When Winter Came to Call

This is a poem that I once read in an old issue of an ideals magazine and I loved it so much I kept it. :)

When Winter Came to Call

A silver world was all about

When I awoke this morn,

For overnight the silver frost

Of Winter came along.

An ermine robe was draped around

The stately evergreens,

And tatted lace of frost was placed

On frozen pond and stream.

The little brook was silent,

Locked in Winter's clasp,

Hemmed in crystal stitchery

With icey blades of grass.

  

The meadow lay in silence

While over all the snow

The wildlings tracked their calling cards,

Where e'er they'd come and go.

A wondrous cloak of whiteness

The snow king laid oe'er all,

Fashioned from a leadan sky

When Winter came to call.

-Mildred L. Jarrell

#mondayinspiration

If I Had Nine Lives....

I would like to live these other 8 lives:

1. Gazillionaire eccentric philanthropist. Philanthropy because I obviously could not live with a clean conscience as a gazillionaire without trying to do my part to make the world better. And, aside from that, I mean, come on, what's not to like? I could fund batman. I could bring back the TV show Firefly. I could go to a bookstore and buy all the books I want to read and then sit in a boat and read them while eating cookie dough. The possibilities are endless.

2. Genius mathematician. I suck at math so I feel that it would be extremely gratifying to know that in some other life, I could stand in front of a room of awed college professors and dazzle them with my theories and algorithms. Plus, I feel like I could totally pull off the whole lovably absent minded genius thing if given the chance. Maybe a sad backstory, but not too sad, just sort of haunting. And I could drink a lot of tea.

3. Warrior princess. Mostly because I'm curious to see how I would actually be as a warrior princess type. Based on how persistently clumsy I am and how I react when toast pops out of the toaster, I would never in this life be able to give Mulan a run for her money. But, if it was another life, perhaps I would be born with an innate sense of dignity and fearlessness. Those would be great qualities when it comes time to take out the trash after dark like an actual adult.

4. Someone from another culture. Just for the sake of perspective. A cool accent (and maybe a skin tone other than marshmallow-except-when-exposed-to-two-seconds-of-sun-then-turns-to-tomato-wash-rinse-repeat) would be fun too. I could learn another language fluently.

5. Astronaut. To see the stars and the planets.

6. Movie Director. Mostly so I can sit in a tall chair with sunglasses and a megaphone and yell at people. But also because making movies is cool, and I love the way art and technology intersect in the film industry. And I like stories.

7. Carpenter/woodcarver. I have way too many great ideas of tables and drawers and little toys and doll house furniture and stuff I'd like to build for my bus, but when it comes to measuring and cutting, I always tend to screw something up. The irrational fear that saw blades might just fall apart like a dremel tool blade and slice off my arms doesn't help. But of course, I would not be afraid of that if I was a masterful carpenter, now would I?

8. Me. Who wouldn't love a do-over of all their mistakes, right? Plus it would be pretty cool to start over as a baby, back in 1998, with full knowledge of how the next eighteen years would play out. Hindsight truly is 20/20, and I'd get a chance to spend more time with people I have loved that have passed away and ask the things I have wondered since and also would be more able to see the things I could be doing to prepare for high school and college and beyond. I could also shock the socks off my parents by "learning" how to read or play piano etc. at the age of two or something, that would be fun. :)

Cat Stevens - Morning has Broken [song of the day]

My Top 5 Guilty Pleasures

1. Drinking coffee past 4:00 p.m. I only do this on the rare and glorious days when I can sleep in the following morning, and it is truly decadent.

2. Watching more than one movie in a row. This is even more of a shameful indulgence because when I convince myself it's OK to watch more than one movie in a row, I usually go on a spiral of movies or TV shows lasting for hours and hours and I am a despicable human being.

3. Driving in a car in the fall with all the windows open and the heater on full blast. Yes, it's terribly wasteful to have the heater on like that and all the windows down. I don't care. It's a delicious combination of cozy and brisk and the leaves where I am are gorgeous in the fall and if you turn up the music it's perfection.

4. Pinterest. The infamous time-waster. I indulge in this one probably daily which is admittedly a little disheartening but it gives me the illusion of productivity-like buying new calendars and pens will do-and I like that. Plus, it's such a happy little world and you can make lots of little boxes full of nice things like tea and books and babies and sunshine and poems-where else do you get to do that? Nowhere, that's where.

