Extremes

As has been happening too often lately, my good intentions for posting don't come to fruition.  Things have been busy and crazy as usual.  The hubby hasn't been feeling well and it's been stressful for both of us.  We've been working a lot and trying to sort out plans and back-up plans and back-up-back-up plans.  One of those is that I've been sending my resume out, hoping to find a job sooner rather than later.  It's frustrating.  I'm sure I won't be the first to tell you that looking for a job is a pain in the patootie.  I send out a million resumes (yay, hyperbole!) and they just float away into the ether.  I've gotten a few rejections, which sucks, but at least I hear something, but mostly I submit resumes and never hear anything.  I've had 1 phone interview which only lasted about 5 minutes and no.  Then I had an in-person interview for another company and I thought it went pretty well, but they didn't call back when they said they would and when they finally sent an email it said thank you, but we won't be inviting you back for a second interview.  I know there's no inflection in email, but it just sounded snarky (oh, and 2 years ago, according to a post that popped up on Facebook, I had an interview with a call committee that I thought went well and they thought I was having a mental breakdown of some sort...clearly I can't tell when interviews go well).  I've had a phone interview and an in-person for a job that I'm kind of excited about, but I'm not getting my hopes up.  And then there's another possibility that I'm trying not to think too much about because I don't know if it's an actual possibility or not. 

Between the job stuff, the hubby, the office, and a billion (less hyperbole) other details and events and craziness I've been struggling lately.  Here is a diagram of how I've been feeling for too long now:

                    Hope                               Hope                              Hope                             Hope
                                                                                                                                      /
                                                                                                                                  /
                                                                                                                              /
                                                                                                                          /
Despair                         Despair                              Despair                         Despair

I really wish there were some more time between the feelings of hope and when despair comes crashing back in.  That last part with the line is me.  I feel stretched tight between hope and despair right now.  My fingers are stretching desperately toward hope, but despair has a firm grip on my ankle and is yanking for all its worth.  As always, prayers are appreciated.  

Up and down, hope and despair, seems like today's shoes should be extremes as well, so I'm going with black and white.

I leave it up to you whether they're fun or frightening, happy or sad, or some other set of extremes.

Hooray Baby H!

I should be proof-reading articles right now, but I need to take a quick break and give my brain something else to think about for a few minutes.  Plus, the PF had her baby on Friday, and I haven't done a post on it yet!  Baby H came into the world around 4 am Friday morning and is doing well.  He spent a couple of days in the NICU just to make sure he was breathing properly, getting proper nutrition, and taking care of a bit of jaundice, but he got to go home yesterday, so there is even more reason to celebrate.  He is such an adorable baby, and his mama has been flooding my Facebook timeline with all sorts of baby spam, which is AWESOME.  He has a whole head full of blonde hair.  So much so that the PF can mold it into a teeny tiny faux mohawk!  Big Brother J seems to be doing well with this new addition to the family.  At least he looked awfully pleased and proud in the pictures of him holding his new brother.  I probably won't get to meet Baby H for a long time, so I'm grateful for all of the pictures.  And now, of course, there must be shoes to celebrate.

 These are simple, but adorable.  I like now soft and snuggly they look.

I've posted these before, but I still love them, and the came up when I typed in Baby H---- Shoes, so I had to post them again! 

These also came up in that search.  The internet must know it's PF's baby!

These aren't my favorite, but I love the color, and I don't often see helicopter shoes, so I thought that was fun.

These are my favorite.  I know you're shocked.

There you go.  5 pairs of Baby H shoes for the first 5 days of his adorable little life.  Welcome to the world, Baby H!

PS--if you haven't clicked on the links taking you to the glossary, please do so.  I need more sets of eyes telling me if I've forgotten stuff or gotten stuff wrong.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  Whether you are a biological mom, adoptive mom, foster mom, Godmother, motherly, or have a mother, I hope you found a way to celebrate today!  For those of you for whom today is hard, because of infertility, loss of a child, loss of your mother, or an unhealthy or unhelpful relationship with your mother, please know you aren't alone, that you are loved, and I hope today wasn't too painful for you, or if it was you had a good support system.  My prayers are with you, and I would give you a hug if I could.

I am extremely grateful for the moms in my life.  My mom, my mother-in-law, my Godmother (who is also my auntie!), the moms of my nieces and nephew (one of whom is my seester!), and lots of mothering-types who have been there throughout my life.  I am thankful for each and every one of you.

I was a terrible daughter today, though.  I did at least call my mom today.  But, I have a gift for, have had it for months...but haven't sent it to her.  I wrote her a poem...but haven't finished it.  I feel like the kid in Mercer Mayer's book Just For You.  Hopefully mom still loves me in my failure (actually I know she does, it's one of the reasons she is awesome and I am lucky).  I will try to do better in the daughter department, though.

