These were from my Lego birthday party!
Wordless Wednesday- Lego Party
Tag: inspiration
Books! Glorious Books!
We managed to get to our favorite book sale- Bookstock- this year, even though we thought we might not be able to. Definitely still want to go to the 1/2 price day thought. We ended up with three bags, I think. I got some fun books for my annual Books of Christmas gift for my friends’ kids, some good cookbooks, and very surprisingly, one of my favorite Steampunk series!
Here are the pictures!
Cookbooks! I’m excited to try some from all of them, especially the popsicles.
Some kids books- the Kids’ Book About Failure went to my office and The Husband picked out Celebretrees, so I think that one is staying with us. I also kept Porch Lies- it’s a book of Southern/African American folk tales. Home At Last is also going to the office. It’s about an adopted child and adjusting to his home. I might have to get a couple of them for the kiddos too though, they’re really fun!
Paper backs- The Husband and I both found some books we like. I was surprised to find Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster. It’s a steampunk based romance and mystery.
The one I was super excited to find though is this one:
Gail Carriger is one of my very favorite authors! She’s so lovely and her books are so cool and steampunky. They have great characters and I would definitely recommend them. I’m super excited to read them and will note that I did, in fact. get rid of some books and straighten some shelves to fit them all in. Now, off to read!
Simple Sunday- Healing
“do not look for healing
at the feet of those
who broke you”
― Rupi Kaur, milk and honey
“The human heart has a way of making itself large again even after it’s been broken into a million pieces.”
― Robert James Waller, The Bridges of Madison County
“The place of true healing is a fierce place. It’s a giant place. it’s a place of monstrous beauty and endless dark and glimmering light.”
― Cheryl Strayed, Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life from Dear Sugar
“Don’t be ashamed to weep; ’tis right to grieve. Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water. But there must be sunlight also. A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does, the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.”
― Brian Jacques, Taggerung
“I think that little by little I’ll be able to solve my problems and survive.”
― Frida Kahlo
Simple Sunday- Humor Me
“Once you can accept the universe as matter expanding into nothing that is something, wearing stripes with plaid comes easy.”― Albert Einstein
“I spent most of my youth hauling sides of beef and pork to my father’s shop. Carrying you is far more enjoyable.” “How sweet,” Annabelle mumbled sickly, her eyes closed. “Every woman dreams of being told that she’s preferable to a dead cow.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Secrets of a Summer Night
“People who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.”-Isaac Asimov
“Well, you know what they say: If you don’t have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me.”
—Clairee Belcher, Steel Magnolias
“The intelligence of the creature known as a crowd, is the square root of the number of people in it.”-Terry Pratchett
Simple Sunday- Snarky Musicians
“Composers shouldn’t think too much – it interferes with their plagiarism.”-Howard Dietz
“I never had much interest in the piano until I realized that every time I played, a girl would appear on the piano bench to my left and another to my right.”― Duke Ellington
“If you talk bad about country music, it’s like saying bad things about my momma. Them’s fightin’ words.”-Dolly Parton
“Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end.”― Igor Stravinsky
“Beethoven tells you what it’s like to be Beethoven and Mozart tells you what it’s like to be human. Bach tells you what it’s like to be the universe.”― Douglas Adams
“I stole everything I ever heard, but mostly I stole from the horns.”— Ella Fitzgerald
Wordless Wednesday- Brick Fest Pt 2: Small Sets
Simple Sunday- Stories
“I believe in fiction and the power of stories because that way we speak in tongues. We are not silenced. All of us, when in deep trauma, find we hesitate, we stammer; there are long pauses in our speech. The thing is stuck. We get our language back through the language of others. We can turn to the poem. We can open the book. Somebody has been there for us and deep-dived the words.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal?
“Libraries are places where the damaged go to find friends”
― Tamora Pierce
“I never feel lonely if I’ve got a book – they’re like old friends. Even if you’re not reading them over and over again, you know they are there. And they’re part of your history. They sort of tell a story about your journey through life.” Emilia Fox
“It had been startling and disappointing to me to find out that story books had been written by people, that books were not natural wonders, coming of themselves like grass.’-Eudora Welty
Office Plants Edition
Look, I have no excuses for the growing (pun intended) collection of office plants except that they make me super happy and proud that I’ve kept them alive. They give me oxygen, clean the air, and also provide dopamine. There are three plant ladies in my office and I gave some spiderwort to one of them so now both of our offices are exploding with them. She gives them away to people who even look remotely interested.
Heart Philodendron- this one started, if you can believe it, as a few struggling cuttings from my buy nothing group, as well as a very overgrown clearance plant from the fancy plant store. It’s doing really well at the office, as you can see! The cup was given to me last spring by a dear friend and it now stands as a memorial to her, as she passed away from unexpected health complications. It reminds me when I see both the mug and the new growth, to stop and appreciate my friends, family, and other blessings.
Shark Pot- Variegated, Hoya Spiderwort/Inch plant variety for the other two. I’ve killed two hoyas by not enough light and overwatering, so this is my last attempt at it, I think. This one seems hardier than the other two though, so I have high hopes for it. The big spiderwort was given to me by a coworker, who had a client come in with a cup full of water and these giant vines. My coworker said they wouldn’t grow well in her office because of the light, but knew I had other varieties of them. Who am I to refuse free plants?! Spiderworts are fascinating because they really follow the light and are very agile. They do eventually die out along the bottom of the plant and you have to keep cutting them to keep them under control so you just have a continuous stream of new plants.
Garden pot- Spiderwort variety (seriously, this thing will not quit, even though it looks a little sad. Be-leafing pot- Swiss Cheese Plant (mini Monestera): I’m surprised this one likes me! Nerve plant in the polka dot plant. These are so dramatic and I love them for it. They are actually pretty hardy as long as you water them when they start to droop. You can also see my accidental adventuring group, my fidget shark, a snail made from a shell, and a tiny clay fairy made by a friend on the side.
