26; May 18; wife, cat mom; foodie, designer, blogger, knitter, yarn junkie, Wordpress guru, geek extreme; Mac connoisseur and Instagram addict.


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Category Archives: #scintilla

#scintilla day eleven – intervention

Oh boo. It’s the last day of #scintilla, and this makes me sad. I really really hope that the crew does it again soon.

So today’s final prompt:

Prompt A: Talk about a time when you intervened. What prompted you? Did you regret it?

[hr]

So, a lot of my friends will tell you that I am a very protective person by nature. I am very protective of my friends and family, and will stick up for them if provoked, even if some of them won’t do the same for me. I don’t know why I continually do this, but it’s just my nature. I am also very blunt. That’s both a blessing and a curse.

In this instance, I was living in Phoenix. My good friend had just found out that her hubby had been cheating on her with one of our other friends. We came to also find out that the friend was pregnant with his kid, and when the divorce was finalized, they up and got married. Additionally, this person was also married at the time to ANOTHER friend of ours (who’s now happily married with 2 kids to another good friend of ours).

So me, being the very protective friend that I am, took it upon myself to send this friend a message on Myspace and really give her a piece of my mind. You see, I am probably not the best at confrontation, but when it comes to messages, I can be a gigantic bitch when I have something to hide behind. I am working on that by the way, not being afraid of confrontation. Anyway, so I sent her a big long message about how she was an awful person for hurting her alleged best friend the way she did by going around her back with her husband. The main point of the messages was this though:

Your vagina is not a clown car.

scintilla project day eleven intervention intervene friends confrontation

The Duggar Family

And this was a running gag between the group of us, and still is. Because, well, it just is. I personally think that anyone who’s got more than one kid with more than one dad has some issues, but it’s their choice, and I won’t infringe on that, or intervene. But when it comes to the happiness of a friend who’s life is being torn down by the decisions of another friend, I take action. They don’t call me the bodyguard for nothing.

**DISCLAIMER: I am not downing people who have a kid with someone they break up with, and then have another kid with a new husband. There’s a difference between that and what I’m talking about. I hope you all understand what I mean. I don’t want any pitchforks coming at me. 

Do I regret it? Absolutely not. This person added me on Facebook a while back, and seems to have patched up a lot of broken friendships (included the ones she hurt, like her ex husband), but unfortunately for her, she couldn’t repair ours. I let her lurk around my Facebook for a couple weeks and then she pissed me off so I blocked her.

If you hurt my friends, expect me to come after you accordingly.

scintilla project day eleven intervention intervene friends confrontation

#scintilla day ten – heartbreaker

I am really sad that #scintilla is ending soon. I wish that it could have been a month long project instead of a fortnight. Ah well, I suppose I will have to find something else to occupy my time. LIKE KNITTING!!! WOOP WOOP!

Anyway.

So today’s prompt:

Prompt A: Talk about breaking someone else’s heart, or having your own heart broken.

I may actually have to write about both prompts today. I feel like I’m in a good mood and want to write, seeing as my to-do list for the day is rather small.

[hr]

When I was in 7th grade, I lived in Las Vegas. Well, technically it was Henderson, which is right outside of Las Vegas. My neighborhood was just re-zoned for a different middle school, so now I was about to start school at my 4th middle school (sixth grade I started at a magnet school, then left and went to my zoned school, and then we moved to Henderson mid-year).

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had to do a 6 week period of Spanish, and sitting right next to me was a nerdy boy named Mark. He’s actually the one I mentioned in this post. Anyway, he was goofy and adorable, and I had a HUGE crush on him. He was also very smart, and sometimes I wondered if he was too smart for me. He always wore J.Crew shirts and had his head in a book. But when we got to Spanish class, all bets were off. We would totally goof off. He would pass me notes that were written in code, and I would have to decode them. I loved those notes! One in particular, was asking me if I wanted to go with him to hang out at Barnes and Noble.

A date! To the bookstore, which at the time, was only my favorite place to go. I was a bit of a bookworm back then.

Of course I said yes.

And it was everything a date to Barnes and Nobles should be. We stayed there for almost 8 hours, drinking caramel frappucinos, reading books, giggling at Calvin & Hobbes together, and playing chess. We did this a few times actually, and all times were equally as enjoyable as the last. I really really liked him (well, as much as a 7th grader could), and I believe Mark liked me as well.

