Mornings at the Mabin House

I got an email a few weeks ago from a guy I used to be friends with in high school. I haven't talked to him in 10 years, and it was kind of neat to hear from him. I sent him my yahoo ID so we could chat sometime.. and this morning while I was scanning things and getting ready for bed, he messaged me.

About the time that he messaged me, all hell broke loose in my house.

Interjection - he's currently stationed in South Korea in the air force and he's a jet/plane/something-that-flies-mechanic. It was 10:30 at night there.

So we're just starting this nice conversation, and Zion comes running in, naked of course, and crash-lands in my lap, spewing chewed M&M's (who feeds this kid M&M's at 8am?!?) all over my lap and shirt, knocking the scanner off the shelf in the process. Rufus, my FAVORITE dog (can you read the sarcasm here?) follows Zion, at roughly the same speed, and slams full-tilt into my scrapping table, knocking several pictures and some cat's eye inkpads off of it. Zion tries to climb ONTO the table, because this looks like a really exciting roller coaster ride, and he does so by way of my head and shoulders.

WHILE this was all going on, Mike had apparently become bored with his OWN magazines in the bathroom, and picked up some scrapbooking ones. I'm struggling to keep Zion from launching himself out of the second story window from the top of my scrapbooking table, talk to Greg, corral Rufus and get him OUT of the scrapbooking room, and this is what I hear from the bathroom:

"Hey, don't you have some of this grey paper? You know, this paper really isn't very grey.. in fact, there's no grey in it at all. How come it's called grey paper?" (I assume he's referring to Basic Grey)

And then...

"Oh, this Renee chick has some really cool pages.. do you know her? Renee (some-last-name-I've-never-heard-of). Really good stuff. You should - what do you call that? Scrap-stealing or something? You should do that to her." (What, am I supposed to personally be acquainted with everyone who ever gets published in a random scrapbooking magazine because I work at a scrapbooking store now?!?)

I told him that I pay good money for his Playboy subscription for a reason.

Religion

I'm pretty open when it comes to religion. I mean, really. I've studied all kinds of religions and philosophies and ideas - I really think that Douglas Adams summed it up:

"One man had been nailed to a tree for saying how great it would be to be nice to people for a change."

Sometimes, I get the impression that that's the only thing this Jesus-guy really wanted, was for people to be nice to each other and stop sacrificing their pets and their children.

That being said, I'm Catholic - it's absolutely no secret. I converted to Catholicism at the height of the molestation scandal, so a lot of people were confused. Doesn't matter - I practiced a don't-ask-me-why-I'm-Catholic-and-I-won't-try-to-convert-or-bore-you philosophy. Most of the time this worked. (There were some smart-asses who couldn't figure it out, and they got the full brunt of "this-is-why-I-converted" in great detail.. they haven't asked any other questions since then)

I love Catholicism. There is no question in my mind that this absolutely is the right religion for me. No one could ever talk me out of it. BUT, it took YEARS AND YEARS of research and study and experimenting with different religions for me to figure that out.

Could someone please explain this FLDS/polygamy thing to me? I'm trying so hard not to be narrow-minded about it, but come on. Seriously. One man has all the power of everything and determines who's allowed to be married, how many wives they can have, if they're allowed to own property or not, and he preaches that in order to get to heaven you have to have THREE WIVES?!? And the only way for women to get to heaven is THROUGH A SATISFIED HUSBAND?!?

Do you mean to tell me that I gotta give my husband you-know-what 8 times a day or I'm not getting past the pearly gates?

I believe that dragons existed - in some form - at one time. Sea creatures, dinosaurs, whatever.. I think they were around. I also believe that Karma is alive and well - whether it's controlled by God, Satan or nature - it's there. You reap what you sow.

I just can't bring myself to believe that God is only letting me into heaven if I make my husband happy.

I would love to talk to someone who practices this faith, and just find out how they came to accept it. That's all - end of rant.

My Challenge

First, I need to apologize for not blogging lately - got a lot on my plate. I'm trying to get all of my scrapbooking stuff finished and out of the way to make room for the daycare. Then, when that's up and running, I'm back to scrapbooking and preparing for classes (which I'm TOTALLY excited about)!

That being said, last week was my blog challenge week, and I FORGOT (cause I'm such a nerd). So here it is for this week.. "If today was the last day you got to spend on earth, how would you spend it?"

