Glasses Fashion
I have a genuine inquiry for those of you who wear glasses. Recently I had my annual eye exam and my prescription changed, so that meant I should order new glasses. Yesterday my new frames and my new prescription sunglasses arrived and it got me thinking. When you choose your new glasses, do you feel like changing it up everytime, or do you always go for the same frames?
I have been changing the style for the last few times. Started with some pure black frames, that changed to black with white arms, and then a dark green set, changed to a pair with various shades of red. Most recent frames are an eggplant purple frame that look more red toned in the sunshine. I have mostly gone into frames shopping with the idea that if I have to wear them every day, then I want something that is fun. To me color is how you avoid making things boring.
Another thought on my mind is the idea that some people choose frames with the intention of trying to maintain their overall style. If they mainly wear dark colors then black frames are probably a good choice, since it goes with everything in their wardrobe. Some people will go for their favorite color. Mine is yellow, so that would certainly make for some interesting set of glasses.
So I am genuinely curious, what do you think about when you are choosing a new pair of glasses? Please let me know in the comments below. I would really appreciate some more interaction with these posts.
Complicated House Plant Energy
I have come to the conclusion that I am a house plant with complicated emotions. When I am feeling down, sunshine and water help me feel much better. The days where the sun is streaming in through my windows always have boosted my mood.
This last week I decided to change out the curtains in my bedroom. I went from semi opaque white curtains, to a set of sheer panels with yellow panels on the outsides. The day after I got them set up, I woke up to extra sunshine in my bedroom. The extra light made me feel brighter from the moment I opened my eyes.
Erza is also a big fan of the new curtains. She has always taken naps on my bed, but now she will firmly place herself in the sun puddles that stream through in the afternoons. My windows face west, so I get quite a bit of afternoon sunshine, and Erza is thrilled with this whole set up. I have also spoiled her a little bit and gotten a cat hammock that suction cups to the window so that she can look outside while she lays in the sun.
The added sunshine to my bedroom has been helping me feel brighter and more ready for the day. I also have the light that comes from the grow light in my bedroom, that has been placed to try and assist my plants. With a little bit of water added, courtesy of my bedside water bottle, I feel a boost in my overall mood by the time I am dressed and getting ready to face the world outside my bedroom door.
I have heard the comparison of wearing a fitness tracker and likening it to being a Tamagotchi. The little animal that you are trying your best to keep alive is you. I also think it would be wonderful if I could have a tracker for my plants. Either way, I feel like the comparison also applies to myself and my house plants. A little bit of water, and a decent amount of sunshine can do wonders.
True Companions
Lately I have been reflecting on the relationships that are shared between people and their pets. Our fur babies have major personalities, which is quite evident to anyone who spends any length of time with them. I have always been confused by people who say things along the lines of animals all being the same as each other and that there is no real personality.
Differences make up our personalities as humans, and the same can be said for our pets. Maggie gets excited over a game of fetch anytime of the day, while River will catch a ball if you throw it his way, and Cooper couldn’t care less about a ball thrown for him, and lacks the skill to really catch anything, even a treat. With the cats, Erza enjoys puzzle toys, especially if there are treats involved. Gobi is food motivated but has issues when it is any harder to get to than placed right in front of him. Pho doesn’t appreciate anyone messing with her food, and is particular about the kinds of treats she will eat.
Qualities that we have in common create connections between us and other people. Animals create bonds the same way. As I am writing this, my Mom is entertaining all three dogs by bouncing between their stuffed bears. Each one has a specific colored bear, and they can often be found playing with each other’s. With the cats, they all obviously enjoy a good snooze, usually on their person’s bed. While the toy in question may differ slightly, they all will play in similar fashion, throwing the toys around and giving chase like the little hunters that they are.
The connections that we form with these animals are just as real as with other people. They are parts of our families. They enrich our lives every day, and provide us with plenty of laughter. I will forever be thankful to have grown up in a family that values these little souls in the way that they do.
