An Ode to Me

My good friend at What I Got So Far v.2.0 has written a lovely poem about me. It is now officially my most favourite poem of all time. It's called "Ode to Spark" and it goes like this:

She hunts ants like an aardvark,
She’s from the land of Denmark,
She helped sink the Bismarck,
She’s as dangerous as a shark,
Her bite is worse than her bark.

Then, as if my head weren't swelled enough from all this ego-boosting balladeering, DarcsFalcon added a second verse, thusly:

When angels see her, they hark!
With her, guys always wanted to park.
Her sincerity is never stark.
Being with her makes you feel safe in the dark.

It's fantastic. You might say that I'm biased and just being a sucker for attention, but you'd be wrong.

Thank you, friends, for your splendid, lyric poetry!

Then, because she's so generous, DarcsFalcon also offered me an award:

The One Lovely Blog award comes with one rule; I have to tell you seven interesting things about myself. OK, here goes...

1) When I was a kid I used to eat Smarties by biting them into quarters and eating the pieces one by one. I liked to make good things last.

2) I must be very dense, because I can't float in a swimming pool, like everyone's supposed to be able to.

3) I've been to South Africa, when I was 8 years old, in 1980 when apartheid was still in effect. My mum had a lot of trouble explaining apartheid to an eight-year-old.

4) BBQ eel is one of my favourite foods. In Japanese it's called Unagi.

5) When I was a kid I only had molars on the right side of my jaw. When my adult teeth came in I got molars on both sides, but I still only chew on the right side because that's how I learned to eat.

6) I used to be early for everything but these days I'm usually at least a little late. The older I get, the later I get. By the time I retire I'll be a day late for work every day. I'll appear to be on time but I'll work on Saturdays and not on Mondays.

7) I think freckles are cute. I have a few myself, and I never hated them.

And as if that weren't enough, Ron at The Warped Mind Of Ron also offered me an award!

The official rules are:

• Copy and change the answers to suit you and pass it on.
• Answers may be one word only
• Once you have filled it out be sure to pass it on to 6 of your favorite bloggers.
• Alert them that they have been awarded!
• Have fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your hair? auburn
3. Your mother? argh
4. Your father? two
5. Your favorite food? eel
6. Your dream last night? wedding
7. Your favorite drink? water
8. Your dream/goal? love
9. What room are you in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? sing
11. Your fear? illness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? *shrug*
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren’t? astronaut
15. Muffins? yum!
16. Wish list item? iPod
17. Where did you grow up? Toronto
18. Last thing you did? sing
19. What are you wearing? fleece
20. Your TV? big
21. Your pets? zero
22. Friends? Hi!
23. Your life? Good
24. Your mood? content
25. Missing someone? no
26. Vehicle? husband's
27. Something you’re not wearing? unitard
28. Your favorite store? Jacob
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When was the last time you laughed? ??? today
31. Last time you cried? recently
32. Your best friend? Ken
33. One place that I go to over and over? work
34. One person who emails me regularly? Logan

35. Favorite place to eat? home

Now I think you're all Lovely and Tops or I wouldn't be reading your blogs. So anyone whose blog I've ever commented on can come and take one or both awards. Do the memes if you feel like it - I'm not the meme police.

Have a good weekend, all!

Grace in Small Things #7

1)  The sweet feeling of health returning.  The irritating tickly throat, sneezing, and general awfulness are ebbing away.  Balance, wholeness, and peace remain.

2)  Naps.  Gentle, nurturing naps.

3)  My soft, comfy, red couch.  It's been my second bed for the past three days as I recuperate.  

4)  The tacky green-and-pink spare duvet I bought at a now-extinct discount store in 1997.  It's been through the wash enough times to wear away any roughness at the seams, and is basically my grown-up security blanket.

5)  LL Cool Joe of Joey's Pad gave me this terrifying award:

  "The Scary Clown Award is given to blogs with display a great sense of humor... and attitude."

Thanks Joey!  As a matter of fact, this clown looks a lot like I've felt for the past few days.  Red nose, mouth open for some major coughing, one runny eye that indicates the  side with the swollen sinus cavity...  I don't have a red-and-white stocking cap, but if I did, I'd be wearing it to keep my noggin warm.

