A somewhat goofy mini-collection of stuff I’ve been reading, stuff I’ve been thinking about and oh, some completely random crap.
Basically the stuff that never gets mentioned here because I’m not the kind of person who can just make some teeny little point. Not into the whole brevity thing, as the Dude would say.
Actually, I’m under the strict compulsion to write ten pages about anything on my mind. So this is me. Practicing brevity.
Still in my February Cranky. Which is somewhat preferable to a full-on February Funk.
But not by much.
Grrr. But hey. Wednesday. So we have Items (Item!).
Item! Post No. 54 in a mostly-weekly series that has me convinced that Wednesday happens way more often than it actually should.
Item! The measure free hippie cook.
Oh this makes me happy.
This site really is called MeasureFreeHippieCook.com. Perfect.
The tagline? Leave Your Measuring Cups Behind & Take Back Your Kitchen.
Which pretty much sums up my entire baking philosophy.
Well, except when I make pita. Then I still measure. But badly. So that counts, right?
“Could it be that … turning the art of cooking into a lockstep scientific exercise alienated us from our kitchens? To the delicious revolution!”
Also: cashew-cilantro pesto. Yum.
Got to this via the wonderful Celeste who is @burnkitty on Twitter.
Item! Tastes like chicken.
My friend Jeff is the funniest of the funniest.
This video of him and Evo Terra being fake social media experts is just delightful. Also, I love how they manage not to completely fall apart.
Jeff, we miss you! Come back for a PDX visit! Pleeeeeeeease?
“Social media kind of tastes like chicken…”
That’s @jmoriarty and @evo_terra on Twitter.
Item! Speaking of metaphors…
Jacquelyn wrote a terrific post about why she does what she does.
I was the marketing, sales, customer service, and billing departments rolled into a tidy little package. Things hummed along quite happily until, of course, one of our customers called to say:
“MY DOCUMENTS WON’T PRINT”
or
“THE MEDICAL RECORDS HAVE GONE MISSING”
or
“MY HAIR IS ON FIRE FROM USING SO MANY CAPITAL LETTERS.”
At which point I would turn to my business partner and say, “I just want to bake pies.”
Okay. She doesn’t bake pies.
But she cooks up a mean metaphor. And she’s great. You’ll like her! A lot.
She’s @jacquelynkitt on Twitter.
Item! Writing about it.
Kyeli wrote about how violating boundaries is never okay.
And about that thing where we go eek and run away because we haven’t figured out what to do when someone is an ass.
I have a lot of thoughts on how scary/hard/challenging it is to know what to say or do in these unexpected moments of uncomfortable and inappropriate.
Later I always come up with a dozen or so of ways I could have responded, and honestly sometimes I wish I had a list.
Or a practice room.
But for now just wanted to say good for you Kyeli for not putting up with this stuff. And for writing about it.
She’s @kyeli on Twitter.
Item! Non-scary law questions for your business.
Rebecca has an e-course thing.
It doesn’t cost anything. And it’s about making legal Stuff not so scary and less baffling.
I haven’t signed up yet (one of the flaws of my no email thing) but it looks like a really good idea and useful service. Rebecca is awesome and I really like her.
She’s @cnsl2creativity on Twitter.
Item! Seriously great stuff.
Next time I run the Destuckification Retreat, instead of having a page about how great it is, I’m just going to point to people like Kelly, who has been blogging up a storm of smart, funny, fascinating content ever since getting back.
I can’t even call it “content” because content sounds kind of boring and this stuff is just hot. Wow.
Honestly her posts are so good that I don’t even know which ones to link to anymore.
There was one about guts that I read three times.
“A friend of mine recently had a close encounter with her gut.
She and her gut had previously related on a strictly need-to-know basis: Don’t ask, don’t tell. If I’m about to run into a wall? Holler. Otherwise, I’ve got this, thanks.“
Ooh. This is also the post where Kelly said, “If direct response wanted to meet for a beer, I would totally be there.”
And then her post about her worst client ever, which is one of the funniest — and most useful — things I’ve read online.
She’s @copylicious on Twitter.
Item! Visual word of the week.
Last week I wrote about Visuwords, which lets you map meanings of words.
It’s gorgeous.
And I have been kind of doing a practice of using it when I am stuckified on something. Just to see what connections are missing.
So this week my stuck thing was a trust issue with someone. I really wanted them to meet a commitment, and wasn’t sure that I trusted them to be able to.
So I looked up TRUST.
Here’s what I learned: one of the forms or permutations of trust is expect.
As in, I trust that you’ll get back to me on this by Friday.
And part of what wasn’t working in that particular situation was me being in sovereignty, and clear about my … expectations.
Anyway. It all got cleared up. But I thought that was kind of a cool little mini-revelation.
Item! Update from the land of the Peculiar & Hilarious Shivanauts!
