Dorkdom – Page 5 – The Misadventures of MHC

All To Myself

May 22, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in ASH General, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Just Fun, Mommydom, MusicIsLifeIsMusicIsLife

A.K.A. Random-assnisity.

I know that chances are, my next updates will be darker in tone, as my life runs from happy-silly to dark on a regular basis, so I decided to write a fluffy, silly little post in the hopes of making everyone laugh. I like to break up the seriousness of life with random-ass silliness, which is kind of the point of this sort of silly little post today.

So, here are 20 random ass things about MHC.

1. I’ve decided to stop my tattoo count @ nine. This means I need three more. I know what they will be and where they will go because I’m awesome.

2. I actually had the most refreshingly interesting conversation about parenting with someone who doesn’t have any kids. He has his own blog, that I would strongly suggest you check out.

3. The necklace I wear every day is the Triforce. People either ask if I love the Legend of Zelda, or if I am in the Illuminati. My answer varies depending on my mood.

4. I will never understand how Lil Wayne is a thing.

5. Before completing this blog post, I was dancing around the house, singing the song that is the title of this post. It was awesome.

6. I’m lying; my dancing was terrible and my 3yo gave me crap for the curse word.

7. I have not eaten my entire lunch by myself since my eldest daughter started eating solid food. Today is no exception.

8. I’m allergic to grass. This makes mowing my lawn difficult and I have actually lost my dog in the grass. But every time I go to mow it, it rains, so I can only assume that God doesn’t want me to mow my lawn.

9. My mom yelled @ me for letting the kids play AROUND THE CORNER. I may have laughed @ her.

10. My mom may be pissed at me.

11. I do not for the life of me understand the point of the show Adventure Time. My 6yo doesn’t get the adult humour and thinks it’s the most awesome show in the history of everything, but I stare blankly and go…WTF?

12. I will gladly use words I make up in sentences and hyperbole such as eleventy million, but don’t you dare say “Funner.”

13. I watch Sailor Moon. Sometimes my kids aren’t even awake. Sometimes I’m a loser.

14. I sometimes can’t tell my cats apart. This is why I’m glad I never had twins.

15. I have an overwhelming urge to watch Dr. Strangelove.

16. I use Listerine like that guy in My Big Fat Greek Wedding uses Windex.

17. I’m determined to own a French and English copy of Le Petit Prince.

18. To this day, I have yet to have someone “Dessine-moi une mouton.”

19. I still like boy bands. Yes, even NKOTB. No, not the new ones. Especially not the Wanted.

20. I may have convinced my youngest daughter to stay out of the basement by telling her boogey-monster lives down there and it eats anyone under the age of 5. She now yells down the basement well wishes to the boogey-monster, like “Good morning Boogey-Monster! Have a good day!”

Just a Step Away

May 19, 2013May 19, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in Dorkdom, Mommydom, My New Life As Me

Today on the way to church, my daughters made about a million wishes on dandelion fluff.

I remember as a child, I lived in a city and dandelions came few and far between, so when I saw one, I would race to it and make the most outlandish wish I could think of. I for a unicorn, to have magic powers, to become a princess, all sorts of silly things. I wanted to make that thing count.

My three year old hasn’t mastered the art of the “Don’t tell anyone or it won’t come true,” as she makes her wishes out loud. They’re all the same; “I wish the fluff would help Jesus find my best friend and bring her back to play with me forever.” My 6 year old wishes for more fluff, then screams “It came true!” like Anne Hathaway at the Oscars when she finds more fluff. My 11 year old still makes wishes and still treats them like they are sacred, not telling anyone and closing her eyes. I make wishes too, but as I’m allergic to pollen, knowing the little spores are going to become 900 more dandelions sucks some fun out of it.

I love that something so simple, like a wish on dandelion fluff can make them so happy. It’s fun, and sometimes I still make wishes. Of course, I’m old enough to know that the dandelion fluff won’t bring me a unicorn, but sometimes it’s fun to think there is some magical property in a little fluffy ball. I mentioned finding the simple joys in my last post, and a few months ago, I talked about the idea that adults should still believe in magic…just a little. While we all know that only hard work gets us where we need to be, it’s nice to think that perhaps that wish we make on a star (which I still do, me and my love of stars) will somehow get us over that last hurdle and put it all together.

So, let’s all slow down, stop the hussle and bussle of our every day lives and make a silly little wish on some dandelion fluff. Enjoy the day and the small joys that come with something that simple. You might find yourself forgetting about the lawn and smiling, remembering the small child that enjoyed doing this oh so long ago.

Steal My Sunshine

May 17, 2013May 17, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in Dorkdom, Just Fun, My New Life As Me

This is my ode to my one true love (that isn’t writing): the sun.