Ignore the messy shelf. It’s been a terrible month and I did just reorganize after taking the picture. The spider plant on the left has two babies! It also got some babies from a friend, so it’s got a stolen baby from my Mom’s plant, two from my friend’s plant, and then the rest is the original plant. You can’t see it well, but in the flamingo planter, there’s a zebra haworthia, which seems to be doing well. the Aloe plants are from a friend and I think I maybe overwatered it by accident, so it’s feeling a little rough. There’s a kalanchoe from a former intern in the blue patterned pot. More spiderwort in the grounded pot and in the rooting vase. A string of hearts that I haven’t killed yet (it’s maybe not so happy with me though,) and the original green variety of spider plant. I used to not like them, but as it turns out, I’m good with them, so I decided to try my hand at keeping a few. All the ones I stole from my mother (yes, she knows now, but I was sneaky at the time) are growing really well, so… I guess I like them now.
Once I rearrange my home houseplants, I’ll have to give you a tour of those as well. I think they have all adjusted to living in my house and I’ve got a reminder set to check if they need water twice a week. My office plants bring a lot of connection with clients, I’ve found, and they make my office seem more comfortable and homey as well. Most of the ones there haven’t done well at home, so I’m glad I’m able to bring them in and give them more space. I hope they bring you a little joy too!
As a bonus picture, this is what my coffee table looked like the day I had a few unexpected cancellations and decided to repot my spiderworts. You can see what they do in the white pot when the bottom leaves start to die off. Don’t worry, I did clean it all up and my table looks good as new. Lol.
Simple Sunday- Empathy
“Never apologize for showing feeling. When you do so, you apologize for the truth.”-Benjamin Disraeli
‘Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.”-Neil Gaiman
“Reading is an exercise in empathy; an exercise in walking in someone else’s shoes for a while.”-Malorie Blackman
“Good fiction creates empathy. A novel takes you somewhere and asks you to look through the eyes of another person, to live another life.”-Barbara Kingsolver
Favorite Non-fiction And Work Books 2023
I don’t normally choose to read a lot of non-fiction books as I don’t generally find them as engaging, but these next few books won me over.
Non-Fiction:
101 World Building Prompts by MD Presley: I enjoyed reading this book of tips for making new worlds. The author was really good with helping you think of new ideas and other things to consider. It was an easy and thoughtful read. I am currently writing a world for games based on a Nano idea and it’s been really fun to incorporate some techniques from the book and clarify my process. I can use this book for both personal use and for work stuff. Best part? I got it for free on Stuff Your Kindle day!
Disability Visibility Edited by Alice Wong: This was a book of short essays about disabilities and the ways they impact people who are just trying to live in the world not set up for them. I appreciated the new perspectives, the straight talk, and the reminders of things to do to help support others in general.
The Dressmakers of Auschwitz by Lucy Adlington: This book had a profound effect on me. I hadn’t known that a dress salon existed at Auschwitz or that it was an important point of resistance for the prisoners who were held there. The idea that clothes are something more than just fashion and body coverings, especially in a place where clothes could be the difference between life and death, is something I feel I should consider more as a sewist myself. My joke about sewing being a sought after skill during the zombie apocalypse feels a little flat after reading a book about women who were literally sewing for their lives. The history seen through the eyes of these ladies and the pictures and interviews with some of them in the book were amazing. The trauma and horror of war isn’t glossed over and has just enough of a statement of fact to drive home the facts of what these women suffered. I would highly recommend this book, just be prepared that it is not a light read.
Work Related:
Little Wizards by Antoine Bauza: This is a delightful first step into tabletop role playing games for both kids and parents who haven’t played before. It offers three stories with varying levels of instruction or suggestions for the Storyteller. They are all kid friendly and offer lots of different choices for how to investigate the mystery. I’m currently in the middle of the first one with a kid who is highly enjoying the novelty of solving the mystery. I really like the illustrations too- they are all adorable! Character customization is easy and you only need two 6 sided (regular cube) dice for it, so no special dice are needed. I would recommend this for probably 6-9ish? Maybe 10 if you added questing options or side quests. Check it out if you need something fun to do!
Kids on Bikes by Jon Gilmore and Doug Levandowski is a super cute and highly customizable tabletop role playing game system that is similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer or more currently- Stranger Things. The general outline is that you are kids in a small town in a time before readily available google and cell phones and you have to solve a mystery that’s happening in your small town. Perhaps it’s aliens? Or maybe space monkies? Who knows? All you really know when you start the game is some rumors that you might start hearing about from the other players. This uses fancy dice, but is really open ended with just a few prompts and hooks to get you into the story. Then after that, the game master and players really take it away.
I’ve used it at work for one of my game groups and it went over pretty well. My players did the exact opposite of what I thought they were going to do most of the time, but that just kept me on my toes! It was fun to play and fairly easy to design characters and teach. I’m definitely keeping this in my work rotation.
Creative Therapy in the Sand by Roger and Christine Day is a sandtray therapy book with some general information and then some directive prompts to use in therapy sessions. Sandtray, while it is a little bit magical, can sometimes be hard to explain to people and this book does a good job of explaining the basics. I’m a big fan of sandtray and have used it myself to help me understand some of my more difficult things in life. I am always looking for more directives for sessions, so this was a good book to help prompt me with that. It’s definitely a small book though, so I wouldn’t recommend clinicians just use this with no other training.
I did read more non-fiction last year, but these were my favorite ones. This year, I hope to read some more of the books I keep buying for work and then not actually reading. Wish me luck!