Cutest Video EVER!

A friend posted this someplace and I just thought it was too funny not to put someplace! If I have watched it once, I have watched it a hundred times today. They are just too cute and a great fix for the blues!

Ten reasons why being a kid at heart is underrated...

I love books. Yesterday, I went to a Book Fair. I was happier than a pig in new mud after it gets a stay of execution. I was in the kid's area looking for books for a couple of really special little people and a friend and I were talking about how we never really outgrew our love of Children's Lit. There is something about Children's Books. I find myself in the Children's section of the library more often than not. In fact, it is the first place I scope out in a new library most of the time and the genre that I spend the most time staying up to date on. Love, love, love Children's Lit.

So I was thinking on the tram about the top 10 books that I remember as a child. The ones that stand out even now and I can honestly say contributed to my total love of The Printed Word.

1) The Cay (4th and 6th grade Listening Books, 7th grade required reading)
2) The Wheel on the School (3rd Grade Listening Book)
3) Number the Stars (3rd, 4th and 6th Grade Listening Book)
4) Where the Red Fern Grows (3rd grade Listening Book)
5) Charlotte's Web
6) The Mrs. Piggle Wiggle Series (1st Grade Listening Book)
7) Three Tales of my Father's Dragon (1st Grade Listening Book)
8) The Indian in the Cupboard (3rd Grade Listening Book)
9) The Stinky Cheeseman and other Fairly Stupid Tales (Librarian's Reading Time)
10) The Secret Garden (3rd Grade Listening Book)

I know I said 10, but an 11th snuck in here because there was always something magical and wonderful about the way these tales were read to us. As if, the Librarian herself could channel the characters and knew their voices and manerisms. And we were lucky enough to be let in on the secret for 10 minutes. The list just would have been incomplete if I had left out...

11) The Brer Rabbit Books

Mrs. Mack, Mrs. Stem, Ms. Spottick and Mrs. Mason could pick darn good books. And none of them followed the Recommended Grade Groups given for the books. Bless them for that!

Du ser stak ut idag!

A few months ago, I bought a brand of ecofriendly tea that had encouraging sayings on the bag tabs. Things like, "Remember that the other person is you" and "Live in your strength". You know...cliche little things that feel encouraging at 4pm on a bad day and mocking at 4am on a tired day. You just know that some middle aged guy came up with this stuff while caught in a traffic jam. Still in all, I used one of the tabs that I loved on an encouraging Story Card that I keep in my camera case to give me good energy and keep me inspired.

Yesterday morning, while out with the camera, I got myself a Latte from Pressbyrån (7-11 type store) and wrapped the napkin around it to keep from burning my hand. When I went to throw the cup away and wipe the rest of my lipgloss off with the napkin I noticed something printed on the napkin.

Du ser stark ut idag.
Translation: You look strong today.

I stared at the napkin for a second and thought, is my napkin mocking me? Encouraging me? Offering some sort of subliminal message for how I should like my coffee? What was up with the Pressbyrån napkin encroaching on my Yogi Tea Tab's territory for daily wisdom? Is it just the one message or will my napkin have something else to say tomorrow?

In the end, I just crumpled it up and went on with my walk...but I did it with an oddly stronger step.

Changing seasons

Like a man traveling in foggy weather, those at some distance before him on the road he sees wrapped up in the fog, as well as those behind him, and also the people in the fields on each side, but near him all appears clear, though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them.
~ Benjamin Franklin

Yesterday morning, I got up early and decided to take a long walk while the sun came up. I have been a little creatively fu...troubled for the past few months and have not been out with the camera as much as I would have liked. So, I checked the weather, bundled up and headed out in the hopes of finding some photo ops. The second I stepped out, I felt that kind of cold that we can only get in Autumn. You know...that cold that you feel in your bones. It hits you fast and in the split second before you realize that it is damp and chilly, it invigorates you and puts spring in your step. I love that cold. It is the reason I prefer early morning Fall, Early/Late Winter and Spring walks to all others. And the only reason I can ever see for this night owl to be up at 5am. Anyway, after I took a few deep breaths in through my nose and took in the cold, I noticed that the dew covering the ground was almost glistening. Not quite water. Not quite ice. But that stage in between. I stepped on the grass to assure myself that there was not a Crunch to it and started out.

