Postive Alphabet - A- Z

It is not uncommon knowledge in my family that we suffer from depression.  Not everyone wants to admit it, or even acknowledge it, but it is true.  Sometimes it is hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel and to know that everything is going to be okay eventually. I mean Okay, and not great, no one can promise great.  

A year ago, I started a project for a positive alphabet.  An alphabet to remind myself that it is okay and to try and be positive. I know that just telling someone to think positive, is not actually an proven method to come out of depression. However, I think that this helped me a little bit get out of the suffocating hole of endless crippling self doubt and helped flip a switch in my brain to focus on the words instead of the shadows deepen in the recesses.  These words work for me, and when I have that pitch black moment where my skin feels like it everything seems futile, I try remember what each letter of the alphabet stands for.  You wouldn't think that 26 letters would be difficult, but it can be.  

I know that not every one will agree with these words, and I hope they don't.I hope that they come up with their own alphabet that makes them step back from the edge.  They might not make sense for everyone, but they make sense for me.   What would be on your positive alphabet?

• A -Altruistic
• B- Bibliophile
• C- Candid
• D- Dependable
• E-Empowering
• F- Forgiving
• G- Gemutlichkeit
• H- Human
• I-  Imperfect
• J- Judicious
• K- Keen
• L- Loyal
• M- Morphing
• N-  Natural
• O- Original
• P-  Plucky
• Q- Quality
• R- Resilient
• S- Sincere
• T-  Tenacious
• U- Unique
• V-  Vibrant
• W- Worthy
• X-  XO
• Y-  Youthful
• Z-  Zesty

For those that are frequent flyers on this blog. Yes, I had posted part of this alphabet previously.  I was not happy with the post, and felt it was more appropriate to update and repost. 

Resurrection

Do you believe in resurrection? 

Resurrection: 
(Noun)

1.  a supposed act or instance of a dead person coming back to life
2. belief in the possibility of this as part of a religious or mystical system
3. the condition of those who have risen from the dead: we shall all live in the resurrection
4. the revival of something: a resurrection of an old story

When I was a little girl living in California, my mother used to have this plant called a Resurrection Plant.  To me it looked like a baby tumble weed and I was very confused as to why she kept it in her closet.  One day, she pulled the plant out and put it in a small dish of water.  Slowly as it absorbed water it uncurled and laid completely flat. A little while longer it went from a dull brown to a dull green.  More time passed and you would never have recognized it from the dead looking thing it had been hours before. 

My mother explained that she kept the plant in her closet as a reminder. A reminder that sometimes things  in life can look bleak, dry and terrible and it can be that way for a long time. And just when all hope seems lost, it can rain. When the sweet relief of rain comes, it might take a while to uncurl from that dry and terrible mess, but when you do it is hard to believe you were ever in that situation. 

I am a long way away from that little girl I used to be.  It is almost full blown winter and my husband brought in my aloe plant. It looks terrible. He asked me if I was going to revive it once again, because every year I seem to forget it, until it is too cold and wet for cactus and it looks like it is going to turn into slime. Then every year I seem to bring it back to life bigger and healthier than it was the year before.  It is almost my own personal resurrection plant.  Except possibly slimier than a Rose of Jericho. That leave me to one question.

Do you believe in resurrection?

Dad- Read Something New!

My dad has this habit of reading the same book series over and over again.  I have no idea what is so facinating about the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series.  I got through about a third of the first book and felt no inclination to finish reading it. However my father has read the series 8 times and when he can’t find anything else to read, he starts it over again.

Dad, There are other books out there.  In fact you should check some of these books out the next time you think about starting the series one more time.  It is okay to read other books. It won’t hurt their feelings.

1. The Bat  by Jo Nesbo
2. The Hynotist  by Lars Kepler
3. Fatherland by Robert Harris
4. The Big Bounce by Elmore Leonard
5. Forever and Death by Donald Westlake

Dad, I can give you more recommendations.  Just let me know.  It is okay to read something new.

Love Hate Movies

My husband loves to watch movies. I have a hard time sitting down and watching movies, and it is a victory to my husband if I sit down and watch something with him.   It is a double victory if I admit I liked it.  According to him, I hate almost everything. Here is a list of 10 victories that my husband has achieved in getting me to sit through and admit that I loved them.

1. Fright Night (both, they count as one right? But I will admit I am sweet on the newer one.)
2. Miami Connection (If you sing the song, I might kill you and laugh while doing so.)
3. In the Mouth of Madness (which turned into the gateway drug for all other John Carpenter movies.)
4. Night of the Comet (I have no idea why I like this, but I will sit down every single time it is on and watch it to the end.)
5. Terrorvision (There is so much about this that makes me laugh)
6. The Dungeon Master (This might be one of the worst movies I have ever seen.)
7. Godzilla vs The Smog Monster (It might be the weirdest Godzilla movie I have ever seen.)
8. Final Girls (I really hate camp setting hack and slash movie, but this is a cut above.)
9. Captain Kronos (This has to be one of the best vampire movies by Hammer Horror.)
10. Return of the Living Dead (I can’t believe I laughed as much as I did.)

As you can tell, my husband is a big fan of horror movies. It has take almost a dozen years for me to come around to this far on horror movies.  

Lemon Cookies

Today I tried to get a jump start on the holiday baking. Baking is always more enjoyable with friends.  My friends, Laura and Barbie were also keen to turn the oven on and taste test some new recipes. 

The new recipe that I decided to try was something that I found randomly on Pinterest. I was looking for quilt patterns and for some reason this lemon cookie popped up, and it looked delicious. The lemon cookie is from Baked by an Introvert .  The recipe reads like a love letter to Meyer Lemons, however it is easy to follow and better yet, it turns out well. 

This is certainly a keeper of a recipe. The cookie has a refreshing lemon taste, and when you had the lemon flavored icing, it makes you think of lemonade on a hot summer day.  It is the right amount of tang and sweetness all in one, that make you want to have another.  If you are a tea drinker, this would be perfect to dip in the tea. 

The only thing that I would say about the recipe is that you want to watch the length that you bake the cookie. It calls for 12-14 minute bake time, when the best cookies were done with a 10 minute bake time. I think that it all depends on if your oven runs hot. This is one of those recipes that do not make a huge amount of cookies. This recipe made exactly 36 cookies.

If you are looking for something different for a cookie platter, check out Iced Meyer Lemon Cookies by Baked by an Introvert. It will certainly not disappoint.

Seven Photo Challenge

It was a seven day black and white photography challenge.  You were supposed to nominate other people to take pictures with every picture you posted, but I am not too keen on things like that.  However I did want to do the challenge. Seven pictures. One for each day. No people. No explanations. Here are my seven pictures.  

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 7

Day 6

Haikus about Cheese

I was challenged by Faye on Twitter to write poetry on cheese, because there isn’t enough poetry about cheeses in the world.  Here are four haikus about four different cheese.  Please enjoy. 

Haiku’s about Cheese

Flowers of Rajya

Wheels of a yaks blessings

Bamboo basket gift

Crumbled Feta dream

Cranberry pecan chicken

Salad order up

El Queso blanco 

The subtle ingredient

Stealth flavor binder

Colby melting fun

The binding of bread together

Companion to soup