Saturday

Wow. Our thoughts have really been all over the place this week.

Monday we were thinking about what a personal assistant might do for us.
Tuesday the topic was travel must-haves.
Wednesday age was on our minds.
Thursday we pondered smartness.
Friday left us pondering our sanity.

Today. . . ?

"My advice to you is not to inquire about why or whither, but just enjoy the ice cream while it's on your plate."
-----Thornton Wilder

Ice cream is about the deepest thought I can handle right now. We're off to Dairy Queen for a little Saturday night treat.

6/29/2007

What a week! My life has taken some dramatic ups and downs in the past seven days. It has left me feeling rootless, not sure what/where/when will be next. It has probably left others thinking I am insane! Given that - I thought this was a great quote today...

Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music. -- George Carlin.

Thursday: Smart?

Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.
-- Unknown

This quote appealed to me for many reasons.

I'm tired of hearing about Paris Hilton; that's where the "small minds discuss people" part came in.

I certainly need my time to discuss people and have, in fact, been known to gossip about celebrities, friends, and co-workers with the best of them. But, I also really find myself craving intelligent conversation. I need to talk about smart ideas, important ideas, possibilities.

Wednesday: Age is. . .

I'm not interested in age. People who tell me their age are silly. You're as old as you feel.
----Elizabeth Arden

Lots of age going on around me lately. . .
a friend turned 30 on Monday.
we celebrated my uncle's 50th birthday on Friday.
I'm in a class with many people who are a lot older than me.

I'm not real excited about getting older, but I don't think that age is anything more than you make it. Whether I'm 27 or 72, I still have the same personality. I think the same morals and values will still be important to me. I hope, though, that I really feel like I've lived. I hope to have volumes and volumes of experiences that I've collected throughout my life.

What's changed as you've aged?
How has the pace you live your life changed as you age?
What do you want to be like when you're older?

Trendy Tuesday... Travel Must Haves

Good morning from lovely Nebraska! I am on the road, again (cue Willie Nelson). Today's trendy Tuesday??? What is your must have travel tip or item?



Mine? Probably my ipod with audiobooks. Great for killing time in the airport, airplane or boring hotel rooms.



Whats yours?

Monday: Personal Assistant

Your job is to focus on my personal happiness, she said, & I've got big plans, so break time is over.
---Brian Andres, Storypeople

I wonder--especially on Mondays--what it might be like to have a personal assistant. Someone whose job it would be do to all the things I don't like about my life:

• paying bills
• grocery shopping
• scheduling appointments
• cleaning the house
• choosing an outfit
• handling correspondence (RSVPing to parties, etc.)
• taking the dog to the vet

What tasks would you assign to your personal assistant?

6/24/2007 -- Sweet Summer Sunday

Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world. - Ada Louise Huxtable

To The Lake

A lake is the landscape's most beautiful and expressive feature. It is earth's eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature.
~Henry David Thoreau

We're going to The Lake today.

That's what we've always called the lake home that was where my dad spend all of his childhood summer, where my grandparents retired, and where my grandfather now lives alone.

We will do all the normal lake things:
pontoon boat ride (with polka music) to look at houses
grandpa at the grill making steaks for dinner
fishing
laying on the dock reading

What is one of your favorite summer haunts?

Friday Fun Fact?

Well, no words of wisdom today. In summer, all of this wisdom is sometimes too much for me! I know, I am shallow. But this weeks posts, about cleaning, kicking ass, and watching too much tv leave lots of room for exploration.

Tell me these five fun facts about yourself:

1. What is your favorite cleaning chore?
2. What is your least favorite cleaning chore?
3. Have you ever been in a physical fight?
4. What is your favorite tv show?
5. What is your embarassing guilty pleasure tv show?

Share some fun facts with us!!!


Here are my answers:
1. I love to clean bathrooms.
2. I hate to put away laundry.
3. I have been in a fight.
4. My two fave shows right now are Deadliest Catch and The Office.
5. Guilty pleasures? Flavor of Love Charm School and Big Brother.

Happy Friday! Ang

Glued to the Tube

"If you read a lot of books you are considered well read. But if you watch a lot of TV, you're not considered well viewed."
-----Lily Tomlin

It's been beautiful here the last few days--a little hot, sunshine, breezy, completely gorgeous summer weather.

