Saturday, July 19, 2014

New Thing Number Fourty-One

You know how when you were in elementary school, your teachers always had cool pictures that they would use for the lesson? Do you remember how they would pull out a popsicle stick that had a wad of that yellow tape on it, roll off a strip of tape, fold it into that perfect circle, stick it to the back of the picture, and tape the picture to the chalkboard? (Yes, I was in elementary school when they still had chalkboards.)

I totally did that.

I got to teach a lesson--the room had a whiteboard, and I took complete advantage of its presence. I didn't even care if my students understood what was going on. All I cared about were the pictures and my precious, precious tape.

New Thing Number Fourty

I waxed my legs.

Never doing that again.

New Thing Number Thirty-Nine

I turned my mommy's backyard into Neverland.

My birthday was coming up and I wanted to do something out-of-the-ordinary. So I spent the morning of my birthday at home working in the backyard, and the product was simply gorgeous. That is, until it rained that evening. (But I love rain, so I didn't mind too much.)

For the fairies, I put Christmas lights in a tree.

For the mermaids, I shredded blue fabric and hung it from a tree branch to be a waterfall.

For the lost boys, I made a hideout out of cheap fabric in the garden.

For the Indians, I used more cheap fabric to wrap the swing set into a teepee.

For the pirates, I turned the picnic table into a ship. I'm particularly proud of this one, so here's a picture. (You can see a bit of the unfinished waterfall on the right.)

 
Hooray for decorating on a budget!

New Thing Number Thirty-Eight

I dove to catch a Frisbee.

I have never been willing to put my personal wellness on the line for a game before. And we weren't even playing a game. We were just throwing a Frisbee around as a family.

I guess I got a little caught up in the moment. The Frisbee was coming my way but was just a bit too far for me to catch it. Next thing I knew, I was tumbling on the grass, totally confused as to how I got there. Now I know why professional athletes do what they do. I also know why so many of them have to retire early due to injury.

The best part? I didn't even catch the Frisbee.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

New Thing Number Thirty-Seven

I have begun to publicly admit my weaknesses.

After being so worried about what people think of me for most of my life, this would normally be a huge thing for me. But then I came down with depression. And for the past year and a half I have been talking with doctors, counselors, therapists, etc., and I have essentially set up a new lighting system in my heart so I don't have any deep, dark corners in there anymore. 

In a nutshell, I'm not worried anymore. Heck, I don't really care. People can think what they want about me. And if they judge me for how I look or for something equally ridiculous, they will be severely underestimating me. But that's okay--I like surprising people by doing things they don't expect.

I don't care if people know I'm horrible at sports. I don't care if people know my bedroom is a disaster right now. I will be the first to admit I made a mistake, regardless of how many people I say it to.

I have no problem laughing at myself.

In this case, I don't care how many people know I am probably the worst cake decorator ever. I will even accentuate it, because it makes me smile. This time, the cake is not a lie.

On the bright side, this was my first time baking a cake in a Bundt pan, and the cake turned out really well. :)



New Thing Number Thirty-Six

I raked the lawn.

I don't mean I raked the leaves. Or mowed the lawn. I raked it.

Apparently this is what you do when your lawn is all yellow and you want it green again. You comb out all the dead grass, seed the lawn, and water the lawn like crazy for a while. Then voila, you have a green lawn again.

I'm still working on step one, so I have yet to see if this actually works.

I've spent three hours working on it so far, and I'm not halfway done. Apparently the lawn really needed this.

New Thing Number Thirty-Five

I designed a book!

Again, I didn't write it. I got the text from Project Gutenberg, reformatted it to a more book-like layout, added page numbers, put in a running header, etc. Then the printing press did the rest. :)

Putting a picture up just doesn't do it justice. If you know me personally (and not in any sort of creepy-ish way), ask me to show it to you sometime.

It looks sooooooo awesome.

The first bit is the cover as it comes out of the press--back cover, spine, and front cover. The second bit is the first chapter page.

I got all the artwork through Google and have no rights to any of it. So I'll be fine as long as I don't try to sell the book. And trust me, I'm not parting with my baby any time soon.