tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-53216467516555159242024-03-13T05:47:03.988-07:00Mamazblogging! by Lisa TrankChronicles of A Late in Life MotherLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-44720440910739074692014-07-09T08:53:00.000-07:002014-07-09T08:53:41.783-07:00I'm BAAACK - Listen To Your Mother Boulder 2014 - "The Art of Weaning"How excited am I to be able to share the video of my reading at the 2014 Listen To Your Mother Boulder performance!
An honor, a thrill, an adventure!
Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-59145638927548963612011-05-07T20:47:00.000-07:002011-05-07T20:47:19.483-07:00Transitions and a Poem for Mother's DayTomorrow is Mother's Day. This Mother's Day, I'm in the midst of a huge life transition, much of which has to do with being a mother, and for the first time in my life, I'm actually enjoying this transition. This has not always been the case - I've always struggled with them, thinking I had to speed up in order to get to the next place, only to discover that this just caused way too much anxiety Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-31732213884095335832011-04-18T17:43:00.000-07:002011-04-18T17:43:29.759-07:00An Apple Peel for PassoverIn less than an hour, Passover will begin in our part of the world. The kids have changed their clothing at least three times, I'm still in my clothes from the day and we need to leave for our service and seder in less than 30 minutes. But before I do, I have two things to share, two gifts that just landed in my lap and which will define how I enter into this particular Passover.
The first is a Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-77899755870569775152011-03-30T16:31:00.000-07:002011-03-30T16:32:38.752-07:00Sticks and Stone May Break Our Bones...
When I was a little girl, my older brothers figured I was game for just about anything. And they were right. Most of the time this amounted to daring me to eat a worm, or a watch a really scary movie without having a nightmare, or some physically dangerous stunt. As the only girl, if I wanted to feel a part of their group, I had to constantly prove I was able to keep up with them. So explains myLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-53315756226067788312011-01-09T17:35:00.000-08:002011-01-09T17:35:21.536-08:00Three Glimmers of Hope - For Christina Green and her familyI hesitated before I began writing this post, but as I wiped away the tears after reading the many touching articles on Christina Green, the shining nine year-old girl slain in yesterday's tragic events in Tucson, I knew I needed a way to navigate through my fury, confusion, sadness and rage.
Many things struck me about Christina Green's short life. She was an excellent student, loved baseball, Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-75014334433008189322010-11-23T23:23:00.000-08:002010-11-23T23:23:11.295-08:00In Praise of the Family MealThis time of year, I fall in love with my kitchen. It's a basic kitchen with none of the fancy appliances so many have taken for granted. But despite the fact that my oven runs too hot or too cold and the electric coils have to be forced back in with the end of a stainless steel spoon every time I turn them on, somehow I manage to cook up some pretty yummy dishes.
The weather has turned Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-55335837915204851242010-11-17T11:15:00.000-08:002010-11-17T11:15:17.107-08:00Talking about the Laundry on Sears Blog!Happy to post a link to my pithy washer and dryer love tale - How Bikram Yoga gives our washer and dryer a workout! Enjoy! And while you're at it, if you live in Longmont and always wanted to try Bikram, come and enjoy a free day of classes at Bikram Colorado/Longmont!
http://www.mysears.com/mysears_blog/Bikram-Yoga-Works-out-Mom-Dad-and-WasherLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-74037037175035399112010-11-16T13:01:00.000-08:002010-11-16T13:01:02.298-08:00Ode to Chipped Bowls and other Stoneware
Ode to A (chipped) Blue Bowl
I know this might seem really silly, in these days of economic uncertainty, political fighting and out of control stress. But today, in the midst of all this, I'm spending a lot of brain space on my stoneware, or more specifically on my chipped stoneware. Am I alone in having a really difficult time in letting go of a chipped cup, plate or bowl? I do.
The bowl in Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-54520920793691068352010-11-10T22:10:00.000-08:002010-11-10T22:10:53.202-08:00My Beautiful (Non-Mathematical) MindI volunteer in all three of my kids classes and am thrilled that my work schedule is flexible enough for me to spend this precious time with them in their world. For some unknown reason and despite the fact that I've told all their teachers that math is definitely not my thing, much of my time has been spent doing math. After a few months in the classroom, my multiplication skills are better thanLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-67347330849143300032010-11-07T21:15:00.000-08:002010-11-07T21:19:09.207-08:00One Week after HalloweenTwo years and a few days ago, my dear Dad passed away. I sat down a dozen times to write about this 24 month landmark, but the words just didn't sit right. That same week also two birthdays - October 21, which would have been my dear mother-in-law, Lila Greene's, 78th birthday, and October 22, the day my father would have turned 99 years old. An Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-61463715608168899882010-11-05T19:53:00.000-07:002010-11-05T20:01:27.948-07:00Guest Post on Chiseled in RockA recent conversation on handling rejection as a writer got me thinking back to my days of being a performer and how my many years of handling rejection prepared me for life as a writer. Here's my guest post for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' terrific blog, Chiseled in Rock, entitled "Rejection Wears Plaid" - Enjoy!Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-50773339812063069812010-09-04T14:18:00.000-07:002010-09-04T14:18:55.184-07:00In honor of my beloved dadLeonard TrankOctober 22, 1911 - October 19, 2008
This essay originated as a post on this blog and today, I received it in print, published in the University of Denver Magazine, Fall 2010. Please read, share and enjoy:
"What We Wear in This Life," dedicated to my father, Leonard TrankLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-4276278721981742522010-03-18T21:27:00.000-07:002010-03-18T21:27:31.670-07:00Our Real Cost of Health CareLike most Americans, and all parents, I've been keeping close tabs on the fight for health care reform. Every night, I tune into my MSNBC trio: Keith, Rachel and Chris. I rely on them to distill and disdain and listen with care as they navigate these murky waters. With a vote on health care reform looking like it just might happen on Sunday, and just might pass, I had my own Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-43008288327978701132010-02-28T22:06:00.000-08:002010-02-28T22:06:48.203-08:00As One Series Ends, Another Begins
30 days ago, I sat in the local Longmont Ice Pavilion and watched my three girls skate. While they skated, I read from Richard Russo's Bridge of Sighs and was deeply changed by what I read. So changed that I set out to write as honestly as I could for 30 days about where I am in my life and to explore the life or lives, I've dreamed about living, but which have not happened, or not happenedLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-6001149220768408682010-02-27T22:30:00.000-08:002010-02-27T22:30:53.886-08:00A Small Victory and One Piece of the Big PuzzleThis might seem really small, but the accomplishment of it has made a big difference. I successfully set and carried through on a weekly food budget for our family. I set the amount on Sunday, made the list, made the food plan for the week, organized the coupons and headed to the store with the girls, each with their own job of list carrier, coupon holder and bargain finder. After I wrote Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-77761698034093567182010-02-26T22:22:00.000-08:002010-02-26T22:22:36.931-08:00Dreams Into ActionsNormally, on Shabbat, I take a break from the computer. I unplug for a little more than 24 hours and try to bring that portion of myself, the self who is out there in the world, back to myself and my family. I've made an exception to this practice during this time of every day writing.