That spring, he asked me to go with him to the Renaissance Faire. I was elated, and it was so much fun! Even though we were basically being followed around by his dad, because he took us there. Mark bought me one of those flowery headband thingies, as well as a piece of jewelry, which I will talk about later.

And that was that. I am not sure what happened. At the end of the year, he stopped talking to me, and we stopped hanging out together. At the time, I wasn’t sure what I had done wrong, but I am reasonably sure it was the fact that my friend Megan decided to keep calling him to find out if he liked me.

I was very hurt.

All through eighth grade, he would avoid me like the plague. Granted, I was always with my friends, but still. Even when I was alone, I would say hello and he’d ignore me. It was very frustrating and upsetting. But I was your typical boy crazy eighth grader, and I didn’t really let it phase me.

That is, until the end of the school year. My family decided they wanted to move to Indiana, so after the school year was over, I was leaving. I remember one day in particular, that I was in the counselor’s office bitching again (I did this often), and for one reason or another, I had stormed out of the office in tears. That year, Mark was a student aid, and he saw me storm out. I was on my way back to english class, and I heard someone call out my name. I turned around, and there was Mark. We just stood there for a minute in silence. Finally, he said, “Cryssy (my nickname at the time), I’m sorry you have to move.” I don’t remember what I said, but we stood there for a minute again and then he turned and went back to his post. And I just stood there. I could feel the tears on my cheeks as I stood there in silence.

That’s when I knew my heart was broken. I had hoped that maybe, just maybe, he was going to ask me to the eighth grade dance. Then I thought, well, why the hell didn’t I ask him?!

[hr]

Fast forward to 2006.

I was living in Arizona, and was married to The Dark One. I decided one day that I would try and reconnect with Mark, so I found him on Myspace. We talked about how things ended 6 years earlier, and why they happened the way they happened. I spent many nights on the phone with him while The Dark One was at work, and it was rather comforting. Yeah, I was going around The Dark One’s back to talk to Mark, but I didn’t care.

So on one of our random trips up to Vegas, I decided to meet up with Mark to catch up. The years had made him very handsome, but he still had that geeky quality about him. We talked. And it was good to see him after so long. When he came to meet me, he brought with him the piece of jewelry he bought for me at the Ren Faire. It was a serpent pendant. I can’t remember whether he had never given it to me and held onto it, or if he had given it to me and I gave it back to him. Regardless, he had kept it, and gave it to me that night.

And then we had another falling out. I said some pretty horrible things, and he returned the sentiment. I deleted him off Myspace and haven’t spoken to him since. That was in 2007. So, 5 or so years. I just sent him an add request on Facebook this morning, so we’ll see if he responds to it. I won’t hold my breath. On the off chance he does, I just want to see how he’s doing and what he’s been up to.

We’ll see.

scintilla project day ten heartbreaker love relationships life

#scintilla day nine – twenty-three

I didn’t do the weekend bonus #scintilla prompts. Oops! Honestly, I was so busy over the weekend, I wasn’t even home much, so I lacked the time. Saturday I spent with Mr. Fox doing grocery shopping and other things, and yesterday was spent up in Reading visiting some relatives (with a short pitstop in Royersford to visit Shanaynay on the way home). My lesson for yesterday is, never go to Walmart on Grant and the Blvd after 9pm. However, yesterday’s bonus prompt reminds me of a hilarious story that I apparently love to tell. So I may just write about that one later…

ANYWAY.

So today’s #scintilla prompt:

Prompt B: Write a list of 23. (23 things to do, 23 people you owe apologies to, 23 books you’ve lied about reading, 23 things you can see from where you’re sitting, 23 ten-word hooks for stories you want to tell….)

[hr]

Have you ever heard of the Day Zero Project? Basically, you make a list of 101 things to do within 1001 days. I tried making one of these lists a couple years ago and then I ended up faltering and forgetting about it. After I made the list, it seemed like such a daunting task, that I just became extremely discouraged.

So in light of today’s prompt, I’ve decided to make a list of 23 things that I would like to do/accomplish/see by the end of the year. The difference is, I am only going to choose 23 feasible things, and make sure that they’re attainable/doable by December 31 (or the end of the world, whichever comes first @_@).

