On Dragonfly Wings

Heart: Melting

2009-06-02T15:56:00.000+02:00

The Best News

2009-05-29T13:05:00.002+02:00

For now I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. I don't really have any words.

Hey, it's me again...

2009-02-11T13:11:00.002+01:00

I don't really even know what to say.

We went to Michigan right after Christmas, for a month, and I knew I wanted to take a blogging break. Michigan was my vacation from everything, and it was WONDERFUL. The Little Mister and I were surrounded by family and friends and love and all my stresses just melted away. The only badness, of course, was that the Sergeant wasn't there...but I know I can't have everything. And it looks like he just might be coming home a bit sooner than expected, so...bonus!

My brother's wedding was lovely, and (after much headache) the dress I now affectionately call "the scary dress" was gorgeous and fit perfectly, with no disasters. And I even wore heels! (wow did my feet hurt at the end of the night...)

A few days after we got back to Germany I got sick. (Of course. That's what I do.) I had a stomach virus that dehydrated me so bad I ended up in the er, and I was sick for over a week. Not the most fun I've ever had, I can tell you that. The major blessing was that the Little Mister had it first and was literally only sick for about two hours. Why can't I be like that??! I'm just glad he got his daddy's immune system and not mine!

So now I'm back. My brain is still a bit frazzled and fuzzy, but perhaps I can come up with something interesting to post every once in awhile. In the next day or so I'll post some pictures from the wedding so you can see my pretty dress...and how adorable my son looks in a little suit!!

Just a little late...Merry Christmas!!!

2008-12-26T12:54:00.003+01:00

With lots of love and wishes of peace and joy
from the Dragonfly house

Decorating Ornaments, aka Messy Craft Time

2008-12-10T19:55:00.001+01:00

*for Wordless Wednesday*

Life

2008-12-08T21:42:00.004+01:00

note: There's no specific badness going on, this is an old poem. I wasn't feeling a poetry vibe today but I couldn't resist the Monday Mission call for a poetry post; I looked through some of my old poems and this one just sort of spoke to me. So...

I want to understand, but the question is too big.

It's so strange
that the world and everyone
goes on when I feel stopped.
The sky is heavy.
There's a weight on my chest
that has nothing to do with anything
I can touch. My mortality screams
in my ears today, tells me
nothing is forever.

I think I am immune to life,
but I am fooling myself.

I want to put my fist
through a window,
to watch my knuckles bleed,
to feel pain,
to feel something.

I am cold inside.
Even my tears are cold.

I smile, say No, don't worry
about me. I'm fine, but I'm not
fine at all. I feel like throwing up,
like maybe if I empty my stomach
I can get rid of yesterday
and start over.

april 2000

I wrote this the day after I found out my grandpa had an inoperable brain tumor. He died a few weeks later. Thankfully all of his kids and all of his grandkids were able to make the trip from Michigan to Florida to see him before he died. It was an overwhelming whirlwind of sickness, travel, sadness, tears, and death.

Been thinking a lot about mortality lately. We get these emails called Red Messages - after the family is notified (in person, of course), a message is sent to the rest of the unit to let them know when a soldier has been killed. The messages always include the "survivors"...and the Little Mister gets so many extra hugs when there are kids! I worry about the Sergeant, of course, but not as much as many spouses. He never leaves the base, he's relatively safe. My best friend's husband, though...he's being deployed to the Middle East for the third time next month, and he's infantry, so he'll be in danger pretty much every day. No wonder this poem jumped out at me.

But, on the flip side, there is joy. Life. Live it! Live every single day. It's something I need to remember. At the moment I'm drowning in Christmas cards (40 down, 26 to go) and I've been so focused on them the past few days that I've been doing less fun stuff with the Little Mister. We play, but I haven't made an effort to get out paint, or markers or other Messy Stuff (which he loves, of course). So tomorrow (he's in bed now) my goal is to have fun with my son. And if someone's Christmas card is late...well, that's life.

