simple happiness

I’m feeling tremendously awesome. For many things, but off the top of my head comes gratitude to every cell of my body for working so perfectly that I was able to ride my bike home after dropping my car off at the shop, that I have no pain, and have senses that allows me to enjoy the -

Flowers I bought. Big, beautiful pink Peonies to be exact. I’ve cut the stems and put them in fresh water and they are opening up right before my eyes like time lapse imagery without the lapse. They are looking frilly with some roses, and the scent is magical

Ears that allow me to hear my kid singing, practically all the time. Plus I’m tickled that the other night when we were playing various music, “Back in Black” by AC/DC came on and she told us all, with a huge grinning face, “I LOVE THIS SONG!”

Taste, oh wow! Pecans, I am thrilled with pecans. They are probably my favorite nut. They are crunchy, buttery goodness, unless you’re allergic. In which case, I’m sorry.  Everything, even water tastes and feels like some miracle of nature.

As ever, I adore my washing machine and clothes dryer. Mostly the washing machine, please don’t tell the dryer. It’s so simple to load up, turn it on, and then it does all the work. I don’t have to crank anything, boil water, or worse, tote dirty things to the river and beat them on rocks.

The way the cats make that odd chittering noise when they see birds, always makes me smile. This morning one bird was doing what looked like an intricate dance of opening it’s wings, closing, opening, and then hopping. Until I moved, scared the bird, and the cat looked over at me, you know, to let me know I messed that up. Even that sent my heart soaring.

I’m not sure why every little thing seems like a treasure to me today, maybe it’s the exercise after a week of being smacked down by a nasty head cold. I hate for my head to hurt and there was pressure. It slowed me up. I love days where the world is my personal candy store, and I’m aware of it, all put there for me to be dazzled by and enjoy. I accept it like a giddy kid now, because there have been too many days where it felt the opposite. I’m off to savor some more. What everyday little things can send you over the moon?

considerations on conflict

Isn’t it interesting that every story we want to read, watch or listen to has conflict in it somewhere?  To write a compelling story, the rule is, there has to be some kind of conflict.

Yet, so many are trying to live a life without conflict.

I wonder if it is the core of our human struggles, that we have an overall desire to create, experience, or at the very least be a voyeur of, conflict?

Would we know what to do with ourselves, with our energy, should we decide to let that need go?

I’m going to stop there and peruse that idea for a while.

What does it take to believe in yourself? That’s a good question

Recently a fellow writer asked what does it take to believe in yourself?

I wrote back that whatever it is, it’s inside, waiting to be remembered.  She agreed.

Since then, I’ve been thinking about her main question, “What does it take to believe in yourself?”  and I paired it with my idea of needing to remember it.  As if it’s something easily found, such as where you left your keys.  And I keep getting that idea ‘tickle’, like I’m onto something.  So allow me to ponder this here.

What if it is that easy?  What if you could ask yourself, ‘where did I leave that?’, and have it come back to you?  Is it right there?  Like the times you couldn’t find your sunglasses and they were resting on top of your head?  Or is a bit deeper, like those old diaries hidden away, that never got unpacked?  Until the day you needed to read a bit about the person who didn’t think their dreams were second to anything, and the world presented you with a situation that uncovered the box.

Write down non-sleep dreams, the dreams of writing moving stories, or creating art that touches people’s hearts, and then stop and think about how that will feel.  Let that feeling grow, and everyday nurture it like a tiny sapling.  Instead of thinking of it in the future tense, think of it as now.  Soon, that feeling will overtake the box it’s been packed away in.  

I’m so glad for that initial question, it’s led me down some interesting paths, past thinking and onto something deeper for myself.  Later folks, I’ve got some unpacking to do.  

 

a more just world

Reblogged from catching days:

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About ten years ago, during the keynote lunch at the San Diego State Writers’ Conference, we were supposed to sit at the table whose center placard best described what we wrote. The choices were Memoir, Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Mysteries, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction, and more. But not Men’s Fiction.

