In My World

Econoline Crush is a Canadian rock band from Vancouver, British Columbia, formed in 1992. They have released five studio albums and are known for their charting singles such as "You Don't Know What It's Like", "Home", "Surefire (Never Enough)", "All That You Are (X3)", "Make It Right", and "Dirty". They achieved platinum status with the 1997 album The Devil You Know and also received two Juno nominations, in 1995 and 1998. (Wikipedia)

Today's Writing Prompt: Random Act of Kindness Have you ever been on the receiving end of kindness? I've been on the receiving end of a random act of kindness many times in my life.  One that really touched me was 10 or 12 years ago.  I can't remember the exact date.  I used to run a bunch of craft related Yahoo! groups and the women I met on these groups were my company every day.  A couple of times we had made afghans to send to a group member who was expecting a baby or going through tough health issues.  It was during this time that I was having trouble with allergies.  You know the whole sinus pain, itching, runny nose misery.  And this went on for months and months.  I was so sick.  And one of the fun side effects was an eye infection that totally went out of control to the point I had to keep wet wash cloths handy because if I closed my eyes they would seal shut.  My eyes hurt like they were full of glass.  I'm sure I ...

Today's Prompt: Whoops Have you ever made a really public mistake? Are you kidding?  I am a physical and social klutz.  When I have to speak in public I am told I do a pretty good job but I'm such a wreck that afterwards I can't remember a single word I've said.  If there is something to trip over or get twisted into, I will.  I know this so I've just learned to accept my clumsiness and make it part of who I am.

Today's Prompt: Mornings What's the first thing you do when you wake up every morning? I am a creature of habit, especially in the morning. In fact, I get cranky if my morning routine is tampered with in any way. Don't worry, I will skip the parts you really don't need to know about. When I wake up in the morning I go to my studio and turn on the light and my computer. Next step is to make coffee and throw bread into the toaster. I put butter and peanut butter on my toast, collect any other food items I plan to include with my breakfast such as fruit or cereal, pick up my fresh hot cup of coffee . . . and return to the studio where I leisurely read my emails and catch up with everyone on Facebook while enjoying my breakfast. Only when these things are accomplished can I shower and get dressed and start my day. This all gets thrown out the proverbial window if there is an early appointment on my calendar.

  "The wisest and most captivating novel tan has written." -The Boston Globe Set in San Francisco and in a remote village of Southwestern China, Amy Tan's The Hundred Secret Senses is a tale of American assumptions shaken by Chinese ghosts and broadened with hope. In 1962, five-year-old Olivia meets the half-sister she never knew existed, eighteen-year-old Kwan from China, who sees ghosts with her "yin eyes." Decades later, Olivia describes her complicated relationship with her sister and her failing marriage, as Kwan reveals her story, sweeping the reader into the splendor and violence of mid-nineteenth century China. With her characteristic wisdom, grace, and humor, Tan conjures up a story of the inheritance of love, its secrets and senses, its illusions and truths. Newsweek:  Tan has once more produced a novel somewhat like a hologram: turn it this way and find Chinese-Americans shopping and arguing in San Francisco; turn it that way and the Chinese of Changm...

Tanka Tuesday: Stars It's time for the next installment of Tanka Tuesday! Tanka is a form of poetry similar to haiku. It's short, and the lines don't need to rhyme. They just must have a set number of syllables: 5/7/5/7/7. Today's tanka prompt is: stars. distant stars tinkle white lights in ebony skies never changing place reliably chart your course always lead you to your home

Today's Prompt: Failure What have you ever failed at in life? Wow . . . do I have a long list.  I think the failure that bothers me the most though is that I never finished high school.  Looking back I realize how much growing up time I missed out on.  I made myself a "grown up" at 16.  Not one of my brightest decisions.  I do have a college degree and a university degree though.

The Duhks are a Canadian folk fusion band, formed in 2002 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Featuring banjo, fiddle, guitar, percussion, and vocals, The Duhks blend folk music together with various Canadian and American traditional styles, including soul, gospel, old-time country string, and zydeco. The band also commonly plays traditional Irish dance music, integrating Latin-influenced percussion as well as often Celtic- and Cajun-influenced fiddle-playing. In 2002, Appalachian-influenced clawhammer banjo player Leonard Podolak founded The Duhks in Winnipeg with gospel- and soul-influenced singer Jessee Havey, fiddle player Tania Elizabeth, and Celtic-influenced guitarist Jordan McConnell—all Canadian musicians. The name "Duhks" comes from Scruj MacDuhk, Podolak's defunct previous band. In June 2014, The Duhks officially released their new album, Beyond the Blue. The touring lineup for that album cycle also included Québécois multi-instrumentalist Colin Savoie-Levac on guit...

Today's Prompt: Sports Are you a sports fan? Do you watch or participate? Which sports? My family has many interests . . . movies, music, politics and . . . BASKETBALL.  First my oldest son played in high school and in 3-on-3's.  Now he coaches youth competitive traveling teams as well as a college team.  All three grandsons played at their schools, 3-on-3's and/or on the traveling teams.  My youngest son has played in 3-on-3's and the local men's league.  They wear basketball themed clothing, watch basketball, practice basketball and talk basketball.   I worked it out one day and I have basically been watching basketball for more than 25 years.  I still don't understand the language or rules but I watch and I cheer. 

