Mama Milton

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sure to make you smile
2011-10-05 15:00:00
I opened up my Google Reader, blew off the dust, and found some lovely posts to share with you.Take a look:Who's that girl?, by Amanda Magee{she grew up in Eugene. i secretly hope it's in the water, this amazing strength & talent. i'd love to grow my girl up to be just like Amanda.}Fall Drive, by SusieJ{oh the fall foliage out east of my little corner of the world...thank you for posting this picture, Susie.} Mighty Summit: visiting my earnest mood on you, Maggie Mason{ah, she's famous among dozens, and i know why. i love the way she looks at the world.} quoth the swapper, nevermore, by Sasha Libby{the craft store is calling my name. i need ravens and poe, stat. i would love to play at her house.}old girls gone wild, by Sam Persinger{one of my best friends in this here real life. this old girl wishes she'd been along for the night out.}Why have I been away for so long? I am inspired, encouraged, excited. Thank you, ladies.
More About: Smile , Make

everyday I'm shuffling
2011-09-29 15:17:00
I woke up shortly after the last bartender in town locked up, long before dawn. When I should have been still konked out with my blankey. But I heard my husband rustling around in the dark, headed for what is bound to be another long end of quarter sorta day.He is a good man.Me? The jury's still out, but I've faced down one nemesis this morning - the incredible, edible egg! Ha!* - and I have pumpkin muffins in the oven for the ones that used to be wee, back when I started blogging and I wrote about them a little too much. But they still like me.They are good children.I woke up thinking about this post and how I've been writing it in my head since Monday. The wind was picking up that afternoon, kicking a few leaves around my feet as I walked to the bus stop to meet my son. I read Zazen as I walked, splashing Earl Grey onto my dance pants until I came to the end of the road where I may or may not have practiced the tree pose for next week's class. (I totally did.) I had to laugh a...

Happy birthday, Caden
2011-07-14 06:51:00
Caden & Zack at the meet Originally uploaded by mama.milton.How'd you get so big? The baby in the family is 6 today. We love you buddy.OX, Aunt Sissy and co.
More About: Happy , Birthday

well, hello there
2011-07-12 20:19:00
stampede, a photo by mama.milton on Flickr.Mama Who? Yes, I've been away for some time, and for good reason. (See how I hint there is more to come? Mwahaha.)It's good to be back. What have you been up to, dear lovely reader(s)?

for the love: waking up to bumble & bumble
2011-02-18 17:47:00
You know you are housing a (soon-to-be) teenager when the sweet smell of hair product wafts down the hall and competes with my morning coffee for aroma du jour.Some things don't change, but I propose they do improve.Our poor mothers.
More About: Love

for the love: little liberty
2011-02-18 04:37:00
Take a couple of hula-hoops...Add some dreads,And a statue of liberty costume and what do you get, rain or shine?The happiest hula-hooping hippie-esque Liberty Tax employee, that's what. She's out there for hours, waving and hooping and generally making my day when I pass by.What made you smile this week?
More About: Love

for the love: cardamom
2011-02-11 18:00:00
I knew I had to give it a try, as soon as I saw a friend's FB post about the Buttered Chicken (murgh makhani) she had simmering in her crock pot. I mean really. When's the last time you had reason to sew cardamom pods together? I didn't think so.(It's the best smelling needlecraft to date.)Also: I think the plate is having a girl.
More About: Love , Cardamom

for the love: bachaco
2011-02-10 18:14:00
One of my favorite new Zumba songs. Cumbia is a great way to start the day.
More About: Love

for the love: little vampires
2011-02-04 19:09:00
I'm not sure what it says about me, the way I can detail any Buffy episode, sight unseen, on long drives while the kids watch in the backseat, but fanatic comes to mind.(And also: Joss? I am ready for your next project.)So yea. I have a thing for vampires of the non-sparkley variety.Especially little vampires, sporting chucks.That match the sky. (He must be wearing one of those magic rings that all the cool vampires seem to have these days. Poor Angel.)While I love an angsty, brooding vamp as much as the next girl, happy little ones suit me just fine.Run, Jake, run! Nevermind, puppy.He's more interested in hanging out with the neighborhood girl with fangs.
More About: Love

for the love
2011-02-03 15:00:00
I don't know when I started using the phrase, 'for the love', but it's a staple in our household.Like 'clean your room, for the love'.Or 'I made you some coffee, for the love'.(And it's meant sweetly; it's not short 'for the love of God'. That has a somewhat different tone, no?)So for the month of February - and yes, I'm aware that I am running late; what's new? - I am seeking out the things that make my heart sing.It's good for the soul.
More About: Love

dappled
2011-01-07 03:42:00
Dapple. Dapple. Dapple.It was the word whirling around in my brain, as I walked the dogs this morning, early enough so that many a commuter got to see me pick up the business Jake so graciously dumped along a busy corridor.Dappled in sunshine, words robbed of their meaning, being quaint and all. But it was ever so lovely out today, I could hardly stand it.After a four mile journey, both mutts came to rest on my unmade bed, exhausted and utterly content to lay in the sun.***My days are interrupted since the move. We live auspiciously close to both schools, yet too far to realistically walk back and forth to their respective schools, especially considering their schedules are staggered. [Come spring - and more sunshine dapple dapple dapple I plan to work in walking/riding bikes, etc one drop-off/pick up or another each day.] So I'm a preschool mom again, setting timers for the school Siren's call, luring me in to the schools four times a day.Or in this case, five. Today, as I write ...

