This and That

Well yesterday was a day that went from difficult to strained to rotten to horrible to ridiculous, SO I'm starting out my day by blogging which always makes me happy. I woke up in a horrible, grouchy mood and of course as the saying goes, "When Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy." Jack seems to be able to sense my weakness and is up to hijinx and trouble faster than you can say, "sell you to the circus". By about nine am he had destroyed a book by ripping the pages out, taken a container of food off of the counter and spilled it all over, tried to play with the knives in the dishwasher, eaten toothpaste and whacked his brother. And then it got worse. Things picked up somewhat when Darrel got home, he can always cheer me up, and then frankly I'm not out numbered any more. But then after we had bathed the kids, got them all ready for bed etc. Jack had an "accident". This was my lesson to not feed your child a huge bowl of grapes and let them drink 2 glasses of prune juice in the same day. (Ok, for all of you think I'm daft, let me defend myself by saying that as Jack was asking for more prune juice and I was pouring, I said to myself, oh this is so healthy, mmm, lots of iron! I really didn't think at all about the bowel cleansing properties.) I have never seen so much poop, ever. I took a picture, just for my own enjoyment later, when I wasn't knee deep in it, but I think it's a tad too graphic for the blog, only a parent could really get a laugh out of that one without being totally grossed out. Suffice it to say the poop was literally from ankles to shoulder blades.

In other news: I was blessed to receive a couple of really great books for my birthday. I've been speed reading my way through both of them. The first, given to me by Anne, is titled, "Honeymoon in Purdah", and written by Canadian, Alison Wearing. It really broke down a lot of stereotypes I had about the middle east and in particular Iran. I re-discovered that I love reading travel writing. It's so interesting to grasp another part of the world through another's eyes. The people of Iran seem so warm, friendly and kind. This book was quite funny too, a definite bonus. Here's a passage I particularly enjoyed where some new found Iranian friends try to gussy up Alison prior to dinner.

"Sayeh comes back into the room with lipstick. The blood-red one she bought at the market the other day. It is looked at under the light, approved, smeared on my lips, then on my cheeks and massaged into my skin. The four women stand back and assess. Narghes asks for an eyebrow pencil and lines my eyelids. She jerks my chin and is about to begin colouring my eyebrows when she takes a closer look and rears back. She looks confused or annoyed. I can't quite tell which. She screws up her face and looks again, then asks something of Sayeh. Sayeh nods. Narghes asks me something about my husband. I shrug. She asks the same question slowly. Narghes squats in front of me and speaks with every sound exaggerated and enunciated. She points to my wedding ring and asks if I am married. I nod. She smiles and looks at Sayeh. They both shrug. Narghes goes on to explain that she, too, is married. She runs her fingernail along her carefully plucked eyebrows as if to prove her status. She does the same to Sayeh's thin sculpted brows and to those of her eldest daughter, also married, Narghes explains. Then she pulls her youngest daughter beside her and points to her thick bushy brows. Not married. Narghes pulls out a compact mirror from her purse and asks me to hold it up to my face. I stare into the tiny image of myself and watch Narghes run her finger over my bushy brows and trace the shape of eyebrows a married woman should have.

I am left with a sketch of eyebrow rounded into a high arch and accentuated with charcoal pencil. The plucked section beneath is swollen up like a welt. Ian is so shocked by the sigh of me, he chokes and spills his tea on the carpet. Narghes laughs and slaps me on the back. It's because I'm so beautiful, she explains. My Husband is very shocked. "Good grief", Ian whispers. "You look like a plastic poinsettia." What? Narghes demands to know that Ian is saying. "Like a flower," he says. "She looks like a flower. Hamid translates and the room gives a collective sigh. Narghes smiles proudly and fluffs out the bow on my head. Takes my hand and leads me to the kitchen."

I really loved this book, I wish she had sprnt another six months in Iran so the book could've been twice the size!

And finally, Darrel and I started to do some preliminary planning for my business website. Funny how times have changed, I consider the website critical to even actively starting my business...when 20 or even 10 years ago, you wouldn't have even needed one at all. I'm excited about working on it. Actually Darrel and I are both excited about it. In many ways this will be the first non-home project we've done together in a long time. Our interests have taken somewhat of a fork in the road in the last couple of years...well not totally but we have less time to focus on hobbies etc so we each do what we really love. for me it's the digital scrapbooking. For Darrel, it's been building his recumbent bike and CNC machine. Kind of divergent paths. So it will be nice to do something together. I already have one "job". I'm creating a wedding album for Darrel's co-worker, Jennine. So hopefully it just gets bigger and better from here. :)

Ok, time to get some boys dressed and fed etc.