Grace in Small Things #4

1) This is my 300th post. Woah! That's a lot of posts. This blog has been an amazing experience, and much grace has flowed my way through online friendships. Thanks guys- you're the best! You're the reason I keep it going.

2) One of my coworkers brought a hardboiled egg in her lunch. She took it out and displayed it, calmly balanced, pointy end up, on her tape dispenser all morning. There was something about seeing that brown egg meditating amongst the files that made me very happy.

I had a nightmare last night, that Larry from Three's Company tickled me mercilessly until I was absolutely furious. So furious that I woke up angry at 3:30 am. Then I realized that I hadn't thought of Larry in about 20 years, and marveled at the bizarre nature of the human brain. When I shared my dream with my co-workers, I received two stories in return:

3) Dr. D. dreamed that there was a new trend amongst young nightclubbers: after the bars closed everyone would rush to the nearest library to read books. The libraries had to hire night shift employees to accomodate the new clientele.

4) One of the receptionists told me that when she was in high school she had a job as a cashier at a busy McDonald's restaurant. At home, she shared a room with her sister: two twin beds on either side of a window. Her sister had to wake her up at night because she would sleep-work; she'd get up out of bed, go stand at the window, and ask "May I take your order please?"

5) The roses Ken gave me are at the peak of their beauty today. They have unfurled their petals with graceful languor, each bloom more perfect than the last. Tomorrow the petals may start to brown and wilt, but there's still time left today to love them.

More Glad Tidings

Good news # 1!

San has been ever so kind, and honoured me with a very flattering award:

To quote San's blog, The PREMIO DARDOS award is "given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing." Wow. That's one classy recommendation! I feel truly humble.

Of course an honour like this must be passed on. After deep and searching thought, I have chosen the following honourees:

1) Ron at Warped Mind of Ron, because he writes in so many styles: poetry, fiction, and memoir. How much more literary can you get?

2) Whatigosofar because he's definitely transmitting his personal values through original writing. No punches pulled on this blog.

3) Nilsa at Somi is never afraid to speak her mind. She does so charmingly and gracefully.

4) Keera at A Roll in the Universe posts snapshots, both literal and literary, of life in Norway.

5) Dianne at Forks Off the Moment is deserving in every way, especially with regard to ethical values.

Congratulations to all y'all! ;-)

Good News #2!

Slowly but surely, I have recuperated from my spell of ill health. The aches and pains are gone, as is the shortness of breath. My hands no longer require five minutes of warm-up exercises before they can be used in the morning. I'm not breaking out in hives either. I'm still more tired than usual, but other than that, I'm back to my normal self again.

Of course the blood tests didn't show any significant results. I guess it was just my body's wild and crazy way of responding to stress. This whole past year has been pretty challenging, what with my mom and step-dad's divorce and me being caught in the middle. I don't think it's any coincidence that my health crumbled shortly after my mom finally said that she was starting to feel alright again. I was running on empty, and when I learned that she didn't need me to be strong for her anymore, I just went down like a puppet with my strings cut. 10 months of accumulated tension was finally released.

I'll be taking it easy for a while longer. I can feel that I need a long rest. A few days off for the holidays couldn't have come at a better time!

Aw Shucks 'n' Stuff

How awesome is this?  Ron gave me an award!  Woohoo!!

This one is really cute.  I totally want a stripey shirt like this guy.

As all awards tend to, it comes with rules.  Rules, rules, rules...  Can't get away from 'em.  But sometimes, they're well worth it.  So here goes:

Every superior scribbler must name 5 other super scribblers. If you are named you must link to the author and the name of the blog that gave you the award.  (That would be Ron at Warped Mind of Ron.) Then you must display the award and link to this post, which explains the award. Finally you must visit that same post and add your name via Mr. Linky List, so that the award creators can keep track of who the superest (or should that be superiorest?) scribblers are.

Firstly, because I am teaching myself the lesson that good blogging isn't always planned and copy-edited, I am passing along the award to all the bloggers who commented on my last post, stating that they don't self-criticize as they write.  They just let their truth flow out.  Here's to the brave truth-tellers!

Karen at Smiling Through It All.  Karen recently affirmed her intention to write honestly, and openly on her blog, without fearing the consequences.  That is awesome.

