thebeckybug

Dear Boyfriend,

Please note I am aware that I have been a psychotic girlfriend as of late. There is basically no excuse for my actions. I want to thank you for not shooting me in the face this past week.

I realize that my obsessive behavior about furniture can appear as a serious psychological problem. However, I realize this and apologize for trying to get rid of most of the furniture you own; including but not limited to your couch, your coffee table, your TV stand (both of them,) your desk, and hrmm, I’m sure there’s something else that inadvertently got thrown to the curb.

Your sense of style (if mis-match furniture was ever a style) is debatable, but I know I should respect your need to keep the stuff you purchased less than 2 years ago (even if it doesn’t match or have a use in this house.) After all, I’m one of those things you’ve acquired since moving into this house, and it’s nice that you want to keep me around, even when I seem useless. Thanks for not inadvertently throwing me to the curb.

Also, thank you for understanding and being flexible. Thank you for loading and squeezing box after box of collapsed furniture into your beloved car. Thank you for trusting my sense of style and helping me install the shelves to the walls. Thank you for responding to my screams (with ample amounts of alcohol) as I continuously battle with the meaning of “some assembly required.”

You are truly a gem.

Love,
Becky

P.S. Would you like to join me at The Ikea on Sunday to pick out a new headboard?

My small saltwater fish tank (video link) houses a little collection of fish and other living things.

Fish
(2) percula clown fish
(1) coral beauty angelfish
(1) striped hawkfish

Corals
(1) frogspawn
(1) trumpet coral (candy cane coral)
(1) Pulsing xenia
(50) various colors of button polyps
(1) dying flowerpot coral
(1) mushroom
(1) torch coral

The Kite Festival happened this windy weekend at Zilker park. I, however, did not participate in the kite-flying festivities as I was already engaged with The Scandinavians and Their Furniture.

As I was driving home from the Ignoring Kites Emporium Amazingness I spotted a kite flying unusually high, and unusually far away from the Kite Fields.

On my way to work this morning I spotted the same solitary kite still flying. I was watching it in wonderment. It had swam through the tumultuous weather that pounded our skies last night.

That brave kite was still sailing high through the cloudy, windy, very cold front that landed on us through my lunch break. I started to wonder what the story behind this lone kits was, whose it was, and what was anchoring its tether. How would someone go upon looking for a lost kite. One that just flew away and tangled its kite string through a tree. How on earth could someone find what tree was holding it captive. Maybe it was caught in some power lines. I wondered if it’s family missed it. That navy blue kite with two long tails.

On my way home I hoped that the kite had not fallen or been found. I hoped that, though it was dark, I would be able to see it once again today. I could have sat and watched it all day. I had a furniture delivery to wait around pointlessly for instead. But the kite, it was waiting for me on the drive home. Its blue matching the impending darkness.
The tree, being blown around and frozen all up in this awful weather must be having some fun flying that kite. I hope it never realizes the festival was over last night.

I spent 5 hours at The IKEA today acquiring the following items:

TV stand with storage for DVDs

Bookshelf to match TV unit (with doors)

2 DVD towers to match bookshelf

Wall-mounted shelf to match DVD towers

Lighting for other wall-mounted shelving (3 fixtures)

Two matching vases for empty spot on shelves

Three small matching vases

Breadbox

Two swiveling desk chairs

Grumpy attitude

45% discount for damaged furniture

Free drinks

Less than $600 charged to my debit card

A love-hate relationship with the enormity that is The Walanavianmart

A love-hate relationship with the boyfriend who endured the trip to International Killers for Entertainment Association

We’ll see if I can post a list every day for the next month. The first list is of things I could spend my $20 etsy gift certificate on.

1. Feist Handprinted Silkscreen Poster - Limited Edition
by HeroDesignStudio
class=”Apple-style-span” style=”font-weight: bold”>

2. Tuscany Print
by JhillDesign

3. Vase Gray Porcelain Black and Caramel
by Shoshonasnow

4. Eleanor Elephant on Grey Key Fob
by BungleBearDesigns

5. Take the Dog For a Walk, Tumbler Set
by mepottery

It’s rare that there’s still light outside after dinner. I ask the kids if they would like to go outside and play before we have dessert. M (4 yrs) replies “But it will be cold! Without any pants!” He looks down and has only superhero undies on. I ask him where his pants went, and he says he forgot. I ask where he put them, and he says he forgot. I ask where he wore them last, he says he forgot. I tell him if he wants to go outside with us, he’d better find some pants to put on.

