Table for Eight

I love these words. And the last name. LOL. I'm gonna ask Dave if we can change our last name. I have missed blogging daily, but still haven't figured out a good way to fit it in lately. The good thing is that I'm not throwing in the blogging towel; I'm just writing when I have time, knowing that there will be a time when I write more. But my point! This week I've been thinking about how to be more positive . (Sidenote: I'm not saying I've been practicing, I'm jussayin' I've been thinking about it. Ha!) And here's what I realize: I can easily change my mood from "BOOOO!" to "YAY" by doing one or all of these things: --Listening to a TedTalk (This week: Three A's of Awesome, The Strangeness of Scale at Twitter, Dancing Dung Beetles, The Happy Secret to Better Work, and Your Body Is My Canvas) Alexa Meade paints directly on people--and turns them into a portrait that looks 2D. It's awesome! --Listen

I've been thinking this week about how wonky life can get. And I've also been thinking about how funny it is that we don't really photograph the wonky, just the good. Well, for the most part. In some ways that makes our lives LOOK a little out of balance when we review photos and blogs and social media (Particularly other people's lives, right? I mean our own positive posts seem accurate because we know the wonky is there somewhere in the background. But sometimes in looking at other people's captured moments it seems  as if their lives are definitely more awesome-er than ours. Are you picking up what I'm layin' down? ) But in other ways I think focusing on the good is kind of a good thing--because I think it's super important and valuable to focus/emphasize the good over the bad and/or wonky. It doesn't mean the bad or wonky doesn't exist; it just means I believe it's super helpful (for our own sanity, our children, and society)

 They're magically delicious. Lately I've been thinking a lot about how difficult it is to live my life with consistent goals/purpose. For example, here's a sampling of some of my contradictions just this month: "Eat healthy. Fuel your body. Choose whole foods." "Oh celebrate St. Paddy's Day! Life is meant to be FUN--and making processed marshmallow treats with processed sugary cereal will be F-U-N! Yay! Fun, fun, fun, fun ...." "Don't use cosmetics that test on animals; it just seems so cruel." "We need a medication that happens to be tested on animals. NO PROBLEM WITH ME--fill that prescription." "Use your words to build people up." "Son of a b#*$^! I can't find my keys for the 2,000th time. WHO HAS MY Mother-flippin' keys?" (PS: This happens either out loud or in my head daily. And sometimes over things that are so trivial. My patience level is insanely low for some reason.) &

Met this guy Saturday while Dave and I were visiting a working farm in our area. Hilarious. I mean, turkeys are seriously trippy looking. For as long as I can remember I have been a To Do List kinda person. I make a list for myself each morning. I make a list for our kids (well, now that they are older, it's not so much a list as a calendar). And I make a HUGE list on our chalkboard wall each Sunday night with the BIG events, appointments, holidays or due dates for our family. I'm not sure why, but there's just something that makes me more calm/happy about seeing things on a list.  Now before you say "Oh, that's a Type A Personality thing" or "Lists are for X kinda person," l et me just say this: the lists aren't about achieving something, and  I usually don't panic if I can't complete everything them, t he lists just help me feel some calm and control in a world that is fairly detailed and often UNCONTROLLABLE. Yanno wha