But, all I've wanted to do when I get home from class is watch television. My DVR is set to tape re-runs of Dawson's (the series finale was just on recently) and Beverly Hills 90210. It tapes daily episodes of Everyday Italian and (I'll admit it) General Hospital. I'm hooked on Intervention and, lately, cannot seem to watch enough re-runs of Law and Order: SVU. I even started watching Army Wives, the only show I've ever watched on Lifetime (besides re-runs of Greys Anatomy).

There is a permanent imprint of my butt on the couch.

I think I'm doing it because the television is a nice escape. I should really learn to escape into something healthy and productive like exercise.

Life is not Fair

Lately lots of people in my life have been talking about what is or isn't fair. For the most part, I agree with them, life has thrown challenges their way that I wish they didn't have to face. Unfortunately, although I am a good listener, I am not a great sympathizer. I saw this quote today and thought that it perfectly summed up one of my personal life values....

I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick ass. --Maya Angelou

Dirty Little Secret

“If your house is really a mess and a stranger comes to the door, greet her with, ‘Who could have done this? We have no enemies.’”

-----Phyllis Diller

Today’s topic is cleanliness. . . Talk amongst yourselves.

I’ll kick you off with a few little secrets about my house. . .

· We’re “Only When Company is Coming” cleaners. The house only really gets cleaned—especially the bathroom—when someone is coming to visit over-night.

· We barely ever clean our bedroom, and we never make our bed. It’s revenge against my parents for all those times they forced me to clean my childhood bedroom.

· The bathroom is my least favorite part of the house to clean.

· We are notorious non-dish do-ers. Fortunately, we are expert rinsers. The dishes get rinsed really well and then sit on the counter-top until we feel like washing them.

· I never dust. I always just vacuum. The attachment works really well for sucking the dust off things.

6/18/2007 Fill in the Blank...

Let's get this fine summer week started (man its humid here!)

When it is this hot, all I really want to do is __________________ with a _______________ from sunrise to sunset.

To All the Dads

It's only when you grow up, and step back from him, or leave him for your own career and your own home--it's only then that you measure his greatness and fully appreciate it.
-Margaret Truman

I remember strange little snapshots of my dad from when I was very little. I remember his cars and his clothes and his busy work schedule. As I get older, I remember his embarrassing habits. Mostly, I remember that he’d walk around the house in his underwear no matter who might be visiting! As I get a little older still, I remember lots of yelling. I didn’t always make the choices he wanted.

Now, I remember someone who keeps me grounded. My dad seems to have an innate sense for when things aren’t going well in my life. He’ll make an early-morning phone call or send an email with advice. He also seems to have a sense for when I’ve really screwed up and manages to use his Mr. Bob sense of humor to remind me what I need to fix.

Here are a few things I hope for my dad today:

1. A Coke poured out of the can over ice, drank from a straw
   
2. Enough wind for sailing
3. Catalogues in the mail (for seeds and car parts)
4. Burnt toast for breakfast eaten over the Sunday paper
5. That vanilla cake in the angel food pan with the chocolate and Heath bar frosting that he loves
6. Re-runs of Ali McBeal
7. Some new handkerchiefs
8. Strange pets (like goats or ducks)
9. A nap in the hammock
10. Three well-behaved children

Stretch Yourself

I have been thinking a lot lately about what makes a "good life"

I stumbled across this quote and it is so what is going on in my head right now.

"Life engenders Life. Energy creates energy. It is by spending oneself that one becomes rich." Sarah Berhardt

Do you spend yourself? Your time? Your energy? What kind of life are you "spending yourself" into?

What are you wearing?

"If you are all wrapped up in yourself, you are overdressed."
-----Kate Halverson

My parents, mostly my mom, always forced me to be a volunteer. When I was in first and second grade I went to a nursing home every week. My great-uncle's VFW post and auxiliary ran BINGO there. In middle school I volunteered at a cafe at a hospital. In high school I volunteered with the children's theatre and an AIDS awareness organization. In college, I had a "Little Sister" through Big Brothers, Big Sisters.

I'll admit it--I don't volunteer anymore. I'm involved really heavily in a professional organization, which is volunteer-work. But, I don't really feel like it's volunteer work that directly serves or helps others. I help my friends and family whenever they need it, but that doesn't really count as volunteer work, either.

