Have you been watching The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+? It is amazing!
I won’t give any spoilers since it isn’t over yet, but I want to commend the show writers. They can make a social point or bring a character to life with just one scene or even a snippet of dialogue. It’s something all writers should study. Plus, it’s great fun.
Here’s the most surprising part for me. One of my least favorite characters in the MCU is the Winter Soldier. After watching just three episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, he’s my new favorite. I don’t always like his decisions, but I love how his character is developing.
If you have Disney+, I hope you’ll watch. If you don’t have Disney+, it’s worth seven bucks a month to watch this show.
I reduced my holiday decoration storage boxes from seven to four. (I wish I had taken pictures.)
I’ve been listening to several decluttering and minimalism books (I’ll list the good ones in a different post), so I had some ideas on how to do this before I started. I won’t say I didn’t make a mess in the process, but it was fairly quick and emotionless.
Here are the rules I followed:
Instead of taking everything out of a box and then sort it, I sorted each item when I took it out of the box. When the box was empty, everything was either in a keep or discard pile.
I looked at all my decorations in bright sunlight to see if they were worn, faded, or damaged. I rarely have good light when I decorate my house in the fall and winter.
I further separated the keep pile by picking out those things that were most important to me. I put them back in the box first. When my boxes were full, I had to make a decision about what was still left. Since it was not my most loved stuff, it was easy to move it on.
I had cardboard boxes for my donations. Once it went into the box, I didn’t look at it again.
I also had a trash bag. It was amazing how much trash was taking up space (old paper treat bags, tattered garlands, dead lights, etc.)
In the end, I got all my most-loved decorations in four bins. (it’s actually in 3 1/2 bins, so I have a little room to grow.) Now I know that when I move, my decorations will be safe and won’t get lost.
Happy National Walking Day (first Wednesday in April.)
In 2007, the American Heart Association created this holiday. (Perhaps they were concerned about National Twinkie Day.) I approve of walking, so this is a holiday I can get behind.
The weather where I live has been perfect the last few days, so I think I’ll go for a walk today. I’d love to take one of my cats with me, but when I put a harness on them, they act like they’re dead. They’d rather celebrate National Napping Day.
I know some people who celebrate this holiday every day, which is a great idea. I guess it isn’t a holiday then, just a normal day.
Yesterday, I talked about eating healthier, and today is National Twinkie Day. Twinkies are my favorite Hostess treat. When I was a kid, I had a Twinkie in my lunch box every school day. They are awesome.
I’m not going to eat any Twinkies today, but I am going to listen to one of my favorite books. Twinkie, Deconstructed by Steve Ettlinger is only loosely about my favorite snack cake. Instead, it’s about all the ingredients found in our food.
The author took the Twinkie ingredient list, researched where each item came from, how it was made, and why it was used. From flour to calcium sulfate, he removes the fear and provides the facts, which is far more fascinating.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a Kindle version of this book, and the print book is pricy. However, you can listen to the book in Audible (that’s what I do), and it’s well done.
Easter was delicious, but now I need to get my eating back under control. No more Cadbury Creme Eggs for me (I was good this year, I only had them on Easter.)
I have been doing an awesome running challenge, so my half marathon training is on track. Too bad I agree with the husky. Fat sounds awesome.
What I need is an awesome eating challenge that gives me amazing medals for eating healthy, but I haven’t found one. I’d follow any eating plan for a medal. Heck, I’d do it for stickers. Too bad it doesn’t work if I reward myself.
I hope your day is filled with family, faith, and food celebrated in a safe manner.
I’m making pickled beets and eggs (the recipe is here). I have a jar of pickled beets on hand, so I’m using the juice with the eggs and saving the beets for beet and onion salad. This is all for Hubby because I don’t like pickled beets.
I do like deviled eggs, so that will definitely be on the menu. Happy Easter!!!
If you saw my Facebook post, you already know this. I thought I would go into more detail here, in case you were curious or if you ever thought about donating hair yourself.
Here are my answers to the basic questions:
Who? – Me!
Why? – Even before the pandemic, I was once again without a trusted barber. I have slight barber fear, and even though all I need is a trim, I do want someone to do a good job, i.e., a haircut better than what I can do at home. Since I’m paying someone to cut my hair, I don’t think this is asking too much.
