Category Archives: just here

On the Importance of Flowers

On the Importance of Flowers

When I was first dating Jared, I used to say how he didn’t need to buy me flowers for Valentines Day, birthdays, or anniversaries. First of all, flowers can be expensive. Anybody who has had a significant other or a mother knows that any flowers bought on Valentine’s Day and/or Mother’s Day are priced to rack in the big money. And then, after a few days (or if you’re really lucky, a week or two) they die. Get all limp and soggy or dried up and brown, and it’s a nasty mess to clean up.

So I told Jared not to bother.  He, like any smart man, decided to play it save and did it anyways, but I would have probably been okay without it. I really did feel badly about how expensive and overrated they could be.

But secretly, I was always really glad he did it.

I LOVE having fresh flowers around the house.

Cayenne Roses Close up

Especially since we have our own home, I feel a certain pride in the beautiful things that are around, even the temporary items like flowers that you have to keep changing.

Flowers Outside  

There’s a certain charm in having them around. The subtle fragrance. The many shapes. The variety of color. I’m always amazed with the beautiful, delicate colors that nature can come up with. I love being surprised by the natural beauty that we can find in the world, and so grateful for it being here.

Cayenne Roses Top view

H-E-B is having a “Rose Festival”. Lots of the flowers aren’t in the best quality, but I found these “Cayenne” roses in the big bin and loved that color. And for roses, they have lasted quite well for the past 5 days. 🙂 Woohoo!

On a side note, I also found this awesome color highlight setting on the phone that I tried out on the roses!

Color highlight Cayenne Roses Close up Color highlight Cayenne Roses Close up 2

What are the simple things that brighten YOUR day?

Fowards

Fowards

Warning to all readers: This is a rant. If you do not like rants, then please do not continue reading. Thank you.

One thing that drives me CRAZY are email forwards. Of any kind. I do not care for your lolz cats or husband-bashing or motivational food-for-thoughts or political opinions or  stories about a sick child’s dying wish or a warning you to not pull over at _______ because ______ will happen AND YOU MAY DIE.

And oh, don’t forget to forward this on to  as many people as possible because if not, you will have seven years of bad luck and then you or someone you love will die a horribly tragic and excruciating death. So, to cover all your bases, you do a mass forward to anyone who ever had the misfortune to be included in your email address book.

Come on, people!

If I wanted to see the cute, cuddly animals, I could do a Google search. I have a lolz cats of the day on my iGoogle page, which I rarely look at and while I am thinking about it, I may just get rid of it now.

I rather like my husband, and he’s excellent at putting his clothes in the hamper and dishes in the dishwasher, so I don’t want to bash him or men in general.

Political opinion pieces generally include extreme character attacks, and it’s just depressing to read.

And all those warnings or “Oh my gosh I can’t believe ____ happened!” emails? Check out snopes.com and the likes first to make sure it’s not purely made up. Because most of those things never happened.

So, don’t send me your forwards. Unless something like the Second Coming has started AND IF that were to happen I could probably hear about it first on CNN.com or the news, so really, forwarding an email chain isn’t necessary.You could even just post a link to it on your Facebook page, and give me the option to -click- and view it if I so choose to.

One in fifty might be worth resending, and if it is, at least include some personalized “I really thought of you when I saw this” note at the top. And make sure that the actual email is included. Thank you.

Tune in next time for my thought-provoking essay on how the word “epic” is completely overused in today’s youth and media…

The Help

The Help

I just finished reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett.

Wow.

You always hear people going on about a great book, and then the hype usually doesn’t live up to the expectations you formed. And plus, it wasn’t a fantasy/sci-fi novel that I tend to gravitate to; it’s more of a historical fiction.

It just got me thinking about all the lines, borders, fences, etc., we put up between ourselves and anybody else who might be considered “different”. In our daily chats at CTWP, this came up over and over again, in multiple settings and different issues.  Race. Religion. Sexuality. Social status. Abuse.

We fear different. Different might even be better than what we do, and we can’t have that. It’s like the Demotivator: The tallest blade of grass is first to be cut by the lawnmower.

Underacheivement

(Thanks, Despair.com)

We often like to pretend those lines aren’t there. It’s wrong or inappropriate to discuss them as a teacher in the classroom setting. Some things are acceptable now that weren’t when my parents were children. And even then, some people still have deep rooted prejudices towards the Civil Rights movements of the 60s. And students are amazed when they realize, in several parts of the world, the country, the state,  some people still keep their lines drawn firmly between themselves and “The Others”.

So it’s always there, the current deep and powerful, lurking under the waters. That’s why I love novels, reading, writing, so much–because deep in every important story, the lines are discussed, crossed, eliminated, or held up. And your reaction to whatever it is, tells more about you than you even realize.

Stories like The Help tear at me. I wonder how many times I just accepted something that was told to me because it was “just how things are”? How many times I treated somebody based on a preconceived stereotype, not thinking about what I was really doing or saying? How naive and ignorant have I been?

In the end, I desperately wish that people could just truly care about each other the way they should, not withstanding these lines. What a place this world could be, I wonder, if everyone treated each other with a little more kindness and acceptance. If we all lived by The Golden Rule: treat everyone how you would want to be treated yourself.

Would we have those lines still?

South Beach…

South Beach…

I’m completely and unabashedly an emotional eater. I feel stressed; I want to eat. I feel sad; I want to eat. I feel frustrated; I want to eat. Considering that I felt all of these emotions the vast majority of the past year, I discovered that the weight I am at was not what I wanted to experience.

But it’s hard to retrain your body when you have gradually built up a response system the whole previous year. It’s like how I have to go to bed by a certain time every night, or else the next day is absolutely miserable for me. I’m a junkie for my sugar and carbs. I know it’s not healthy for me, (especially because my myriad of health problems make physical workouts hard to do,) and it definitely hasn’t done anything nice for my vanity, either.

Enter: South Beach Diet.

Principle 1) Eating food that are lower on the glycemic index (essentially, low on sugars- natural or added). First two weeks, no sugar or carbs–mainly veggies and low fat dairy and proteins.  No fruit (too much sugar), no bread or grains (cutting out both sugar and carbs), and not even some veggies (carrots and beets are high on the glycemic index).

Essentially, I’m going cold turkey.

I am hoping that by sticking to this, it will help me break the “addiction” my body has to the bad stuff. I’ll eventually add whole grains and fruit back into my diet. When I did the diet several years ago in college, it was amazing how much it helped me feel better about myself and my weight. I’m hoping it will happen again now.

It’s been one whole week, and I am happy to report that I have already lost 5 lbs.

That almost makes it worth not having my daily dose of bread and sugar… right?

Quilt update!

Quilt update!

So, in a mad dash to finish the main part of my quilt before Spring Break was over, I finished sewing all my squares together!

All that is left is a border, made from my “theme” material (the white background), batting, edging… I am really happy with the results overall!

Finished squares 1

Finished squares 2

So excited!