Six {ish} things I learned in July

Today I'm linking up with Emily Freeman at her blog for the Things I Learned link up. OMG. It's the bestest, most fun post to write. Here, I don't take myself seriously for some reason. Check out what other writers have learned in July over at Emily's blog.



There are several reasons NOT to write this post. 

1. It is already August 4th and it feels like July news is, well, old news.
2. the things I learned (or relearned) in July are not earth shattering and you'd probably be just as okay if you didn't know them.
3. I don't remember this one.

Okay, okay. I'll write my list of things I learned in July, even though this feels dated.


1. I saw one of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen whilst waiting for the July 4th fireworks show to begin. I LOVE pinks and blues and purples together in the garden!

2.  For our 31st anniversary, hubby and I went to Minneapolis and we visited the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for the first time. Not only did we go for the first time, but it was FREE. (p.s. if you ever get to Minneapolis, you HAVE to go here!)

I learned that my engineer/marketing husband really does enjoy looking at art. I mean, I knew that. He's been trying to get ME to go to this museum "for years" he says. I believe him. It wasn't until I went to the Museum of Modern Art in NYC in April that I had an "art awakening" so to speak. I mean, I was really moved by the paintings I saw there of Picasso, Van Gogh, etc. 

Back to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, we had just gone through the whole thing in 2.5 hours. Our feet were sore, legs tired, but hubby was not satisfied. He said, "I looked for Rembrandt and didn't see him. I'm Dutch and I want to see this Dutch painter." So, we hoofed back through and found Rembrandt. 

FUN.


3.  Birdseed matters.  When we first moved into our "new" home in December, we filled our new feeder with a bag from the store called "Songbird Blend" or something similar. We had sparrows come to eat, but also Blue Jays and even some Cardinals. Then, we went and got a "cheaper" blend. Not sure what the seed ratio is, but the colorful birds are no longer appearing. *insert sad face here*. 

I haven't convinced hubby that we don't need to finish the 40lb. bag of seed, that we can just go out and get the "Songbird Blend" again. Oh well. I keep telling myself, sparrows or LBB's as we call them (Little Brown Birds) are still important!!! They still need to eat, too! Right? Right!


4. There's a restaurant we've been to twice now in Minneapolis that you have to go to if you go to Minneapolis and if you live there, oh my gosh, I'm jealous. It's called French Meadow Bakery and Cafe. We got their sprouted organic home made corn chips again as an appetizer. I think I died and went to corn chip heaven.


5. Here's a mini list of "re-learns" from July.

a. "letting go" has many applications---in relationships and art.

b. tears may come inexplicably and seemingly for no reason, but they come for a VERY good reason, so listen and take note.

c. someone who has done things a certain way for years and years, may one day up and do something totally new and different. (my husband who RARELY BUYS ANYTHING for himself bought 3 books at Half Price Book store last weekend-surprised the sandals off of me!)

d.  Daring Greatly (think Brene Brown) may mean you step into the arena relationally and find your voice cracking and tears streaming down your face unexpectedly. It's still worth it to get in the arena and try.

6.  I painted a boat. And, my mom wants to buy it. 

Thanks for stopping by today, friend!
Blessings to you,

~Anne

Five--no six--things I learned in March

Linking up today with Emily at Chattingatthesky.com for her monthly 'Things I learned' link up. This is where we "reflect, share and celebrate on purpose--the fascinating, ridiculous, sacred and small." as Emily puts it. Here are six things I learned in March in no particular order.

1.  In March I signed up for a three week (three Monday nights) acrylics course at my church. With my mother. I've never done anything like this. I was worried about plagiarizing a picture I found on Pinterest, but I needn't have worried. Mine doesn't look anything like her professional painting. 

But, at the advice of a dear artist friend, I purchased the e book, Steal Like an Artist and read it in one day. Now, I'm certain that what I did was okay, and probably even encouraged. I still want to be careful though. 

