Art, Facts and Chickens

Sara's mind is a wonderful, random and fascinating place. Sara is brilliant, perceptive and hilarious. I love watching her mind in action. This is just a small glimpse into her mind. Enjoy the ride. Wherever it takes you. These are some of the gems in her journal. Give me your money or else. When I am fifty, I will have been alive for awhile. I can't wait until I am nineteen and in college. My brain is filled with facts. Once I read a book filled with adjectives, nouns, pronouns, adverbs and other grammar. I like spinach but not for dessert. Mom told Christian to clean up but the crayons remained on the desk anyway. Speak and reason with them. Sara, I believe one day you will be the chief of the group. For a brief moment, the fairies imagined migrating with the beetles to an arid place. Sometime between now and when I die, I will go on a great adventure. Even as a grown man, Edward loved pillow fights. As a poet, I write many poems. I don't really remember what a strait is. I already know decimals. Everyone alive is breathing. I don't what the words "financial", "finality" or "annul" mean. Striped cheetahs don't exists, but wouldn't it be cool if they did? Fairies are definitely not make-believe. In a haunted house, there is a mad scientist's laboratory. A handkerchief is like a tissue. I cannot find a sentence for barnacle. We came back from our search with enormous piles of gold for everyone. Have you ever seen a scrawny kitten with an attitude? I will probably accomplish many things in my life. Always approach chickens calmly. Art, in my opinion, explains attitudes and ideas. Canadian, Chinese, Greek, Russian and nationality are a little hard to find sentences for. Lunar eclipses are very dangerous if you live near the sea. My dad marveled at how I tried and tried to startle him. I don't like to be trifled with. She decided to challenger herself this year. She wants to see how many vocabulary words she can use in one sentence. So far, her record is six. And the sentence made sense. At least, it did to Sara.

Three Little Words

I recently went on vacation with 2 friends from high school. We have been through it all together -first boyfriends, first breakups, college acceptances and rejections and all the associated drama, laughter and tears. They saw me through my mother's illness and death. We are all adults now with jobs, husbands, family and responsibilities. We were anxious to get away and have some laughs. We sat in the sun, caught up and reminisced. My friend posed an interesting question to us. Describe yourself in three words. I thought about it and came up with my three words. They came up with their 3 words. I was surprised to notice that my three words were negative. I focused on the things about myself that I didn't like - my weaknesses, faults and insecurities. They focused on their strengths. They focused on the parts of their lives that give them the most satisfaction. I always thought of myself as a happy person with a good life. And I do have a good life. I am surrounded by amazing friends and family. I have 2 healthy and wonderful kids. I have a husband I adore who loves and respects me. We are a team. We are blessed with what we have. We do not struggle to make ends meet. So, why did I immediately come up with 3 negative things? What does that say about me? I always thought I was the kind of person who looked on the bright side, saw the glass as half full, found the silver lining in everything. I try to find the good in everyone. I guess my point of view is a little darker when I am looking at myself. Life isn't black and white. People have strengths and weaknesses. We have good days and bad days. There are shades of grey in everyone's life. I just need to find the good in me a little more often. So, I came up with three new words for myself. The words themselves are not as important as what they say about me and how I think of myself.

I guess I am a work in progress. What are your three words?

The Christmas List

Everything and anything Christian sees nowadays goes on his list for Santa. I swear, if he ever sees an infomercial, he will be asking Santa for a George Foreman grill and a set of steak knives. Any store we go into, he begs and pleads to browse through the aisles, looking for inspiration. Luckily, he is 4 and pretty clueless most of the time. I take a picture with my phone and we move on. Sara, being 8 and pretty tech savvy with the memory of an elephant, is not so easily distracted. She is angling for larger, pricier items. She spends her free time browsing through catalogs and the Internet. Her wish list ranges from Wii and Nintendo DS games to books and American Girl accessories. Right now her list is up to three pages. Christian's list includes just about anything involving Legos that he will need an engineering degree to assemble and anything involving superheroes. In between adding items to his ever-growing list, he asks very pointed questions about Santa and his litmus test. How does Santa see everything? Do Santa and God talk to each other? What counts as naughty? If I am only a little naughty, do I still get presents? Does he take back presents if I am naughty after Christmas? Now the poor kid is really freaked out because he has God AND Santa keeping tabs on his antics. I'm liking having double reinforcements on my side.