Every day they’re hoverin’.
Good morning! How are you all? I’m good. I had a really great day yesterday, which – to be honest – was desperately needed because I haven’t been feeling my best lately. Perhaps it’s just that time of the year. But yesterday was awesome – I ended things on a high note, snuggling in bed extra early to read. I tried to get into Fahrenheit 451 last night but couldn’t. The prose is pretty but so hard to read. I ended up switching to The Uglies (yes, I realize this book is for tweens – but it’s really good). And then I slipped blissfully into sleep.
Breakfast!
We had collard greens + tempeh + soy chorizo last night for dinner, and there was a bit leftover, so I added it to some scrambled eggs. A fine meal in no time flat.
Henry ate most of my blackberries. Thief!
Thought of the Day:
Julie, who helps me run OperationBeautiful.com, posted this on her Facebook wall this morning, and it really resonated with me.
“For Lent, I’m not giving up anything in particular, but I am going to focus on seeing the good in life, and in the people around me. My goal is to be non-judgmental because every person has their own story. I am going to assert myself and do the best that I can in each and every moment. I’m going to practice living the life that I’ve always imagined and appreciate all that my mind and body is capable of doing. I will take care of myself and learn to love me for me despite what I may want to change.”
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{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
Please tell me that first sentence is to the tune of Party Rock Anthem.
Yup!
Henry’s tie dye get up made my morning. I’m 26 and would rock that look
Agreed! I love it.
I have to just say I LOVE Henry’s tie die onesie! So adorable
Sorry you haven’t been feeling great lately. I noticed around my son’s 8 month mark , maybe a little more, (he is ten months now) that I got in a slump- i wondered if it was like THE TRUE END of the “good feeling” hormones…I felt sluggish and a bit depressed. Dunno, just a thought. Anyway, hope you are feeling better! Good days FTW!
Try to stick with Fahrenheit… It will grow on you! I LOVE it, read it first in high school and reread a few years ago.
That’s a much better idea for lent than what most people do! And I love reading teenage dystopias…
My daughter eats ALL the berries, all the time. haha. I never get a chance to have any.
I am constantly trying to work on that, not judging people. It’s actually a really though thing to do. I always try to remind myself that I’m sure people have reasons for doing the things they do.
I love The Uglies series. I’m always trying to convince more people to read the books. Scott Westerfeld came and spoke at my school a few years ago- very cool guy and so passionate about what he does.
I’ve always thought that picking up a positive trait instead of getting rid of something negative is a better idea for Lent. I’ve never understood the people who give up soda or Facebook and say it’s to gain a better idea of the sacrifice Jesus made for them. Somehow I think giving up soda and dying doesn’t equate.
This is kind of funny to me because my youth pastor gives up pop every year for Lent. I feel like after this many years of doing it he’d get used to it and it wouldn’t be such a sacrifice anymore, but who knows. One year he gave up pop and red meat, which I think was a bit more of a challenge.
I think that it ought to be more of a replacement idea: give up whatever and whenever you want it, read your Bible or pray or something productive. The youth pastor gave us a 40-day reading list and I’m going to start that this afternoon. I’m not giving anything up, unless you count being lazy about Bible reading…
Love the quote about Lent. That’s beautiful.
Aww- Henry’s onesie is so adorable!
I also now have Party Rock Anthem in my head….will need to listen to it on repeat for the next several hours now
What a beautiful reminder from Julie! I love that!
I could never get into F451 either!
I do think it’s sad that adults feel they have to justify reading a Young Adult book by saying “it’s a book for tweens – but it’s really good.” I’m not criticizing you for this – well, I suppose I am, but I don’t mean it to be personal. I know you read and appreciate lots of adult and YA books, which is more than can be said for many adult readers. It’s more a statement about our society that places labels on books as either for grown-ups or for teens. It’s perfectly fine for teens to read grown-up books, but it’s implied that there’s something wrong with you if an adult likes reading teen books. As an adult reader who reads and blogs almost solely YA novels, I see this shame factor all the time. I’m victim to it too – every time I hide the cover of a book at work or tell my co-workers it’s just some silly vampire book. I wish it didn’t have to be like that. I wish that we could all appreciate that a book can be good or bad regardless of its age range. There are lots of horrible adult novels and fabulous YA novels and vice versa. I wish that no one ever has to deal with the implied peer pressure that YA novels are unworthy of being considered as good as adult novels.