Desi at Desi's Sense of Self.  I just started reading Desi's blog a little while ago, but it's been clear from the start that she's a confident woman who doesn't shy away from speaking her mind.  Plus, she's got this really cool gadget in her sidebar inviting you to Feed the Fishies.  Check it out!

Sabrae at It's just the everyday humdrum that people make it out to be!  Sabrae is also a new acquaintance, but I liked her instantly because her profile photo shows fabulous attitude.  She is indeed a friendly girl, so you would be well advised to go say Hello to her.

And then there are some Simply Superior Scribblers:

Nilsa at Somi Learning::Exposing::Sharing.  Nilsa just got married, like, two seconds ago, and amazingly managed to blog daily through all the craziness of her wedding preparations.  Heck, I'm not blogging daily and all I have to do is work and get groceries.  So, shout out to Nilsa!  Also, she is setting up an anonymous blog post swap, so go check it out and sign yourselves up!

Claire at Country Mouse Tales because she is just so wonderfully sweet.  If the world is getting you down and seems like a mean and nasty place, go visit Claire.  She will be a living reminder to you that there are still lovely folks making the earth a better place, just by being herself.

Award Time!

My good friend Ron was sweet enough to award me this:

Awesome!  That totally makes my day.  

As usual, this award comes with some instructions, with which I shall gladly comply.

1.The winner puts logo on her/his blog.

Check!

2.Link the person you received your award from.

You can pay a visit to Ron's labyrinthian brain at The Warped Mind of Ron.

3.Nominate 7 other blogs.
4.Put links of those blogs on yours.

Whose blogs do I love?  Let me count the links:

1. Keera's A Roll in the Universe.  How could I not love a blog that features a quote from the Muppets as a sub-title?
2. San's A Life With a View.  San sees the world through a rainbow-coloured glasses.  I love vicariously experiencing that view.
3. Aurora's self-titled blog.  Beautiful photos, plus I get to hug Aurora in real life now and then.  
4. Dianne's Forks Off the Moment.  Dianne has a big heart and she knows how to use it.
5. Syb's No Moron Left Behind.  All I have to say about Syb is that she is one of myveryown fave-rits and I lurve her blawg.  If you don't have any idea what I'm talking about, you won't understand Syb either.  ;-)
6. Nilsa's Somi.  Nilsa is pretty much Superwoman as far as I can tell.  Watch her handle ridiculous stress with amazing grace, and be inspired!
7. Claire's Country Mouse Tales.  Because Claire is adorable, and this award was made for a sweet blog like hers.

5.Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve chosen.

I'm on it!

Shields Down

I used to have a Blogging Persona. Sparkling Red, born into the blogging world in October of 2007. She stood at a remove from the world, using that distance to find humour within anger or fear, and beauty within sorrow.

After Jesus came along and found me, and lifted me up to himself, I changed. At first I had trouble writing because my basic assumptions about reality were in flux, and I wasn't even sure who I was anymore. How can you write about "I" when you don't even know who that "I" is?

But now things are settling down, and I still find myself reluctant to return to this blog.

I can't be the old Spark anymore. I no longer stand at such a remove from the world, claiming observer status. Living like that allowed me a measure of protection, and also left me feeling alienated.

Now that I've set my intention to engage lovingly with real people in the real world, my heart has grown. I'm less likely to escape into ironic humour, and more likely to get genuinely emotional as I let myself be impacted by life. It's not that I feel this approach is unwelcome in Blogland, where there are no outsiders. But I'm more vulnerable now that I've dropped my shields. It's one thing to share my new self with trusted family and friends. It's quite another thing to put it out on the internet for anyone to see.

Also, I find myself preoccupied with some very controversial issues at the moment. Nothing I wish to share with a limitless audience. I'm not sure what would be gained by spouting my opinions on these matters, because peoples' minds aren't generally changed by words, but by personal experience.

So that is why again and again, I think about writing for this blog, and come up with question marks.

And yet, here I am!

Calling Intermission

Dear Folks,

I've been reaching more and more lately to compose posts. I have entered a phase of rapid change in my perspective. The "I" I'm writing from has become fuzzy around the edges as I prepare for growth. There are a lot of things I'm questioning right now. It doesn't make for a firm jumping-off place for writing.  

