Bloggess Book Give-Away

I have almost no audience for this blog, which is fine with me. I post infrequently, and I'm boring. Work and my 5-year-old keep me too busy to blog everytime I think of something interesting to say.

I would rather read other peoples' blogs than write my own. My favorites are on the sidebar on the right-hand side of this page.

I was reading The Bloggess tonight, and I was touched by a couple of comments. There are a couple of Bloggess fans who are unemployed and can't afford to buy her book. Now, I fancy myself a nice person (though my students might disagree), and since I happen to have an extra gift card to Amazon, I'm going to give away a copy of her book, Let's Pretend This Never Happened: (A Mostly True Memoir).

Here's the problem: I know almost nothing about Blogger, so I don't know how to contact the winner except to ask those entering the give-away to leave an email address in a comment below. Leave a joke, too, if you don't mind. A clean joke. Why? My 5-year-old is really into jokes, especially "Knock, knock" and "What do you get if you cross a ..." jokes, and I have run out. Bloggess readers are the funniest, clever folks on the planet so I figured I would mine the gold. Deadline to comment is April 1, 2012.

I promise I won't do anything with your email address. And, since I don't have a big audience, I doubt there's any risk of anyone else doing anything with it either. I just want to give away a book. I'll let random.org pick the winner. Good luck!

CAVEAT: U.S. delivery only (the contiguous 48 states); I'm nice but not rich.

Three Cups of Tea

Book Recommendation!

I just listened to this as an audiobook. (I have a 45-min 3-day-a-week twice-a-day commute.)

If you have an interest in kids, teaching, mountain-climbing, girls education, 3rd world countries (or parts of countries), or world peace, you should read it. This guy was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize twice and that he did not win is a travesty.

There are few modern-day heroes. He is one. It is an excellent book and an excellent story. It was entertaining and informative. I learned a bit about the issues in the middle east that clarifies the problems with international relations. In addition, it humanizes the citizens of 2 countries (Pakistan and Afghanistan) that the press (in cooperation with our government, I'm afraid) has been unfair and incomplete  in their portrayal of. Given Americans' interest and investment in these countries, it should be required reading.

A long, long time

I've been:

someone's sister for 47 and a half years;

married for almost 14 years;

an orphan for 10 years;

a mom for 4 years, 11 months, and 23 days (I counted from 'gotcha day' not birthday of BonnieBlue);

cancer-free for 9 years, 4 months, and 2 days (yay!);

a motherless daughter for 32 years;

a teacher for 22 years;

a member of the LDS church for 16 years;

sober 16 years, 4 months, and 10 days, 1 hour, and 55 minutes (yay!);

experiencing a daily headache for 16 days.

That's a long, long time to have a headache.

I am sad; I am happy

We are almost halfway through February, and I have not had a chance to sew anything except a hole in BonnieBlue's jeans. I am sad.

I was able to sew a hole in BonnieBlue's jeans. I am happy.

I have not lost an ounce of weight since January 1. I am sad.

I have not had a diet coke since January 9. I am happy.

I have exercised only 3 times since January 1. I am sad.

I walked 30 minutes yesterday. I am happy.

That little exercise above alludes to bi-polar, but it's it's really just depression I tend towards. Thus far, I am able to control the tendency with exercise and good eating habits. When I do sink into a depressive state, it usually lasts no more than a day or two. This is a blessing. There are those whose depression is far worse and far more dangerous for them. I am so very lucky.

About 7 or 8 months ago, my sister-in-law posted on her FB status a blog link about by a woman who went out shopping, and right before she left, her husband warned her not to buy any more towels. So, she bought a giant metal chicken. This blogger goes by the moniker, The Bloggess. After linking back to her blog and staying up that night reading her archived posts, I became a fan.

I struggle with this. The Bloggess (a.k.a. Jenny Lawson) uses a lot of swear words in her blogs. A lot. And the choicest ones. As an adherent to a faith that eschews swearing (don't most faiths, now that I think about it?), I felt guilty about reading her. In general, our leaders encourage us to enjoy only media that is uplifting,  including movies, t.v., music, and Internet sites. I'm generally tolerant about swearing, except taking the name of God in vain (hey, that one is a commandment, so I thought I best not be wishy washy on that one), but there it was, the guilt.

