Things

You can be a rooster one day and a feather duster the next.

~ Frank McManus

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My social media is cluttered with information about decluttering.

Zak

Children are not a distraction from more important work. They are the most important work.

~ John Trainer

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Zak: 3+3 = elephant, 4+4 = red, 5+5 = school bus

That sums it up.

Get it? Sums?

Anyway, Zak really said that stuff.

Education

When Sullivan got home, she looked up 'perverted' in the dictionary and found that it said, "turned out of one's natural course."

"Well, frankly," Dr. Sullivan says, "that didn't seem such a bad thing to me. In fact, I thought, wasn't that what education was all about anyway? To rescue us from our natural inclinations and to steer us in the ways of the best that had been thought and discovered and created over the long course of civilization?

~ Margaret Sullivan quoted by Elizabeth McCracken

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All education is some sort of perversion, then.

Weirdos

All the best people are mad.

~ Elly Griffiths

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I love the weirdos in my life. And they're all weirdos. That's why I keep them around. Normalos are boring, and I don't learn as much from them.

 

Buddies

Hey you, you're holding onto too many bags. You can't do it all. You can't be it all. You can't carry it all. Do what you can. Be who you are. Only carry what's important. And put the rest of the bags down. 

~ Amy Weatherly

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 When two buddies go hiking together, they each need their own equipment. They have to be prepared. They should probably stick pretty close together. And if one buddy carries the other buddy's stuff the entire way, the second buddy better be a dog or a child or someone who can't actually carry their own stuff.

I admit that I'm no hiking expert. I am, however, something of a buddy expert.

Bridges

Sometimes you get the best light from a burning bridge.

~ Don Henley

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What if you are in hell and the only way to leave is a bridge? Based on the images in our society, that bridge is bound to be burning. Or what if burning bridges is the only way out of a situation? What then, Mr. Smart Aleck? You don't know what to say now, do you?

God

This, Nelson remembers, is what he has always disliked about Evangelicals - the way they talk about God as if He's "God Smith" who lives next door.

~ Elly Griffiths

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If God lived next door to me, I hope he'd help me with the lawn. It's looking pretty rough.
 

Saltines

I know people that could serve me canned tuna and Saltine crackers and have me feel more at home at their table than some people who can cook circles around me. The more you try to impress people, generally, the less you do.

~ Alton Brown

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My dad used to eat kipper snacks and Saltine crackers. I don't remember Alton Brown coming around all that much, but when he did, he certainly seemed to feel at home. 
 

Pop

Pop Art looks out into the world. It doesn't look like a painting of something, it looks like the thing itself.

~ Roy Lichtenstein

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Me: Let's blow this pop stand! I mean popsicle stand!

Leslie: What's a pop stand?

Me: (long pause) What's a popsicle stand?! 

Eyes

When your eyes are busy, but your mind is free...

~ from the business proposal for Audible

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Trust your eyes the way you trust a manipulative friend. They tell you some things that are true, but you have to think about the information you're getting and assess it for yourself. 

Also, why do you have a manipulative friend?

 

Reading

Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered as a precious gift.

~ Kate DiCamillo

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Leslie was sitting in a room reading the other evening. 

Me: Hi. Do you mind if I read my book, too?

She looked at me strangely.

Leslie: Of course not. 

Then she got all hostile when I blasted my Audible version of The Outsiders and told me to turn it off.

Make up your mind, Leslie!!

 

Meat

Heaven sends us good meat, but the devil sends us cooks.

~ David Garrick

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Woman 1: She didn't like the meal last night. All they had was meat, so --

Woman 2: They own a butcher shop. What did she expect?

Woman 1: I know, but you know how she is. I'm just trying to say --

Woman 2: They sell MEAT.

Woman 1: I know.

Woman 2: For their LIVELIHOOD.

Sidenote: There is nothing in the world that can simultaneously make meatier meals, perfect gravy, AND an appetising beverage.

Empathy

Before you criticize a man, walk a mile in his shoes. That way, when you criticize him, you'll be a mile away and have his shoes.

~ Steve Martin

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If you can really understand another person - what they've been through, how they think, how their life has unfolded - then you can probably find where they hide their money. 

Cheese

I'm lactose intolerant, but if you told me I couldn't have cheese ever again, I would slap you in your face.

~ Retta

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EE words we could say instead of "cheese" when we're getting our photos taken:

snEEr

pEE

wEEpy

bEEts

snEEze

scEEch

squEEze

chEEseburgers

blue chEEse

cheddar chEEse

Swiss chEEse

You're welcome.

Stands

Not all people will want to purchase a container of five tomatoes.

~ John Murray, "Starting a Roadside Farm Stand"

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You have to roadside stand for something, or you will roadside stand fall for anything.

Not sure what that means, but pretty sure it is quite profound.

Domestication

Eventually, the bed became very much theirs. A DIY success. But at the time, a rusted bolt in the rail had led to a hacksaw and an afternoon of clattering brass dismemberment that had somehow echoed her anxieties about the domestic arrangement -- its vague promise of deformation.

~ Mark Prins

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I saw a social media post the other day where someone listed their life achievements - I think on their anniversary. It included things like:

5 different homes

2 wonderful kids

2 dogs 

1 DNP

A couple of things... First, apparently, the dogs are not wonderful. Second, I swore it said, "1 DNR" which I took to mean "do not resuscitate" (as opposed to Department of Natural Resources). I had a lot of curiosity about that. 

Why one DNR and not both? 

Who asked for the DNR? 

Why? 

It's none of my business why, but then why did DNR make the list?

Then I reread the post. I was still happy about their achievements, but far less curious about them.

Birds

Birds are indicators of the environment. If they are in trouble, we know we'll soon be in trouble.

~ Roger Tory Peterson

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There have been two birds fighting out in the yard for the past three or four minutes. I don't know why. 

Seeing them makes me think about how we also fight with one another, and those watching may not know why. Observers don't know if our fights are about heartbreak or greed or if we are fighting simply because our emotions out of control. Just as I am watching the birds, the neighbors watching me don't always know why I flap my arms and try to peck at people in my yard.

Behavior is a mystery.

Education

Education is the movement from darkness to light.

~ Allan Bloom

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I was going through my Blog folder where I keep notes for my blog. I came across one that said this:

Location, location, location.

Education, education, edication.

I didn't remember what that was about, so I looked up "edication." The first site I went to said, "Did  you actually mean education or ethoxyethane?"

I'm pretty sure it wasn't that second one.

Unicorn

He's not a unicorn.

~ Keri Russell on "The Diplomat"

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He's not even regular corn.

~ Michelle Boettcher about the guy Keri Russell is talking about on "The Diplomat"

 

Morning

I can see the light of a clear blue morning

I can see the light of a brand-new day

I can see the light of a clear blue morning

Everything's gonna be all right

It's gonna be okay

~ Dolly Parton

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I love the song "By the Light of a Clear Blue Morning" by Dolly Parton. I maybe love the song "I Don't Want to Throw Rice at Her (I want to throw rocks at her)" a bit more. I think the songs show Dolly's range as a creative songwriter. My preference regarding her catalog of work shows my desire to seek revenge.

And, please beware. It is there. 

I don't always act on it, but my desire to seek revenge is always there.

Have a good day.