Here is my list!

1. Try 23 new restaurants. This is really not all that difficult honestly. Mr. Fox and I made a rule when we moved here that we would try and stay away from the typical chain restaurants and go to places that are unique to Philly or the region. And there are LOADS of restaurants here that we will never be short on places to try.

2. Read 5 books. I have a problem with books for some reason. I love to read, but I suppose I haven’t really found anything that strikes my fancy. I’ve been told that I MUST read the Hunger Games series, as well as Game of Thrones and some other ones. Instead of setting the bar at 23 books, I am going to start with 5 and go from there.

3. Make a fail-proof cheesecake. Have I ever told you about my last attempt at a cheesecake? Yeah, it ended in epic failure. Enough to make me want to throw it out the window and never attempt it again. But honestly, thanks to Pinterest, I have bookmarked so many wonderful-looking cheesecake recipes that I MUST try it again.

4. Go to New York City. I haven’t been to NYC is goodness knows how many years, and neither has Mr. Fox. We are tentatively planning on going for my birthday, but in the event we don’t get there around that time, as long as we go sometime this year, I will be happy.

5. Walk to Frankford Ave and Cottman Ave and back. This is a completely doable walk, for anyone who’s in shape. I, on the other hand, am not in shape, and therefore this walk of about 2.5 miles round trip is very daunting. I’m exhausted even thinking about it. But I know that, in time, I will be able to. And then I will just keep going.

6. Go to the beach. Since I grew up on in Jersey, I can remember many childhood vacations to the shore, specifically Wildwood. My parents and I would go every Memorial Day weekend, and sometimes also later in the summer. I haven’t been to the beach in about 15 years, and Mr. Fox has never been to Wildwood (despite growing up here) or the shore, so I plan to take him. We’re going down to Cape May in May for a friend’s vow renewal, so we’re going to make a nice little vacation out of it.

7. Get back to my roots. When we moved here, I decided that I wanted to get back to my Jewish roots and join a synagogue. Unfortunately thus far, we have been unable to get the chance to do so, but I am determined to get us there in the near future. I miss going to services (my family and I belonged to a congregation in Las Vegas when we lived there), and Mr. Fox is really interested in it.

8. Be a more healthier me. One of the things that I struggle with is emotional eating. Well, eating in general. I want to feel better, in general, and about myself. I am working very hard on the latter, but I need to master the aforementioned in order to achieve the latter. It’s a long process, but I’m working on it,

9. Pass this semester with all A’s. This won’t be difficult either. The semester is more than half over already, and I have a high A in both my classes. It would take a zombie apocalypse to make me fail either one of my classes.

10. Swim 3-4 times a week. Mr. Fox and I are members of a gym that has a gorgeous indoor swimming pool. I love to be in the water, but I have been very self-conscious about how I look in a bathing suit. Honestly though, the only way to feel good and better about it is to GET OVER IT AND DO IT. I can attribute the loss of my love-handles to water aerobics, and would like to lose some other unsavory bits and bobs on my body. Also, water therapy is wonderful for aches and pains.

11. Get my parents out of Indiana. This might be the most difficult of all my 23 things. Not because they don’t want to go, but because of the housing market between here and there. It’s a matter of being able to sell their house for the right price, and turning around about buying a wonderful house here. They’re doing everything in their power to get the house done up and sold, so it’s more just a waiting game now.

12. Build my craft room/office. Mr. Fox and I have three bedrooms upstairs. One is the master bedroom, one is the office that we’re currently sharing, and the third will be my craft room. I decided to make it also my office so that I could have my own space to do my work and so Mr. Fox could have his own space. I have a vision for it, including what IKEA shelves and furniture I will furnish it in, as well as everything I will do in there. Unfortunately, we can’t do anything with it until we get what’s in there currently, out. It’s a matter of divvying up what needs to get sold, given away, or put in the basement.