1.5

2008-12-07T00:09:00.003+01:00

The Little Mister is 18 months old now.

How does this happen?

Today (well, yesterday now, I guess) my once-tiny little boy held my hand and walked up the stairs with me.

And since it was also St. Nicholas Day there were a few little presents in his boots this morning; he is now the proud owner of his very own markers, which, as you can see, he loves.

I don't think I can deny it anymore...he really is a toddler.

Trimming the Tree

2008-12-03T15:07:00.001+01:00

*for Wordless Wednesday*

The Christmas Story??

2008-12-01T13:00:00.008+01:00

Did you know that Mary was a pilot? When it was time to go she and Joseph rented a plane and flew to Bethlehem.

The inn was full when they arrived, so Mary had to give birth to her baby in a stable. She named him Jesus. They were watched over by a guardian sheep.

Three wise men and a young Hawaiian girl traveled from afar to bring gifts to the newborn king...

...but suddenly they were trampled by a giant!!!

The Hawaiian girl was the lone survivor, arriving in Bethlehem to present the young Jesus with a small blue cell phone.

Watch out, guardian sheep! The giant is back!

This post is brought to you with lots of help from the Little Mister for Painted Maypole's Monday Mission - to write a post as a children's story. This is a nostalgic Monday Mission...I did it last January too. Fun! :)

New Stuff

2008-11-21T15:09:00.002+01:00

Lately my son seems to think he should call me by my given name instead of calling me Mamma. Hmm.
The Little Mister seems to have begun "playing pretend". I asked him to hold a package of fruit snacks while I finished up what I was doing; I told him I'd open them when I was done. After a minute, when I glanced up, he was pretending to pull a snack out of the bag, put it in his mouth, chew, and swallow. When he caught me looking at him, he grinned. So cute!
A HUGE step in the right direction: the Little Mister is starting to put his toys away when I ask. And sometimes even when I don't ask. Wow. I LOVE IT!!
A couple weeks ago, for a reason I still can't put my finger on, I started a page on Facebook. I've already been in touch with several friends I hadn't talked to in over ten years!
I bought plane tickets this week; the Little Mister and I will be in the States for pretty much the month of January. I don't look forward to the l-o-n-g flights with a toddler, but it'll be great to see family and friends. The Little Mister even (finally!!!) gets to meet Painted Maypole and the May Queen!!!
And...oh yeah...it's SNOWING outside right now. It's pretty much a mini blizzard! Yuck.

Christmas card update: 16 down, 49 to go. I think I need to work faster.
And yes, eventually I'll post a picture. :)

Two down, sixty-three to go.

2008-11-17T11:46:00.002+01:00

Christmas cards, that is.

Yup, I'm making my Christmas cards again this year. It seems a rather late start and a rather large undertaking considering the colds and infections making the rounds in our house lately, plus the normal busyness of the holiday season and also having a seventeen month old, especially since they really should be out by around the first of December to make sure they're delivered on time...but I enjoy making cards, and my friend and I are working on them together, so it should be fun. We started last night, the kids watched Annie (well, we had the table set up so we could watch Annie too, and sing along, of course!) while we worked.

So...you're probably thinking something along the lines of, "Dragonfly, if you worked last night, why do you only have two cards done? If you're making sixty-five cards, you might want to make a few more than just two a night."

But I did work hard last night. I made over half of my envelopes!

Yeah..not only am I making 65 cards, I'm making 65 envelopes too!!!

I'm a new kind of super hero! You can call me..

[cue trumpets]

Insano-Girl!

I think I'm going to go take a nap...

Baby Hugs

2008-11-12T12:14:00.003+01:00

*for Wordless Wednesday*

Three cheers from the sick house!

