Blog Feed – Page 47 – making unbreakable

the one about prayer.

I spoke in church today.

I read a talk that I composed on my laptop from articles on the Internet and then presented it through Evernote on my tablet.

The man that spoke after me was an adorable grandfather who gestured at my Xoom and said “I don’t have any idea what that thing she just used is called.”

He talked about technology and how connected we are today.

About how “Sometimes smart people with smart phones do dumb things.”

Amen to that. (Politicians.)

I came home and googled a thing or two.

20 trillion text messages are received every day.

200 million tweets are sent per day.

42 million pieces of content are shared on facebook EVERY HOUR.

And those numbers aren’t slowing down.

He went on to say if we can believe that this kind of connection can happen even though we barely witness a sliver of it ourselves, is it really so hard to believe that whatever higher power we believe in listens to us when we talk to Him/Her? (Of course in our case it’s God that’s listening and we talk to Him through prayer.)

Roaches are pretty much the only things that have been around longer than prayer in some form.

When I’m having a hard time it’s really easy to come here and write. To call a friend an talk. To make brownies and eat. But sometimes it’s best to hit my knees and pray.

It really is the oldest form of therapy and connection.

It’s free, you don’t have to shower to do it and it never breaks or suffers from technical difficulties.

Unless Heaven or the being you believe in starts selling Missoni, you always have an open line of connection with someone who loves you and will always listen without interrupting.

All you have to do is start talking.

the one about inspiration in strangers.

I like taking pictures.

Sometimes I like to call myself a photographer the same way Addie likes to call herself a grownup. Sure she’s more grownup than she was four years ago but she still has a very long way to go. I’m better at taking pictures now than I was four years ago but I still have a very long way to go too.

Most days I simply consider myself a picture taker.

A memory maker.

A moment catcher.

I saw something in passing a few weeks back about the ‘100 strangers‘ project.

You take 100 pictures of 100 strangers. Well, probably more than 100 pictures because who’s super photogenic on the first click? Not this girl. But the point is to end up with 100 photos of 100 people whom you’ve never met before.

I like meeting people. I like taking pictures of people.

So this seems like a good little project for me.

Way better than that 365 garbage I keep starting and giving up on. You people who can complete a 365? Hats off to you, I’m just not that kind of person.

And that’s totally okay.

I’m going to have cards made. Exactly 100 of them. They will give a little description of my project and my hopes and dreams that come along with it. I hope my strangers will share their stories with me. Either when I capture them or later when they realize I’m not conducting some strange social experiment.

The anticipation of working on this project loosens the grip around my throat ever so slightly.

I am excited about it.

Inspired by it.

I’ve also decided to make one pin from Pinterest a reality each week. No sense in looking at that much pretty and doing nothing about it. Last week it was this peach cobbler. We had the missionaries over and they actually giggled into their desserts claiming it was ‘the absolute best peach cobbler they had ever had.‘

I made it with white peaches. I grew up with a white peach tree in my backyard. I was pretty spoiled with good peaches in my childhood. No, I didn’t take a picture of the cobbler because we ate it all before I could. I guess that’s a good sign right?

I emailed the girl who posted the recipe to thank her. Turns out she lives in Indy too. We’re going to be friends. I can tell.

The more I dive into this Internet stuff the smaller the world becomes. And it’s wonderful. Can you imagine if everyone who likes to take pictures took pictures of 100 strangers? By the time we all grew up we’d all have ‘being photographed as strangers’ in common.

Tell me about your projects. Is there one you’re working on? Or one you’re dreaming of? Anybody want to do this 100 strangers business with me? And if I meet you on the street will you let me take your picture? (Also, if you know who any of the girls are in these pictures will you let me know? Thanks.)

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This post is sponsored by Hallmark’s “Life is a Special Occasion” campaign.

vivi style, old navy sale.

Not that I’m one to encourage unnecessary retail therapy.

But babies need clothes and retail therapy really does work in small doses.

It works even better when stuff is on sale and you just happen to have an extra 30% off coupon.

I took this baby shopping at the Old Navy baby sale and bought her several things with ears.

Forget Missoni for Target, let’s discuss Vivenne for Old Navy.

Want to see our whole bargain priced haul? (And I didn’t even know about the 30% off!)

Go forth and check out Vivi’s versatile and super cute fall wardrobe from Old Navy.

(Grab some for the babies in your life as well, while it’s on sale.)

This post is brought to you by Old Navy. Check out the Kids & Baby Sale in store with great deals starting at $5. I have been compensated for my participation but opinions, as usual, are my own.

crumple.

I am so tired.

I have been walking the fine line between okay and not okay for the last several weeks.

Truth is I want to stop walking and simply crumple into a heap.

Winter is so close. The signs of darkness and cold are becoming harder and harder to ignore, and they are wrapping their fingers slowly around my throat.

I used to get excited for fall. Boots! Sweaters! Soup!

This year I simply do not want to do fall.

I don’t want the sun to go away for six months.

I know I shouldn’t be letting the fear of something that hasn’t happened yet ruin the time I have left. But it’s not as if winter is maybe going to happen, or maybe this year I won’t fall into a deep dark funk. It’s going to happen. And it’s going to happen soon.

This morning I woke up to an email thanking/applauding me for pushing on through my depression. She closed with this line,

I’ve had moments where I feel like myself lately, but tonight. I don’t want to keep doing this for the rest of my life.

Me neither, Bethany.

I’m so very tired.