I love the sun! It’s so warm & happy & everything is better when it happens on a sunny day. My personal slice of Heaven is listening to my eclectic blend of music while walking in the happy sunny sun. However, I do not tan. My father’s death from melanoma requires me to be more sun conscious (also, the only thing paler than me is a corpse. I burn way too easily. The sun & I have a complex relationship).

But my joy whenever I see the sun reminds me that every day can be made exponentially better through simple pleasures. Mine is molten magma in the sky & the soothing vocals of David Cook & Matt Nathanson (today). I’m sure you have one too, whether its that glass of wine after a long day, watching puppies play, et al. I couldn’t imagine living a life where simple little joys couldn’t make me happy. Maybe I’m just easily amused.

However, everyone should find their small joy & enjoy it today. Revel in life’s smallest pleasures, for they’re so much easier to find & plentiful.

As for me, I’ll be enjoying the sunshine.

Underdog

April 30, 2013April 30, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in ASH General, Dorkdom, My New Life As Me, Relationships, Seriously WTF?, Social Media

All mornings start out awesome with early morning phone calls from the Gleason Table.

My longtime friend and fellow blogger (it’s fantastic, check it out here) always have the best conversations about a wide variety of topics. They’re pretty much the most hilarious part of my day. Today’s topic of conversation: Facebook.

I have a love/hate relationship with Facebook. I waste a lot of time on Facebook. I post a zillion photos of my daughters, etc. on Facebook. But I’ve noticed that we place too much emphasis on Facebook in our day to day lives. We use Facebook to send out feelers of former friendships as opposed to calling, we use Facebook to creep our exes because we can’t admit we still have romantic feelings for them, which holds back the healing process. We block people so that they feel rejected and, as Gleason said this morning, the more miserable you are about your life, the happier you will appear on Facebook. I know I’ve done it, during my darkest times emotionally, I’ll be as happy as a clam on Facebook. After all, if we appear happy happy on Facebook, we think we’re fooling people…and I guess to an extent, we are.

There are more than a few articles that claim that people see other people’s picture perfect Facebook lives and will feel depressed. Apparently, we start comparing our lives to the people on Facebook and feel inadequate. Knowing that we all embellish our lives on Facebook, why wouldn’t we assume that someone else is doing the same? Why do we put so much stock in Facebook? Why do we assume that everything on Facebook means something?

It's going great Facebook, thanks for asking. — It’s going great Facebook, thanks for asking.

Facebook was designed to keep us in touch with each other, but we use it as a legal form of stalking and an essential pissing contest to see who can pretend to have the best life while keeping tabs on people we claim we don’t care about and trying to pretend to all of our coworkers, etc. that our lives are super awesome when in reality, they are average, just like yours and mine. So, let’s stop comparing our lives to each other on Facebook and using it to act like we’re soooooo happy. Let’s stop creeping the people we left behind, whether it’s a friend we comment on every few months or that ex we can’t get out of our head and actually call or text them and begin working on those relationships.

Oh…and stop sharing memes that say if you share it, the dying kid will get a $1 for hospital bills. That’s just stupid too.

PS Because I’m a dork…follow us on Facebook!

For The Nights I Can’t Remember

March 30, 2013April 1, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Photography, Dorkdom, Mommydom, My New Life As Me

“Mommy, why do you take so many photos?”

My 6yo asked me this today after I took about four photos of her in line waiting for the Easter Bunny. I told her its because she’s so pretty. But I do take a million pictures & showcase them on my various social networking sites (FB, Twitter, Instagram).

The reason is simple. The Notebook.

***Before you start with “God Dammit MHC, haven’t you drawn enough parallels to the Notebook,” hear me out***

The idea that I could end up forgetting my entire life freaks me out. I couldn’t imagine having ALS & forgetting the moments I hold most dear. Almost all of my favourite gifts to give are photos. They adorn my walls. I gave my one of my best friends a photo frame with every photo of her & her wife for Xmas. I gave another a frame for his desk of all of us when he got a new shift. My girls once made a book full of photos for someone they loved. When you look @ photos, you’re instantly transported back to that memory (I do the same thing with music. Certain songs remind me of certain moments & will always be attributed to that moment. I mentioned a few in a previous post.)

Not to mention there are so few photos of my childhood. No birthdays, no school photos, nothing. My childhood is a traumatic blur. I don’t want my daughters to have the same thing. I want them to laugh @ their baby photos & look back on trips to the park, old friends, etc. Maybe that’s why it’s hard to look back on my childhood & remember anything good, because there isn’t a single photo to remind me.

Bad memories linger like scabs we pick at while good ones fade to the background. That’s why photos are so important. It’s easy to forget that day at the park playing in the water, that hilarious time you goofed off in class, or that trip to the art gallery, but the fights linger on.

