Pretty Rainbow!

Fill in the blanks

I gave ______ a black eye by opening a ____ and hitting ________ in the _____ with it.

No, none of that is shadow, and there is no makeup on it.

A Word from Bridget

Word of the Day

Bathmophobia. I have it. Why? Well, since you asked....

When I was a junior at BYU many moons ago, I was walking down the stairs in the business building. For those of you familiar with that building, they go all the way from the street level at the 4th floor to the street level at the 1st floor in the middle of the building, and hundreds of people pass through them on their way from classes and apartments on that side of campus around the top of the hour, since many classes end on or around the hour. So I'm walking home one day, going down the stairs all graceful and cute-like, and as I take a step downward, somehow I miss the step, and fall forward. I try to correct myself, but feel myself about to fall on my knees, and probably slide down the stairs on my face. I grab the railing just in the nick of time and skid down the stairs on my shins. Which was so much better. I think the bruise was bone deep. The discoloration didn't completely go away for several years, and if I look closely I can still see a scar. But the pain wasn't the worst part. I've got a fairly high threshhold for pain. And in my world bruises and scars are cool, so that wasn't the worst part either.

The worst part was that at least 50 or so people around me witnessed my fall. About three guys came running up going, "are you okay? Are you okay?" My roommates told me later that I failed, because I should have swooned and weakly said no, and asked the cutest one to carry me home. Instead I limped to my feet and tried to look like I wasn't about die from the pain, and then did my best impression of a dignified hobble down the stairs, out of the building, and to my apartment, which was a five or ten minute walk away.

And then there was the time that I did a cartoon fall down some narrow carpeted stairs in an old house in Bellingham. As in I slipped off my feet into the air, and then my whole body slammed down onto the stairs and I slid bump,bump, bump, bump, bump down the stairs to the bottom. And then I was in shock. So I laughed. And then cried. And then laughed again.

So I think my bathmophobia is justified. And now you know why you might occasionally see me inching down the stairs like I justed learned how to walk.

My Dreams Are Funnier Than Your Dreams

I sometimes have really vivid dreams. And often my dreams tell me things about how I'm feeling. For instance, I have a dream where I am driving a car, adn I am going really fast on a curvey road, and when I pump on the brakes (usually on my way downhill), the brakes don't work. That means I am feeling very, very stressed out.

Also there is a dream I have where I float upwards and am flying over the neighborhood, and it feels very cool, and I think about where I want to go, and who I could spy on, and then I keep floating up and up and I can't stop floating up. Kind of like in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory when Charlie and his grandfather eat something that makes them float, and they float upwards towards the fan, and they have to belch their way back down. Except I can't figure out how to get back down, and I get all panicky. That usual means I'm anxious about something.

My other dream that indicates general ookiness in my life is the one where I dream there is a spider either on me, on the wall near me, or hanging over me. That dream I usually wake up from convinced that it was not a dream, and I jump out of bed, turn on all the lights, and worry that it crawled into my sheets, and debate if I want to get back into bed. And then eventually I usually realize it was a dream spider. Sometimes I am kind of doubtful. And once I made it all the way out of my room, down the stairs to get the vacuum, and back up before I realized that perhaps the spider I wanted to vacuum up was not real.

Remember MASH?

Not the tv show, which I also enjoyed. The game. You know, "Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House?" I found it online. It's good times. And I played. The results? Surprisingly close to real life.

"You will live in Apartment.You will drive a pink station wagon.You will marry Hugh Jackman and have 6 kids.You will be a teacher in Italy."

Three Truthes and a Lie

I was reading a blog today that made me think of the game three truthes and a lie. It's one of those fun get-to-know-you games, or even get-to-know-you-better games. See, what happens is someone tells you for things. I bet you can't guess where this is going. Three of the four things are truthes, and the other is a lie. And people have to guess which one is the lie. It's harder to play with a group that knows you. It's surprisingly easy to play with my teenagers at work. I think I shall have to play it with them again soon.

So here's my three truthes and a lie. See if you can guess:
1. I have fired a gun.
2. I minored in Public Management.
3. ET was my favorite movie growing up
4. I don't know how to swim.

Two Things That are Unforgettable

1. Jack Johnson. He makes me happy. And all the thoughts and memories associated with his music are happy ones. You can't have a fight with someone with Jack Johnson on the radio.