Maybe I'll go sit in my back yard and paint my tree.

2.  This month I met a wonderful author on Twitter named Kat Lehmann, who just released her poetry book Moon Full of Moons: poetry of transformation. What I learned from Kat first though is how to write a tanka poem, and what a "tanka" poem is. 

A tanka is a five line, free verse poem using simple language. The last line is a twist or a change in direction. 

Here are two of my first tankas:

tiny sparrow

in the grass

the world must 

look so big to you

and yet, so small

and

little girl

curled up in her

yellow flowered room

left toes over right toes

dreaming tight

I think I have fallen in love with this form of poetry.  Now, I've written many. Maybe you'll see more to come on the blog.  I've shared some on twitter, @AnneLandhuis.

3.  For the first time ever, I commissioned an artist to paint me a painting. She is a friend I met through the Brene Brown e course last year and I love her work. I am so very excited to see my friend @studiolinski (Instagram) be a successful artist!! My painting is called La Vie En Rose. Love.

4.  I also painted my first piece of canvas acrylic art. Okay, here goes...I am an artist! (that is kind of a hard thing to say, but I'm believing it more and more!)

5.  I got my first pair of "boat" or "deck" shoes in my entire life. My daughter said it was okay, and even encouraged me. I got them at the Bass Outlet store. I'll be going back for more Bass this month. I can't wait!

Five things learned doesn't mean I didn't learn other things, too. But these are the highlights.

I guess one more thing I learned from a careless driver on our dead end street. 

6.  Make sure you read the "dead end" sign at the beginning at the street you turn on so you don't plow into the fence at the dead end and crumple it to pieces.

I wonder what it did to their car.  

Thanks for stopping by to share in what I learned this month! I think it was kind of an "artful" month, and I plan to keep that up.

~Anne

Six things I learned in February

Linking up today with Emily Freeman at Chatting at the Sky for her monthly "What I learned" link-up. It's a time to reflect on some things learned in the month. Not always deeply serious. Sometimes silly.


1.  Selfies with taxidermy can be fun. 


Hubby and I had a little get-away over Valentine's Day. We never knew we'd have so much fun in a natural history museum. But, things started getting interesting when we started taking selfies with the animals. People, we don't get away much.


 

2. Don't go out in the winter night with your slippers on.

Well, remember last month I shared about my fall at JC Penney while returning some pj's? Well, just at the beginning of February, my hubby thought he'd better go out on the porch at 9:00pm and put some salt out before our son came home. 

He took one step out on the porch in his SLIPPERS! and fell right on his tailbone. He said he learned why slippers are called slippers. I learned from his fall never to wear my slippers on icy steps. I can't even stay upright in my own shoes!

3.  Think twice about striking up a convo with a stranger in the knife aisle at Target.

One day this month I was looking at knife blocks in Target. I haven't bought new knives in a coon's age. I made the mistake of striking up a conversation right there with a woman who was also shopping for knives. She felt like she had to tell me her mishap with a sharp knife. I was so regretting being friendly in that moment.

4.  Serving is good for the soul.

For the first time ever, I joined my mom and my daughter for a shift in packaging Meals from the Heartland at my church. These meals will feed the hungry in Africa, Haiti and even in my own home town. I'm grateful to have served in this way, and will do it again.

5.  You never know when insomnia might come in handy.

A good night's sleep is a precious commodity to me these days. I am sleeping better, but not always. The other night, I was up walking around and I saw movement through the curtains out into the front yard. At first I was a little spooked until I went to the door and looked out the window. 

What I saw took my breath away. There in the snow, munching on who knows what were three deer. I felt like these deer were treasures in my night time and I was truly 
blessed. 

6. Eliminating sugar isn't as bad as I thought.

I've discovered some wonderful low carb beverages and meals and desserts on Pinterest. I've been trying to follow the Trim Healthy Mama book of dropping white sugar out of my diet. I'm reminding myself daily to "enjoy the journey." I have a Trim Healthy Mama Pinterest board if you want to get a glimpse of the recipes I've been pinning.