13. Finally completely organize my kitchen. This has been an ongoing project since we’ve moved in. I keep buying new tools and finding unopened boxes and I’m slowly running out of space to put things. I guess that’s the disadvantage of buying a home that doesn’t have the latest and greatest updated kitchen. We have plans to add on to it, but that won’t be for a very very long time. And in the interim, I would like to have a place for mostly everything. I started with the spices, now if I could just figure everything else out…

14. Go shopping at B&H Photo and Adorama. One of the things I’ve done as a photographer is lusted after products at B&H Photo and Adorama. Living in Indianapolis, I had Roberts, but that wasn’t really the same. I now live less than an hour and a half from both stores, and I would love to actually go there! I’ve seen photos of B&H’s huge store, and I will for sure be a kid in a candy store once I actually make it there. I suppose this could be lumped into #4 on my list, above.

15. Eat more organic. The post I recently did on pink slime in ground beef being sold in America’s grocery stores really got me thinking about the amount of chemicals that Mr. Fox and I ingest on a regular basis. So we have made an effort to start buying more organic. Now, organic may be a little more expensive than the regular stuff, but I would gladly pay more money for beef that doesn’t contain fillers, or vegetables that have not been sprayed with pesticides. Call me crazy, but the idea of that is just plain gross.

16. Start a local knitting group. If you haven’t already figured it out, I love to knit. And one thing I miss about Indy is that my best friend there also knit, so we would knit together. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love knitting in solitude. But I would love to also meet some like-minded knitters who live near me, so I could maybe start a weekly get-together that would meet up at either the local coffee shop or maybe even a pub. We had the Indy Pub Knitters in Indy, and I think that would be cool to have here. The closest yarn shops to me are either in Chestnut Hill or Center City, so anything closer to me would be a godsend! Which brings me to #17…

17. Develop a business plan. I am not going to elaborate too much on this one. :)

18. Bust my yarn stash. This is going to be harder than it sounds, mainly because I love buying new yarns! I have an extensive collection as it is, and it doesn’t really help that I just bought a ton more. Mr. Fox and I visited the Yarn Gallery up in Reading yesterday and I bought two gorgeous skeins of Crystal Palace Chunky Mochi in this color way. Also, I just bought three skeins of hand-dyed yarn from three different sellers on Etsy, as well as a bunch of bulky weights from Knit Picks. I have plans for all of it, I just need the time to bust through everything! The good news is that I finally invested in a yarn winder and a swift, so this week I will be turning all my yarn into some neat little yarn cakes! MMMM FIBER CAKES.

19. Drop a couple dress sizes. You see what I did there? I didn’t make a specific weight loss goal. I just said I wanted to drop a couple dress sizes. I did this because, well, I don’t want to say I want to lose 50 pounds and then not do it. It’s easier for me to say that I want to drop a couple dress sizes because, even if I lost 10-15 pounds, I’d drop a size. Dress size is not necessarily related to number of pounds lost. And if I do lose 50 pounds, fantastic! However, being able to see my dress size in the teens would be even more fantastic, to me anyway. This will be related to #10.

20. Visit Colonial Williamsburg. This is completely doable. Mr. Fox went there as a child for many years, and I think I’ve only been there once, a long time ago. Living in such a central place, we have access to so many weekend vacation spots. Specifically, I would like to go in the late spring/early summer, and take lots of photos. My camera is not very happy with me at the moment, because I haven’t been using it much.

21. Start Couch to 5K. This one is going to be hard. I am not a runner, and I never have been. Even when I was 115 pounds lighter, I was just not in shape to run. One of the benefits though of getting in shape and losing the excess weight I have to lose is that I WILL be in shape to run, so I have no real excuse other than lack of drive and motivation. The good thing about Couch to 5K is that you can re-do parts of the program. Like if you need to do Week 1 for three weeks, you can. Which is why I put “start” instead of “finish” Couch to 5K.

22. Learn to spin. This kind of has a double meaning. I would like to try spinning, as in a spinning bike. Our gym doesn’t have a spinning room, but there is another location that does have a spinning room, that is close to where Mr. Fox works. So I thought that maybe, if I take him to work one day, I might go there and try it out. I used to ride my bike a lot, and I miss it. However, the last time I rode, I was 115 pounds lighter. So I have been weary about getting back on a bike. The other part of this item on my list, is that I would love to learn how to spin yarn! I have seen a lot of gorgeous hand-spun’s on Etsy, and would love to try my hand at it. One of my local yarn shops has a spinning class, so I think I am going to eventually take it. It sounds like fun!