He searches around the house frantically. First he looks under the couch. Then searches behind the couch. Lifting up the top to the toy box, he finds nothing. The Lego bin people are not holding his pants hostage, either. Then he looks in the kitchen cabinets. He proceeds to the trash can. He tearfully exclaims to me “THEY MUST HAVE DISAPPEARED!”

I walk to the bathroom as he continues scouring the most unlikely places in the house. Like the dishwasher. Of course I find his pants lying on the bathroom floor. After all, he had spent half of his dinnertime in the bathroom, reciting the Iliad and the Odyssey. I call to him that I have found his pants. He rushes in and relieved, says “Oh there they are!”

Halfheartedly, I tell him that he needs to remember some things, like where he put his clothing and his toys, if he wants to have them later. I tell him that I’m worried that earlier he couldn’t remember why he was in time-away at school (for the 3rd time this week.) I suggest he use his Odyssey-reciting brain to remember other important things. I know this advice will just ricochet off his hurricane-child-like-mind.

As he puts his pants on, he looks up at me and offers “Oh I know! Maybe the reason I forget things so much is because from when a black cat crossed my path.”

Those cupcakes? Well, you see, they’re easy.

Take a box of this:

Plus 3 eggs, 1-1/3 cups of water, and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil.

Take all of that, and follow the directions on the back of the box.

Bake using these:

It also helps if you have some of this just lying around:

After they’re done baking, let them cool for a while.

While they’re cooling, divide the frosting into a couple of containers (one container for each color you want to make.) Use a butter-knife to mix in some food coloring. Make sure to use a separate knife for each color if you don’t want to end up with brown icing. (Keep the knives nearby .)

I like this gel stuff:

Start mixing in colors, adding as much or little food coloring as you like.

When you’re happy with your colors, spread icing on each cupcake. I used a very thin layer because I am not a big fan of icing. Yeah, I’m not a big fan of icing, I said it. I’d rather eat a french-vanilla muffin than an over-iced cupcake.

Here’s what I got:

And then The Martha Stewart inside me said, “Becky, those look just a little plain. Can’t you be a little more creative than that? Let’s personalize!”

“No, Martha inside my head,” I replied, “I cannot be more creative than that. Why don’t YOU add some embellishments or something if you think they look crappy.”

And then the cupcakes looked like:

That Martha in my head, she puked on my cupcakes!

Scene 1:
I made cupcakes yesterday afternoon and let 2 young boys do the sprinkles on them. I was cleaning up, the cupcakes had been finished, and I looked over my shoulder.

J6 had half the container of green sprinkles carefully cupped in his hand. Skillfully avoiding spilling any, he attempted to inhale the whole handful. Mid-inhale, I grabbed his hand and effectively spilled it onto the papertowel-plate.

He looked up at me and it was difficult for me to stifle my laughter at the sight of this hulk-like transformation happening around his mouth and hands.

Scene 2:
Not 2 minutes later, the boys are playing in the living room. I hear a cry.

Aside: It’s a skill I have developed, to distinguish between the many cries of the pip-squeak. In .02 seconds I can determine if I need to ignore, mosey, stomp, or dash to the scene of eruption. This was a mosey-worthy cry. A cry of “Come to me, look at me, I did something very wrong and am paying for it with my own blood. Was this really my fault? I didn’t know Action A would cause Pain B. This Pain B hurts so much, I wish I hadn’t done Action A. Come give me ice, a hug, and a bandaid, that should immediately fix the problem. Maybe you could throw in a popsicle, too, for all this suffering. You hear this suffering, right?!”

Enter Scene

J6: (lying on floor, crying for help)

C6: (looking on like ‘what just happened, I was on the other side of the room, and he started doing this, this crying thing. Maybe I can stare at him and magically cure us of his mania-mouth. Oh look, and adult. I will watch.’)

Me: (I mosey in and find no blood and all limbs are still attached in correct places)

J6: (wigging out on the floor)

Me: Hey J6, what happened?

J6: (incoherently) ayeblooomaaahhlehhhhhgg!

Me: (calmly) What? Tell me what just happened so I can understand you.

J6: (incoherently) I broke my LEG!

Me: How did you break your leg?

J6: I ran into the couch!

Me: Did you jump on the couch? Did you fall off the couch?

J6: NO! I just ran into the couch!

Me: Did you kick the couch?

J6: No I just ran in.to. it. REALLY. HARD.

Me: I’m having a hard time understanding. You ran into the couch, and broke your leg?

J6: Yeah! It really hurts. I can’t move or walk.

Me: Wiggle your toes and roll over.

