The Sky is Blue

Good Morning everyone. I am ready for a fantastic week. All of my kids are FINALLY relatively healthy. My 10 yr old and my husband just got back from a wonderful weekend of camp at Forest Home. My 14 yr old, survived and competed decently in his first JV only wrestling tournament. He has wrestled other tournaments, but against varsity wrestlers who whipped his 6' 3" buttocks. Jack had a blast in his air soft wars game Friday night at Church. And I got in a date with William and Nick, which was a treat. I don't often get 1 on 2 time with my guys. We went to Kings for sushi, and actually had some conversation about the life of a freshman boy at El Camino . Interesting stuff. This week my Stella & Dot kit should arrive. I'll be prepping to hold my first 4-6 trunk shows, and if I am really lucky, at some point this week I'll clean this crazy house. I hope all of you have a wonderful week!

I have always considered myself to be somewhat hip. I wear a lot of black, that is an East coast thing though I think. I do wear colors.... like dark grey... brown... deep red... that is about the extent of my repertoire . I like to accessorize with edgy, and vintage accessory looks. I have made a conscious decision for this Spring though, I will wear TEAL! Maybe even FUCHSIA ! A wise friend (Beth McCarthy Witsik , though she was just Beth McCarthy then) once told me... "Sure hip people wear black, but RICH people wear color!" Now Beth has always been a fan of color, and I have always been a fan of black (never to be seen in pink, EVER), so I am not sure if she was trying to get me to expand my horizons, or just shake my confidence as we hit the bars for a night out (we were like 24 then) but it was good advice just the same. I am announcing, that I who have worn black and red nail polish exclusively for 4 years--- am wearing TEAL nail polish. I am turning a corner...

The crazy criminal energy is abounding here in LA. I am not sure what is going on, but it is a little un-nerving. Last week, there was a shooting right next to the high school where my son William is a student. I detailed it here, lockdown, helicopters, 7 square mile search perimeter, just crazy. They still do not have the guy in custody. The same day, a van tries to pick up a kid a local elementary school-- the old "Your mom told me to pick you up" line. Then yesterday, exactly one week from last weeks malay-- the high school is locked down again. Someone is spotted with a gun in the faculty parking lot. They arrested someone this time. Again, same day, a man in a gardening truck tries to pick up a kid at the middle school, where my son Jack is a student-- same line "your mother told me to pick you up". For my east coast friends, who may think, what do you expect, it's LA-- I must explain, this is a really nice, suburban neighborhood. I would compare i...

I went to my very first " stella & dot" opportunity meeting last night. I didn't really know what to expect. I have been to opportunity meetings for other direct marketing businesses, and they are usually at someones house, sitting around the living room, very casual. This one was different. It was at a wine bar. I walked in and there were beautiful " stella & dot" signs, the room was set up really nice. The jewelry display was GORGEOUS. There were a lot of people there. About 50% of the women were guests, people contemplating the business. The rest were stylists, and leaders. A pretty big geographical area was represented. I was most impressed by the fact that the company sent a corporate rep to come speak to us. She flies around the country to speak at scheduled information meetings, answer questions, and help people understand how this company is designed to fit that gap so many women have faced as life changes (career, marriage , children...

My family situation is interesting. I have one son in High School, one son in Middle School, one son in Elementary School, and one pre - schooler (a son, as well). I am doing something with my youngest, that I never did with the older ones, "Mommy & Me". Most of you know it is a pre -school setting, but parent inter-active. We have free play, craft time, circle time, a regular routine, it's fun....most days. Today however, it was crazy town!! We have a few new kids in the class, and 3 & 4 year old tempers were rocking the house. Complacent mothers were sitting pleading with their kids, to stop beating up other kids, stop grabbing toys from others, to STOP SCREAMING AT THE TOP OF THEIR LUNGS. Some moms were just sitting, chatting with their girlfriends, while an exasperated teacher, tried to control their unruly kids. Maybe it is just because I am 43, and the mother of a preschooler. (all the wisdom that comes with age, and all that), but I was very cl...