5. Getting a hotel room instead of driving through the night when on vacation. Curling up on a nice bed with fluffy pillows and watching cooking shows and not feeling a single tinge of responsibility beyond the inherent guilt of spending that much money. Now that is a guilty pleasure.

Thought of The Day :)

God is the master artist and we are all created in His image. 

Taking Stock #3

Making: time. To read. To do laundry. To take walks. To think.
Cooking: lots of summer squash, trying to find ways to cook it so as not to taste it.
Drinking: plain, iced green tea. Lots.
Reading: Jurassic Park by Michael Crighton.
Wanting: time to finish puttying the gaps in my floor and to put up the new baseboard.
Looking: at trees. Trees are beautiful.
Playing: Uno with my littlest (and cutest) siblings.
Deciding: What I want to focus on during the two months this winter when my work will be slower than slow.
Wishing: I got up earlier today and got more done.
Enjoying: a cd someone gave me from a cruise they went on.♬ "Wonderful world, beautiful people!"♬ :)
Waiting: for winter!!! I'm so ready for a little time to do something un-work-related.
Liking: summer produce. Fresh tomatoes. Fresh peppers. Fresh lettuce and spinach.
Wondering: how to better heat/conserve heat in my bus when the snow flies.
Loving: the color blue.
Pondering: painting my crazy orange walls a nice, muted ocean blue for a change.
Considering: taking a weekend off for a vacation. Two days at least. Three?
Watching: hair braiding tutorials on YouTube.
Hoping: that today will be a good and productive day and I will not mess up the zucchini bread this time.
Marveling: over graceful people. TELL ME YOUR SECRETS! HOW DO YOU DO THAT??!
Needing: new jeans. I hate shopping for jeans. Nothing fits the way I want it to!
Smelling: lemon seeds growing in a mug on my counter. YUM!
Wearing: work clothes all the time. Nothing pretty. :(
Following: the school bus on my way to work! Grrr! I need to plan in time to leave earlier in the mornings.
Noticing: how hot it is and that I need to stay more hydrated at work.
Knowing: that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is dependable and He cares and He is good.
Thinking: about what to do with my plants this fall when I'm at work, the bus will be too cold for them.
Feeling: sick a lot. Not sure what's up with that.
Admiring: people my age who are customers at my job; how put together they seem. (Again: How?????)
Sorting: all the things I want to do and finding times to do them.
Buying: 50 cent books from a boxcar-turned-secondhand-bookstore in a town near me.
Getting: Tired. Inspired. Coffee.
Bookmarking: healthy recipes to hopefully streamline this winter, practice for next summer.
Disliking: the minimum wage raise, the general idea that my productivity should increase correspondingly.
Opening: my bullet journal! I love bullet journaling. Google it. :)
Giggling: over a funny calendar at work.
Feeling: tired, kind of melancholy, but ok. I know this is life and life, overall, is good.

Guest Post By My Houseplant : 4 Ways My Owner Sucks

1. She often forgets to water me in the morning and then dumps ice water on me after midnight.

How would you like to be awakened from your slumber with a splash of ice cold water down your spine? Don't like it? Maybe you should think about that next time you decide to sit up all night working on some dumb craft with a dim lamp on and then decide to dump the remainder of your water bottle on your poor, defenseless, sleeping houseplant.

I mean, I'm a plant. What am I supposed to do? Scream?

2. She gives me firm pats on my head as she walks past.

Again, I'm a plant. What the heck does she want me to do? Give her a high five?

3. She moves me around to places that don't have the proper amount of light.

Now, I've honestly tried to tell her where I want to sit. When I get enough light, I perk up. But only after she has decided that it's the wrong spot and has just moved me. Then, of course, I start to wilt. What else does she expect? I don't know. There's only so much a plant can do.

4. She talks to me and asks questions, does she expect me to talk like some kind of cyborg plant?

Honestly, this one is ridiculous. I'm a plant. I have leaves. I sit. It's what I do. I don't talk. And, just for the record-No, I don't think it's going to be a wonderful morning and if you ask me one more question I will wilt while sitting directly in the sunshine out of pure, deep-rooted revenge. I DON'T TALK.

Although, on occasion, I do blog.