It's something that is missing in my life right now.

P.S. I need to admit that I stole this quote from Real Simple. I get a Daily Thought email from them (you can sign up on their website).

TrendyThursday

Ok gang. To be honest, I forgot all about Trendy Tuesday this week! I have been over the moon busy and a little sick. But have no worries! This week, for Trendy THURSDAY!!! I am feeling inspired by Barb's post yesterday.

Who is brave enough to link to their junior high photo? You can pick - we want to see big hair, banana clips, braces, the whole nine yards. A fantastic rak to the winner!!!

Thirteen: Terrific or Torture?

"If you just watch a teenager, you see a lot of uncertainty.”
-----Jamie Lee Curtis

If today was your golden birthday, you’d be turning 13.

I don’t know that I’d rewind to being 13 even if someone offered me big bucks to do it. My strongest memory of being 13 is wishing to be someone else. I wanted to be the girl who had more friends. I wanted to be the girl with straighter hair. I wanted to be the girl with perfect skin. I wanted to be the girl with nicer clothes. I wanted to be anyone except myself. I remember feeling awkward and unsure and uncomfortable every single day.

Actually, I might go back to being 13 just so myself now could tell myself then to stop wishing to be someone else and start learning how to be yourself.

What are your memories of being 13? What advice would you offer your thirteen-year-old self?

Take YOUR Path

Been thinking a lot lately about what the right path for my life is. This has resulted in looking at some choices I have made, some that I have yet to make and looking at what direction I am heading. Scary stuff. But also cool stuff. Kind of a mixed bag.

Today's quote is about that challenge. Looking into the future with confidence and trying not to second guess yourselves... Are you able to do this? Or do you look back with regret? How do you let go of the things in your past that are holding you down?

It is not easy to find happiness within ourselves, but it is not possible to find it elsewhere. --
Agnes Repplier

Write On

“And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.”

-----Sylvia Plath

I am starting a writing class today. I think it will be an intense experience where I learn more about myself as a writer and teaching others to write.

It is exciting to get back to writing. I haven’t written anything besides emails, letters to parents, papers for education classes, and grocery lists for a very long time. I’ve never been a fiction writer, but I do remember really enjoying using writing to explore my memories and observations.

I’m a little nervous about the class because I know I will have to share a lot of personal writing. I haven’t worked with most of the people in the class before. It always feels a little risky to share writing and ideas with people I do know; the prospect of sharing with strangers is really intimidating.

How does writing fit into your life? What do you write? How often? What’s your greatest achievement as a writer? What do you still want to accomplish as a writer?

6/10/2007

Happiness is when what you think, what you say and what you do are in harmony.
-- Mahatma Gandhi

and the week ends...

My great hope is to laugh as much as I cry; to get my work done and try to love somebody and have the courage to accept the love in return. ~maya angelou

First, a huge thank you to Barb & Angie for asking me to contribute this week. I've really enjoyed it. And thank you to everyone who stuck around to read while I was blog sitting. It's really a great thing that Barb & Angie are doing here...creating a place for inspiration, honesty, creativity, and friendship. A really great thing.

Happy weekend!

breathing in & out

If you can allow yourself to breathe into the depth, wonder, beauty, craziness, and strife - everything that represents the fullness of your life - you can live fearlessly. Because you come to realize that if you just keep breathing, you cannot be conquered.
~ oprah winfrey

and

you get points for breathing in & out ~ george on grey's anatomy

Rough couple o' days here. Nothing life changing. Just mood changing. So I'm reminding myself to keep breathing. In & out.

What do you tell yourself when it all gets to be a little too much? How do you remind yourself that you cannot be conquered?

wait for it.

swamped under a mountain of work today.
will blog later today.
and post winner of rak.
or maybe even winners...plural.

I promise.

edited to add...

wow. what a crazy day...

1st off, drumroll............................... jan and rorik!! send me your addresses, pretty please :) krsimeck@msn.com ; thanks for sharing your teacher stories!

