Friday Funny: Why are those doors so heavy?

Three things — 5.16.18

Things I’m loving this week

Flowering trees. The college campus I work on is rife with flowering trees and bushes and they are all blooming now. A walk through campus is not only pretty, but sweet smelling, too.

Fair weather feathered friends. The abundance and variety of birds in Erie, Pa., this time of year is just phenomenal. I caught this tree swallow enjoying some grape jelly from my mom’s oriole feeder.

Vocal Ensemble. They girls voted to wear long dresses for their H.S. Vocal Ensemble concert and I realized as soon as they came on stage that they had inadvertently dressed in a rainbow of colors.  Vocal Ensemble is an additional chorus class that offers more intensive voice instruction & one-on-one vocal lessons. Lauren sang a duet with her friend Brynn and Kelly sang an Italian opera song.

Homemade Mother’s Day gifts. Kelly harnessed the power of Pinterest to make me three gifts (above) and coordinate the painting of many clay flower pots for another gift she made for the grandmothers (below). I also got a kayak rack for my car — woohoo!!!

Things I’m not loving this week

 

Lauren’s broken phone. Yes, it was an accident (she fell going down the stairs and landed on her butt with her phone in her pocket)….but….I’m having an awfully hard time shelling out another $100+ for a phone for a kid who is prone to breaking them. At this point, her options are: Choose a less expensive phone, find a way to make $150 herself, or ask the Magic 8 Ball all her burning questions instead of Google.

Our entire federal government. I don’t know know where to start..and really, I hate to list anything because by the time this posts, there will probably have been three new scandals. It’s just EVERY SINGLE DAY. And, it’s exhausting. How much can we stand? This entire country is going to be on drugs before 45 pisses off the wrong dictator and we all end up dead so he can look tough.

 

Worth Reading — 5.16.18

A random collection of articles, blog posts, books, and other things I think are worth sharing.

NPR: Why So Many Gifted Yet Struggling Students Are Hidden In Plain Sight (#lauren)

“I think we haven’t fully come to terms with the fact that sometimes the things that we value in education, like expertise and intelligence and knowledge, conflict sometimes with creativity. Creativity is just as important, and if we focus on intellectual power we’re going to miss out on a lot of these kids that are going to really shake up the world, really change things.”

Marc and Angel Hack Life: 5 Hard Things You Need to Start Doing for Yourself on Hard Days

Medium: What Fullness Is

Reader’s Digest: The Best Weekend Getaways in Each State

Words to Start Your Week: Assumptions

Friday Funny: The perfect birthday message

Three things — 5.10.18

Things I’m loving this week

Federal Hill Smokehouse. If you love BBQ and you’ve not gotten yourself to the Federal Hill Smokehouse at 26th and Peach streets for lunch yet….put it on your summer to-do list. Smokey meats, yummy sides, and lots of flavorful calories await. A one-meat meal with two sides is just $9.  (Get the mac-n-cheese!) I opted for the lean brisket with sweet BBQ sauce and it was delish. Probably about 2,000 calories,but….whateves. Oink…oink!

Hiking in the woods. When my Sunday circuit session was thwarted (see things I’m not loving), I decided to stop at the bottom of Wintergreen gorge and hoof it up the hill the hard way (along the ridge) to the top and around and back. I forgot A.) how much of a workout hiking can be, B.) how peaceful it is to walk alone, C.) how much I love being in the woods.  Also….I stumbled upon this wisdom (above) carved into a tree. I could point out the irony of carving a message about kindness into a living tree, but….we’ll just focus on the positive here.

Mother’s Day. What could bring these sisters together on one blanket in the sunshine for hours without fighting? Making Mother’s Day gifts for the grandmothers. This peaceful-sister Sunday afternoon is the only gift I need.

The Little Mermaid at the Academy Theatre in Meadville. I’ve seen a lot of live local theatre and this is easily one of the best — if not the best — I’ve ever seen. The costumes, sets, bubbles, venue, actors…it’s all just so good. You’ve got one more chance to see it as they’ve extended the run through this weekend. It’s worth the ticket price and the drive!

Things I’m not loving this week

Y-free Sundays. The Eastside Y is now closed on Sunday afternoons because: summer. I get it and yet I think…c’mon…is that a wise decision with both Planet Fitness and Snap Fitness within two miles of your gym and hot to steal your clients? There’s a circuit class I like on Sundays—one of the few free ones they offer—and now that’s out.

Books that make too many leaps. I hate when a book jumps from narrator to narrator without telling me who is talking or jumps from one time period to another without warning…it just confuses me and then I have to go back and try and find the thread. I’ll only do it one or twice before I just quit on the book…there are too many others I want to read to waste time trying so hard to follow one.

Spring garden cleanup. The first round of weeding/leaf/dead foliage removal from the flowerbeds is the worst. Now, to get bark down before I have to go around through the beds again…

 

 

Worth Reading ~ 5.9.18

A random collection of articles, blog posts, books, and other things I think are worth sharing.

Becoming Minimalist: A Guide to Letting Go of Perfectly Good Things (I hold onto a lot of crap just because I paid good money for it…or think I might want it some day…but mostly out of guilt for giving/tossing away perfectly good stuff).

Erin’s Inside Job: 10 Reasons to Exercise that Have Nothing to do with Weight or Strength

Hands-free life: A Child’s Most-Wanted Graduation Gift: The Antidote for a Meaningless Life

Scary Mommy: Inflatable Pools for Moms Because We Are Adults and We do What We Want (observation: I seriously doubt any of the women in these photos are actually moms).

Words to Start Your Week: It’s OK

Friday Funny: Caffeinated

Three things — 5.3.18

Three things I’m loving this week

No A/C in the office this summer. I work in an old farmhouse and the heating & cooling system in it is quite a mess. They say it’s going to take all summer to fix it and better that we go without A/C in summer than heat in winter.  Personally, I’m thrilled. I may feel differently on a humid day in July, but…right now, I’m thrilled that I won’t have to wear a sweater, gloves, and a fleece blanket all summer.

Redbox promos. I usually refuse to give companies my email address because they’re obnoxious with promotions, but Redbox is one worth keeping as they give me a coupon code for a free (or nearly free) rental almost every week. Yes…I’m a Luddite who watches movies on DVDs (yes, a DVD….not even Blue-Ray).

“The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K” by Mark Manson. My nephew recommended this book to me, saying: You’d love this book. And, I do. I’m not really big on self-help stuff, but I’ve been highlighting the hell out of this book.

Three things I’m not loving this week

Sunscreen. Since the the sun has returned to Erie, I went back to using my face lotion with sunscreen and realized how much it dries my skin out. *sigh*

Mosquitoes.  It was warm for like 8 hours and those bastards hatched and started feeding in a frenzy. Why does the world need mosquitoes anyway? What good are they?  NPR says they are useful.

Kanye West. I’ve never liked him, though…so…I’m not outraged or disappointed. He’s always been an asshat.