I took my normal path to walk past the grassy park area that I always go by. It is slightly on a hill at one point and you have a clear view of some houses in the far distance and some fields in the immediate distance. That view is sort of my safe place. It is the first glimpse that I get that I am about to go into someplace that is more country than city and my recuperation and mental recentering can happen. It is sort of like a mental cue for me to release everything else and just allow myself to Photograph and see the world my way. Hope to capture something and see what happens. In the Summer, the fields are filled with either cows or rolled hay. The pasture directly on the other side of the walking path has horses in it for the month of July and then stands empty the rest of the year. On the path between the grassy area and the horse pasture, there is a tree. I love that tree. It is one of those things that has so much character to it that, even dead, it is beautiful. I have taken maybe 30 or 40 photos of it at various times. Some I have kept. Most I have tossed. One is more special to me now than ever. While I was looking over the fields yesterday, all I saw was fog. Thick, dense, pea soup fog. And the smell of turning leaves was in the air. It was the kind of transitioning season setting that you relish the first time you see it for the year and then it starts to fade and you start waiting for the new season to kick off. It was also as haunting as it was beautiful and as sad as it was relaxing.

And that leads me to to the point of this rambling blog...

Why do we feel an element of sadness when a season passes even if we cherish the change? I don't wish for Summer back. I welcome the time of renewal and cleansing. It is a happy thing really. A new stage in the cycle. A new time in the year. It always signals a new round of celebration and routine. It brings memories....having fresh pressed apple cider and homemade donuts while bundled up and smelling apples and dried maple leaves, Halloween, Thanksgiving, the smell of a pumpkin being carved and fields of frost. All incredibly happy things. And yet there is still the quiet sadness. The feeling that something is disappearing followed by an urgency to capture it before it fleets away.

I took tons of photos yesterday and walked slower than usual. There were no deer out and about because of the early birds out with their dogs. Dogs and deer do not mix so I was not surprised to not see them. I did hear a few moose speaking loudly to each other. I didn't see them either thankfully since the apples on the ground were fermenting and I had a flash image for the second year in a row (same spot too!) of catching a drunk Moose's fancy while totally engrossed in getting a Mushroom Macro. (I don't even need to tell you how fast that mental image will make one MOVE far and fast away from said area!) For the most part, I just meandered for 3 hours.

Caffeine moment anyone?

Caffeine moments are great. Not as good as Prozac moments but way better than most Kodak moments. Plus, they are usually good for a laugh at my own expense and that sort of laugh is the best Blog Fodder. But I might be digressing before I even start...

Anywho...I had a moment this morning. Caffeine not Prozac or Kodak. Sometime around 4am, I got my old creaky bones out of bed, threw on my purple leopard print robe/pink furry slipper combo and started to stumble my way from the bedroom to the kitchen for coffee. As I walked past the bathroom, I turned and saw myself in the mirror and said a mental, "How you doing, Sweetie?". Well, I saw the fuzzy image that I knew was me but could neither confirm nor deny until I had my glasses on. But without glasses on...Damn I look good in the AM. But I digress...

