My First UBC--Analysis & Questions

This was the first Ultimate Blog Challenge I've ever participated in.  And I managed to post 31 times in 31 days.  I missed a day here and there, but made up for it with 2 posts on a subsequent day.  I'm pleased with myself for being able to meet the challenge.  I've proven to myself that I CAN post more frequently and still keep up with all the other stuff I need to do.  I just need to remain disciplined so that I don't allow one "missed" day to become a week or more!  Time will tell if I've got what it takes.

I got no new followers from this month of blogging.  I really expected at least a few.  I rarely even got the 2 "required" comments from fellow UBC bloggers.  That was terribly disappointing, mostly because I hate when people don't follow the rules.  I didn't even find any new blogs that interested me enough to follow them. There seemed to be a lot of I'm-an-authority-on-such-and-such-and-you-should-do-things-this-way posts.  That may have disappointed me the most.  I was hoping to develop some new relationships.

So other than finding my own writing and time-management capabilities, I don't know what I've accomplished here.  I'd love to hear thoughts from others who participated in the UBC--how did it work out for YOU?

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Gemstone Meanings, Part 1

Folklore has attached meanings to gemstones for millennia.  Here are a few stones and their historic meanings:

Malachite:  An equalizing and balancing agent.  Stimulates intuitive reasoning.  Promotes loyalty in partnerships and responsibility in business transactions.

 

Rose Quartz:  Brings peacefulness and calm to relationships.  Stimulates the true life force...LOVE!






Tiger Eye: Relieves high blood pressure.  Offers protection while travelling.  Aids in becoming more practical and grounded in reality.

                   

 

(In no way are these claims to be considered absolute or infallible, nor are they to be considered medical advice.  They are merely folklore, for entertainment purposes only.)

 

You can find out more about these stones and others on my website.

 

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Ancient Chauvinism

In the Greek monastery of Mount Athos, nothing female is allowed.  Men can enter but not women; roosters but no hens; bulls but no cows, etc.  The border is patrolled by armed guards to ensure that nothing feminine passes the gates.  It has been this way for more than 700 years!

 

 

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Artistic License

Over the years my son has come to work with me once in awhile.  Once he was about 5, he had been driving me crazy poking into everything, and I wasn't getting any work done.  So I laid out a series of beads and told him to sit quietly and string them.  After awhile I looked down and saw that he was indeed stringing them, but he wasn't stringing them in the order I laid them out.  I started to snatch them out of his hand and chastise him when I noticed that HIS design was actually better than mine!  Ha ha!  Lesson learned: just because I'm an ar-TISTE doesn't mean my vision is the only vision!

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Kid Stuff

 



For a number of years now, as my son is growing up, I make it a point to try to remember what it was like to be "that age".  The life lessons are important, and I nag and lecture and even raise my voice sometimes, because that kind of stuff needs to sink in in order for him to be the best adult he can be.  But there are other things, like building a blanket fort (pictured above), that are necessary for the kid to just be a kid.  So the pillows and sofa cushions and blankets and sheets and whatever else he can find are strewn all over the bedroom...so what?  Yes, you'll have to help pick it all up (because as all mothers know, MAKING the mess is far more fun than CLEANING UP the mess!) And yes, you'll probably have to do some laundry.  And maybe the cushion will get torn or stained.  In the grand scheme of life, I think it's more important to let the kid build something out of his imagination, and put it together so it works, than keep the sofa cushions pristine.

 

Well, actually, we have 4 rather large dogs, so nothing in our house is pristine.

 

These days especially, when 5-year-olds can work iPhones better than their middle-aged grandparents and planning their extracurricular activities for college entrance starts in preschool, working some (semi-forbidden) hands-on, old fashioned playtime into a kid's day is a GOOD thing!  Drawings in chalk on the sidewalk or driveway will wash off.  Strips cut from plastic bags to make into friendship bracelets that never actually get made can be thrown away.   Muddy shoes from going fishing with the boys in the "pond" across the street can be dried and brushed off.

 

And blanket forts are cool.

 

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Shop Local!

 

Since I am that "local craftsperson who makes jewelry", I TOTALLY support this proposal.  But I'm sure I would even if I wasn't directly affected.  How about you?  Will you shop small and local?  Not just for the holidays, but as often as you can all year long?  (Thanks!)

 

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Aquarium Over Bed

 

This is one of those things that LOOKS really cool, and at first glance you think it's something you'd really like to have.  But if you step back and think about it, perhaps you wonder how practical it really is.  I LOVE the look of this.  I love aquariums.  I love to watch fish swimming around.  Would I love it over my head?  Every night?  Would the light from it, no matter how dim, be annoying when I'm trying to sleep?  Would I feel claustrophobic with the archway over my head?  Some pros and cons.  I'm thinking I'd really like it in real life, but it would be awesome if I could try it for a night or two somewhere else, like in a hotel, to decide for sure.  Your thoughts?

 

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Halloween Idea

 

 

Every year I say I'm going to do this.  I even save toilet paper rolls for a few weeks beforehand.  But I never get any kids out in my (rural-ish) neck of the woods, so I've never gotten up the oomph to actually do it.  I think it's a really cool idea!  Maybe this year...

 

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