Five Northern Cardinals

As it turns out, something really cool happened on Valentine's Day last week. There was snow on the ground again, & it was crazy cold (our winter so far this year has been just schizophrenic , alternating between bitter cold and summery 50-degree days). We have been keeping the front yard bird feeder full, so when it is snowy we get absolute FLOCKS of wild birds--a huge variety of birds winter over in Oklahoma, so it's really something to see. Dark-eyed juncos, Chickadees, Mourning Doves, Blue Jays are commonly there together. One day there was a whole flock of red-winged blackbirds from the river nearby. Even Alan has gotten into watching them.

On Valentine's Day we looked out at the feeder & were excited to see a male Northern Cardinal. There was a nesting pair I watched all summer, & they've been regular visitors to the feeder. He had his feathers all ruffled up against the cold, & looked twice his normal size, like one of those roly-poly garden statues you see of bluebirds or squirrels. These birds have become a bit of a cliche at Christmastime, but seeing a wild one against the snow it really is striking how beautiful & flashy they are. As I was thinking that to myself, ANOTHER one landed on the snow next to him. This was exciting, since Cardinals are territorial & usually chase each other away from feeders. I'd never seen two males together.

Well, before I could catch my breath a THIRD one landed, and then a FOURTH, and amazingly, a FIFTH one. It was quite spectacular. They hung out for the longest time with the other birds, pecking at the seeds & occasionally making a show at chasing another cardinal away from a preferred spot. It just so happens that FIVE is my lucky number & RED is my lucky color (of course I am not superstitious in any way, I only believe in good luck). The last few months & weeks have been pretty stressful, & seeing those five red birds like that felt like a special sign of happier times arriving. It really made my day! Maybe instead of the bluebird it should be the cardinal of happiness.

Hope something special and spectacular happened to you this week too.

The Trouble With Valentine's Day

I have a Page-a-Day Knitting Calendar on my desk at work, & on Thursday it featured this lovely pattern:

I can't imagine making much less wearing something like this. But, it neatly sums up everything that's annoying me about Valentine's Day this year--basically the whole thing is a tacky, scratchy wool wedgie constantly riding up my behind. I'm doing my best to tune it out & not fiddle with it, but I can't wait for it to be GONE.

I've never been that into V-Day as a holiday anyways, but for some reason this year it is outright pissing me off. What is different this year, you ask? Well, my mother is in the middle of a horrendous Jerry Springer-esque divorce from her husband of 20 years. My husband reacts to each of these holidays/birthdays/anniversaries as if they were female conspiracies invented to make him suffer. On top of that, I'm trying to stick to a diet this year, & it is not helping that EVERYWHERE I go is awash in cheap, plentiful candy. At Walmart this week it looked like a pink streamer and balloon BOMB had gone off. Grrrr.

Here's the problem I have with Valentine's Day--if all these flowery feelings are so important, then why pick just one day a year to express them? Something about putting on all this romantic sentimentality & then forgetting it the next day seems so superficial. Secondly, if you really want to express your feelings to someone, is an pink animatronic stuffed gorilla or bouquet of overpriced roses the most loving way to do that? Either way it doesn't add up. It's easy to buy something, but what about the smaller, more meaningful gestures that go into every day? I've told Alan I just want to ignore the whole flippin' thing this year, and now I think I'm getting a much bigger gift because he thinks I'm testing him as part of the female conspiracy. Oh, the irony of it all. The good news is, by next weekend it will be OVER. Hope you're enjoying it more than I am! Email me if you want the rest of the pattern for that thong. ;)

Shiloh Turned 13, & We Lived Through It!

Shiloh turned 13 on Friday! Thank goodness this birthday is finally past--she has been driving us all bananas talking about it nonstop for the past two months. She already thought she was the Queen of Sheba before; just recently she moaned "I've been waiting my whole life to be a teenager!" with all the suffering of Scarlett O'Hara. Now she seems to have graduated to Queen of the World. And how did she wake up on her first morning as a teenager? Surly, of course. Something about loading up on sugary snacks & staying up late put her in an appropriately foul teenage mood, giving us a taste of things to come. :)

Shiloh had a laser tag party followed by a sleepover. We spent all Saturday morning & afternoon feverishly cleaning house--getting kids to spend a day cleaning is no fun, but the exciting news is, THE MOTORCYCLE IS OUT OF THE LIVING ROOM!!! HOORAY!!! All the car parts, cleaning solvents, oil buckets, hand cleaner, polishing rags, tools, etc etc have been moved back to their home in the garage. We can eat at the kitchen table, & sit on the couch again. Hooray!!!

On the way to the party, I ran by the grocery store thinking i'd dash in to pick up a few snacks & the cake on the way to the party. Unfortunately I forgot that it was SUPERBOWL WEEKEND, & there were TEN MILLION people crammed into the Walmart. It was worse than Christmas, & we were already running late. I've never thought of myself as a football player before--but Peyton Manning would have been proud of the kind of hustle & moves I had racing through Walmart yesterday. Weaving the cart through crowds of slow-moving people, grabbing things & tossing them in the cart without even slowing down; surging forward to thread the needle through an opening, zigzag left & then right through produce, recover from a push-out, & pick up again at the line of scrimmage. If either team can muster that kind of hustle tonite, they'll definitely win the game.

The party turned out to be a huge hit, with EVERY single person we invited showing up--it was standing room only at LaserQuest. No piece of pizza or cake was left uneaten. Then, seven 12-14 year old girls then came back to the house for the slumber party. In our little house, that equates to one female for every 137 square feet!!! I thought Alan was going to have a meltdown from all the estrogen. The girls stayed up until around 4:30 AM dancing around in their pajamas, eating junkfood, painting each other's toenails, & all the things girls that age do. A good time was had by all, & after breakfast the next morning they went home. Alan & I spent the rest of the day recovering, & high-fiving each other--we did it! Got thru the birthday, got thru the party, even got the house cleaned up. Now, we just need to get thru the next 5-7 years. It gets easier after this, right? :)