So, I take as many photos as possible so I can remember all of those days & nights & random moments that would otherwise fade to the back of my mind. Because as much as I don’t want to admit it, I’m going to get old & my mind will weaken & some of the moments that I hold dearest will fade. That is why I take so many pictures, so that I’ll have them, long after the moment is gone.

Who Knew

March 29, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in Dorkdom, My New Life As Me, Seriously WTF?

As part of my never ending quest to feel less blah, I decided to take a Career Aptitude Test!

I answered 485 questions of awesomeness. They ranged from my intergity, poise, intellect, promptness, etc.

I'm going to post some of the my answers, because they are amazeballs. — I’m going to post some of the my answers, because they are amazeballs.

So, I spent 25 minutes answering these various questions, in the hopes that maybe I could find a super cool new career that would help me find some sort of direction.

I was so excited to find out what my super cool new career path would be.

And I got the results!

It took 485 questions for you to figure that out test? My friends could have told you that in 1/2 a second!

My ideal job: MEDIA relations!

So…what I learned (aside from the fact that I will never get that 25 minutes of my life back), is that maybe I actually do know what I’m doing. Maybe the problem isn’t that I’m on the wrong path, it’s that I know all of the answers, it’s just waiting for the answers to work themselves out that’s frustrating me. Maybe I have a lack of patience…or a lack of follow-through. Maybe I just need to be smarter and start looking for media positions that will help me grow as a writer, not keep me stagnant. Maybe I need to pursue a different type of journalism. Maybe I need to start taking some risks with my writing, which will pull me out of the professional doldrums.

Maybe the problem is just that I rely too much on wanting the world to bend to what I want on my time, in my way in a tangible way that I understand, when in reality, sometimes you just have to let things figure themselves out on their own. I’m in this constant fight to control every little thing that goes on around me in the hopes that I can maintain some sort of independence, but in reality, all I’m doing is pulling myself further into the sinkhole because the world doesn’t work that way. My hippie friend always tells me that sometimes I have to trust that my gut instincts are right and stop doubting that things are coming together because I cannot see them coming together and we have to have faith that the universe will put everything as it should be when it’s supposed to, not when Princess MH demands it. Maybe that’s my problem. Maybe I need to work on being patient and letting things happen as they should, not because I’m growing antsy. Maybe I should trust my gut instincts instead of allowing things like aptitude tests and even the opinions of those around me influence my path and start carving out the life I want for myself and my daughters. Maybe I should start trusting my own judgment instead of constantly hoping those around me approve. Maybe?

Mirrors

March 21, 2013March 21, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Mommydom, Quotable Quotes and Potpourri, Relationships

“One of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self…”

Yesterday marked the birthday of one of the greatest minds in the history of everything; Mr. Rogers.

Yes, Mr. Rogers was a freaking genius. He believed in handling things in his life with quiet honesty, talking to children like they were actual people, and helping them understand the world with gentle guidance and patience, something the modern world is missing. Mr. Rogers was a genuinely good man, who loved God, wore sweaters made by his mother and was devoted to his wife until his passing in 2003. He was arguably one of the most beautiful souls on Earth and I’m so glad his family decided to continue his legacy by recreating the world of make believe on Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, a favourite of my three year old.

Mr. Rogers believed that kids could spot a phoney from a mile away, which is true (nothing is crueller IMO than hurting a child. If a child truly loves you, adores you, and thinks you’re special and you hurt them or walk out on them, then you should reevaluate who you are as a person, because you’re probably horrible), so he opted to be as honest and kind as he could, so that children knew he cared about them. He taught them such things as it’s okay to get mad, as long as we don’t hurt people. It’s okay to be hurt and it’s okay to feel sad. Mr. Rogers helped kids to understand that it’s okay to have feelings.

Mr. Rogers also believed that love was the most important thing ever. He said the greatest lesson we could teach someone is that we love them and that they were capable of being loved and giving love, something we as adults lost somewhere along the way. One thing that he wanted to remind people was “Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.” Another lesson lost on adults. Sometimes, we love people. Sometimes, they suck. Sometimes, you suck. Sometimes, we all suck. But we expect everyone to understand our flaws while rejecting the other person’s. We expect perfection while demanding acceptance.

Maybe I really am just a naive person with a child-like outlook @ the world, but I like how Mr. Rogers looks @ things. It’s okay to be angry/sad/kooky/batsh*t crazy and you’re still worthy of being loved. You’ll eff up royally and you still deserve to be loved and you can still love people even when they aren’t perfect. In fact, it’s totally okay. All of your emotions are valid and it’s okay to talk about them and kindness works so much better than cruelty. It just all sounds so much better than tearing each other apart, driving people away and doing terrible things to one another. I think I’d like the world a lot better if we adopted Mr. Rogers’s school of thought, maybe we would enjoy being neighbours.