resolute (Or conversely: How to channel Sue while gripping a large bottle o
2011-01-05 01:14:00
I took an informal poll (I watched talk shows & pundits while disrobing the Christmas tree and consulted my dogs) and the results are in: Resolutions are out. Apparently because they are bogus and don't work.Now I don't take to a pen and get all serious with New Year's resolutions on January 1st, but I still contend that making realistic changes to meet goals is time well spent, whether at the beginning of the calendar year, or school year or randomly on February 29th, every four years. I personally like to re-evaluate my lifestyle every season, and see what I'd like to take up or leave out, and it works for me and my silly brain. Three months feels just right to me.Pauses and ponders momentarilyHowever, I tend to recall picturing 2010 far differently last January, and being flexible made the curve balls and other cliched surprises far easier to handle. For instance:I started subbing as a staff assistant in a special education classroom and found that I really loved working ...
More About: Channel

greg
2011-01-02 18:02:00
Things are different this year. This is not entirely good. Nor bad. Ours lives are different.(And for the expanded version of this spiel, cry and name something, anything, you wish were different. I am the master of the change spiel this year. I console myself with it all the time.)And now I sound all somber and blue; I'm not. After having company here in Eugene, and traveling to see both sides of the family, and Greg's end of quarter and seeing some of my dearest friends over break, I'm just rightfully tired and in love with the low key right now: putting around the house, planning Zumba sets, napping and reading.Yet today is Greg's birthday, and though we aren't hosting a party this year, as God as my witness, I will get out of this robe (not yet) and celebrate like a proper wife ought to.(I see football and wine in my near future.)So happy birthday to my dear husband. I adore you. I really, really do.

forty is fine
2010-12-23 16:07:00
blue skies on my December birthdayOur house guests have all went their merry ways, and now we are packing up for our own travels, leaving me worn to a nub. A happy, satisfied nub, but a nub nonetheless, and most certainly a nub that won't have time to write here or visit my favorite bloggers until a New Year comes and makes all things quiet (heh) again.Be blessed, my dear readers & friends. See around the bend.

at home
2010-12-08 04:01:00
The newness wears off.Even the using the word wears me down.'New'. Meh.Move and it doesn't take long for one to become possessive: My Borders, my favorite place for coffee, the place we get tacos on Friday nights.New drifts away and soon you are driving on autopilot to school (four times a day will do that to you), waving at the Crossing Guards, getting hugs from kids in the morning and ducking out of the parking lot before being hit up to take up more volunteer work.You will be surprised just how quickly the novel morphs into the familiar, and you are at home.***The box for Goodwill was perched precariously in the garage on one of a dozen empty banker boxes, ones used to transport the oh-too-many books here over the summer.Miscellaneous stragglers that survived the Move of 2010.One of the kids made a sad little sound at the sight of my weathered red snowflake flannel pjs, faded and too short, and worn out after five winters.(Yes, we women of some height still outgrow our clothes...
More About: Home

Thankful: Day Thirty
2010-12-01 08:44:00
When the month began, I meandered out to the what was a glorious garden when we moved here in August.Autumn had taken it's toll.I won't lie: I find the decay strangely alluring.And then I came across these strawberries, out of place and out of season. A delight.{thankful for the unexpected}

Thankful: Day twenty-nine
2010-11-30 06:14:00
I have a great many things I could go into tonight for which I am thankful, but I am also plain tuckered out for the Mighty Parenting that I have doled out for the betterment of my wayward children.So I am retiring for the night with a movie, a husband - not any ol' one, I like mine quite a bit - and a class of wine and re-posting something I wrote a year ago.I Guess that Makes me the Angry Elf{thankful for a reservoir of posts to draw from when I'm lazy need a break}
More About: Twenty

Thankful: Day Twenty-eight
2010-11-29 03:16:00
I lounged around in my pjs until lunchtime today, something I never do. I read half of Stephen King's Full Dark, No Stars (excellent, by the way), addressed Christmas cards and played helper elf to Greg while he strung our outdoor Christmas lights.I'd hoped to *accomplish* more today, after a fun weekend of playing, but it wasn't to be.{thankful for luxury of leisure}
More About: Twenty

Thankful: Day Twenty-seven
2010-11-28 04:31:00
Zack's best friend came down this weekend, for the last home game at Autzen Stadium. (His dad, Chris, scored tickets for the menfolk; thanks Chris!)I'm too tired right now to give this weekend it's proper due here, but the Miltons' hearts are happy and content after being blessed with so much good company the past three days.{thankful for the love of good friends & family}
More About: Twenty

