Lavender Dreams, dilly dilly

I remember this song... having it sung to me... so very long ago...



Wow, he's cuter than I remember too... *blush*

I was walking in the park
dreaming of a spark
When I heard the sprinklers whisper
Shimmer in the haze of summer lawns
Then I heard the children singing
They were running through the rainbows
They were singing a song for you
Well it seemed to be a song for you
The one I wanted to write for you, for you

Lavender's blue, dilly dilly, lavender's green
When I am King, dilly dilly,
you will be Queen
A penny for your thoughts my dear
A penny for your thoughts my dear
I owe you for your love, I owe you for your love

Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue
When you love me, dilly dilly, I will love you
A penny for your thoughts my dear
A penny for your thoughts my dear
I owe you for your love, I owe you for your love

Lavender's green, dilly dilly, lavender's blue
When you miss me, dilly dilly, I did miss you
A penny for your thoughts my dear
A penny for your thoughts my dear
I owe you for your love, I owe you for your love

For your love

Don't forget to enter the Lavender Dreams giveaway over at the Domestic Witch!

Dare You

Pileated Woodpecker

I love this bird! I have been seeing them in our woods for a few years now, but this time, I caught him right in the yard on a dead stump! I wish I could have gotten some better photos, but I did get some video!

Hummingbird Cam!

And one is hatching! Check it out!

I made a video!

Lemonade, the Movie

I was lucky enough to already be on the email list and got a sneak peek of the whole film. Yes, in it's entirety. (Oh and I think if you sign up for email updates on Lemonademovie.com, you can still get access, but only for the next 48 hours or so...)

It's only about 36 minutes long, but it was so moving and inspiring... These are the stories of people who were pretty high up their respective corporate ladders, but not so high up they couldn't be knocked down, and they were. They were laid off, and they completely changed their lives around, started their own businesses, became more successful and happy than they ever were before...

One thing that stuck with me the most was a quote from one woman who lost her job and started her own yoga & health business... She said, "You don't have to quit your job to change your life; you can just incorporate more of what you love into your everyday, and it makes the biggest difference in the world."

Yes. That. I am not quitting my job. At this point I still need it. But more of what I love... Less of what I don't...

Finally

The NY State Senate has agreed to vote on the same-sex marriage bill before the year is through. Urge your senator to vote YES!

Two Good Videos

Interesting

From Scientific American Frontiers "Fat & Happy?"

"Parents who use restrictive eating practices ... actually have the children who eat the most."

"Restriction actually tends to foster consumption in the absence of hunger in children and increased interest in the very foods that parents think children shouldn't be eating, and conversely pressuring children to eat healthy foods tends to turn them off with respect to those foods."

"We need to help parents to understand what are reasonable portion sizes for children, so that parents have reasonable expectations about how much foods kids need to eat. ... We need to help parents to appreciate how children learn to like foods that aren't sweet and that aren't salty, and the way that you do that is you have to be pretty patient as a parent. We know that kids initially reject a lot of new foods unless they're sweet or salty, and it's only with repeated ... non-coercive presentations that kids learn to eat a lot of those foods."

~Leann Birch, Children's Eating Lab, Penn State U

"Without that kind of receptive parenting, our kids are caught in two terrible traps: first we say finish your food, then we put too much food on the plate. Then we say that high fat, high calorie snack foods are forbidden; so kids want to binge on them." ~Scientific American Frontiers narrator

I think this same principle works for other things as well. Restrict TV and video games, and force books and *educational activities* on them, and you get the typical school-aged child who "doesn't want to do anything but sit & watch TV or play video games!"

And even more interesting is that I think this applies to adults as well. We have all these voices in our heads, from our parents, our peers, the media..., and we restrict ourselves, but it doesn't work. Think about it. People are always going on diets, we make the same resolutions every New Year's Eve, there are hundreds of self-help books in bookstores and thousands of websites... But we fall off the diets and binge, we need to make the same resolution this New Year's Eve, and new books and websites keep popping up with new ideas...

Best commercial ever!

SQUEE! ^-^

Amazing

Galactic Center of Milky Way Rises over Texas Star Party from William Castleman on Vimeo.

Thank you all for your good luck vibes this morning... I think I did ok, but I won't know til the end of next week; so keep those fingers crossed...

TRAILER!

Oooo.... Look what I found!



I hope it doesn't get taken down....

Musical Monday

I thought for something new and exciting, that I'd try a Musical Monday! (In addition to my Mosaic Monday Bunday, because that's just too much fun to stop.)


What is Musical Monday all about? Well, you can go here to read all the gory details, but basically the aim here is to post a song that's been *moving* you lately.

Lately I've not been listening to too much *moving* music, but these songs got me moving right out of my chair to boogie around the room a bit...

BIGBANG 2NE1


Framing Hanley (hawt!)


Mika (adorable video!)


Lil' Wayne (Yeah same as Framing Hanley...)


The Chordettes


Yeah, I've got lollipops on the brain... XD

Tasty Tuesday

One of my favorite things to eat is guacamole; avocados are so yummy! Yesterday, after attempting (and failing) to take some leftover slices out of a bag to top my salad with, I discovered the easiest way to make it...


