For three of the last five years I have participated in The 100 Day Project, “a free, global art project that takes place online.” People around the world commit to creating something every day for one hundred consecutive days. Artists can choose any type of creativity for the project–painting, drawing, sewing, mixed media art, Zentangle–this possibilities are endless. This is a way to get the creative juices moving in a concrete way every day. Many people…
Now I understand. When I was a young mother, thirty-five years ago (Yikes), I enjoyed going to the local mall by myself on Sunday afternoons to enjoy a little me time. Most of the time I was not shopping for anything in particular; I enjoyed just looking and perhaps finding some good sales. There were certain stores I frequented and there were those that I passed right by because they only carried “old lady clothing.” I don’t remember now what…
Over the last several days, my Facebook feed has been filled with ads for diet plans, exercise apps, and opportunities to ring in the new year. I’m sure that there are many people out there who are excited by the looming date change on the calendar, but what really changes between 11:59pm on December 31, 2023 and 12:00am on January 1, 2024 aside from the date itself, something that happens with every single twenty-four hour period? Lots of people use…
I love to write. I love to write almost anything – poetry, journal entries, blog posts, photography prompts, essays, to the point of preferring essay questions to fill-in-the-blank or multiple choice on a test. Why? Because I’d much rather find and use my own words to answer a question than try to do a mind meld with a teacher where I have to prove my understanding by finding the words that they are looking for, which does not prove that…
Happy Pi Day! Today is that day that number geeks, well maybe all geeks, get to sit around and see who can recite the longest run of pi’s infinite digits and then celebrate that victory by eating pie, indulging in calories and the security that the ratio of that round delicacy’s circumference to it’s diameter will always be a constant. Though I am fascinated by numbers, my first love will always be words. So in celebration of Pi Day, I…
Blood pressure, that is. I embraced turning 60 on December 28, 2021. I celebrated the year leading up to that monumental birthday by making a list of sixty things that I wanted to accomplish by my sixtieth birthday. I managed to check many, but not all, of those things off of the list. Those items that still remained got moved to the seventy by 70 list. As an aside, it is hard to come up with this many things that…
Last week I wrote about all the things that one might do when forced to stay at home for four days due to a dangerous ice storm. Though I might have benefitted from matching single socks, mastering the folding of fitted sheets, or rounding up all of my resident dust bunnies, I did none of these things. Once I got home from school last Monday afternoon and realized I would have the gift of staying put for a few days,…
Last weekend, the weather teams in Dallas started warning of a “winter weather event” for this week. I have to admit that usually the more hype that is made over a bad weather threat, the less likely we are to see any of it. But, that said, we did our part to prepare. Weber did his normal Monday morning grocery run and I met my Monday classes ready for the possibility that I might not see them on Wednesday. By…
I am not one who consciously makes a list of new year’s resolutions. Rather, my life seems to consist of regular tidal motion, a continual ebbing and flowing of goal setting and goal re-evaluation, in a constant attempt to live the best life I can in the present moment. I am always aware of this intent. I also always seem to be aware of falling short. As I reviewed 2022 and looked at ways to live better in 2023, I…
I am a lover of lists. I like to make them. And I like to read those that others have made. Over the last few weeks I have spent time with several different lists that offered questions for reflection on the past year. I am sharing here my response to one of these questions. What was the best book you read, show or movie you watched, or podcast you listened to? I have not yet jumped onto the podcast bandwagon,…