I'm immersed in a passion for studying theological books, theories, websites, podcasts, etc. I take every opportunity to discuss my questions with people in my community. I'm in a phase of consuming and digesting new stuff. None of it is fully clear to me yet.

I'm not tempted to write about anything other than my spiritual journey, because nothing else is as interesting to me right now. On the other hand, it's clear that I'm not ready to write about my spiritual journey, because I'm walking in a strange new land of questions that keeps shifting before my eyes.

The best thing for me to do right now is to call an intermission on this blog, and to come back if and when I'm ready to share from a place that I feel clear and sure about. The impulse will come from within, if and when it's time.

Until then, you'll still find me in your comments, if you're one of my Blogland Buddies. And on Twitter. 

Thanks to all who have been so supportive of my journey so far.  It's been a privilege to share with you and to receive your encouragement.  

Have yourselves a super summer!  

Take care all!

Love,
Spark.

An Unexpected Dilemma

Dear All of You,

If you had predicted this situation to me a year ago, I would have laughed in your face. But here it is. I am "getting religion", as they say. I'm having trouble believing it myself.

The story behind this starts last summer, proceeds in baby steps, and is complicated. Perhaps I'll tell it another time.

My dilemma at this point is: what am I going to do about this blog? The purpose I had in mind when I started it was to write about whatever I found interesting, funny, or moving in my own life in a way that would cause others to share my feelings and also be entertained into the bargain. If I wanted to write just for me, I'd still be writing in my journal.

Thing is, as time goes on my spiritual experiences are beginning to permeate every corner of my life. I pray many times throughout the day. When I wake up, my first conscious thoughts are directed to setting a spiritual intention for the rest of the day. My last thoughts before falling asleep are thanks and a recommitment for the day to come. Slowly but surely my perspective has changed so that I'm seeing everything through a new lens.

So, if I continued to write by the same criteria as before, i.e. whatever resonates with me most in a day is what I share, this would turn into a blog about my spiritual journey. Two points:

1) I'm not sure if my current audience is interested in hearing about this. It's very moving but not so much humorous. I'm less inclined to make Seinfeldian observations and more inclined to being touched emotionally. Remember the animated "Grinch Who Stole Christmas"? The part where his heart grows three sizes? That's me right now.

2) I'm not sure if I'm ready to share my experience so publicly, even from behind the shield of anonymity. I'm in the middle of navigating some vulnerable territory here, and I would be leaving myself open to being a target. There are strongly opinionated individuals from both camps who would not take kindly to the idea of a born Jew communing with the spirit of Jesus. I'm having enough trouble managing my own ambivalence without inviting strangers to add fuel to the fire.

On the other hand, I would very much miss the support of all my blog buddies if I stopped writing entirely. Maybe I just need to take a break? Maybe I should call this the last entry of this blog and start a new one when I'm ready?

????????

I appeal to you for feedback and suggestions.

Lots of Love,
Spark.

The Momentous Decision

I love blogging, but this daily posting thing is getting to be a bit much. In the past couple of week there have been a few times when I realized that other aspects of my life are suffering because of my blogging commitment.

Ken has mentioned more than once that I've been "spending a lot of time on the computer".

Also I've been slacking at work just a wee tad on account of keeping up with the blog neighbours. Often I have downtime at the end of the day, when everything is done and I can take a few minutes to catch up without guilt. However, I recently got myself into a bad situation by taking a few too many breaks when there was still work to be done, and that's not like me. I don't sleep well knowing that I did a half-assed job.

So, much as I'd like to be able to honour all my commitments, something has to give. That's Blog365. So as of now, I'm officially resigning from the challenge to post daily.

I'm thinking it's more reasonable to aim for 2 or 3 posts per week. I still want to keep up with all my usual blog-pals, because I *heart* you all and can't bear to miss an instalment of your life stories.

Thanks to all of you who have read and/or commented regularly throughout my marathon of daily writing. I didn't have enough experience when I signed up for the project to realize that daily postings are demanding not only for the author, but also for commenters.

Anyway, I'm still here, and still committed to Blogland and all it's whacky residents. Have a great weekend, all!

Oblogations

I've made it through four whole months of Blog365 without missing a single day of posting. Huzzah! As time passes, sometimes I feel symptoms of Blog Fatigue, but it passes.