In the meantime, here are some shoes to celebrate the day:

Yum!  Neither the dragons nor the puppies thought to get me lollipops with shoes on them.  Silly babies.  Oh wait...that's just karma for my own Mother's Day failures!

 

This is true.  I wouldn't trade my mom in for all the shoes in the world.

I think I've posted these before, but I still like them.  I would wear them on Mother's Day and July 12 and January 11 and November 27 and September 25, for a start (those are all birthdays of the people I mentioned above).

I have no idea why these came up in a search for "mother's day shoes," but they did.  They are odd, but I like the colors.  I don't think I would wear them, but still, the colors are fun.

So, once again, Happy Mother's Day!  I hope your day was full of love.

Polka Dots

Since I did stripes last night I decided I needed to do polka dots tonight.  Because polka dots also make me happy.  Also, one of my nieces used to call them "polka nuts" which makes me giggle, and I'll take all of the giggles I can get these days.  Also also, I decided to only do wedges tonight because I seem to be slightly obsessed with wedges lately and want a whole closet full of them (a real one, not just an imaginary one).

Would I wear orange polka dot wedges?  Yes, I would.  Do I wish these had an ankle strap?  Yes, I do.

 

A world of yes.  You can never have too many pairs of red shoes.

I'm not in love with the fabric on the wedge, but love the rest.

Stripes AND polka dots!  I wish the stripes were the blue rather than black (or possible navy?  But I think black).

 

See how much cuter the orange ones would be with an ankle strap?  I can go either way on the bow, but I do love an ankle strap.

 

Turquoise!  Or possible sky blue.  But I really don't care because you know I love all things blue.  Probably why half of the shoes in this post are blue.  I know you're terribly shocked.

It was a fairly good day.  The hope remains alive, for which I am grateful.  The downside of the day?  Cleaning toilets (ugh), puppies who have decided that peeing on the dining room carpet is way more fun than going outside (grrr), and Squirtle, who pooped on the bath mat this morning before I could get her in the tub (she's been eating berries, which are lovely, but do not come out the other end so nice).   Also, allergies that made the left side of my face decided to try and explode, implode, or just plode.

Stripes

Tonight I decided I needed some heels in my life.  I don't really wear them anymore, that there's no reason I can't do a little window shopping for the imaginary shoe closet. I'm in the mood to stripes, so here are some stripey heels:

These would be cute in blue and white stripes, too.

I both like this and don't.  I'm not sue what it is that's slightly off-putting, though.

This is a little bit crazy, but I like it.  I wear a lot of black and this would add a pop of color.

Not a fan of the colors on these, particularly.

Love these.  They're like Monet inspired stripes.

Yes, please.  I think I need an imaginary shoe closet just full of wedges.  Or maybe a real closet full of wedges (they're easier to walk in than stilettos, you know).

Ah...I feel better.  Stripes always help.

It's a Mystery

Today's shoes have a theme.  They are what came up when I typed in a certain word + shoes into the image search.  I'm just not going to tell you what that word is.  Because apparently I'm feeling stubborn today.  And for those of you who know me, you'll know that I am very rarely stubborn...😁 Without further ado, here are the shoes:

Well, that's weird.  Kind of cool in an arty way, but definitely weird from a shoe perspective.

These are very similar to the shoes in yesterday's post, and I still don't really care for the cross detail.

I actually love this, although again from an arty perspective.  The colors are bright and fun, and I can see Ms. Frizzle wearing these on a Magic School Bus Adventure.

I'm not completely sure what's going on here, but I like the colors.

Speaking of loving the colors.  Plus stripes!  So fun.

And there you have it.  Mystery theme.  If you have any guesses, let me know, but I don't think anyone will actually figure it out.

Happy Birthday, Double A

Quick commercial break before the post.  Today I created a glossary of nicknames and things I use on the blog that you may or may not know.  I will put links in posts for those nicknames so you can always click on them and read about anything you might not remember.  Please let me know what else I can add to the glossary, because I know I've forgotten stuff!  Now...on to the post!

Today is Double A's birthday!  (see that underline under Double A?  That leads you to the glossary!)  I can't believe she is 17 today.  Just like last year I couldn't believe she was 16, and 7 years ago I couldn't believe she was 10, and 10 years ago I couldn't believe she was 7....you get the idea.  I'm so proud of the young woman she is becoming.  She has the sweetest personality and she makes me smile on a regular basis.   A couple of weekends ago was her spring play.  She's a drama nerd like me!  Which makes me sooooo happy.  Her costume for the play involved a really bright, fun yellow skirt.   It was sunshiney just like her.  I mean, look at this face, how could it not make you smile?

