Articles

Feb 20 2014

Frozen: Letting Go

Author: Kerry

I know.. .I know! Believe me I know that I shouldn’t waste my time getting drawn into this… I know that it is energy spent on something that shouldn’t be given… I read it yesterday… much like everyone else I would assume… and at first I laughed… Then my irritation grew… and as the day wore on I just couldn’t shake it… the words had settled in my skin… and my least favorite feeling in this myriad of emotions I go through is shame… I was ashamed of my friend who shared it on Facebook voicing her agreement (this is how I came across it to begin with, before it was ever picked up by the local media) … I was embarrassed to be living in Utah… where not only is this popular opinion but it was picked up by the media… Every fiber was annoyed… by the name of the blog… and every hateful word typed out… I am not going to counter her opinions… I just figured I would do a little review and opinionating of my own…. you know… from a well behaved person that has not lost her ever loving mind to hate and paranoia.

Frozen: Letting Go

Let me paraphrase… The movie opens with these two adorable sisters… laughing and playing in the snow and ice created by the eldest Elsa … Surely this is dark magic right? Sorcery? Witchcraft? don’t you worry… its a Disney Movie… and its JUST A STORY…  I saw it five times… Its full of dark magic and sorcery… and death… and treason… trolls who adopt the poor guy with apparently poor personal hygiene  being raised by a reindeer… but the poor guy with the Swedish accent it surely the problem… Oh that and the fact that the girl… who DOESN’T FEEL THE COLD takes of her repressive cape that she had to wear for a coronation is being considered to sex it up… hey hey… who am I to judge… I’m sure the people taking issue with this also wear these swim suits… and I’m cool with that…

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My favorite part of the movie is the Let it Go sequence… as I am sure anyone with a 7 year old knows… it is catchy… and dramatic… and the graphics are beautiful… and everyone is covering it!! (See my Themesong Thursday Post)

The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation,
And it looks like I’m the Queen.

Queen of isolation… I get that… Trapped by expectations

The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn’t keep it in, heaven knows I tried

Storm inside… raging emotions… Okay, I don’t have snow flakes sprinkling from my fingertips… but I am relating to this chic.

Don’t let them in, don’t let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don’t feel, don’t let them know
Well, now they know

Ahhh sweet sweet emancipation… from worrying about what others think of me… from judgement… and cruel words.

Let it go, let it go
Can’t hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door

I don’t care
What they’re going to say
Let the storm rage on,
The cold never bothered me anyway

It’s funny how some distance
Makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me
Can’t get to me at all

It’s time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I’m free

Freedom from fear… self confidence… self discovery… Fantastic!

Let it go, let it go

Let go of the negative… hey smallest child… I hope you memorize each and every word of it!

I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You’ll never see me cry

Ha ha! okay okay… crying is okay… even if people see it… but not “You” not the people that I am letting go of… not the people that wanted me to be someone I am not

Sing sing sing… lots more words… storm rages on… etc

You get the idea… I take absolutely no offense to someone shedding what was forced upon them and coming to their own opinions, aspirations, dreams and I will cheer on my children whether it is at their graduation from college… or a pole dancing competition (please please let it not be pole dancing… so awkward)

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and so… in conclusion… if you have to take some moral to what is really just an awesome story with fantastic music and stunning visuals… take this… Love is unconditional… Sisters before Misters…. also… reindeer raise gentlemen… Braids are sexy and trolls are love experts…. That is all

SO someone needs to explain to me how she gets from cryokinetic power to same-sex attraction?

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OH! and someone better tell their kids… whether oaken likes men or not (which I don’t understand why that is relevant when he is just selling some damn carrots) that a Swedish accent isn’t required for someone to be gay… they can choose that for themselves… and they will be accepted and loved and keep their voice 🙂

Frozen-oaken

Feb 18 2014

… Sweet Escape

Author: Kerry

mama katsWrite a blog post inspired by the word: Vacation

The snow is melting… patches of dirty… blackened snow still hides in the corners of the yard… but the muddy trampled looking grass is underneath… I am sure we will get layered again… but the majority of it is gone. The air is a little clearer… the sky a little bluer… the temperature a little warmer… we have been trapped inside… watching entirely too much TV… I start thinking about swimming pools… walks around the lake… and weekends at the big lake! These things are coming! I feel like everything gets a little lighter in my world.