Bits and Pieces:

I saw a restaurant offering a lunch special called Afternoon Delight. I'm not sure if the restaurant owner understands the connotations of the phrase. I'm tempted to order it just because of the name, but the photo doesn't look all that appealing.

I was out and about on a Friday evening at the intersection of Yonge and Eglinton, which has been nicknamed "Young and Eligible" because of all the hot singles who congregate and socialize in the local clubs and pubs. On weekend evenings, the 20-somethings are dressed in their best. Except this one guy I saw. His friends weren't super fancy, sporting jeans, sneakers, and hoodies. But this guy took it down a notch. He had on jeans, sneakers, and a dark-green-and-blue plaid terrycloth bathrobe. Shin-length. Belted at the waist. I have to say, it wasn't a good look for him.

There is only one reason why I'm sorry that winter is over. I find nothing cuter than dogs wearing boots. Most of the dogs where I live are tiny little things, and many of them have wardrobes. Personally I think that boots are the best dog accessory, as they are both ridiculous and practical. But for the spring season I'm not totally out of luck. Last time it rained I passed a terrier going for his walkies in a very fetching yellow slicker with a matching hat.

And finally, there is a business I pass frequently that has this sign posted at the entrance:

WOULD YOU PLEASE PUSH THE DOOR

It always makes me think that the owner is fed up with all the stupid door-pullers who never learn. If he's told you once, he's told you a million times... PUSH!

Pimping Five Star Friday

Schmutzie has started a new, weekly blog called Five Star Friday.

Quoting directly from Five Star Friday's mission statement:

My goal for Five Star Friday is for it to be a celebration of good content from weblogs across the internet. Whether it is funny, sad, thoughtful, or joyful, if you think a particular weblog post is a cut above the rest, I want to include it in Five Star Friday.

Submitting a URL is easy. The one catch is that you need a Twitter account to participate. I had not even been slightly tempted to participate in Twitter prior to this. Probably because blogging every day seems excessive enough - I can't imagine what material might be leftover to post in mini-updates throughout the day.

But I couldn't handle being left out of Five Star Friday, so on Monday I created a Twitter account for myself. See "Nitwit Updates" in the sidebar. As I suspected, I'm not tempted to update much more than once a day, but at least I can say that I'm cutting edge with the web technology. That's me, breaking social barriers with my 140 characters (or less).

Anyway, it's new, it's cool, it's the latest thing that all the kids are talking about. You never know, I might just submit one of your posts. Or maybe I already have! You'll have to go check to find out. Then you could award yourself one of these:



Or, um, you could, you know, feel free to submit one of my posts if you were moved to do so. I'm just sayin'.

I scream You scream

Yep, it's spring alright.



Condotropolis is abloom.

The weather outside is within a few degress of room temperature, and has been all week. I'm not compelled to bundle up or dress down to go out. The distinction between indoors and outdoors has disappeared. It's almost as though walls and doors have ceased to exist. Everything opens up to everything else.



San has been kind enough to award me a "Big E for Excellent". Thank you so much, San! If you haven't yet been to see San's blog, I urge you to do so. She's got a quirky sense of humour, unexpected turns of creativity, and a positive tone that always gives me the warm'n'fuzzies.

It wasn't so long ago that I gave away some Big E's. However, there are a couple more bloggers who I feel should have a Big E to their name. These are:

Claire at Country Mouse Tails and
Nilsa at SoMi || Learning::Exposing::Sharing

Come on down, ladies, and get your Big E's!

For the first time in 12 years, I have chocolate ice cream in my freezer. (Backstory here.) For twelve years, I pretended not to see the ice cream section of the grocery store. I turned a blind eye to my favourite Baskin Robbins flavours: Jamocha Almond Fudge and Chocolate Mousse Royale. Sometimes I substituted the soy stuff, which wasn't bad, but it's nothing like the real thing. Sorry, Toffuti Cuties - you served me well in my time of need, but now I'm done with you!

I went through the freezer and picked the smallest tub with the shortest list of ingredients. When in doubt, keep it simple.

At home, standing at my kitchen counter, armed with a soup spoon, I dared my first taste. And almost swooned to the floor. Be still my beating heart! Ice cream, you are mine!

