Wreck This Journal

Where to begin in this book? This is not a serious question, as I know there are no rules and we can begin anywhere we want to. But I am one who can get overwhelmed with too many choices. Thirty one flavors? What? I'll have vanilla.

There are a couple of pages that will be no-brainers for me. (I can write backwards as easily as I can write forwards. Perhaps i should try vlogging that?) And I admit that I've already done one page - writing a single word over and over again. But I think I know which page I'll do first. Isn't there a page where you're supposed to put it under your pillow and sleep on it? Isn't it in the back of the book somewhere? After all that dropping and dragging and burning and staining? Gross! I'm sleeping on it tonight! ;)

Go here for other "wreckers."

Happy wrecking!

List Lover's Thursday - 5 Minutes

What a difference five minutes can make!

A few mornings ago, I was a few minutes late getting out the door to go to work. Not enough at all to make me late to work; I always arrive early. But what a difference it made in the traffic! It's usually very light in the morning, but not this day. And I remember saying to myself, "But it's not even five minutes later than I normally leave!"

That got me thinking - what a difference five minutes can make in other situations.

• making or missing a flight


• getting to the post office (or bank or . . .) before the doors close


• giving birth on December 31st or January 1st


• waiting for your nails to dry


• a perfect piece of bacon or a house full of smoke


• a tie score in a basketball game (more like 5 seconds really!)


• a successful surprise (or not) party


• nabbing the last PS3 (or Wii or Xbox) on Black Friday


• the choice between pancakes and a hamburger
  
• saying "good morning" or "good afternoon"
  

I'm a Junkie

I am an addict. A junkie. A freak. A fiend. I admit it, and I'm a little ashamed. I have periods when I'm strong and don't cave in to my need for a fix, but they never last more than a couple of months.

I have a problem with magazines. I love them. Food magazines, gardening magazines, decorating magazines, travel magazines - almost anything with a pretty picture on the cover. There are only a handful that I subscribe to; I have had a little bit of self control there. (After all, the mailman must not find out my secret!)

At least once a week, I spend my lunch hour at the bookstore. It's quiet and cool, and somehow I just feel safe and cozy when I'm standing in between the tall shelves of books. I don't eat out often, so I figure that buying a magazine or two every once in a while is a (more than) fair trade. I can stop and get a coffee or an iced tea (and sometimes a red velvet cupcake!) to take back to work with me. And somehow that always is a bright spot in my day.

I keep my magazines longer than I probably should (shouldn't share this, but I have a few from the 90's). I rarely throw them away (I couldn't bear it!); I take them to work to share, or drop them off at the hospital, or give them to charity. But before I do, I do go through them and pull out the pictures and articles that I love. I have a couple folders full of those clippings and I love sitting down and looking at them from time to time.

My friends would never believe that I have as many magazines as I do. I am rather organized and have "places" for everything. (I am MFS after all.)

There are those that appeal to the practical, domestic side of me,



and those that inspire me to be a better person in one way or another,


and those that bring out the romantic in me.

Then there are a few that are just too beautiful to part with. Even the paper feels special.

They can, sometimes, serve a purpose too. Getting down on the floor with scissors and glue and letting the creative juices flow is very therapeutic.

So . . . Hi, my name is Janet and I'm a magazine addict.

Happy reading!

Happy New Month! This Month's Intention

Happy New Month!

In the past, I've explained how I'm not a fan of New Year's Resolutions. However, I do like the rejuvenation of feeling like I have a fresh start at the beginning of every month. And so at the beginning of each month, I set an intention.

I've been thinking about this month's intention for the last several days. I had several ideas, all of them worthy -- to take a vitamin every day, to do yoga at least three times a week, to learn a new word in French every day, etc. But I'm traveling for a short period this month, and I knew that those were probably not practical and should wait for another time. By this morning, I was feeling a little anxious because I had not yet decided on an intention.

When I sat down to read my e-mail, however, I had my answer. (Perhaps my intention should be to trust that the universe will give me what I need everyday!)

