New Things

For a while now, I've been looking into raw foods, as a way to integrate healthier eating habits into my life. For years, I've been eating what I've learned to be called the SAD way - Standard American Diet. I'm not sure of all that goes with that title - SAD - but if it means thoughtless, mindless eating a lot of the time, than I fit the bill.


This weekend, one of the people that I have become a 'facebook fan' of in the raw foods area is having a book giveaway on the sujbect of Raw Foods on a Budget. If you would like to win a book package and learn more about this, there are multiple opportunities to win. Follow this link (click where you see the title or on the picture of the book):

I've only taken small steps, having made only a couple of recipes, but I am encouraged when I read about it, epecially when I read and see before and after testimonials.

If you'd like to win one of Brandi's books, "Raw Foods on a Budget," click where you see the title of her book.  

Some Thing Wonderful - Friday, 13 May 2011

Let me start by saying that I believe some wonderful thing(s) happen everyday and not just once in a great while, but I don't always notice it.

Last Friday, the 13th of May, was a day filled with a few wonderful things, but one thing in particular made my day.

I was subbing for 6th & 8th grade math and science classes at a school I'd never been to before. The day had been going fairly well, most of the classes were behaving, for the most part. There were 8 periods in the entire day and I had two prep periods, because I was covering two different teachers' classes at different times throughout the day.

Since my 5th period was a prep period and the one right after lunch, I thought I had dodged a proverbial bullet, because it almost always seems that the period after lunch is the rowdiest. Enter 6th period (which happened to be 6th/7th periods combined into one looooooooonnnnnnnnngggggggg double-period, a fact I hadn't known about prior to them arriving). As Ricky Ricardo (dating myself) would say, "Aye Yi Yi Yi Yi!"

Okay, it wasn't too bad but it got to the point of facilitating some rudimentary (elementary?) classroom management tools that I hadn't expected to use for this grade level. Well, we all survived that, playing multiplication bingo the last third of the class and it went fairly well during that time.

Let me preface the following by saying that I have a love for all children/students, and my heart tugs a little more for the ones that don't quite seem to fit in with everyone else. So, the following description is in no way a negative remark against anyone - just a description. As I was packing up the bingo game (just writing this part chokes me up a little) a young boy in the 6th grade - you know the very-skinny-sits-by-himself-wears-glasses-quiet-kind-of-boy comes up next to me and without saying a word, puts one arm around me and gives me a hug. Taken by surprise, I wrapped one arm around him, muttered some feeble words like, "Thank you - you have a great day!" and he went on his way. I could have broken down in a heap and sobbed in amazement at his precious act. That was truly a 'wonderful!'

While waiting between each class, when no one is there, while there is a small window of a break, I will sometimes go around the classroom and pray that each student can know/sense unconditional Love & acceptance. Maybe, just maybe, this young boy could sense it when he walked in the class that day. I know he made a difference in my day!

Fat Quarter Bundle Giveaway winner!!! plus iTunes gift card

Giveaway results compliments of Random.org
Random Sequence Generator
Here is your sequence:
 7
 6
 2
 5
 4
 1
 8
10
 9
 3
11
Timestamp: 2011-05-19 02:49:32 UTC

That would make the following comment the winning entry:

"Catskill Quilter said...
I am now happily following your blog by email! I do not know about anyone else, but I always read my emails from shops, and drool over the photos too."
Thursday, 28 April, 2011 

Congratulations to Catskill Quilter and thank you to everyone else for participating.

I'm planning on having another giveaway from my other Etsy shop, MemorableManzanita, very soon. Stay tuned!! (pictures are examples of one of the jewelry trees for the upcoming giveaway - the winner will get to choose a conatiner and have a custom-made-designed manzanita jewelry tree).

Greetings!

A favorite thing of mine is to go with one of my friends on excursions. Cameras in tow, picnic lunch from Manhattan Bagels and a full tank of gas, we ventured out to places unknown, at least to us. Since gas prices are so high ($4.06 in our neck of the woods, with our .03 cent Safeway gas discount), we decided to stick fairly close to our city.

I subbed in 6th & 8th grade math and science classes on Friday at a school I'd never been to before. Honestly, I never knew this entire other 'world' existed within our county. As I veered off the familiar hwy onto a long unknown country road, the landscape began to change, as well as the atmosphere. It became even more rural, with a peaceful feeling - despite the fact that I might have pushed the time of arrival, due to the unfamiliar territory. The school was farther out than I had anticipated, even though I had google mapped it several times several days in advance.  I just made it, with a little time to spare.


The wonderful~

• working with children - challenging but oh, so rewarding.
• having a student come up after one of the classes, reach out his arm and give me a hug - totally surprised, but my heart was so blessed beyond words.
• figuring out how to 'manage' classes in this age-range.
• realizing that I love seeing the way students think and process their world around them.
• grateful that I'm not that age anymore but can relate to them still.
• grateful that I'm grateful about not being that age, because sometimes I find myself wanting to be a wee-bit younger. 

