Harry didn’t start school until the 7th, and during those first seven days, we played a lot, made some resolutions  I’ve already taken a class to fulfill one of those resolutions), then I last-second went to CES for a random week of weirdo Las Vegasness, then The Padrino visited, and then I got the flu that wouldn’t end. Yay. And now, 23 days later, this year has so far been nothing like I expected.

In fact, it’s basically been an unexpected hodgepodge of unexpectedness.

It started out innocently enough. Jenny and her family came over for a low-key New Year’s Day. Normal. Point of interest: Jenny is solidly scared to death of the number 13, so this being 2013 and all, she couldn’t say the year out loud as if it were Voldemort. So she named 2013, The Library. Like, today is 1/23/The Library. She has a somewhat sane explanation of this here. But here’s the gist:

Everything that happens in the library is just preparation for the next year.  That means if you mess (edited to be Rated G) something up this year, it’s fine.  This whole year is just practice.  The library is made for that.  Maybe you spend the year writing a book no one will ever read.  Maybe you spend the year recuperating from last year.  Maybe you burn the Thanksgiving turkey and forget an important birthday.  It’s okay.  It happened in The Library.  It was just practice for next year.  

She goes on in her wrap up…and this is what we talked about on that first day of this new year….about how we could use a year in the library. A place in time where we’re just getting ready for things, where everything doesn’t have to be exactly perfect. A year of studying up, sorting through, learning more. A year where we give ourselves a bit of a break and just do our best.

If that’s the case, then I’m not 23 days behind. I’m 342 days ahead in getting ready for what’s next.

So here’s to that. If these first days are any predictor, this year is going to be weird and full and awesome. I have a lot to write about.

Expect the unexpected.

Cross 3 Things off the Christmas List with 1 Smart Idea. 

8 Cute Ways to Wrap Kids Gifts : How to Make Clothes Gifts Less Lame / More Awesome For Kids

10 Shiny Items to Distract Your Child From Weird Plastic Items

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Photo from Wed Over Heels.

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How To Raise a Thankful Kid

How To Raise A Kid That Gives Back

A Quick Note to Elf On the Shelf Overachievers

10 Holiday Cards I’d Send If I Actually Sent Holiday Cards

I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I’m looking for a silver lining anywhere I can get it.

And we’re also looking for things to do.

Luckily, we had planned weeks ago to do something good this week. We were going to drop off some much needed, wanted, and hoped for items to the Austin Children’s Shelter because AT&T gave $35,000(!!!) at Camp Mighty to purchase gifts for charities. An incredible gift. And incredible timing.

So Saturday, Harry and I loaded up and headed to an Austin AT&T store. We had 1/10th of that $35K to spend at one stop (35 $100 gift cards that had been making me nervous since I got them in Palm Springs)…. which is probably at least 10 times more than we usually spend on anything ever. Harry was confused.

His response: “So we are spending $3,500 on kids we don’t know?”

I explained to him what was happening, what we were going to do. That it would kind of be like how we drop things off at the community library thrift store, only we were picking up brand new things from a store and taking them to children who need them. He is seven. So he was skeptical about why other kids were getting new electronics and wanted to know more about these kids. I tried to explain as delicately as I could that these were kids who had experienced significant loss, trauma, abuse or neglect in their lives. And we wanted to give them something they really wanted so that they knew people out there cared about them.

His response: “Why would anyone hurt kids?”

Exactly.

I hadn’t told Harry what had happened in Connecticut the day before. I wasn’t planning on telling him. Not yet. Like I said, he’s seven. However, we usually do talk about almost everything, so it felt weird not telling him. On the other hand, I knew a lot of his friends and schoolmates weren’t being told, and I didn’t want him to be the one to tell them. And then also I didn’t want to set up a situation where I told him about it but then said he shouldn’t talk about it or tell his friends … because that just creates weirdness on about four levels. Complicated. So I just didn’t say anything.

But I was thinking about it. I was thinking about it as we walked next door to a giant coffeeshop to get some treats while they packed up all of the goods. And I was really conflicted about not talking about it.

The New York Times was talking about it though…with large photos on its cover. And there’s a New York Times stand in the coffee line. The child lives in this world and he can read. So we unexpectedly had a conversation about what happened the day before in Newtown, Connecticut. Right there in the coffeeshop.

His response, “I want to help.”

We couldn’t help the kids we were thinking about that day, but we were going to help some others we’d never met.

