Writing Challenge #6: Five ways to win my heart are...

And the winners are...

1. Love my Margo...she's a bit tricky but she's the apple of my eye.

2. Rub my feet.

3. Make me breakfast or take me out to breakfast.  I wake up hungry and breakfast is my favorite meal... yummmm... I'm hungry just typing this. 

4. Make chores fun by working on them together.

5. Shovel the sidewalk before you have to go to work in bad weather when I am snuggled inside on the couch  with Hank :-)  Ok... this one is pretty specific to today :-)

Writing Challenge #5: Where do I want to visit?

List 5 places you want to visit:

I want to visit everywhere!

Right now I am feeling a bit more "home-y" and attached to traveling with the family (including Hank when possible) so I'd really like to visit some low-key near by relaxing spots.

1. Deep Creek Lake - I have never been there and I think a cabin for a week with a hammock between two trees sounds lovely.
2. Texas - I've never been out to see my Aunt and her family at their home in Texas and I miss them!
3. The beach - any beach - I just love the sound of the ocean.  I don't actually like to get in the water but that never takes the beach off of my wish list!
4. Chestertown - this is an easy one to check off, it's only a few short hours away.  I get the itch every few years to go back and stroll around what I think is one of the most beautiful college campuses...I may be biased.
5. The Lake District in England - I'd love to wander through the fields where Wordsworth penned his poetry, or sit quietly in one of those spots and read.

Writing Challenge #4: Who inspires me?

This one is easy!  My parents still inspire me everyday...

My dad because he was brave through much adversity, kind and always willing to lend a helping hand, never afraid to voice his opinion but was also fair.  He had a soft spot for kids and animals and a love of nature and camping.  He never let me wonder how much he loved me, I was always 100% aware that I was the center of his world.

My mom because she had the ability to keep all of us straight, she taught me about not worrying about what people think about you, and was truly my best friend as an adult.  She also somehow survived the five or so years of my childhood when I simply refused to sleep at night.

I didn't appreciate it as much in the moment but my parents sacrificed a lot for me...they gave me their precious time when I wanted to be involved in a gazillion 4-H projects, they drove me to all my band practices and competitions, and were there to cheer me and my friends on at every one of them.  They made sure we figured out a way for me to go to the college I had my heart sat on, and then when I was homesick, made sure I had a way to get home on the weekends and back in time for class on Monday.

Thank you for inspiring me every single day that I had with you and every day still! <3

Writing Challenge #3: My Pet Peeves

What are your top three pet peeves:

1. Tailgating - I'm an anxious driver to begin with, when you are close enough to me that I can no longer see your headlights I am not a happy camper and I may start yelling at you even though you can't here me... though my husband who is often on the phone with me via bluetooth can... he loves the random outbursts!

2. Chewing with your mouth open (it's way more about the noise for me than anything).

3. Loud noises before 8 am (truly I don't love loud noises at all, fireworks have never been a favorite of mine...they are beautiful but I wish they would make them quieter!)

Yes I realize that there is some hypocrisy when in my first pet peeve I reference yelling and my second two are about not liking loud things ;)

Writing Challenge: #2 Someone said I...

Day 2: Write something that someone told you about yourself that you'll never forget...

This one is surprisingly hard for me...my parents and role models were fantastic at encouraging me and giving positive reinforcement but I couldn't put my finger on one thing that stood out above all the rest...

So I started a haiku with this first line and the rest just fell out of my mind, through my fingers to the keyboard.

Someone said I was
worthless but I knew better
it was time to go.

Writing Challenge #1: What makes me happy?

Day 1: List 10 things that make you really happy -- here goes, no serious thinking, just listing off the top of my head!

1. My husband - he can be pretty silly :-)
2. My family  - the girls, my nieces and nephews, crazy siblings, awesome aunts, uncles and cousins.  
3. Memories of my parents
4. Hank 
5. Margo (yes some people might be annoyed that they get their own billing when I grouped all of my family together... lol)
6. Time spent with friends
7. Daffodils signalling spring is here
8. A beautiful day for hiking
9. Live music
10. General coziness - warm blankets, hot beverages, crafting, good books...