Thanks for stopping by, friend!

Blessings to you!

~Anne

Six things I learned in October

I'm linking up today with Emily Freeman at Chatting at the Sky for her monthly "what I learned" link up. This is a time where we share some things we learned during the month. The silly and the serious. Won't you hop on over and see what other people are learning? 


1.  Last spring I took a watercolor class at the local art center. I hadn't done any watercolor painting since the class until I got a whim to paint pumpkins in October. I sat down one afternoon at 4:30 and in about an hour and a half I had done this little 5 x 7. It was so much fun. I have a new excitement to try something else now, maybe a basket of apples, or something for Christmas!

2. There's a beautiful tree in our neighbor's yard across the street. I see it every morning when I sit in my reading chair. I watched it turn from a vibrant green, to vibrant orange and red starting at the top of the tree, with the color inching down the tree each day. 

Now the tree is completely bare of all traces of this year's leaves and I so wish I would have taken a picture each day in October to show you some of the beautiful changes this tree went through. Oh well, something to think about for next October!!

3.  In October I bought my first new belt in YEARS. I've needed a belt for a long time. I know it sounds silly, but shopping for a belt ranks right up there for me on the same level as shopping for jeans. Never been a fan. 

So, consequently, I've been going for a loooooong time with a belt that I couldn't tighten to where I needed it, and therefore it didn't work too well for what it was intended for. The first time I put on my new belt with my favorite jeans they felt like brand new jeans. And, I wasn't hiking them up every 30 seconds. I know, not rocket science!

4.  On October 8th, I woke up around 5:30am and couldn't sleep so I picked up my phone. One of my friends had just posted about the Blood Mood (or total lunar eclipse) that was happening in my time zone right then. I hopped out of bed and grabbed my little digital camera. I watched and took photos for an hour. I was totally in awe of what I saw. First time ever for me.  I don't think I've ever been so excited about something in the night sky!

5. My daughter has been watching every episode of Friends ever made. Mostly she watches it after I've gone to bed, but one night I was still awake when she started an episode. I started watching. It was not the first episode ever, but it was MY first episode of Friends ever.

I have never ever been remotely interested to know about Friends, or what it was, or who was in it. But, I found as I watched that I started to laugh. Then I laughed some more. It's pretty silly, and a little off color at times, but you know, it's pretty funny, too. Maybe I'll watch some more episodes with her. 




6.  We bought a "little house" in September, which we close on today! We accepted an offer on our "bigger house" this week. But, what I did in October was start to read the book, The Nesting Place, in earnest. 

We are downsizing from 2500 square feet to 1186 square feet. I think I will really need to put some of her wisdom to work in my "new, little" house. Like "it doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful." 

I'm looking forward to making our little house a home while taking peeks at The Nester's book and her blog while I'm doing it. 

Thanks for stopping by friend! Blessings to you!

Six things I learned in September

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for her monthly Things I Learned link up. This is for the silly and the serious things. Here are six things I learned this month in no particular order. 

1. A crazy trait of mine finally dawned on me. When my favorite pen runs out of ink, it makes me cranky. This happened twice to me this month with pens I had become quite attached to. I guess I must be a pen snob. It doesn't have to be expensive, but it needs to be the right thickness for my hand to grip, and it has to be a medium ball point. Never fine point, heavens no.

2. We bought a little house. After 30 years of marriage and being (nearly) empty nesters we don't need as much space. We are moving from a 2500 square foot home to 1185 square feet. Yes, our parents are looking at us a little cross-eyed about this one. It seems backwards, yes? 

We decided to try to simplify our lives and our finances a bit. Make it easier to put money to different things than a house payment and property taxes. We're also going to have to severely simplify our possessions, which has already been happening. 

