Shoot! I dropped my knork!

Got this off of Jenae Walker's facebook profile. It reminds me of this, randomly.

"...not Louisiana, Paris France, New York or Rome!

But Gary Indiana Gary Indiana Gary Indiana, my home sweet home!!!!!!!!!"

On Google Anayltics you can see how many hits your blog or other website(s) gets every day. There's also a map feature which shows where these hits are coming from. Sometimes I get random hits from random places. Hence my friend whom I named Stan from Bangladesh. He looked at my blog probably just once, and probably by accident. He probably meant to google "Disney face" since that makes so much sense.

Anyhow, I was just posting this because I was recently in Indiana visiting my favorite oldest brother for 2 and a half weeks, and every time I saw the word "Indiana" I started singing that song from the Music Man ("Gary Indiana"). And then I saw three hits from Gary on Google Analytics. I was pretty psyched! Three hits is no mistake. :D

I think all the hits from Bloomington represent me blogging from Indiana, plus all the awesome support I get from Jason and Marcie. :)

I'm also randomly getting a lot of hits from St. Petersburg, Florida. Weird. ;)

Feelin' a little artsy...

This morning I saw an envelope in the trash, with a used liberty stamp winking at me. Before I could suppress the left side of my brain, I instantly thought, "What could I make with that?" visions of collages or cool art projects with used stamps came to my mind. So I clipped it out to save it for later.

The other day I was trying to get my room presentable for some relatives who are staying over (Del and Marylou, Julia, Fae) and as I looked through all the fabric I have left over from different projects I've done, I instantly thought, "Quilt!!" My deceased grandma Ellsworth made hundreds of them throughout her life, and I've wanted to make one for a while now. The best thing is that the fabric I have doesn't match or correspond, which makes my future quilt random, but that's how many of hers were.

It is such a wonderful feeling to create. I love this talk by Elder Uchtdorf, about creating and the satisfaction it brings.

Los Corazones

Today I was on Facebook (Oh, the wasted time!) and realized that I have probably a trillion pictures I've put up, and a majority of them are of me, and a majority of those pictures of me are taken by me, as you can clearly see by one extended arm in every one. And suddenly I felt very vain, a little ashamed, a little humbled. Let me try to explain this silly behavior. I'm not super photogenic, so when a picture of myself satisfies me, I get really excited and, naturally, put it right up on the internet. But with how many of those I've put up, that just continues to show us how much more time is wasted taking all these pictures, assuming most never make it to facebook or the blog, and are deleted. Or some are taken for ransom, and not deleted, which makes me upset. You know who you are.

While looking through these albums of Narcissism, I realized that I pretty much have one and only one pose: I like to make a quaint little heart with my hands. I also realized that this pose is struck occasionally in front of something that one wouldn't naturally be showing love to. Let me show you some examples.

"It's ok if you rip my head off, Mr. Lion. Because I just love you so much! You have such long, sharp, pretty nails! My friend Suzie has about a gazillion (mas o menos) bottles of nail polish. Before you kill me, maybe come over to her house with me this Saturday, and I bet she'd let you pick out a nice color. Not implying you aren't manly...er... " Hmmm. Good thing that conversation never happened. :)
One time a teacher of mine ran into a moose on a highway somewhere in Canada. The results? The top of the car was rolled up like tin foil, tiny bits of glass were embedded in her skin (which she still continued to find after months had passed), and the moose's gargantuan stomach plopping on her mother's lap. That story would be something nice to have for all those "get to know you" games.
In truth, this picture was taken to honor our friend we call Moose.Um... caption? ? ? Hmmm. Maybe a contest. Come up with a caption for this picture, please. The winner gets a hand-hug.

And in conclusion, I found a heart shaped blueberry. :)

...


And in real conclusion, I think it's super ironic that I started this post feeling bad for all the pictures of me everywhere, and then posted more pictures of me. Wow Dianey. You really are ridiculous.

Craig's house

*NOTE* This is meant to be a poem. Hooray!

Dusk.
air pleasantly warm
reminding us of a sun-baked day
steady creak of the porch swing
keeps time for a soft orchestra
of crickets
distant highways
and subtle wind
whispering wisely to ancient trees
your sharp intake of breath*
indicates the first sighting of a firefly
They ignite!
And gradually the field is a vast galaxy of stars
which live but a moment-
just long enough to fascinate
then, stifled out
one by one
in Night's thick blanket.
Darkness.
like nothing happened at all

*Alternate line: "you squeeze my hand/[indicating]"...
which do you like better? Please comment. :)
PS: The title does not imply a romantic relationship with "Craig". Just so you know.

brainstream inspired by a warm summer evening

*NOTE* This is not meant to be a poem. It's just pure randomness.

mosquitoes
heard one doing a free-style trumpet solo
expected his attack any second
if he had already had his fill, he'd have his mouth full
his mouth, which is, coincidentally, his trumpet
as I hear the strains of "oh, when the saints come marching in" I imagine he must be alerting the others of the upcoming social event of the evening
carnival with my blood as the most popular concession
I don't know much about the economy of the insect but I imagine them selling this rusty nectar for much more than its worth--it being so available
if not me
than perhaps another of the 5-point-something billion unsuspecting humans on this planet
I suppose they'd have to charge for all the trouble some brave or stupid soldiers go through in collecting the blood
after all there is the slightest chance that they will be smashed by my flying hand slapping skin
splattering thick life-juice upon my arm and new white t-shirt
leaving me with small white bumps
quickly becoming welts due to the lack of discipline in my scratching fingers
leaving the mosquito fiesta with one less participant

Showers, Presidents, and a Love List

I wish I had a computer in my time machine. I don't know how I could control for fogging up the screen, or water damage, but it would just be nice, because that's the place where all my best blogging ideas come. Usually with the time it takes to get out, get dry, get dressed, and run over to the nearest portal to this pseudo world, I've forgotten many of the things I wanted to say.

Sometimes when I read over past posts that I've written, I feel like this blog naturally has a negative or critical feel to it. I don't mean to apologize for things I've written, as I often feel them necessary in representing what's behind my smiling face. I just hope that people who read my blog, or people in general don't think I'm fake in my enthusiasm when they talk to me in person. That reminds me, it is said that one time someone accused Abraham Lincoln of being two-faced. He replied, "If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?" I've always liked that. :)

Anyway, who cares what people think about me?! [Interrobang.] I think I'm as happy as I seem, and I also think about and sometimes must vent about things. Just like anybody.

Today I love:

Maná (a Mexican band)

running with Suzie (it's an almost-miserable experience without her)

pot o gold cake*

fireflies

driving fast with my arm out the window

my shoes that velcro for no reason

kisses on the cheek from small children

kisses in general ;)

*this amazing flour-less chocolate cake with a layer of cheesecake cooked onto the top. We had it last night for dessert, and Paige left most of it in her bowl. Jason said, "If you don't like that, you're gonna hate heaven. The streets are paved with flour-less chocolate cake!"