WELL. I'd start out at mass - early - for a couple of reasons. First, duh, brownie points. =) But really, it would be to get my head right. There is NOTHING in the world like the absolute peace that I feel when I'm kneeling during mass.. puts you in the right frame of mind to start a day like that.

Next, I'd be off to have breakfast at First Watch (mmmm.. love me some First Watch). Get an hour or two of scrapbookin' in, visit a couple of my fave stores. (Keep in mind I'd have the fam in tow here..)

Wander off to the Westport Flea Market for a BLT at lunchtime and some dart-throwing (and they have the Pac-Man arcade game there). Then I'd go home.

Home is where I'd make sure everything was in order, hang out with my kitties and my puppies, watch some movies with Mike and Zion and just chill for the rest of the day.. Nothing exciting here for my last day. I'd make some phone calls, make sure everyone knew I loved them, and then I'd kick back and be with my family.

Journaling on the New Layout

If anyone happens to be reading this, I'd appreciate feedback.. too cheesy? Too over-the-top? This is the journaling for the layout mentioned below.. still working on the actual layout, but I feel like I have this finished..

"I need to ask you some questions," I tell him. "It's about your personal history. I have to do a layout, and it's kind of going to focus on you."

Not one to be embarrassed, he tells me to ask away.

"I need to know about your involvement in the civil rights movement - not from a historical perspective -" I have to say this, because the man is a history major, for crying out loud; it goes against his entire being to give a "personal" account - "but from your own perspective."

"I came of age during the 60's. It was a time of great personal sacrifice; it was a good time to be alive."

We begin to talk about the day Martin Luther King, Jr. died. His voice is a deep growl, and it has a calming effect on me as events take shape that happened before even my mother was old enough to remember.

"I was on a bus full of students who all came from historically black colleges. Everyone was riled at first, but the bus driver, who was white, began to hum a spiritual -" he wanders off on a sidebar explaining that black people put so much stock in music, it's everything to his people, all the way back to the slaves - "and we all joined in singing it. It took the tension away from the situation, and we all became very calm."

After attending Central High School, an all-black school in Kansas City, he was offered a total of sixteen scholarships. He had opportunities to attend some of the best schools in the country, and ultimately decided to accept a complete scholarship offer (all tuition costs, room and board) from Lincoln College in Jefferson City, Missouri.

He explains that he graduated in the top 20 students in his class, and received no help or encouragement from his counselor to attend college. He did this completely on his own - no small feat for a 17 year old kid, let alone a black kid in the 1960's.

He eventually lost his scholarship for protesting rampant paternalism at the college, but this paved the way for him to attend Harvard and Yale for a summer.

He did graduate from Lincoln, and became the only black employee in the division at the Exxon Mobile Corporation. The biggest lesson he learned there?

"Blacks that succeeded conformed on every level - every level," he stresses.

I watch this man - my father-in-law - as he interacts with my son. They adore each other; there is absolutely no question of that. I think quietly about the sacrifices he made in his lifetime, never knowing that they would pave the way for his beautiful grandson to exist.

This is why I preserve these memories. My son needs to see his legacy. He needs to understand the completely selfless acts that went into making this world a place where his mother and father, two people from different ethnic backgrounds, could fall in love and deliver him peacefully into this world. These people had no idea that they were fighting for him - no idea that one day, they would be standing in a hospital waiting room wondering what color his hair and his eyes would be - and that he would belong to them so compeltely that it would never occur to them to question his ethnicity.

They had no idea that they were fighting for something they would one day hold so precious and so dear, but I am so truly and eternally grateful for them, and for the sacrifices they made for my family.

End of journaling.. here's the pic:

Blocking Creativity

I'm getting ready to start on a really important layout.. I've actually been getting ready since last Friday. I like to do sentimental ones, but I'm not real big on the overly emotional ones, and this one is going to be emotional.

Because of this, I think I'm subconsciously trying to sabotage myself. I've been avoiding it by saying I'm planning and researching it, but I'm afraid now that I've built it up in my head so much that there's no possible way it will live up to my expectations.

I feel like I'm purposely blocking my own creativity..

Now that I've acknowledged it, maybe my brain will allow me to make the first cut into the paper.

I'll keep you posted.