If we haven't used it in a year, or maybe 14 years, since we moved here, well then, maybe we don't need it!  This stack of pants of mine, I finally let go to Goodwill after not touching them in fourteen years. It's about time!

3.  Letting go of some of my collectibles hasn't been as bad as I thought. I had to empty one whole dresser of doilies, dresser scarves and other assorted vintage linens and it wasn't that bad. My only requirement for letting these once sentimental things leave my house is that they will be consigned, not given away. 

4.  We are a movie crazy family. Last night was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows night. Of course, we've all seen this one before. But, knowing that I don't like scary parts my daughter and son warned me, "Mom, there's a jump scare coming up." This was new. Being warned ahead of time, so I can leave the room. So appreciated!

5. The four of us living in this house got it ready for pictures and listing for sale in six days flat. When our offer was accepted on the "new" one, we took only six days to tidy up, do our small touch ups, wash windows and majorly declutter.

During those six days we took 30 bags to Goodwill, 7 bags to the garbage, 12 bags of books to Half Price Books to sell and 5 bags to the recycle bin. (yes, my husband kept track!) Pretty impressive if you ask me! And, I'm already feeling lighter.

6. My husband has an intern at work from Denmark. A couple of Saturdays ago, we took him to the Iowa State Capitol for a tour. My mom happened to be the tour guide! I had been there before, but it was fun taking someone from out of the country to see it for the first time. This time I noticed more of the beautiful structure of this building which was built in the late 1800's. 

So, if you are ever in Iowa, come visit the Iowa State Capitol, listed on one top ten list of most beautiful buildings in the world!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Anne

Five things I learned in August

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for her Things I Learned series where we share the serious and the silly things we learned during the previous month. Mostly silly. Five may not seem like many, but, hey, that's more than one a week!


1. I'm not sure if it's because we no longer have anyone in our family that follows the school year calendar, or the fact that I'm getting older (?), but this August went by the fastest that I can remember any August traveling. 

Our youngest child graduated from college in May, so no back to school shopping for clothes or supplies. No "new class" anticipation. That's not to say that there aren't other things we've anticipated (like my daughter's first real post-college job!)

2. Going to the Iowa State fair never gets old. Okay, so we do the same things there every year. We go on a weeknight evening when we can get in for nearly half price (we're Dutch, after all). 

us at the Iowa State Fair!

We take in the Big Bull, Big Boar, Butter Cow, the Agriculture Building to see all the garden vegetable winners, and get the free egg-on-a-stick from The Egg Council. (we are a pretty easy to please family.) 

Two of our young adults kids came with us this year. It tickles me that they like going as much as we do. "I wouldn't miss the fair!" my son said as we were making plans to go.



3. When my hubby planted tall sunflowers right outside our family room windows last year, I thought it was an odd spot, honestly. It's not the typical landscaping seen in our neighborhood. They are tall, the tallest one got to 12 feet, 9 inches this year!

I've decided that there couldn't have been a better place to plant them because I've had a front row seat to the Goldfinches that have come to eat the seeds. As I wrote in another post, they've acted like circus performers, hanging on, upside down, to the outer petals of the flower, blowing in the breeze with the stalks, and plucking out seeds. It's been one of the most entertaining things this month. Again, I'm easy to please!

4.  I looked on Pinterest and found a new knitted dishcloth design to try. Just the right challenge for this fairly new knitter. My first try, I goofed up and had to rip out the half that I had finished. I didn't fret about it. I just started over! I've decided that trying something new, trumps being perfect at it! 

The one with the mistakes...

5.  As mentioned in #1, my daughter just got her first post-college job! She's been looking since before graduation, and looking in her degree area of Advertising, applying all of the country to things that looked interesting. 

She ended up getting a part-time job with a church camp, doing their communication and design materials! I couldn't be more happy, because she's happy. She knew the camp directors by their first names before her first day. I'd say that's going to be a pretty homey place to work!