5 Practical Ways To Encourage Your Creativity

The 1 before the 1. Find What Works For You

Einstein worked with a cluttered desk and did a bunch of awesome, creative stuff in his field. Martha Stewart is a self-proclaimed master of organization, and has also done a bunch of creative, awesome stuff in her field.
All the ideas here are just that: ideas! You've gotta find what works best for you and implement it. :)

1. Creative Space

If I am writing, I love a cozy corner with a blanket and a bottle of water. Weird, I know, but it works. If I'm doing some kind of craft, I like an open countertop, desk, or table with a wide array of organized supplies handy. I have also noticed that having a candle burning or rain outside the window or just a desk fan running can provide that calming presence in the room so conducive to creativity. Whatever it is that you find best, just put a little thought into finding/making a space that will be easy for you to be creative in.

2. Music

Music is the universal language and everyone has some kind of music that will just put them in the mood! Maybe for you it's jazz or country or show tunes or some recordings of french-tropical-instrumental-with-tubas. Whatever it is, grab your headphones or turn on your radio for some music. If you find it too distracting to work with, try listening to a song before you work, closing your eyes and enjoying it and then turning off the sound and getting down to business. You might be surprised how effective it is! :)

3. Inspiration

Don't come empty handed! Collect things that inspire you. Pictures, magazines, music, video, sound recordings-whatever you run across and feel inspired by, make a note or find some way to reference it later when you are sitting down to create. Pinterest is a great way to do this, but good old notebooks and binders and post it notes are just as effective. Go to museums, look at art. Read books that you enjoy. Talk to people in your niche about creative things that you admire.

4. Time

Make some space in your schedule for creative time. If you sit down to write your book and there's a list about ten miles long in the back of your brain full of little things like putting away your shoes and writing out the grocery list and watering your plant, you're not going to be very focused. Take ten minutes and take care of all those little things before you begin. If it's not something you want to do now, write down a time that you will plan on doing it later. For example, just make a note to call your friend back at five thirty this evening instead of letting it float in your brain as something you need to do. Clear your mind of clutter.

5. Just do it!

This one is-hands down-the most important. So many wannabe artists wander around waiting for the clouds to part and some mythical lightning bolt of inspiration to strike them on the noggin and force them to create incredible art. That's not gonna happen, and that's not you! You're not going to write a bestseller if you don't break out the notepad and write some words. You're not going to paint anything at all if you don't wet the canvas. Give yourself permission to make bad art. It's part of the process. If the first try doesn't turn out, ditch it and start over. In the words of Maya Angelou:

“What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’.... And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.”
― Maya Angelou

And lastly: You Do You!

Thought of The Day :)

The first 20 hours -TEDxCSU [video]

ELO - Hold On Tight (Song of The Day)

P.S. Wait until the singing starts before you give up on it. Accroches-toi a ton reve! :)

#mondayinspiration

Your Poem [Poem by Robert William Service]

My poem may be yours indeed
In melody and tone,
If in its rhythm you can read
A music of your own;
If in its pale woof you can weave
Your lovelier design,
'Twill make my lyric, I believe,
More yours than mine.

I'm but a prompter at the best;
Crude cues are all I give.
In simple stanzas I suggest -
'Tis you who make them live.
My bit of rhyme is but a frame,
And if my lines you quote,
I think, although they bear my name,
'Tis you who wrote.

Yours is the beauty that you see
In any words I sing;
The magic and the melody
'Tis you, dear friend, who bring.
Yea, by the glory and the gleam,
The loveliness that lures
Your thought to starry heights of dream,
The poem's yours.

-Robert William Service

Give A Little Love [Video]

Take Care of Yourself

I never used to understand why people said, 'take care of yourself!' when they said goodbye.

Until last Tuesday.

Last Tuesday, I unexpectedly ran into an older friend of mine that I hadn't seen in several months. Of course, I was delighted and we had a little chat and I gave her a big hug and we went our separate ways. But the incident got me really thinking.

Now, it's more than possible that my friend may just have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed that morning. But I remembered her as a healthy, put-together person with a great sense of humor and a positive, productive outlook on life and that was not the vibe she was putting out when I saw her then. She looked tired, she had dark circles under her eyes, and she seemed to have aged years since I had seen her.

I know that we all get old and we all get tired, and if she was just having a bad day, hopefully I added some sunshine to it. But honestly I was worried. I spent the rest of the day wondering if she was sick or unhappy or if she needed more help; she has few family members in the area and most of her close friends are getting older. I wondered if I should call and offer to help with some cleaning or something.

I wondered all of that because I care. She's my friend and I love her. As I thought back over our conversation, I realized that when I said goodbye, I had smiled and said, 'take care of yourself, now!' And I'd really meant it. I really want her to wear the colorful clothes I know she enjoys so much and I really do want her to savor her coffee in the morning and go for a short walk in the fresh air and to make sure she goes to all her doctors appointments and I want her to call me or someone if she does need help with something she can no longer do on her own.