A Day For All Kinds Of Love
As we approach the Hallmark created holiday of Valentine’s Day, I have been thinking. I am single again this year, like always, so I may not have a romantic valentine, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have lots of love to celebrate. In my opinion Valentine’s Day has always been about showing those we love how much we care for them, and we have just lost sight and narrowed that view point down to just romantic love.
Growing up, my parents always gave each of us kids something on Valentine’s Day. Some of my favorites are my teddy bear that says you are my sunshine on it. My mom calls me Sunshine because she used to sing the song to me when I was little. I have always loved the song, so the nickname stuck. My mom and dad reminded us every year that love doesn’t just mean romantic partners. Love is a connection between people that truly care for each other.
Ever since one of my best friends has had her kids, I have started giving them valentines as well. This year I gave them little stuffed animals. A got a kitty, due to her love for them, and W got a dino that he has dubbed Sparkles due to the gold spikes on the back. I have gotten lots of pictures ever since I dropped the stuffies off with the kids, of them hugging them and playing. W has become pretty attached to his dino, and I am pretty thrilled that I could provide him with something he holds so dear.
When I gave the stuffies to the kids, I reminded them that Valentine’s Day is meant to celebrate all kinds of love. Family love, sibling love, friendship love, as well as romantic love, to name a few. As we approach and begin to celebrate the day of love, it is not only important to remind ourselves that it is about all kinds of love, but we should also show those we care about how much they matter to us more than just once a year.
Here’s to showing those we love how much they mean to us.
Plant Babies
I am pretty proud to say that I have managed to keep a pineapple plant alive for ten whole months! Obviously I am the type of person that has to name her plants, so I have named her Penelope. I also have a snake plant named Genevieve. The snake plant came with a paper steak stuck in the pot that made it sound like she had already been named, so I just went with it. Penny and Gen have two very different set of needs, but they both live in my bedroom. I have had to create some contrast to try and give them both what they need to thrive.
Penny sits on top of a white cube cabinet near one of the windows. I have placed bamboo skewers around the main body of the plant, with cotton yarn to provide extra structure. Pineapples can be heavy fruit, so the skewers have helped the entire plant stand up straight. I also have a grow light shining on her. Since they are used to tropical environments, pineapples require quite a bit of sunshine. I live in Wisconsin, where it is currently cold and dreary looking outside. So the grow light helps me provide the much needed vitamin D that helps Penny stay strong.
Gen lives across the room, on top of a much shorter bookshelf. Snake plants prefer indirect sunlight. By being across the room from the two windows in my bedroom, Gen will not be scorched by any harsh rays that may manage to sneak in my windows. I personally think she likes the placement because the leaves are growing taller.
Due to a certain predator that lives in my room as well, AKA Erza the cat, I have chosen the spots for my plants to live very carefully. They are on top of furniture that Erza can’t access. She is very curious about the plants, obviously, but I have done my best to make sure that she knows that they are not chew toys, or something to be attacked. Thankfully, she has gotten the message and the plants don’t have to fear the micro panther. (Knock on wood!)
I have taken steps to try and track when I water the plants as well. A calendar on the wall features little water droplets that I have drawn on with blue marker, on the days that I have given them water. I don’t want to drown them, so I try and remember to check the soil beforehand, to see if they actually need it.
I get emotionally attached to these plants. I get excited when I see signs that they are healthy and growing. When one of them dies, I get sad for a little while. This attachment might be aided by the fact that I have taken to putting large googly eyes on the pot of the plant. That started mostly because it amuses me. It turned into something silly that made me smile for a moment when I saw it, and there needs to be more things like that in the world. Personally, I will always take pride in my plant babies and how well they are doing. I will enjoy them while they are around and do my best to take care of them.
Ultimately they bring me joy, and I find worth in the simple things that manage to accomplish making me smile. I hope you can find a small thing that makes you smile today.