2. My dimples. I saw the photographer from a wedding I was in a several years ago at an event, and he came up and asked me my name. I told him where he remembered me from and he said he couldn't forget dimples like mine. And no, he was not hitting on me. I just have the most adorable smile in the world, so it's hard not to let it draw you in.

I Stopped and Smelled the Flowers. And the Cows.

Every year in Skagit Valley they have a month-long festival called the Tulip Festival. There are flower fields galore in the valley that bloom all throughout the month of April. Of course they can't control the weather so you never know when the best weekend to go is until it is there. This weekend was not the best weekend, although there was still plenty to do and see. Only SOME of the fields were in bloom, thanks to the magic of green houses and people with green thumbs, as opposed to my black thumb. But really I only needed one field of tulips to keep my happy. Here's a sample of the beauty of Washington:

Yes, this is the magic that is my photography skills.

Totally intentional and a sample of my usual skill. Because of what I've been told has been an unusually cold spring, the daffodils were still in full bloom. I'm told this is unusual for this late spring.
There were tourist traps---er, quaint shops galore, with witty people managing them.
There was a field of white we passed.

Turns out, it was a whole field of geese. And they flew away, like a scene out of The Birds. I feared for my life.

Also there were cute children. These ones happened to belong to us. Okay, to W. But I am claiming them anyways.

Baby Girl, Jumping Bean, and their aunt supplied me with plenty of cute pictures.


Not only did we go see lots and lots and lots of flowers, but we went to a barn with actual animals to pet them. We saw a cow, some miniature ponies, chickens and their chicks that were underfoot but managed not to get trampled, at least while we were there, bunnies, baby horsies, and goats. Baby Girl was not having any of this petting stuff. She thought we were all just a little crazy for thinking this was a good plan. But she did point them out and even match some animal sounds with the animals. Jumping Bean and his auntie were dubious at first but soon relaxed and got friendly with the bunnies and the goats. I personally got to touch my first cow head. It was quite exhillerating, let me tell you.

This whole grand adventure happened today in perfect 70ish degree weather. It was a beautiful glorious day and we all were ready for a nap on the car ride back. W wouldn't let me take mine, though. Something about the driver being conscious. So I settled for allowing her to mock my cd collection instead.

Give Me a Sticker!

I have realized recently that I respond really well to reward systems. My mom was smart and figured that out when I was little. If she really wanted me to do something I would get a sticker for each success. I was an enthusiastic participant in Read and Lead every year because it involved filling in a chart and tracking your progress, and prizes. I like tracking progress for prizes almost as much as I like writing lists. If you let me write a list to track my progress and then give me a prize for it I will be so excited. Today I was googling "life organization" and I came across a site called joesgoals. It's pretty simple but it lets you enter in goals and makes a chart where you can put little check marks. You can put in habits to break and habits to build, and the bad habits get frowny faces while the good habits get smiley faces. You receive or loose points depending on if it's a good or bad habit you are feeding. You can give goals more points if they are ones that you really should (or should not) be doing. If there were stickers and prizes involved it would be better, but I am strangely drawn to the idea all the same. It might help me not to procrastinate.

I'm still trying to decide what all to put on the goal list, but so far I have:

To do:
1. Exercise
2. Read Books
3. Blog
and other ones I'm not telling you.

To not do:
1. Eat Out

That's my only frowny face. I feel like there's more that I could put there, but I can't think of it right now. I think most of the habits I want to break I put in positive terms.

They had a list of goals other people had recently used, and I found it amusing/alarming to see that among goals listed was brush teeth. I didn't see any with the goal to shower. Maybe they don't know how smelly they are because their breath is so bad.

Some runners-up for my goals:
1. Watch a show with british accents
2. Weekly massages
3. Bake Cookies
4. Pedicure
5. Be rich

Now I get to go put a checkmark next to "blog."

Why do today what you can do tomorrow?

I have been thinking about posting a blog today about procrastination, but I kept putting it off and now it's really late, so I'll post it tomorrow.

To keep with yesterday's theme and hold you over, here's a snappy little tune to get stuck in your head. Plus it's a throwback to the good old days, when commercials all had snappy jingles.

Pop Goes Your Internal Music Player

If I have it stuck in my head, you should have it stuck in your head.



You are Gold and Silver.