Shabbat is a time of renewal, punctuated by a deadline with the sunset, bringing the light inside, raising a Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-43500695406575107382010-02-25T22:45:00.000-08:002010-02-25T22:45:24.039-08:00When All I Want is SleepI'm tired. Really tired. I've been pushing hard the past two weeks and I'm feeling it. Feeling it so much that I'm not sure I have anything to say, or write, except that I need to write about working hard. Working too hard.
A few years ago, I had the pleasure of helping to promote a wonderful film, "Peaceful Warrior," and an even deeper pleasure of being able to engage with Dan Millman, the Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-15435281140443783132010-02-24T21:42:00.000-08:002010-02-24T21:42:11.506-08:00What My Dreams Have to SayI came across a great quote today that I'd like to share:
"Some people dream of great accomplishments, while others stay awake and do them." - Anonymous
I've always been a great dreamer. Not when I'm sleeping, but when I'm wide awake. In fact, I like to talk my dreams out loud as I go about my day, mostly in the car on the way to and from work. With the ever present cell phone as part ofLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-81610985894540072272010-02-23T22:18:00.000-08:002010-02-24T09:02:08.756-08:00Joannie Rochette: A Personal Best
I write this through tears, having just watched the heart-breakingly stunning skating performance by Joannie Rochette, who tragically and suddenly lost her mother two days ago. To watch her move across the ice, with her grief held so tightly against her heart and to share it with her country, the audience, her father sitting in the stands, makes me understand how extraordinary the human spirit Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-49097931683001737302010-02-22T21:56:00.000-08:002010-02-22T21:56:49.679-08:00A Necklace for PurimA wonderful thing has happened to our little town. Four years ago, a young Rabbi, his wife and two young children, moved from Brooklyn to Longmont to open a Chabad Jewish Center. I grew up as a very Reform Jew, but one with an equally strong identity. I went to a Jewish summer camp, was Bat Mitvah'd and when it came to raising our children, even after years of not really participating in a JewishLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-26386836109126985572010-02-21T22:24:00.000-08:002010-02-21T22:24:06.024-08:00Embracing ExpectationsLast year, Jim Tracy, in his first Spring Training as the Colorado Rockies' manager, spoke about about wanting the team to embrace expectations. I hear a great deal in the business world about the phrase, '"exceed expectations" and quite frankly, I've always viewed those two words with the same skepticism as I view most of the business jargon that comes my way. What I appreciate about Jim Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-60236020910602337202010-02-20T20:35:00.000-08:002010-02-20T21:03:55.370-08:00A Poem, a Look, a LifeThe eight year olds' birthday sleepover is now over and as expected, we're all exhausted. Face it, birthdays are exhausting. For me, the mother, it is like some still remaining body memory comes back every year and I wonder, do all mothers feel this way for their whole life as a mother?
But despite the labor echoes, the sleepover was sweet, as they are supposed to be. The girls did face paintingLisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-16087780358502777732010-02-19T19:25:00.000-08:002010-02-19T19:25:03.202-08:00The Last Balloon BouquetThe pizza has been devoured, the sugar rush from the ice cream cake has passed and ten girls are hunkered down on our couch in front of our little TV watching the movie "Up." It just happens to be my favorite movie of the last decade and one that has helped me enormously survive the last 18 months of loss, uncertainty and stress.
I first saw it in the movie theater (a rarity) last May. I went Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-22995198432854479132010-02-18T22:09:00.000-08:002010-02-18T22:09:03.641-08:00What Is instead of What If...It's the night before our twins turn eight years old. To say that birthdays are hard on me would be an understatement. To say that they are hard on the rest of the family is a new definition of understatement. Remember the reference to the Tasmanian Devil from an earlier post? Just put a vacuum cleaner and a dust rag in my hand and spin me off into the distance and you have the picture. But this Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5321646751655515924.post-23907791206523916272010-02-17T21:44:00.000-08:002010-02-17T21:44:28.743-08:00Being All Right with Not Getting it RightThe funny thing about a long term relationship is that you get to experience the great pendulum swing that happens when two people share a space and a life for a period of time. Sometimes the pendulum swings in the direction of deep connection, humor and passion. Sometimes the pendulum swings in the other direction and it's not very much fun. Add in some financial instability, parenting and lots Lisa Trankhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12636364765705410805noreply@blogger.com0