My "Honest Scrap" Entry

(I am doing this today rather than tomorrow, as I am having sinus surgery and don't know how long I'll be out of commission. Hopefully, I will be back on task in a week or so! I plan on having some down time to make a few new creations. Wish me luck!)

The Magic Onions gave this to me...a cosmic present, if you will. I am to list ten honest things in this very space.

Easier said than done! Rather than over think, I am choosing to write from the cuff. Please don't hold it against me in the future. (Can you say, "Blackmail?")

1. I have a tendency to root for the underdog. I would be the person choosing the runt puppy because no one else would want it. Really. You should see how ugly our cat is. Part of the reason that she was chosen is because I wasn't sure anyone else would want her. Good thing cats can't read. She thinks she is gorgeous.

2. I am hesitant to try and pursue my dream career because it is impractical, not steady and airy-fairy. Plus, if I told you out loud what it is, I would jinx it. There you have it. I am a superstitious chicken. Does this count as two truths or just one?

3. I love being a stay at home mom. It is the best job I have ever had. I would stay at home until the kids were on their own if I could, but I think they all would like to be able to go to college, so I will eventually have to re-join the work force in some capacity. Retirement? Don't even get me started!

4. I don't miss being a reading specialist as much as I thought I would. Initially, a lot of my identity was tied up in my profession.

5. Piggy backing on #4, I went through a period of mild depression between the "me as a professional" and "me as a mom at home". I haven't shared this with many people, (well, I have NOW, but you know what I mean) mostly because what I have always wanted was to be at home. To get what I have always wanted and then to have any complaint about it at all seemed sacrilegious somehow.

The shift from someone who was respected and valued as an intellectual to someone who was vomited on and cleaned the same messes up over and over took a little getting used to, but I wouldn't trade what I have and who I am for the world. The former feelings were based on vanity and the latter on real, true love for my family and who I am within it. It is one of the biggest blessings in the world. I am grateful for the opportunity every single day. It is humbling.

6. I abhor most cooked vegetables. Except corn. White corn is so good that it shouldn't even count as a vegetable. Ditto potatoes, which I guess are really more of a starch, aren't they? Plus, if you slather butter, sour cream and bacon on something, it sort of erases the whole healthy piece anyway, right?

I can eat most of the rest of them raw, but nothing too cruciferous or green, please. I FORCE myself to eat broccoli because I try to show my kids that sometimes we have to eat things because they are healthy, but SHUDDER!!!!! If I roast it with some good oil and a bit of salt, I can usually force myself to choke it down. Or, of course, if I slather it in cheese sauce, but then I might as well have the loaded potato instead. yum.

7. Which leads into this: I LOVE bread. Bread of almost any kind. Hot, fresh-from-the-oven bread. Chewy, nutty whole grain bread. Rye toast with plum jam. Tortillas, Indian flat bread, biscuits.....need I say more? I would live on these particular refined carbs, coffee with vanilla creamer, really good sharp cheddar cheese and iced tea, if I could. I would be obese, malnourished and die very early, but OH!

8. When my husband and I are old, we will live on canned soup, bread (see #7) and cereal. Oh, and garden fresh tomatoes and peas in the summer. I love to bake and make fancy cakes, but I don't love to cook in general. I also think it is harder to cook for two than it is to cook for four. Call me crazy. I'm used to it.

9. A lot of my meditation is me meditating on the fact that my mind is wandering....again! I hear that this gets better over time, but I am still waiting! My mind is like a butterfly hiccup, flitting from here to there. Oh well. It keeps things interesting and I come up with all kinds of good ideas while I am trying to keep my mind blank.

10. I pray more in the shower, in my car, and in the backyard than I do in church. Church is SO distracting! What are people wearing? What time did they come in? Where are they sitting? Is anyone I know in the back? Blah, blah, blah. There is something infinitely more peaceful about being outside with God's more quiet creations. Now I probably have to go to confession.

These are (some) of my truths! I hope you still like me enough to pop by and check things out once in a while!

Until next time, happy honesty!

Theresa