What kinds of things did you learn in August? Did it go as fast for you as it did for me?

Blessings to you!

~Anne

Random things about this summer {so far}

I usually link this post up with Chatting at the Sky for her Things I've Learned link up at the end of the month, but this time, I am too late for that! I decided to post some random summer stuff anyway, just for kicks. Here goes!


1. On a random night in July, I saw this pink cloud. Never in my life have I seen a cloud/clouds so pink. It took my breath away! I love discovering new colors in clouds!

2.  I bought two flower baskets at Walmart this year. They were half price, basically because they were half dead. I am really a slow poke when it comes to getting spring flowers and the past few years it's been late June or early July. Basically, I'm at the garden center at Walmart when they are practically taking stuff down for the season. The flowers look like they have been picked over one too many times and basically look neglected and pitiful.

However, with these two half dead, pitiful, half price baskets of flowers, I've surprised myself. They aren't perfect, and they could be more luscious, but I've been faithful at watering them (and picking off spent blooms) and they look pretty good, if I do say so myself. And, half price! You can't beat that! 

3. My song of the summer is Michael Jackson's new song (with Justin Timberlake), Love Never Felt So Good. I've been a fan of Michael's since Billy Jean and Can't Stop Till You Get Enough and Thriller were popular, so to have him come out with a fantastic new single (posthumously).....priceless!

4.  Our family (hubby me, our 21 and 24 year old "kids" who are temporarily here) usually watch a movie at night. Not every night, but almost. It usually takes us about twenty minutes to agree on a movie because some of us like sci fi, some like rom coms and some like drama. Last night was Kung Fu Panda. I guess we like animated, too. :)

5.  On July 28th, my hubby and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Both of us agree that it doesn't seem like it's been that long at all. It seems more like 15 years. Is that weird? Anyway, we feel pretty blessed. 

6. On Saturday, we went on a day trip to the zoo. Just the two of us. Why were we thinking that a Saturday in the summer would not be packed!? It was packed! We waited 25 minutes in a sea of people just to get our tickets. 

Then, I got a case of claustrophobia. We were in the Aquarium building where it's dark and we were in the middle of a pack of people that WAS NOT MOVING. It was insane and I was thinking that some fire code was being broken.

I told my husband I was about to have a panic attack and I think he was too. We turned around and plowed against the flow of people and left through the entrance. I was disappointed not to see the shark tank, but who knows how long we would've been in there? The mob was NOT moving!!

7. For the first time ever in the history of this blog, (which is about two years) I did a four part series. I have participated for two years in The Nester's 31 Days of Blogging, but not any other series. 

I decided to write a month's worth of posts on the topic, How to Have a Settled Spirit. I'm not sure if it helped any of you, but I think it really helped me! I'm feeling a lot more settled lately! (thanking God!)

What random stuff have you learned this summer? I'd love to hear it!

Blessings to you! Thanks for stopping by to read some random stuff!

~Anne

What I learned in March

I'm linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for her monthly link up where we share some things we learned during the month. Here, in no particular order are some things I learned in March, (the serious and the absurd). Come on over to Chatting at the Sky to see what others have learned!



1.  I learned to knit. I took a beginning knitting class at my local yarn shop. Oh, what fun that was, and why did I wait so long? Our teacher was Janet, about eighty. She was as spunky a lady as I've seen in awhile. Very patient with the four of us who were all thumbs. One of the most important things I learned in my two week class? "Honey, we don't call these 'sticks and strings'. They are called 'needles and yarn'." What a hoot!

2. Referring to #1, I made my first dish cloth and am on my second one now! I'm realizing what all the fuss is about. Groups of gals get together in this store and knit and solve all the world's problems. I think I'm going to join them soon. Maybe they can solve some of mine.

