Keep the awesome going . . .

Hello Everyone,

On May 19, 2012, I sent the following e-mail off to Tara about the arrival of the red notebook. (Now known as Reddy):

So, just before Shaymus's baseball game today, Jim carries an enormous white envelope out to me on the deck.

Who is that from, "I asked?"

"Ben Luce."

"Oh yeah, the notebook!"

Jim and I had a look, and Shaymus joined in. We then rushed off to the game. I left the red notebook home. I admit, I was a little afraid of it at first, and wondered what the heck I would do with it, or to it! Ha ha.

Now, after the game, ice cream, shopping, more shopping, and water balloons (not necessarily in that order), I really looked through the awesomeness, and then, I read the instructions last. This is so not like me. I usually go through a book in order, especially when there are directions involved. I have not actually "done" anything yet. Shaymus added a sticker to the cover for Auntie Tara, but other than that, I have some great inspiration and some ideas. What fun!

My camera batteries are re-charging, so I don't have a photo yet. I don't have a fancy cell phone either. I have a vintage cell phone; my nine-year-old trac phone. Scary.


That is the end of that e-mail message. Since then, I was able to take a photo of the red notebook (Reddy) hanging out on our bedroom floor. What you don't see is the mass load of art stuff I have spread all over the floor nearby:




The first thing I did was make a deadline for myself to complete my part of the awesomeness, and send it on to the next awesome person. (I work well with deadlines.)

Reddy had a good time hanging out in our new digs. During Reddy’s stay at our place watching some old horror movies, hanging out with me while I did some writing, reading, listening to music, and more. We even planted some flowers.

I was super-inspired when looking through this sacred red notebook. I had a hard time putting it down. I began by adding some stuff in the back pocket. That was fun! Then, I did my thing in some of the pages.

So, as promised, I packaged Reddy up in a careful manner, and sent it on to Emily France about five days later. I even faced the scary postal worker in my town. If you know me, you know I avoid that post office like the plague. I usually mail packages from Portland, ME, but had a deadline to meet, and my post office is only down the road a little way. Reddy was ready to move on. I felt good sending Reddy on to the next person, and cannot wait to finally see the outcome one of these days when Tara has it back in her hands.

Thanks for adding the awesomeness to my week, Reddy.

Okay, I was kind of left wondering what to do after Reddy left. That afternoon, my son inspired me when he brought home the recipe for “Thunder Cake”. His school librarian had read that story and copied the recipe for the kids. On Memorial Day, it took me (us) four hours to make this thunder cake. It seemed like a timely thing to do, since we did have thunderstorms the day before and the day after we made this cake. There are tomatoes in this cake by the way. I know it sounds weird, but it is supposed to keep it moist. We didn’t even taste them in the cake.

The red awesomeness never left after all.