by Heather Plett | Jun 13, 2005 | Uncategorized
Don’t you wish, sometimes, that you could hear the world through the ears of a child?
Saturday, in the backyard, Maddie heard the birds chirping in the tree and said “MOM! The birds can talk too!”
Today, in the laundry room, she heard the thumping of the washing machine and said “HEY! It’s making music!” She even made up a song to go with the rhythm of the machine. It was something about dying monsters in the zoo. Not sure where that came from. But what a treat to hear music in the mundane things in life! From now on, when I’m doing the dreaded laundry, I’ll have to listen for the music.
by Heather Plett | Jun 12, 2005 | Uncategorized
What fun! I got a real kick out of all those comments on the last post. It seems that when I’m feeling the least profound I illicit the most response. Not sure what that says, but I’ll take it for what it’s worth.
I got interviewed by my sister, ccap. She sent me the following five questions. Just for fun, ’cause she was hangin’ around watching me, I asked Nikki the same questions. I included hers here too, because most of hers are better than mine!
1) If you could have one superpower, what would it be?
Nikki’s answer: “burp really loud so that you cause earthquakes. So Saddam Hussein would come out of his hole and die. Mwwaa-ha-haa!”
My answer: I can’t think of anything particularly meaningful, and since the thing I long for right now is a clean house, I’ll just say the ability to snap my fingers and have my house spotless. Guess I’m in a practical frame of mind these days.
2) If there were one childhood experience that you had that you could protect your children from having what would it be?
Nikki said: “when your mom says NO to Slurpees”
My answer: I played baseball when I was a kid, but I was never particularly athletic. I usually got stuck in the outfield because my skills weren’t worthy of the infield. I remember this one girl who’d moved to our town a year or two before. She was older than me and she was a bully. And she was good at sports. She hardly ever missed the ball. The day I remember in particular, I missed the ball when it was hit to my section of the outfield. She was in the outfield with me and she started yelling at me for missing the ball. When my mom picked me up after the game, I cried all the way home. It was one of my worst memories. Mom said I could quit baseball if I wanted to, but I really didn’t want to, so I stuck it out, even though I was scared of her the rest of the season. I hate bullies. I hate it when a person makes another person feel small. I wish my kids never had to experience being bullied.
3) What aspect of your daily routine do you look forward to most?
Nikki said: “playing on the computer when I get to go on IMDB”
My answer: I love it when all the kids are in bed, the housework is done (or at least that portion of it that I feel I need to do that day) and I can crawl into bed and read a book for awhile. On my worst days, when I’m really tired or when I get to bed late, I only make it through a page or two, but on my best days, I go to bed right after the kids and read for an hour or more.
4) What trait is most annoying to you in other people? Elaborate.
Nikki said: “there’s a guy in my school who pees in his pants”
My answer: Narrow-mindedness. I get really annoyed with people who have no flexibility to consider other ideas. I find there are incredibly narrow-minded people on both the left and the right side of the political spectrum, and that ticks me off. And c’mon, really, don’t they know that I’m right and they’re not??? teehee!
5) If you were attending a costume party and had all the time in the world to design a costume and had every item necessary at your disposal what would your first 2 picks be for the ultimate costume?
Nikki said: “lots of jewellery and lots of funky clothes… I would like to dress up as Oprah Winfrey or Michael Jackson”
My answer: Oh boy, this is a tough one. “all the time in the WORLD?” Yeah, but you KNOW I still wouldn’t get around to doing it until the night before! Hmmm…let’s see… some day I’d like to try to dress up like the world – make a big globe out of foam, paint all the continents – you get the picture. And perhaps another idea might be to dress like a peacock – a male peacock – with the magnificent plumage trailing behind me and the feathers that look like giant eyeballs. (I think I should come back to this question when I’m in a more imaginative frame of mind- that’s the best I can do for now.)
Anyone else want to try?
The Official Interview Game Rules
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment saying “interview me.” (Make sure I have your email address.)
2. I will respond by asking you five questions – each person’s will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions
by Heather Plett | Jun 9, 2005 | Uncategorized
I wanna sit down at this computer and type something profound and noteworthy. I wanna be creative and brilliant and wax poetic about something meaningful. I wanna make you laugh or make you cry or make you sit in awe of the way I string together words.
But I got nothin’. Big ZIPPO. Zilch. Nada. Don’t know why, but I’m drained dry. Got no creative spark, even when I dig down deep. The only thing down there, in the place where there USED to be a creative spark, is a pile of smoldering embers, soggy and wet from too many days of rain, rain, and more rain.
