This post is repurposed from August 2005. I could say that I was looking for ideas for a post and this made me smile. (true) Or I could say that I am gearing up for my company’s sponsorship of the Green Blogger Soiree tonight at BlogHer and thought reuse & recycle is my mantra of the day. (also true)

Back in August 2005, I bought a book for my dad. He really wanted it. 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America (And Al Franken Is #37) Anyway, I gave it to him at the time — but wanted to think of an occasion. So I searched for little known holidays and found out a few things. Starting in 2005, there is no longer a Duran Duran Day or a Clown Day. I’m stunned.

August Monthly Observances
Black Business Month
Children’s Eye Health & Safety Month
Children’s Vision & Learning Month
Happiness Happens Month (it happened for me)
May Your Reading Be A Haven Month
National Immunization Awareness Month
National Inventor’s Month
National Toddler Month
National Win With Civility Month
Spinal Muscular Atrophy Awareness Month

August Weekly Observances
Simplify Your Life Week: 1-7 (I wish I hadn’t missed that one)
Exhibitor Appreciation Week: 1-5
World Breastfeeding Week: 1-7
Psychic Week: 1-5 (but you knew that)
National Fraud Awareness Week: 4-10 (coincidence that it overlaps with the previous holiday week?) Actually this is sponsored by the FCC and has to do with phone & mail fraud.
Knights of Columbus Family Week: 6-14
National Scrabble Week: 7-12 (I love Scrabble. But have you tried Quiddler?)
Don’t Wait! Celebrate! : 8-14
Elvis Week: 8-16
Kool-Aid Days: 12-14 (wasn’t there a book about this?)
National Resurrect Romance Week: 14-20
Thanks For All The Gifts Week: 14-20 (you shouldn’t have!)
Weird Contest Week: 15-21
National Aviation Week: 16-22
Be Kind To Humankind Week: 25-31 (just this week?)

August Daily Observances
Girlfriend’s Day: 1
Respect For Parents: 1
Rounds Resounding Day: 1
National Night Out: 2
National Pretty Is As Pretty Does Day: 2
Coast Guard Day: 4
Braham Pie Day: 5
Left-handers Day 13
National Garage Sale Day: 13
National Underwear Day: 13 (oh, no I forgot!)
International Nagging Day: 14
National Navajo Code Talkers Day: 14
Best Friends Day: 15
National Relaxation Day: 15
World Day of Reiki: 15
Joe Miller’s Joke Day: 16 (This English comic actor died in 1738. He inspired the first book of jokes, Joe Miller’s Jokes)
Material Girl Day: 16
True Love Forever Day: 16 (On this day in 1965, Francesca and Robert, the main characters of “The Bridges of Madison County,” first met)
Meaning of “Is” Day: 17
Sandcastle Day: 17
Bad Poetry Day: 18
National Personal Chef’s Days: 18-20
Aviation Day: 19
Root Beer Float Day: 19
Bamboo Day: 20
Vinegar Day: 20
Poets Day: 21
Southern Hemisphere Hoodie Hoo Day: 21 (I need more info)
Be An Angel Day: 22
National Punctuation Day: 22 (why you ask would that be important)
International Day for the Remembrance of Slave Trade and its Abolition: 23
Kiss and Make-Up Day: 25
Women’s Equality Day: 26 (whew whoo – we get a whole day!)
The Duchess & Who Wasn’t Day: 27
Sing Out Day: 27
Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day: 28
Crackers Over The Keyboard Day: 28
More Herbs, Less Salt Day: 29
Love Litigating Lawyers Day: 31

It’s been 3 months and a week since we moved into our house. We’re totally settled. Sure there are a few spaces that could use some art, some attention, some rearranging. But overall? We’re settled.

If you know me, you also know that I’ve been settled for a long time. Since like day four.

I am not saying I got this place set up alone. I did not. I had my sister-in-law, my mother, my BFF, and lots of other support. Lots.

I’m not great at accepting help. But I did accept help. A lot of it.

And as I sit and look around, I cannot believe it. Really, I can’t.

I mean, really. Close your eyes and imagine the space where you’d be happiest. In the space that feels exactly, perfectly aligned with how you imagine the most comfortable, coziest, warmest, most peaceful home in the world. Top that with sharing it with the people you love the most.

And there. That’s it. That’s how I feel.

I’m living in the dream I always had. A home that feels like home.

My dream home has no curtains on the windows. And there are a lot of windows. So when it’s dark out, the whole feeling changes. I can see the sun setting through the trees as I sip my wine and cuddle with my boys. It’s peaceful and calm.

And when it’s light out, the light dances through the windows into each room. It feels entirely different. Vibrant and alive.

I used to dream.

And now I just have to look around me.

The good news is that I got a new camera. Yes, I replaced the Olympus digital that I “lost” in our move this Spring.

I don’t lose things. Really, I don’t. So this has been really upsetting to me. I have looked. And looked. And looked.

The camera is nowhere to be found.

Sigh.

So I’ve been living with my iPhone camera only for 3 months now.

And I need to mentioned that EVERY SINGLE DAY, I pined for my little Olympus.

So this weekend, I found one on super-duper sale and bought it. And yesterday, all charged up and ready to go, we took a family road trip. I couldn’t wait to start taking pictures.