Today's Writing Prompt: In Common What is something you and your spouse or best friend have in common? My dear hubby and I are very very very different people but we actually do have a few things in common. We love movies especially if one of our favourite actors are in them like Meryl Streep (my fav) or John Wayne and Duane Johnson (Hal's fav). We love some of the same kinds of music like 50-70s rock. We both agree that our children and grandchildren are mostly perfect. We both love letterboxing but for different reasons. I love to carve stamps and solve clues and the social aspects of the hobby. Hal loves to drive me around and make me happy and he will pull letterboxes out of creepy places that might have snakes or bugs . . . even though we both have no fondness for snakes and bugs.

 What items would you purchase first if money were no object?

Tanka Tuesday: Chocolate It's time for the next installment of Tanka Tuesday! Tanka is a form of poetry similar to haiku. It's short, and the lines don't need to rhyme. The just must have a set number of syllables: 5/7/5/7/7. Today's tanka prompt is: chocolate. Warm smooth sweet to chew fudge and peanut butter cups Chocolate covered treats good for you good for your mood chocolate solves all problems

My niece and I were shopping and running errands in London ON this past week and wandered into the Indigo book store.  The store was having a buy 3 get one free sale.  So I now have some REAL books added to my to-read list.   First purchase was The Nectar of Pain by Najwa Zebian.  I have heard Ms Zebian speak and read her first book Mind Platter .  Her poetry is poignant and uplifting and haunting . . . and I could go on.  I am looking forward to reading Nectar of Pain. My second selection was Homo Deus by Yuval Noah Harari.  I have listened to many of Professor Harari's online lectures, taken a MOOC through Coursera, and listened to his podcast discussing fascism and nationalism.  He is charming and eloquent and his lectures are actually fun.  I've already read Sapiens:  A Brief History of Humankind , a big thick book, even in paperback, which is so interesting to read that you wish it was longer.  I can't wait to cra...

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? As my mother would probably agree, I'm not very ambitious. At least not in the competitive or commercial sense. I've never wanted to invent the next great thing that is going to save the world. I never wanted to be a big shot of any kind. I've always wanted to be happy. I have finally learned late in life (but not too late, I hope) that happy comes in moments, it is an attitude, it is a decision you make every morning . . . I am going to try and be happy today. And what I know is that I am happy when I have my family around me. They could be completely oblivious to my presence and I wouldn't care. I am happy just to have them near. I am happy when I accomplish something and it doesn't matter if it is cleaning a room or writing a book. Accomplishment makes me happy. Spending time with my friends makes me happy. Moments of quiet solitude make me happy. It amazes me that for so much of my life I searched for happines...

Aubrey Drake Graham (born October 24, 1986) is a Canadian rapper and singer. An influential figure in contemporary popular music, Drake has been credited for popularizing singing and R&B sensibilities in hip hop. He gained recognition by starring as Jimmy Brooks in the CTV teen drama series Degrassi: The Next Generation (2001–08) and subsequently pursued a career in music releasing his debut mixtape Room for Improvement in 2006. He released the mixtapes Comeback Season (2007) and So Far Gone (2009) before signing with Young Money Entertainment. Drake's first three albums, Thank Me Later (2010), Take Care (2011) and Nothing Was the Same (2013), were all critical successes and propelled him to the forefront of hip hop. His fourth album, Views (2016), saw exploration of dancehall and stood atop the Billboard 200 for 13 non-consecutive weeks, making it the first album by a male artist to do so in over a decade, and featured the chart record-setting lead single "One Dance"...

Today's Writing Prompt: Karma Do you believe in karma? karma [kahr-muh] noun 1. Hinduism, Buddhism. action, seen as bringing upon oneself inevitableresults, good or bad, either in this life or in a reincarnation: in Hinduismone of the means of reaching Brahman. Compare bhakti (def 1), jnana . 2. Theosophy. the cosmic principle according to which each person isrewarded or punished in one incarnation according to that person'sdeeds in the previous incarnation. 3. fate; destiny. Synonyms: predestination , predetermination , lot , kismet . 4. the good or bad emanations felt to be generated by someone orsomething: Lets get out of here. This place has bad karma. No I really don't think I believe in karma.  To me, that is rather like believing in luck or fate.  No I don't believe in those either.

Today's Writing Prompt: Colour If your life right now had a colour to it, what colour would yours be? I don't think my life could have one colour.  I think I have three colours.  Red for pain, Orange for optimism and Yellow for joy.

Year-round Crafting with Four Seasons! No matter what time of year you dive into the creative process, there are always plenty of memories to be captured, friendships to be celebrated, and art to be crafted. Embracing your creative side year-round can be quick and easy when you’re working with seasonal papers and stickers. Today, we’re going to give you a peek into the crafting potential offered by our  Workshop Wow: Four Seasons workshop kits  and showing off just how easy it is to create stunning artwork on theme!  All the pages and cards on display today were designed using the Four Seasons paper collections in our 2022–2023 Core Products catalog. (To view these collections and all the other amazing products available in this catalog, click  here !) Now, let’s get started!  First up is our springtime cardmaking workshop, bursting with floral features and bright colors. These cards favor a variety of sentiments, from birthday wishes, to greetings, to “just bec...