I am so psyched ! This is the month that I am going to start taking my business seriously. For those of you who have known me for years, you know that I have been the woman of many ideas. I am the chronic entrepreneur . My husband and I have owned a photography business, doing digital before anyone was doing digital (taking Santa & Easter bunny photos in two mall locations). I then evolved into a Creative Memories business, teaching people how to protect, and document their lives-- loved that, still do it, just not as a business. I then had a fantastic idea to open a " Sno Ball" kiosk in a mall-- not cost effective to run in a mall, and toooooo much competition from roadside sno ball shacks in good ole' Baltimore. I may yet repeat that idea on an unsuspecting and Sno Ball deprived Southern California audience-- more to come on that one, I am still mulling it around in my head. I have sold jewelry, then purses, from the lovely line called Beijo . I have bea...

I realise our bodies change over time. It is said that our body chemistry changes somewhat every seven years. I must admit, the changes the body undergoes as we progress from twenty something, to thirty something, to forty something are sometimes subtle-- then you wake up one day and say "WHAT THE HECK!!!". My biggest struggle is not so much with the physical changes, but more with the hormone changes. I have always been a slave to my hormones. Moodiness, and migraines, cramps, and fatigue-- I am a living Midol commercial. As I get older, not only have these symptoms worsened, but they are so predictable I can mark the worst days on the calendar. If I am losing my temper, and being edgy, the boys look at the calendar (see it is around the 30 th ) and say...."ooohhhh, ok Mom, I'll just be doing some homework, in my room..." If I am walking around in sunglasses all day, my husband says "Wow, is it the 15 th already???" The walk of a woman is ...

Are the brains of men and boys actually wired differently than ours? I need silence to really think. I need to read in relative quiet. Constant chatter, movement, blah blah blah about this or that video game, well, it distracts me. While I try very hard to be a vision of calm and patience, ( haha ) I find it super challenging to remain serene when my thought processes are interrupted constantly. I believe the time has come to trade this coke zero in for a glass of Moscato . Do I have to wait till 5pm or does spring like weather make the drinking hour earlier??? (This post was actually written in the late afternoon on Friday, I am really not in need of wine first thing in the morning,.....today...lol)

Wow, it is crazy how much my taste in music has changed. There was a time, very long ago, when the sounds of Metallica , Motorhead , and Slayer, rocked my world. When Alice in Chains, could bring me to tears it was so beautiful to me. Now I still appreciate the classics, but you won't find me rocking them on my ipod . Let's just say I have a different appreciation for music these days. I'm rocking to worship tunes, country, and folk harmonies like the Indigo Girls (I've always loved them though). My pandora account has also been contaminated with the likes of the Wiggles and Soul Choo Choo . Life is a cool and interesting journey,

The news trucks and drama surrounding the shooting at El Camino Real High school this week have been a little overwhelming. The shooting incident was scary. Thank goodness it did not involve a student, but happened right off campus. The entire LAPD, fire department, and SWAT teams swooped in within moments and turned our little neighborhood into what felt like a war zone. We were blocked in to a 7 square mile perimeter. Our home in the middle of it all. We couldn't get out of our neighborhood to get our kids from schools in Calabasas. One of our children was on "Lock down" at the High School. Being the only teenager in the universe who regularly forgets his cell phone, we couldn't talk to him to make sure he was ok, and not terrified. We were watching the drama unfold on television, as we listened to it outside. We couldn't go outside, because an armed gunman was on the loose, supposedly trampling though back yards trying to get away from the police. It ...

I have been thinking about this idea of contentment. Folks have very different ideas on what this word means to them. I feel like I have definitely turned a corner on this one. I spent most of my life associating the word content with laziness, "resting on your laurels", lacking drive. My generation grew up seeking wealth. Most of the people I knew growing up came from upper middle class families. I wasn't aware of struggling families, I am sure they existed, but I was certainly blind to it. I never collected clothes for the needy, worked in a soup kitchen, or donated gifts to families at Christmas time. How could I grow up so blind to the needs of others? Who knows, I'm sure my own family struggled a little from time to time, but I never knew it. My parents were always frugal, but we never lacked necessities. My friends and I grew up dreaming of awesome careers, huge homes, incredible vacations, perfect families, filled with all the fun money could buy. We all...

