Winter Pride

I have owned a car for approximately 2.5 years and I'm beginning to notice a trend. Every winter, when the snow begins to fall in mass quantities, it takes a bit of time (which I rarely allot for) to brush off your car, warm it up, the whole deal. I've noticed that I get a feeling in my heart when I accomplish all this and get on my way. Pride. I feel proud of the fact that I'm the one brushing off my car. I scrape the windows, I shovel around the tires when I get stuck, I push the heaps of heavy, white snow off the windows so I can see. I'm doing it. Something swells in my heart when I'm in a parking lot preparing my car for the road and I look around to see scores of men doing the same thing, while their wives or girlfriends sit in the car warming up. Don't get me wrong, if the time comes when a gentleman offers to brave the cold on my behalf, I'm sure I'll gladly take him up on his offer. Until that time however, I will smile as I scrape.

Spell Check

There are some words that, no matter how hard I try, I can never remember how to spell. In general, I'm a fairly proficient speller. I have a couple tricks that help me remember how to spell certain words like "piece". The word pie is in piece. Piece of pie. That's how I know it's p-i-e and not p-e-i. There are some words that when I say them in my head they sound mispronounced but it helps me remember how to spell them. Like environment. In my head it sounds like envi-ron-ment, reminding me to include the 'n'. Still, there are words that no trick has helped. It doesn't matter how many times I misspell it, I'm destined to never know the correct spelling for sure. Here's a sampling:

Field-even typing it out I had to delete the misspelled word and do it again. This one gets me every time and drives me up the bend! I never know until I write it out and then I know because it looks wrong. Why I can't just picture it in my head before I write it down, I don't know.

Psychic-A customer at the store yesterday was looking for a book on psychic readings, I went to the computer while she stayed in the section and it took me forever to come up with the correct spelling. I kept coming up with physics books. So infuriating!

Vacuum-This word always looks wrong to me. Misspelled, correctly spelled, it doesn't matter. It looks weird to me so I alway just spell it with 2 c's and 2 u's, even though 75% of the time I'm fairly certain it's the wrong spelling.

Awkward-For a long time, I spelled this word 'ackward' because that's what I thought the correct spelling was. Truly. I thought other people were misspelling it.

I'm sure there are more that I misspell but these are a few that I can think of off the top of my head. Until next time, happy creating, happy writing, and may you know that you're not the only one who spells that word rong.

Slinky-It!

As previously shared, I am a big fan of Post-It's. Given that fact, it would be ridiculous of me to not share this wonderful video! It combines my love of moving Slinky's back and forth and Post-It's! What's not to love?

Hesitate

I've started and stopped a new post a half dozen times over the past couple weeks. I seem to have many things on my mind recently but I haven't thought through most of them enough to compile a coherent post. My guess is that I'll end up creating two or three posts within a matter of a day and a half. However, today is not that day so you'll just have to be patient.

The In-Betweens

As the first snow falls outside my tiny windows, I am reminded of my favorite season. It's not fall or winter. It's not even the ever popular season summer. My favorite season is the in-betweens.

My favorite season is the time between the seasons. When fall is just about here and the air acquires a certain crispness. When spring is just on the horizon and you begin to glimpse sprigs of green grass peaking through the snow. The times during the year when you feel like the weather is just about to turn a corner-those times are my favorite.

I'm not sure if it's anticipation of something new or the milder version of the season that is to come that appeals to me. But every year, when I see those first snowflakes fall, I take a deep breath and savour the in-between.

Story Hour

There are many reasons I love children's books. They take me back to a time where going to the library was so exciting(You mean we can just TAKE these books home?). When people read to me-my parents, my teachers, any one. I remember loving being read to. It was so relaxing and I can still see myself braiding my friends hair as we sat and listening to our teacher read us a story.

I've been working at Chapters for a little over a month now and my love for children's books has been renewed. I work mostly in the Children's Department(the department almost every other employee hates) and I am loving it. It's the most colorful part of the store, I can hear children of all ages exclaiming over books and, perhaps my favorite part, I get to talk to kids about the books I love. Over the past weeks, I have discovered some fantastic books that I am coming to love and some that I have loved for a while now.

I thought it'd be nice to share some of my favorites and maybe hear from you as to what your favorite childhood books are, either for you or, if you have them, your own kids.

1. Lost and Found-Oliver Jeffers

Oliver Jeffers is a favorite author of mine and this is the first book of his that I fell in love with. It's a lovely story of friendship and the illustrations are as beautiful as they are charming. Jeffers is the author of The Way Back Home, How To Catch a Star, The Incredible Book Eating Boy and most recently The Great Paper Caper.

2. The OK Book-Amy Krouse Rosenthal

This is the first book of two from Rosenthal that made my list. This book encourages kids that it's okay not to be the best at everything. The little stick boy shares about all the things that he tries that he's just "ok" at(sharing, drawing, somersaults, etc.) and how he knows that one day he'll be great at something! Now that I write it out it kind of sounds like the kid has low self esteem, but I assure you, it's not like that. It's quickly becoming a favorite!

3. Arnie The Doughnut-Laurie Keller

This is one of those books that both kids and adults find funny. Arnie has lived at the bakery with the belief that when people buy a doughnut they are, essentially, adopting that doughnut. So, understandably, he is thrilled when a gentleman purchases him and takes him home. He is horrified when he finds out the man's true intentions! This book made me laugh more than twice!

4. Little Oink-Amy Krouse Rosenthal

Little Oink is the third in a collection of three books that I love! Little Pea and Little Hoot are its predecessors. All three focus on a little animal (or veggie) that are not typical. Little Pea has to eat his candy so he can get spinach for dessert, Little Hoot's parents have to convince him to stay up really late when all he wants to do is go to bed at a reasonable hour and Little Oink just wants to tidy up. They are the cutest little books that come in hardcover and in a pack of board books!

A Sporting Good Time

When I come upon a group of people talking about sports I have a quick conversation with myself. It usually goes a little something like "...*sigh*...okay, well I have nothing to contribute to this conversation so I'll just be on my way." or sometimes "Can they not talk about anything else?" but even still there's something very appealing about it to me. A group of people, who may not have much else in common, come together around this team of people, around a sport that they love and support it whole heartedly!

I usually enjoy sports the most when I'm with at least one other person who really loves that sport. One Sunday afternoon I watched Phil Mickelson win the Masters with my brother in-law who loves golf! It was such a great afternoon and it's days like that that make me want to really get into a sport.

Now I've tried to commit to following a sport enough to actually have a conversation with someone. I thought "Ya know, I'd like to have an opinion on whether I think that player or team has a chance of going all the way....maybe I should educate myself!" But inevitably something gets in the way. Usually, that something is time. Following a sport takes such a time commitment and I'm just not sure I want it that bad.