The reality is that I've got a very full, busy life right now and although I would put in the effort to do whatever I could if she needed help, there's not a lot that I am able to do for anyone more right now. But I care about her and I want her to take care of herself. For me. For herself. For everyone who cares about her.

And then after I realized that, I realized that I needed to take care of myself like that too. Sometimes I get so caught up in everything on my to do list that I get sort of paralyzed and I forget to take care of myself. To live. I forget to savor my coffee and to go for short walks myself and to read books and to take my little brothers and sisters to the library and camping in the woods. I forget to weed flower gardens so I have something pretty around the place and I forget that I need to remember to take pictures of things that make me happy and to work on good habits in my life and to keep growing and working on things.

Somebody cares about you. And you care about you because you have to live with you-you have to be you. So, take care of yourself, please. Make sure you get lots of sleep and eat some vegetables and spend some time outside. Make sure you are learning something and laughing every day and getting hugged lots. (The most surefire way to make sure you get hugged is to give hugs, just FYI.) If you're not happy, if you're in a rut, if you're out of touch with the people you care about, do something about it. It's not something that's going to work itself out.

This is your life, this is you. So take care of yourself. :)

Taking Stock #2

Making: a vision/mood board. I need more magazines though.
Cooking: hard-boiled eggs for some protein in my salads.
Drinking: Turkish coffee.
Reading: lots of articles my dad e-mails to me. Politics, health, innovation.
Wanting: a fridge for my bus so I don't have to drink lukewarm water after doing yard work all day.
Looking: for a more efficient way to make better coffee. My coffeemaker keeps burning it. ICK!!
Playing: satellite radio blues in the car on the way to and from work.
Deciding: nothing, really.
Wishing: I could just get in the car and drive far far away for a while.
Enjoying: summer thunderstorms.
Waiting: to see the new paint and curtains in the sales room at my work tomorrow.
Liking: Bob Marley's three little birds song.
Wondering: how the heck to keep ants out of my hummingbird feeder.
Loving: all the father's day posts in my Facebook newsfeed.
Pondering: the impact that the result of the U.S. presidential election will have.
Considering: the possibility of publishing a children's' e-book.
Watching: The Importance of Being Earnest.
Hoping: for a chance to change my work/school/schedule in the near future. Just ready for a change.
Marveling: over the gift of new life, the new baby calf in the barn.
Needing: some new deadlines.
Smelling: baked apples in the oven.
Wearing: my favorite pair of jeans.
Noticing: how fast everyone grows up and grows old.
Knowing: I need to take at least a tiny break and sleep/breathe/rest for a day.
Thinking: about going camping with my sister for a weekend about three hours drive away.
Feeling: contemplative.
Admiring: the blue, blue summer sky.
Sorting: laundry, clothes to donate to a thrift store.
Buying: little gifts for coworkers' birthdays.
Getting: tired of work, work, work, work, work.
Bookmarking: free language learning websites, French and Spanish.
Disliking: all the negative news on the radio.
Opening: my heart to the beauty of the mountains where I live.
Giggling: over Popeye cartoons with the littler siblings.
Working: on memorizing the book of Philippians.
Missing: my friend who moved to NYC two weeks ago, my sister who is in the Philippines.

Best Physics Teacher - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

A Moment A Day - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

Apollos Hester Interview - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

Ella Mae sings Elvis - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

Master Procrastinator - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

The Fantastic Flying Books - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

To Walk In Another's Shoes- [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

A Pep Talk - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

Real Life Hero - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

La Luna HD - [Month of Videos]

This month I am posting videos I like. At the end of June, I will go back to the regular mix of posts. Enjoy! :)

A Permanently Exhausted Pigeon

Kindness

A Letter to Coffee

Dear Coffee,

Thank you. Thank you for being there when I am at my worst. When I have dark circles under puffy eyes and my hair is a giant tangle and it's two a.m. and I've got to get to work, you've never failed to give me the strength to semi-pull-myself-together.

Thank you, I guess, for being the sole reason that I am awake at four thirty a.m. and have now managed to watch over four documentaries on random subjects that I have absolutely zero use for. Heck, maybe someday I'll meet a guy who studies amazonian fish for a living and I'll have something to talk about.

Thank you for smelling so crazy good.

Thank you for coming in both iced and hot forms, as the weather dictates.

