Policies

 I did a series here about Theo in his younger years. Here is the post that started it all.

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SUNDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2011

Ponderings from Theodore--The Early Years

Theodore has always been a thinker--meaning long after I have moved on from a subject, he is still pondering it. Occasionally, we are going to visit some of his questions and observations from his earlier years. Some are serious and others are humorous.

 

Policies 

Theodore approached me one evening, when he was eight, 

with the following idea.

“I think we should have a family goal for each month. For this month, I think it would be good for us to have no more electronic entertainment such as TV, computer, and video games.” 

He then went to the next room, turned on the TV, and started watching cartoons. I came into the room and asked what happened to his new plan. He looked at me and said, “Well, you know, it's not policy until it's in writing.

Facebook Break

 From my files, female cardinal in maple tree.

I decided that I was going to take a break from Facebook to minimize the amount of negativity I was finding around me. Well, that lasted three days until I was back on the site. Yesterday morning I got a notice that someone had mentioned me in a post. I wanted to find out more and that was it. I not only read that post, but started scrolling. But you know what? I'm not that sorry that I didn't last longer because Facebook is not all bad. Here are a few things I saw this morning that I enjoyed.

1. A bad joke-"What was Harper Lee's favorite drink? Toquilla mocking bird." 

2. Beautiful pictures of a crescent moon from Maine

3. A picture of my grandmother with her older daughter and her first granddaughter. 

4. A picture of a baby gorilla. My nephew is a primate zoo keeper at the National Zoo and every time there is a shut down of the zoo, he posts a picture a day of one of the primates with a clever caption. The pictures are great and the captions are even better.

5. A link to a song by the Mama's and Papa's. One friend frequently posts links to old songs. I appreciate that she does the work of finding them.

6. A picture of a tree made from puzzle pieces done by a friend. I'm going to have to investigate this more because it was looked really neat.

7. A recipe for harvest stew.

8. Mention of a local event I want to see.

9. Notice about a happening in my neighborhood.

It took some discipline to just focus on these things. I had to scroll quickly past several negative, hostile posts to see them, but I did. I rarely read any negative posts in their entirety before, but would read enough to know what they were about--and that was too much for me. But focusing on the fun stuff, was just right this morning. I'm not going to avoid FB for now. My new goal is to keep scrolling when I sense that a post is negative and to enjoy the rest. After all, I'm looking for positivity and there is a lot to be found on FB.

Another day, I'll talk about the amount of time that can be spent on places like FB.

Giving

 "It's better to give than receive." Or as I heard someone say on TV the other day, "Doing something for someone is the best gift you can give yourself because it feels so good."

With these thoughts in mind, I did a project this past weekend to continue with my attempts to surround myself with positive vibes. I put together cards to be handed out at a long term care facility. Having spent several years around nursing homes with my parents, my heart is saddened by the additional isolation that these people are feeling right now. With these cards, I hope to brighten someone's day, even if it's just for a moment. 

After shopping and piecing together things from home, I was able to make cards to send to the facility in my hometown where my mother was a resident. I chose it for sentimental reasons, but also because they are small with only 35 beds. I thought I could manage 35 cards in a timely manner. 

While I was working on the cards, I was very much channeling my mother. She was a champion at sending cards to people and I used cardstock and stickers that used to be hers. I know she would be quite happy with this effort.

Although I try to be helpful to others everyday, I am going to make an effort to do more of these kind of projects, because I think they were right - giving is the best gift you can give yourself.

Thankful Sunday, January 10, 2021

 I am thankful for Frog and Toad.

Many of you are probably familiar with the Frog and Toad books by Arnold Lobel.  These beginning readers were first published in the 70's but remain timeless as many classics do. Frog and Toad are good friends who have different adventures together throughout the books. Their problem in the story, The Cookies, in the Frog and Toad Together book is especially relatable to me.

I will paraphrase the story for you. Toad bakes cookies and Frog and Toad decide they are best cookies they have ever eaten. However, they decide that they should stop eating before they get sick. So they have one last cookie and another very last cookie before they realize that they can't stop. Frog explains to Toad that they need will power which is trying very hard to not do something you really want to do. 

So they put them in a box to keep them out of sight, but figure out they can always open the box, Then they tie a string around the box, but they realize that they can just cut the string. Next they put the box on a high shelf before they decide that they can just get a ladder to get the box of cookies down. 

Finally Frog gets a ladder, takes the box down, cuts the string, opens the box and scatters the cookies for the birds. Toad is sad that he has no more cookies, but Frog says, "But we have lots of will power." Toad says, "You can keep it all because I'm going home to bake a cake."

This simple story makes me smile every time because I, too, have tried to stop eating cookies because I don't have lots of will power. I usually start with a box in the freezer, but then...

So for Frog and Toad and the smile they bring to my face, I am thankful 

This and That, January 9, 2021

From the files*

I am feeling unsettled these days. That comes with all of the unsettling world and national news around me. And when I'm unsettled, I'm more restless, and when I'm more restless, I tend to spend more time focusing on my own problems whether they are big or small.  To help with this, I've cut myself off from the news and am going to take a Facebook break for a while--both of which are easier said than done. 

So what else does all this mean? It means that here I am going to try to focus on the mundane and silly hoping that will be good be a settling influence on me. But wait, you say. Don't you already just focus on the mundane? Well, yeah, but I'm going to pretend this is different.  Also, I'm going to try to post everyday for a couple of weeks to see how that goes. I'm a little skeptical about success with this since my class and work are getting busy.  But I have to set the goal first, before I can reach it. So as my mind is swirling with concerns, big and small, here's the humdrum for the today.

Yesterday, I harvested the rest of the turnips and radishes. Theoretically, they should have been able to stay in the ground until we need them, but they had been frost heaved up so they were mostly exposed where creatures big and small could nibble on them. The bonus of leaving them outside until now is that cold weather only makes them sweeter. On the menu today is a stew featuring turnips, cabbage, carrots and ground beef. A nice hearty stew for a cold winter's day. 

The tree is coming down
 this weekend,too.

However, it's not too cold to take down the Christmas lights. Thank you, thank you to Ward for willingly doing this. The outdoor lights this year have been very frustrating because we never knew which part of them would be lit and which part would be out. And it varied. Previously dark parts would suddenly light up again. Not sure what to do about that. But to paraphrase Scarlet O'Hara, we'll worry about that next year.

And lastly, in case you didn't know, today is National Static Electricity Day. Time to go find a balloon and have a hair-raising time. :)

Until next time...

*From the files will feature pictures I've taken in the past. For months now, I've been slowly going through the pictures on my computer culling many of them, but I also find ones that I like. BTW, birds and flowers always get special consideration in my book. The above picture was taken January 2015.