I have become more aware of how my personality comes off to others. It's not really a pleasant thing. Luckily, I have friends and family who will call me out when I am being harsh. Also, I am so lucky to have a husband that understands and is not offended by what I say or how I say it.  I am a harsh person, but I am also so much more than that. I'll get to that in a minute. I understand that not all people operate like me, and I am more tolerant with people I don't know very well. I guess I should clarify something. I am not rude. I sound harsh when I say certain things. I am not trying to hurt anyone. I am honest, but not mean. I am frank, but not hurtful.  ...Or at least that's my goal. Maybe you'll understand me better when I explain some rules of my world. After all, I love rules. 


The Key to Me is Communication:

• I will ask for help if I need it. If I don't need help, I won't ask for it, and please don't try to help me unless it's obvious that I'm going to hurt myself or someone else (by accident).  Side note: I know that most other people don't operate this way, and I try to offer help whenever I can. If the person doesn't want help, usually they will tell me. I think the key here is asking to help before jumping in and helping. I will love you even more if you offer (communication) and wait until I respond and then act accordingly. If I am making chili and someone comes in and starts seasoning and stirring and things... I will probably get inwardly annoyed. 
• When I ask someone to do something, I usually want it done right away unless a different timeline is stipulated. This sounds rude, but I only ask for help when I need it. If I'm asking you to do something, I need it done. If the person waits around and slacks off, I'll end up doing the request myself, and I probably won't be too pleased about it. If the person tells me (communication) that they are busy and can it wait a few minutes. If I say yes, then awesome!! If I say no, then the other person is totally safe to tell me that they can't do it. I have no problems with that. 
• No means no. If you bring your child over to my home and I ask them to please not do a particular thing, I expect them to not do it. They get three strikes. I will put your child in time out if necessary. Example: 

Me: Please don't pull on the blinds, it could damage them. 
Child: Oh okay. 
5 minutes later and child is pulling on blinds
Me: Child, would you please not pull on the blinds, I wouldn't want them to break and I definitely don't want you to get hurt. 
Child: Oh. 
5 minutes later and child is pulling on blinds
Me: I asked you nicely to please not pull on the blinds. Do not pull on the blinds. 
Child: No.
Me: This is my house, and these are my rules. You will not pull on those blinds. 
Child: *wide eyed and shocked*
Me: Thank you. 

Meanwhile the parents are just sitting there watching this whole thing take place and not saying anything. I'm not going to tell you how to raise your kid, but when you are in someone else's home, they need to follow the rules of that home as well as the parent's rules. 

• I hate lateness. I hate being late, and I am not a fan of when other people are super late. I don't mind a few minutes late, but more than that and I should be informed that I will be waiting for another 30 minutes outside in the cold. Seriously, this is not just me, if you are going to be more than 10 minutes late, let the other person know (communication) so that they can maker arrangements if necessary. Common courtesy. 

If you have made it this far, you're probably thinking, "Well, she's a total nutter. Why are we friends?"

So, here are some good things about me to remind you why you like me. 

• I am an extremely loyal friend. But we've only met twice. Yeah, but as long as you make an effort to keep in touch with me, I will be there for you. 
• I am a good listener and observer. I don't like to give advice unless someone asks for it. 
• I'm hilarious! (I made you laugh, didn't I?) My husband seems to think he is the funny one in the family, but we all know the truth. 
• I dabble in a lot of topics, have read a lot of books, seen a lot of movies etc. I can keep a conversation going with almost anyone. 
• I love to learn. Do you have something practical to teach me? I would love to learn it from you, but remember, if I need help, I'll ask for it. :)
• I love to teach. Interested in learning about gardening, knitting, canning, traveling etc. I will gladly help you out. 
• I am honest, but not rude. Person: "Does this dress make me look fat?" Me: "I think the last dress you tried on was more flattering."

So, there you have it. A brief look into dealing with me and why I act the way I do and why we should be friends. 

What spurred this post? I took a personality test that was probably the most accurate personality test I have ever taken. Here is a link to the description of my personality type: The Individualistic Doer. 
http://www.ipersonic.com/type/ID.html

If you want to take the test:
http://www.ipersonic.com/test.html

Thanks for listening!

As each year does, this year deserves a retrospective. It's coming. 

This post is about something important. It's about quality time with my husband. 

It's New Year's Eve. What did we do tonight? We spent the evening playing board games. It's just the two of us, but we work together and still manage to be a little competitive. It's wonderful. 

I will soon post something with pictures about the things that happened in 2013, but right now, let me tell you about the things I treasured about last year. 