Thank you for coming in little tiny cups of Turkish coffee sometimes, with foam on top.

Thank you for coming in giant mason jars with handles and straws and chipped ice other times.

Thank you for being a carrier for sugar and milk and fancy creamers flavored like caramel and cookies.

Thank you most of all for allowing me to pretend I am a fully-functioning adult who has her act together even though in reality I'm sort of making everything up as I go along.

So thanks. You're awesome. I know some people say you're a drug and maybe they are right. Maybe you are a drug. A warm, delicious drug. I don't care. I still love you. Especially when you come in pretty mugs and with cheesecake.

Sincerely,

me

P.S. But decaf sucks.

This Much I Do Remember [Poem by Billy Collins]

This Much I Do Remember

It was after dinner.
You were talking to me across the table
about something or other,
a greyhound you had seen that day
or a song you liked,

and I was looking past you
over your bare shoulder
at the three oranges lying
on the kitchen counter
next to the small electric bean grinder,
which was also orange,
and the orange and white cruets for vinegar and oil.

Alll of which converged
into a random still life,
so fastened together by the hasp of color,
and so fixed behind the animated
foreground of your
talking and smiling,
gesturing and pouring wine,
and the camber of you shoulders

that I could feel it being painted within me,
brushed on the wall of my skull,
while the tone of your voice
lifted and fell in its flight,
and the three oranges
remained fixed on the counter
the way that stars are said
to be fixed in the universe.

Then all of the moments of the past
began to line up behind that moment
and all of the moments to come
assembled in front of it in a long row,
giving me reason to believe
that this was a moment I had rescued
from millions that rush out of sight
into a darkness behind the eyes.

Even after I have forgotten what year it is,
my middle name,
and the meaning of money,
I will still carry in my pocket
the small coin of that moment,
minted in the kingdom
that we pace through every day.

- Billy Collins

#mondayinspiration

Redbone - Come And Get Your Love [Song of The Day]

The Avocado Paint Saga

So, I have this random closet in my bus that I let my siblings draw all over with sharpies. One wall you kind of can see from the living room/kitchen/desk area so I decided to paint it. I picked out some all the paint chips and agonized over them for a week or probably more like a month. Then I got a week where I worked a lot of hours and I had a little extra moola to spend on superfluous things like paint and Welch's fruit snacks and crayons and other grown up things. So off I go to town, thirty minutes away, with my littlest brother in tow. We put the windows down and turn the radio up.

I have a confusing conversation with a very patient but obviously tired and stressed Lowe's employee about what kind of paint I'm looking for. I forgot it was Memorial Day Weekend, hence all the vacationers would be coming in to their summer houses about thirty minutes from that particular establishment. I settle on a kind of paint and a color. I believe the word on the paint chip was avocado. Like, the outside of an avocado. A dark, woodsy green. 

Plants are on sale at Lowe's! I buy this cool rubbery plant for two dollars. I don't know what it is, but it's awesome. I hope I don't kill it. I also buy a Goldon Pothos for the exact reason that I have grown these before and discovered they are virtually impossible to kill. That's my kind of houseplant, if you know what I mean.

The Cool Rubbery Plant

We buy chicken nuggets at McDonald's and then stop at Goodwill and buy my little brother a giant stuffed panda bear for three dollars (You should have seen his face light up when he saw it, he just saw Kung Fu Panda 3 the other night. lol) and I get into a long conversation with a lady named Sharon who is buying pillows and might have a mini-fridge for me if I want to pick it up sometime. We take our bear and our chicken nuggets and our paint and plants and various other items and pack them into my tiny little car for the thirty minute ride home.

We pull in the driveway and park. The lil' guy heaves and grunts and hauls his giant panda bear up to his room. I drive to the bus and heave and grunt and haul all of my new found treasures in. I joyously spread newspaper and turn on the radio to settle in for a few relaxing hours of painting and general lolly-gagging, feeling very accomplished in all my grown-up-and-buying-paint-by-myself-ness.

I open my paint can and mix it with the little wooden ruler thing they give you. It looks bright but I am not worried. I still have full and unquestioning trust in the colors of paint chips. The Pina Colada song plays, and I begin painting blissfully.

You can't really see it here, but it was blindingly bright.

It is not long before I realize that the light reflecting off of the very subtly green metal roof is making the paint look an entirely different color than I had thought it would. In fact, it looks like a neon sign. Or tennis balls. Or green grapes. Or this telephone I found on google images:

The paint looks chartreuse. 

