Time, Energy, and Money

You have a few resources always at your disposal. These items are frustratingly limited: time, energy, and money. At most, you can have two of these resources at a time. Sometimes you have just one, but very rarely do all three show up concurrently! When you are young and fresh you have scads of energy…

Legacy

“Kelly, what will your legacy be?” That question as posed to me recently at work. We had a department-wide meeting during which we made a “legacy quilt”. We were each charged to write a sentence on a square of decorative paper which would be knit together to form a paper quilt of quotes and desires.…

Crafting for a Cause!

Number of bag, boxes and containers full of flair for craft fair on Saturday: two dozen. Number of items still wishing to make: hundreds! (but realistically 10) Number of trips to Hobby Lobby: 4 (this week alone!) I’m busy preparing for my craft fair, The Little Ears Expo, this Saturday! I love creating things. I…

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is one of my favorite words. It ranks in my mind alongside onomatopoeia, hyperbole, and synecdoche both in multi-syllabic rhythm and definitional genius! Juxtaposition is the perfect term for certain situations. It is a noun meaning “an act or instance of placing close together or side by side, especially for comparison or contrast.”  Two things that shouldn’t…

Quiet Hour

My life needs a quiet hour. I am continually prodded for more productivity, accomplishments, efficiency. Much of this prodding comes from within my own head and heart. There are very few voices in my life telling me to stop. Rest. Just be. I need more of those voices. I need a quiet hour. Every day.…

Salerno Team 2015

I made six great friends. Being knee-deep in black mold has a way of bonding people! We are the Salerno Team! We traveled to help the Valiquettes and the Davidsons in Salerno, Italy. We painted, we cleaned, we constructed a stage, we disinfected, we ran cables, we swept, we sealed, we organized, we vacuumed and…

A Very Present Photograph

I just returned from Italy, the land of good food, large gatherings, and plentiful hand gestures for communication. I had a delightful time. Va bene. I traversed hundreds of miles via planes, trains and automobiles. I hoofed dozens of miles with my own two feet. I witnessed literally centuries of history: People, places, vistas, monuments. And in…

Va Bene

Officially my favorite Italian phrase, va bene means, “It’s going good” and could be substituted for “sounds good” in a typical English sentence. It is decidedly how I describe our trip to Italy. Va bene. It was good. It was life changing. It showed me a people and a culture in a way I never…

Goodwill Hunting

I love treasure hunts! Every Christmas Eve my family creates searches for each other so that we have to earn our first present of the season. On my 24th birthday several friends made a scavenger hunt for me and I still laugh about the crazy things I had to do and find. I like the…