Out of the Starting Gates

Well, today is New Years. Can you believe it, Bob? Bob. That is what I have decided to name you, my non-existent reader(s). At least for today. You never know about tomorrow. You may Archibald or Genevieve. We’ll see.
 
Anywho, today is New Years, and with it comes the New Year’s Resolutions. I keep reading of inspired people doing 365 projects. Have you heard of these, Bob? I’m sure you have. It’s nearly impossible not to. They are everywhere. All these people with unique and inspiring ideas…365 days of sewing, 365 days of cooking, 365 days of whatever. It makes me… depressed, inspired, lonesome, and overwhelmed. I have never been good with discipline, diligence, or perseverance. 365 resolutions have rarely made it past the first week.Once a month resolutions don’t go so hot either. But I wish I were capable. I also wish I were capable of having some great, inspiring, unique idea for a 365 project. But I can’t, because I have no original thought.

Like Marisa of A New Dress A Day. Or the Julie and Julia Blog/Book. Or my new favorite: 365 Days of Goodness. I stumbled on that one yesterday, after watching a semi-unrelated video on youtube. Here, I’ll share it with you….erm, can I do that? I’ll find out.

Mwahahahahaha! I can! Hooray! So, yesterday, immediately after watching this video, my 2 yr old niece asked me for food. I went to the kitchen and made her a sandwich. And then I teased her with it. Not for long. Really. Just two small evasive actions when she reached for the plate. At which point she promptly sat down on the kitchen floor and cried. And I realized that I am a monster.

Normally this sort of thing ends in giggles….when it doesn’t involve food. However my niece suffers from the family malady of becoming emotional and irrational where food is concerned. Teasing with food is an unacceptable course of action. How could I have forgotten??? – I have the severest case in the whole family! I’m a horrible, horrible person.

Anywho. Back to the topic. Starting Gates. New Year. 365 Projects. There are a lot of these I would like to do:

365 Days of Goodness
365 Days of Sewing
365 Days of Cooking/New recipes
365 Days of Blogging
365 Days of Letter Writing

But, as I may have mentioned, Bob, diligence is not my strong suit. Yet what are New Years Resolutions for, if not colossal disappointments? And I would, truly, like to be better. So here goes. Now that the New Year is nearly upon us, and we are nearly out of the Starting Gates, so to speak, I shall write my resolutions. Normally, I do these privately. So that no one else will know how badly I fail at them. But since you, Bob, have no misconceptions about my poor work ethic, self motivation, discipline, and diligence…why not?

My 2012 New Years Resolutions:

1. No More Smoking. (I don’t actually smoke. So, it should be pretty easy, right? I put this on every year so I will at least follow through with one of them.)

2. Slim down. (I’m not fat. Truly, I’m not. In fact, I rather think I’m fairly well proportioned. But it was rather depressing, when a few days ago, I went to go buy a pair of boots and discovered my calves are too thick to fit in any of them. I cried. So, you see, I’m not some girl complaining about being fat, Bob. I’m not. Just a touch more lean, is my goal.)

3. Run twice a week. (I hate running. With a fiery passion that burns deep in my soul, I hate it. But I love the idea of it. The idea of pushing yourself. The idea, that, after a long hard day, or when I’m really stressed, that slipping on a pair of tennis shoes and hitting the road will help make things all better. And I love the way I feel after I run. I love the soreness that says I’ve done something and the buoyant feeling in my spirit. And as I KNOW I will never have the diligence…in this year, at least… to run every day, I think two times a week is fairly ambitious and relatively reasonable.)

4. Blog three times a week. (Meh, we’ll see how this one does. I don’t have high hopes. You probably shouldn’t either.)

5. Try 12 new recipes. (One a month. That’s do-able, budget-wise, right? We’ll see.)

6. Finish at least 4 sewing projects. (One a season. An improvement, but at baby steps rate.)

7. Start Dance lessons at some point this year. MUST DO THIS. MUST. It’s not too late. I’m not too old, dag nab it.

8. Write a letter, post card, or note, every day this year. All 366 of them. (This one is a bit ambitious. Quite a bit. But I’ll try. I’ll even try to blog about it! Hahaha, we’ll see about that one.)

9. Take more pictures of me. (The amount of pictures I’m in recently are rather few. Partly because I’m usually behind the camera and partly because I don’t own a camera. But I’d like some documentation that I exist.)

10. Eat healthier. (The last couple of years, I’ve eaten really healthy and loved it. Up until about six months ago, and I don’t love it.)

