About Me

Washington, DC, United States
Heather Capell Bramble is mother of two kaleidoscoping kids, Jonah and Vera. She has a magical kaleidoscope, often in her back pocket, and it usually helps her turn her normally chaotic life into something beautiful. Her goal is to have as much fun and try to be as happy as they can while on the uncharted journey of motherhood. This means doing lots of arts and crafts, going on crazy adventures, and celebrating all kinds of holidays - and yes, trying to laugh along the way!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

April Fool's Day!

My partner, Jocelyn; my son, Jonah; me, Heather; & my daughter, Vera - 
Kaleidoscoping Halloween at the National Zoo October 2011
Today I decided that I would "just do it"... this morning I read a post on another blog that I love Not-So-SAHM, and it was marking her year anniversary of being a "not-so-sahm" and I was a bit envious that she had been blogging most of the year.  I have been reading many "mom" blogs and other blogs over the past year and keep thinking, I am going to do it as soon as I have "it" a little bit more under control... right... who am I kidding!!!

CHAOS AND DATE

My life and that of my family is never under control.  It is usually completely CHAOTIC.  I would love to say it is organized chaos, but truthfully, it is not.  As with all great things in life, there will never be a "right" time so, for lack of a better day I am picking April Fool's Day.  A running theme of this blog will be, when all else fails (and it often does) - CELEBRATE LIFE & all of the crazy wonderful "holidays" out there that help us to do so!  We (at least I) love to celebrate all kinds of holidays.  So in honor of April Fool's Day 2012 and to celebrate it, I am starting my blog. I am not sure if it will be a joke on me,  a joke on you or just a plain joke, but I am gonna give it a try!  The former lawyer in me insists that we cite to an "official" definition of said holiday:

April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness. The day is marked by the commission of good-humoured or otherwise funny jokes, hoaxes, and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, teachers, neighbors, work associates, etc. -- From Wikipedia.org, March 31, 2012

KALEIDOSCOPES

Reason for start date: See above

Use of word Chaos in title: See above

Use of the word Kaleidoscoping: See below

What the heck does "kaleidoscoping" mean?  It comes from the Greek Kalos which means beautiful and Eidos which means form.  And for a long time, I have had this thing for kaleidoscopes and not many people have even known about it - actually almost nobody.  I love the way a kaleidoscope can take anything, and make it interesting and beautiful just by splitting it up, reflecting and refracting it back to you.  In some way, I think I often try to do that with life-although I often fail miserably, I am also sometimes pretty fantastic at it.  Most importantly, I keep trying.  I've always wanted to turn the noun, kaleidoscope, into a verb, kaleidoscoping.  Since this is my blog, and my story - I get to do so!

Years ago in New York, I visited what was then supposedly the world's largest kaleidoscope (pre kids, pre the life I am living now in sooo many ways), and it was pretty fun and weird.  I had a magnet from the spot until recently when we decluttered our entire house getting ready to move.  But I have often thought about it, it was in a barn silo?!?!  If someone could build a kaleidoscope in a barn in upstate NY as a tourist attraction, surely I could turn the noun into a verb and use it for my blog title and actually write a cool, hip, sort of mommy blog?  Right?

5, 4, 3, 2, 1... here we go!