So my hair was getting long, and then the lockdown happened. At that point, I decided I would grow my hair out and donate it. I’ve always wanted to donate my hair, and this seemed the perfect time to do it.
When? – I knew I was going to cut my hair before my race in June, but my long hair was driving me crazy. I have very thin hair, and the ponytail I kept my hair in didn’t look good and got tangled in my hoodie. The moment I thought my hair was long enough, I was ready.
How? – I did a lot of research on Google and found three companies that donated wigs to children who needed one. One had a very complicated submission process, and another seemed a little sketchy.
They were the only one with clear instructions that INCLUDED telling me that I didn’t have to go to a salon to cut my hair. I could do it at home. (I didn’t know that!)
Some of the articles didn’t like Locks of Love because they said LoL sold some of the wigs. That isn’t true. They do sell hair that they don’t use in the wigs (I assume that will be some of my hair.) I approve of doing this. I’d rather my unusable hair made them some money to offset costs.
Their instructions were easy to follow.
Where? – I followed the instructions and cut my hair off in my own bathroom. Actually, Hubby cut my hair, which was really sweet because he prefers my hair long.
What? – The instructions said to make several small ponytails instead of one large ponytail. I have such thin hair that I only needed to make two. I bought little rubber bands to do this, and they were horrible. Once they were on my hair, the only way to get them out was to cut them, so I was committed to doing this.
I measured my ponytails before Hubby cut them, and they measured eleven inches. They had to be more than ten inches, so it was go time.
It took less than a minute to go from long hair to short hair. My new do isn’t great, but I don’t care; my old style wasn’t great either.
My hair ended up being twelve inches long. I mailed it in a padded envelope and couldn’t be happier.
Well, that was a long way of saying that I cut my hair and donated it. I hope I can keep it short from now on. I may enlist Hubby the next time I need a haircut. He did a good job.
I assume this day celebrates the sandwich, but there is no bread in the title of the holiday, so maybe we’re just celebrating the insides. With or without bread, peanut butter and jelly is a perfect match.
This perfect match has dozens of variations. My perfect pb&j is made with Skippy’s Creamy Honeynut Peanut Butter and Smucker’s Strawberry Preserves. The type of bread isn’t that important, but it should be soft.
I found a great list of peanut butter recipes from Taste of Home. Some of them include jelly. I especially like the sound of peanut butter and jelly doughnuts.
What is in your perfect peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Let’s all enjoy one in honor of National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day.
April is National Poetry Month, and I found a wonderful poem to celebrate. I like spring showers and spring flowers, so a poem about rain makes me happy.
April Rain Song
by Langston Hughes
Let the rain kiss you Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops Let the rain sing you a lullaby The rain makes still pools on the sidewalk The rain makes running pools in the gutter The rain plays a little sleep song on our roof at night And I love the rain.
April is also Poem-A-Day month. Several writing groups, including Writer’s Digest and NaPoWriMo (National Poem Writing Month), encourage writers to create a poem every day in April.
I’ve never done this and won’t be doing it this year since I’m participating in Camp Nanowrimo along with my YouTube channel (I hope you’ll join me.)
Instead of writing a poem a day, I could read a poem a day. That sounds more doable and just as fun.
Each November, I encourage everyone to join National Novel Writing Month, where people try to write a 50,000-word story in one month. Despite my reassurances, many think this is impossible.
I have another suggestion that is very possible.
Camp Nanowrimo takes place in April. This low-key version of the November event allows participants to pick how much they want to write. You can also edit a work or write many short pieces. The goal is yours to choose.
My goal for Camp Nanowrimo is to finish an early reader chapter book (about 12,000 words.) That’s all—12,000 words in one month. Anyone can do that.
I’ll be writing my story during the ten-minute write-ins on my YouTube channel. Most months, I post two write-ins a week. In April, I’ll share a write-in every day to encourage everyone to meet their Camp Nanowrimo goals.
I’d love for you to join me. Click here to sign up for Camp Nanowrimo and join me every day at Jenn’s Writing World. Together we can reach our goals.