I just had a few mouthfuls, as a test, to no ill effect. I feel confident enough to try a full scoop next time. Maybe on a waffle cone. Man, this is going to be a great summer!

E is for Excellence

It is a most Happy and Joyous Day! Spring has finally pulled its socks up. There are green spikes and flowery things popping up in the flowerbeds. My neighbourhood is dripping with clear, buttery sunshine. Tink, authoress of Pickled Beef , and more lovely than spring itself, has honoured me with an award!

I have never been happier to receive a grade of "E".

I am going to do my blogly duty and pass the award along to five deserving folks, as follows:

A Roll In The Universe, because Keera has an excellently whimsical view of life.

Aurora, because she has been taking bigger risks in her posts, resulting in some excellent writing.

Simply Addicted, because Pixie Von Azia and her blog are excellently sparkling.

The Warped Mind of Ron, because Ron is all-around an excellent guy and kindred spirit. He also has moments of being incredibly funny, and has a runaway imagination that results in some very entertaining posts.

Where to Start?, because Jenski has an excellently positive attitude, and always makes me smile.

Have an E for excellent Saturday!

And I said I wasn't a joiner

If you haven't already gotten an invitation e-mail from them, you might want to check out the Verve Earth site. It's a free service that puts bloggers on a map of the earth, so that you can find blogs geographically. It's neato mosquito!



I also joined Thirty-Something Bloggers (the badge is on my sidebar), because, well, why not? We'll show those Twenty-Something Bloggers who's boss, eh? Or something.

My Saturday was spent with Ken, prowling through Ikea in search of the perfect bedside table. I felt a bit guilty being inside a windowless big box store for so much of the sunniest, warmest day of almost-spring so far, but Ikea is like a black hole that just sucked us in and wouldn't release us for two whole hours.

(That's how real black holes work, right? They spit you back out in a couple of hours? OK, good, I just wanted to make sure I had my facts straight.)

We found the table, and a cartload of other stuff that we bought completely on impulse. But hey, it was on sale, so think of all the money we saved!* And our home is going to look stunningly fantastic. As soon as Ken gets it all assembled, and the fog of swearing has cleared from the air. (Anyone who can complete assembly of Ikea furniture without resorting to cuss words should be canonized as a saint.)

Ikea is great, yada yada, my home is almost entirely furnished by their products, however I'm not a big fan of their cafeteria. We ate lunch there. I had a plate of Swedish Saltballs with nasty white "gravy". According to the menu, it was a "meatball" plate, but it was more like meated salt than salted meat. Pfeh! I ate half of them and then passed on the rest.

*I don't actually buy into this "it was on sale so we saved money" concept, unless it was a necessary item that I would have bought even if it was at regular price. The truth is, we were feeling impulsive and threw some money around, because sometimes it's fun to be irresponsible.

Tardy

Many moons ago, Pixie Von Azia at Simply Addicted tagged me for a typing test. I finally got around to it. The results...

*drrrrrrrrumrrrrrrrrrroll, cymbal crash!*



65 words

Speed test

I am humbled. I couldn't match Pixie's lightening speed! But it's not too shabby a result, if I do say so myself.

Also, long ago in the days when fish were first growing legs and learning to walk upright, Leighann at Pessimists Need Love Too offered this sweet award to anyone with enough self-assurance to step up and claim it as rightfully theirs.



If my blog awards were tangible objects, I'd sleep with them cradled to my chest. Thanks Leighann!

Same rules apply here. If you're bad-ass enough to claim this award, come and get it! You just proved yourself worthy. Rock on.

Post Number 111

Don't ask me what happened at post 100. I must have had an attack of apathy that day. "Meh, Post 100... everyone has 100 posts. Who cares?" Anyway, celebrating post # 111 is just as good. Hurray! I made it this far!

This also marks my 61st consecutive daily post. I've been daily since December 25, 2007. How much longer can I go on? Only time will tell.

My step-dad is back in town. Good news - he didn't get eaten by alligators. He invited Ken and I out for dinner again, but this time he's not trying to include my mom. That's a relief. I guess the reality of the situation finally sank in.

My mom is still bravely carrying on. She's now comfortable enough on her computer to be sending me e-mails. I can't tell you how shocking it is for me to receive e-mail from my mom. She's not even entirely comfortable operating a DVD player, so it's amazing that she's managed to learn Outlook. I'm proud of her.