The After Grocery Shopping Moments:

TC and I go grocery shopping once every couple of weeks. When we get home from grocery shopping, we spend that time processing the foods that need to be processed (example: today, we made veggie smoothies and froze 6 quarts for future use. It took hours, but was totally worth it). I love spending that time with him in the kitchen although he probably doesn't realize it. 

The Playing with the Dog Moments:


Sometimes I go outside when TC is playing with Rommy out there. I just sit on the porch in the nice weather and think about home much I want to keep those moments forever. I try to remember the lighting and the smells. I try to remember the laughter and the Rommy jumps. It's one of my favorite things. 

The Board Game Moments:


Tonight we played board games. Pandora played everything from oldies to opera to modern violin (i. e. Lindsey Stirling). We played board games for hours, and we laughed, we plotted, we schemed, we cooperated, we suffered defeat, and we occasionally saved the world from epidemics. It was fantastic. 


It really is all about the little moments. TC probably doesn't realize how much those moments mean to me, but they are my favorites. I want to keep them forever. So, my 2014 will include so many more of these "little moments". It will be an unforgettable year. Will yours be?

It's easy for me to get caught up in the holidays. I reach a point where I realize I need to take a step back so I don't go overboard. This year I have been very good about reigning it in. Instead of naming all the things I'm thankful for (the list would be extensive), I have decided to focus on one thing that I am so insanely thankful for that I still can't believe I have it. 

I am most thankful for my wonderful husband. 

He is an extremely patient and giving person. He puts up with my crazy (I think he likes it). I am happier when I am with him. I love him like crazy, and I can't imagine life without him. 

I feel like this is important to note: There are times when I vent about my husband. I feel like I do this more than I talk about how amazing he is. The reason is that I spend most of my time with him, and when I need to vent about an argument we had, he probably doesn't want to rehash that whole thing, so I talk to others. I don't focus on the positive when I talk about him, and I think that is because I want to keep all those wonderful times to my selfish self. Also, if I told you about all the things he does that make me smile, you would probably not understand. Example: I hate walking in the Exit door at stores. I will walk the extra distance if it means I will be walking in the proper door. I can tell when TC takes the effort to not go in the Exit door... I can also tell when he takes the effort to go in the exit door just to razz me. I tell you this, but I know that most of you will just think it's silly. And that's fine. It's one of those silly things that means a lot to me. 

The point of all this is that I don't spend enough time talking about how much I love my husband and how much he has changed my life for the better. 

We have now finished watching the movies through "First Contact". There is something I have noticed that bothers me a little. The original Star Trek, and The Next Generation do a pretty good job of displaying the future as a utopia, or at least moving towards a utopia. In the fourth movie, "The Voyage Home", the future is solar powered and clean. They don't use money because their economics are so stable and they don't need money. The farther into the series you get, the less utopian the future gets. Is this in response to society's interest in a dystopian future?

Think about it. Right now people love disaster movies, they love zombie movies, they love outbreak movies, Mad Max type movies. How can a utopian franchise even compete?  The fact that Star Trek was so successful makes me think that people still want to look towards the future as a sort of utopia, where things keep getting better. But the darker side of humanity is fascinated by how bad it could really become. Just a thought. 

There are a few things that bother me about the American language.... there are actually a lot of things that bother me about the American language, but here are five of them. 

1. Olderly - This is an old/elderly person. 
2. Orientated - The infinitive form of this word is "to orient". The noun form of this verb is an orientation. The past tense of this verb is oriented. There is no past tense form of orientation because it is a noun. 
3. "It's always in the last place you look." - Of course it is, because once you find something, you stop looking. 
4. Acrossed - I don't know where this comes from regionally. I have heard it all over the US. I have also been guilty of saying it numerous times. I don't even know how this made it into common language, but it has. A little piece of me dies every time I say it. 
5. I could borrow that to you - That's not the way this verb works. You can borrow something, but it is not something you can do to someone. You can lend something to someone, or you can borrow something from someone. The words are not interchangeable. 

I think the major issue I have with these things (except #3) is that they are the result of lazy language. 

I don't want to be too negative about the American language. I really appreciate how it evolves and how words are grafted into the language. Here are some more modern phrases that I like, and I'm sorry if you don't. It's a perspective thing. I know these things are wrong, but I like them anyway. 

1. Might could - This is a good ol' southern thing. It is used like so:
     "Would you be willing to put the dishes away?"
     "I might could after I put the food away."
2. Pretty much almost - This is the list committal way to say something. 
     "Are you done with the dishes"
     "I'm pretty much almost done." (basically means you haven't started)
3.  May or may not be - This is a hard one to describe. It is only used when the positive "may" is the only option for what is happening. Here's an example:
     "I may or may not be writing a blog right now." I am definitely writing a blog right now. 

 What are some American language things you've encountered that you like or dislike?

