Right at this moment, it's very hard for me to believe the days are now growing longer.
12.28.2015
Fresh start(s)
My life seems to be a series of beginnings.
Lots of beginnings - some very unwelcomed ones. Lots of very unexpected ones. Many sought after and hard won. Some longed for but lost, and others despised and egregious. But all of them was a fresh start - for the most part. Not surprisingly, those beginnings came with a price, more often than not. On occasion they were anticipated costs - even precipitated by something I purposefully set in action - but a good number of the endings were shocks and disappointments.
Unfortunate as they were, even some of the worst endings brought about some great beginnings. Those are the ones I would prefer to think about. However, this is all a matter for another discussion at another time.
Currently, I am headed for two beginnings in 2016, and I couldn't be more pleased. Although, it feels a very tempered excitement, I am eager to begin. The first is quite obviously the beginning of the new year, but of course, you probably went there straight away, you clever reader. The second is a new job - IN AN OFFICE - at long last. There will be more on this development in the coming weeks, but for now, I must get busy if I am to make a dent in what needs doing over the course of the next week.
So, if you will excuse me, I need to slip away to the sewing area to start another new thing or two - a skirt and a pair of trousers. There's also a top I've cut out and need to assemble, so I may as well get started. It'll be nice to have some fresh clothes to wear on my first day.
By the way, I wrestled with the phrase "new beginnings", but realized a 'beginning' is actually something new, so why the need to qualify it as a 'new beginning'?
Lots of beginnings - some very unwelcomed ones. Lots of very unexpected ones. Many sought after and hard won. Some longed for but lost, and others despised and egregious. But all of them was a fresh start - for the most part. Not surprisingly, those beginnings came with a price, more often than not. On occasion they were anticipated costs - even precipitated by something I purposefully set in action - but a good number of the endings were shocks and disappointments.
Unfortunate as they were, even some of the worst endings brought about some great beginnings. Those are the ones I would prefer to think about. However, this is all a matter for another discussion at another time.
Currently, I am headed for two beginnings in 2016, and I couldn't be more pleased. Although, it feels a very tempered excitement, I am eager to begin. The first is quite obviously the beginning of the new year, but of course, you probably went there straight away, you clever reader. The second is a new job - IN AN OFFICE - at long last. There will be more on this development in the coming weeks, but for now, I must get busy if I am to make a dent in what needs doing over the course of the next week.
So, if you will excuse me, I need to slip away to the sewing area to start another new thing or two - a skirt and a pair of trousers. There's also a top I've cut out and need to assemble, so I may as well get started. It'll be nice to have some fresh clothes to wear on my first day.
By the way, I wrestled with the phrase "new beginnings", but realized a 'beginning' is actually something new, so why the need to qualify it as a 'new beginning'?
12.22.2015
Decisions
Gee, we humans make an awful lot of decisions in a day, don't we? Some of us have to make decisions minute by minute, and when you are driving, well.... it's goes without saying. Suffice to say, life is a decision-making roulette wheel.
Just over a year ago I decided to go into blogging hibernation with this blog. I have two others that I regularly write in, and since there was/is no readership on this blog I figured, "why not." This was the first of my forays into blogging, and I hated the thought of eliminating all of the work and words that had been committed to e-paper, so I simply walked away for a while.
I hoped the time away would have helped me keep from sharing the absolute bitterness I was feeling in nearly all aspects of my life at the time. And so it did.
Am I any less bitter? Oh, probably not.
However, I am feeling more akin to the description I originally posted for the blog so many years ago.
I am feeling more in control and less frazzled than I have for a long time - and that's a good thing.
I feel more likely to share and (hopefully) less likely to 'vent' than I would have a year ago.
I posted once or twice from around June, and then again back in October, and realized there was still an overriding element of anger in what it was that compelled me to pen an entry.... so I stopped and took another step back. Life had become a nemesis.
Deep breath.
So here's me, blogging once more. It most likely won't be lots of stuff, and most definitely won't be every day, but it will be something. If you have a curiosity about the sewing/quilting activities, you can make your way to one or both of these bloggy-type addresses:
1) for Crazy Quilting only - www.bethsmadasahatter.blogspot.com and
2) for traditional block quilting updates - www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com
I carry on at those two sites about quilting simply because anyone who loves quilting will want to be there, and some folks who have read here in the past had been critical of "quilting stuff" showing up in my everyday life/words. Well, hey! Gee I am so sorry my interests got in the way of you reading about my life, but....thpbt! Pardon me while I snicker at your idiocracy.
'nuff said.
Those other two blogs are full of happiness and accomplishment from the last year (and more), but if you can't handle that sort of happiness, by all means stay here. [laughing at your folly, you grumpy person out there] This year was full enough of things to catch up on, and over time, some of it will be revealed - but much of it will fall by the wayside, and that is OK, too. At least, it's OK with me. I lived through it, and I know what happened. The automotive world has their 'big three', and so do I. Mine are work, family, and other stuff. I guess that's enough to look forward to, eh?