But where I truly want to be is the Ocean… even more specific … Morro Bay… With the waves crashing against Morro rock… It is my favorite place in the entire world… and I have been to many corners of the world… Paris… Lisbon… Moscow… Maui…. all of these are not as appealing to me right this moment as a day in Morro Bay…

I would start the day with a latte from the small coffee/ice cream parlor on atascadero street… then park on the beach side of the rock… I would let the smalls run until they couldn’t run anymore… watching for Jelly fish that are sometimes spawning on the sand… searching out shells… and I would just sit… there at the curve created by the sandbar and the giant rock…. and watch the sun light the water that rolls lazily onto the sand… I would rent a kite from the kite shop directly across the street behind me… if the wind is strong… and fly that monstrous thing as high as it can go…. I would take the kids to see the junk house… the aquarium… Mr amazing and the smalls could play a game on the life-sized chess board… and we could stop at the shell shop… to buy little creatures made out of shells for our friends back home… I would visit my grandparents memorial… I miss them so much sometimes… everyday… My Grandfather would be so proud of Small Child and the man he is becoming… he would have adored Mr. Amazing…. My Grandmother would love smallest child… and all of her energy. We would walk through the Eucalyptus Trees… we would head to Los Osos for the most amazing clam chowder and walk the entire pier….

We would eat sauerkraut at Hauffbras… We would shop… in all those touristy t-shirt shops… and trinket shops… we would visit the sea lions… hundreds of them in a protected cove that can be seen from the highway above…. We would see Hearst castle up there on the hill… but skip the tour… because it is gaudy and boring.

We would end our day back on the beach… exhausted surely by this point… and dip our toes in the cold water… perhaps if we are lucky we would see the otters… they hold hands when they sleep so they don’t lose each other…. We should all hold hands more…

Imagine if we had a second day… We would head to San Luis Opisbo… and Moon Stone Beach…. with a third day… the vineyards and wines in Paso Robles… But those I will save for another blog…

One day… I will get there.

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The Shell Shop, Morro Bay

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Jan 13 2014

Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff…. Unless it is a Mantis Shrimp

Author: Kerry

From the depths of January… I bring you this… That Honey Badger who don’t care? I would like to introduce him to the Mantis Shrimp

“Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff”…. Great advice passed on from a dear friend of mine… her second favorite back up line to all of this is “It’s all small stuff”… I try… I do … I try to not let little things get to me…But Sometimes the small stuff gangs up on you! Sometimes that small thing is this little guy!!!

HOLY SHIT!

And THIS!

And from my favorite credible source of all time… THIS!

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Jan 04 2014

My 2013 Wrap Up

Author: Kerry

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I was begging Mr. Amazing by the day after Christmas to help me take down the Christmas decorations (By help me, I mean take them down because he has this knack for not throwing things in boxes in a mad panic to get the shit out of the house, and like actually wraps the breakable precious stuff… while I sit on the couch and drink coffee… because he is scared I am going to touch something or put something away “my way” it is a win win situation) and he in return is pleading with my to leave it up until New Years… and he swears it will get done… I concede… because… well… he is cute. I read on facebook and visit friends who are packing up their trees as quickly as possible… it seems like a race this year to get the decorations down… and I ponder a moment the old superstition of if it was a good year, you leave it up to flow into the next, and if not… you take it down and leave it behind by the New Year… people really do this… I swear… I am not making this shit up… and I think about it… Would I leave 2013 behind?

A lot happened in the year… My Sons father died… I became a Grandma again… Life had its normal ups and downs… we went to DisneyLand…

I had my normal ups and downs... I survived…. I decided to write a book … but I didn’t…. yet?

I lost a dear friend… and gained a cookie wife (I always had her… now I just have cookies too!)

I turned 40

Small Child started shaving…. KILL ME DEAD

I don’t think I broke anything this year… but I did spent a night in the ER with a 104 fever getting fluids…

I am pretty sure I do not buy into the whole christmas tree removal superstition… But I do know for every experience I would like to leave in the past… I had two that I would love to keep in my heart through the next year…

The tree came down on New Years Day… I drank all the coffees…. Bring on 2014

Dec 17 2013

Pajamas in Paris

Author: Kerry

 

mama kats Write a blog post inspired by the word: pajamas

Sometimes… The only way out of a funk is pajamas… let’s be honest… I prefer the penguin and christmas tree variations … I am truly struggling right now… and almost on Holiday break… Pajamas will be the only thing I am wearing… Some days… I will shower and put on clean ones… just saying… This is not much of a post… it is kind of more of a… well hell….. I have been fortunate enough to have walked these streets of Paris… THIS LINK… will at least let you escape for a little while… and we can just stay in our Pajamas the whole time. By the way… if you are considering not clicking that link… do yourself an act of kindness… click it.

 

It truly is Paris.

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Dec 03 2013

Shave for the love of god…

Author: Kerry

” A trend you’re not much a fan of “

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Funny that you should ask… I came across this prompt just as I was singing the praises of the 3rd day of December!!!