30 Day Writing Challenge

I love to write, but of late (and by that I mean for several years...ha!) I have had a bit of writer's block. Maybe, not even what would officially be called writer's block, maybe more accurately a time block.  I only ever seem to have little bits of time to do any writing which is fantastic for posting some fun pictures and thoughts about life but I never really feel like I have time to think and really sink my teeth (that is such a weird phrase) into writing.  I also know that's a bit of a cop out, when you make something a priority, you find the time for it.  Alas -- the whole point of this is to say that several of my friends shared a "30 Day Writing Challenge" on pinterest and facebook and I am officially (with this blog post) on board.  Each day is a pretty quick and painless prompt but I hope it will let me stretch my writing muscles a bit and hopefully provide some good blog entertainment.

As always I love feedback!  I would also love to know YOUR answers to some of the prompt questions so please chime in and share :-)

For some beginning inspiration - This was my favorite place to write when I was in college:
https://www.washcoll.edu/centers/lithouse/


... and here is an angst-filled poem that 20 year old me wrote from that third floor window in my favorite writing chair...

On High

I stare blankly

over trees through dusty

third floor windows.

Fourteen afternoons

into nights

protected by the high

back and thick sides

of the pea green

elderly arm chair pulled

right up to the glass

so that I have to climb

in from the side.

Cocked sideways

I let it cradle my limp

body.  My face turns

forward to feel breeze

that flows in from space created

by books wedged

gracefully between sill

and aged wood

surrounding pain.

Happy reading and writing!

Happy Little Moments - dedicated to mom

These happy little moments don't have anything specific to do with memories of my mom except for the fact that my mom (and parents together) did a great job in finding the happy little moments everyday.  We didn't go on a lot of fancy vacations but we did spend a lot of time together as a family, enjoying playing, and learning together. Happy Birthday Mom, I miss you and think of you everyday!

 Sleepy Hank.. I think his ear looks huge here and it made me giggle.

 

We finally hung things on our walls!  Well we are at least finished in one level of the house :-)  My mother kept an impeccably clean and organized house so she would be proud that we are finally getting around to this instead of having frames stacked on the floor in each room!

Lastly some pretty flowers from an awesome friend! And I managed to get it to grow :-)  

Happy Little Moments 1/26/17 Edition

A few more happy little moments.  Life's simple pleasure often go unnoticed. 

 TRUTH!  This is me every morning in winter!

 Book, puppy, warm blanket.  Trifecta.

 Mugs. I love mugs. Especially ones that tell people to shhhh.

 A baby goat calendar? Thank you Barnes and Noble gift card for Christmas!  And baby goat is wearing a sweater... the cuteness is unstoppable.

Shannon petting Margo, I literally thought this day would never come.  Perhaps Margo is recruiting her in a secret alliance against Hank.

Happy Little Moments

I've had all kinds of ideas for serious blog topics lately... but this is what I can muster... and what makes me smile at the moment.  So here are some little glimpses of peace and happiness from the last few days ...

 Sleepy Puppy zzzzzz

 Crazy kiddos!

 Just plain cuteness!

 It's hard to knit with a hankerdoodle snoozer.

 It fills my heart that they tolerate each other :-)  

 Coloring and sewing in one!  WHAT?!?!?  How did I not know about this!

Proud Cat Mom! Meow!

Stay-cation All I Ever Wanted

Points if you get the song reference in the blog post title :-)

I'm on day 5 out of 9 days off (that includes the weekends on either end) and I just now feel like I'm relaxing a little into stay-cationing.  I had plans to get many things done but the fur kids are trying their best to derail those plans with their cuteness (and craziness).

Here are a few snapshots from a day in the life of a librarian stay-cationer.

 Ukulele playing with a puppy in my lap for an added level of difficulty :-)

 Delicious green smoothie that I usually rush out of the house in the morning without making...must get up 5 minutes earlier on work days!

