Punky Rhea

Name: Rhea (pronounced "ray-ah")

Age: 32

Occasion: 80's Day at work

Result: Punky Rhea

Chitti Chitti Bang Bang

This is me at 10 years old.

in my Little Shop of Horrors sweatshirt
(I had seen the musical on Broadway in New York),
and I'm on my grandmother's porch in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.


Today I'm celebrating.


Celebrating that I'm 32 years old.
Celebrating that the same grandmother,
who has lived in Baton Rouge my entire life,
is moving this week to come live in Texas!
Moving just minutes from me.


I'm beyond happy.


And, I woke up this morning to the sweetest birthday message from Shannon.
Thanks, Shannon, you made my day!

Ride 'em like you stole 'em

I saw this saying today at the local Trade Days:



Ride 'em like you stole 'em.



I fell in love immediately.

To me, it means, approach things with passion, give it your all.

Then I started to think.
What do I approach with passion??
What do I give my all to?


I have a lot of potential passion stored up inside of me.
I can feel it bubbling and swirling and brewing inside.

It's going to explode like a geyser when I find my calling.

I'm passionate about my children. about writing. about blogging.

But, I don't put enough time into writing like I should.
Like I want.

I need to make myself...

I'm alone right now.
My husband and kids are spending Spring Break with family in Austin.

Well, ok, not completely alone. I have a fierce attack dog with me.





and my elderly father.



I'm spending lots of time introspecting...

A goddess, a bird or a moon.

What do these three things have in common?

My name.

Rhea.

I pronounce it "Ray" or "Ray-ah."

Probably one of the reasons I've always loved mythology was due to the Greek goddess Rhea.

She was a Titan, daughter of Uranus (the sky) and Gaia (the earth).
She married Kronus, a really bad dude who ate all his children for fear they would overthrow him.
Well, after Rhea gives birth to baby Zeus, she hides him away in a cave and hands her husband a stone bundled up like a baby, whom he promptly swallows (not a real smart god).
So, Zeus grows up, overthrows Cronus and becomes king of gods.
Rhea is considered "the mother of the gods."
Cool.

Then there is the Rhea bird.
It looks like an ostrich but it's called a Rhea (ree-ah).
I can relate, I sometimes stick my head in the sand, unfortunately.
Rhea Birds are said to have an implausible immune system that allows injured birds to heal rapidly without much intercessions from humans.
The fat of the Rhea birds is used as an anti-inflammatory salve. hmm...




Then there's the moon called Rhea.
It's one of Saturn's many moons.
I was reminded of this little fact recently when Pioneer Woman hosted a contest in which my namesake moon was the answer.
The moon is Saturn's second largest and was discovered in the 1600's.

And, as you can see in this photo below, this moon has tenuous rings around it.



I love having a unique name, even if most people say it wrong.
It's a family name.

Tell me about your name.
Or a cool name you like.
Or whatever you want.
I'm not picky.

Are you Up on Uptake?

Regarding yesterday's photo post, you guys are HILARIOUS!

I love some of the wonderfully creative ideas you came up with regarding that picture.

I wish I had an answer for you with what was going on in it,
but no one in my family seems to have any idea.

My mom has more old photos, so I'll see if I can get another one scanned sometime soon.


* * *


Next, let me announce the contest winner from last week.
(I know, I don't know what took me so long!)



I had planned to do a cute hat drawing video with the kids, but my printer ran out of ink, the kids wouldn't cooperate and I lost my desire to do it.

Long story short, I used that darn random number generator, adding in those of you with the extra entries. It was complicated, probably unnecessarily so!

Without further rambling, the winner of the 11" brand new fry pan and jambalaya mix is...

Scargosun!


And, as a bonus, I'm giving away a packet of jambalaya mix to:

Sassy Stephanie & Kimba!


Winners email me at rhea@tx.rr.com with your addresses.


* * *


Now, as you know, I've been job searching.
And, I've found some free-lance writing jobs and some blogging work,
but nothing full time.

I'm seriously thinking about applying to Target!!
I need something with good health insurance.


One of the places I am blogging part time for is called Uptake.
It's a travel information search engine, and I'm super excited!
I'll be posting about fun things to do and see in Texas...and possibly other places I've visited.

What I would love from you, is to click on over to Uptake and comment on posts with my name. Today...and any time you feel like it!
I don't get much comment love over there yet, and I've gotten spoiled with it over here.
You guys rock!!



I'll leave you with these photos of my pink streaks for now.

Natural lighting,
no photo editing,
no makeup,
crazy angles
weird facial expressions, and
I'm not even sure I brushed my crazy, frizzy hair.

It's Rhea Au natural con rosa!!
(I think I just mixed French & Spanish...and probably not even correctly)

and a plea for comment love at Uptake!!

Thanks!!

Tickled Pink.

Today is the last day of the giveaway!!
Leave a comment on this post if you want a chance to win
a stir fry pan and jambalaya mix.


* * *


So, I talked about what I wanted to do...

and I did it!!