A Rose By Any Other Name
Growing up with a unique name was certainly an adventure. It used to annoy me when people would mispronounce or misspell my name. My name is spelt phonetically, and because of that fact, I didn’t understand why so many people have such an issue with pronouncing or spelling my name. Now I realize that because people are not used to my name, they over think it and that is why they have such an issue. While I now understand why people struggle with my name, it still boggles my mind when people look at my name and call me names like Kassidy. There is no A or D in my name, so why try and add letters?
The story behind my name is that my Mom was college roommates with a wonderful woman named Kesinee. My Mom fell in love with the name, and when she had me, her first daughter, she gave me the name. The original Kesinee is now my God Mother as well.
I always get a good giggle out of visiting my God Mother at her day care that she runs out of her home. When I introduce myself to the kids, they always laugh and say that I can’t be named Kesinee. I have to get my God Mother to confirm for them that I share her name. It probably is because they are either not used to two people with the same name, or they are really not used to two people sharing such a unique name.
In school, I could always tell when the teacher would get to my name on the roster or during roll call. Because it was alphabetical by last name, I was always at the end of the list. There would be a giant pause, and the teacher would usually make some sort of face that showed how unsure they were about the pronunciation of the name they were reading. Most would try and take a stab at it, and the majority who tried would get close. A few would read off my last name and ask me how to say my first name. One that made me smile was when they said that they were not going to even attempt to say my name because they knew they would get it wrong and just said my last name. At least they tried?
While I may complain about my name because of the issues so many have with the pronunciation and spelling, I would never change it. I never had to deal with multiple people in my classroom with the same name, or with getting confused when someone would call out my name. I always knew that they meant to be talking to me. (Obviously this changes slightly when I am around my God Mother.)
My name is special to me. I will always be thankful that I was blessed with a unique name. But if I had a nickel for every time someone mispronounced or misspelled my name, I would have been able to pay for college.
Spark of Something New
Publishing a novel is no easy feat. Many have started to go the route of self publishing. Most of the time though, this costs a pretty penny. I managed to find a way to make it happen for my book.
Elementals: Spark is not the first manuscript that I have ever written, but it is the first one since I graduated college with my Bachelors in Creative Writing. I used my new skills to try and improve a story that I have always had roaming around in my head.
Summary:
Rhea Morgan is just finishing high school and trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life, when she is off to her final year of training as an Elemental, an ancient line of druids that control the six elements of the world and protect the balance. A group of people with these same abilities, The Banished, are starting to attack the strongholds of the Elementals in search of something.
With her twin sister Robin, and four other Elementals who are also graduating high school, Rhea must fight The Banished, and protect life as we know it, while also trying to figure out her future, and love.
Many things go into creating a novel beyond just the words. I created the cover for my book. Copyright is no joke, so I used a photo that I had taken back in the summer, and placed the text over it. The simplicity of the cover I created suits the story, at least I think it does.
This process, publishing and writing a book, took some time, but as they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day. Good things take time, and I sincerely hope that many people find my novel to be a good thing. If you would like to support me, please take them time to purchase my book off Amazon.
Childhood Values
I was hanging out with one of my best friends the other day and we were watching her eldest child running through the sprinkler and playing in his little pool. The warm weather made it the perfect day to give him the little squirt guns that I had found recently. I became the cool adult because I engaged in a water fight with him. My shirt was soaked and my glasses speckled with droplets by the time he moved on to running through the sprinkler as it watered the grass.
These events got me thinking about my childhood and how we would entertain ourselves while on summer break. I am a 90s baby, so things like smart phones and iPads didn’t exist yet. Warm summer days were spent playing outside with the neighborhood kids, or on play dates with friends from school. Sprinklers and little kiddie pools were special treats used to try and beat the heat. If you happened to live in an area with street lights, as soon as they turned on, you were expected to be heading home for the night.
Looking back on these memories, I started thinking about how I wanted to approach raising my possible future children. I don’t want them to become attached to screens. Occasional time spent watching tv or playing on a smart device will be allowed. I treasured watching Saturday morning cartoons with my dad, while still in our pjs, eating a bowl of cereal. Also long car rides might be made a bit easier on my sanity if screen time was given.