 Spent some organizing the laundry room...this is actually enjoyable to me...I'm way less stressed and anxious when everything is in it's place (this might make the rest of the inhabitants of this house a little crazy.  Hank is excluded from this statement... he herds his toys every day into his doggie bed.).  This is a midway picture - I should have taken one when I was finished but Hank was barking to go out, and when the puppy wants to go potty - mommy moves with a quickness!

Tried my vegetable noodle maker contraption.. the zucchini was delish -- however it cooked way down and we all just got a little taste... must spiralize many more zucchinis next time!

Reflections on 2016

2016 certainly had it's ups and downs.  I suppose part of being a well adjusted grown up is coming to the realization that all years have their ups and downs and that no stretch of time will be blissfully relaxing and perfect.

I had some really broad overarching goals for 2016 and I have more room to grow in them but did make some headway...I thought before jumping into thoughts about the coming year it would be nice to take a trip down memory lane and look back at my goals from this time last year.  Here are some highlights...

------------------

In 2016...

I'll work on being a healthy version of me. 

Reflection: I haven't quite mastered this one yet.  I did manage to get better about taking some maintenance medications regularly instead of just when I managed to remember and surprise surprise - it helps :-) Also after a rough winter of foot issues I'm much more aware of taking care of the tootsies.  Good shoes are now a must - gone are the days where my feet were young enough to wear whatever was cute and on sale.  Now to just get on the eat better and exercise bandwagon!

Give myself time to read. 

Reflection: It was a pretty low number for me this year of books completed.  I read 29 books and I had a goal of 48.  I did read a good mix of fiction and nonfiction and a variety of genres and age levels so at least my reading was well rounded :-)  I also did a bit of blogging about books so that counts for something.  Mostly I just want to read things that I find interesting and enjoyable and that expand my knowledge and understanding of the world. I set a more reasonable goal of 36 books for 2017.  We'll see how it goes.  Part of the issue is that I used to be able to stay awake very late at night and read (mostly because I had insomnia).  I sleep better now and often feel myself falling after just a few pages... darn sleep is getting in the way of my reading.

Write more. 

Reflection: I need to figure this out because I enjoy writing, I find it good for the soul but I didn't manage to make it happen very much in 2016.

Be in touch with my creative side. 

Reflection: I've been steady working on this one (well playing at this one is more like it).  I've done some painting, some yarn crafts, lots of coloring, and some jewelry making.  I've also started taking a few days here and there as stay-cations without any plans and find those to be great times to let myself play.

Settle into my family. 

Reflection: I must say I think we are settling in quite nicely :-) We have our moments but our moments are just like any family, not because we are new or a blended family.  We are a normal family that has ups and downs but loves each other through the tricky times. We also added a new puppy to the family in December and as crazy as he is, Hank makes our family feel complete.

Here are a few photo highlights from the year :-)

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays

The actual day of Christmas might be over but lucky for me I have a few more days coming up this week and a few more family holiday celebrations that span into the whole first week of January so I don't have to settle into an after holiday slump quite yet.  Hopefully no one else is in an after holiday slump but I know I sometimes find myself there when Christmas is over and the majority of winter is looming.  I love many of the things that come with winter: hot beverages, warm blankets and sweatshirts, cuddling by a fire watching a movie, spending days off reading or crafting because it's too cold to be outside... but it's that last part, the too cold to be outside part that really gets to me.  In fact it overshadows all of the rest of the lovely, cozy, things.  Add in some snow or ice and I am particularly unhappy.  My new years wish is for no snow, unless it's for certain it will cause a snow day and I will not have to drive with any flakes falling, AND my wonderful husband will not have to go to work and will be willing to do all of the shoveling and take the dog out in it while I sit by the window with my feet snuggled into fuzzy slippers under a warm blanket with a cup of hot tea and my book.  I don't think that's really too much to ask for.

I got a little off track there so here are a few cute holiday snapshots :-)