2008-11-09T20:01:00.005+01:00

Okay, this is actually us watching the Bills game tonight. And it's blurry because I had to use the timer. And right now there isn't much to cheer about, because it's 10-3, New England. But unlike my dad (the pessimistic lifetime Lions fan, who has faith during every game that they'll find a way to lose) I have hope that my boys can find a win. And, if not, we'll be cheering again next week. (Probably not watching though. It's a Monday night game, which means it starts here at 2:30 Tuesday morning. So cheering in our dreams, I guess.)

But this really is a sick house. This week has been rough. Monday I went to the clinic...I have a sinus infection. I'm feeling much better, almost back to normal. Still headachey, but that's not so bad.

The Little Mister, though...wow. This is really the first time he's ever been sick, and I guess he figured he'd do it right the first time. Remember the picture I posted Tuesday, of him crying and encouraging everyone to vote? Apparently those tears weren't just from his incoming molar (which popped through Tuesday evening, by the way). Wednesday morning he wouldn't eat or drink, so I took him to the clinic in the early afternoon.

He has two ear infections.

He has a minor bacterial infection in his eyes.

He has bronchitis.

My poor baby! After 24 hours on medicine he was mostly back to himself. Now his eyes look fine, and his breathing sounds normal most of the time. He's still more cranky than usual, but I'm hoping my happy baby will come back when the pain in his ears goes away. And I'm really hoping that's soon...

I don't like living in a sick house!

Go me!

2008-11-07T12:33:00.004+01:00

I finally did it.

I washed the dirty clothes he left on the floor.

It only took three months and four days.

And I only cried a little.

I am feeling very silly right now.

And also embarrassed.

It's Election Day!

2008-11-04T12:08:00.002+01:00

Please vote!

If you don't, I might cry!

~~These tears have been brought to you by incoming molar number four~~

This public service announcement has been brought to you by the Little Mister and by the letter V

Mickey has nothing on my little mouse.

2008-11-01T22:11:00.002+01:00

p.s. Look...now he does have a tail! *hee hee*

What's the difference between boys and girls?

2008-10-30T09:31:00.002+01:00

According to my three year old neighbor, who took a bath with the Little Mister last night, my son has a "tail".

*giggle*

Random Topics of the Day

2008-10-28T17:37:00.003+01:00

Syrup

Okay, I know syrup absolutely does not qualify as a blog topic. Please bear with me while I try to justify it.

The Little Mister has a waffle for breakfast nearly every morning. Usually with fruit, and sometimes with cheese, but almost always a waffle. What can I say, the kid likes his waffles...and I don't mind so much, because at least I buy the whole grain kind, right?

Anyway, this morning I was trying to stay on my feet while waiting for the waffle to pop from the toaster (both the Little Mister and I have nasty colds going on, so staying on my feet is actually a rather difficult task) and while I stood and swayed I distracted myself by looking at the nutrition info on the back of the syrup bottle.

I have to say I was a bit surprised when I saw that there are 31 grams of sugar in a serving of syrup. I mean, okay, I know syrup is basically sugar, but still. But then I looked at the serving size. A quarter of a cup.

A quarter of a cup??

Does anyone put that much syrup on a waffle? Six pancakes, perhaps. But a waffle?? I've never actually measured, but my guess is the Little Mister gets about a teaspoon (or less) of syrup on his daily waffle. I feel quite a bit better about his sugar intake now.

And me? Even when I have two or three pancakes, I'd guess I use about two tablespoons of syrup. Am I in the minority? Is a quarter of a cup a normal serving size? (note: 4 tablespoons = 1/4 cup)

My Polite Little Boy

I realized something yesterday: the Little Mister says thank you! When I give him something - especially food, but also things like books and toys - he says "tay-tay". Now that I recognize the word as thank you I always say "you're welcome" back to him, and he smiles so proudly every time I do. I just love it! Now if only I could teach his daddy to say thank you...