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I MAY have found an exercise I DON'T HATE! Those of you who know me know that I hate working out with a passion. I hate getting ready to go to the gym, I hate being there, there isn't a moment that I am not whining about how much I hate it. In fact when I was lucky enough to have the services of a personal trainer (we did a show for Discovery Health, and she was a gift for 6 months) I sniped and cursed at her every step of the way. (In a cute, I'm kind of kidding way, of course) If I buy a treadmill, it gets very dusty. Work out DVD's, hate them. My sons (13 &14) have been working out with weights daily in our garage, to start building strength for next football season. Yesterday, the weather was sooooo gorgeous, I decided to go out with them and workout. I followed their workout, and kept up with them rep for rep. Now they were using big, huge, heavy, dumbbells, and I was using much smaller ones, but hey-- I didn...

On Saturday my whole family was geared up to watch the Ravens vs. Steelers game. Excitement was high. I don't think Jeff or Jack (13) slept a wink Friday night. My sister and her husband were both so keyed up. My nephew Jordan (22), was so emotionally caught up in it that he was truly, and sincerely, pissed off when the Ravens lost the game. I watched the game with them, but in my own detached, non-emotional kind of way. It was a good game, and even I could understand how disappointing it was for them. The whole sports thing kind of eludes me. You would think with 4 boys I would have converted into a super fan by now. I try. I will occasionally, don the jersey or colors. I come to most of the games, and I am really trying to understand the game (football & hockey mostly). But to be absolutely honest, I have had to say in my most trained, loving, mom voice, "Of course I saw that! You were amazing!" without having a clue what happened more times than I can ...

Ok, my husband gave me an short ramp up on the whole, Twitter thing. The why, the how, and so on. I am still not sure I get it, but I am set up, and ready to follow people around. So now I just wait to see if people have interesting things to say? Should be fun! So if you got notice that I am now following you, I am not stalking, I swear, I am just trying to figure out how this whole thing works.

My son Michael (10) has a virus (or flu) that is really wiping him out. It is so hard to watch that spunky kid layed flat out with listlessness and fever. Last night, his fever spiked again, to 103. This has been going on for three days, and I started to get really worried. I normally don't panic over fever, but something about the way he looked (puffy, glassy eyed) really concerned me. I decided to take him to the Urgent Care. I've been told over and over by my Doctor not to go to the ER unless we had chest pain, or gushing blood. We went to the closest Urgent Care, with a prominently displayed "Open 24 hours" sign, and it was closed. I checked my Garmin to see where the next closest one was-- called it, closed. I called the next one on the list, closed. It was 9:30 on a Sunday night. Is it me, or does that defeat the purpose of an "Urgent Care" center????? We ended up at the ER, fortunately my sister the Nurse was on duty, so we didn't have to w...

We are living in precarious times. So many people are suffering. Job losses, health issues, unforeseen tragedy.... has it always been this way? Is it just our turn to go through the mill because we are really adults now, or is it harder for our generation than for our parents? It just seems as if so many good people are running into really difficult times. Over the past 2 years my family has had a season of really difficult financial times. Challenging as it has been, it has definitely been a refining season for us. We see our lives differently now. We are so fortunate. We have a beautiful, close, family. We are blessed with truly good friends. We have a warm and welcoming home. I don't yearn for a flashy car, and a huge home. We don't need fancy vacations, and expensive entertainment every weekend. Contentment is the most incredible gift I could have ever asked for. The true definition of contentment for me is, wanting what you have. I wish I could wrap that gift...

Babies, boys, and teens, and men. This house is full of testosterone. How does a lone woman, hold her own, and stay girly amidst boy funk, sports 24x7, and boy mess? Well, I am a girly kind of girl. I love make up, hair, fashion, jewelry, Days of Our Lives, and other feminine stuff. I am not a big fan of pink. You won't run into at the market without lipstick on, and even if I am in the carpool lane in my PJ pants, I'll likely have my jewelry on. I treasure my girl friends, and adore their daughters. I like coffee dates, talking about books, and listening to friends catch me up on their lives. I crank my music as loud as I want, and sing along, despite the rolling eyes, and smirks of my boys who think that I am very uncool for doing so. I encourage my sons to sit and have conversations with me about real things in their lives, and we do this every single day. That is how a girl stays sane in a house full of boys. You know, even my dog Duke is a boy. Go figure.

