Simple Inspirations

with Guitar Hero on Tour Decades or Guitar Hero on Tour Modern Hits for your DS.  Seriously addictive games.  You get this neat little guitar grip that slides into the bottom of your DS and a pick stylus. Plays just like the console version..you simply hit the notes as they come, adding a little flair when you get comfortable (or in my case, when you figure out how to look at notes and play them at the same time..).  Mom Central hooked me up and I am totally sold on the games..14 thumbs up in our house (even Daddy loves to play).

First lets talk Modern Hits - there are 2 new characters and 5 new venues.  Live out your inner rockstar destiny (I know I have one you should hear me sing…).  As you play you grow your fan base and take on new requests of guitar mastery. You gain access to guitars, clothes, and spend your hard earned money in the Career Lobby.  Not to mention you get to play songs from AFI (Miss Murder…) Coldplay, Fall out Boy, Sum 41, Offspring..and a BUNCH of others. 

On Tour Decades - filled to the brim with hits from the 70’s right until today.  My personal faves - Breaking Point by Linkin Park, No Rain by Blind Melon and Volcano Girls by Veruca Salt.  Brings me back…. The themes also vary through the decades as do the venues..and they are very well done. Like all the other DS versions of the game you can play in single, multi or Guitar Duel mode. 

A fun option is the guitar duel..play against another player with any of the Guitar Hero games and you can set their guitar’s on fire, send excited fans to get autographs, pyrotechnic problems, snapped strings, hyperspeed, amp overload..all to slow them up and win the game. This was great fun..although my kids all kicked my butt.  Sad day for Mom. Single player is fun, but the multiplayer feature was sooooooo much fun.  I would FOR SURE recommend getting two different games, you can stream songs and share lists, so by getting two different games you maximize your options.  You can’t go wrong with that!  We have plans in the works for a tournament night..and I am sure I will reign supreme (ha ha..Chey will win…sigh).

Time for a blog vacation?  Nah.  Blogome decided that they were going bless each of us with over a week of inactivity, bless their hearts (riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight).

Anyhoo, the first order of business now that things are back n track is a book review for Mothertalk, The Lace Makers of Glenmara by Heather Barbieri.  I thought the book sounded good, but 10 pages in I was not only assured that it was a good read, but it was one of those books that was sure to sit endlessly on my counter with a broken spine waiting to be read as I cook, clean, or steal a few quiet minutes of "me" time.  The book is a well balanced mix of heartbreak, humour, condor, joy, bitterness, and hope that immerses you in poignant story of life, loss, and rebirth.

Kate Robinson is a 26 year old fashion designer who is struggling to deal with the loss of her mother and the heartbreak of being betrayed by the love of her life.  She flees to Ireland on a trip she was meant to take with her mother. By happy chance, and a ride in a colourful wagon with a kind spirit, she finds herself in the small village of Glenmara. It is there that she finds love, inspiration, purpose, friendship….a place to lay roots and bloom. 

The lacemaking society - Bernie, Aileen, Moira, Oona, Colleen - their friendship becomes her source of strength and self reckoning and in turn it changes each woman’s life.  There is no epiphany, rather it is the gradual and constant change that realizing you don’t have to be perfect to be loved, you simply have to be.
The women of the lacemaking society each have their own story to tell.  Bernie –quietly wrestling with the loss of her husband she has sought a place of refuge and purpose, Aileen - struggling to hold on to her husband and daughter while battling with her own issues of self acceptance, Moira - the soft, gentle, and compassionate woman who loves despite the abuse she denies, Oona - as a survivor of breast cancer she struggles with her femininity, her marriage, and her role as a whole wife, and Colleen - waiting for the return of her husband from the sea she is sure has claimed his life.  Throw in a blood thirsty priest, a handsome man who suffers his own pain, and a village who rally around the women when they need it most and you have what is sure to be one of the best reads on your shelf. 
What struck me about this book was not only the captivating story line….but the way in which Barbieri weaves the tale.  A master at her art, it is the beautiful way in which she communicates that make the story so compelling…I have to share one of my favourite paragraphs from the book, one of the last.

"You’ll take up the same old needle and thread and see that they’re magic, or could be - if only you let them, if you try –that the women, who gossip like sparrows and bite like midges and laugh so hard they cry, will teach you something new and you will teach them too, and it won’t be all bitterness, not all, no, and the man walking up the road to see you is someone you could spend time with, make a life with, if you take a chance."

If you are looking for a great beach book or just a keeper to add to your collection this book will not disappoint you. You can buy it here ——> LACEMAKERS.

I had one of those magical mornings - you can’t see the toast crumbs on the floor, it doesn’t seem to matter much that the kids hair is a little scruffy from playing outside yesterday late and there was not time for baths, the usual rush of grab-your-school-bag-where-is-your-coat-do-you-have-your-lunch slows down enough that you actually drink the coffee before it gets cold and you remember hugs even if you forgot the school bag, and the last words when the kids get of the van are "I love you too" instead of "Freedom–your lunch, Zoe PLEASE remember your homework TOMORROW".  Simple.  Magical.