Again, sorry to single you out on this. Reading your post this morning just set me off on a rant that reflects my irritation with society at large. I’m so happy to see a non-book blogger mentioning a YA novel. Doesn’t happen often enough aside from books like Twilight, Hunger Games, and Divergent (all of which are great of course). If you’re ever looking for some good book recommendations, let me know. I’m a veritable fount of information
how do you feel about eating so much soy? i had to add fish back into my diet because it was getting to be overload… id really love to add it back in but i can be obsessive and then just only eat soy products which i dont think is too good for the body (?)
The Uglies is SO good!
I love her Lent mind set! I agree with your funk, is it just February that always puts a funk on the mood?!
I read farenheight in high school and I remember liking it… But that’s about all I remember from it.
Haha, my dogs do the same thing around kids and when I’m cooking in the kitchen (I tend to get a little messy). Your breakfast looks really satisfying and delicious. Mixing your leftovers with eggs was a really great idea. I’m really wishing I had someone to cook some of that up for me right now.
I totally get the “not feeling great” – I’ve had a bit of that lately too but I’m working on fixing that and getting inspired by life and my goals and aspirations again. It’s crazy how focusing on your priorities and what you want out of life, can completely help redirect your energy and how you feel. At least that’s been working for me!
I am giving up something pretty ugly for lent. I am giving up yelling at my kids… I have a 6 and 3 year old who really know how to push my buttons, especially at night when I am wiped out and they are whining about bedtime. Whenever I do yell (which I hate), I get mad at myself and hurt their feelings. My 3 year old even told me last week, “I am a wittle bit angry that you yelled at me.” So I am switching to a firm but patient attitude when it comes to discipline. I think we will all benefit from this.
Honestly you sound like an amazing person for recognizing faults and wanting to change. I admire you.
This is a fantastic thing to concentrate on during lent. I will be joining you! I have a 4 and 2 year old. They have both been testing their limits lately, and it is wearing on me. I need to look for other options to end their tantrums peacefully.
I hear you, ladies. I have a 5-year-old and a 3-year-old who can be so sweet and fun…and frustrating. I applaud you for sharing our mommy struggles and working to make things better.
what a wonderful post for lent! I am going to do that also
This is something that really hit home for me. Thanks for the inspiration!!
I am reading the Uglies too! I feel kind of silly being 25 and reading a book for tweens, but I cannot put it down.
Your breakfasts are inspiring. If I took a picture of my breakfast everyday it would be a pretty boring spread (oats, oats, repeat). Love reading about Operation Beautiful, so cool! I work with teenagers and it’s unbelievable how a low self esteem can ruin days, years, and take lives. I love what you are doing!
I have a suggestion for getting through the denser parts of Fahrenheit 451: read two books at a time, ten pages at a time. It’s like that theory of telling yourself that you can run for five more minutes– you can totally read ten pages of anything! I’ve been doing that lately to cut down on the number of partially-read books I have around the house and have found it really helpful (particularly when I counterbalance books– a lighthearted one with a serious one). You’ll be happy you read 451, but the designated breaks could help keep it from being really daunting.
Love her quote! It is equally as beneficial to do something more, than to give something up during Lent.
What a beautiful thought! I can relate to your thoughts on Farenheit 451. So many times I’ve tried to read certain classics because I thought I “should”, but I just can’t get into them!
Love Julie’s statement about lent. I’m giving up negative self talk. It’s been a huge problem lately and I think it is interfering with my health. Every bad thought is replaced by two unique positive thoughts that I’m writing in a journal. hoping to break the habit and rediscover some good things about myself.
Hey Jonelle!
I love that you are giving up negative self talk. I already have with much persistence and determination, I no longer beat myself up for my faults and life is SO MUCH BETTER! Good luck, and never give up!
-Julie
Love the tie dye onesie in the background! Henry would fit in perfectly in Boulder, Colorado!
Perfect remark for lent. At the church I attend we do not give up anything for lent but rather we focus on what we can give of ourselves and to others.
the Uglies is the next book on my list, let us know if you like it! i love tween books and am not ashamed to admit it!
divergence, hunger games, harry potter, i’ve read ‘em all!
Henry’s tie-dye onesie…win!
Maybe classic or older novels just aren’t for you, and that’s OK!
I don’t see the point in forcing yourself to read a “classic” book simply because it’s been designated as such. I have a handful of classics that I love, but most of them are not light reading and have dark and disturbing themes–probably not the best for nighttime reading when you have a baby.
However, if you want to give another author a try, I think Kurt Vonnegut’s writing is hilarious, insightful, inspiring, and brilliant.