I wanted some pink in my hair.
I decided to start out conservative & just put in pink highlights.

Here are my before pictures:

And then the fun began.
I was nervous.

I had a lot of time to stare into the waiting area...and worry.

Finally the color was in, and then I had to wait a little more...

Here I am with the punk rock look...

And then, ta da!

Let there be PINK.

My hair is still wet in the photos, so it looks a little weird.

I'll have better pictures later on. The lighting is off on these, so it's hard to get an accurate view.

I'll wash my hair and style it and then take some more photos.

Have you ever had wild idea and followed it through?

I was brought up Amish...

except without the buggies, the lack of electricity and the whole Amish atmosphere.

Ok, what I meant to say was I was raised without TV.

I mean, we had a TV, but we lived on a ranch and my parents chose not to have it hooked up.
We could rent movies and watch them occasionally.

So, I spent a lot of time playing with my imaginary friends,
tormenting my little sister, The Bug,
and reading books.

We also had animals.
I got to milk cows,
mess with chickens,
name a donkey,
hear pigs neutered,
hear rabbits skinned,
pick apples in our orchard,
swim in a creek,
help plant vegetables,
hunt deer,
fear the dark,
and ride horses.

That's kind of like growing up Amish, right?

Ok, maybe not.

Mixed Signals: Just say NO to Indecision

At age 15, with a learner's permit, I was able to drive as long as there was another licensed driver in the car. And, luckily, I had some patient drivers willing to ride with me and help me learn; my father, my older sister & my boyfriend, Texas Homeboy.

Thank goodness for their willingness and guidance!


I remember being in my older sister's Peugeot, driving around Austin, and totally panicking when I hit yellow lights. In that split second you have to decide, I wasn't sure whether to speed up or slow down. Most of the time I was already in the intersection, so I needed to go through with it, not slow down.




As moms, as humans, we're faced with decisions daily.
An entire gambit of different choices need to be made, big and small.
What to feed the kids for breakfast? What to dress them in?
What time to leave the house to get to school on time? What manners to teach the kids?
How best to show by example? What sports to enroll the kids in, after school activities? Which schools are best? How should they deal with bullies? what if they become bullies? How to mend their broken hearts or when to get involved in situations?


These decisions affect our health, how others perceive us, who we ultimately are.
How do we know which ones are important and which ones aren't?
Some are obvious, but not all.

Hindsight is helpful but non-existent at the present moment.

Do you make grown-up decisions most of the time?
Do you decide things with your heart or your head?

I've found most of my decisions are navigated by my moral compass...





and my logic and desire to be a productive member of society.

Emotions can mess up my carefully drawn lines...sometimes this is good,
sometimes this is bad.

I find the decisions I need to make about my kids are the easiest, most straight forward and clear for me. The ones about myself...the hardest.

Sometimes the childish little princess inside of me makes decisions.
And those generally get me in trouble.

I think one of my biggest weaknesses can be my indecisiveness.
I'm working on it.
Trying to make decisions in a more timely manner.

I usually zoom through yellow lights these days, not sure if that is good or bad...
but it certainly says something.



Do you struggle with Indecision?
Do you make decisions with your heart or head?
Or both?
Are you struggling with a decision right now?

Blue Rhea & Mystery Photos

I'm having a rough day.

I didn't know what to post, all my creative ideas taste like sawdust and smell like dog poop (or maybe that's actually dog poop). Wait, I just think I made myself smile for a second.

Nope, just gas.

Here's the deal. Today, I'm feelin' blue.


So, indulge me for a minute, while I complain and have a pity party. You're invited, but I'll make lousy company.

My diet isn't working, I hate job searching, Texas Homeboy and I are really fighting, my children don't want to be featured on the blog, I hate job searching because I don't feel like I'm qualified to do anything, and my life just feels unfocused and messy. Shall I keep going?

I have a list a mile long of things I should be doing but I don't feel like doing any of them.

It's raining today, and I'd like to climb back in bed and just stay there. All day.

Shall I keep going?

Nope, better not, or I'm going to lose what readers I have! And, I really seem to need some comment love today.

So, on to some mystery photos, because I don't want to bring everyone down with me.

I can't decide, should I post the answers tonight or tomorrow morning?
Let me know what you think.
I seem incapable of making decisions.

I'm just not feeling happy today.

Random thoughts through my head.

Have you looked at the sky today?
Really just stopped and looked?
It's peaceful, like the ocean.

Have you made a wish today?

Positive thinking is good.

Really, I'm serious. Make a WISH.

Hug an animal. It's a wonderful feeling.

Have you ever seen these before?

We bought them on a lark, and I made Donny wear them.

You put these pads on your feet at night, then check them for toxins in the morning.

So, where's our "after" picture? Donny lost his in his sheets during the night.

Never to be found again.

We will recreate this experiment another day.

Have you fought an army today?

An army of mythological beings?

metaphysical beings?

psychological feelings?

Annie.

Sweet Annie.

She lightens my day.

Especially pictures of her in this hat.