Thursday's Thoughts

I am so un-sportsy.  This can be a little out of sync with the rest of the people in Southern Utah but I've lived with it this long. Here's a funny thing that happened to me last week.

Last Saturday I was at the grocery store and outside they had bratwurst and a soda for $2.00. Thinking this was a cheap lunch I stopped to get a couple on my way home.

 A gentleman also getting bratwursts said, "You can only have one if you tell us what color you bleed." 

Thinking this was a weird question, I snarkily answered "Purple." 

"Oh," he said, "unwilling to commit, smart choice." 

It was only after I noticed the BYU t-shirt on the lady serving me and listened to the conversation  between the gentleman and the server that it dawned on me that he was asking which team I supported, BYU or U of U as that was the day of their big game. 

I let them think I had just said, "Purple" as it is the mix of red and blue.

Thursday's Thoughts - I hate perfectionism

I think this should be Thursday's rant instead of Thursday's Thoughts but that's not an alliteration.

Anyway,  I just need to get this off my chest and out in the cyber world for everyone to read…ha ha.

I've been sitting here all day doing nothing.  Any why, you ask, have I done nothing?  Well, because I know anything I attempt to do today will not be done perfectly.  And not only that, anything I do (i.e. clean the kitchen etc.) Will be undone as soon as my kids get home from school.  So since I can't be perfect, and doing anything sometimes seems pointless…I do nothing.

Have you ever had one of those days?

Perfectionism is a horrible condition to have.  It's the feeling that everything has to be perfect for you to be happy.  I think our whole society suffers from this.  We expect our food at the restaurant to be perfect (to our standards) or we send it back.  We want our produce to look perfect or we won't buy it. (Have you ever gardened? Food rarely grows off the plant perfect.) We sue our Doctor if he wasn't perfect.  I get nasty letters from my HOA if I don't keep my front yard perfect.  We judge nearly everyone we see or meet if they don't look perfect.  And heaven forbid anyone comes to my house to visit if it doesn't look perfect.

Well, I can't do it.  I can't be perfect.  If you want to visit me, come on over! You are always welcome.  But know that there may be some shoes on the living room floor and my kitchen may not be spotless.  Trying to keep it that way is stressing me out.

I want to love my life;  to take time to smell the proverbial roses, to laugh and play with my children not spend the few hours we have after school haranguing them to be perfect at their homework, practicing etc.

And please don't judge me by my clothes, hair etc.  I'm not a visual person and I don't even notice other people's styles.  I wear what I feel comfortable in and it's not pretty.

So,  there it is.  My rant for the day.  Maybe I feel a little better.  And maybe I'll spend the rest of the day out in the sunshine blowing bubbles with my kids.

Spiritual Sunday: New Year's Resolution? NO New Year's Evolution

Yes, I know, it's February. So why am  I writing about New Year's Resolutions?  Because I hate them.  And by now, like me, most of you have probably broken yours.  Even my daughter whose resolution was to keep chocolate in her purse at all times, broke hers.

I have decided instead this year that I'm going to have a New Year's Evolution.  Evolution is a change over time.  (Yes, for all you nay sayers evolution is defined as changes to biological traits over generations but I'm revamping that a little.) 

In this get it now, have it all society, doing things that take a lot of time are really hard.  I can drive up to a food place, talk to a microphone, pay and then have the food handed to me in a matter of minutes.  What do I want to watch?  Oh yea I'll just look it up on Netflix or Amazon Prime or Hulu.  And I can even go online and check out an e-book and read it now. Heaven forbid I have to actually spend time going to the library and hunting on the shelves. So when I make a goal, or set a resolution, I want it accomplished now!  (Or by tomorrow at the latest.) And when I'm not perfect, or life gets in the way I get upset, depressed and give up.   (A blog post on my struggle with perfectionism may be forthcoming) 

But big changes don't happen overnight.  I can't go to sleep one night and wake up the next morning being the exact person I want to be.  (I know I've tried) So this year I'm taking a little advice from Isaiah:  

For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:, Isaiah 28:10.  

Let me explain with an example.  I am a self-admitted couch potato.  I love to read!  And so when I am reading I'm on the couch (or chair or bed etc).  I really should move more.  (I can't say that I'd like to or that I want to but I know if I do I'll be happier and healthier.) As a matter of fact my goal is to get out and walk several miles every day.  I did this a few years ago but got out of the habit.  So if my New Year's Resolution was to walk 3 miles every day…I can guarantee that after about 3 days (or less) that goal would be out the window.  Besides being cold in the mornings (and I'm a wimp) my couch potato self isn't up to 3 miles every day….or even walking every day.  Enter instead the Evolution.  My New Year's Evolution is that by the end of the year…I will be walking everyday. Maybe I'll even be up to 3 miles a day.  That seems doable to me.  