I found this in an Onion AV Club article: “This line from _God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater_ comes as part of a baptismal speech the protagonist says he’s planning for his neighbors’ twins: ‘Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.’ It’s an odd speech to make over a couple of infants, but it’s playful, sweet, yet keenly precise in its summation of everything a new addition to the planet should need to know. By narrowing down all his advice for the future down to a few simple words, Vonnegut emphasizes what’s most important in life. At the same time, he lets his frustration with all the people who obviously don’t get it leak through just a little.”
If that doesn’t pull you in, I don’t know what will!
I don’t know if its just me but when I click to read your comments it redirects me to another random website. :/ Just thought you might want to know.
What is the website? Can you let me know?
This happened to me too. Mine went to Nordstrom…at first I thought it was something I did because I was shopping online there last night!
This happened to me also last night when I clicked to read comments, but I was on my iPad. It first redirected me to some Valentine’s site…maybe ProFlowers or something? I thought I’d mashed something with a finger so I navigated back over and tried again. Fail again — it sent me to a different site this time…I apologize that I don’t remember it. I figured I was just mashing something with my finger but it did it repeatedly. I am on my laptop now but just tried again from my iPad and it did *not* redirect me tonight. Hope that helps!
Ok, it now just happened to me on the laptop! It took me to the “Naco Dental” web site…I think it was nacodental.com. I tried a few times and this time it was the same site repeatedly.
I had that problem, too. It was some kind of ad for slimming down.
There was a couple different ones… I don’t remember exactly but I do know one was a breast cancer website.
It happens to me whenever I click the title link to a post from the home page or when I click a comments link from the homepage. It took me 5 tries until your post actually opened tonight! It took me to AllHeart Unifoms and LuggagePro.
The websites seem to be though Google Ad Services – today I got Dr. Scholl’s a bunch of times. Weird!
I am trying soooo hard to resolve this. I am sorry! No one knows why it’s happening.
Keep pushing through F451- you won’t regret it by the end. My sophomores read it and loved it.
I saw that quote when you posted it on Facebook earlier today, and I absolutely love it. I don’t participate in Lent, but I think her goal is something worth striving for every day–not just for Lent or New Year’s or any other goal-setting holiday. Thanks for the inspiration!
Thank you Amanda! I was raised catholic but do not regularly practice anymore. However, this morning when I saw everyone’s Facebook status about what foods they were giving up for lent, it made me remember how I used to give up a dessert or food so I could lose weight. Since then, I have been able to recover from those negative self thoughts and wanted to remind myself and others the importance of what I have learned through the help of Operation Beautiful (and Caitlin), and my own recovery! Thanks for your input, I appreciate it!
Julie
Ugh F451 is soooo slow. I am just addicted to fast-paced thrillers. I LOVED Uglies, but was disappointed with the sequels.
I’m Buddhist so I don’t do Lent, but I have always appreciated the concept. A Buddhist practice of non-judgment, particularly where feelings run high and hot, is to imagine Earth–even better, to touch it–as the Buddha did, and remember how the earth can transform even the most disgusting things into beautiful plants and nutritious foods in just a few weeks. If we imagine negative feelings as the nasty stuff, we can take the energy of anger and transform it into something powerful and positive.
Or, to use an example from a Disney movie, lol, remember Pacha’s wife on The Emperor’s New Groove? When she gets mad, she says, “Ugh! I have to go clean something!” She transformed her anger into physical energy and then used it, so that energy couldn’t spill out later, violently, toward others.
I love the tie-dye on Henry!
How do we know that is Henry in the tie-dye onesie??? Wish you hadn’t cut his head off in that photo. It would have been cute to see his facial expression with the hoverin’ vulture dogs!!
It is a tie dye onesie
I didn’t like Fahrenheit 451 all that much when I read it my Junior year of high school, but I was able to appreciate it as an adult. I am surprised you have trouble with it since you are an English major. I have my B.A. degree in Literature and my Masters in American Literature and I read far harder books throughout my studies than Fahrenheit 451.
On another note, I don’t think you need to justify reading any type of book. Just because I have degrees in Literature, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy reading what some would consider “beach books” every now and then. I really do enjoy a swift read with easy plot lines sometimes.
Lastly, as Henry grows it is so important for him to see you read. Kids these days struggle with reading so much more than they did even 5 years ago when I started in my line of work (Reading Specialist) because they are exposed to books.
Basically, what I am saying is to keep reading!
A first I was going to give up chocolate for lent, but then I decided to do more of what Julie wrote. I really like that sentiment!
Everyday they’re hoverin’ makes me laugh!