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Category Archives: Challenges

Gratitude Photo Day 12: Nature

100_1597“I go to nature to be soothed and healed,
and to have my senses put in order.”
~John Burroughs 

I am grateful for those unexpected moments, when nature soothes and heals parts of me that I didn’t even know were hurt or broken. I thought I felt fine when I headed out for a walk a couple weeks ago, but after soaking in this moment of stillness, I felt a thousand times better…happier, clear-headed, more serene.

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Posted by on November 12, 2013 in Challenges, Photography

 

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No science experiments here

photo 1

NaBloPoMo Tuesday, November 12, 2013
Name five things inside your refrigerator right now and how you feel about them.

There’s one sure benefit of having just recently moved into our house…there hasn’t been enough time for scary things to be happening inside the refrigerator! If you push around the leftovers and various jars of pickles, you’ll find the following in my fridge:

1. A small glass bottle of milk. The milk is just regular old 2% from Food Lion, but the bottle itself is special. It’s a single-serve bottle the hubby purchased from a rest stop convenience market during one of our road trips in Japan. It’s in use now because someone doesn’t like pouring milk from the big gallon carton into his coffee cup. So I get the benefit of being reminded of our three wonderful years in Japan every time I open the fridge.

2. A bowl of salad. I was making lunches for the hubby last night, and made an extra salad for myself. I am much better about eating healthy lunches if I don’t have to stop in the middle of whatever I’m doing during the day to make it. So at least one day this week, I’ll eat well!

3. A third of a loaf of gluten free bread. I hate gluten free bread. But Wonder bread hates me. Thus that horrible loaf mocks me every time I open the fridge to find something for lunch. The days of soft, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are gone. GF bread is totally unsuitable for sandwiches, or for much of anything else for that matter.

4. Enbrel. This injectable medication has been a savior in controlling my rheumatoid arthritis. I am so grateful for its positive impact on my life that I don’t even begrudge the precious shelf space it inhabits.

5. Half a bunch of grapes. This is really the only thing in the fridge that is starting to border on scary. The grapes are about three days away from becoming raisins. I won’t eat them in their current state. But I feel incredibly guilty throwing away food, so they will sit there in the crisper until I need the space to lay in supplies for the big family Thanksgiving dinner.

NaBloPoMo November 2013

 
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Posted by on November 12, 2013 in Challenges, True Life

 

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I DON’T wanna be a star

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NaBloPoMo Monday, November 11, 2013
If you had to be trapped inside a movie for 5 days, which movie would you pick?

I’ve been wracking my brain for three days, desperately trying to come up with a movie I could bear for five days. It’s been a fruitless search.

However, I’ve come up with a list of ten movies I would NOT want to be trapped in for any amount of time:

  1. Paranormal Activity (1, 2, 3, or 4)–too many things going bump in the night
  2. Backdraft–too hot
  3. Poltergeist–too freakin’ scary
  4. Glory–too much of man’s inhumanity to man
  5. Saving Private Ryan–too many horrors of war
  6. Schindler’s List–too much hatred and bigotry
  7. Titanic–too wet
  8. It–too much clown
  9. G.I. Jane–too physically/mentally grueling
  10. Terminator–too many bad cyborgs

NaBloPoMo November 2013

 
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Posted by on November 11, 2013 in Challenges

 

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Gratitude Photo Day 11: Indulgence

indulgence2When I need something warm and sweet so I can make it through the rest of the day, I am grateful for my favorite Starbucks indulgence–signature hot cocoa with soy milk, extra hot. Mmmm.

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Posted by on November 11, 2013 in Challenges, Photography

 

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Gratitude Photo Day 10: Words

wordsI am always surrounded by words. Some are my own, some I just borrow from others for a little while. But the best words this week came in the form of a completely unexpected handwritten note from a stranger. We just sold some outdoor furniture last week on craigslist…a lady saw the posting online and emailed me saying she’d shown it to her parents, who wanted to purchase the set for their new house, and that she had enlisted her daughter (who lives much closer to us) to come and pick it up. A real family affair…three generations involved in the transaction. So I’ve emailed the mom and met the daughter, but had no contact with the actual new owners of the furniture. Until today. The couple sent a two-line thank you on a plain white square of notepaper– nothing at all fancy about it, but it totally made my day. After all the crazy, incoherent, and just plain rude responses we had to the ad, I was especially grateful for these kind words.

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Posted by on November 10, 2013 in Challenges, Photography

 

Travel theme: Connections


NaBloPoMo Sunday, November 10, 2013

Free day for NaBloPoMo, so I’m choosing to participate in Ailsa’s weekly photo challenge over at Where’s My Backpack? The theme for this week is “connections,” to be interpreted however we choose. You can see Ailsa’s own amazing photos here.

NaBloPoMo November 2013

 
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Posted by on November 10, 2013 in Challenges, Photography, Sunday Best

 

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Gratitude Photo Day 9: Music

photo 2 copyEverything’s in iTunes now, so I don’t know the last time I actually listened to a CD, but the hubby and I have amassed a collection of well over 200 of the shiny musical discs. Many are from the days when he was he and I was I, but I’d be hard pressed to sort out whose are whose now (well, except the Mariah Carey CDs–those are all him). I’m grateful that our musical tastes are similar–long car trips so much more enjoyable when there is not a constant battle over the playlist!

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Posted by on November 9, 2013 in Challenges, Photography