The “peculiar and hilarious” thing comes from Melynda’s sweet bit about Butterfly Wishes.
Let’s see. I wrote up some unlikely answers to unlikely questions that I’m totally not qualified to answer.
And there is also a new Shivanauts group blog — thanks, Amy for making that happen.
Yay, Shivanauts!
Item! Comments! Here’s what I want this time:
- Things you’re thinking about.
- Things to look forward to in March (forward, March).
My commitment.
I am committed to giving time and thought to the things that people say. Even though asking for what I want still feels awkward for me, I’m just going to remind myself that this is a thing I’m practicing.
That is all.
Happy reading.
And happy Blustery Windsday. But Balmy for Claire, of course. Of course. See you tomorrow.
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Just have to add my .02 on measure-free cooking. ONe of our wonderful KT-ers (yikes, who was it?) told me that her family calls this kind of cooking cooking AL TUN TUN.
I fell in love with this and now I tell everyone that I am “a tun-tun-er” or it is “al tun-tun time” and it makes me so ridiculously happy and giggly!
Woops. Posted too fast. OMG this video is hysterical. Contemplate the “shull”!
Ooo looked up trust. Then entrust.
Boy oh boy. Am struggling with this one today.
I’m off to draft a post about trust and expectations and getting clear.
It’s really hard. It hurts a great deal when someone really does not seem willing or really they just aren’t able to ‘stick to their word’. Issues baby we got em.
I have a decision to make. And comfort to source.
Happy blustering Wednesday’s indeed – to everyone!
We have a little sunshine. OOo weee!
Thanks Havi!
x
.-= Leila Lloyd-Evelyn´s last post … Stumbling, falling, starting over. =-.
I call it “off roading” as in I don’t have a recipe per se, but I do have the general idea of where I want to go. I do this with my knitting as well, but differently of course. There usually isn’t any flour involved. 🙂
Eee-yuh! Though I did see “contemplate the shull” and think about Hillel. Which would be “shul” I suppose, but there you go.
I am excited to see the first crocuses in March. And Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland, the next Mercy Thompson novel, and of course my Izzy’s wonderful birthday. Isn’t Purim in there too, or is that before March?
Things to look forward to in March? Birthdays!!!!!!
And then life to finally speed up again. And to meet people that you could actually trust.
Re: Shivanauts: WOW. Such a fun call and I feel like I have a hundred new kindred spirit friends! Yay! And Havi, you answered my question about squares Perfectly! Thank you.
I am thinking very hard about a few concepts: the Monster Journal, the Cuddly Scientist (I NEED a pink lab coat, STAT) and that our reactions to patterns are patterns themselves. Whew! (I originally typed Whee! which is also just as true.)
Looking forward to in March: Spring maybe? A little? One more month closer anyway. A trip down south to visit DH’s family in Raleigh, a beach retreat in SC, a too-brief visit to my beloved hometown Asheville. So there’s that.
Mostly though, looking forward to more epiphanies and metaphors with all you Fine Pirates I mean People! xxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxooxxoo !
.-= chicsinger simone´s last post … royal eagle valentine bonbon brooch =-.
“Do you eeyuh?” Oh, the funny. Going to just keep that open on my taskbar for a while in case I need a laugh again…
The thaw. In Cat’s Cradle Kurt Vonnegut writes about some extra seasons, and I always think of late February and early March as “unlocking.”
.-= Emily´s last post … Creative Every Day, Part 7 =-.
Still laughing my head off about “Meat-ea” and “Shul” and “Do you eeya”. Thanks, Jeff and Evo!
Kelly’s (@copylicious) posts are fabulous…I love reading them.
Thank you, Havi, for an always-wondrous Winsday. Happy rest-of-the-week, everyone. 🙂
Love, Hiro
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … You Are… =-.
Oh my goodness. So much good stuff. I’ll be clicking links all day! I’m still basking in the glow of Jen’s wonderful Virtual Retreat, which is one of the reasons I am in major denial about this being Ash Wednesday. I’m not ready for it to be Lent. I have a blog post about procrastinating on the whole Lent thing. I am using a wonderful Sophia Psalter a friend of mine is writing (I get to be her guinea pig! Woot!), and I noticed the theme for today is Renewal. That I can totally get into, so the Lent is all about Renewal, and getting my ground ready for spring planting.
Now to go start clicking links. Oh way to start?
.-= Shawna R. B. Atteberry´s last post … Procrastinating on Your Lenten Discipline? =-.
It’s a good thing I speak Latin. And I’m glad you enjoyed our silliness.
E.
.-= Evo Terra´s last post … Social Media 101: Stop Hacking and Phishing With Good Password Habits =-.
Oh, wow. You do know this post is getting printed out and folded up into a little origami swan and placed next to my monster in his shoebox house, right? This will make his day–just like it made mine. He’s still not 100% convinced “eeyuh” (thanks for that, Jeff Moriarty) is an appropriate use of time.