Look… I am all for doing things for a good cause… I participate in fundraisers… I pay it forward… I try to work a random act of kindness into each day… I never pass a bell ringer without dropping whatever change I have into his bucket… but by the time you are in the second week of November every man in the office looks like a mountain man… grizzly adams in the IT department over here didn’t get the memo that he should not continue to shave his scalp… whilst growing out his beard during No Shave November.

This is not my real IT guy… I just got this image off of google to illustrate my point

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But… Here we are in the first week of December and let the shaving begin… and somehow from this we gleaned some kind of cancer awareness… Couldn’t we come up with a better way? Because I am pretty sure woodland creatures have moved into your face.

Now that I have that off my chest… Let’s discuss this whole month of gratitude posts on Facebook… because every morning I wanted to stab my eye out with a fork… luckily I only have coffee for breakfast… no fork in reach.. and for that I am grateful.

I live in Utah… and while I do not belong to the popular religion of the area… most of my friends and family do… cue the angels singing and the pearly white gates of heaven opening… because they all posted each and every day what they were so grateful for…Seriously… if you have ever read my blog… you know I am a fan of the whole being grateful thing… I am truly so blessed in so many ways… but I would be lying if I didn’t wake up on December 1st and kiss the computer screen right on the first post bitching about the weather… The crowd at the stores and the amount of housework to be done… because I swear… on a stack of your holy book of bibley whatever that that was the LONGEST 30 days of thanks ever!!

Im grateful its over… and to raise awareness of my gratefulness… I will not be shaving during the month of December… We can braid the leg hairs and sing kumayah for Christmas!!!

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Nov 18 2013

A reader lives a thousand lives….

Author: Kerry

I love to read… I love several genres of Novels… The prompt is to list 8 books that I believe everyone should read in their lifetime

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Here we go- in no particular order…

Harry Potter- by J.K. Rowling; I am going to cheat a little…I am not going to use up my 8 books by mentioning all 7 books. But you should read all 7. I love them, I cannot imagine a world without the magic that happened around that lovely book series.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan – By Lisa See; I read this recently, I have always had a fascination with the Chinese traditions and philosophies around women. If this is something that you read about (And are thankful we are not being raised this way(Unless you are… then I’m sorry)) I also recommend the beloved Amy Tan books as well as EVERYTHING by Anchee Min, I intend to read more Lisa See books and will keep you posted on how I feel about them.

The Night Circus – By Erin Morgenstern; I had never read a book like this! It was so different, and bizarre, and full of mystery that never really answered itself. I loved the characters, I love the scenes, I just loved this book. I would like to put other books here because that seems to be what I am doing… but this really is such a stand alone book, It is so Unique, short of the great “Something Wicked This Way Comes” nothing even could be paired with this book (which the only thing these books have in common is a circus)… Oh! Read some Ray Bradbury… just because.

The Book Thief- By Markus Zusak; I am sure this will make several peoples lists as it is very much talked about right now… and with good reason, It was beautifully and uniquely written… I applaud the author for finding a beautiful way to tell such a horrible story… That being said other books in the genre that everyone should have read by now are of course- Anne Frank, To Kill a Mocking Bird, Black Boy and Escape from Camp 14. Be educated.

ROOM – By Emma Donoghue; There is kind of a theme to my book selections, I am fascinated with different types of writing styles, I like to read books that are written so differently that they don’t remind you of anything else… I Loved this book for that reason only, But that being said, I often read survivors books – Elizabeth Smart, Jaycee Dugard ect. I do believe there is something (beyond the horror) of these that encourages me and takes away some of the power from these monsters…. I also believe they wrote their story for a reason… and it deserves to be read as a tribute to their strength. Speaking of Great Survivors, another one is Elephant Girl by Jane Devin. Beautifully Written. Also, The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

The Hunger Game Series – By Suzanne Collins; I cringe to mention this because it already get so much press, but they are FANTASTIC- and if this is the kind of book appeals to you, for the loved of god read The Host, and the Mortal Instruments series, also  read Divergent, Insurgent and Allegient, as well as Matched, Crossed, Reached, as well as the Uglies and the Pretties, as well as Most things by Amanda Hockings (Other than the vampire ones… unless you really liked twilight… which I didn’t and you will notice is not listed here)

Circle of Friends- By: Maeve Binchy – I Love love her books in general, I loved the Lilac Bus, Tara Road and The Glass Lake… There are more, but you get the idea… These are what I read when I just want to feel… not relate… just feel. Her descriptions of different country sides over the EU is beautiful as well… Just beautiful.

Crank- By Ellen Hopkins – also followed by Glass… and there are many more… If you have a teenager… you should read these. Just my personal opinion. Plus the first thing you will notice about them is that they are written in a different manner once again, than anything I have ever read.

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I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it if you all would leave me a comment with your list, or suggestions, as I am also on the prowl for my next life.