I leave you with this quote, which frankly, is all I can manage right now:

Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it.
~ anonymous

friends near & far

A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain? ~ Kahlil Gibran

I've moved alot (30+ times?), which puts me miles away from many of my friends & family. I'd love to take a best friend out for dinner tonight to celebrate her birthday...but she's on the other side of the country. It doesn't strike me as unusual that I have so many long distance relationships b/c it's always been this way for me. Add in the people that I've "met" online, and the list grows even more. What does the mix look like for you?

(by the way...Kahlil Gibran is a long time fave...if you haven't read The Prophet, I highly recommend)

trendy (teacher) tuesday

The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men. ~Bill Beattie

It's challenge day, y'all. Since it's the end of the school year, I thought it would be fitting to do a little teacher appreciation. I come from a family of teachers...my Mom & my sister both teach. I know that it's one of the hardest jobs in the world. And I know that the teachers who really make a difference are passionate about what they do. Who made a difference in your education? Who is making a difference in your child's education?

Comment, create, or blog...but whatever you do, link it here! There's a lip smackin' RAK involved ::wink::

(ps. here's mine - smith)

routine

“Never again clutter your days or nights with so many menial and unimportant things that you have no time to accept a real challenge when it comes along. This applies to play as well as work. A day merely survived is no cause for celebration. You are not here to fritter away your precious hours when you have the ability to accomplish so much by making a slight change in your routine. No more busy work. No more hiding from success. Leave time, leave space, to grow. Now. Now! Not tomorrow!” ~Oq Mandino

I went searching for a quote about routine for today. Seems fitting for a Monday. My kids are still in school, and of course, I'm still in work. No matter that it's June...we're business as usual. My morning routine is consistent: wake at 6:00am, shower, make coffee, check emails & surf while Hope gets ready for school, nag her that she's going to miss the bus, wake Austin at 7:00am, get dressed, get my hair under control, check on Austin's progress, *maybe* eat breakfast, make sure he's on the bus at 8, then start my hour commute to work. On my commute, I say good morning to my husband (who goes to work at 1am), and mentally run through all the things that I know I need to accomplish for the day.

This entire routine has a bit of a frenetic feel to it...not much time & space to grow. I'll make the effort today. To carve out just a little bit of time & space. Tell me about your routine...do you leave room to grow??

anticipation

One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it provides.
~W.E. Johns, The Passing Show

I've been digging in the dirt a bit this morning. My mother is a master gardener...but my thumb only has a tinge of green around the edges. But I love the results of the work in the garden...love the colors & shapes of the flowers. Love how they are a reminder that the hard work...the getting dirty...is worth it.

So, hi. I'm Katrina. Some of you "know" me from my personal blog, some from message boards, some from Memory Makers. I'm thrilled to add to the blog this week. I hope that you'll stick around for the week...and see what blooms.

(and I promise that will be last of cheesy segues, really!)

“We need a variety of input and influence and voices. You cannot get all the answers to life and business from one person or from one source.”

-Jim Rohn


As much as we sometimes like to think so, Angie and I cannot offer all the answers! So, for the next week we leave you, dear readers, in the hands of the fantastically inspiring, witty, and creative, Katrina.

That's it! That's our big surprise! Angie and I both plan on living it up this summer (between tons of work commitments) , and we've arranged one week of "vacation" each month this summer when we'll leave you with fresh inspiration from some of our favorite people who've agreed to guest blog here at Fancy Word for Simple.

So, this week our little project will be hosted by Katrina.

Seriously. You will love this girl! Not only is she kind and funny and a do-it-all kind of girl (totally rockin' career gal and mom), but she's also a Memory Makers Master (aka creative genius), AND she's awesome with a camera and great with words. As if that's not enough--she's a Grey's fan!

Thank you, Katrina, for agreeing to inspire us.

A new month

The sixth month of the year. We've almost reached the half-way point of 2007. I'm not sure about where you are, but a lot has changed here. The weather is a pretty drastic change--a humid, WI 80 degrees today compared to frigid snow and wind in January.

I don't think all that much has changed in my life, though. All those resolutions I made way back in January have totally been forgotten about.

Here's to re-committing ourselves and making the best of 2007.

“There's a difference between interest and commitment. When you're interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstance permit. When you're committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.”

P.S. And I haven't forgotten about the big surprise. . . coming soon! It will hopefully give you a fresh outlook on 2007.