Catch the Moment – Week 21

141 | May 20, Fri – Let me tell you about Homer meeting Dolly the Pony at Fox Hollow Farm. He was SO scared! He insisted on getting off immediately the first time he got on. I think his butt was in the saddle maybe a full second before he was back up and “Nope, nope, nope”-ing his way out of there. Then my sweet friend, Shoshana, told him more about it, how it’s wobbly but fun, and the pony didn’t go very far (her daughter had ridden shortly before Homer tried). Then she said, “But if you don’t want to, that’s ok, too!”

And she inspired me! She made me realize that there was one more thing I knew I could offer, and if he turned it down, I’d know he wasn’t ready yet. “How about you try it just for a few steps, until Dolly walks next to that tree? And if you still don’t like it, just tell me, and you can get off,” I said, and pointed to the tree about five feet from the the starting point. “Ok!” he agreed.

So we got back in line, and when it was time, he sat in the saddle, and we started walking. He nervously giggled and marveled at it the entire time. “It feels like she’s about to start running!! But she’s not running! She’s walking! Good pony! Good girl, Dolly!” It was so incredibly cute! I’m ridiculously proud of him that he was willing to do it even though he was scared. He did so awesome! Look at this smile!

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Why I Started Blogging

Hannah over at Cats and Coffee made a list of blogging ideas! I’ve been enjoying her blog, and thought I’d use one of her listed topics for today’s post. (Thanks Hannah!)

Note: There are currently NO affiliate links in this post, I haven’t set any of that up yet. I just linked a bunch of stuff for the sole purpose of sharing it with anyone who comes across it!
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Why did I start blogging?

In March of 2001, my then-boyfriend-now-husband, Joe, said to me, “Hey, have you ever heard of this site called LiveJournal? I think it’s something you might really like.”

And it was all over from there!

It wasn’t surprising I fell in love with it, as I’d always loved the ideas of stories, journals, diaries, this completely private divulging of one’s deepest thoughts. As a child, I was privy to just a few diaries. Two nonfiction – the diary of Anne Frank, and the diary of Zlata Filipovic, the diary of a teenage girl living through the war in Sarajevo. Also as a teen (as in just barely 13 I believe), I read a fictional diary, The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer. That is not a kid’s book! But I just snuck it off the large bookshelf in my brother’s room and was quite fascinated!

And of course, part of my fascination with other peoples’ diaries was the fact that I’d been keeping my own for so long. I believe my first one was my Snoopy diary in second grade (excerpt here), and then I moved onto my pink, green, and blue-paged Lisa Simpson diary next, and it simply continued from there!

When You Were Birthed-ed…

Yesterday morning, when Homer woke up, he came out to the living room where I was sitting on the couch, climbed into my lap and said, “I’m a little baby!”

I held him and said, “You are my baby. Always.”

“Will you tell me all about when I was birthed-ed?”

“You want to hear the story of when you were born?”

“Yeah!”

“Sure, ok!”

I mean who can say no to that?! He loves it when I tell him about how instead of crying a big cry, he squeaked and it made the staff and us laugh. And then he just laid quietly in my arms. Earlier this year, on his fifth birthday, I told him the entire story, with exactly that wording when I got to that part. And when I said the word quietly, he was still stuck on having made everyone laugh with his newborn squeaking. So his newly 5 yr old self, recreating the scene, kept squeaking over and over and over. And I told him, “I said quietly. QUIETLY!!” in feigned anger. And he thought that was SO funny!

So that was what he was getting at yesterday. He eagerly awaited the part where I said he laid there quietly, and then yesterday, he started squeaking like crazy, so that I’d shout, “I said quietly. QUIETLY!!” at him. Which of course I did. And he laughed so hard! I adore him. I love that he loves replaying bits. This kid has an awesome sense of humor!!

Just Write

I wish I could remember where I heard it first, but I recall reading that one way to overcome anxiety in social situations is to just say, “Oh man, I’m nervous.” Something about letting it be stated out loud actually alleviates the anxious feelings.

So, here it is: I’m nervous to actually write more in this blog!

Why? I don’t know. Does anxiety ever make sense??

I think part of it is my perfectionism. My inner critic has me believing all kinds of shenanigans. I say things to myself such as: well, all these other successful bloggers have their awesomely branded and well advertised blogs, I should be like that before I really get started. Before I really get started, I should have the right template, the perfect name (is this the name I’ll want to keep for the blog, and if it isn’t, shouldn’t I re-brand before I start writing a lot of posts?). Before I really get started writing, I ought to sign up for ads, or affiliate links, I should know my focus, I should have a niche, I should find my truest writing voice, I should, I should, I should… And then before I know it, I’m should-ing all over myself!!

Catch the Moment – Week 20

134 | May 13, Fri – Friday the 13th! 😀 Little known fact – Friday the 13th is only seen as unlucky or evil because Friday was known as the Day of the Goddess and there are 13 full moons in a year. When people decided pagan people who celebrated the full moon and used herbs and incense in ritual etc were scary, they demonized everything about them, and told their cohorts that pagan people were evil devil worshipers. When really they just wanted to dance under a full moon together and celebrate life. So, Friday the 13th is actually a beautiful sacred earth-moon-and-goddess celebrating kind of day! My only “bad luck” (not really) was forgetting to take more than one picture, and having that one picture be pretty dark and unimpressive. Anyway, here’s a look at my cute dog, hehe!