Anyhow, lots of stuff needs doing, and I haven't a moment to spare, so let's not dawdle here. I will be back in a day or two to begin the recap, and if you're good, Santa will leave you a cookie or two for the new year.
Glad we're all back - this feels like a good decision. Enjoy your day :v)
Just over a year ago I decided to go into blogging hibernation with this blog. I have two others that I regularly write in, and since there was/is no readership on this blog I figured, "why not." This was the first of my forays into blogging, and I hated the thought of eliminating all of the work and words that had been committed to e-paper, so I simply walked away for a while.
I hoped the time away would have helped me keep from sharing the absolute bitterness I was feeling in nearly all aspects of my life at the time. And so it did.
Am I any less bitter? Oh, probably not.
However, I am feeling more akin to the description I originally posted for the blog so many years ago.
I am feeling more in control and less frazzled than I have for a long time - and that's a good thing.
I feel more likely to share and (hopefully) less likely to 'vent' than I would have a year ago.
I posted once or twice from around June, and then again back in October, and realized there was still an overriding element of anger in what it was that compelled me to pen an entry.... so I stopped and took another step back. Life had become a nemesis.
Deep breath.
So here's me, blogging once more. It most likely won't be lots of stuff, and most definitely won't be every day, but it will be something. If you have a curiosity about the sewing/quilting activities, you can make your way to one or both of these bloggy-type addresses:
1) for Crazy Quilting only - www.bethsmadasahatter.blogspot.com and
2) for traditional block quilting updates - www.truenorthquilter.blogspot.com
I carry on at those two sites about quilting simply because anyone who loves quilting will want to be there, and some folks who have read here in the past had been critical of "quilting stuff" showing up in my everyday life/words. Well, hey! Gee I am so sorry my interests got in the way of you reading about my life, but....thpbt! Pardon me while I snicker at your idiocracy.
'nuff said.
Those other two blogs are full of happiness and accomplishment from the last year (and more), but if you can't handle that sort of happiness, by all means stay here. [laughing at your folly, you grumpy person out there] This year was full enough of things to catch up on, and over time, some of it will be revealed - but much of it will fall by the wayside, and that is OK, too. At least, it's OK with me. I lived through it, and I know what happened. The automotive world has their 'big three', and so do I. Mine are work, family, and other stuff. I guess that's enough to look forward to, eh?
Anyhow, lots of stuff needs doing, and I haven't a moment to spare, so let's not dawdle here. I will be back in a day or two to begin the recap, and if you're good, Santa will leave you a cookie or two for the new year.
Glad we're all back - this feels like a good decision. Enjoy your day :v)
10.13.2015
Relationships and whatnot
Mom has just swooped in for a visit, and is now off to visit my younger brother before heading back home. She would liked to have visited with one of her own brothers (whom she is concerned for, and whom she loves very much) before trekking west across the state, and then ultimately to her home w - a - y up north, but she received absolutely no response from him or his wife in all the time leading up to the trip, nor once she arrived. I attempted to make contact with them while she was here, giving them three phone numbers to reach us/her by (and an email address) for planning.
All of it was to no avail and I feel horrible for her, since she is driving down into the heart of rotten Detroit-suburbia traffic to their home, and will only hope to make contact with them before heading on to Lansing later in the afternoon (most likely encountering crappy commuter traffic in the process).
UPDATE -
Mom did finally get them to answer their door, but I am not certain what sort of visit she was able to have. The rigamarole and drama created by these pious 'born again' people borders on the incredibly heavy-handed...and just outright rude, at times.
It's always very stressful - for both mom and myself - when we two are in tight quarters for more than twenty-four hours. Sad to admit, but it's true. If someone wrote a story to describe our relationship it would be titled:
"How a Leo Begat a Taurus and How They Lived Tenuously to Tell the Tale". Seriously.
Suffice to say we are bruised and and bent and pretty much our strained normal, but still mother/daughter in love.
All of it was to no avail and I feel horrible for her, since she is driving down into the heart of rotten Detroit-suburbia traffic to their home, and will only hope to make contact with them before heading on to Lansing later in the afternoon (most likely encountering crappy commuter traffic in the process).
UPDATE -
Mom did finally get them to answer their door, but I am not certain what sort of visit she was able to have. The rigamarole and drama created by these pious 'born again' people borders on the incredibly heavy-handed...and just outright rude, at times.
It's always very stressful - for both mom and myself - when we two are in tight quarters for more than twenty-four hours. Sad to admit, but it's true. If someone wrote a story to describe our relationship it would be titled:
"How a Leo Begat a Taurus and How They Lived Tenuously to Tell the Tale". Seriously.
Suffice to say we are bruised and and bent and pretty much our strained normal, but still mother/daughter in love.
8.12.2015
Happy World Elephant Day!
Just for you I found a nice elephant info guide - you're going to love it. 'Elephacts', you might call it.
