Category: Kitchen Kaos

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Happy Birthday Tatum!

TWO MONTHS!! She was born on Thanksgiving, exactly two months ago. It is hard to believe that she has been in my life for that long…it does go fast. How do you savor each moment, however?

I have often been asked, “How does it feel to be a mom?”; or “How are you doing?” To be honest, it’s a fog! You don’t have time to assess, introspectively. How am I doing?? hmmmm. How am I doing??? How am I doing? How am I doing?

Well…

HOW:  That’s right! HOW does this work? What day is it? What time was her last feeding?

AM: I don’t have an AM. My “being” is not about ME anymore; That is actually quite freeing and satisfying. I’m tired of me anyway.

I…I am no longer I, but I do find that I must take care of “I” or I will not be around for HER.

DOING…. My doings are all about eating, sleeping, pooing, and burping. If I can, cleaning, showering and blogging.

So, “How am I doing?” I’ll get back to you in the next minute since it constantly changes.

One thing is secure: I LOVE THIS LITTLE GIRL MORE THAN I THOUGHT POSSIBLE. Looking up to celebrate her day was needed since it is so easy to get bogged down in the daily grind of … *see “DOING” above.

I love you Tatum. Thank you God for giving her to me. Please grant me wisdom in caring for her.

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The WALL….From A-Z

Recently, while perusing HOUZZ, the coolest design website besides my cousin’s design blog, I was inspired by the alphabet wall for the baby’s room. I just haven’t known what to do to decorate her already boring white space, so I’ve been in research mode. I came upon this design and realized I could do something similar! My dear mom bought wooden letters to paint white, and now we are designing each one.

The planning of the designs has been much more of a task than the actual painting process. I’m a “big picture” planner, and my mother is a “detailed” planner. She picked up a letter and just started to design it. Whereas I froze and said,”I have to see how the WHOLE thing will look before I can haphazardly pick up a letter and draw.” So it began.
We decided on 13 different designs repeated once to make 26! Now, the next step was the placement of what design goes where…
She came up with a key which looked similar to a scrabble board and off we went.
Today, I worked on the G and the U
We shall see! I’m enjoying the process, and hopefully Tatum’s wall will enjoy the letters!
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Family is messy

But they are ours. We don’t choose our families. This may be an excuse to not have to work out problems which occur because they’ll “be there no matter what.” Will they? However, being there and really BEING in relationship are two different things entirely. One can have a lifetime with brothers, cousins…even parents and not really be known or know them.

Working on friendships and love relationships seems to take precedent when conflict arises. Sadly, we search for that perfect community which might not be in our own families. Can’t this be solved by wrestling with the hard issues? There is no perfect family….not one.

This is the year of the family; my family however messy or hard it may be…I will be a true member.

 

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101: more than a number

She lived 101 years: Mary Elizabeth Borror, my grandmother, or more familiarly, Mimi.

David brought her breakfast, and she was as chipper and witty as ever. Her half-eaten oatmeal was all that was left as he returned to find her at 10:50am peacefully at rest.

Although one is never ready for someone to pass, she really was ready to go. There were no loose ends as she saw all of our family was happy and “working together.” She could leave knowing we would all be OK on this earth until we meet her; she gets to be with Jesus early!

What are some fine memories?

-lumpy cream of wheat eaten with my Snoopy spoon

-thin buttered cinnamon toast sliced in strips for ease of eating

-whipped orange juice made in the Oster blender for frothiness

-Lemon ice box dessert made especially non-dairy for me

-taking care of me during pneumonia/Marie Callendars veggie soup

-sewing my formal dresses and fitting me to a T

-Our sharing our love of poetry, pink and flowers

-EVERY painting she created I LOVED ( I was her biggest fan)

-butterfly heels for which I used to don around her house

-moving in with her when I needed her most; helping me financially

-I got to be her secretary when she was in the hospital.

There are a million more. I love you Mimi. Rest with ANGELS

10/03/1911-12/30/2012

 

 

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About Me

Tatum Isabella Knight born Thanksgiving 11/12/2012

I have been teaching 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts for about ten years now. I didn’t start out in teaching, however. Upon graduation from the University of Colorado at Boulder, I went into the corporate world and worked in sales, marketing, and then management. After doing this for about ten years, I decided I wanted to pursue my first love, and that was teaching kids. I returned to get my Masters and started teaching in West Phoenix in the public school system. At this time, I decided to continue my education and pursued my doctorate and studied critical thinking and writing! Interestingly, writing for Arizona Golf Central Magazine as the Golf Chick was no plan of mine after my education, but it has been a great use of my lack of useless golf knowledge. I find the teaching of WRITING and lately GRAMMAR to be oddly fun!

After about 8 years in the public school system, I had the exciting opportunity to come to Tesseract. This is my third year here at Tesseract, and I absolutely adore the students, staff, and families. In fact, I LOVE my job and what I get to do every day! If I can help students find an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and find the desire to succeed according to their own definitions of success, then I feel I have done my job.

My faith is extremely important to me. This strong foundation built on a relationship with God guides my life, my days, my decisions and my hopes and dreams.  Everything I do must glorify God and His will. He has blessed me with a tremendous family and incredible friendships. I also love to hang out with Coti (the best dog ever). In my free time, I swim or exercise, draw, read, and write articles.

However, all this is about to look a bit different! Tatum Isabella Knight has joyfully opened my heart and danced into my life. She was born on Thanksgiving 2012 at 6pm weighing in at 5 lb 11 ozs. Being a mom has been a dream of mine since I can remember, and now I am honored to fulfill this role with humility. For the next twelve weeks, I will soak up every waking moment with Tatum, putting aside all other priorities.

Thank you, Lord.