TC and I have recently watched the first six Star Trek movies. I've seen most of them before, but I needed a refresher. 

Now, let me tell you about one of the reasons why I love my husband:
I have seen quite a bit of Star Trek, which includes TNG, Voyager, Enterprise, the movies etc. I haven't seen the original series... yet. I generally have a lot of questions and TC knows (or at least can make an educated guess at) the right answer. Throughout the six movies, I had him pause at least 10+ times per movie to ask questions. Normally I wouldn't stop someone to ask questions about movies, but he's seen them all before and he likes talking about them. One of the things he asked me was what exactly I liked about the movies. It took me a while to figure it out. I really enjoy the act of discovery. My favorite part about superhero movies is when new superheroes are just discovering their abilities. I really enjoy the Star Trek series because they are always discovering new things. What I liked about the movies is that they take an idea and then they look at it from a different angle. Example: in the fourth movie, The Voyage Home, an alien device comes to Earth and sends a message. The message is not for the humans, it's for a much older creature. I've seen so many scifi movies, and in general, aliens send messages to humans. That's a selfish way of looking at things, if you ask me. Anyway, back to the movies. The writing is clever and the actor dynamic is awesome. The first couple movies were harder for me to get in to, but I really liked the other ones. 

[This is the point where I stopped writing to go to bed.] 
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Zuul decided to write the rest of the blog for me, I guess. Anyway, lets get back to Star Trek.

As it turns out, Star Trek has taught me a lot about myself. I've always known what I like about superhero movies, but watching these movies has taught me that I actually really like the act of discovery. It's part of the reason that I like traveling. It also explains why I like to learn things on my own without anyone showing me how to do it. I also really like teaching other people, which goes with this. Teaching is not that I get to discover new things (although that is part of it), but I get to witness others discovering things. I like piecing together languages, it's a form of discovery for me. I love learning. I thank Star Trek for this discovery about myself. :)

*Also, if you're wondering, the title is from the fifth movie, The Final Frontier. 

I used to work with this girl who was I like to call "sunshine dependent". She was the happiest, cheeriest, best person to work with... if the sun was out. If it was totally overcast, she was listless and glum. Partly cloudy didn't bother her because would still shine that day. 

I am the opposite. 

I love cloudy days. I don't want them 100% of the time, but a nice 80/20 split would be awesome. We have had nothing but heat, humidity, and glaring sun here in Houston this summer (and every summer). Yesterday, it rained. It rained all day. Some places flooded, but Houston is a swamp, it floods. [side note: One thing I never understood about Houston drivers is how freaked out they get about rain. Do they fail to realize this is a subtropical zone? Do they fail to realize that hurricanes happen here? Do they fail to realize that Houston is a swamp? Why do the people always freak out about stuff that happens several times a year?] It was glorious. I was so excited to be outside and enjoying the lovely change. It finally got into the 70's... during the day! It was so amazing. It felt like summer up north, but all the Houstonians kept saying how excited they are for fall. Ugh. Today, it was in the 70's again, but the sun was out. The sun here is terrible. If you were to spend the whole day in the shade, it would be perfect, but the sun scorches. I miss the north. I want more cloudy, cold days. Sometimes, when it rains, I sit inside and I imagine it's in the 40's and that I should be knitting and doing fall things indoors. Then I take the dog outside and it's in the 80's with 100% humidity. Ugh. 

I'm not saying that one place is better than the other, I'm just saying that different places are better for different people. Living here has taught me which kind of place I would like to spend the rest of my days in. I think the northwest will suit my needs. :)

I recently got the opportunity to care for a newborn kitten. I named him Cat'thulu, and he was wonderful. I got him when he was about 4 days old and I bottle fed him. He made great strides. It's interesting the different milestones that a kitten has versus a human. I remember when he opened his eyes (he looked crazed), I remember when he first peed on his own (you have to help newborn kittens relieve themselves), I remember when he first learned to jump (it was hilarious and he didn't actually make it anywhere), I remember when he first started playing (a green ribbon got smacked around a bit), I remember the first time he followed me around the apartment and was actually able to keep up (I giggled the whole time because he kept falling over), and I remember holding him for hours before he passed. 

He had some fluid in his lungs, which is very dangerous for kittens. Most don't survive once it happens. He required a lot of care (as a newborn does) and he consumed my life for two weeks. He was wonderful. So, here are some pictures of the little dude. 

Remember that patchwork I was working on? (Crafty) 

Well, here is the completed piece! I can honestly say that this is the first legit sewing project I have done. I have done little things here and there, but this was my first undertaking that required extensive measuring.  I love me some patchwork. So, it's just patchworked cotton in black and white and then red satin. It's going to be lovely to sleep on. :)