23. Drink more water. I hate water. Isn’t that lame? But it’s true. It’s too plain for me. But, in an effort to get healthier, I have made a pledge to drink more water and less everything else (with the exception of unsweetened iced tea). I’ve come across some really cool ideas on how to make water more bearable, such as adding real fruit as flavoring, instead of those flavor packets. So as it gets warmer outside, I plan to make some flavored waters, and do away with all of the artificial stuff I’ve been drinking. Even if that means…giving up beer. Maybe 1 on occasion. Maybe.

[hr]

Well, that’s it for my TL;DR list of 23 things. Hope you enjoyed reading them!

scintilla project day nine twenty-three things list goals aspirations

#scintilla day eight – simple pleasures

You guys, I was such an emotional wreck yesterday. But I am so glad that I was able to get all that out on the table. It’s been a long time coming, really.

On to the next!

*insert drum roll here*

Today’s #scintilla prompt issssssss:

Prompt A: What are your simplest pleasures? Go beyond description and into showing the experience of each indulgence.

[hr]

Being a SAHCM (stay at home cat-mom LOL), I tend to live a pretty mundane life. As I described in my post about my everyday, my routine doesn’t have much variety in it, however, there are a few simple pleasures I get to enjoy during my time at home with the kitties.

The Noises of the Street: Mr. Fox and I live on a busy street, and most people wouldn’t want to live on it because of that fact. But for me, there’s something comforting about sitting in the living room with the windows open and listening to the cars drive by. I think it’s because I lived in such a boring area of Indiana for so long, that being in the middle of hustle and bustle makes me feel better.

My Keurig: I’m sure you’ve all seen a Keurig or know what it is. Mr. Fox and I have owned one for about two years now and I don’t really remember life without it. Sure, the K-cups you buy for it aren’t the cheapest in the world, but I’ve never had a bad cup of coffee from it, and I do love coffee! And I love being able to just pop in a K-cup in a variety I like and hit brew. When we had a regular coffee maker, so much coffee would get wasted.

My Cats: having four rambunctious kitties might be taxing on one’s brain and sanity, but I quite enjoy it. Whenever I am feeling hurt or upset, they always know when to come and comfort me. I enjoy waking up in the morning with one of them perched on my hip or on my feet. And when they decide they want a pet pet, the sounds of their purring is comforting to me.

Yarn Shops: I never used to love yarn shops, it’s only been something that’s grown on me since I started knitting. But every chance I get, when I visit a new place, I like to look up the local yarn shop. I love going in and smelling all the wonderful fibers and touching everything. Baby alpaca, cashmere, merino wool, and everything in between. I love it!

Knitting: I love to knit. I may only stick to hats and scarves and other such things, but I still love to knit. This goes along with the first in my list, because I often just like to sit on the couch with my latest knitting project and listen to the cars drive by. It’s cathartic to me. Knit, purl, knit, purl, cable cable cable.

Fresh Cut Grass: I love the spring because everyone starts mowing the lawn. I got to experience the first wonderful smells of fresh-cut grass last week when I took Mr. Fox to work. I was driving some back roads up in Horsham and Willow Grove with the windows down, and I was immersed in the sounds of lawn mowers and the smells of cut grass and fresh mulch. It was wonderful.

Spring Rain: do you know what I’m talking about? Usually it’s at the end of March, early April. Not quite hot outside, but not cold. A nice spring rain that’s not hot and sticky or freezing. Watching it fall or out taking a walk in it. Either way, I’ll take it.

I could go on and on about the little things, but I think that’s enough for now.

scintilla project day eight simple pleasures busy streets yarn coffee

bonus #scintilla day seven – lost and found

Because of a combination of things I’ve been thinking about today, I’ve decided to do the other prompt for #scintilla today as a bonus.

Prompt B: Talk about a time when you saw your mother or father as a person independent of his or her identity as your parent.

(note: this post is written about my mom and my grandmother. It was also very hard to write.)

—–

My grandmother had a blue velvet coat that I coveted. I wanted it. Ever since I could remember, I wanted it to be mine.

I remember begging and begging for it. But I was too small, and it didn’t fit me. That fact didn’t stop me from wanting to try it on and wear it every time we went over to visit. Grandma told me when I was around 6 or 7 that one day, it would fit me, and that I could have it when it did.

So I waited. Albeit very impatiently.