*I commence panicking mildly*

I call my mother. (So much for my being an accomplished adult.) My mom does not pick up. She probably left her phone somewhere. I text my aunt a picture. We discuss paint colors and how you can take it back and get more color put in it if it's the wrong color. I decide to do one coat in the chartreuse and then go back and see if I can figure out how to either turn the chartreuse paint into avocado paint or buy a new can of perhaps 'midnight pine' paint or something like that. I finish the coat of glaringly bright paint and sit down to read five chapters of 'Don Quixote'. 

I sit and read so long that by the time I come back to look at the paint, it is dry. And guess what? No longer, is it chartreuse. It is now a very respectable cilantro. Sure, it's brighter than what I was going for to begin with. But, bright is good. Bright means happy. And it is no longer the color of a lime popsicle that threw up. So, I can live happily ever after with cilantro. Crisis averted.

It kind of reminds me of a Tex-Mex restaurant crossed with a kindergarten. It's very festive, which I like. I just need to dig out the confetti now....

End of Saga

Link Love

•  Snap Judgement is an awesome radio show and podcast of stories told by people that call in with their stories or are recorded by the show's reporters. They are put to great soundtracks and it's really neat to listen to stories from so many different people.

•  Tasty is a YouTube channel of super short, easy to watch cooking videos. The videos range from frozen yogurt granola cups to slow cooker pineapple chicken to guacamole onion rings. You guys, I love food! :)

•  Here is the definitive master list of links to articles with lots of useful information for writers on everything from portraying sign language in dialogue to writing cliffhanger endings to describing ethnicity, plagiarism concerns, etc. etc. etc. LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!

•  This site has live video feed from a camera watching an Eagle's nest in D.C. These kinds of things are the reason that it is impossible for me to get anything done anymore. I am addicted.

• This Wind In The Willows Audio Book is free on YouTube and perfect for babysitting kids with cabin fever. Or just to listen to yourself. Also, the guy who reads it has a really cool accent and the whole thing is set to nature sounds. What's not to love?

• This short video about Human Nature was made by a teacher for special needs kids. Favorite quote, "Be kind to those who interact with you in a way you perceive to be abnormal."  We're all just looking for human connection. (Note: couldn't find a link to the video anywhere but facebook, you probably have to be logged in to watch.)

• Colour Lovers lets you create your own color schemes from scratch or from colors you like in digital photos. Super handy for painting. 

• This Minimalist Guide To Eating On A Budget is pretty much what I already do. Can we get a round of applause for deli rotisserie chicken yet? Super cheap and delicious/nutritious.

• Thrift Books is a website that sells secondhand books for really good prices. INCLUDING TEXTBOOKS, PEOPLE!! Also, free shipping for orders over ten dollars, so that's awesome.

• Duolingo is a 100% free website/app that teaches you a new language at whatever pace you choose, down to five minutes a day. There is also a placement test if you are already somewhat familiar with a language. It's very user friendly, and I highly recommend it.

•  Simon's Cat is a YouTube channel of adorable, hand-drawn, animated shorts about a fluffy cat who gets into all kinds of different situations. Sweet, simple, and super relate-able to all cat owners.