They’re just electronics, but if it takes electronics to help these kids know someone out there cares about them…that someone is thinking of them and wants to give them something to help in some small way, then so be it.

The whole day was a turning point for us. I know we’re all looking for things to do, and they really are all around. I want to make sure I don’t forget to look for them. I know a lot of people are posting about Mr. Rogers quote on “Look for the Helpers.” Well, whenever possible, I want to be one of those helpers. It’s all I can think to do.

Of course there are a million ways to help. Here’s one. AT&T, is partnering with the Make a Wish Foundation to grant a wish every day for 28 days through their Wish-A-Day Sweepstakes. Wishes with the most votes win, so if you have a worthy wish (or know of someone who does) and a Twitter account, go do that. Go make that happen.

Let’s help.

I was in San Francisco on Friday and woke up at 5 am, unable to get back to sleep. I crept downstairs for coffee and found myself in a quiet, magical world full of Christmas ornamentation, gingerbread delights and Holiday music from the 40s. I was the only one up in the Fairmont Hotel lobby…and I felt like Eloise. Or someone from Downton Abbey. Or little orphan Annie in a Warbucks palace. It was a magical morning.

Fast forward a few hours.

I heard about Friday morning’s tragedy exactly two minutes before I boarded the four-hour flight home. While my usual first reaction (besides shock and confusion) is to dive in and read everything about this unfathomable tragedy..as if that would help me understand how in the hell this happened…that was rendered impossible on a flight with no wifi. So I was saved from myself. I was up in the air for hours with no information. In the end, it was a gift.

I had this prayer in my head the entire flight and I haven’t been able to stop saying it all weekend.

And I don’t really want to stop saying it ever.

Friday was a series of touchstone moments for me. I’m sure we all feel that in our own ways. But I think it was a reminder for me about the beauty of sacred spaces, the intense significance of the things we hold sacred, and the power of acknowledging all of it.

I think it also has to do with being in a mindset of thankfulness. I need to work on this. And today I talk about how to raise a thankful kid over at Hitting Refresh. I’m learning, I’m learning.

I hope your day is full of peace and thanksgiving. And really, it can be, because we can still choose that for ourselves. No matter how ridiculous things are getting, we can still create that sacred space and choose to live in it. I believe that.

Make me an instrument of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.

Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there is despair, hope.

Where there is darkness, light.

Where there is sadness, joy.

Prayer of Saint Francis of Assisi

So Jenny and I were going to fly on the flying trapeze. And have you met us? It was a terrible idea.

But then again, we thought it was a brillant idea! Because of course we did.

So we arrived, ready to go…Jenny in her tutu and me in all black. We were going to be freaking trapeze stars. Or, at least that’s what Jenny thought….she was wearing the tutu after all. And as the saying goes ignorance is bliss… and Jenny was super blissful. I, on the other hand, was pretty darn nervous. See, I’d done this before, only not really because I couldn’t do it. And I knew what was ahead…the scary ladder…the knee-buckling platform…the abject failure. Who looks forward to that? Who enjoys uncomfortable, terrifying crap?

Jenny does.

But that’s an entirely different story. 

So back to the trapeze. Before I could get back on the trapeze, I had to do the stupid practice trapeze that I couldn’t do last time. The first stage of my failure. The place where I may or may not have pulled a hamstring. No one’s exactly sure. But for sure I knew I couldn’t do it. I started to explain this to James the Instructor (who I swear to God is Spiderman) and reason with him that I couldn’t do this part and I could only even maybe possibly do it in the air and this was never going to work and just shatter any confidence I actually had… but he was having none of it. He said of course I could do it and he forced me to attempt to hoist myself up and position myself into a hanging knee pose. He was like, ‘Girl, you can totally do this.’

And he was right. I totally did it.

I did it!

But now it was time to climb up and do it in the air.

While swinging. And holding up my Italian weight with my bird arms. Awesome.

I was nervous. Seriously nervous. And I don’t get nervous for anything. Sing naked in front of 10,000 people, no problem. Do pretty much anything else the first time, no problem. Do something that I’ve proven already that I can’t do,  that I’ve already failed doing…big problem. I was literally shaking.

So I swung.

And I couldn’t do the knee hang. Again.

I totally knew it.

Now it was Jenny’s turn.

She was delighted. And nervous. And confident.

My sweet friend with debilitating arthritis and all kinds of fears…she was fearless.

And then she basically fell off the platform.