Do you ever wonder what will happen when the kids all grow up? I am a cuddle junkie. I live to hug these boys, to stroke away their tears, to see them smile. I know they love me, but boys grow in to men. They fall in love. They take wives, have children of their own. As much as my husband loves his own mother, he grew up and fell in love with me and we got married. Then when the time came, we picked up and moved 3000 miles away. Just six years later, her other son brought his wife and children out west too. I can't imagine how hard that must be for her. I struggle with this one. I know it is inevitable. I know it will be up to me to walk the balance of being supportive and present in their lives, without being overbearing. Though I still have time with my boys, I know they will be men in the blink of an eye. I sure hope they choose lovely wives...:)

If you are someone who loves me despite our infrequent facebook/texts, and less frequent phone calls, you are likely one of my treasured friends. If you are someone who has forgiven me for my often too bold mouth, and unsolicited advice over the years, I definitely count you among my treasured friends. If you have told me I am beautiful despite my weight, current hair color, or mood, you are diamonds in my treasure box of friends. If you have encouraged me, reminded me of my gifts when I was feeling blue-- you are priceless to me. Thank you, I hope you count me among your treasures too.

Recently my friend Jennifer posted a question on her facebook page, "If you could go back and tell your teenage self anything at all, what would it be?" I loved the responses to that question. One of the responses I liked most is, "Don't worry about what the popular kids think, because most of them grow up to be uninteresting anyway." Now I'm sure that's a little bit of an exagaration, but it is true that kids worry way to much about what other people think of them. If there is one thing I have learned from going to the few High School reunions that I've been able to get to, is that the people I enjoyed talking to most (at the reunion) , are really the people I knew least in High School. It is so cool to see how people blossom and grow. High school is a tough gig. There is enormous pressure to fit in. Pressure to blend will always be there in life, being yourself is the true test of character. High School is a mere blip on the radar my young fri...

Anyone who knows my husband, knows that the man loves his Diet Coke. He also is a fan of beer. That makes for a lot of cans. We have a recycle bin in the kitchen. Not the most attractive set up. I tried dainty little recycle containers, but they just weren't practical, so now we use a big cardboard box. When it gets full, we move the stuff to bags in the garage. When I can no longer get to my laundry room because the garage is so full of recycling, then I'll pile it all in my car and head off to the recycle center. That is an adventure in itself. Nick, my 4 year old, and I, put on our rubber gloves, navigate though the homeless folks who congregate there, wait in a long line, then separate the plastic and cans and get the job done. The man who works there loves that Nick helps me. He is very kind to us, and always helps us to get through quickly. There is one particular woman, an old homeless woman, who has taken a serious dislike to me, and she hisses and curses at me...

I am finding that my brain, and my ability to act are incongruent. My brain never stops. I am constantly crunching numbers on the family budget, planning and plodding trying to make things work for everyone, coming up with interesting ideas I would like to pursue, topics I would like to learn more about, it never stops. Then I wake up in the morning, and before I can even finish my first cup of coffee-- life starts to happen. Nick (4) wants to cuddle (yeah!), as soon as we get comfy he wants milk, sit back down- he wants breakfast, then Michael wakes up and we start again, then Jack with questions about the locations of his shoes, gym clothes, etc.... then William, well to be honest he is pretty independent, but he does ask a whole lot of questions. At the end of the day, I have rarely moved forward on any of my grand ideas, my house is still mostly messy, and I am exhausted and ready for bed. If I am lucky I sleep, but more often-- my brain keeps on moving, egging me on to creat...

What the heck! My thermostat says it is 72 degrees in my house. Why am I bundled up with my nose running like I am in the frozen tundra???? I need to know what happens to the blood of a girl, born and raised on the East Coast, where cold is COLD-- like below ZERO cold, that makes me unable to handle 72 degrees?????? I remember walking to the bus stop, and it wasn't a short walk, in ice and snow, with the snot literally freezing in my nose. Where breathing the frigid air made my lungs burn. My son loves when I tell stories like that, because he is positive I am exaggerating. But if you grew up in Southern Pennsylvania, between 1976-1985, you can back me up. I have lived in SoCal for 7 years.... and I have turned in to the biggest wimp ever. Go figure.

