This and That!

The pear trees are budding! Unlike some other fruit trees,
 the leaves and the flowers on our pear trees come out at the same time.

Most of my posts recently start with some version of I don't have anything to say and then proceed with this and that about my everyday life. I'm gonna try to change it up today, so get ready for an exciting ride!

There was no greater satisfaction this week than when we dropped off another bag of shredding at the free personal shredding place! This, of course, means that we are continuing to make progress going through our files, which is part of an effort to declutter our house. We started in the bedroom and then moved to our office. Work continues, but we are well over half done! The great thing about not regularly culling papers is that many of them are no longer relevant. Waiting for just the right moment to sort files is our tried and true method of making the job easier - at least for some of the decisions of what to keep!

But don't fear; our files will not be empty! Our recent car drama has created enough paperwork to fill at least one of the drawers alone! We are still working out all the details, but we have a new van, and things are proceeding. And before you know it, it will be settled! Hooray!

I found a hidden surprise the other day - 4 bags of apples! Well, actually, they weren't so much hidden as forgotten. Last fall, we made a big effort to process the apples we got off one of our trees. We did many, but when push came to shove, we put the rest into the fridge in the basement to do at a later time. So the later time is today! Most of the apples had bad places in them when they were stored, so many of them are totally rotten now. Oh, well. I plan on dehydrating what's left for good snacks!

Are you excited yet?! I tried to spice up this post by throwing in exclamation points here and there, whether or not it was appropriate for the sentence. Which brings me to one of my pet peeves. Over the last few years, I've seen increased use of exclamation points in everyday sentences. They don't seem to be saved just to indicate surprise or excitement as they used to be. This is part of a language trend that involves a lot of hyperbole, which I think dilutes the meaning and impact of our communication. I understand that language is constantly changing, but I don't like it. Bah, humbug!

The apples are calling. 

Until next time...

Hyperbole

or Do You Use Words Like You Used To

Love, Hate = like, annoyed

I think we have all noticed that the media uses tantalizing headlines to attract us. That trick has been around for a very long time but started getting worse when we added the choice of cable news to the three network broadcasts. Soon social media evolved and information flew from everyone and anyone around the globe at lightning speeds. With all of these sources available, words got more and more provocative as everyone was trying to get our attention. Simply put, a war of hyperbole of words was on. Consequently, I think a lot of them lost their meaning.

I've been thinking about this because I noticed that I don't use some words the way I used to. For example, I say I love or hate something frequently which usually means I like or dislike something, or probably more correctly, I find something annoying. That is not the way I have always used these words.

When I was a child and into my adulthood, love and hate were very powerful words and reserved for intense feelings. I didn't say I loved something, say, as casual as ice cream. Love was reserved for intense emotions, usually applied to my family. I rarely said the word, hate. It was almost considered a bad word because my parents told me that you could usually find some good in everything and everyone. Today I use love and hate in watered-down ways. Two of my intense words don't meant what they used to.

While my changes seem small, they are noticeable to me all the same. I wonder if I've changed because of the outside world or for some other reason. I'll have to think about this and see if I notice similar changes with other words.

In the meantime, have you noticed that you use words differently today in this world of hyperbole?