Snow-pocalypse

Why do I still get all tingly-excited when I get the word that its a snow day? I don’t get paid on snow days so I should hate them – but I’ve been so conditioned to yearn for them that I can’t stop now.

Top 3 “Snow Day” Memories:

• I was about 8 or 9 and woke up feeling like I really didn’t want to go to school (as per usual). Also, my nose was a little sore – like I had slept on my face funny. I knew it was a stretch but I had to try it as an excuse for staying home, so I crept downstairs and sat next to my mom on the couch. I explained, in my most pitiful voice, that my nose hurt and asked if I had to go to school. To my shock and amazement, she said no. I dropped my act and said, “really!?”. She laughed and told me to look out the window and I saw that a virtual blizzard was in progress. School had been canceled. I’m sure my terribly sore nose didn’t prevent me from sledding that day. 🙂
• I was around 10 or 11 and we had a triple threat – a snow storm, a snow day, and a power outage. Since our house was equipped with electric heat and an electric stove, we we were cold and tired of eating peanut butter sandwiches. So mom started a fire in the fireplace (a rare occurrence at our house) and we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the open flame. We thought we were all kinds of awesome.
• I was about 11 or 12 and school had been canceled all week due to a mondo-storm. We had been out sledding with our neighbors (who owned the sleds) down our epic backyard hill when my dad got home from work and decided to join us. He was usually a hit with our friends, hamming it up with them, teasing just enough to make them feel special, and showing off his amazing pinky finger stump (an amputation that, for some reason, is always and without fail, a kid magnet). And that day was no exception as he was the biggest dare-devil on the “slopes”, careening over logs and going air-born before landing in the frozen creek bed. He paid for his shenanigans later through bruises and sore muscles, but I don’t think he ever regretted the afternoon. 🙂
• Honorable Mention: During my freshman year of high school we had a snow/ice storm that closed the expressways for days and turned the local mall into a temporary shelter for truckers and travelers. Our sloped driveway was a solid sheet of ice so I grabbed my mom’s 20-year-old ice skates and practiced figure 8s on the driveway. Well maybe calling them figure 8s is too generous. Lets say I wobbled down the driveway and gracefully stopped myself by crashing into the garage door.

Tap: Photo #252

Today is Day Six of The Month of Living Healthfully.

Today I unearthed my old dance bag (made for me by my sweet, sweet mommy when I was four-years-old) because part of my fitness plan this month includes TAP DANCING!  Kara and I are taking an adult Tap Dancing class at the Cincinnati Dance and Movement Center which happens to be taught by Kara’s childhood dance instructor.  We didn’t know what to expect because neither of us had attended a tap class in over 9 years (me in college and her in high school) .  Luckily, we were in good company – we actually were the most advanced students in the class – the only ones with any previous experience.  We both found that we have significantly more areas that jiggle when we tap than we use to – but maybe consistent tapping workouts will change that.  One thing is sure: I desperately need new tap shoes.  Apparently my feet have grown a bit in the last 9 years and my toes were thinking hateful thoughts about me by the end of the hour.  I think I’ll buy black patent leather Mary Janes with a bow closure- try and stop me!

Renaissance Man: Photo #200

My dad is always full of surprises about his past – skills he has, jobs he’s done, trips he’s taken – I learn something new about him on a regular basis.  But nobody in the family suspected that he used to be a poet and an artist.  When I told him I might post this on the internet his only worry was that he might be inundated with requests commissioning his artwork.  But I’m going to go ahead and take that chance. 🙂  

Halloween Then and Now: Photo #184

Then:

 

Now:

 

Always:

Photo of Photos: Photo #156

For our birthday, My parents made Randy and me this collage of photos of each of us growing up.  Such a cool gift.  Today we finally got around to hanging it up in the hallway.  Now I feel like a true grown-up because I have a collage photo frame in my hallway!

Girls’ Toilet: Photo #154

Our Thursday school is disorganized, chaotic, and frustrating.  But I love going there because its 50s/60s construction reminds me of my elementary school.  Aesthetically, I much prefer these smallish, familiar, sea-green cinderblock wonders to the modern, colorful, open-plan shool buildings being built today.  I guess the powers of nostalgia are strong. 

Hathaway’s: Photo #118

Randy and I met for lunch in the Carew Tower, where he works, at Hathaway’s – a very old diner complete with waitresses who seem to be stuck in time.  The atmosphere was very sweet and nostalgic, which is good, because the food was nothing to write home about. We’ll have to try breakfast sometime, which I hear is their forte.

Still Life

Time Travel Tuesday

I’m married to a very eclectic, well-rounded gentleman.  In his life so far, Randy has:

• Taken riding lessons and ridden in horse shows
• Played soccer, football, and volleyball
• Coached a girls volleyball team
• Starred as the only male member of our high-school’s rifle and flag team (winterguard) and then came back to coach during college
• Dabbled in minor dentistry in a village in Ecuador
• Worked doing lab testing at the Pringle’s factory
• Skied the Matterhorn
• Excelled at high-ish level gymnastics
• Played bass in several bands (along with various other instruments from time to time, including: electric guitar, accordion, piano, mandolin)
• Been a construction worker for a new home builder
• Performed a science-fair experiment for school in which he disguised himself as a scarecrow and sat perfectly still for 30 minutes a day to  see if birds would eventually get used to him and land on him (they did)
• Helped me on sewing projects with tight deadlines, getting me out of a pinch
• Backpacked in the Red River Gorge, camping just off the trail in a hammock under the stars

and

• Taken a fair share of art classes, amassing a size-able tub of supplies and a healthy skill level (healthier than mine, anyway!).  I don’t want to brag , but his framed artwork already hangs not only in his parents house, but also in is Grandpa’s apartment!

We recently decided to institute an art night at our house once or twice a month.  This month’s night was a bust for me because I was too tired to be creative.  But randy dragged out the old tub and worked on this still life of one of the few houseplants Einstein hasn’t turned into a salad bar:

 

 

Not to shabby, I’d say!  I’m looking forward to the plunders of future art nights at Casa Marksberry.

Time Travel Tuesday

Who says you always have to time-travel far into the past?  Today I’m reliving last week’s trip with Kara to the Lebanon Quilt show.  I am increasingly drawn into the quilting world and I’m taking Kara with me. 

 

I bought this adorable pouch made from an antique quilt from an adorable little antique man who sells the products his wife makes.

 

I got yelled at by the booth owners for taking this picture – I’m a total rebel for posting it here.

 

We enjoyed onion rings and ice cream (the combo sounded good at the time) at an old diner.

 

 

Oh yeah, we saw some antique quilts as well!

But No Elephants!

My sister, Kelli, was digging through our old books the other day and found one I had completely fogotten about until I saw it again.  It may be my favorite kids book ever.  But No Elephants by Jerry Smath is about an old woman who is a sucker for the local traveling animal salesman (there’s one in every community).  She buys a new creature every time he comes around but insists she will not take any elephants.  Her resolve is weak, however, and she crumbles.  The elephant moves in and wreaks havoc on her house, eating so much he falls through the floor.  When she’s at her wit’s end with him because its the dead of winter and he’s eaten all the food in the house, he has an idea that saves everyone.  He stands up and walks the house to warmer weather where the wacky family lives hapily ever after.

 

 

Its pretty much perfect.  And I love how “south” is just across the bridge…