But she didn’t die.

In fact, she flew.

Her story is beautiful…also, completely hilarious. Like I couldn’t breathe I was laughing so hard. But I’ll let her tell you that story.

You’ll really reeeeally want to buy her next book.

And because I didn’t do it the first time, I had to try again. Shoot.

So I climbed the stupid scary ladder again.

And I jumped off the platform again.

And this time….

This time I did it.

I DID IT!

I tucked my knees up and in and over and I completely did the knee hang!

And I let go. I let it all go. And I swung through the air on my knees. On the sixth try…with the greatest of ease.

I proved to myself that I could do the flying trapeze.

And next time, next time, we’re bringing the kids so they can see first-hand how brave their moms are.

And Harry can see that this Harrison girl is not only the fragile, non-athletic type who too easily breaks her tailbone in the kitchen…I’m also the amazing girl on the flying trapeze.

That’s what he comes from.

And that’s what girls can do.

And now the fun part.

You can win a scary stupid extravagance. An exhilarating, extreme, amped-up experience. A bold challenge even.

Remember, I was taking the Jingos! Live Bold Challenge from Pepperidge Farm to do something daring. Bold. Extreme! And I did it! (and by it, I mean a flying trapeze knee hang! What?!) So now you the opportunity to win an experience Cloud 9 Living experience valued at $150. Sound fun? Visit Cloud 9 Living and make sure there are some activities offered near you. Leave a comment about what you’d do to LIVE BOLD and I’ll randomly pick a winner next Friday, December 21. What a Christmas gift, right? Do it. Do it!

But first, let’s recap: You may remember that I broke my tailbone from walking, then I got a black eye from sleeping., then I decided to climb up a very tall ladder. It’s all here. Caught up? Okay! Let’s do this.

So I was all signed up to take a flying trapeze class. Me and my friend Liz and her friend Joy. We were going to rock it. And for whatever reason, perhaps ignorance being bliss and all, I wasn’t scared, wasn’t nervous, and was completely sure of myself. Etc.

That was all true until I put this out on Facebook. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to tell the world this was about to happen…and my mother, God bless her, left a clever comment to be careful because Harrison women don’t have arms strong enough to support our bodies or something. And she’s completely right. And it completely freaked me out. Because what the hell did I think I was doing? Why would I ever think I had the physical capability to hoist myself up onto a 30-pound skinny bar, while flying 50 feet off the ground? Could my body even do that? Could that even be possible? If you’re a thinker, you know that if you’re asking yourself these questions, then the answer is no.

Because almost everything about everything is all in your head. And if you’re wondering if you can’t, you probably can’t.

I’m not even an athlete and I know this. So I began the process of reverse psyching myself out by screaming in my own brain “YOU CAN TOTALLY DO THIS!” But honestly, I didn’t believe myself.

We went on the practice bar to practice tucking in our knees before we went up. Here’s what we were going to attempt to do. This is my friend Liz. She is going to demonstrate for you.

Liz stood on a really high platform.

Then she jumped off.

Then she tucked her knees up on the bar.

While she was swinging in the air.

Then she swung by her knees.

Then she was caught by another flying guy.

But we weren’t event at this point yet.

We were on the ground, on a little bar that was about 8 feet off the ground, and we were attempting to do the first practice tuck-your-knees-up-onto-the-bar-and-hang-from-it move. That’s all that we were doing.

And I completely couldn’t do it. I couldn’t’ tuck my knees in tight enough to get it done. The instructor guy was all, “you’re right there, you’re basically doing it, just do it!”

But my friends, basically doing something, and completely doing something are two very different things. This I know.

However, they continued to assure me that I could do it, that it was way easier to tuck and hang from three stories up because of the centrifugal force or the barometric pressure or something…and I completely believed them enough to start climbing the ladder.

Then I stood up on the platform.

And got ready to jump.

And then I jumped.

And I attempted to put my legs up on the bar. But then I stopped doing that.

And I just kept swinging.

Then I did a back flip off the bar.

And I landed in the net.

Success!

Sort of.

The instructor guy was all, ‘Dude, you were totally there. You were in motion, you were on your way, you were doing it, and then you just, uh, stopped. You stopped. It’s that simple. You can do this. Just don’t stop.”  Wiser words have never been ignored.

I tried this three more times, and I completely did not do the tuck and knee hang. I believed I couldn’t do it, and I was right.