Here By Me

March 18, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in Dorkdom, Mommydom, MusicIsLifeIsMusicIsLife, My New Life As Me, Quotable Quotes and Potpourri

“I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living.”

One of my best friends hates going out with Drew and I.

Apparently…we’re…children.

Drew & I are just silly. We sing along with the mall music, skip, order our Yogen Fruz in a Swedish accent and firmly believe in the area code rule, where we get to act as ridiculous as we want as long as we’re in a different area code. I wear a Pikachu hoodie in public (which I get a lot of compliments for, people love Pikachu) so my concern about what people think of me isn’t that high; Drew cares even less. Her logic is “What will people think?” Well, they are total strangers, so…uh…who cares?

Life isn’t that serious. While yes, there are aspects of life that should be taken seriously, like employment, or parenting (which should also be fun. We as parents need to learn to be silly, make faces and sing songs and let kids enjoy being children by getting down to their level, not the other way around) and relationships, but when we’re old and gray and on our deathbed, we’re not going to remember those moments that we paid the gas bill, or that boring trip to the mall where we bought socks and went home, or the time someone wasn’t there. We’re going to remember fun filled adventures, warm moments, love in our heart and the times someone was there. We waste time worrying what people think about choices that don’t really affect them and impact our own lives instead of doing what’s best for us and our families. We spend too much time worrying about being judged by the company we keep, even though that company may be the best person for us. My friends aren’t necessarily the “best” people in the world. Maybe their ethics aren’t the same as mine or aren’t as educated or maybe are completely insane. But they’re awesome, so meh.

Let’s stop taking life so darn seriously and enjoy it more! It’s okay to be silly, goofy and just plain weird. Not everything is this super serious moment of truth; sometimes it’s just going to the bookstore. So, let’s save the seriousness for the moments that need it and enjoy the rest of them in our own unique way.

The 2013 30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 24 & 25

March 2, 2013March 1, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, ASH General, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Quotable Quotes and Potpourri

Day 24: Describe your family dynamic as a child vs. now.

I have already sort of done that on Day 3 so I’ll just link it up back there. My childhood was…strange, so I’d rather not get into it.

Day 25: If you could have dinner with anyone from history, who would it be and why?

Edgar Allen Poe.

Not just because he’s my favourite author, but because he’s an interesting guy. He was a drunk who suffered from bouts of meloncholia, married his cousin and wrote a bunch of murder mysteries that were beyond amazing. We could talk about writing and get really drunk while bitching about our respective lives. It would be a hoot. As long as he didn’t knock me out cold and bury me behind a wall, I’ll be really happy.

The 2013 30 Day Blog Challenge Day 16

February 25, 2013February 24, 2013 by maryhelenc, posted in ASH Blog Projects, Celebrity Fluff, Dorkdom, Mommydom, My New Life As Me

Day 16: List your five greatest accomplishments.

1. Becoming a mom. My road to becoming a mom was not easy. I literally had to earn the right to become a mother. I think because I had to fight for it, to earn that priviledge, that honour makes me understand what I have and appreciate it more. I’m not saying other moms don’t; but when you’ve had to fight for something, it makes you realize how much you want it, how much you love it. When you have to put yourself out there and risk everything just to have it, it makes you realize how much it means to you. Becoming a mom made me realize how much I could love another person, how important the idea of protecting and loving those who are “mine” (and nothing hurts worse than losing one that is “yours”). They are “mine” and I have an obligation to protect them, teach them, love them, and hope I don’t screw it up along the way. So far, I think I’ve done pretty well.

2. My journalism diploma. That is my baby. I worked my butt off to get it and achieved every goal I had for myself professionally since I was eight years old. That piece of paper is my professional world. It’s my livelihood, my passion, hanging on my wall.

3. Interviewing Amanda Marshall. Everyone wants to meet their idol; I got to do the thing I loved the most in the whole wide world while talking to my idol. From her wishing Yogi well on an audition to her refreshingly honest answers, it was the greatest day of my career and not much will touch it.

4. My name in print. All of it, every single time. My byline is the greatest thing in the whole wide world to me that is not one of my children. It still amuses me to this day like the first time. I love my job more than anything else in the entire world (again, that is not my daughters) and nothing, not even Channing Tatum offering to run away with me, Ryan Gosling and Chris Hemsworth would be as amazing as seeing my name in print beside something I’ve written. When someone tells me they liked it, I’m even happier.

5. I’m still alive. Sometimes, when life kicks our asses, we need to hold onto this; we’re still alive. My life hasn’t always been easy, sometimes it’s been awful and horrible and really sucky, but I’m still alive. That means there’s a tomorrow to look forward to! For every horrible day, there’s an amazing one coming and sometimes we need to look forward to those amazing days and remember that we are one of the lucky ones; we’re still here.