In my inbox, I had an e-mail titled "Seven Tips for Giving up Gossip." I'm certainly not the world's worst gossiper. In fact, I'd say that I am perhaps more cognizant of it, and therefore cautious of it, than the average person. Nothing good ever comes of it. If you work in a building or an environment of any kind in which more than a handful of people work, though, gossip is hard to avoid. But I'm going to try. I know there will be days when I'll fail, and I'll feel terrible, but I won't beat myself up over it. I'll just set my intention again the next day, and the next day, and the next day. And I'll try to do like Thumper said, "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

Happy New Month!

Inspiration In Your Bag

I recently ran across the Wish Studio, and a post called "inspiration in your bag." Mindy, the Creative Editor and Hostess, created a collage from things found in her bag/purse. It's very small scale (aka easy and doable!), quickly satisfies your creative itch, and helps to clean out your purse at the same time!

Mindy challenged other bloggers to give it a try. And Laurel posted a couple on her blog, Laurel's Art Journal. She also incorporated bits and pieces of stuff from her desk.

I had so much fun last weekend creating my garden collages. And I go through periods where I save all kinds of snippets of this and tidbits of that for just such projects. (for example, I've been walking around the house for hours with a little produce sticker off of a lemon stuck to the back of my hand cause it has a cute little bee on it.)

I decided my medium, at least for one collage, was going to be the little subscription postcards that are tucked into magazines (and fall all over the floor as soon as you pick one up). (I tried origami with them once, but they're really too thick for folding that small.)

Here's the reverse side of the card:


and my finished collage on the front.


For the second one, I used a photo that didn't print correctly on my printer as the base.

The little zen monk in the bottom corner is attached with a brad so that he spins. Don't know why he needs to spin, but . . . he does. :)

Most of the materials I used came from my desk, and a few things were even pulled out of the trash can. This was great fun. I'm thinking I might just have to start spending every Sunday afternoon this way.

Happy collecting!

Friday Night Love Affair

Since confession seemed to be a theme in other blogs I've read today, I decided to follow suit. I wasn't going to write at all, but the guilt consumed me, and I must avow as well.

My husband has been working nights. He gets home at about three a.m., and being the dear that he is, he has been sleeping on the couch (which he can do quite well and satisfactorily, unlike me) so as not to wake me. I kiss him goodbye when I leave for work in the morning, and I talk to him on the phone when he's getting ready to leave for work again, somewhere around three in the afternoon. We get face time and actual time to talk come the weekend.

After a somewhat bizarre and harried week, I was in somewhat of a bizarre, yet animated, mood. I had the proverbial ants in my pants to do something besides sit on the couch and watch "What Not To Wear." And I had promised myself I wasn't going to spend three hours in front of the computer. I felt like doing something decadent and just accepting whatever consequences might follow.

I love my husband. I love my children and my grandchildren. And I love my friends. But I have another love, and sometimes I only want to be with that love. And so tonight, I am. I'm going to kick off my shoes and fix a drink. I'm going to fluff the pillows on the bed and turn down the volume on my phone. And then I'm going to languish with something steamy, and I swear I'm going to last more than fifteen minutes this time.

Sigh . . . life is good.

List Lovers' Thursday

Questions for the Universe


This is not nearly as serious as it sounds, but I have spent a considerable amount of time wondering about some of these things through the years.

-*- Why is it that plastic wrap sticks to glass (and itself!) just fine, but not to plastic?

-*- Where/how do professional basketball players sleep when they're on the road, traveling from city to city? Do they stay in hotels with regular sized beds? Do they have to sleep at an angle, from corner to corner, in order to fit in the bed? (this is all assuming they have custom beds at home?) Is there a special branch of Hilton with special beds that I don't know about -- Hilton for Wilt the Stilt(on)?

-*- Why do the cats that belong to a neighbor way down the street seem to live in my backyard?

-*- Why do dogs like to roll in cat poop?

-*- Why am I physically unable to shut the computer off after "just one more" e-mail/blog/page on polyvore.com like I fully intended to?

-*- Why do I consistently forget to put my yogurt in the refrigerator when I get to work each morning?

-*- Why are people mean?

-*- Are the other planets in the solar system warming? Freezing?

-*- Why does that funny little chirruping sound my car sometimes makes suddenly disappear when I drag my husband out to hear it?

-*- Why does MS Word think it knows how you want your document formatted better than you do?

Have any answers? Any questions of your own?