I was conflicted. On one hand, I was happy that I attempted it, but also bummed that my brain was superseding my body. I swore I would do whatever it took to help my brain believe my body could do it. I would commit to a yoga routine, I would eat more salad, I would figure out what else my brain needed to have faith in my body. Because before this all started, I didn’t care about this, I didn’t know I wanted it. But now I had to do it. I needed to do it. I just had to figure out how. I wasn’t going to talk about it, I wasn’t going to tell anyone, and I was just going to privately figure out a way to make this happen. Oh this story was not over!

But then again, and on the other hand, this story could totally be over. It was fine. Enough. It wasn’t a total failure. I climbed up (four times), I jumped off the platform (four times), I flew through the air (four times), I attempted a trick (four times) and I back flipped off on the net (four times). It could have been worse. I could have fallen and missed the net….

Which brings me to the next part of the story.

The next week, I was talking to Jenny on the phone. I hadn’t shared with her my failed attempt or anything…we were just talking as we do about who knows what, knitting or some other inane item, when she said, “You know what I’ve always wanted to do… trapeze lessons.”

So I signed us both up for a class right then.

Tune in next week for Act III. It’s the best part.

Remember, I’m taking the Jingos! Live Bold Challenge from Pepperidge Farm to do something daring. Bold. Extreme! If I do it (and by it, I mean a flying trapeze knee hang!) at the end, I’m/they’re going to give you the opportunity to win an experience Cloud 9 Living experience valued at $150.00. I’m going to do it. I’m accepting their challenge. Come back on Thursday for event more adventure (and the contest and stuff).

August 18, 2012: The day had barely started. I was wearing some flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt. Barefoot. In the kitchen. Making coffee while also making Harry a bowl of cereal and negatively responding to his impassioned and desperate plea to never ever be forced to have to ever eat cereal again ever. The next thing I knew, I abruptly and violently crashed down onto the floor, ass first, my hands still holding the bowl of cereal, as milk and Cheerios flew through the air and landed on everything.

So I broke my tailbone.

In my kitchen.

The next day, I got on a plane for Alt NYC.  So here’s your first learning: I do not recommend flying four hours to a conference where  you routinely  interact with people, frequently walk across the city and generally move around the day after you have broken your tailbone. Just a tip.

August 28, 2012: I go to The Salt Lick with Wendi and Laurie and one of them brings up an opportunity she has to go on an extreme adventure to promote extreme crackers, Jingos. I say, Extreme! I laugh that I can not handle extreme because for me, extreme is walking in my own kitchen. Danger! Adventure! Walking!

September 18, 2012: My tailbone is still killing me. Like really hurting. I recovered from an emergency C-section much more quickly than I am from this. When I was 29, I was in a severe car accident where I lost my mind and broke both of my hips. And that seemed less painful. What gives, body broken in my kitchen?

September 20, 2012: I woke up with a black eye. From sleeping. I got a black eye from sleeping.

So obviously, when you break bones from walking and get black eyes from sleeping, the next thing you should do…

You should climb up a very high, very small ladder onto a very high platform and then jump off of it.

September 27, 2012: I signed up for Trapeze Class. No one knows why. But here’s one thing you should know, I may not have skills or coordination, but I’m always game. Always. Just out of nowhere, my friend Liz was randomly all, “Hey, I want to do a flying trapeze class and I think you should want to do that too.” And because I thought she was Obi Wan or something, I was all, “Um, yeah. I never knew I totally wanted to do that but now that you mention it, I would be completely awesome at that. Brilliant.”

And then, just like that, me and my broken tailbone and black eye were all signed up and set to throw ourselves through the air on October 20, 2012.

Later that day, I got an email from a PR person at Jingos, wanting me to take the Jingos! Live Bold Challenge from Pepperidge Farm. To do something daring. Bold. Extreme. If I do it, at the end, I’m/they’re going to give you the opportunity to win an experience Cloud 9 Living experience valued at $150.00. I’m going to do it. I’m accepting their challenge. To jump off something very tall. Come back next week for more adventure (and the contest and stuff).

Tune in tomorrow next week for Part II.

I was just walking out to the car, through the gate, down the path, when plop. Incoming dive bomber pecan right in the middle of my skull. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. I feel like this is how I spent every Thanksgiving in the 80s. Outside. Kind of bored. Getting hit in the head with small objects thrown by squirrels.