So, in the absence of brilliance, here’s a list of boring random thoughts…
1. I just finished reading “Secret Life of Bees”. MAN I wish I could write like that. (Yup, for those of you who were wondering, that was one of my purchases with my birthday money.)
2. Tonight, after a long and frustrating evening, in which it seemed the only way I was interacting with my children was in the form of argument, I walked into the kitchen and heard the song Marcel had playing. “How could I live without you” – by Trisha Yearwood. That was one of the songs we danced to at our wedding. Right there, in the kitchen, tonight, we danced again. The kids were in bed, and it was just him and I in the kitchen. Yeah, go ahead and smile, ’cause it was a nice moment between two people who might forget sometimes, but after 12 years, are still pretty crazy about each other. And in the words of Trisha… How could I live without him? There was one day when I thought I might have to learn to live without him, but thank God, I didn’t have to.
3. We’ve been doing interviews for one of the director positions at work this week. We’ve done six and have one more to go. Part of me loves being on THIS side of the table – getting to ask the questions and watching how people struggle to present themselves in the right light. What makes them answer the way they do? And why is that I form an opinion of a person almost before they’ve finished answering the first question? Do those opinions have anything to do with reality? But there’s another part of me that finds this completely exhausting. And by the sixth interview, I have a heck of a time trying to keep them all straight. And then, the other part of it is having some empathy for the person on the other side of the table. All of the people we interviewed are from different cities and most from different countries, and so all of them have probably had to have conversations with their families – “if I get this job, we’ll have to move away from home.” And yet, only one of them will get it, and so the others will have to live with the disappointment, and tell their families that no, mommy/daddy didn’t get the job this time. That’s the part where I don’t really like having their future in my hands.
4. PLEASE somebody make the rain go away. That’s ENOUGH already! I got soaked and muddy biking home from work today, and I just wanted to crawl into the bathtub and CRY!
5. If I can JUST survive next week (board meetings, team retreat that I have to lead, major project deadlines) I MIGHT actually be able to take a couple of days off. Oh, I sure do hope so!
6. Somebody said to me today (not one of the people we were interviewing, by the way) “If you don’t have passion for something, then you shouldn’t be doing it. Find someone else who can do it better.” It’s not entirely practical, ’cause there are LOTS of things we have to do that don’t have anything to do with passion, but I think he’s partly right. But sometimes you just have to trudge forward and hope the passion catches up with you.
I think I’ll go to bed now. Maybe the beauty sleep will help revive that creative spark. Or maybe not, and I’ll slug (is that a word I can use as a verb?) through another sloggy soggy day just hoping some light will appear.
By the way, hello to Glenda! Don’t know you, but I hear (from Michele) that you’re reading, and you’re welcome! If Michele likes you, I’m sure you’d be a friend of mine, ’cause Michele’s got GREAT taste!
by Heather Plett | Jun 7, 2005 | Uncategorized
My blogging energy is flagging, so I just resorted to responding to Gina’s “three things” tag.
3 names I go by:
Heather, Mom, Buddy
3 screen-names I’ve had:
maniju, hplauren, gypsywannabe
3 physical things I like about myself:
my hands, my ears, my feet (they’re nice and little and I can often find shoes in the bargain bin, ‘cause they don’t fit anyone else – unfortunately, they’re on their way to becoming my least favourite, ‘cause I’m getting old and now require custom orthotics)
3 physical things I dislike about myself:
my boobs are too big, my butt is too big, my nose is unattractive
3 parts of my heritage:
mennonite, farm-girl, Manitoban
3 things I am wearing right now:
my wedding ring, a “Make Poverty History” white band, my favourite underwear
3 favorite bands / musical artists:
U2, Jann Arden, Sarah McLachlan (ah, c’mon, can’t I say some more… The Waifs, Wailin’ Jennies, Sting… I could go on…)
3 favorite songs:
One Voice (Wailin’ Jennies), World’s on Fire (Sarah McLachlan), London Still (The Waifs)
3 things I want in a relationship:
respect, good conversations, humour
3 physical things about the preferred sex that appeal to me:
muscular legs, a good smile, eyes
3 of my favorite hobbies:
reading, writing, cycling
3 things I want to do really badly right now:
have a nap, have a hot bath, hide (can you tell I’m over-tired from having sick kids and too much work to do?)