Then, a little over a month ago, I read this entry. I am touched by mental illness, my own, my sisters', a dear friend's son, my deceased sister-in-law whose death is related to her mental illnes, my deceased brother-in-law whom I never met because he died in prison on death row because of a killing spree...the list goes on. So I read this post with great interest. It wasn't the first time she wrote about her depression. But I think it was the first one in depth.

It uplifted me.

I recommend her blog. Just beware the swearing.

Yay for me!

So much good news!

First, and most important, tomorrow will mark two weeks that I have been diet coke free.

I estimate I have saved $15 (at least).  If I remain d.c. free for the whole year, I will likely have saved about $1,000. But I'm also betting that I will lose that tenacious 20 lbs. I do still have a nagging headache, even two weeks later. Ibuprofen doesn't help. I remember 14 years ago, when I gave up coffee, the headache lasted about 2 months. So, I'm looking forward to March.

Second bit of big news: It looks like I have earned promotion and tenure at OSU! It's not certain until July, when the Board of Trustees votes, but I've been told that their vote is a rubber stamp, and that the letter I received from my dean yesterday is the clincher. It's not official until October 2012, when I earn both the raise and the title of Associate Professor.

And yes, you read the above correctly. It's more important to me that I've been diet coke free than that I now have a job jor life. I think the first is going to go a long way to lengthening my life and second to shortening it.

I'm a happy camper today!

Do I Miss 2011?

Not really.

If cortisol really causes belly fat and stress creates cortisol then that has to be why I grew a paunch this year. 2011 was 'tenure year.' I'm still waiting to hear if it was successful. My only resolution is to get rid of that daggone paunch, whether I lose weight or not.

On the other hand, 2011 will be fondly remembered as the last year of toddlerhood for my precious BonnieBlue. She is just so 'grown up' now. Today, she wore jeans for the first time (since she was 20 or so months) because her friends were wearing belts, and so she wanted to wear her belt. And so it begins. She just looks so darn mature in those jeans and snazzy, sparkly belt. I miss my baby.

Well, it's a new year and I have a list a mile long to get started on as far as quilting projects, household to-dos, and of course, work projects. And I have to figure out what where we're going to send BonnieBlue for Kindergarten. Already!

I guess I should start by taking down the Christmas decorations.

I shall do that now. But I leave you with this sentiment:

HAPPY

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Been busy? Me, too! So much to share, so little time. My biggest obstacle to posting is getting pictures uploaded to my computer. I need a better way.

Little Forest Quilt Along Update
I actually finished the week after Thanksgiving. Hanging it is another matter. Have I mentioned we have one - ONE - item hanging on our dining room walls and NOTHING on our living room and bedroom walls? At least the one picture we have is of Christ. That says something, eh? So, here it is:

Since it's not hanging yet, I photographed it on my table. Light is bad, sorry. Also, the different shades of off-white don't show up this much in real life. And in retrospect, I would totally move that last tree in the last row to the left one space.

Remember in an earlier blog when I said I was going for a vintage "this hung on my grandma's wall" look? And partway through I got nervous that it would look like grandma smoked two packs of Virginia Slims' a day? No worries... It totally looks like how I orginially envisioned. I love it! A reminder that I didn't use much red because it will be hanging on a red wall.

There are lots of imperfections, specifically, the corners do not line up. But I don't care. It's the rustic look I love. I have to tell you, though; it made stitching in the ditch quite the challenge.

Here's a close-up of that corner issue. Also, it resulted in some trees being too close to the binding (as shown here) but I didn't think of that as I was assembling the trees.

Another reminder: donated fabric! That's probably what I love most about it. It reminds me of friends and family. Can't think of a better reminder during the Christmas season.

Here's my favorite tree. I love this little plaid fella'!

And this one, too. This was the perfect background for a winter season piece. Reminds me of snow. I want to do a table runner (square, really) using this background only and red and green trees. Sort of do a boarder of trees all the way around and a big blank in the middle (of this fabric).

I'm really happy with this piece and so grateful to Mama Pea and Linda for hosting this QAL. Fun, fun, fun. And I finished! Woot!