I Wish . . .

In the parking lot of a Major Discount Retailer, I saw a license plate frame with an interesting message:

I WISH I WERE BARBIE

THAT [GIRL]* HAS EVERYTHING

 (*Derogative replaced)

What kind of car do you suppose bore that message?  I might have felt more sympathetic if it had looked like this:

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 or even this:

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But, no.  It looked more like this:

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That's right.  A shiny red Jaguar.  Maybe it's not Barbie's dream car, but it's pretty close to mine.  What more could a girl want?

(I'm assuming the driver was female.  If there are any guys out there who wish they were Barbie, I'd love to know why.)

What does Barbie have?  Having never owned one of the dolls myself, I'm no expert, but this is what I've observed:

• Long blonde hair, blue eyes
• Sculpted body
• Wide variety of fashion choices
• Dream house, where everything is pink
• Various dream cars, also pink
• Wide variety of jobs, hobbies, and acting roles
• Boyfriend with plastic hair and commitment issues 
• Tight calves (it's a painful medical problem--you can tell from her foot position)
• Regular facelifts

Are those the things Ms. Dissatisfied Driver desires?

While I admire Jaguars, I'm pretty sure I'll never buy one.  I have more important things to spend time and money on:

• Wonderful, amusing, supportive, loving husband
• Four brilliant, fun, active, occasionally exasperating but overall good sons who need food, clothes, more food, education, wholesome extracurricular activities, more food . . .
• Comfortable house that we all like 
• Vehicles that run (I'd hate to pick up boys from a muddy soccer practice in a Jaguar, but I don't mind if they get in the van)
• Resources to create my own fashion choices
• A job that requires a wide variety of skills--homemaking
• A strong belief that if we do the right things, and raise the boys right, our family can be together forever

If those are the things she lacks, then I do feel sorry for her.  An expensive car is no substitute for love and faith.  What do you wish you had?  I can point you in the direction of faith, at least.  (And if you'd like to trade a nice Jaguar for a mostly-running retired police car, let me know!)

Easter Brights

When I offered to sew Easter shirts for the boys, I wasn't surprised that D2 chose pink and Rollo chose blue.

I thought I'd pick out some subtle fabric for them, but it turned out to be convenient to take them to the fabric store.  And they chose bright pink,

and peacock blue.  What fun!  I used Simplicity 5581, an out-of-print Father/Son pattern.  The Caterpillar used it for his red shorts, but I hadn't used the shirt patterns.  Of course, I ran into the same problem this time as I did then.  Rollo and D2 are thin enough to fit the Boys' sizes, but much too tall.  It was easy to fix, except that Rollo's fabric shrank a lot when I pre-washed.  I added as much length as I could to the outer pieces, then added another fabric to lengthen the facing.  So he has secret penguins inside his shirt.  Shh!  Don't tell!

Not so secret are the rampant dragon and unicorn I added.  They're part of a fun set of patterns from Urban Threads.

Scoot and the Caterpillar wore some shirts they already had, and they all looked handsome on Easter.

Rollo climbed the magnolia tree to get a better perspective on egg hunting.  It didn't work.

Scoot and the Caterpillar found their eggs first.

But all were found eventually, and several were enjoyed for dinner.  It was a beautiful day, made brighter by remembering the Atonement and Resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

I'm happy every day because of the first Easter.  May you find the same joy.