I didn’t know whether to sit at the table for Literary Fiction (what I hoped I was learning how to write) or at the table for Women’s Fiction (what was that exactly?).

Read more… 329 more words

my greatest accomplishment this past week

I saw this question scroll across the Twitterverse, thanks to @SherrinIngram  -  and I immediately knew what mine was.  After considering keeping it private, I decided I’m going to tell anyone who cares to read this in the hopes that others be similarly inspired.

My Greatest accomplishment this past week was allowing myself to see me the way my sweetheart does.  I noticed a small thought of my own, put out at not being given center stage, trying to form an unkind comparison to every flat-bellied, tiny sized, beauty that ads have thrown my way.  I decided not to go with that thought however, and instead heard only the sweet descriptions of someone who loves me.  Wait, wait, make that someone who LOOOOOVES me, and like a magic mirror, I was shown a most beautiful woman smiling back.

owning fire breathing appliances, and keeping them happy

I learned something new yesterday.

Where the dryer vents outside of the house, on the inside of that, there is a small flap to keep out rodents.  If the flap gets stuck into the shut position, it’s bad news.  Maybe you already know this, but if not, and you have a gas dryer, it might be helpful to be aware that when the dryer can’t vent, or breathe, that lint is being taken into the body of the dryer.  That is, it’s being stored up around the place where the fire is, which is a dangerous mix.

Several months ago, I learned that if the dryer vent is plugged with built up lint, from regular use, it can cause a fire.  That cleaning the slide-out lint trap was not enough, was news to me.  I removed that big vent tube from the back of the dryer and vacuumed out a lot of lint.  The small exhaust hole,  that is caulked to the outside wall of the house, was tricky, and in trying to make sure there was no lint clogging that, the unknown flap got jammed shut without anyone the wiser.

Over time the dryer ceased to work efficiently.  It was so gradual though, that I’d think maybe I had packed too many heavy items in there, such as towels and jeans.  I even thought that the dryer was simply getting old and maybe this was how long they tended to last.  What was actually going on was that thanks to the jammed flap, lint was being taken into the machinations of the dryer and building up.  Did I mention there’s an actual fire inside the (gas) dryer that creates the heat that dries the clothes?  Fire that can ignite built up lint and start a house fire.

Yesterday a local appliance repairman came to check everything, and I saw that the built up lint had caught fire at some point, and thankfully had gone out.  The dryer is cleaned out, in full repair and working wonderfully.

I was left with two important things to be aware of; how strongly the air should be blowing through that outside vent, and how long it takes to dry an average load of clothes. If either of these things begins to change, I know to check that flap because it can easily become stuck shut with lint and moisture from outside, not just a vacuum nozzle.

Also, I appreciate a repairman who shows me what he’s doing and why, and that he didn’t simply complete the repair and hand me a huge bill.  In fact, the total for getting the washer and dryer serviced, they’re nine years old, came to $110.  Such a deal!  I love knowledge.

My choice for favorite story for young children

Years ago a co-worker gave me a copy of “The Van Gogh Cafe”, by Cynthia Rylant to read to my daughter.  I’ve kept it ever since, and have enjoyed reading it to my other children.  It’s a magical story.

A slim volume, 64 pages, “The Van Gogh Cafe” tells of the lives of cafe owner Marc and his ten year old daughter, Clara, in Flowers, Kansas.  Each chapter is an amazing thread to a beautifully woven story.  I won’t give anything away here.  I will say that it was an excellent choice to be read aloud while on a road trip, each kid was held spellbound for the entire length of the book.

What made me think of this?  I glanced at the title of another blog, “Every Child is Entitled to Innocence” by Darlene Foster, which led me think of which young readers book struck me as engaging, and thoroughly beautiful in it’s simple innocence without a trace of cloying aftertaste?  I immediately thought of “The Van Gogh Cafe”.  I recommend it.  Also, if you’re interested in children’s books, and helping them out at the same time, check out Darlene’s blog, darlenefosterWordpress.com to read about a program aimed to do good works for children around the world.