In-Laws

Look at this! Another post!! Wow, I’m jammin now!! Does anybody use the phrase “jammin” anymore? If not, I’m totally bringing back. Tell your friends.
So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about my in-laws. In my whole life of hoping and planning to one day meet a guy that would actually be duped fall in love and marry me, I don’t think I every gave too much thought into my future in-laws. (Of course, let me just say, all that planning for future husband does nothing to truly prepare you for some of the odd things you encounter when living with a boy. Wow. You think having a brother or father prepares you? It doesn’t)

Of course I hoped/assumed that I would have in-laws that were easy to get along with, kind, loving, and supportive, all that jazz. What I wasn’t really prepared for was that it’s just not that simple. Adding a whole new collective family into your life means that they are now a part of your life, all of it, their baggage, struggles, troubles as much as their love and support. You can’t separate from it.

I consider myself pretty lucky in the in-law department. I have heard some HORROR stories and I am so blessed that my in-laws don’t come anywhere close to that. They have always been accepting and loving. They don’t interfere with our lives and marriage. Sometimes I’m not sure they have any clue what to do with me. I have a very snarky sense of humor, and it was a while before they realized when I talked about marinating babies in teriyaki and BBQing them for dinner, that I was just kidding. Really. But babies do taste like chicken. Just sayin.

But as I said, along with the good comes the bad. And Chris’s family certainly has their issues. It’s strange for me to be in this position. They’re not strangers, they’re problems effect me, they concern me. I worry for them pray for them, and hope things will turn out ok. I listen to the problems and try and offer support and advice. But at the same time, there are boundaries. It’s not my place to say what I feel needs to be said sometimes. It’s not my place to interfere. I see my husband so full of worry and concern as he tries to sort through the issues facing his family. It feels like any advice I have to offer is so inadequate. My family has always been fairly stable. That isn’t to say we haven’t had (or have) our own (rather large) issues. But it’s completely different now. There is only so much Chris can do and even less I can do, but just support him as he carries the burdens that are placed on him. I hate it. I want to make it all go away, but I can’t. All I can do is sit by and watch events unfold and hope that in the end that there is a purpose to it all and everything will be ok. I’ve learned that I can do more good by shutting my big mouth and just listening. But I feel so helpless.

It’s certainly strange adding a whole new family into your life. It wasn’t as automatic as I thought it would be. In some ways it was, but I don’t think I was expecting the emotional impact that it’s been for me and for us. We’ve all heard the phrase “no family is perfect” and that’s so very true. I guess I just never really understood when I said “I do” that it meant so much more than just accepting my husband for all he is. It meant accepting a whole new imperfect family and all that they are into my life. One that I’m going to be a part of for the rest of it.

I love my in-laws for all their issues and problem. They have expanded my horizons to new things and new ideas. They accepted me with no reservations and made me a part of their family and traditions. And I’m very lucky. I just wish I could help them more.

Renaissance Faire

Ok, so I did it again. It’s pretty obvious that I’m bad at this sort of thing isn’t it? And this time it’s not even really because I haven’t had stuff I wanted to blog about. I actually have, but instead of taking a few minutes of down time at work to type something up and posting it when I get home, I think “Oh, I’ll type that up tonight and post it!” Then I get home, I sit on my comfortable couch, turn on the TV, start cooking dinner and blah, blah, blah… I look at the computer and sigh, like the thought of getting on is similar to having to go workout on the Wii, something else I haven’t done in months. I don’t know what’s happened to me. A year ago I was attending not one but two classes a NIGHT!! 2 in one freakin night! That’s ridiculous. And I’m planning to do it again next year. Lord help me.


So anyway, I think we’ve established that the whole typing when I get home thing just doesn’t work too well for me. I don’t even remember half the crap that I wanted to write about a week ago.