Or....not.
ENJOY!
https://www.facebook.com/therainforestsite/videos/vb.6020882687/10153056403562688/?type=2&theater
Or....not.
ENJOY!
https://www.facebook.com/therainforestsite/videos/vb.6020882687/10153056403562688/?type=2&theater
6.19.2015
The word "get" has got to go
What is with the ignorance of people using the English language?
I have a lot of pet peeves. This I know and, well....whatever.
However, I feel compelled to tell the universe how I feel regarding the lack of ability (within the general population) to correctly use the English language in an intelligent and thoughtful way. Let's face it, embrace it, and erase it - the funk of the grammatically lazy, that is. When did mediocrity become the norm?
Has anyone else even noticed that the practice of intelligent speaking has truly taken a nose dive over the last 10-20 years. 'I mean', just listen to us!
Let's try this:
"...absorbs us from the inside until we are consumed by it and become comfortable with repetitive patterns..."
Quite frankly, there are a small number of ways that sentence could have been better constructed, but it wasn't. Don't even get me started on the poor punctuation. [slow burn]
Sadly, the lazy and improper use of language is becoming more disappointing with every passing year. The word "get" has found its way into most sentences any more, when so many other perfectly suited words would do a much better job communicating, informing, and delivering content. What are we so afraid of that we can't even hire people to type up news stories on television for our 'talking heads' to say in front of a camera? Or, are our newscasters presenting the news in a rogue fashion, and they themselves can't construct a proper sentence?
It's horrifying to know there are horrible English students (with deplorable speaking habits) wending their way through college and gaining accreditation to teach young, pliable minds. Once youngsters are subjected to these new lazy and improperly speaking teachers, who's left to reverse the damage? Who will monitor the decline of intelligence and work to reverse it? There are an equal amount of parents who also speak poorly, so there will be no help for the coming generations of kids to recognize the issues and reverse the trend.
How are we to "life hack" our way out of this trouble? MacGyver has retired.
Oh, and, PS:
Don't blame your mobile phone (or other electronic device) for messing up a conversation and inadvertently causing issues due to its "spellcheck" feature, if you are the sort of lazy idiot who can't be bothered to even attempt to spell a word correctly - or remember the correct uses for "your", "you're", "their", "they're", and "there" (among others). But these are matters for another time and place.
I have a lot of pet peeves. This I know and, well....whatever.
However, I feel compelled to tell the universe how I feel regarding the lack of ability (within the general population) to correctly use the English language in an intelligent and thoughtful way. Let's face it, embrace it, and erase it - the funk of the grammatically lazy, that is. When did mediocrity become the norm?
Has anyone else even noticed that the practice of intelligent speaking has truly taken a nose dive over the last 10-20 years. 'I mean', just listen to us!
- Lazy speech patterns
- The overuse of words in sentences taking the place of "um" and "uh" and the rest - specifically the words "like" and "so", and the phrase "I mean"....when the speaker hasn't even said anything of note requiring clarification
- Saying "hashtag" to bring an air of importance to some trivial subject matter
- Inventing other uses for a word(s), when it isn't necessary, to get the meaning across; i.e. - a "life hack" is NOT the same as a tip or shortcut or a unique solution share
- The needless (and stupid) use of certain other words to shortcut the need for inserting a little grey matter into the conversation - which is why I am here today
This is how routine affects us; absorbs us from the inside until we get consumed by it and get comfortable with repetitive patterns and accept changes along the way.Seriously?!
Let's try this:
"...absorbs us from the inside until we are consumed by it and become comfortable with repetitive patterns..."
Quite frankly, there are a small number of ways that sentence could have been better constructed, but it wasn't. Don't even get me started on the poor punctuation. [slow burn]
Sadly, the lazy and improper use of language is becoming more disappointing with every passing year. The word "get" has found its way into most sentences any more, when so many other perfectly suited words would do a much better job communicating, informing, and delivering content. What are we so afraid of that we can't even hire people to type up news stories on television for our 'talking heads' to say in front of a camera? Or, are our newscasters presenting the news in a rogue fashion, and they themselves can't construct a proper sentence?
It's horrifying to know there are horrible English students (with deplorable speaking habits) wending their way through college and gaining accreditation to teach young, pliable minds. Once youngsters are subjected to these new lazy and improperly speaking teachers, who's left to reverse the damage? Who will monitor the decline of intelligence and work to reverse it? There are an equal amount of parents who also speak poorly, so there will be no help for the coming generations of kids to recognize the issues and reverse the trend.
How are we to "life hack" our way out of this trouble? MacGyver has retired.
Don't blame your mobile phone (or other electronic device) for messing up a conversation and inadvertently causing issues due to its "spellcheck" feature, if you are the sort of lazy idiot who can't be bothered to even attempt to spell a word correctly - or remember the correct uses for "your", "you're", "their", "they're", and "there" (among others). But these are matters for another time and place.
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