(Just kidding, honey. I love you!!!) ;)

Little Bills Fan

Look what the Sergent sent for the Little Mister! (translation: Look what the Sergeant sent for ME!!!!) Right now, of course, he's only a Bills fan 'cause his mommy's a Bills fan (and, believe it or not, his daddy doesn't like football!)...but soon enough I'll ~~brainwash him~~ teach him all about football and about the Buffalo Bills and he'll cheer for them on his own. ;)

Oops

2008-10-25T10:30:00.003+02:00

forgot my haiku
left at the checkout counter
I'm sorry, Friday.

* * * * *

Yesterday was a pretty normal, busy day (aside from a very VERY V-E-R-Y big and disgusting mess the Little Mister made that I will not explain because I never ever want to think about it again and I didn't even have the proper cleaning materials to clean it up so we had to go shopping and then I had to burn candles to get the smell of disinfectant out my living room and that didn't even work so it still smells but I don't want to talk about it) (*deep breath*) in the Dragonfly household. I did laundry, cleaned in the kitchen, cuddled with my boy, and, after the boy went to bed, I watched a bit of How I Met Your Mother. I was debating between a haiku about chocolate milk (the Little Mister had his first taste this week, and he sure did love it!) and kittens (for three days this week our neighbors were out of town so we were on kitten-sitting duty, and for some reason those kittens let him do whatever they want to them. He carries them around by whatever body part he can catch...and they don't care at all!). But somewhere in the normal craziness of the day I forgot all about my haiku.

So..this is my very own edition of Haiku Saturday.

:)

For Haiku Friday...click here. :)

Autumn Adventure

2008-10-22T19:25:00.001+02:00

*for Wordless Wednesday*

Gearing Up for Winter

2008-10-20T19:57:00.002+02:00

Ohhh...what is my husband going to say?

But honestly, doesn't the Little Mister look adorable? Okay, I know he's wearing a hat and mittens with his pjs, but still...he's precious in his new puppy dog hat, right??

A couple days ago, when I took the trash out in the early morning fog, there was frost on the cars. Eek! Didn't autumn start just a few days ago? Alright, it was actually a month, but still. Frost??! *sigh* So I went in search of something to keep my boy's ears warm, and I couldn't resist the little velcro ear flaps with floppy ears on top. I might not be mentally ready for winter, but at least the Little Mister will be warm! :)

p.s.

What I wanted to write in this post but was too tired to figure out how to write in haiku:

Thanks. To all of you who read my blog, no matter how long you've been reading...thanks. You're the ones who make this place what it is. It would be no fun at all without you!! :)

One

2008-10-17T21:50:00.004+02:00

'Twas a year ago
a little blog came to be.
Where did the time go??

I wrote of blankness
and why I love Halloween...
Wow, so much has changed!

October 2007:

October 2008:

For more haiku fun, click here!

I'm surrounded by GIRLS!!!

2008-10-15T15:05:00.002+02:00

...and this is what they do to me. *sigh*

*by the Little Mister, for Wordless Wednesday*

Haiku Friday - My Blue Ribbon Day

2008-10-10T21:43:00.002+02:00

An autumn evening,
games and candy, crafts and fun:
smiles on every face.

It's a "county fair,"
with music, cotton candy,
and plenty of food!

And then a contest.
Some made soup, chili, or cake.
I made apple pie.

for more haiku fun, click here!! :)

Wordless Wednesday: (Little) Mr. Cool

2008-10-08T18:32:00.001+02:00

On Dragonfly Wings

Heart: Melting

The Best News

Hey, it's me again...

Just a little late...Merry Christmas!!!

Decorating Ornaments, aka Messy Craft Time

Life

1.5

Trimming the Tree

The Christmas Story??

New Stuff

Two down, sixty-three to go.

Baby Hugs

Three cheers from the sick house!

Go me!

It's Election Day!

Mickey has nothing on *my* little mouse.

What's the difference between boys and girls?

Random Topics of the Day

Oops

Autumn Adventure

Gearing Up for Winter

One

I'm surrounded by GIRLS!!!

Haiku Friday - My Blue Ribbon Day

Wordless Wednesday: (Little) Mr. Cool

Mickey has nothing on my little mouse.