So anyway, onto today’s topic. Renaissance Faire is coming up soon. At first I figured I wouldn’t talk about it all that much here, to spare you the drama, but honestly faire is a huge part of my life and will be taking the majority of my free time over the next few months, so instead of fighting it, I’ve decided to embrace it. I apologize now for any references you don’t get. I’ll try to explain them as I go along, but that could get long or I might forget, so if there’s something you want to know more about, just ask.

So faire. I’ve been doing faire since I was 17. To say it’s had a huge impact on the person I am today would be an understatement. I remember starting my first season wide eyed and innocent and thinking before faire even opened, that I had found my home. There is a lot of love-hate involved with faire. It’s far from perfection. It’s been a source of many tears, frustrations, embarrassments, anger and pain as much as a source of friendship, love, laughter and lots and lots of alcohol.

This Saturday is the last of the Queen’s Court rehearsals for the 2010 season, before we hit site for workshops. I am really beyond gitty about this season. Because of school and other personal reasons I haven’t worked a full season in over five years. This will be the first one and I’m already exhausted. But so, so excited. I bet you didn’t know faire had its own weather. But this time of year I go outside and I just feel like it’s a faire day. Like I should be dresses in 30lbs of silk and velvet and trudging around over dirt roads and sharing goblets of water.

I have been preparing for this season for months now, slowly. As I’ve mentioned before I’ve been sewing like crazy my new gown for the season. It’s coming along nicely, which makes me happy, but I am terrified of approval. The day when I get all dressed up in the dress that I just spent countless hours and an unmentionable about of money making and stand in front of Ms. F and be judged from head to toe. This judging hasn’t always gone smoothly in the past, so you can imagine that I’m a little terrified this time around. I’ll post pics of my hard work when it’s all complete and approved. In the mean time I’ll probably be talking about the dress and how it’s coming along.

I’ve also been readjusting my life to have every weekend for three months booked. Faire is one heck of a time commitment. And where there are some exceptions, such as Easter, I plan to be there every day, which means no lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoons for me for a while. Court Rehearsals are a big part of the preparation. They are filled with activities and exercises for practicing he language, improvisation, dancing (yes, I am rather good with dances that went out of style 500+ years ago), and projection. It’s a chance to get to know newer members of the group and catch up with old ones I haven’t seen in months.

So there you have it. I’m sorry if this post is a little boring or random. I’m mostly trying to lay a base for future posts so you have some reference to what I’m talking about. I know it seems like I’m overcomplicating things a bit, but faire really is a world all its own, and it’s kinda hard to get the concept until you’ve been through it. But, here of a few of my favorite pics of me taken out at faire. These are all taken between 2007 and 2009, and I believe these are all taken by Gar Travis unless otherwise noted:

Yes, we are even sexier in real life

This is one of Chris's favorites

And this is as dressed up as my husband gets. :)

Don't mess with us! This pic is by Danny

Nothing to Say

So, I really am trying to be a better blogger and post more, but honestly I have had nothing really to post. Not much is happening right now. Most of my time is being taken up with sewing my dress for Ren Faire. It's coming along slowly and I'll post pics once it's done and approved. I'll try and get pics up later in the week of Bart helping me make it. He's been a big help. Well anyway, since sewing and beading really isn't awesome blogging material. Here are just some random things that have made me happy lately.

 

• Some friends showed me this recently and it just brings out the major geek in me. Binary solo!!!

• Last week I was bored so I decided I needed to add some more blogs to my Google Reader for some reason. Because I'm not behind on reading them enough as it is. But this blog came up and it just cracks me up. Mostly because I think this chick is on crack. But the pictures she draws totally makes it worth it. You should check it out.

• I came across this actually months ago, but I can't remember if I posted about it or not. So I'm sorry if I have. But you should still check it out. It's just an awesome waste of time. Prepare yourself for Ikea Hights.

• I think I need to get Chris this sweater. Totally hot huh?

Ok, that's pretty much all I got. Sorry it's not total awesomeness, but I hope it at lease made you smile. :)