—–

In 2003, my family picked up our lives in Indiana and moved to Philadelphia because my grandmother was sick. So sick in fact, that she kept it from us. She was weakened in her older age, and she didn’t want us to see her that way. She was too proud, too strong-willed. Two things that I wish I could say I inherited from her, but I am not as proud as she, nor as strong-willed.

But I digress.

In a matter of a few months, I watched a woman who was once so full of life and spark dwindle down to someone who could barely move or speak. Devoid of a healthy body, we would play cards in her bedroom; I would sit on a chair next to her bed, and she, propped up on pillows, would kick my ass at war and slap jack. There was still a spark, but it was growing dimmer by the day.

At the end of October of that year, Grandma was moved to hospice care. I remember because it was Halloween and I wore a costume to school that day. My mom and I went to visit her and all the nurses and other patients fawned over the cuteness of my polka dotted 50′s outfit. She was still talking at that point, albeit very little.

About a week later, I brought my fiancé at the time to meet Grandma. She had Willa, her caretaker, do her makeup for her so she looked her best when she met my future husband (now ex). When we got there, she didn’t have much to say, but she nodded and smiled. That same afternoon, my mom made me sit down and talk to the hospice counselor. I wasn’t really having that, so I just bawled there in the waiting room for a half hour while she listened.

On November 11, it was my first day out of training at my new job at Giant in Plymouth Meeting. Jason was walking me in the store when my dad called him.

She was gone. I was at work, and I didn’t get to say goodbye. And she was gone.

I didn’t ask to leave early. I didn’t even tell anyone what was going on. It was all I could do to keep my composure, so I stayed for the remainder of my shift, and went to my grandmother’s condo where my parents, Jason, aunt, and Willa were waiting. We ate pizza and laughed in her memory. We talked about the good things. But as I looked across the table at my mom, I couldn’t even begin to commiserate what was on her mind. I mean, losing a grandparent is a big deal, but you’re losing a smaller part of you. When you lose a parent, it’s a whole nother feeling. I guess it would feel like half of you is missing.

The next evening, we went to the funeral parlor. Initially, I didn’t want to go inside, because it was an open casket, and I am normally very creeped out by that sort of thing. But I eventually went in. And she was there, in one of her fancy dresses, her makeup all done up, wearing one of her favorite wigs. And even though she was not with us on this earth, I knew that wherever she was, she was dancing. She loved to dance. And she loved her cigarettes and obnoxiously pink lipstick. So she was dancing and smoking in the heavens with her love that left this world years before I was born.

That night, I clutched that blue velvet coat with every fiber of my being. I didn’t own that coat for long, as it was given away to the Salvation Army by my selfish witch of an aunt whom I hate with a passion (which is another story for another day). But for the time I did own it, all I could do was hold it in my arms and touch it.  And the fact that I don’t have that coat anymore really hurts.

It was a long time before my mom could really smile again. Being the angsty teenager at the ripe age of 17 that I was at the time, maybe I didn’t want to fully understand what was going on in her head, or why she was grieving the way that she was. So life that year was rough. My mom, my best friend, was an empty shell that put up a front so no one could see how truly devastated and alone she felt. I didn’t help matters by grieving in my own way of acting out and being angry all the time. But somehow, we got through it. Now that I look back on it, I know that my mom has that same exact pride and strong-will that her mother had. She didn’t want us to see that the emotional loss was consuming her. So she put up a front, and faked a smile. Even though I didn’t appreciate it back then, or understand, I know now that she absorbed the pain and hurt for me, until I was ready to feel it on my own. But when the spark came back to my mom, I knew that there was life to be had again!

And now, almost 10 years later, it’s the little things. When things are truly bad, or something is out of balance, we smell cigarette smoke where there are no cigarettes being smoked. I get strange urges to call my mom out of the blue, and usually it’s because she was about to call me. Today is my mom’s birthday, and I know that if all were right in the world, if my grandmother wasn’t on the other side and I wasn’t 600 miles away from my mom. the three of us would be sharing a pot of coffee, a gallon of wonton soup, and possibly even some egg rolls and fried rice.

We all grieve in our own ways. But sometimes it takes a loss to find oneself.

scintilla project day seven lost found grief death grandmother mom

My parents on their wedding day, with my grandmother.

scintilla project day seven lost found grief death grandmother mom