J6: (wiggling his toes, rolls over onto his back)

Me: Nope, leg’s not broken. You might have a bruise, but you take way-worse hits in basketball and football without so much fuss. You’ll be just fine. Get up and let’s do a puzzle.

J6: I can’t get up.

Me: Let me help you. (grabbing his arm, I help him to his feet)

J6: (collapses as soon as I let up on my grip. he becomes blubbering mass of discontentment) I can’t walk!

Me: That’s because you’re upset and pretending to have a broken leg. (C6 and I proceed to dining room to do a puzzle)

2 minutes pass. I look out of the corner of my eye and see J6 get up and walk up the stairs. C6 also sees and makes the following observation:

C6: Hey look! He’s walking! He just wants a broken leg like C5 in our class. He wants to have a cast and be on crutches so for everyone to help him all the time.

(J6 collapses on the stairs mid-climb)

Me: Get up J6 and come help us with this puzzle, or I’m going to have to call C6’s mom to pick him up and take you to the hospital to get shots and surgery.

Would you know it, he came and helped us finish the puzzle.

Scene 3:
In the car yesterday.

Me: What did you do in P.E. today?

J6: Nothing. We learned about the disease, diabetes.

Me: Oh yeah? What did you learn?

J6: Just about it.

Me: Oh I see.

J6: Can I be a East-Walker, instead of a Bus-Rider? Or would I be a West-Walker?

Me: I don’t know. How come? Why don’t you want to ride the bus?

J6: No, I like riding the bus, but I might like to walk, too. Walking is good for you.

Me: It would sure be a long walk…

(silence for a few minutes)

J6: (as if coming to an absolute conclusion regarding the meaning of life) Yeah, riding the bus is good, too, to not get diabetes.

SILVER, ALAMEDA

via Heather
This picture is everything I love about her perspective. I have some of her work framed in my house, as well.

Le Cage aux FollesZip Pouch

From the sea within
Etsy.com is one of my favorite places to find handmade goodness. This little satchel would provide a better place for the small items that litter the bottom of my purse.

Things haven’t been good since I graduated from college. I don’t know if it happens to everyone at that point in their life, but my life got so chaotic. I started working, and living in a town where I knew no one. I didn’t think it would be a big deal to not know anyone. The solitude of those 6 months was welcome after all that college life. Besides, I was scheduled to transfer to Austin after 6 months anyway. I know people in Austin, and a whole lot of my family lives there.

The corporate work environment was something to get used to. I gave up a lot of my individuality working in that space. I went from learning and gaining so much in college to a dead halt of waiting for orders from bosses. My whole life turned into a waiting game. I was waiting to move back to a city I loved. I was waiting to meet someone. I was waiting to establish stronger relationships with my family. I was waiting for something to do from 8-5 every day. I was waiting for the weekends to start. I was waiting to save enough money to buy my own place. With all that waiting, my patience wore thin after a while.

The waiting never paid off. Moving to Austin was a huge step in the right direction, but other things were getting worse. I was a remote employee in the company I worked for. I got to work every day, had about 2 hours of workload, and waited until 5:00 to arrive every. single. day. I was so tired of doing nothing all day that I would sleep, and not sleep as soon as I got home until it was time to start the next day. Life was dark and endless.

I finally realized that work was the reason I was feeling horrible all the time. I realized I had to get out, and I could not trust myself to function until I got out of that environment. I quit abruptly and waited for work to come my way. It came my way in the form of a small lawfirm owned by a family-friend. When that wasn’t enough, I became a nanny in the afternoons.

At this point in my life, things are good.

I love the work. I love the interaction and my daily routine. I’m a more pleasant person during and after work. I feel like I can accomplish things (hello: putting a website together!) on my free time. I rarely find myself waiting for things to happen. It’s a much better feeling.

Now I’m struggling with the goal to go BACK to school. I would like to have a job with good health benefits and retirement options. I would like a job that provides lots of interaction and free time. From what I can tell, this leads me to: teaching!

I’m so comfortably happy right now that it is difficult to move forward. I’m anxious about committing myself to MORE school for another career I may not end up liking. My routine will change! It took so long to get to this place where I feel comfortable with myself. Committing myself has never been so difficult due to the defeat I experienced with my other short-lived career. This however, is no reason to hesitate.

I want to get a move-on but I want to stay in this happy place. I want to pack up the happiness and take it with me through the rest of my life. I want to save it like twinkling fireflies in a jar. Fireflies that never fade. I’m slowly gaining this hopefulness back. It’s such a better feeling.