Fresh Guacamole (© Photographer: Graça Victoria | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

First of all you have to make sure your avocado is ripe; it should give a little when you gently squeeze it. Here's a great video on how to cut it: http://www.expertvillage.com/video/60547_chopping-fruit-avacado.htm I've never tried the *bath of water* thing, but I do know that the lime or lemon will help keep it from turning brown (which BTW, has no affect on the taste, only the appearance).

After you scoop it out and maybe slice or dice it a little smaller, stick it in a zip-lock bag with some garlic powder and lime juice; the measurements on this are to your liking. I also like to add some fresh ground pepper. Then zip up the bag and just mush the avocado up with your hands! The ingredients get mixed, the avocado gets mushed, and when you're done, you can snip the tip off a corner of the bag and squirt it on sammiches, individual chips or crackers, into hollowed out cherry tomatoes... whatever!

Obviously if your avocado isn't ripe enough, this won't work so well, and your best bet is to dice it for salads or slice it for your sammich... Also if you want to add other ingredients, like diced tomatoes & onions (traditional guac ingredients), you can squish your avocado out of the bag, into a bowl and add it then. Oh, here's another cute video and recipe! ^-^

Check out Jennifer's Balancing Beauty & Bedlam for more Tasty Tuesday tales!

It's All About The Climb

I stumbled across this video today and found myself crying not even halfway though. Yes, Miley Cyrus made me cry. This song reminded me that it really is all about the climb, not what's on the other side, because there's always going to be another mountain!



I can almost see it
That dream I am dreaming
But there's a voice inside my head saying
"You'll never reach it"

Every step I'm taking
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking

But I gotta keep trying
Gotta keep my head held high

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes might knock me down
But no, I'm not breaking

I may not know it
But these are the moments that
I'm gonna remember most, yeah
Just gotta keep going

And I, I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on

'Cause there's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be a uphill battle
Sometimes I'm gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

There's always gonna be another mountain
I'm always gonna wanna make it move
Always gonna be an uphill battle
Somebody's gonna have to lose

Ain't about how fast I get there
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb, yeah!

Keep on moving, keep climbing
Keep the faith, baby
It's all about, it's all about the climb
Keep the faith, keep your faith, whoa

Tomorrow's Regrets

One of the things my education courses taught me is that we all have prejudices even if we are trying hard not to. I've known for a while that I was uncomfortable with people with disabilities, and I've worked hard to overcome it. I regret not figuring out it sooner, as some of my best friends have disabilities. What other friendships might I have missed out on?

One of the things my girlfriend has made me come to realize is that sometimes we aren't even aware of our prejudices. She pointed out to me that I am sexist. No, I have no problem with gay men, drag queens/kings, women doing men's work, etc... but when a boy or man does something effeminate, or chooses to do girly things, I raise my eyebrows, maybe giggle about it (not to their face! That would be rude!), and maybe even think they're secretly gay.

However, the ambiguousness of not being able to define them by my terms shouldn't matter to me. They are themselves, and choose to define themselves on THEIR terms. Not mine, not yours, not anyone else's. No ambiguity about that! I regret not figuring this out sooner too; what friendships might it have cost me?

It may take a while for me to break my old habits but it will be so nice to have to define anyone...

Thank you, John, for the reminder...


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Pizza-La

The Japanese have the cutest commercials! We need commercials like this...



Just sharing the cute! ^-^

TiLT: Things I Love Thursday

Sleepy version...

♥ Coloring eggs for Ostara
♥ Sunrise at the lake (even if the wind whips your nose off)
♥ Snow that melts before I wake up
♥ Shoots in the flower box getting taller
♥ Going out in shirtsleeves and not freezing to death
♥ Friends who IM me the second they see me log on
♥ HONORABLE MENTIONS: These cupcake charms (wish I could read that!), finding old words I have written, finding old pictures I have drawn, not needing so many blankets, and this video (wishing the title was true!):

Things I Love Thursday is brought to you by Gala Darling...

TiLT: St. Patty's Day Edition

Sometimes, there doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day. However, I need to remember to make time to remember these wonderful blissings; I apologize for not finding the time during the past few weeks.



♣ Green Clouds in my Coffee ♣


♣ Green Swirls in my Eggs ♣


♣ Green Shoots in my Flowerbox ♣


♣ Green Grass in my Yard ♣


♣ Green Smiles on my Family ♣


♣ Green Kilts on Men ♣

♣ Honorable Mentions: Munchies for Your Love by Bootsie Collins, ROBINS, Mandarin Moon's art, hail, thunderstorms, Dinosaur BBQ, hugs from kindergarteners, hugs from third graders!, giving stuff away, the smell of lilacs, GLITTER!, Homespun Clementine Cake, and...

♣ Green Geckos with little dogs in Green Sweaters ♣


♣ Green Framed Videos (especially this one!) ♣


Things I Love Thursday is brought to you by Gala Darling...

Forcibly Divorce Thousands of Marriages???

"Fidelity": Don't Divorce... from Courage Campaign on Vimeo.

Please, sign the petition...