11. 366 Days of Goodness … I’d like to try to do something nice every day. No matter big or small, or for family, friend, or foe. Or stranger, or acquaintance, but that didn’t fit in with the lovely little phrase there. It may work, it may not. Big is not likely to happen often, as I have little to no money… but, still, I’d like to try. Also, blog about it.

12. Read at least 6 books off of my bookshelf. (Two and a half years ago, I went a little crazy at a used book sale – as many books as you can fit into a brown paper bag for 5 dollars – I happen to have this odd talent of being able to fit tons of things into small places. Also, I bought four bags and they gave them to me for the price of three. So I got roughly 100 books at about 6 cents a book. Oh happy day? Oh happy day indeed! But…I still haven’t gotten the chance to read most of them.)

13. Have a concrete plan for school by the end of the year. Applications in. Non-negotiable. I am not a loser. I will finish my degree. I’m not calling people without a degree losers. I’m arguing with the voice in my head that says I, personally, will be a loser, if I do not finish. There are plenty of fine, successful, intelligent people without degrees. I am simply not one of them.

14. Mend some broken relationships in my family.

15. Pick up some forgotten friendships.

16. Get my hair trimmed. Seriously. It’s been since August of 2010. Needs to be done.

17. Be able to do 25 Push ups in a row by 2013. Because That would just be cool. How many push ups can I do now, you ask? Well, about 3, Bob. On a good day. Haha, ah, that’s awful.

Well, I feel like I’ve forgotten something important, but oh well. Seventeen is a nice number to stop with.

The Last Oreo

I love mint oreos. I only ever eat them with my mom, though. Whenever I go home for a visit, we curl up together, each with our own books, a cup of milk between us, and a pack of mint oreos. It’s a tradition.

For Christmas, my mom gave me two packages of mint oreos (Oh, Happy Day!). And I’ve blown  through both of them before New Years.  To be fair, I did share….some…probably almost half of them…probably. Anywho, today, after dinner, I thought, “Oooo… Oreos would make a GREAT dessert!”

And there was only one, single, solitary oreo left. This alone, is a sad thing. However, the real issue came when I had to decide… to twist or dip? You see, I alternate every few cookies. It gave me serious pause. It was truly a conundrum.

In the end, I decided to twist, eat half of the filling, and dip the other half. Genius, right? No? You don’t think so? You think I’m ridiculous?! Your monkey’s uncle is ridiculous! I’m a genius.

Photo courtesy of Amandeleine

Bloggity Blog

So this morning, while getting ready for church, I was left thinking about the word dented. Don't ask me why. I don't know. Or if I do, I don't know I do. Does that make sense? Of course it does.

So anywho, dented. What troubles me about this particular word on this particular morning, (I just about almost accidentally typed 'mountain' instead of 'morning' which is ironic because I live on an EXTREMELY flat piece of land. Very very very flat. It makes me cringe.) is its pronunciation. Is it 'din-ted' or 'den-tid'. I need to know. Someone enlighten me please.

Well, so much for consistent...

Gee, I'm great at this whole be consistent thing, aren't I? A month (or so) without a post. Oh well. It's been a very busy month (or so).

Also, I just noticed that FOUR people commented on my last post. FOUR! None of whom I know! I didn't even realize....I mean, I didn't know...I'm absolutely flabbergasted (good word, right?)...I'm grounded...or floored...however the stupid phrase goes. I really didn't think anyone would read this. Especially not after just one post. What a strange feeling.

I've so much to write about what has happened since my last post, I just don't know how to narrow it down! Which leaves me with very little to write. At the moment, the pressure to write all is too much for me to handle so I'm going to re-post a note I once wrote on myspace, then later transferred to facebook. It is from about three years ago now, when I was fresh out of high school, had just moved in with my then single sister (she is now married with baby number two on the way), and just started my first year of college. It is titled 'Pancakes.' Enjoy!

Thursday, March 13th, 2008
Mood: Cantankerous


So I woke up this morning at 8 a.m. on my own, without an alarm clock! This phenomenon has become an ever-increasing event on days when I’m able to sleep in, which by the way, today, I didn’t need to roll out of bed until 11 o’clock, 11:30 if I felt like pushing it (which I always do). And today my inner clock (which seems to be a little cuckoo lately) decides 8 am is the time I need to get up. I think this is a side effect (affect? I’ve never been able to figure it out. . .English teachers the world over have permission to be very ashamed.) of my everyday waking time of roughly 5:30-6:30 am, depending on the day.