But I had photo block. Kind of like writers block, but with a camera. I couldn’t decide what to take pictures of. I kept looking through the lens. And not snapping.

As the day progressed, I started doing a little better. I tried. But most of the photos were trash.

Trash, I say.

But, not being a quitter, I kept trying.

I didn’t get many great shots. But I got a few.

I’ll keep shooting until I get my mojo back.

My sister, Amy, loved me when we were kids. I guess I loved her, too. But she was little. She didn’t understand. I know I wasn’t nice enough to her. And I’ve been working for years to make it up to her. And sadly, she’s hours away. I don’t see her enough. I have regrets. I should have tried harder. I love her daughters. I love her. And I’m going to tell this story of a memory of my baby sister and maybe, just maybe, I’ll win the DC Cupcakes contest. If I do, I’ll buy her something she’d never buy herself. (I already have an idea!)

So my little sister.

My sister, Amy.

She was always the sweet one.

And one day, she bought me a book. It was one of those little books. Like the Joan Walsh Anglund books. But not. It was about sisters. How they loved and supported each other. It was insightful and beautiful.

And I did not appreciate it.

Not nearly enough.

I remember thinking that it did not pertain. To us.

And though I loved her, I could not relate. I was the big one. She was the little one.

She should look up to me.

And she did.

Was I deserving of that? In hindsight? Clearly not as much as I thought. That’s for sure.

And my baby sister was the sweetest of all sweet. Would never hurt a fly. Would do anything for me.

She was an angel.

And I.

I did not appreciate her. At least not enough.

But somewhere, I must have known. Because I saved that book. I saved it through college. Through my apartments – one every year for 6 years. Through my failed marriage. Through my move out of that part of my life.

I saved that book as I bought my own home. Alone, as an independent woman. And I saved it as I married my husband of 17 years and as we moved halfway across the country to Nebraska.

And I saved it all the way back to the East Coast after my father got sick and we moved back to this part of the world. And I saved it as I had 3 sons. And into my new home.

And recently.

Very recently.

I gave that book to my baby sister, now the mother of 3 amazing daughters, and told her I loved her and was sorry I wasn’t a better sister.

And we hugged. And cried.

We are different, my sister and I.

But I love her. For exactly who she is. And that? That will never change.

I know she loves the book I gave back to her. I know she knows what it stands for.

My sister.

She is a religious woman. Raising a religious family.

And I respect that.

When they come to visit, we prepare meals that work with their guidelines. We buy new pots and pans and read all the labels.

So they’ll be comfortable.

I hope I have many more years to be a good sister to my sister.

Because I love her.

And because I owe her.

This is an adaptation of several recipes I found online. It was fantastic!

I’m writing down my mother’s day resolutions.

Wait, you don’t do that? I’ve decided that January 1 is just too damn early in the year to know what is reasonable to promise. And by the end of June, the year is halfway over so it seems a little lame. So May. May works.

While I try not to be overly ambitious, I do want to challenge myself a little.

So here goes:

Finish unpacking. 3 boxes plus some personal organization left. Not bad.
Make more time for hiking, playing, goofing off with the kids.
Ride my bike.
Keep up with the laundry. (Okay, this is ridiculous, but a girl can dream.)
Play with my iPhone less.
Learn something new. Maybe Norwegian? Still thinking. Suggestions?

And of course, there are other things that now that I’m writing it all down I realize that some of it is just not for public consumption.

But I’m going to do my best.

At least until Father’s Day.

It’s a good thing Andrew’s such a good cook. I really don’t have it in me.

I did, however, make some butt-kicking desserts for seder tomorrow night.

Baking, I can do. Maybe it’s just because it’s more structured. More mathematical.

And maybe it’s just because I love bread and sweets so much.

Just sayin’

I don’t do product reviews on this site. While at BlissDom I talked to lots of people who do. Some people get samples only; some get paid.

In the name of full disclosure, this bag of Poppycock was given to me in my BlissDom conference bag. So I did not pay for it.

Last night, I had a few pieces. Tucked the bag in my carry-on so I’d have a little snack for my travels back home.

While sitting at the airport in Nashville, I had a few pieces. And a few more. I typed and typed and snacked and snacked.

Then all of a sudden, I realized I was scraping the bottom of the bag.

Oops.

Fortunately, when I checked the nutrition information on the back of the empty bag, I saw it was only 160 calories.

Phew.

Oops.

That would be per serving.

No worries. How many servings could there be in the bag?

Seven.

That’d be 1,120 calories.

My best decision? Nah.

But man, oh, man that stuff is good.

(Ellen, Libby, Kristin, et.al: Don’t tell Cyrus!)

(a poem by my youngest son)

I am smart and a gourmet,
I wonder how it feels to be famous,
I hear bacon sizzling,
I see computers all the time,
I want to be a chef,
I am smart and a gourmet.

I pretend to be indifferent,
I feel happy when I eat,
I care about my religion,
I worry about the environment,
I cry when people die,

I am smart and a gourmet.
I understand the subjects in school,
I say that I am intelligent,
I dream that I will become an artist,
I try to play saxophone well,
I hope the Saints win the SuperBowl,
I am smart and a gourmet.

photo by mmackinven

I’m leaving tomorrow for a business trip. Before you go feeling all sorry for me, it’s a really, really nice business trip.

See you on the flip side!