She was such a sweet, happy baby.  How can you not smile at that face?

OK, these aren't yellow, but they are sunshiney.  I like them.  They are bright and fun.

I love these, but I'm not so sure about the cross detail.  Which is weird...you'd think I'd like the cross, right?  And I do, but just not on these shoes for some reason.

 

Oh, I forgot to mention that all of the shoes are flats because Double A is not a fan of heels.  Silly niecey-poo!  I would like to have a cute pair of yellow ballet flats for summer.

 

These are to much.  Pick one and go with it.  I would pick the laces because I love that bright yellow.

You knew the baby shoes were coming, right?  Baby Double A could have totally rocked any of these.  Any kid who can pull off a red and white striped, off the shoulder Elmo shirt, can make these adorable shoes look fierce!

Happy Birthday, Double A!  Like I said on Facebook, I love you to the moon, stars, pond, and back!

Glossary

It occurs to me that there are many nicknames and such that I use on the blog that you might not be familiar with if you are new here or simply can't keep all of the craziness straight.  I've been meaning to do a Glossary for awhile now so you have a handy-dandy reference guide any time you're confused.  I'll try to update this entry regularly so it is current, or  as I remember things I've left off.

The Auntie:  My mother's younger sister.  I lived with her in Texas for 3 years between college and seminary.  She is hilarious and feisty and I want to be her when I grow up.  

The Bean: The Brother's youngest daughter, born in 2003 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  Her nickname is short for Beana, which rhymes with her given name.  In a lot of ways she's my mini-me.  She's a nerd in all of the best ways from drama to band to comic books and fantasy. 

The BFF (Best Friend Forever): My best friend.  We met in college and bonded over The Beatles, Hot Tamales, and movies.

The Brother: My brother, who is 4 years older and lives in my hometown in Montana.

The Brother-in-Law: My sister's husband, who happens to be almost exactly the same age as the hubby (they are 4 days apart)

The BSF (Best Shoe Friend): A dear friend from seminary who shares my love of shoes.  We lived together for a year of seminary and she was one of 3 pastors who officiated our wedding.

The Camp Friend/Author Friend: A friend I met while working at Christikon in the middle of nowhere Montana.  She is now a published author, working on her 3rd book.  She is awesome for numerous other reasons as well.

The Coffee Friend:  Another dear seminary friend.  She is one of the reasons I started drinking more coffee because she kept inviting me to study with her at Starbucks.  There was some studying, but more talking and laughing.  She and her husband are a big part of why I got through my first semester.

Dad: My papa (obvious, yes?).  A retired librarian and EMT.  He's a woodcarver and woodworker and makes awesome stuff.

DJ: The Brother's oldest daughter, born in 1997 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  She's all grown up and in the navy, studying to be a nurse.  So proud of her.

Double A: It stands for Awesome A----, a nickname the hubby gave her.  She is the brother's middle daughter, born in 2000 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  She's his blue-eyed baby and has always been incredibly sweet and caring. 

FiL:  The hubby's father, so my father-in-law.  The man cracks me up.  We've gotten a lot better over the years, but still need the hubby to translate for us occasionally as neither one can understand the other at times.  He likes to nag me about "grand-grands" (grandchildren) and when I'm going to give him a passel.

Flower: The Seester's older daughter, born in 2005 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  Her nickname comes from her Chinese  name.  The Seester and Brother-in-Law adopted her from China in 2006.  She is an amazing musician.

Grandparents: Harry and Sylvia are Mom's parents while John and Mary are Dad's.  Sadly none of them are with us anymore.

The Hubby: I'm guessing this one doesn't really need explanation, but here you go:  We had our first date on August 24, 2010 and were married August 24, 2012.  We like to count the length of our marriage in terms of how many celebrity couples we've outlasted.  Yes, we're dorks.  Our marriage has been anything but easy, but we've stuck together and pulled through a lot.  He makes me laugh, we have awesome conversations, and I very rarely want to smother him with a pillow. 😋

Imaginary Shoe Closet:  I love shoes, but I don't really buy that many anymore.  Instead, I have different imaginary shoe closets where I create virtual shoe collections (it's also cheaper than real shoes!).  I have a general closet, one for the hubby, one for the PB, one for different decades of vintage shoes, and one for my fabulous pretend life in a 1950s musical.

JG: A dear friend from St. Someone's.  Sadly she only wears black shoes, but I love her regardless.

KGHK and KAH: Between high school and college I did daycare for a family in my hometown for 2 1/2 years.  It was only supposed to be a year, but I fell in love with the babies.  KGHK was 2 1/2 when I started and KAH was 3 months.  They were born in 1990 and 1993, so they are now adults of whom I am extremely proud.  We won't talk about how old that now makes me.