100 More Favorite Things

1. Pink flamingo yard ornaments.

2. Caramel coffee creamer in after-lunch coffee.

3. Big, tactical style watches.

4. Sunshine during rain.

5. Reading the Farm Show magazine in the waiting room at the dentist.

6. Little girls in Easter dresses.

7. Gingerale with ice and a straw.

8. Bright orange work lamps.

9. Little old ladies with scarves tied under their chins.

10. Birthmarks.

12. The movie, "The Lion King."

13. Buying people potato candy.

14. Polar Bears.

15. Hand-me-down winter coats.

16. Classical piano music.

17. Steam from a tea kettle in the morning sunlight.

18. Freckles.

19. Granddad's plaid, flannel shirts.

20. The smell of Johnson Johnson's baby shampoo.

21. Making little gifts for people.

22. Little boy humor.

23. French swing music.

24. Cuddling up in bed to watch movies.

25. Big white clouds that are poofy on top and grey on the bottom.

26. Flipping over a perfectly browned pancake.

27. The curly tops on garlic plants.

28. Fat, happy, purring cats.

29. Putting stickers on envelopes before sending them. Even on bills.

30. Driving with all the windows down.

31. Veggie-lovers pizza.

32. Playing chess.

33. Somebody's vacation pictures on Facebook.

34. Spring peepers.

35. Laughing over the phone.

36. Watching kids jump in mud puddles.

37. Jumping in mud puddles.

38. Birds on telephone wires.

39. Sheer curtains that let the sunshine inside.

40. Live music at cookouts.

41. Trees tossing in the wind during a storm.

42. The Chickadees at the bird feeder.

43. Camouflage travel mugs.

44. People with dimples.

45. When you're making Turkish coffee and it foams up.

46. People singing along to the radio when they think no one is around.

47. Four-wheelers and mud. A match made in heaven.

48. Pop rocks candy.

49. Vacuuming carpet.

50. Waving to a stranger and them waving back.

51. Playing Rummy around the kitchen table.

52. Yard sale furniture.

53. When someone you love tackles a hard issue in their lives, watching their self-esteem grow.

54. Amaryllis bulbs in pots in the windowsills.

55. Talking and sitting on front porch swings.

56. Filling hummingbird feeders.

57. Holding hands with little kids when crossing streets or parking lots.

58. Taking orders for pies on post-it-notes at work.

59. Full calendars.

60. Traffic lights reflecting on pavement after rain.

61. Aquariums with little plastic plants in them.

62. When you make cajeta and the whole house smells awesome for three days.

63. Gumball machines in old stores.

64. Wearing big comfy sweatshirts around a campfire.

65. Pencils and pens in mugs on desks.

66. The sweet familiarity and comfort of reading again the highlighted verses in my Bible.

67. When someone tells a joke and winks at you across the room.

68. Watching people find each other at the airport.

69. Whipped cream on top of things.

70. Finding a tea berry patch in the woods.

71. When a little kid draws you a picture that says 'I love you' in the corner.

72. Sitting on the bed, listening to podcasts and folding laundry.

73. The theme song to MacGyver.

74. When somebody snorts when they laugh and then start laughing harder.

75. When your tea gets to the perfect temperature.

76. Buying chili dogs from the deli to take on a picnic.

77. Freshly mopped linoleum.

78. When someone uses local slang in a conversation.

79. Finding farming forums up on my laptop after my brother used it.

80. Thunderstorms with lots of thunder and lightning.

81. Wildflowers in old wine bottles.

82. National Geographic magazines.

83. Aloe plants.

84. Kids with sparklers.

85. Planning weekend visits with friends over e-mail.

86. Watching someone you love pursue a passion and succeed.

87. Studying in coffee shops.

88. Painting baseboard and trim.

89. Good morning texts.

90. Staying up all night playing video games with siblings.

91. Long talks with my mom in the car.

92. Remembering a song you forgot about.

93. Opening the windows on a warm day to let the breeze in.

94. Grocery store flowers.

95. Fields all yellow and full of buttercups.

96. Sitting on fake-bamboo couches in sun porches with a good book.

97. The way a lake looks when it's really windy.

98. The Beatles song, 'Here Comes The Sun.'

99. Wobbly-kneed baby calves.

100. When somebody looks at you from a stage for reassurance.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

I had this exchange the other day while babysitting and it made me giggle:

Five year old: *studies my face intensely while eating a carrot stick*

Me: "Do you think if these dark circles under my eyes get dark enough, I could find a raccoon family and convince them to take me in?"

Five year old: (Very seriously) "I don't think you'd like what they eat."

The Raccoon Version of Me

Paddington [Short Movie Review]

Paddington is an adorable movie about a young bear who goes on an adventure from Peru to London in search of an explorer who visited his aunt and uncle years ago and who taught them English and invited them to visit him someday. He runs into a family that ends up taking him in-just for the night! The set and costume designers teamed up with the CGI designers to make Paddington a work of whimsy and fuzzy feelings. My very favorite part in the movie, (except obviously the ones that would give the story away) is the cherry tree painted in the house that changes subtly throughout the movie to reflect the mood. Paddington is a grand adventure for the little ones and a humor-filled and warm story for us old fogies. 10/10 highly recommend. :)

An Honest List of What Is In My Purse

So I switched purses today and instead of my usual purse-switching-routine (turning bag 1 upside down over bag 2 and shaking) I dumped everything out on the floor and proceeded to be horrified at myself. A picture might have well been too graphic so here is the complete list:

• A mini Germ-X with Elsa from Frozen on it. (I swear by Germ-X)

• A phone charger

• My wallet with ID, etc.

• A random art journal that I have half filled

• Two highlighters-yellow and purple

• An orange matchbox car from my little brother

• A receipt from a gas station for coffee and $15.00 worth of gas

• A receipt for pizza rolls. I don't remember buying pizza rolls?