So, this is me.  In February, still taking a look at the changes I want to make and, hey! even making a few baby steps toward the end goal. 

Book Worm Wednesday - "Dead End in Norvelt"

E. and I finally finished another Newberry winner.

Dead End in Norvelt is a wonderful book.  Jack Gantos, the author, writes a mostly fictitious story set in the small New Deal town of Norvelt Pennsylvania where he lived for the first 7 years of his life.  The story begins with 12 year old Jack accidentally shooting a real bullet from a Japanese rifle that his father had brought home from the war as a souvenir.  When his dad returns from his work travels and asks him to plow under his mother's corn field (which he does), his parents get so mad at him that he gets grounded for the entire summer.  His only relief from reading his history books in his room or digging a "bomb shelter" for his dad is helping his elderly neighbor, Mrs. Volker, who has rheumatoid athritis, by typing the obituaries of the dying original citizens of Norvelt. This leads to all kinds of adventures and learning experiences. And the solving of two mysteries:  who put the bullet in the rifle and why are all of the old lady original citizens of Novelt dropping dead like flies?

This book is humorous, heartfelt and full of real historical facts and of good old fashion values.  Sometimes it feels as if the town itself is the main character. Both E. and I thoroughly enjoyed it!

E. Book Report Poster

Book Worm Wednesday "The One and Only Ivan"

My daughter and I have a goal to read through all of the Newberry Award winning books.  We've started with the 2014 winner (blog post on that another day) and then we just finished the 2013 winner "The One and only Ivan"

       When I first started reading this book, which is written from the view point of Ivan a gorilla, I was very curious and a little wary.  Would it be a preachy "save the animals" book?  (Not that I don't think we should save the animals, I just don't like preachy.) Also the "chapters" were very short, some less than a page.  

     There is not a lot of action; not too much adventure.  But there are a lot of heartwarming relationships.  Ivan was taken away from his home and family and spent most of his life with humans and locked in his "domain" at the Big Top Mall.  His friends are Bob, a stray dog who sleeps on his stomach and licks leftovers off his chin, Stella, the elephant in the next cage, and Julia the daughter of the night custodian.  He is an artist.  And the main story is how he uses his art to save a baby elephant from a life of loneliness and 3 shows a day at the Big Top Mall.

By the end of the book I could see why this book was a winner.  E.  gave it 5 out of 5 stars too.

Thoughtful Thursday

I'm trying to get blogger to automatically post to Facebook when I make a new blog post

This is a test.

Thanks

Book Worm Wednesday -- "The Goldfinch"

      Lately I've been reading more "literary" books; books on best seller lists; books that are highly recommended; etc.  So how about a book that won the Pulitzer?  What makes a book a Pulitzer Prize winner?  And so, I put "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt on my e-library hold list and waited and waited.  Finally, it was available and I began to read.  It's taken me several months to finish this book because I couldn't seem to finish it in the given three weeks and had to but it on hold several more times.

   The Goldfinch is a story about Theo Decker, who's mother loves the painting of a goldfinch by Carel Fabritius.  And in a trip to the Art museum to see the painting. She is killed in a bombing, and, prompted by the ramblings of an elderly gentleman who is dying, Theo takes the painting.  

    I was intrigued by this first part of the book.  The story was compelling and interesting.  What would happen to Theo with his mother gone?  His father had abandoned them and no one knew where he was.  What would he do with the painting?  And what about the ring the old man had asked him to deliver?

      But even though the writing was excellent and some of the characters were interesting and fun to read.  I had a hard time slogging through the rest of the book.  I don't want to give any spoilers....but I will say that after the first part of the book the language of the characters deteriorate and Theo chooses to self medicate his PTSD.  I did not enjoy reading about the drunken/high exploits of Theo and his friend Boris in Las Vegas after Theo's father finally fetches him from NYC.  

      I did like the resolution of the problem of the stolen painting which happens 12 years later.  As a lover of mysteries and action books, there were several chapters that were exciting to read.  

     The very end, however, got wordy and philosophic.  Not that I mind a little philosophy but I didn't really agree with the author's idea that good can come from evil and that maybe the bad things were the lead up to the good.

       This would be a great book for a discussion: character motivations, symbolism, and plot ideas.  

       I'm still not sure what constitutes a Pulitzer Prize winning novel  Maybe I need to read the rest of the contenders in this contest.