Speaking of 'veering,' I kind of veered off the topic of today and drifted back into yesterday. So, tomorrow I'll address what happened today (Saturday, 14 May 11 - even though it's actually now Sunday, 15 May '11 12:08 a.m....me thinks I'm a little weary), but it has a little something to do with this:

 Until tomorrow (or later today)...nite-nite~

Grain Mill Giveway - featured at "Take It From Me" blog

I've been discovering about networking on the internet and come across other giveaways from other blogs, etsy shops and/or websites.


From time to time, I'll be featuring these other giveaways on my site in order to give you all the opportunity to enter, too, if you like.


Today's giveaway is a grain mill from "Take It From Me" blog. If you've ever wanted a way to make your own flour from whole grains, this is a way to go. It's the Wonder Mill Grain Mill.

The giveaway ends May 20th. There are several ways to enter the giveaway.


To find out more about the mill either click on the name of the mill (above) or click here


To enter the giveaway click on the name of the blog (above) or click here


Hope you have a wonderful day!

What's in a name?

When creating this blog, I wrestled with different titles and also with the background. One of the other titles for the blog was 'Believing for Impossible.' (There might be a title-change in the future) and here's the reason why.


Today, I really noticed the background I ended up choosing for this blog. I chose it originally because I liked the white area for typing and the colors of the background, but I hadn't really noticed that there is a hummingbird.


Since there are symbolic meanings to so many things in our world...birds, trees, flowers, etc. that I thought maybe there was something symbolic about hummingbirds. Here's what I found:

In Native American culture, a hummingbird symbolizes timless joy and the Nectar of Life. It's a symbol for accomplishing that which seems impossible and will teach you how to find the miracle of joyful living from your own life circumstances.

They are really spectacular birds, and have a lot to teach a person about self discovery and healing.

Animal-Speak: The Spiritual & Magical Powers of Creatures Great & Small
By: Ted Andrews

It stands for immortality. Or sometimes the Sun. Hummingbird is seen by some as a messenger of love and joy. It symbolises energy, wonder and swift action. It is associated with the Ghost Spirit native American religion which teaches a dance that is intended to return the natural balance of the world.

from: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_do_hummingbirds_symbolize 

I found it interesting that I originally thought about naming this blog something with 'impossible'  in the title and finding the symbolism of hummingbirds.


The other day, I was in the backyard of a friend's home and saw something fluttering overhead. I looked up and near the top of a tree, flying around, was a hummingbird.

All of this seemed to come together for me just before typing this message and noticing the hummingbird background of this blog. Having seen the hummingbird in real life about a week ago, also my friend's house-mate had mentioned a couple of weeks before that, that he had seen a hummingbird in the backyard, too. Then sensing a nudging and thinking, "do hummingbirds have a symbolic meaning?" and finding that all of this somehow seems to tie together. 


Now, you might live in an area that has a lot of hummingbirds, and to be perfectly honest, there might be a lot in the area I was in, too. It's just that I've never really noticed them before, until now.

Are there impossible things in your life? Dreams that seem impossible and/or just an impossible situation you might be going through? Sometimes, seeing something that seems so insignificant at the time, can later, bring such great and profound meaning. All creation speaks to us and we can begin to see messages of hope and inspiration as we open our eyes to the world around us.

In my next post, I plan to include what I've been encountering and going through - along with some unexpected encouragement along the way. Maybe writing about what seems impossible for me, will help to sort out the struggles, instead of wanting to hide under the covers and not wanting to come out. 

Stay tuned - I also plan on having more give-aways soon. Thanks for stopping by and hope you see the realization of your impossibles.  

~GIVEAWAY~ to celebrate!

I've opened an Etsy store

~loviedux~

and am celebrating with a
~$15 iTunes card~
&
~bundle-of-7-fat-quarters~

GIVEAWAY

Ways to win - There are up to 5 ways to enter to win (described below) to increase your chances to win:

1) Comment on this post and let me know what you think about my Etsy store (please, only 'kind kritiques' and helpful hints).

Types of critique:

- what might enhance the look of the store
- what you like about the store
- your thoughts about the logo
- anything else that you might find helpful

If you are a successful Etsy-ist already, your mentorship is greatly appreciated regarding tips that helped you succeed.

2) If you're an Etsy-ist (patron and/or vendor), add my store to your favorites on etsy and let me know with another comment to this post.

3) Follow this blog and let me know you did in the comments on this post.

4) Refer-a-friend. Have your friend leave a comment that you referred her/him. If the refer-a-friend comment is selected as the winner, the one who posted the comment will win the fat quarter bundle and the other will win a sur-prize from my Etsy store!

5) Tweet and/or share on facebook about give-away and comment about it.

If you would prefer different color/pattern choices from the ones shown in the photo, you can choose 7 FQs from any available fat quarters in my shop if you win (or an equal amount of yardage in fabric of your choice).

Contest ends May 15th. Winner will be announced by May 18th.