Footle and Grok

Messing about with empathy

Finish it with a bow

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

A gift-wrapped box is nice, but a ribbon and bow make it special.

You can buy cheap bows by the bag at the dollar store or spend more money on fancy ones. However, in the same amount of time and for no money, you can make a bow that matches the package and is much nicer.

I’m not kidding about the time needed. These bows take just a couple of minutes once you learn how to do it, and there are no special tools needed. I learned to make these from my personal librarian, Amy. She teaches a bow-making workshop at our public library around Christmastime, but they are useful year-round.

These are some of the ones I’ve made at the library.

IMG_6049~photo (2)

Any colorful paper can be used. I find that the pictures from old calendars are the perfect weight and length. Save your 2019 calendars, and you will have year-round bow making material.

Here are the instructions to make your own bows. I’ve taught young and old friends how to make these, and they all mastered them. I’ll gladly teach you if you live nearby. Give them a try, and you may not want to stop.

Don’t pasta this post

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

It’s National Spaghetti Day.

Saturday is a great day to make spaghetti. The sauce can simmer longer, and everyone can linger around the dinner table. Or you can go out to eat and have unlimited breadsticks and salad before you stuff yourself with pasta.

I prefer medium shells to spaghetti noodles, but I’m fond of spaghetti sauce (my hubby makes a great sauce.) I especially like it with meatballs. No matter the pasta shape, I call it spaghetti.

Americans eat about 20 pounds of pasta a year. Most families have spaghetti about once a week. I did as a kid, but I have it less often now. Although when we make a batch, we eat if for three days, so it might average out.

Ever wonder how pasta is made? I watch a lot of cooking shows and love watching the crazy length that pasta dough grows to (like in this America’s Test Kitchen video), but it’s also fun to watch millions of pounds of pasta being made. (Beware watching just one How It’s Made video though because it’s hard to stop.)

I think the best thing about spaghetti is that everyone has their own recipe, so no two dishes taste alike. That can be true even in one household. My hubby’s spaghetti sauce is never the same twice, but it’s always tasty. What is your favorite sauce? Do you make it yourself, or does it come out of a can or jar? Perhaps it’s from a powdered packet like my mom used when I was a kid? Or do you make it from scratch like my aunt? I didn’t bother including any recipes here because I figured we each have our own.

No leap seconds in this leap year

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

It’s time to talk about leap seconds. (pun alert)

Every few years, scientists add a leap second to UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) so that it matches the rotation of the Earth, which is slowing down. If we didn’t make adjustments to our clocks, we’d be noticably off in a few thousand years.  (Not by a lot, though. When the Chicxulub impactor wiped out the dinosaurs (except for birds,) 66 million years ago, the Earth day was about 23 hours long.)

These leap seconds are rarely added, and no one notices when they are because we don’t measure our day-to-day life that precisely. However, computers do notice, and that is one of the reasons why some scientists think leap seconds shouldn’t be added. It might mess with precise programming.

Other scientists think it is necessary. They have many reasons, including that sundials would never work properly again. Clearly, that’s a big problem.

Leap seconds are added on either June 30th or December 31st. One was scheduled for the end of 2019, but it didn’t happen, so the last one added was in 2016. There probably won’t be one in 2020, but since I couldn’t find the next scheduled one, anything could happen.

I like the idea of a leap second. It makes a lot more sense than Daylight Saving Time.

January

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

I love to discover great writing.

To earn the Bloody Baron badge in my PHRC reading challenge, I have to read a book of poems. I’m not a huge fan of poetry (with a few exceptions.) As I poked around various books at the library, I stumbled upon William Carlos Williams.

I’d forgotten about this poet, which is odd because I have one of his poems on my phone. After reading a few more works by him, I was thrilled to find a poem about January. It expresses exactly how I’m feeling, which I guess is the point of poetry.

January

by William Carlos Williams

Again I reply to the triple winds
running chromatic fifths of derision
outside my window:
Play louder.
You will not succeed. I am
bound more to my sentences
the more you batter at me
to follow you.
And the wind,
as before, fingers perfectly
its derisive music.