Someone Didn't Get the "It's All About Me" Memo

You know how they say that the qualities that drive you crazy most in other people are often qualities you yourself possess? Well, I had a conversation today that is a prime example of this. Someone I know was complaining to me that certain people never thank her or appreciate her for what she does for them. This is the conversation we had in my head:

Her: It's just irritating that I do so much for them and they don't even seem to notice.
Me: Ah, like when you don't notice how much I do for you!
Her: I just don't see the point of doing all this work when it's not bringing me joy in life and they're not even appreciating all my work.
Me: Like you.
Her: They have no clue how hard I work for them.
Me: Like you.

This probably means that I don't appreciate people for all the hard work they do in my behalf and that I never say thank you, doesn't it? It's a vicious circle.

Creepy Guy Night

So apparently Monday is creepy guy night at my local grocery store. Just ran out to get a few things, and there was a creepy guy on almost every aisle. And one hot cashier. Who made up for the creepy guy that was two feet shorter than me and gave me the up and down on my way back to the front of the store.

Childhood Memories Mangled Before My Eyes

1. Alvin and the Chipmunks
2. Garfield
3. Another Garfield
4. Carebears with funny shaped heads.
5. Scooby Doo with a new theme song. (although this one is not as objectionable as others)
6. Strawberry Shortcake with a funny shaped head
7. Knight Rider with a KITT voice that is very un-british (Sorry, Val, it's just not working for me).
8. 90210 the next generation. It's DEAD. Let it be dead.

Why must they murder my childhood joys?

How You Know if You are a Good Listener

When I was about 5, we went on some kind of trip as a family. All I knew was that we were parked in a line of cars, and my mom kept saying the Fairy was coming. I was very excited. She said, "look, there's the Fairy!" Try as I might, I could not see any pretty winged ladies with pink tutus flying towards me. I must have been looking in the wrong direction. And then we drove onto a special boat to cross the water to get to our destination. I was listening the best I could, but my little 5 year old ears did not understand what my mom was saying. Of course, as an adult, I'm a super good listener, as I'm sure you can all attest. Since I'm SO good at listening, I will now impart my wisdom upon you.

Some things most adults don't know about being a good listener:

1. You should spend time hearing what the person is communicating to you instead of formulating your next question in your head, or deciding what shirt you should wear today. There's an exercise where you listen to a person talk for one minute about a given topic, and your objective is to repeat back what they have said to them at the end of that minute and see if you got what they were saying. Sounds easy, right? Not always so. Especially if you're paying attention to your inner dialogue instead of them.

2. You should ask lots of questions. Try this: the next time you are talking to someone who is spilling out their guts to you, see how long you can keep the conversation going by asking good questions. You would be amazed how long a person can talk if they feel you are genuinely interested in hearing their thoughts.

3. If you are paying attention, you might notice that someone is trying to spill their guts to you. Put down the remote. Back away from the online chess game. You can do it. I know you can.

3. If the person expresses a feeling you consider a little whacky, don't try to frame that feeling for them by putting it in a context you understand. You should try to find out where on earth they are coming from. Because in their world that feeling makes sense. This is where the questions come in.

4. I know you think you are the Yoda of our day and time, but most likely the person pouring out their guts to you is not asking you to solve their problems. So knock it off. It's irritating. Look for key phrases like "what should I do" or, "what would you do?" If you don't hear those phrases, it is quite possible that person is just talking it out. Also it's possible they are not complete idiots and can see the solution right in front of their face. And you listening for five minutes to their problem does not give you the complete picture, so you are just acting like a big, know-it-all jerk offering a really stupid solution.

Happy 100th Babble!

This is my 100th post. I know that you are glad that you have been gifted with 100 posts of my wisdom, wit, and whatever-else-starts-with-a-"w." I know that it has made my own life richer to bask in the glory that is my superior writing skills.

Things I have learned through my blogging experience:
1. There is a code to make a word a link. And I know it. Also there is a code that is slightly different to make it open in another window.
2. Youtube gives you a code to embed their videos in your blogs and websites. That is so totally sweet of them.
3. At least 3 of my friends love me enough to read my blog on a daily basis. The love of my other friends is questionable.
4. It's really hard to not post hate letters to the person you are mad at on your blog. But not impossible. So far.
5. I like lists.
6. If you comment on someone's group texting habit and how it is ghetto you should not then make them read the post above it the next day when they come over. Because they will scroll down. Sure, they'll keep speaking to you. But you won't get texts from them anymore. At least not often.
7.
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10. Lists aren't satisfying if I make it past 5 and I don't make it to ten.