What happened to being able to sleep well past noon???? What happened to being able to get as little sleep or as much sleep as I want and being just fine???? I’ve heard that this transition is called growing up, becoming a responsible adult and I’d just like to say that it is without a doubt the stupidest idea I ever had!!! I never should have left the glorious year behind when I was ten years old. I should have just stayed put and been happy. I’m telling you now, the "freedom" you long for in high school is definitely NOT all it’s cracked up to be. Ugh! Would you listen to me??? I’m even talking like an adult. You know, one of those adults who’s always telling you to enjoy those years because they’re the best years of your life? The disease is taking over!!!! AAAaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!!! Run for your life!!! Your sweet, semi-carefree life!!!!!


Anywho, *deep breath in. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .starting to turn blue. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .world fading away. . . . . . . . . . . . . .I think something might be wrong . . . . . . . . Oh Yeah!!. . . .Deep breath OUT!* I got up at eight this morning and instead of trying to go back to sleep (which I could have, because I still had at least one snooze left on my internal clock before it would decide to fight back) I rolled out of bed and decided to make breakfast for my sister who didn’t have to be at work until nine. So I get up, I do some dishes, I make the pancake batter, feed and water the dog, and when I hear her get up I ask her "How many pancakes do you want sis?" And that is the precise moment when my hopes and dreams of being a good sister, making breakfast, and just generally being a superhero status roommate got blasted into oblivion.


"I don’t really want any pancakes, sis. Thanks though."


*Gasp* " You don’t . . *gulp*. . .want my pancakes???"


"Well, it’s just that lately eating breakfast has kinda made me a little nauseous. Sorry."


*Begin hyperventilating* "You Have to eat pancakes!!! I made them just for stinkin’ YOU!!!!!"


"Well, I guess I’ll eat a little bitty one."


So I made her a pancake. Granted, though on the medium-small side, it wasn’t exactly itty-bitty, but it WAS beautiful. You see, I don’t just make pancakes. . . I make really awesome pancakes. Like pancakes in the shape of a heart or a teddy bear or a smiley-face. (One time I made Drew a teddy bear pancake for breakfast. Drew is my eight year old next door neighbor and I’m his favorite girl. Well, me and his mom, he says. He calls me sissi and I love him so. He has me wrapped right around his little finger. Anyways, Drew can sometimes be a picky eater and almost never finishes a whole meal, at least not that I’ve seen, but then that’s typical for an eight year old. Anyway, he originally didn’t even want breakfast until, of course, he found out I made them in shapes. So I made him a teddy bear and he totally ate the whole thing! I think this may have been due to the fact that it wasn’t just eating breakfast, it was "HEY look!!! I just tore off it’s head!!!!" but it totally had me feeling like momentary pretend supermom!) Anyway, this time, I poured my heart and soul into that stupid pancake, I made it artistic. It had beautiful swirls that would have made Da Vinci cry, the beauty of that pancake I made for her.


Well, that pancake sits there for a full ten minutes before, as she runs past on her way out the door she pinches off a little bitty piece and says "Mphanks Shissh." as she exits stage left. Needless to say I am heartbroken. And that is why I’m sitting here on the couch, sipping from a wine glass (filled with cranberry juice), drowning my sorrows in very gooey chocolate-chip pancakes, and typing the tragedy of the morning out to you all.


Thank you and good day.

Let's Start At The Very Beginning...

Hi, I'm Miriam, the proud (and somewhat doubtful) owner of this blog. I love to craft, sew, dance, and spend time with family, but am unfortunately a bit of a lazy-bones and procrastinator. But I'm working on changing that. Note the title of this blog :)

I'm 21 years old and I've just dropped college for a bit (SCARY). However, as an out of state student, me and my future sat down for a chat about my student loans, did a bit of math, and realized neither of us would be happy if I did not take a break for a bit. I was a Psych Major, but what I would really like to pursue is dance. But I've been a bit of a coward about it. I have all these arguments in my head about how dance is a nice hobby but there is a bit of a time limit on a career so physical, it's just not practical. Not to mention I've never been formally trained. And starting this late in the game? Uber scary. Has it even been done before? I don't know, but I've made up my mind I'm going to try.

Also, I've just moved from my college town, to live with my sister, her husband, my niece, and my cousin Sarah. Talk about a full house! I moved because I missed my family and I got a much better paying job here, which I could really use. I'm sharing a room with my niece, which makes me the new night nanny, so that's fun...Actually, I honestly don't mind. Every second I get to spend with that little girl is a blessing.

So here is what this blog is going to be about: My journey in Dance (miserable failure, though it may be), my life in the middle of nowhere, and my attempt to be more responsible, proactive, and consistent. And perhaps a few crafting projects along the way.