We were in the country, the adults were all inside laughing and drinking coffee or bourbon and talking about taxes or whatever grownups did. My brother and boy cousins were playing football or climbing around the haunted float barns. My sister was inside being a little kid. And teenage me would just wander around the perimeter of the house, wishing I were in New York at the real parade, and probably complaining of boredom. My grandmother would always send me out with a grocery bag to “do something productive and stay out of trouble”… which when translated meant, collecting some of the pecans that were strewn about EVERYWHERE.

There are currently five giant pecan trees on the property…I can only assume that my great grandparents planted them. There were more back then, but we had to chop two large ones down because they were completely dead and in danger of falling over and killing everything in their wake. Deadly they were. But their cousins remain, housing owls and squirrels and pelting small round objects down on anything near them.

So around this time of year, the yard looks like an overachieving Easter Egg Hunt. But with pecans.

So I sent out this photo on Instagram, taken from inside my kitchen/outside the window of a tree full of pecans and people were like, ‘What? Pecans grow on trees?’ To which, I didn’t even know how to respond. To me, that question sounds like, ‘What? Is Tump a word?’ (Um, yeah, it’s a cross between tip and dump. Like, ‘Watch out, that’s about to tump over.’) Duh.

So yes. This is what pecans look like when there’s no danger of them falling on your head.

See? Green. Not ready to fall.

And this is what they look like when they can dive bomb you at any minute.

And this is what my yard looks like.

And when I get stressed out, I go outside and collect pecans.

So currently, I am rich in my pecans. Camp Mighty is happening later this week, and I’ve been trying to think of something to do to raise money for charity: water (everyone who attends camp pledges to raise $200 for charity: water) and I also wanted to do something for the Sandy Disaster Relief efforts. So I’m doing what I can with what I have: Pecans.

I’ve opened an Etsy shop (Shop con Queso) where I’m selling small batches of Texas Pecan Pralines, Texas Pecan Cookies, Spicy Texas Pecans, Texas Pecan Bourbon Balls, Toasted Texas Pecan Pesto, and Texas Pecan Pie Jam. Proceeds will go to charity: water and Occupy Sandy.

Go check it out (Shop con Queso).

It’s like all that wandering around bored time of my youth is finally finding a purpose. And at this purposeful place, we call them pecans, not peeeecans.

My great grandparents would love that I’m doing something productive with what I have.  And my grandmother would say…”At least it keeps you out of the pool hall.”

Happy Pecan Season.

Mainly, we just eat all our Halloween candy and make Sugar Skulls. Here’s how we do it.

We mix sugar, Meringue Powder (or if you can’t find that, substitute it with Cream of Tartar, it works just as well) and water

The basic mixture is 1 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of Meringue Powder, 1 teaspoon water

You mix that up and put in a Sugar Skull mold. We can get them everywhere around here…even at the grocery store. But this is Central Texas. I got mine at a little shop on South Congress in Austin. If they don’t have them around you, you can grab one online. 

Put the sugar in the mold. Almost immediately dump it out upside down on a piece of cardboard. This is really so easy. It mighty look complicated, but it’s completely not.

They’re cool, right?

Here’s where you have to plan: These need to sit and set for 12 hours.

So do this part the activity before and/or plan to make this a 2-day craft project. What I’d do is make enough for kids to decorate the night before and have them ready… Then, have kids mold some the next day while you’re all together and then pull out the pre-done, already-molded ones to decorate… TV segment style. Then they still get to cram wet sugar in a skull mold, but they don’t have to wait for the drying part. Win, win.

Our sugar skulls had a back-of-the-head mold option that we wanted to use so we attached the front and back of the skulls with icing. The icing recipe is 1 pound powdered sugar, 1/4 cup Meringue Powder (or Cream of Tartar) and 1/3 cup of water. Mix that up a lot with a mixer until icing peaks (about 8-10 minutes…a lot of mixing).

Then stick them together.

The fronts and backs will need to set for a few minutes (15-30) or so. This is a good time to eat candy.

Get your favorite icing supplies together.

These boys are the best. My favorite team of Skull Crafters. Owen. Denny. And Harry. They are rad.

And they like to decorate Skulls.

This is a great craft.

Because it’s made of sugar. And then you put more sugar on it.

Harry is very serious about his sugar.

Look how cool these turned out to be.

And then you get to eat your craft.

This has some obvious side effects. But overall, awesomeness.

You should completely make Sugar Skulls this weekend.

You won’t be disappointed.

Happy Dia de los Muertos from Austin!