Hello, I'm back!

Hello friends!



I've been away getting up my new website and business  www.tangelaekhoff.com . I also finished an online business course that teaches women how to use the web to make money online.

Let me just say...it's been mind boggling.

I've launched a personal coaching business which has been fun and interesting.

I'm always looking for clients...so if you need a big push to move yourself forward in your business or life, send me an e-mail!

I've missed writing for fun for creativity's sake...and just for me. That's part of why I'm back to Homegirl !

My website and business are up and running...so, now I'm settling in on my vision. I feel like I took my eye off of the ball for me. I'm a writer, dammit.

So this is the first thing I've written just for me. Sure, it sucks...but I'm glad I did it!

Changes. Changes. Changes.

They say the only thing constant in life is change. They are right.

I won a scholarship to  Marie Forleo's online business school! I am sooooo excited. B-School is a great opportunity to meet other women who own their own businesses, and most importantly, an opportunity for me to learn how to successfully leverage my talents as a speaker into a lucrative online business. I'm adding personal coaching to my business, so I am hoping to turn all of this into online lessons that people actually pay money to learn.

Marie has made millions online and with her live events, and I want to learn how to make money + help other women, especially those who have struggled with unemployment, underemployment....and the crushing self-esteem issues that come along with it.

I think I am now in the path of the right people. Just praying that God sustains us for a couple of months.
I will still blog about life and "stuff" here, but I will be focused like crazy on building up a business that actually sustains and supports our family.

Send good thoughts my way, as I continue to send love and light to you.

Arm In Arm (Mother's Day)

There is nothing more beautiful for a mother than when the kids get along and silence befalls a home. Tonight the boys fell asleep arm in arm. Two sets of ridiculously long eyelashes brushed Cassiopeia. Two taupe arms embraced the genetic best friend. Two little boys, who normally bite the crap out of each other,  bared sleepy smiles instead of tiger-like fangs.


I watched in awe as closed eyes darted back and forth, as if reading the credits of a movie. They slept. Together. Arm in arm. These boys. These brothers. They destroy my home during the day. They destroy me by night with the illumination of love. I did nothing to earn this feeling. Yet, I gobble it up like a baker's daughter. I allow the sweetness to permeate my once-cynical soul. I was told I couldn't have any more children. Yet here they are.


And, I felt like Holly Hunter in Raising Arizona. 


I want to say to my husband, "Bring me a toddler, DaddyFixIt. Bring me a toddler."


Raising Arizona would probably never be made today. We are a culture that takes kidnapping,  in the most literal form, very seriously.  But, the movie is the best visual chronicle of what being a mother is supposed to be. Love. Longing. The desire to be loved and to love without condition or description. It is what it is.


Tonight, my accent, my horrid, southern accent finally served me well, as I cut off the light in their room, and attempted to imitate the sublime Holly Hunter aloud. I tried to push back the tears, and said, "I love them soooooo much."


They will be out of school in a few days. I won't be loving their taupe asses then...


Happy Mother's Day, friends. Savor the good times...like when they are passed out slam asleep.

Demi's New Twitter Handle

I totally gave Demi her new Twitter handle. Wonder if I'll get credit... or chocolate???

Brush

My heart aches.

Then, I feel a slight, cool brush of air that combs over the fine hair on my arm.

I remember He's right there. Beside me. In the pain.

I remember because He tickles me daily.

He gave me laughter. He gave me sorrow.

Like a sandwich cookie.

He's on one side.

I'm on the other.

But in the middle is where life resides.

The shocking sweetness of the good stuff.

The grainy, lumpy, crystals pretending to be creamy good stuff when it's bad...sometimes it's very bad.

The tear makes a great escape, and then comes the tumble.

I have brush with death.

He coaxes me back to life.

The air on my arm gently spells, "Be here. Be now."

Comfort in calligraphy that brushes a heartache into a heart fully awake.

                                                 ~Tangela Parker Ekhoff  (9/21/11)

I wrote this after my Mom died. I have a book full of poetry. My favorite pastime is making fun of poets and writing poetry...and eating cookies.

Funny that even when I'm sad...I'm thinking about cookies. I'm actually very happy today and I'm thinking about cookies. Life has taken a turn for the good...and I'm thinking about cookies. There is not one damn cookie here in the house that I actually want to eat. But, I'm thinking about cookies. I'm going for a walk. I'll stop at the bakery on 1st street...and buy a donut. They don't have cookies.

The Mighty Ekhoffs

When the McBrothas were itty bitty things, I wrote them a song. Actually, I just ripped it off from a Frosted Flakes commercial. Some call that sampling. I know it's cheesy, but I think every family should have one cheesy, face palming tradition. For me, it's a song.

I used to sing the song more times a day than I care to admit. Most of time when I sang it, it would lull the McBrothas to sleep, or at least cut a tantrum short. Hey, gotta do what you gotta do, right?

I haven't sung the family song in a few weeks, but yesterday, when it was "supposed, alleged" nap time around the house, the boys were singing the family song!  It made feel all warm and fuzzy.





Everywhere we go

people want to know

who we are

'cause we are stars

we are The Ekhoffs

the mighty, mighty Ekhoffs.



I wrote this song when we were in the initial throes of poverty. I wrote it because in many ways I felt so small, insignificant, and hopeless. I guess singing that we were "mighty" gave me some kind of comfort. We are slowly climbing our way out, but every single day I am thankful for the struggle, and thankful for the strength it has brought our family.


No matter how hard things get, no matter what we go through as a family; I want the boys to remember we are a family. We are bonded not just by blood, but by love. I hope when they are old men they'll look back and think of the family song with fondness. I hope they teach it to their grandchildren...I hope my intergalactic great-grandchildren think it's the cheesiest thing they have ever heard!

The McBrothas in a stroller...with a bored tiger behind them.

Flip-Flops

A chubby old lady just fell in the Wal-Mart parking lot. She was wearing white socks and pink flip flops. The contents of her purse spilled all around her. She sat up, and started putting stuff back in her purse. Then a cute young man came over to help her. He handed her a matchbox car and a handful of change. 




In his hand he was holding a tattered semi-opened tampon. She started laughing. He started laughing. He said, "I'm sorry." She said, " Are you gonna give me that tampon or do you need it?" The old chubby lady was me...Note to self: Don't wear flip flops and socks...oh, and stop going to Wal-Mart ... double oh, take tampons from 1996 out of purse. #FACEPALM




P.S. I also shoved this random Mussolini Medallion in my purse before the  young man saw it. The last thing you want to be is a communist in Oklahoma...that's almost as bad as being a democrat.