• A purple pen

• Paint chips in shades of green and orange.

• My glasses case

• A little pink coin purse my mom brought me from the Philippines

• An individual package of 'Orange & Spice Herbal Tea' that I stole from a hotel

• Eos mint lip balm

• A micro sd card in a case

• A silver cross necklace

• Glee gum

• A compact mirror

• Mary Kay lipgloss

• A green hair tie

• A post it note with an address and phone number for a house I clean 

• Two mascaras. Both in brown-black but one looks blue when I have it on so I don't wear it much.

• Cute little owl earrings

• A recipe for tex-mex lentil burgers

• Pink earbud headphones

• Midol

•  $2.73 in loose change

• Two honey mustard sauce packets from McDonalds

• A signed and sealed birthday card I have yet to deliver.

• My keys with a cute turtle keychain I bought while on vacation

• Random $5 bill-JACKPOT!!

• A notoriously non-charged battery pack charger for my phone, meant for emergency use

• A Zootopia ticket stub from the theater

• A prayer list I scribbled in a waiting room on the back of a heart disease pamphlet

• A lucky pebble given to me by one of my smaller cousins

• One of those things you use to check tire pressure

• A flyer for a local orchestra that was performing at the community college last week

• Four safety pins

• A packet of sunflower seeds. Like, the kind to plant, not to eat.

• A receipt from filling my propane tank for my stove/heater

• A card with the date and time for my next dentist appointment.

• A paracord survival bracelet made by my sister

• Gummy vitamin C that I got for my brother who has a cold (those things are like candy! YUM!)

• A slightly wrinkled, pocket-sized Christmas photo of my entire family

• A granola bar wrapper with *brace yourself* used gum in it

85 Year Old Best Friends - Video

Different Kinds of Love

There's love pretty much everywhere, but I've been noticing there's lots of different kinds.

There's the kind of love that when you're stranded on the side of the road with a busted transmission, you can call them and know they'll be on their way in ten minutes.

There's the kind of love that asks if you've had enough to eat and gives nice, warm hugs and says, 'you know this house is your house too,' waves goodbye from the front step when you drive away.

There's the kind of love that means when they call you at three a.m. and they had a miscarriage or they failed their exam, or life just sucks, you can talk together until the sun comes up and messy-cry and wonder together why things are the way they are.

There's the kind of love that gives you butterflies when they smile and makes you feel like everything is perfect when you're holding hands.

There's the kind of love that hurts because the relationship is sort of broken for now and there's tension and they prickle when you touch their shoulder and there's the kind of loneliness in their eyes that stays even when you're right there but you don't ruffle and you let them roll their eyes and you don't push, you just offer them tea and wish you could absorb all the pain because you love them anyway.

There's the kind of love that makes you feel proud and glowing inside, when you're holding a newborn baby and studying their little chubby face and feeling their warmth in your arms.

There's the kind of love that makes you cry when you're sitting in the audience, watching them up there succeeding and it makes you happy and proud and sad and you've-gotta-let-go-a-little-bit-more-but-you'll-never-stop-loving-them-anyway and so you cry and you smile and you wave and they find you from the stage and grin at you.

There's the kind of love that neither party really acknowledges because you're both too busy ribbing each other's choices and photobombing each other and arguing over the directions because why did we even agree to carpool again? But when you haven't seen them for a week they text you a meme about pizza just to check in.

There's the kind of love that you have for someone that you don't even know beyond chit chat but you care about their day and bring them Christmas cookies some years and compliment their new haircut when you see them.

There's the kind of love you have for someone who needs you, that tugs your heart when you see pictures or videos and wonder what more you might be able to do for them and it makes you mad you can't do more.

There's the kind of love that puts post it notes in your lunches and gas in your car and when you get your wisdom teeth out they drive you home and get you a milkshake.

There's the kind of love that just used to be and all that's left are the memories and whenever something reminds you of it you just smile or sigh and wonder again for a minute or two why things are the way they are.

There's the kind of stuck-with-you love that you don't ever think about until you hear from an aunt about something they did when they were young and it makes you smile and wrinkle your nose because it's just so like them to do that and your heart feels warm.

There's the kind of love that makes your heart feel full when you see them in love or getting that new job or holding their brand new baby because you've prayed them all the way to where they are and they don't even know how much you care about how much they've grown and how happy it makes you feel to see them living and growing and doing things.

There's so many different ways people love. You just gotta look for it.