March will be my month of getting 8 hours of sleep. February has completely missed the boat. So I’m just making March sleep month. Just one month of getting enough sleep. And then I can decide if sleep is something I want to pursue on a regular basis. Looking forward to it.
.-= Kelly Parkinson´s last post … The story of my worst client ever =-.
Kelly’s posts are all kinds of awesome! *love*
One thing I’m looking forward to in March is the Iranian New Year and all the associated celebrations. It gives me a good excuse to wish a happy new year to people I haven’t gotten around to get in touch with in Jabuary! 🙂 More seriously, I really like the symbolism attached to those festivities, and the meaning the Iranian New Year has come to take in my life.
Oh, I’ve just realised that one of the reasons why the urge to go to Iran was so strong during the Destuckification retreat is that the weather was spring-like to me. It was smelling like spring, and I catch whiffs of Iran in the smell of spring sometimes – probably because both times I’ve been there, I arrived during that season… and that’s when the urge to go again is at its strongest pretty much every year. Oh, I’m glad I’ve realised this! It helps me make some sense of (part of) what happened during that Shiva Nata session.
.-= Josiane´s last post … Taking action instead of resolving to do so =-.
Yeah, a practice room! I took a self defense class, actually, and it was all about saying no and, ya know, defense… but the one thing we didn’t cover was how to defend against someone you know in a crowded space full of people you know and don’t want to create a scene in front of.
And yeah, also with the creating a thousand better responses hours later. Always. Oy.
*hugs* to you. Thank you.
.-= Kyeli´s last post … Fall from Grace =-.
Of course! 🙂
The balmy wishes do perk up my day no matter how cold it actually is. Thanks for making my February more bearable.
And since I actually said, “Good grief!” out loud when I saw that the auto last post was now two posts behind, here’s yesterday’s:
Ancient Muscle Memory
(Maybe it’ll catch up to today’s follow up tomorrow.)
.-= claire´s last post … Sketchbook, page 3 =-.
What I’m looking forward to in March? Flowers! I planted 600 bulbs last fall, so there WILL be flowers. And my birthday! I’ll be 45. It will be a good year.
.-= Riin´s last post … New stuff =-.
@Riin – wait are you also a pisces?
@Shawna – renewal sounds wonderful. Happy sigh.
@Emily – oh! Unlocking! Yes. Exactly. That. Thank you.
Yep, a pisces and a snake.
.-= Riin´s last post … New stuff =-.
@Havi, @Riin — yay Pisces! I was born in late June, but my moon is in Pisces. Beauty. (P.S. I’m a snake, too.)
You know, I’m very glad to have been asked what I’m looking forward to in March…because I had to really think about it. I think I’ve been keeping my head down a bit too much, these days. It’s good to look forward to things!
So, I’m looking forward to the Spring Equinox, when we will decorate hard-boiled eggs with bright colors and wishes/seeds of hope for the unfolding year. Cozy family ritual!
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … Snowbound artist date =-.
Things I am looking forward to in March: First of all, February will be over! I’m not really into the whole February thing right now.
Also, March means the end of the school year here, so there will be at least a couple of weeks with no classes! Yay!
I’m also looking forward to going out of town a few times in March. I haven’t taken a trip since early January, and even though the trips I’m taking in March are really short, I’m excited to just go somewhere.
And finally, March means the days will keep getting longer and the weather will get warmer. I’m hoping that by April I won’t need to use my heater anymore.
March means tulips. Tulips! Also, Atlas’ birthday. But mostly tulips.
Still chuckling at the social media video. Also because eeyuh makes me think of Eeyore, and thinking of Eeyore always makes me smile.
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … sir atlas =-.
In March I will light all the candles I’m saving/hoarding “in case” we are hit by another DC Blizzard & lose power for nearly a week. I will then light the fire in the fireplace with the “in case” wood. And then dance.
Seems to me there’s a lot of positive energy emanating from crankiness.
Also I always remember as a one of my life lessons that I failed “Home Ec” because my grandmother taught me to use my hand to measure with.
Great stuff here. Thanks
.-= Julianne Fuchs-Musgrave´s last post … Hearts of hope, hearts of peace. =-.
Sorry it took me a day to comment, but I’ve been traveling through the wonderful and scenic airports of our great land the past day. Wanted to just say Thank You for posting our video, and for the comments. Glad it was able to bring a smile or two!
Ee-yuh!
Okay, fellow Pisceans out there: http://tinyurl.com/45h8cm
Hint: There may be tiaras involved.
.-= chicsinger simone´s last post … royal eagle valentine bonbon brooch =-.
So I’ll get a tiara for my birthday? That would be different.
.-= Riin´s last post … New stuff =-.