Tuesday, March 27, 2018

March for Our Lives is NOT Just a Liberal Issue...

All people should want kids to feel safe, right?
This past Saturday I participated in the Fort Worth March for Our Lives rally. I was greatly impressed by the eloquence and maturity of the young people who organized the event (and I’ve known one of them since she was three years old, so this was a pretty proud moment). I Instagramed and Facebooked several photos in real time and was pleasantly surprised at how civil my friends were, even those I knew had vastly different political beliefs. The thing is, March for Our Lives is not a liberal issue. It is an issue everyone should stand up for: to protect our children from violence in our schools, as well as in our streets and homes. You can be pro-life and support children who are already born from dying in their classrooms. You can be a gun owner and still think that regulations should be in place to keep people with mental illness or multiple police visits from getting fire arms. You can stand by more than one political issue. In fact, that’s what makes our country a truly independent nation- the ability to have more than just a straight-ticket opinion about issues. Have we really become so polarized to believe that if liberals or conservatives support something, then whichever side we identify with, we should oppose the other?

What has become of our society? Have we really gotten to the point that, when children are afraid and speak out about their fears, adults think it is appropriate to mock them? A great nation (supposedly a Christian one) should not act this way towards its citizens. This emotionally immature behavior has to stop. Our leaders need to stick to the issues. Our leaders need to spend less time making fun of other people and get to work. There is no room in our future for people who cannot be decent to one another. It is a greatly held belief that “to get respect, you must first give it”— but who decides which person does this first? You do. I challenge everyone reading to approach your fellow human with respect, and more than likely, you will get it. If you don’t get respect back, well…that’s on the other person. You be the better human, even though it’s easier (and sometimes more satisfying) to have a great comeback.

Friday, March 23, 2018

What I’m Reading: Become a Fearless Writer: How to Stop Procrastinating, Break Free of Self-Doubt, and Build a Profitable Career

Considering I get so much done, I feel like I am the world’s busiest procrastinator. I try to not live that “busy” life—the one where, when someone asks how you’re doing, you say “Oh, I’ve been so busy…” It seems like the key to this type of conversation is just semantics. Don’t say you’re busy, even if you are really, really busy. I do feel that I am constantly on the go, though, with a multiple page to-do list for my library, business, writing, and home. Just writing down those four parts of my life gives me the anxiety that would send most people to their beds, pulling the sheets over their head. Hmm…that actually sounds nice. When can I do that?

Let’s face it—Life is busy. We all have things we absolutely have to do. What is important is that we take the time to get something done for ourselves. For me, that is writing. For too long, my writing has been an afterthought. It’s been one of those things that I put off for a day when I have several hours to just sit, relax and think. Now, I do love sitting, relaxing, and thinking, but with a full time job, a business that wants to be full time, and a house to take care of, those “nothing to do” hours are few and far between.

So, I decided I was going to stop my writing procrastination and get to it. I have a class called Write Fearlessly that I am currently transitioning into an online class, so when the book Become a Fearless Writer: How to StopProcrastinating, Break Free of Self-Doubt, and Build a Profitable Career by Nina Harrington, I had to check it out. After all, I’ve been procrastinating and I want to encourage others to become fearless, so… makes sense, right? It’s an eBook, so I’m about 18% into it. Everything is jiving with what I’ve been thinking or doing right now, and I hope that I do gain some new insight, not just for me, but something I can share with others. The sad thing is, as I read the book, I feel like I am procrastinating from getting other projects done. When did I become the librarian and writer who thought it was procrastination to sit down and read a book? That mindset has to go!

As of right now, I’ve actually written in some time on my to-do list to get writing done. I’ve written this post, so it looks as if it is working already. I’ll update my thoughts on this when I finish the book. No procrastinating on that!

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Blame it on the Equinox

You know it's Spring when the coleus come out!
Today is the first day of spring. Since this is Texas, that means that it is 30 degrees cooler than it was yesterday—when it was still winter.

I was on Spring Break last week, and instead of going on some fabulous trip—like my Thanksgiving jaunt to Paris— I stayed home to get stuff done around the house. There’s the regular spring cleaning inside, but what really draws me in this time of year is getting the yard presentable. It seems to be the thing to do just as soon as the little green tips begin sticking their heads out of the ground. So far I have raked up 30 bags of leaves around the homestead (1/4 an acre in the city counts as a homestead, right?), and I have at least 40 more before I’m done for the season thanks to my 8 ancient trees. Boy do I like the shade they provide in the summer, though!

Last week also led to the planting of salad, herb and lavender troughs—goat trough gardens instead of raised beds. I’ve had these around for about 10 years. They’ve made appearances in earlier posts to this blog. This year they’ve already provided us with two salads and herbal accompaniment to another meal or two.

I have lots of pots of flowers and even a few pots of tomatoes. I love this time of year. It does seem to take over my life, though. Not much gets done anywhere else—house cleaning, writing, reading—when there is a garden to tend. It feels good to get it done. Bring in the beautiful so that when I do have time to stop to read or write, I’m able to do it outside in the garden!

The house cleaning, well…I unintentionally live by the late, great Governor Ann Richards’ theory of housework- “I did not want my tombstone to read, 'She kept a really clean house.'” I mean, I did change my sheets, but that was about it.