Like a large majority of women, I have been faced with the decision to "work out of the home" or to stay home with the kids. I worked full time until after I had my third child, then my husband and I decided to take the leap, and I left my job. I gained enormous freedom to spend time with my children, enjoy every giggle, volunteer at their schools, what a gift that has been. I also cut our family income in half in one fell swoop, ouch. I enjoyed decent career success, with nice compensation-- and that my friend, was POOF gone. I know many of you know this tale well. Now my youngest is 4, the rest are pretty independent. They still need me (thank goodness), and I feel it is really important to be present and awake in these years too. The challenge is, how could I contribute to the family income, and have a little me/ adult time, without turning the world upside down for my husband and kids? How many times have you asked that question? I'll be exploring this questi...

I don't have daughters myself,-- but I have a soft spot in my heart for young women. I think back to my own teenage, and young adult years. I was always a pretty girl, not an A student, but smart. And while I have always been confident, I distinctly remember, how much the attention boys and men meant to me then. I compromised myself, and sometimes put myself in dangerous situations, to get attention. Hind sight is always 20/20, I know. It is easy to see now that my perfect guy was out there waiting for me, I just wasn't meant to meet him until I was 25. It was part of the plan. I needed to stretch my wings, learn to garner attention for my gifts, and my heart, not for my outfit, my boobs, or my bawdy behavior. I can now look back at old friends who were sporty, and academic, and even shy, and see that they were the ones with the true confidence. I would love to bottle up that hind sight, and spike the Diet Coke of every young woman I know. (and then of course in true...

I cannot be alone in this. Now given, I have four sons-- a husband, and I am not the neatest gal around, so there are extenuating circumstances----BUT sheesh! The laundry pile in my garage is a monster! I am truly afraid, that one day, Nick will go exploring out there and get lost. It is never ending. What's worse is that the mountain often has mysterious items in it like, cleats, perfectly folded clothing, belts, empty water bottles, it is very strange. Do you think it is possible that my sons throw clean laundry on the floor, then throw it in with the dirty when they clean their rooms???? No, simply not possible. There must be another explanation.

As Thanksgiving rolls around, we start to get really excited about Christmas here at the Rhodes abode. This year we went to Arizona to spend the holiday with my parents, but despite the trip--- we still got the tree up on Thanksgiving weekend. I have insisted on a real tree the past few years, mostly because we had a fake one that we used in our condo- FOR FOUR YEARS-- when we first moved to SoCal. So! Practical or not, we put up a real tree every year now. Every year, I am romanced by the wonderful smell, the ritual of getting the tree, pulling out all of our cherished ornaments. But now, even I must admit-- it was really, really, dead a long time ago. It's kinda brown, very droopy, and really doesn't smell like much of anything anymore. Maybe, just maybe, I'll go for a fake one next year--BUT IT HAS TO BE A REALLY CONVINCING ONE! Farewell Christmas Tree 2010, you were beautiful while you lasted.

It is 7:30am. I sit here in my family room with the normal ruckus in the background. The 14 year old pushing everyones buttons, the 13 yr old tattling "the dog has no food, just sayin...is'nt that your job?" My 10 yr old is staying home sick today, stomach flu-- , my favorite!! He is completely bummed because he was supposed to have a play date after school. My 4 year old woke up a prince, lol. He is barking orders and asking for things every two minutes. In my life, there is noise. Lots and lots of noise. They are loud by nature. They are also very physical, wrestling, bumping each other, joking very loudly. Boy energy is something I never really understood before I became a parent. Boys, at least mine, are very different from girls. I have been a parent for 14 years, and I have yet to learn how to control the momentum of this energy, it has a life of it’s own. The noise level is something I can’t always change, so I have had to learn how to find my quiet pla...

So I am in the shower this morning, and I get a revelation. Write, speak, share. I have always wanted to write a book, and it occurred to me that the only way to write a book, was to start writing. So I did. I have had some interesting life experiences, I hope to share some along the way, but what I hope to capture best is the day to day life of living the Rhodes life.