But I will keep going. For myself, for you, for the countless others out there who know this intangible pain, for my husband, my friends, my family and for these…

Giving up simply isn’t an option.

smatterings!

Last night I asked Facebook:

Have you ever been typing along, absolutely sure you spelled a word wrong, but the little red dotted line doesn’t show up so you type something crazy to make sure spell check is working?

There was a resounding yes.

One more thing we have in common kids.

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Here’s some decent stuff I babbled about over the last couple of weeks:

I sat Victoria Beckham down and discussed the validity of stretchy pants with her. It was a very one sided conversation.

Vivi’s preferred lullaby proves she is going to be cool forever and ever amen.

One kid to two kids, is it really that different? Now three…three and you’re outnumbered.

Yet another rule of parenting. When one gets sick they all get sick, just not at the same time.

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Vivi is going to be Perry the Platypus for Halloween. It’s taking all the willpower I have not to pin her platypus tail to every clothing item she wears from now until college.

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Heather started a new brain workout series on her site called Just Write. In case you have writer’s block and need a little nudge towards the creativity cliff.

My other friend Jessica has a whole site dedicated to getting over writers block, it’s called Kick in the Blog.

Or we could all just discuss the injustice of ingrown nipple hair.

Have a lovely day!

moody doodle.

Addie is very right brained.

I am very left brained.

I doodle on everything.

She colors in the lines.

I draw zombie ponies holding blood stained knives.

She draws exact replicas of horses to scale with lifelike color and texture.

I picked my junk mail up today and noticed Meijer has very moody meat on sale.

They also seem to have equally emotional grooming products available.

She doodled! They were funny! I was getting through to her!

And then I started to notice maybe these aren’t just random doodles.

Nope, there’s Addie’s observant right brain. RIGHT THERE.

(babbled…Vivi is off the (height! and weight!) charts.

vivi the mandrake and why I may wet the bed tonight.

So…Vivi found her volume switch.

Multiple times today I made MAD DASHES across my house to make sure nothing was eating, pinching, sitting on, stealing, choking, scaring, hitting or biting the baby. Because surely babies don’t just randomly shriek out in the same high pitched shrill tones for every emotion they’re capable of conveying.

Turns out Vivi does.

And it’s the stuff scary movies that include children in the plot are made of.

Cody keeps the monitor turned up extra loud for whatever reason I’m not sure of yet because I can assure you that if she wakes with the monitor at a normal human level he’ll feel my kick long before he would ever hear her over the monitor at any level. I’m scared of what we’ll be awoken with tonight. It could be that she’s excited for another day of being a baby! Or she’s being eaten by a R.O.U.S. The monitor is capable of amplifying Vivi’s newly discovered volume switch exponentially.

I can hear her breathing through it right now.

The thought of her trying out her new mandrake shriek at two a.m. simply because she can with the monitor up this loud?

I may very well wet the bed.

Vivi screaming me awake or Addie standing thisclosetomyface when I open my eyes…

Suddenly it’s a toss up.

third, second, first, fourth, best.

I was there when she held her third baby for the first time.

She was the first to find out about my second baby.

I was one of the firsts to know about her fourth baby.

I was the first (aside from the ultrasound tech) to know about the gender of her fourth.

Her family was the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth to know the gender of their sixth family member.

And now you’re the…well. Let’s just say you’re in on the secret now too.

Love you Miss Emily, and your little family too.

the one about being offended.

I used to get offended a lot.

A lot.

Remind me to tell you about the time I walked out of church because I was so offended.

Nobody can know everything about everyone’s situation.

I’m not offended by all the dumb blonde jokes because I know I’m not dumb… and I also know that I’m not blonde. -Dolly Parton

There are too many people and too many situations to understand them all.

Someone is going to say something at some point that is going to ignite that little fire inside you. You are going to want to fire back. I’m going to ask you not to do that. I’m going to ask that when you find yourself offended? Take a deep breath and count to ten.

Cheesy I know, but it totally works.

Depending on the situation find out as much about the person as you can (without gossiping.)

I hate to break it to you but there are some people out there who have led charmed lives and are incapable of understanding the emotional complexities of difficult situations. However it’s not painful to admit that some people are just jerks looking for a fight.

Then there are the people in the middle. This is where I fall. I say stupid stuff sometimes. I try not to say as much stupid stuff as often. Sometimes I fail. But I apologize. And I genuinely mean my apologies. And I change.

Sometimes people don’t know they’re being offensive until someone gently corrects them.

Gently. Privately.

Assertively correct someone with a sprinkle of insult and fury yourself?

That person isn’t going to change. They’re just going to be convinced that you’re the offensive jerk.

…and they cycle continues.

It is very, very easy not to be offended by a book. You just have to shut it.
Salman Rushdie

It is very, very easy not to be offended by the Internet. You just have to click the little x.

It is very, very easy not to be offended by a TV show. You just have to turn it off.

Being offended is a choice.

Feeling offended is involuntary.

What you choose to do with that feeling is voluntary.

You’re not going to agree with everything everyone says every time. And not everyone is going to agree with you. That would be very boring.

But we can all make our disagreements much more civil.

Besides, when you’re the civil one it makes it a lot easier to weed out who the true turds are.

And true turds are rare.

Don’t be a turd.

You can be understanding and accepting without condoning.

Speak softly and carry a big stick. Preferably a pretty one you found on Pinterest or Etsy.

parking with hard won babies.

I wrote these words about hard won babies.

Hard won babies are the best.

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