So I make it into the kitchen, make my morning coffee, put my specks on, walk into the living room and take my first sip while turning on the light. And then it happened. Almost as if the veil of sleep had been slowly and delicately lifted from my eyes and all at once I saw two things. The first, was a caterpillar that had somehow snuck it's way in between the two panes of glass and scooted itself to the inside of the blinds and, therefore, was more on the inside of the apartment than outside. Normally not scary but what the hell is he thinking being there at 4am on a Sunday morning! The second was a clear reflection of the Morning After view of the yesterday's hairdo. The "Crazy Curl" product which had so beautifully separated and emphasized every one of my lovely curls yesterday had somehow morphed into a Cruzy Clump of curls stuck to the left side of my head while the right side had maintained it's separated, bouncy loveliness. At that moment, I realized how Sweetie looked and I did not have the urge to mentally ask her how she was doing again.

Well, what is a girl to do when she is presented with these two things simultaneously after only 15 minutes awake...except...do a series of short blinks (my facial expression did not change but luckily I had my eyebrows done yesterday too - so I looked surprised without actually having to move a facial muscle), reach over and turn the light back off, grab my laptop with my non-coffee hand, shuffle back down the hallway (staring straight ahead while I passed the bathroom) and start my Sunday from the mirror free safety of my bedroom.

Best of K in Sweden #3: Dame Edna and I have far too much in common

A good friend, total doll and here after to be referred to as CHIC does a blog about being Ex-pat way over here and has been posting about shoes and Swedes lately. I know..not exactly two things that go together in an Ex-pats mind since Swedes have a rather...interesting...relationship with shoes. They take them off everywhere so they tend to have impractical and ridiculous shoe sense when they do wear them. I have yet to find a shoe store that I am totally in love with here. Which is tough because I am a wide footed woman with a love of shoes that seldom gets satisfied. But when it does...it is downright bloggable. That is what I did a few months ago...as CHIC's blogs reminded me. The same week, I happened to walk through a local mall and see one of the most interesting shoe designs I have seen in awhile. (See photo.) The worst this is, they were hideous enough for me to snap a photo but NOT the fugliest I have ever seen. (That makes them...what...average?) I call that synchronicity at it's finest!

Anywho and without further ado...a "Best of Blog" about Shoes...

Friday, October 10, 2008

Always laugh at yourself. Never be afraid to laugh at yourself, after all, you could be missing out on the joke of the century. ~ Dame Edna Everage That Dame Edna is a wise, wise woman. Wait...man...in drag...as a...female character. Oh hell, Edna rocks! And given what prompted me to find a good laugh at yourself quote, she and I seem to have a little too much in common. Both nutty chicks who appreciate a good laugh at their own expense. As you all know, I bought shoes last week. I blogged about it so ya'll better know. Well, the thing is, I forgot to break them in one day this week. So today after my evening shower, I threw them on to wear around the house for an hour or so. Just to loosen them a bit before they become like little sexy torture devices for my interview. Anywho, as I was hanging up my phone after calling my sister I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Picture it: Pink jammie bottoms, a purple thermal shirt covered by a black t-shirt, stripped socks and black pumps. I took one look at myself and fell into a 10 minute long laughing fit. Come to think of it, I think Edna might be better dressed. Before any of you ask...No, I did not get a photo. You all will just have to imagine it.

Go ahead...Make my day!

I was in the kitchen making myself a cup of relaxing tea and a small snack (Translation: Coffee and like half a Diam cake) after a mellow day of reflection (Translation: I sat on my ass all day and watched YouTube clips of Ghost Shows) and I suddenly remembered a really funny moment in the grocery store the other day.

First a little back ground: About a month ago my sister and I surprised my mother and father with a cat. No, I am not kidding. My sister went to the local humane society and picked out Freckles, a 4 year old domestic short hair and drove her the hour and a half North to my parent's house...where she prompty ran from the carrier to the basement and hid for the next 2.5 weeks. During that time we found out that a newspaper article had been written about Frecks back in May and told the story about how she was originally adopted from a German shelter and brought to the US but later surrendered to the humane society in NY because she did not gel well with a couple of new pets. Yes folks, my parents were the proud new humans of Freckles: International traveler and most famous cat to never come out of the basement. She has since adjusted, formed bonds with my parents and enjoys endless hours being totally insane with her crinkle balls and demonstrating various killing techniques on tiny toy mice. She seems to be eager to convince my parents that she could kick a live mouse's ass but, in truth, I think it would just send her right back into the basement. Yes, Freckles is doing well, is loved to bits and will probably have my room by Christmas.