Overall though, I think I would like them to have a childhood similar to mine. Playing outside and exploring the world while curiosity still runs deep in their bones. Learning about how the natural world works by getting their hands in the dirt. Using their imagination to create fantastical worlds that entertain the mind for hours. Making use of the warmer weather in the summer to get some vitamin D and learning to swim.
A child shouldn’t become jaded by the world until they are old enough to understand how we got to where we are, in my opinion. I want to try my best to preserve the innocent nature that they start with, for as long as I can. Fingers crossed that I can actually achieve this ideal.
Colored Hair: More Than You See
Today I put some cardinal red streaks back in my hair. I use these extensions that have keratin glue at the tops so I can glue them into my hair at the roots. They are also small enough to blend in most of the time, but then provide a pop of color when someone is paying attention. This kind of color in my hair is just perfect for me. I don’t damage my hair with dye, and they are a bit fun and funky without drawing too many eyes my way.
My sister on the other hand has put purple streaks in her hair. She enjoys having more of the color and being more outgoing with her hair. The tone of purple she picked this time is very cool toned, so it hits differently depending on the light that is around. In the sun, the purple is on full display, but if she steps into the shade, the purple blends well with her natural hair color and makes it look like she just has darker brown hair.
These are only two of the many ways that people put color in their hair that are deemed “unnatural” because genetics don’t allow us humans to grow hair in those colors. (On a more personal note, I kind of hate when employers have rules against these hair colors. They have their reasons, but I think it infringes on a person’s right to their own style.) No matter how you choose to put the color in your hair, I tend to love that people made that choice for themselves. They chose to embrace their unique style and add some fun to their every day life.
Opinions vary about the people who choose to put extra color in their hair. I have found them to be fun people who enjoy the tiny joys of life. Others say that because it is an unnatural color that it shouldn’t go on your hair. The idea that just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. I completely disagree with that sentiment. Hair is as unique to each person as their genetic code. What length they choose to cut it, how thick it grows, and the texture that makes itself known after every shower. These factures make our hair our own. They can be embraced or manipulated in various ways to compliment our style. Color is just another choice to make.
If you have the patience to put the color in your hair, and then maintain that color, then more power to you. Let people truly rock their own style and don’t try and force them to conform to what you think people should look like. No two people are exactly the same, even identical twins. As we grow, life shapes us and leaves scars that change more than just our skin. Choosing to add funky hair to the mix is just that, a choice. Allow hair to just be hair, an expression of style and personality.
Power to the funky hair people!
Gamer Girl
There is a stigma that comes with being a female gamer. Many people say that girls only show interest in video games because they want male attention. Obviously I can’t speak for all women that are showing interest in games, but most of us genuinely enjoy the challenge and stories that come from playing video games.
The thing that draws me in to games most is the story. As a writer, I have always been a reader. Video games are like books that I can become a character in. With some I can even influence the outcome and get to know the back stories of the Non Playable Characters (better known as NPCs).
Video games also serve as a way to connect with my friends and family. Not only do we spend time discussing games and the various choices or aspects that make each game unique, but those games that allow multiplayer allow for time to be spent together enjoying the challenge and stories.
One thing that does irk me about many games though, is the armor/protection that female characters are subjected to wear. Often taking the shape of skimpy swim wear, these garments would hardly provide any form of actual protection if worn in a real life situation. Plus, when the male characters wear the same item, they are fully covered and look like they are ready for anything a battle can throw at them.
Recent releases have gotten much better about equality when it comes to appearance. The female characters are more covered, so they actually look protected, and they are also designed to look more like real humans with the body of a woman. The better graphics also lend themselves to making everything about the environment and characters better.
I am a proud Geek, and I just shake my head at those who try and use my love for something I consider a form of art to try and shame me. Video games for all!