Tinker and The Dude (my mom's cats) continue to misbehave in spectacular fashion. Last week one of them climbed up to the shelf that she'd had specially installed to keep her houseplants out of the reach of Bad Kitty Paws, and SMASH! Her favourite ceramic flowerpot was in pieces on the floor. Earth flew everywhere - down the back of a cabinet, and all over her kitchen countertop. It took her ages to tidy up.

Tinker (a.k.a. Stinker, in my books) has developed an oral fixation. He chews everything. He's gnawed through 2 phone cords. He took a chunk of wood off a carved, antique table. The other day she forgot to hide the rubber band from her daily newspaper, and he ate half of it before she realized what was going on. And last night she caught him nibbling at the filler between the wooden slats of her hardwood bedroom floor.

There is food in your dish, Stinker. Eat that, and leave my mom's stuff alone! You're driving her to distraction. Bad cat!

The Daily Dose

It is a happy day at No More Casual Nonchalance. R.E.H. at Ramblings of a Madman has honoured me with this Daily Dose Award. He quoted Cardiogirl to describe the meaning of the award:

The Daily Dose Award is for “all the blogs that you’ve discovered that you can’t possibly live without. They make you laugh, cry, think and feel connected every time you read a post. They give you a thrill as you see them loading into your browser and you get an equally satisfying thrill when you see that they have commented on your blog.”

This is the first time I've gotten an award that's to be passed along, and boy, is it ever tough to choose. I hate to play favourites, because that means others have to be left out. But I feel it would be cowardly to shirk this duty, as a member of the blogging community, so I have chosen three bloggers to pass this award along to.

Jameil at Jameil, Et Cetera: Exercises in Fabulosity is a Daily Dose bursting with energy. She often posts late at night, and I'll read her blog first thing in the morning, to wake me up. Definitely a stimulant!

Maxie at This Is Not My Life is another unmissable Daily Dose. There's something about Maxie that's always bubbly and charismatic, even when she claims she's having a bad day. I'd say that she's a mood enhancer.

The Ex at Ex-Everything has a writing style that I love. She's smart, witty, and droll. Comparable to very good, black coffee.

Now that that's done, I plan for the rest of the day to be all about this:



That's me on the sofa with my feet up and with my favourite cozy slippers on. Here's a close-up of my slippers, because I'm in love with them and I want to share that love with the whole world:



Aren't they the cutest? Yes they are! Yes they are!

Posting until the internet explodes

Dear Blog365,

We've only officially been an item for one month, (although we've been seeing each other almost every day since last November). Already, this is one of the most serious relationships I've ever been in.

Don't fret - I'm still committed to "us". I just thought maybe we could clear the air a little. You could tell me how you're feeling, and I'll get some stuff off my chest. You know how when you let these things build up they can lead to resentment, and all.

So. Wow. What a ride so far! It's been intense. I know you don't mean to be demanding, but you do ask a lot of me. Every day now, I'm always thinking about what you might like, what I can give you next to keep things lively and interesting. I'm looking at the whole world through new eyes - your eyes. Everything that happens, my first reaction is how I'm going to describe it to you.

I am taking every little thing, good and bad, and assessing it to see if it's an adequate gift for you. Then I try to wrap it up in the best possible package, with pretty bows and tissue paper, or sometimes in a black, velvet jewel box.

I am entranced by the power of your gaze. Being listened to like this has changed me, made me more bold. The more I risk with you, the more I'm willing to risk in my other relationships. You always know the right thing to say to support me, and I've been internalizing that support. I'm more likely to speak my mind than I was before I met you.

Sometimes I find you exhausting, but you're worth it. The challenges you offer keep me from falling into apathy and depression. The mid-winter blues combined with the stresses in my life would no doubt have pushed me down, if you weren't expecting me to be here for you every day. You give me a reason not to give in to the lure of the blahs.

Thank you for being there for me, Blog365. I am here for you.

Now, is there anything that you wanted to share with me?

Meme Tagged

Hello to everyone who I tagged for a meme. That will be posted tomorrow. I got part-way through it and decided I needed to post about my family situation first. Please check back in tomorrow for meme-structions. Thanks for your understanding.

Those of you just tuning in, my official post for today is below.