365 Photos Day 324

324/365

Apparently when the camera gets used a whole bunch more than normal, the battery will die. When the battery dies, it's kind of hard to take pictures when it's not recharged.

Live and learn.

Anyway...

This week is all about what I'm thankful for.

I'm truly thankful for these two. As much as I think they're from another planet sometimes (most of the time), I'm ever thankful that they're my family. I always say, "All I wanted was a normal family. Instead I got you two." But I'd rather have them than anyone else.

NaBloWriMo Day 24

Thursday, November 24, 2011
Do you enjoy being alone? Would you rather be around other people?

I'm fine with being alone. Really. Sometimes I'd much rather be alone than have the stress of interacting with other people.

Maybe it's because I'm an only child. I could, and was certainly expected to, entertain myself for hours on end. My husband prefers to be around people, and I do wonder if that's because he was the 2nd of 5 kids, and his extended family was (still is) HUGE, so there was never really any alone time.

Actually, this was why I loved loved loved living in a city. There were lots of people around, sure, but mostly I was by myself, if that makes sense. It's kind of like that line in Glenn Frey's song, 'You Belong to the City': "Nobody cares where you're going, nobody cares where you've been."

It's not that I don't like people. I do. Just not ALL. THE. TIME. I need times to recharge where I don't have to talk to anyone. Or interact with anyone. I'd probably be OK if on a desert island all alone.

NaBloWriMo Day 23

Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Write about a piece of music that changed your life forever. What do you feel when you hear it now?

Criminy. I can't really say a piece of music has changed my life forever...mainly because I can't remember any.

Music is just one of those things that I like without analyzing the heck out of it. When I hear a song I liked, I can usually remember what was going on in my life when it was popular, along with most of the lyrics even if I haven't heard the song for a looooong time. It's one of the most useless skills I have, what can I say?

I still remember saving my allowance to buy 45's at the record store of songs I liked, which I would play over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And then some more.

Later it was trying to capture ALL of the song without any DJs talking over it from the radio onto a cassette tape. Sometimes it went well. Othertimes, not so much.

Music has always just been part of my life. Some of my earliest memories of cleaning the house was to the soundtracks from 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Camelot', or to the sounds of Three Dog Night, The Smothers Brothers or Bill Cosby. I had my own record player fairly early on, and had quite the variety of music, from K-TEL records with funny songs to classical to Shaun Cassidy. I was exposed to lots of different kinds of music and even today don't just limit myself to one genre.

And maybe that's how it's changed my life. I'm open to new things (just not a lot of new things all at once), and I can usually find something I like in pretty much everything.

NaBloWriMo Day 22

Tuesday, 22 November 2011
What is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you, and why?

The luckiest thing that ever happened to me is an ongoing thing. It's my superpower, really. And probably my Kryptonite too, but it all works.

It's my ability to not get too attached to things or places.

Probably that's not generally looked at as a really super good thing, and more of a "where on the autism spectrum did you say you were?" kind of thing (I suspect I may be a borderline Asperger awesome person), but it really is a good thing.

It's a blessing and a curse. Part of it ties into my not-so-good memory I'm sure. If I can't see something, I tend to forget I have it, be it person, place, or thing. I also have the tendency to really focus in on some things to the exclusion of other things. My dear sweet husband likens it to a laser, with all the energy focused in on one thing (I am really lucky that he gets that, even if he's not always happy about it).

It worked out well when I was a kid. When my parents (usually my Mom) would take something away from me as a punishment, I was mad at first, but then I was more like, "So? Take it away. I don't care." Thing was, I really meant it. It wasn't bravado. By the time I got it back, I'd usually forgotten about it and moved on. It drove my Mom nuts, which was just a side benefit. :)

It worked out well when I moved so much between the ages of 18 & 23--if it didn't fit into my car, it didn't go. Therefore, I really didn't have a lot of STUFF, and I rather liked that.

Somewhere along the way I had to figure out where "Home" was to me. It ended up being where ever I am. It's not a physical place, it's not contained in physical things. The ability to not be attached to places and things really helped me fine-tune that definition long before I could clearly articulate it in a way that others can understand. Don't get me wrong, I like my things, and I like most of the places I've been, but if they were all taken from me, I'd still be OK.

Like I said...blessing and curse; superpower and Kryptonite.

NaBloWriMo Day 21

Monday, 20 November 2011
Is It All Just In My Head?

I'm a summer person. No doubt about it. I was born on 5 July during a hot summer. I missed being an Independence Day kid by 4 hours. Story of my life, right there, just missing something because I'm late.

I love summer with every fiber of my being. I'd rather be too hot than too cold, and I think I should be able to (comfortably) wear shorts every day of the year.

So this time of year messes with my inner rhythms something fierce, and I don't like it one bit. The lack of lots of sunshine and warmth makes for a loooooooong winter. Today was grey and damp, and I just wanted to stay in bed forever and ever. Or at least until spring.

I haven't been formally diagnosed with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), but I'm fairly sure the older I get, the more it affects me. I find I have more anxiety attacks during this time of year, and I just feel like I'm running at a negative speed.

For Christmas I may ask for a tanning package so I can just go sit in a brightly lit warm space for a little bit a day. I'd like to ask to relocate to a warmer climate, but that's not going to happen.

Too bad it's not socially acceptable to hibernate this time of year, because I'm pretty sure I could manage to do that quite well, thanks.

NaBloWriMo Day 20

Sunday, 20 November 2011
Free Choice Topic

Today I spent some time cleaning out and organizing my favorites on my computer. It's times like these that I really wish I'd remember to take the time to re-name the links to something I have a shot at remembering why I saved them in the first place.

Alas, I probably never will.

It's kind of like a treasure hunt. Oooo! Lookit! I'd forgotten I'd saved this! My Pinterest boards are the same way, which makes it fun.

However, sometimes I re-discover really cool things. Like this guy, whom I love love love:



I'll go ahead and call tonight a success.

NaBloWriMo Day 19

Saturday, 19 November 2011
Free Choice Saturday: Peanut Brittle

Today was the opening day of the holiday season in our house. How do I know? Because Steve & the Kid made their first batch of peanut brittle. Over the course of the next two months, they will make close to 30 pounds of the stuff for friends, family, the library's annual Silent Auction, and maybe if we're lucky, for us too.

For the past few years, those 2 have perfected their intricate dance entitled "The Making of the Peanut Brittle." It's a complex dance, with timing so precise that a 2 second delay can spell disaster for that particular batch.

It was also kind of bittersweet watching them. In too short a time, she'll be off in the big wide world, and not home to help make the peanut brittle. I asked Steve what he thought and he said he'd been thinking about that too, and would just have to find a new helper (I don't go out into the kitchen while they're making it...the dance is usually accompanied by loud voices and sometimes swearing).

But for this year, anyway, the peanut brittle dance will go on as planned, which is always a good thing.