So...onto the funny story...I was in the store getting hibbits and snippits (Translation: This and That) for dinner and seemed to get myself near a mother with her small son everywhere. I watched as little Stephan (blond hair, blue eyes, red shirt, jean short, sandels with socks and a covered in enough dirt to tell me that he plays like it is his purpose on this planet) THREW yogurt, pickles (Glass jar. I flinched.), tomatoes (There was a SPLAT as they landed. I did not dare look.) and other things into the cart. Then, near the checkout, I watched him pick up a bag of cat food and bring it to his mother.

Imagine the following conversation:

Mother: Stephan, we do not need that.
Stephan: Why?
M: We just don't. Go put it back.
S: We need it.
M: No, we do not. That is for kitties and we do not have a cat. Put it back.
S: I need it.
M: No, you do not. Do as I say, little man.
S: But...
M: Stephan, we do not have a cat.
S: Oh.

* 30 second pause while the wheels turned*

S: Momma...where do we buy a cat?

I love little Stephan. I really do. And, I m sorry, but I think his mother left herself WIDE open for that one. All I can think is...Give him about 25 years and he might just pull a Freckles. ;)

Best of K in Sweden #2: Life List

For the second in my "Best of" series...I have decided to go with fun again. Why? Because I want to. I prefer fun and most of my past blogs in other places reflect that. :) I have made a Lift List for a couple years now. It is a way to challenge myself to do things that scare me and encourage myself to do things that will enrich me. I do it only for me...even if I do update it in Blog form every so often.

So far, I have not done a "Things I Have Done List", although I know people who say that both a "Life List" and an "I Have... List" go hand in hand for them. Maybe it is just a little to "K is writing her Memoirs" for me and I am not ready to sit down and sum myself up yet. I have ticked things off though and I continue to add new things.

MY LIFE LIST
Age 27

Pull "The Big One" over on Mom and Dad by doing something adventurous with T.

Serve on a committee to raise awareness for CFIDS.

Climb (hike up) a mountain to raise funds for CFIDS.

Make a snow angel on a glacier.

Camp a night on a glacier. (Preferably not alone.)

Drop a Twizzler into an active volcano.

Wash my hair in a hot spring.

Have my Masters by age 30. (Or maybe 35...)

Do a field study in another country. (Not Sweden. Not USA.)

Beat my fear of The Ocean. (Done...now I just have to get out more than a few miles from land. )

Go on 5 spontaneous trips.

Be King of the World on top of a Pyramid. Get a kick ass picture of said moment.

Serve on an International committee for environmental concerns. (Work in progress...and loving it)

Ireland with Dad.

Italy with Mom.

Cooking class in Italy.

My List scrapbook.

Get Yaya to zorb with me!

Spend a night in a museum with my niece.

Take Nephew Bam Bam to see the Yankees.

Spend the night in a Haunted Hotel. (Again...not alone.)

Volunteer to play in the dirt at an archaeological dig.

Get lost for a weekend with my sister.

Habitat for Humanity – Women Build

Do the theater thing.

Wash and elephant.

Tell a story about a dragon.

Wrapping up a week.

It has been a dual energy sort of week. I have had both ends of the energy spectrum this week.

But here I am at Saturday and I am centering. I have cooked, meditated and just generally brought myself back to "neutral". Call it emotional growth, the fact that I am an old soul or the fact that I have learned the power of Energy during my 27 trips around the Sun.

It was an emotionally productive week.

(If that all sounds new agey, it is because...well...I am. If I was religious instead of simply spiritual and prayed instead of offered up to the universe, less eyebrows would bat. But... that is another blog...)