I laid in the grass with Abby and Asher, looked at clouds, rolled around and played with God’s nature, told them all about low fronts and high fronts and cloud formation (and they listened!!!), went for a walk, snuggled on the porch swing, made sand castles.

Things I did not do are far more numerous…make lunches for tomorrow, start supper early, laundry, sweep, wash floors, dust, clean the bathroom..the list of 126 things to do before lunch was TOTALLY thrown out.

It was amazing.  I feel liberated.  I think I forgot how to live without a cloth on my shoulder, text book tucked under my arm, or a partially highlighted list of things I have to accomplish in my pocket.

I may do it again.

It smells like heaven..

When I go to the university to grab books for an essay or to grab paperwork or whatever my kids are in seventh heaven.  They love the university, that is great seed if you ask me.  I wouldn’t say no to a doctor and and dentist….or a lawyer and surgeon.  Perhaps the next Prime Minister……..well her favorite building is the agriculture college.

After running the stairs….she needs a rest.

Then we take time to stop and sniff the roses..er… petunias

Asher has had enough sniffing the flowers

I was walking with the kids a few days ago and I realized that these days- stroller pushing, throwing rocks in the flood lake, smelling flowers, hearing little voices from in front of me..are nearly gone.  Funny, how just the image of two little heads snuggled together in a stroller can bring me so much joy and so much love. The best part is..this was unscripted sibling affection, not the kind where Mommy says "Give Asher a kiss"..it was pure, unadulterated affection.  Makes me believe that perhaps I have done something right after all.

1. you will have to put away 7 baskets of clothes (which are not sorted and may have to folded again, they are children not trained monkeys).  This will likely take more than an hour..and at some point your nearly undivided attention.  Yeah.
2. Abby will open the front door so your diaper clad 18 month old son can go see the garbage truck
3. Your 3 year old daughter will put High School Musical 3 in the mini portable DVD player, plug it in - in the kitchen so she can dance on the dining room table and swing from the chandalier (literally.  oy.)
4. Above mentioned daughter will also take her older sisters brand new Webkin and cover it in hair gel (all the hair gel you had left to stop you from looking like Hagrid with a bad hair day, but look at it this way…..you now make a great place for some cold and needy bird family to nest and this makes a great opportunity for your children to experience the wonders of nature firsthand)
5. Your son will be mad at you for saving him from sure death and to show his displeasure he will try to put his feet in the heating vents in the floor, and when he realizes they won’t fit he will resort to your silverware.
6. If you had coffee, you don’t now.
7. When you stop the son from playing hide and seek with the floor vents and pull your 3 year old chimp wannabe daughter from the hanging fixtures..they will likely amuse thsemselves by playing with their older sisters lipgloss.  The sparkly kind.  It will be on them.  It will be on the walls, it will also be in your hair.  It will even be between your toes, so dress to match and perhaps people will just assume at the mere age of 28 its simply a mid life crisis of sorts and not your inability to keep up with your own children (or the naughty androids as I refer to them…)

Mom can I drop you over there?

Where Abby?

Over there. (and smiles)

The back of the couch?

Yeah, the back of the couch. That be fun?

Abby, Mommy will get hurt if you drop me over the couch….

I know. (still smiling).

and plan ahead for Fathers Day???? If you don’t…commit yourself to local home and eat jello for the rest of your life. 

For those of you that can’t wait, check out the Mom Central Fathers Day Gift guide…Not only can you check out a list of favorite gifts for Dad in Mom Central’s Father’s Day Gift Guide.  …from DVDs and custom steak brands, to a seven-person domed tent (books, razors, candy, diaper bags, digital camera, seven person domes tent..) there is something here for every Dad.  They are all organized by price, so there’s no reason to break the bank (unless you want to, in that case send me something too!).   I have found this invaluable for shopping, it gives me ideas I have never even considered.  That is priceless if you ask me.

To top it all off, there is the daily giveaways that you can register to win.  GREAT things…most of what was mentioned in the guide (even the huge tent that I want for sure..look to the right to see what I mean).

The whole event launched this morning so head on over now and make sure to take your time and browse, why not spoil that special man in your life, it only happens once a year. 

Today I got up, all went well.  I dropped the kids off at my MIL and parked outside the school to study for half an hour before Freedom’s chapel.  I went in a few minutes early, saw the chapel (which Freedom rawked), talked to one of the kids Grandma’s for a few minutes.  Went home, studied, tidied up, studied some more.  Looked down…and realized my shirt was inside out.

Oy.  You gotta wonder if the kids are lying to me when they tell me I’m cool.  Seriously.

Lesson 43,678,595…

Get dressed in front of a mirror, not only will your shirt be on the right way, but you won’t eat that second helping of hashbrowns for lunch.