tonight at dinner, we were discussing, of course, our favorite lines or parts of the movie. And though there are several great parts, my favorite line takes place during the running of the Belmont, the third race of the Triple Crown. As Secretariat makes his way down the final stretch, Lucian Lauren, the trainer, yells from the stands, "Ronny, Don't Fall Off!" My kids agreed, that part is great.

And as I sat here this evening thinking about work, home, etc. It really spoke to me. I have felt for the last few months as if I am approaching a ... crossroad (for lack of a better term). And as I was making a mental list of things I wanted to be thinking of or doing in the next few weeks/months, etc., all I could hear was Lucian Lauren yelling, "Don't Fall Off!"

That is the plan.

Dear Frosty,

No sweet valentine's for you this year. It's over. This icy affair between you and I is finished. One afternoon of fun is not enough to justify a month's worth of cold stares. Though my children have grown to love your frigid attitude, I am quickly tiring of it. I am moving on. Today, on Valentine's Day, I will raise my steaming mug of hot chocolate to you and say goodbye.

Warm Wishes,

JoEllen

68 Years

My job allows me some of the most unique personal interactions. Today, an older man and his daughter came into the shop (Bennett Schneider) to order some sympathy acknowledgments. These are the custom pre-printed notes that people order when a loved one dies. First, from a moral perspective, this is the hardest product for me to sell. I hate that we make money when someone loses a loved one. I truly wish our shop made enough money so that I could give these away. Second, it is extremely emotional. I feel I will not say the right thing, or worse, say the wrong thing. Do you ask about the deceased and try to be involved or do you sit, do your job the best you can and simply be helpful? It is hard.

This gentleman and his lovely wife had been married 68 years. I can only hope for that. And from the look in his eyes, I can tell that he loved her every day of his life, and he will continue to. This woman was an avid rose gardener, so much so that the printed acknowledgment will have a rose on it and the memorial service for her will be held in June, when the roses in Kansas City are in bloom.

Mrs. Shelden passed away this morning. And though I never met her, I will say a prayer for her this evening and the husband she left behind.


Image via poppies and posies

Really...that is not a picture of me pole dancing!

Now that I have your attention. I received this e-mail from my daughter's kindergarten teacher today. It is, as she says, "priceless".


A first grade girl handed in the drawing below for her homework assignment.



The teacher graded it and the child brought it home.

She returned to school the next day with the following note:

Dear Ms. Davis,
I want to be perfectly clear on my child's homework illustration.
It is NOT of me on a dance pole on a stage in a strip joint surrounded by male customers with money.
I work at Home Depot and had commented to my daughter how much money we made in the recent snowstorm.
This drawing is of me . . . selling a shovel!!!!!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Harrington

When the going gets tough...

the tough want to curl up on the couch and stay home. But we can't. I have just had a few very long days or maybe weeks. As I was reading one of my favorite blogs today, I came across this poem. It is a good one. I found it here.


It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn’t interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon...
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if you have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

-Oriah Mountain Dreamer

You say Donut, I say Doughnut

I will go to my deathbed swearing that I do not eat or like doughnuts. However, today, I took my three kids to Krispy Kreme after school (they had gift certificates for free doughnuts). We ended up with four doughnuts (Eden wasn't sure if she wanted a regular glazed doughnut or one with chocolate frosting and sprinkles). She ate the glazed, I ate the one with sprinkles. It was really good.

Just an FYI - I hate doughnuts and do not eat them!

Photoshop Love Affair

Check out this video ...

Dove Evolution

I am not sure where Dove got this video. And I imagine the company responsible is not happy (or maybe they don't care) - but it is striking. You had to know this was being done. What is scary is that I am raising daughters in this environment. And, yes, even though they are only in kindergarten I still hear things like, "Mommy, (name) said my hair was too curly." OR "Do you think my freckles are funny?" It is scary. Not sure we can stop this, but I wish we could.