3. When my daughter was home from college on Spring Break, I think we thrifted every day except the last one. We did seven different thrift stores in seven days. I love to thrift and so does my daughter, but by the seventh one, we had both reached our limit of thrifting for the week! {but we both got some great deals}. I have never done that much concentrated thrifting in one week.

4.  I bought my own thinning shears. I am constantly fighting with my thick hair. I have dreamed for years of owning my own thinning shears. We have a Sally Beauty Supply in town and it was probably a couple of years ago that I priced them. At the time I thought $20.00 was too much. But, this month, I forked over the $20.00, and I have never been happier with my hair! Okay, so I chopped it a little close in one area, but no one will ever see it because I have so many hairs! Again, why did I wait so long?

5. I started Beginning Watercolor last week. It was the first time I'd ever stepped foot in our town's Art Center. Again, I wonder why it took me thirteen years to figure out that about two miles down the road I could take some art classes in my own hometown. I had so much fun in water color class. I can't wait for this week.

6. Always double check your spelling after using Swype on your electronic device. I Swyped a comment to one of the folks I follow on Instagram. Instead of saying "Nice shot" about the picture he took of downtown Des Moines, I accidentally said "nice __it". You get the picture. To make matters more embarrassing, I was on my phone and didn't know how to delete. And to make matters even worse, he is the worship leader at my church. I raced over to my computer to try and delete it before he saw it. I also apologized for my mistake. I guess he'd seen it because he commented back. "__it happens. No problem." {I am so thankful for grace, lol}

7. After twenty years as minivan drivers, we traded off our van for a Toyota Camry. It is "new" to us, and I love being able to drive a car again! *also, it has a sunroof and heated seats*! I'm feeling like I am in a little bit of car heaven. :)

How about you? What serious or absurd things did you learn this month?

Hope you are doing well! Thanks for stopping by!

Ten things I learned in February

Today I'm linking up at Chatting at the Sky where we are sharing the things we learned in February. 

Here are ten things I learned this month in no particular order.


1. If you have a Valentine's Day date that is less than stellar and you find yourself getting a little disappointed when your expectations aren't met, look for the humor. During the evening I started noticing things that made me shake my head and giggle a little inside. I decided to write a little story about it. It made us think more humorously about the evening. Even my husband said it was funny.

2. Watching the Ellen show makes thirty minutes on the elliptical seem more like ten. I'm serious. There's nothing like laughing on the elliptical.

3. The movie Nebraska didn't do too much to glamorize my home country. Well, what can you really do with black and white? Although, Maine would probably still look beautiful in black and white. I recognized pivot sprinklers and corn fields in all directions. But, honestly, the movie mostly made Nebraska look depressing. It may be flat, but it really is beautiful farm country. In color.

4. Downton Abbey Season 4: {SPOILER ALERT TO THOSE WHO HAVE NOT WATCHED SEASON 4!}My synopsis is that it did end better than last season. However, I don't really like Rose all that much and she was in almost all episodes. I miss all the tension there used to be between Mary and Matthew, and none of her present suitors thrill me. However, I WILL watch it next season!

5. I am now classifying myself as a birder. My chair sits facing our front window and I've become obsessed with watching the birds that keep landing on our weeping cherry tree that is right at eye level. 

worth sharing again!

I've been sharing some of the pics I've been able to get of these little creatures on my blog this month. If you didn't know before, I LOVE birds.

6. Don't dawdle on museum exhibits that you don't really like. This month hubby and I went to the Eisenhower Presidential Museum in Abilene, KS. It was great, but there was a whole bunch of less interesting stuff at the beginning and it took forever to get through even though we didn't read everything in print. 

Come to find out, there was LOTS more to the museum and we ended up having to kind of rush through some better stuff at the end. Lesson learned.

7. The Nester posted a blog yesterday that changed my perspective. It is called The 1 Thing Every Home Needs and she suggests finding a space in your home that is no longer going to be a home for things.

