Uncle

(I don't know who designed this, or I'd give props. It links to the tumblr site)

Books and Opinions

NPR had a fun little thing where they asked readers to vote for their favorite YA books of all time. There were tons of books on the list, but you could only vote for your top ten. I'm happy to report that nine of my top ten made the cut into the Top 100 YA books of "all time", but I must admit that I am a little bit... what's the word... suspicious of the results.

Viewpoints

The way we see ourselves affects how we see the world. When in the depths of depression, it is very hard to find or see anything joyful or bright, while contrastingly, those who are filled with the deepest happiness feel no need to focus on shadows or gloom.

The Budding Years

No fun graphic today, I can't find the humor currently. When I see it tomorrow, I'll come back and edit.

But for now, I would just like to shout out my hoorah's, hugs, and much love for all the mom's out there who give up time, effort, and things on their own wish-lists to provide for the needs of their kids. I know for a fact that I am not the only mom who does this. I remember my mother doing it when I was young and stupid and selfish (and clueless.) And now I find I am doing it myself. Only normally I do it and don't realize I do it. I love my family, and serving them is what I do. I have these children because I love them and want them, therefore it makes no sense to resent them for needing things as they grow.

Writing Prompt Tuesday

I've been listening to Writing Excuses for a while now. Brandon, Dan, Howard, and Mary may not know it, but they have helped me immensely. That being said, I've taken the last few weeks off from working on my story because I've hit a fear point. And I haven't written anything. I've done a lot of thinking, which I know is still good, but I haven't written. (Do blog posts count?? I'm not sure they do.) But today when I heard the "You're out of excuses, now go write!" I decided to do just that.

Writing Excuses 4.9: Take an absurd 19th century folk belief, treat it as absolute fact, and write a story hinging on that principle. (and I really, really, really hope they don't get mad at me for making a graphic based on their prompts... I should probably ask...)

Reading Trendy Books

This morning while perusing some of my favorite blogs, Ava at Writability had this awesome post about how people today are judging readers for liking "bad" books. She noted that it's sad that we're making people feel ashamed for picking up a book and reading it, just because that book is a current trend. It got me thinking so much, that I felt like I wanted to write a post of my own.

One person's derivative garbage is another person's literary heaven. Just because you don't like something does not mean it's ok to make fun of people who do. Being an art major, I've been trained to see that most everything in life is subjective. Besides, it's just common sense that people are going to like different things.

For instance, I love realist art - art that looks like things really look: Rembrandt, Mucha, Paul Calle, etc. I also have a taste for some abstraction, but not a lot. But there are people out there who LOVE it. I'm not one of them, but I don't make fun of those artists who create it, nor their collectors who buy it. Give me a choice between Mucha and Hoffman, I'll pick Mucha every time. That doesn't mean that the avid collector of Hoffman is bad, or wrong, or an idiot, or a mindless slave to current trends.

Alfons Mucha

Hans Hoffman's "The Gate"

A Peace Treaty of Sorts

I have two different blackberry bushes in my yard. In the front yard is the "I'm going to take over the world with kindness and big juicy berries!" Blackberry bush.

When these berries ripen, they are 1.5 to 2 inches long, bursting with flavor and practically hop right off the vine into my hands. As you can see, there are few, if any, thorns to be seen on the vine or anywhere near the berries. Harvesting from this vine is an absolute pleasure and I look forward to going out there every morning to see what has ripened.

Ah, technology

I have been trying to figure out how to link twitter and blogger and facebook all together. Why post things three times, right? And I only even have a twitter so I can follow some really fantastic writers. Change is not my thing anymore. I used to love it. I would rearrange the furniture, the pictures on the walls, and wish I could knock out walls or re-design the house. And for a long time I was current with technology, even building my own computer piece by piece.

Not so much anymore. Now that I have a gajillion kids and young women to keep track of and Girl Scout troops, well... I just don't have time. In fact, now I get excited when I have time and energy to actually move furniture around, which is rare, now. Maybe once a year if I am lucky. And for a long time, I have avoided getting "connected" in all the ways. I am one of the few without a cool smart phone. I don't like being tied to a phone. I don't mind being tied to a computer, though. I love my computer, don't get me wrong. I just don't like things that take extra thought or extra time, even though they may save me time in the future.

So, with all that whining said, I have finally done it. I sat myself down and decided to try it. To see if I was really too old to figure out current technology, or if I could navigate and figure it out. So this is my test. Was I able to successfully link my Twitter, Facebook, and Blog? Will it post where it's supposed to?

I don't know. We shall see. But I am in the mood to troubleshoot and figure it out. The kids are in bed, my older kids are being awesome and getting ready for sleep, and the house is clean enough for me to not guilt myself about the time spent. So here goes. Will it work?

update: apparently, I have some work to do before the blog will post to facebook or twitter... but twitter posts to both. If only I could figure out how to change the text color in the sidebar. For now, my apologies for the unreadable red. I've hunted through the html and css to try to find the code, but no luck as of yet. I haven't give up, though.

To Make Granola

I am not willing to turn on the oven for much of anything during these super-hot-melt-your-brain days of summer. Except for Granola. I will happily turn crank that baby on and suffer through the 20 degree temperature increase from the convection fans for granola. Anytime. Just so I can eat it.

Fear is a Funny Thing

There are few things in this world more paralyzing than fear. And there are all different kinds of fear that attack us. Fear of failure, fear of the unknown, fear of not being good enough, fear of loss, fear of never having enough, fear of dying, fear of pain, fear of being alone, fear of moving forward... the list goes on and on. In fact, each one of those fears has pages and subparagraphs and outlines with squadrons of specialists, lawyers, and therapists to decipher, interpret, and make that fear larger or smaller in comparison to whatever it is you're looking at.

Fear has a foothold in my brain, and I wrestle with it constantly. The more I face it, the weaker it gets, or perhaps the stronger it makes me, I'm not sure. But there are some fears that are primal, deep, that seem to run from the inside of my bones and have absolute control. And today I have to face some of those fears because I have no control to change the situation or affect the outcome.