Thursday Thirteen #6--My Randomness

Thirteen Random Things about MOI

I'm hoping that this will cover the "7 Random Things" tag from Ute AND this whole meme theme over at the Thursday Thirteen headquarters.

I know I blog and stuff, but specifically setting out to reveal things about me makes me a little panicky inside. All that insecurity stuff. It's easy to say "I like Oregon" and show pictures, or to talk about the things I like about someone else, or even to discuss how I feel or what I've learned, but venturing into the realm of personal stuff, well, gives me the heebeejeebees.

However, I will face this fear and insecurity and just do the dumb thing already! And remember, it's random, so that means it's off the top of my head and is probably not as significant as all the worry would suggest.

Enjoy? =)

1. I absolutely love the Muppets. As a kid I watched Sesame Street, and the Muppet Show, with glee. And I still can. In fact, the Muppet Show DVDs are in my Netflix queue and I had them on my Christmas/birthday list a few years back. When my kids were little, we had Sesame music CDs and we knew all the songs, which I still quote to them on occasion. ("Carribean Amphibian" comes to mind.) Here's my favorite new muppet. (Oh, and I named my daughter Zoe BEFORE there was a muppet on SS with that name! That did bug me a little bit, but I got over it.) So, again, here's my favorite new muppet, ok?
   
   
   Pepe, The King Prawn
   

2. I love books. I love them in stacks and on racks. I love them on shelves or by themselves. I love them here. I love them there. I love books everywhere. Do I read them? Occasionally. And when I do I love them even more. But there's something so dang comforting about the books on the shelves in my office where I spend most of my time reading on the internet. This is a secret source of shame, and one I hope to alleviate within the next month (the time I've given myself to "get it together, once and for all"!) Here is part of my library.
   
   

   
   



3. I think I hate the Blogger interface. Compose mode always messes up the spacing. Adding pictures is a nightmare. In fact, that may be the last picture you see today because I'm tired of sitting here KNOWING there has to be an easier way that I haven't learned. I haven't even searched for blog help yet, so if any of my lovely readers has any idea where the best place to go for help is, I would be oh-so-grateful for your comment to that effect!
   

   
   

4. I started to go off on a rant there, but I saved you. Maybe. Let's see, did this work? Ah, saved. See number five for what just happened.
   
   


5. Did I mention I dislike the Blogger interface? I just gave up on that last one because I couldn't get the typeface color to revert back to normal, and the last time I messed with it, it ended up some weirder shade of green. Let me go check the html code. Yes, it appears that I know just enough HTML to drive myself BATTY!




6. This year marks my 20th year of life post high school graduation. Did I imagine that I would be here? Doing life like this? No, reader, I did not. And so this also marks the year where I let that IDEA of a life go and just start living the one I have--and making changes as I see fit. To wake up to the reality that you have created and realize that the dream is over can be simultaneously crushing and liberating. I'm rooting for liberating to win!
   
   
   
7. In light of my van Winkle-esque discovery this year, I now have a motto of sorts. From the Tao Te Ching:
   "Failure is an opportunity. If you blame someone else, there is no end to the blame. Therefore the Master fulfills her own obligations and corrects her own mistakes. She does what she needs to do and demands nothing of others."



8. I have a list of things I want to do that is so long that most times I become overwhelmed and do nothing. Or blog. However, blogging is one of the things I want to do, I just don't want it to take over my day (see #4 and #5). Here's some of my list: Wait, better yet, let me just make it part of the 13 and be efficient! =)




9. I want to paint. Every day I see my easel, holding the canvas with the outline of an Albuquerque scene on it, or the painting above my monitor that needs a few more tweaks, or the one leaning up against the file cabinet that needs another go of detail, and I think, yes. And then I come out to lock the front door at night before going to bed and I see the paintings in my office, and I think, no. Again, I have so many ideas swirling around in my head about what I want to paint, I let it get overwhelming. Or, I'm the meany and say, "Not until you get your work done!" which never seems to happen to a sufficient degree to allow for such reckless play. I am determined to make a schedule for myself that includes painting, no matter what.
   



10. I bought myself two journals...well, a sketchbook and a journal. Large, hard-bound. One for pictures cut out of my favorite magazines...places I want to visit, things I would like to do, clothing or decorating styles that make me smile. A sort of "vision" or dreams notebook. (Gotta get some new goals to work towards!) The other for quotations I like...any kind. I've started cutting out photos and I have the rubber cement. I have some quotations on slips of paper in a pile, and I have the rubber cement. Now, to make the time to do this...a little each day.




11. I am absolutely fascinated with raw food recipes. I have eaten so many new kinds of things. Like last night for instance, I made "pasta" with pesto sauce. I used my handy-dandy Pampered Chef mandolin and sliced up some zucchini strips (the long way). Then I massaged some sea salt into the strips until they were soft and "noodle-y." Then, I put a dollop or two of homemade pesto sauce (basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil) on top and mixed it in. SO GOOD! You wouldn't believe! My husband loved it! Oh, and I've sprouted my own mung beans about four times now, and they ROCK! And my kids' favorite so far are sunburgers, made with sunflower seed and flax meal as a base. Awesome! Here's a picture...breakin' all my rules about adding photos cuz it's soooooooo gooooood! That's raw corn "salsa" on the side, and on top, raw catsup and homesprouted mung beans! (No, it's not difficult to make!)
    
    




12. I have a compulsion to be super organized, but I fight the battle constantly. Right now, next to my chair, there are piles of stuff that migrated here from elsewhere in the house as the last stop before being sorted properly. I cannot keep paper from piling up. I am good at hiding things in closets, and no matter how often I reorganize them, there always seems to be chaos waiting to happen. When I lived in an apartment, I didn't have these problems. I keep trying to implement that strategy here, but it's so difficult to "fool" myself into thinking, "I just don't have room for that." The garage is living proof there's room for that SOMEWHERE!!!
    
    



13. My dog Emily is my constant companion. Faithful. Dutiful. Under foot. Pesky. Annoying. Troublesome (She ran out the door to chase--A ROTTWEILER--when I tried to let the cat in the other night! Thank goodness it was the most mild mannered Rotty I've ever met!). Cuddly. Piggy (She eats the cat food if she doesn't have grazing food in her bowl...well, sometimes even when she does, so she can save hers just in case!). Neurotic (umm, guess that would by my fault?). But she's my girl, and she has kept me company during all those hours when I've been home alone, like now, and bumping into me as I bump into myself, trying to get organized!
    
    

Having said "trying to get organized" just now reminded me that I must remember Yoda's words (which are not only his, but hey, I would rather hear it from a Muppet!): "Do or do not. There is no try."

So, I'm going to go do some stuff on my list! Have a happy Thursday and a WONDERFUL weekend! (And wish me luck because I'll be making myself a schedule over the next few days! Woohoo! Baby steps of doing, here I come!)

Muah! =D


© Nicole J. Williams, 2008, all rights reserved.

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