I've struggled with clutter on surfaces my entire life, but yesterday, after reading her post, I cleared my table off for the first time in months. And, I truly enjoyed wiping it down with a damp cloth. Read her post. You'll be inspired.

8. I was equally inspired by Emily Freeman's post from Monday titled In Celebration of Slow. I'm not sure why, but I've often felt "less than" because I take a while to process things. I am a deep thinker and a slow processor. 

In this post, Emily gives our kind much needed perspective and permission to keep being the slow processors and thinkers that we are. I feel so liberated by her post. Thank you, Emily.

9. Writing a spiritual narrative of your life might stir up some stuff. Just a fair warning if you're thinking about writing one of these.

10. My favorite quote of the month:

"When we give our lives the gift of attention, our consciousness blossoms. Attention is an act of love, an act of connection. Like a child in a good home, our art responds to a nurturing atmosphere."

Julia Cameron in The Sound of Paper

I like the idea of giving my art a nurturing atmosphere.

Thanks for stopping by today! 

Blessings to you,

What I learned in December

In honor of the passing of 2013, I've listed thirteen things I learned in December in no particular order. It's always fun linking up with Emily at Chatting at the Sky for this monthly link up! Head on over there to see what other lovely writers have shared! 

 Oh, and Happy New Year!!

Mary, Joseph and the "donkey"

1. For the first time since our now adult children were little, my husband's side of the family acted out the Christmas story. It was complete with donkeys, sheep, angels and wise(wo)men. All the adults and our adult children. Does it look like we had fun doing it? See baby Jesus lying in the manger?

The Christmas Story--Live!

2. Also, my nieces and nephews are acrobats. For the first time, we had a "feats of strength" portion of our Christmas party. It got absolutely crazy!

3. If you ask your husband to write down 10 things he would say to describe who you are, plus 10 things he wants from your marriage, it will be eye opening and a great conversation starter.



4. Sitting in row 4 of a Broadway show is immensely more fun than sitting way in the back! My hubby took me to the show White Christmas and we were so close we could see the microscopic mics that the actors were wearing. We were also so close we got "snow" on us at the end. We decided we'd rather go to fewer productions and have great seats than lots of shows and sit in the nosebleed section. We had so. much. fun!

View from Row 4

5. Just because I talk about having realistic expectations for Christmas doesn't mean I carry that out perfectly. I still had some moments of disappointment that I had to work through. Baby steps, people. Baby steps.



6. I can tend to take on the negative emotions of people I'm close to. This is a problem that was more evident during December because I was around more people. I need to figure out how not to do this any more.



7. I don't care a lot for church cantatas even though I used to be in them. I can't put my finger on exactly why. Most people love them. I'd rather hear a great sermon. 



8. When I see favorite authors of mine and other admired bloggers post the books they are reading I immediately get panicky. I want to read them all too, because I trust their judgement in good books. And, because I love good books. I guess you could call it Book List Envy.



9. If you take sugar free hot cocoa and then pile on mini marshmallows, the calories in the marshmallows and the non calories in the cocoa cancel each other out. Don't ask me how I know. ;)



10. One mini candy cane makes an excellent after dinner mint. I've eaten more candy canes this year than in all of my years combined. 



11. On Christmas Day, our family of 6 plus my mother and mother-in-law did a short story writing activity. Write down five things you see in the room and then take 5-10 minutes and write a story (like a paragraph or two) including those words. So much fun! I saved all the stories, because my family is full of excellent writers! More to come on those in the near future. 

Here are five of the words that were used: ceramic owl, jogger in neon green, flash card, big toe, birdcage. Now, aren't you curious?



12. My twenty year old daughter has kept a folder on her computer listing all of the books she's read since 2005. She had a goal to read 40 books in 2013 and at 11:50 p.m. on New Year's Eve, she was reading the last couple of poems in a book written by C.S. Lewis. She made her goal for the year!

13. Our family attempted to take a selfie on Christmas Day. What I didn't know is that my mother was recording our antics on her iphone. Take a look at our silliness!

