SOMEONE GAVE ME THE "BIRD" YESTERDAY

Yesterday a friend and I FINALLY exchanged Christmas gifts. We don't like to rush into things.

She gave me some lovely things, one is a tiny pink McGiver type tool. I will be able to escape from any hostage situation and even from the Clown Car if it locks me in. It has it's own little case that fits on my key ring. I can open cans, stab things, slice things, unscrew screws off all kinds, open bottles and pinch the heck out of evil monsters or other evil things/people that annoy me. Watch out.

On the outside of the package--which also held a wonderful hardbound children's picture book--was this darling bird. I didn't even put a bow on her package, that's how unwonderful I am. Even the outside of her package was wonderful. That's the way she is. She now has contributed two things to my kitchen window. Thank you Terri.

Chirp.*

*Terri should blog.

SIX WORDS FOR GIFTS

Neighbors, bearing gifs, best is friendship.

SIX WORD SATURDAY 5-31-08

Hidden gift--gathering: stuff, people, ideas.

GIFTS FOR THE NEW YEAR

Instead of New Year's Resolutions I am making a list of Gifts.

I am going to give the gift of one hundred letters, cards or handmade post cards to others this year. I made a list recently and there are honestly almost one hundred people I want to write to so if I accomplish this it will be because I want to do it, not because I feel I should.

A dear friend gave me a gratitude journal for Christmas and I am going to fill it with the wondrous things in my life. Family, friends, my own miracles, insights, little things like a sprouting seed or big things like the mountain with clouds chasing across the face.

I am going to give myself the gift of all the things that fill me up. Watching the snow fall. Listening to the rain. Holding some one's hand. I will drink in the gift of friendship and pour it back. I will listen to compliments and not say things like, "Oh, it was nothing." Or, "No, I'm not." I will say, "thank you," and give myself the gift of remembering and treasuring them in my heart. I will give honest compliments, too.

I'm going to give myself the gift of slowing down, letting the silence take over, stop filling my life with information and start listening to what I already know, deep down in my spirit. I am going to trust myself.

I am going to give the gift of writing. This I give to myself and maybe someone else will benefit too. I may paint too but if I don't I'm not going to fret about it.

There are a couple of more things on the list but they are pretty private, I am honest and let you see into my soul but not all the way. Even my family doesn't see all the way, only God. As I accomplish these things I may blog about them. I may not.

I wish all who come here a wonderful year, full of bright promise. May the bright still be shining next December 31st. May your lives be filled with Joy and the knowledge of who you really are.

7 WEIRD OR RANDOM FACTS ABOUT ME.

My friend Pam tagged me with this:

1. Link to the person that tagged you, and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
4. Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Okay, Pam, first of all I don't know seven people with blogs to tag. So, I'm afraid that part will have to go unanswered. I keep telling my friends to start a blog (you are the only one who has minded) but they just look at me like I'm an adolescent, trapped in a grown-up's body and say, "What's a blog?" Then they say, "What's the purpose of a blog?" And then they say, "I don't get it." All the time they are giving me that look. I do visit a lot of blogs, almost daily, of people I've stumbled on but they are popular and probably wouldn't even read my comments. So, I'll do the weird or random facts.

By the way, what does it mean to tag 7 random people? Who are these random people? Am I a random person? What makes a person random? maybe that's a weird fact.

7 weird facts about me:

1. I slept on the front porch as a kid. It was dripping with Virginia Creeper (the vine, not a weird--or random--person from Virginia). The porch looked like an grotto. I slept in a real double, brass bed with a down comforter. I had a night stand with a lamp, a box of comics--later a stack of books, and a portable radio. Mom said I could sleep there until the first frost. I prayed for a late frost. I would have slept there all winter if she had let me. As you can probably tell I lived in a very safe, small town. Mom left the front door open (screen door closed) and her bedroom was ten feet away so don't think she was negligent. She was the best. I sleep in a bedroom now--I wish I could sleep outside--but the window is wide open, summer and winter.

2. I think I am thin. When I pass a mirror I am always startled--and disgusted.

3. I think I am young. When I see my face I am always startled--and disgusted. So I smile. Then I look better but I do not, under any circumstance look at my profile. I have considered wearing a chin strap to bed to firm up the profile but it sounds too much like a jock strap.

4. I used to be a good cook. I had dinner on the table at 6:00 pm sharp and it was tasty. Now I don't love to cook but still love to gather recipes, as if I'm going to go right to the kitchen and pull out pans and measuring spoons. I watch the food network--except for Emeril--I copy recipes off the Internet and put them in files. It's my hobby. Reading people's blog is my other hobby. I read people's food blogs, especially the vegetarian food blogs. I found a recipe on A Veggie Venture called SPICY THAI NOODLE SALAD that I did make and it was very good. I had to make a whole extra recipe of sauce though. So, out of perhaps 100 recipes that I have saved I have made one. One percent. Not a very good track record, is it?

5. I love to sleep but never get to bed early enough to do enough of it. Maybe that's not weird. Maybe it's just poor planning.

6. I love to give gifts. I used to take a little gift (a loaf of sweet bread, etc.) to the people I visit teach each month (visiting teaching is an LDS thing) and then one day two of them said it made them feel guilty so I quit. I have never understood that. Why would they feel guilty. I wanted them to feel loved. I also used to buy Wednesday gifts for my girls--the ones I gave birth to and the ones who married my boys. Not every Wednesday, not even one Wednesday a month. But if I found something and I couldn't wait until Christmas or their birthday's to give it to them I gave it early. Then my fortunes took a nosedive and I couldn't buy Wednesday gifts anymore. When my fortunes reverse I am going to buy Wednesday gifts again. I can hardly wait.

7. I know sugar is a poison. I know it in the depths of my being. So, why am I always making caramels, I wonder? I just finished making 500 caramels for one order--that's over sixteen pounds of the stuff, and twelve Thanksgiving bags with name tags for my sister for her Thanksgiving table. I am slowly contributing to people's ill health. Someone should shake me. But not before I get my chin strap on because I don't want that wonky chin flopping around because I think I'm really young and fit and I don't want anything flapping all over the place, giving hints that I'm not.

There, maybe those aren't weird. Maybe they're just random.

And this post is too long. I really must learn to condense.