3 things that scare me:
watching one of my children get ridiculed and knowing I can’t protect them, finding out I’m not as good at writing as I think I am, and one of my lifelong fears is getting buried alive (I read a story in the Reader’s Digest about that when I was a kid, and I’ve never quite let go of the fear)
3 of my everyday essentials:
my computer, hand lotion (‘cause my hands are ALWAYS dry), and these days, since my feet got old and wimpy, my custom orthotics for my shoes
3 careers you have considered or are considering:
writer, teacher, and this is what my grade 9 prediction was – a social worker living on a ranch (it also turns out that while I was persuing my seemingly useless BA, my mom was busy telling people I was studying social work. Turns out I’d be a lousy social worker, though 🙂
3 places you want to go on vacation:
ANYWHERE! but more specifically… Brazil, Thailand, Australia
3 kids’ names you like:
I could be boring and say Nicole, Julie, and Madeline (my kids’ names) but here are a few more… Natalie, Samuel, and… here’s one from my childhood – when I was a little girl, I always thought I’d have a daughter named Heidi
3 things you want to do before you die:
skydive (I think I might try on my 40th birthday – next year!), travel to at least 20 more countries, publish a book
3 ways I am stereotypically a boy:
I’m a lousy housekeeper, I hate the mall, I’d rather talk politics than fashion
3 ways I am stereotypically a chick:
I like to soak in a hot bath with candlelight and good music, sometimes I’d rather read a book than have sex (sorry Buddy), I worry about my kids fitting in at school
3 celeb crushes:
Liam Neeson, James Spader (something dangerous about him), Paul Newman (he may not be that hot anymore, but he’s just so noble and strong)
Anyone else want to play?
by Heather Plett | Jun 4, 2005 | Uncategorized
In case you’re not sick of Maddie stories yet, you can find one on Linda’s blog. Linda hung out with Maddie for awhile yesterday, and found it worth writing about. And while you’re there, stick around and meander through Linda’s posts – she’s a great writer and an interesting person. You’ll be glad you did.
They say it takes a village to raise a child. We’ve got a great “village” and we’re glad Linda’s a part of it 🙂 And, as you’ll see in Linda’s post, Uncle J-L’s got a unique and interesting role in that village too.
by Heather Plett | Jun 3, 2005 | Uncategorized
“Hello, my name is Heather, and I am a plant killer.” Now everybody chime in “Hello Heather.”
Is there a place for “plant killers” anonymous? I need to bare my soul. As much as it pains me to admit it, I have a black thumb. I am surrounded by green thumbs whom I love and admire – brother, sister, sisters-in-law, father-in-law, mother, co-workers, friends, blog friends, you name it – and yet, none of their abilities to charm the earth have rubbed off on me.
I love plants. I want to be surrounded by them. I couldn’t BARE to live in one of those housing developments which are devoid of green. Both houses we’ve bought have been surrounded by big, old lovely trees. Fortunately, I haven’t managed to kill the trees yet (except the one in front of our house is looking a little sickly and I fear it may have heard the rumours whispered by all the other plants and is cowering in fear of me).
Other than trees, plants enter my life, and before long, they give up theirs. I have taken possession of hundreds of plants in my lifetime, and as much as I vow to be kind to them, I kill them all. It doesn’t matter what it is – houseplant, garden plant, cactus, the plant that everyone says “there’s no WAY you can kill this one” – I have a remarkable ability to put an end to their green life on this earth. Perhaps that’s the REAL reason I like dandelions – because it’s the ONLY plant I can’t kill. You’ve gotta admire the pluckiness of a plant like THAT!
It really pains me to admit this, especially since most of the friends and family who read this blog are of the green thumb variety. I feel like there is a black mark on my personality. I even wondered about the wisdom of having children – if I can’t keep a PLANT alive, should I really take the risk of letting children enter my death-trap?
Oh, I suppose this is my cross to bear. All you plant lovers out there – please forgive me. It’s not for lack of love that these plants died. I really DO care for them – that’s the reason I stopped bringing them into my house or yard. I want them to LIVE and flourish and there seems to be little hope of that if I bring them home.
And so, I humbly acknowledge my weakness and say simply that I am forever grateful to those of you who CAN keep plants alive, because then I can at least enjoy them from a distance – on YOUR yards or in YOUR homes rather than mine.
(And if anyone out there in blogland is wondering, yes I DID manage to bring home 3 lovely daughters and have kept them all alive and healthy! So it seems my black thumb only relates to plants and not children. Whew!)