Thanks for stopping by and sharing in what I learned in December!
Blessings,

Anne

things I learned in September

Here are some things I learned in September in no particular order.

1. What's Daring Greatly?  I joined a class called Daring Greatly based on Brene Brown's book, by the same name. It's about being vulnerable. Being willing to step into the arena (even though you might get your butt kicked.) I'm learning how to Show up. Be brave. Be seen. Challenging, but good stuff. I could not recommend this book highly enough. Get out your highlighter!

2. My son drove 30 miles without his glasses and lived. He's living with us. A college grad. He wanted to drive to an event. His glasses had just broken. I'm the parent, but being careful not to parent too much. He left. I prayed. I prayed. And then I prayed. He made it home. (thank you, Jesus.)

3. First time ever to make salsa. From our first time tomatoes. With my son. (did you see all those firsts?) Mostly my son, has made six batches with said tomatoes. And, it is awesome if I say so myself. 

4. My Dutch husband must not be so Dutch after all. Last Monday he emailed me from work to say he must have had a weak moment because he ordered us tickets to White Christmas at the Civic Center. In the fourth row.  White Christmas is our absolute go-to, hands down favorite holiday movie. We don't go a year without watching it.

 After work that day, my hubby and I were both getting a little moist in the eyes just thinking about how fun and awesome that show is going to be in December. I be lovin' me some Bing Crosby musical festivities.

5.  We are mid-season on season 3 of Downton Abbey. My husband is just as obsessed as I am. Our son says "you guys are addicted" and he is right. We have never had a show that is "ours" before. This is either really good, or it is really bad. We're not sure.

6.  My daugher bought her own tea-brewing travel mug. While most college kids are hooking up IV's to coffee and cappuccino machines at Starbucks, my daughter is putting tea leaves and hot water in her special tea-brewing-travel-tea-mug from Amazon and taking tea to class. This blows my mind, and is really rather cute.

7.  I danced in the rain. Kind of. Last week during a severe thunderstorm warning (and actual 70 mph wind thunderstorm with horizontal rain) I went outside with my 23 year old son and "stood" in the "wind tunnel" between our house and the neighbor's. This is the mom who always looked dryly and safely from the distance of the covered front porch when the kids were little. As I had that scaredy cat look on my face, my grown son said, "C'mon! I'll go with you!" (he'd already risked life and limb twice in the same place.)

So, I ran out there with him (for like 30 seconds). I got absolutely soaked, but I have to say that it was one of the most fun things I've ever done. Why have I always been so uptight about getting wet in the rain?

8. I can make 140 hot tamales last about six weeks. I think this is something to celebrate, don't you?

9. Live the Silver Lining. I won't go into much detail here because I explain it on the blog.  I have been handed literally hundreds of old photos not just from my childhood, but further back as well. I look at these old photos and they are shouting out to have their stories told. I'm just getting started on this new blog, but be sure to come visit! I'll be sharing stories of my past, but also showing how God puts a silver lining through all experiences.

little me and Snuggles

10. I'll be blogging every day in October like I did last year. The Nester has a link up in October for those who want to pick a topic and write for 31 days. I'm probably crazy, but I'm super excited to do this again this year. I've been trying to get the rusty wheels turning for a great topic and some posts that won't bore you all to tears. It starts actually on Monday the 30th, so keep your dial tuned to A Ready Listener to see what I'll be up to!

11. Finally. The best quote of the month. It was from my 25 year old son. "Any man, of any age, can look good if he's put into clothes that fit him well." This came out of a very lively discussion one day over lunch with both my adult sons about men's fashion and men's fashion blogs. (seems a bit ironic, but that would be another whole post.)

Thanks for stopping by to see what I learned! Care to join in? Check out the link up at Chatting at the Sky where Emily Freeman invites us to link up. Or just stop by to see what others have learned. It's a lot of fun.