Laughter: The Seester's younger daughter, whose given name means Laughter, who was born in 2010 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  She's our other blue-eyed baby, which is a beautiful contrast with her brown skin and brown eyes.  She was adopted in Montana, and she is hilarious and stubborn and smart.

MiL: The hubby's mom.  I am very lucky in the in-law department.  She loves me and I love her.  I wish I could see her more often, but am lucky to talk to her on the phone at least once a week, sometimes more.

Mom:  Pretty self-explanatory, yes?  An avid reader.  She sewed our clothes growing up, and now she paints and makes awesome crafts.

The Nephew: The BFF's son, born in 2010 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  I was there when he was born!  He's the lone boy in a gaggle of nieces.  He loves Star Wars and superheroes and playing baseball.

The PB (Potential Baby):  I don't know if those grand-grands are ever going to happen for the FiL, but it's still a possibility.  I post a lot of baby shoes and started an imaginary shoe closet for a future (possibly also imaginary) baby that I started referring to as the PB.

Pippi:One of the not-nieces, born in 2007 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  Her nickname comes from her older sister, but they also named their St. Bernard Pippi, which makes it confusing.  I lived at home while waiting for my first call and she and I spent a lot of time together in the first year of her life (Mom did daycare for their family and likes to joke that I kept the kid in my room so she never saw her).  She has always been able to crack me up.  And she square dances!

The PF (Pinterest Friend): A former teacher at the preschool at St. Somone's.  She now lives in Idaho with her hubby and 2 boys.  She likes to wander through Pinterest and find pins to send me for the blog.  She's also an awesome friend. 

Scout: Pippi and Tink's older sister, born in 1996.  Another not-niece, although not quite in the same way.  She's older than they and Mom didn't do daycare for her, but she is so amazing

The Seester: My sister, who is 6 1/2 years older, and lives in Montana. 

The Seminary Friend: She needs a better nickname, as I have lots of friends from seminary, but she was one of my roommates during seminary.  She is one of the kindest people I know and I am blessed to have her in my life.

SKD: A good friend and former co-worker at St. Someone's.  She has helped me navigate a LOT through the past 7 years.

St. Someone's: The church that brought me back to California.  I was Associate Pastor there for almost 3 years before my life took me down a different path.

Sunshine: One of the kiddos at St. Someone's.  She is right up there in terms of my favorite kiddos.  She is super smart and sweet and brings sunshine into my life whenever I see her.

Sunshine's Grandma:  Obviously the grandma of Sunshine, but a dear friend as well for whom I am very grateful.

The Texas Friend:  I lived in Texas for 3 years between college and seminary, so I have more than one Texas Friend, but this person was my FIRST Texas friend, so she gets the title.  She used to drag me out on the weekends and force me to have a social life.  I have laughed with her a lot.

Tink:  One of the not-nieces, born in 2009 (easier than having to update ages...sorry for the math!).  She's the youngest daughter of a good friend in my hometown.  She has awesome, crazy, bright taste in clothes and his goofy in all the best ways.  Her nickname comes from her oldest sister. Don't ever tell her she's not really a niece, though.

The Uncle: Mom's younger brother who has been incredibly supportive over the years.  I'm extremely lucky in the uncle department.

The World Traveler: Another fabulous friend from Seminary. This particular friend is possibly one of the coolest people I know.  She's hilarious, smart, engaged, passionate, and since I've known her has lived in:  California, Washington, Ohio, New Mexico, England, Boston, Washington DC (twice), Niger, and is soon to move to Belgium.  I might want to be her when I grow up.

What am I missing?  Tell me in the comments and I will update as often as possible!

May Day

Happy May Day!  It's crazy that it's May already.  Where is this year going?  It was almost 90 degrees here today, which is crazy.  I'm not ready for the heat, but as I said yesterday the sunshine has been nice.  I've done several flower posts, so today I thought I would do a specific flower, and tulips came to mind because they're so springy.

These are pretty.  I don't think I want a pair, but they're still pretty.

I think these are rain or gardening shoes, but they also kind of look like slippers.  Again, pretty, but not a pair I want. 

There were a lot of these.  Some with tulips painted on them, some just wooden shoes with tulips inside.  Makes sense as wooden shoes and tulips are associated with Holland.  I would use these for decoration, but not as footwear.

 

These I would wear.  Is it weird that I would wear the pink ones but not the first pair?

So sweet!
 

See comment above.  Repeat.

Hope you all had a lovely day that involved flowers of some kind, even if they were just on shoes or a computer screen.