Thankful: Day Twenty-six
2010-11-26 16:39:00
I don't do Black Fridays; years spent in retail has left me extremely disinterested in that sort of chaos.I do snails. Or at least the kids do, gathering 'families' of 'Garys', making homes for them in the backyard on Thanksgiving. Well, until Caden accidentally stepped on the mama.(She spent the rest of the afternoon looking through the ads for a replacement shell.)Greg finds these things repulsive, though more dignified than the common slug - at least they have the sense to cover themselves - but then again, who likes a slug?{thankful for the small things & big imaginations}
More About: Twenty

Thankful: Day Twenty-five
2010-11-26 05:29:00
FootballFamilyFunFood{thankful for all good things on this Fall day}
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Thankful: Day twenty-four
2010-11-25 08:42:00
My sister, Lori, and I last Thanksgiving{thankful my family is coming to the new homestead today}
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Thankful: Day twenty-three
2010-11-24 04:57:00
We came from a city that really likes to hype up Storm Tracker Snowstorm coverage, commandeering all regular programming when ice or hail or sleet or threat of such weather is in the forecast, so I didn't pay much mind to the mention of possible snow in Eugene.I mean, we do live at 430 feet. Snow seems unlikely.So we were all a little surprised to wake to a blanket of snow...and an official SNOW DAY. Woohoo.Pretty, huh? But the boys weren't the only ones having fun...I think Prissy Pants sorta hates me when I put her little coat on her.Even 7th graders can't resist a day of snowball fights.And Mama Milton?I snapped the pictures, andprepared for Thanksgiving while the kids had a fabulous time playing with the neighbors.{thankful for snow days}
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Thankful: Day twenty-two
2010-11-23 03:45:00
It's hard when you're first married and getting acquainted with your new family. Not that I'm newly married, hardly so, but I remember how much I wanted to impress Greg's Mom early on. To fit in.I have always been thankful to have a mother-in-law that has always let me be who I am, and do things my own way. I imagine, now that I have a son, how hard it must be to let go of your boy and watch as they ease into a life without you.So, happy birthday to the woman that raised my husband up to be the man he is today: Kind and smart and hard-working.Thank you.My mother-in-law, Marilyn, my sister-in-law, Nikki, & my niece, AdriChristmas 2006{thankful for Marilyn}
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Thankful: Day twenty-one
2010-11-22 03:25:00
*a brisk wouldberunifIwasn'tbecomingasthmatic walk by the river with Molly**magical Chipotle guacamole lunch with Lori O**delicious seafood for dinner**pictures of falling snow back home north of us**teeny, tiny nap, this afternoon*{thankful for spontaneous joys}
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Thankful: Day twenty
2010-11-21 05:29:00
“Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” — Marcel Proust{thankful my boy had fun at a birthday party today, surrounded by new friends}
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Thankful: Day nineteen
2010-11-20 04:14:00
Nineteen days into my quest, and I'm becoming incoherent. I tried googling something cute for Friday, but I came up empty-handed so here's a hodgepodge of things I liked about today:Serving at the Harvest Family Feast today at Zack's school, donning gloves and a little apron while skads of folks came to eat lunch with their littles.Eating lunch with Zack after I served, although he was in a bitterly sour mood, and wasn't the best company. I made up for it by visiting with my neighbor friend.Remembering that I began working for Borders 9 years ago today, at a time when my family really needed the extra income. I met amazing people during my time at the Gresham & Vancouver stores; it was a great 5 year run.Early morning walk with the dogs before the rain rolled back into town.Sake and crispy tofu at PF Chang's with my family, followed by what else, but a stroll through our Borders.Friday Friday Friday in all its glory.{thankful to be home with my family on a chilly November n...

Thankful: Day eighteen
2010-11-19 04:03:00
{thankful for my hubby}

Thankful: Day seventeen
2010-11-18 00:49:00
The day finally came, as days are wont to do. I had my first acupuncturist appointment in Eugene this morning. *sigh*A little tune-up + a plan does a lot to ease my aches & pains & my mind.{thankful for little needles, as funny as that might sound}

Thankful: Day sixteen
2010-11-17 03:32:00
Monday bled into Tuesday and enough with the drama already. Surely today was better, but marginally so and because my complaints are primarily of the petty nature, I feel guilty about being grumpy. Which doesn't help.The fact is: Schools need funding, and kids fuss and don't always love being at new schools that still need $$ and teachers need help, and I need a new esophagus, and I have missed my old community more after my last visit.Still doesn't change the fact that: Dinner needs to be made, and kids need hugs, and husbands need attention.So we move forward.***My friend Jen had some glad news today, and boy howdy does that girl deserve it.Chit-chatting with her while she was picking up groceries picked me a bit as well.{thankful for seemingly simple phone calls at just the right time}