A new calendar on my wall

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

Happy 2020!!!

One of the things I like about the first day of a new year (and I like a lot of things) is a fresh calendar. I usually have four or five calendars in my house, and they are all different. Right now I only have three, but I’ll be buying a couple more once they go on sale (I really want a Star Wars one.)

Calendars are a crazy industry. They can’t be that expensive to make because half the pages on every calendar are the same. It’s not like the calendar companies have to write a book, but calendars cost the same as an 80,000-word novel. Plus, there is a topic for everyone. Dogs, cats, pigs, goats in trees, whatever you want to see on your wall, there’s a calendar for you.

We bought a lot of calendars in Alaska, some for gifts and some for ourselves. Buying a 2020 calendar in August felt weird, but while putting them up yesterday, I was delighted we got them because they’re gorgeous and remind me of our great trip.

We all have calendars on our phones, tablets, and computers. We can connect our digital schedules to others, so no plan gets lost. You’d think wall calendars would be a thing of the past, but there are pop-up stores that just sell calendars. We’ve come into a time when we can have our wall calendar and a digital one too.

Do you have a wall calendar for 2020? Did you pick it, or was it a gift? What topic is it? Do you think wall calendars will ever fall out of favor? I certainly hope not. How can I count down the days to 2021 without one?

Inspiration for the new year

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

Happy New Year’s Eve!!!

I love a good inspirational quote, so here are ten that you can tape to your bathroom mirror or email to your friends to inspire them in 2020.

Ten quotes to start 2020 off right:

  • “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C. S. Lewis
  • “We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity, and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” Edith Lovejoy Pierce
  • “Every moment is a fresh beginning.” T. S. Elliot
  • “Life’s not about expecting, hoping, and wishing, it’s about doing, being, and becoming.” Mike Dooley
  • “It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” E. E. Cummings
  • “Although no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.” Carl Bard
  • “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you’re not going to stay where you are.” J. P. Morgan
  • “The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new.” Socrates
  • “Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go. They merely determine where you start.” Nido Qubein
  • “What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year.” Vern McLellan

Is it time to undecorate?

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

When you do take down the Christmas decorations?

When I was growing up, we removed the decorations on New Year’s Day. Dad would be home to help with the tree and outdoor lights. We’d put away all the ornaments while watching the Rose Parade, then Dad would haul out the tree while Mom vacuumed up the needles. By the afternoon, the house was back to normal.

Nowadays, I have no problem undecorating on December 26, but this year I was busy visiting friends and haven’t done anything. Today is the day. I can’t wait any longer.

First of all, I want to give my home a good cleaning. An easy time to do that is when the decorations are gone, but the everyday decorations haven’t been replaced. Also, my five-month-old kittens keep knocking the sheep off my nativity, and I’m tired of them ignoring me when I tell them to leave baby Jesus alone.

By the way, if you want to declutter, get a cat. I now have bare surfaces on my tables and bookshelves because the cats love to knock things off, both on purpose and by accident. To save my knick-knacks and my sanity, I cleared everying before my three cute terrors could break them.

So my question for you is this – when do you undecorate your house? December 26? January 1? Twelfth Night? Valentine’s Day? Let me know, and we’ll see what is most popular.

Do it (soon)

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

I have picked my theme for 2020.

Every year I pick a theme and then make a goal list based on that theme. In the past, I’ve worked on finishing projects, old projects, and new projects. This year I’m working on projects that I have been procrastinating on.

That’s right. The theme for 2020 is procrastination.

I have written this blog for over three years and never missed a day. I’m going to run/walk every day in 2020. It might seem like I don’t procrastinate, but the truth is, I’m a master procrastinator, and it drives me crazy. Why is it I never forget to write my blog, but I can’t edit my stories? It makes no sense, and in 2020, I’m going to overcome procrastination.

“Turning pro is a mindset. If we are struggling with fear, self-sabotage, procrastination, self-doubt, etc., the problem is, we’re thinking like amateurs. Amateurs don’t show up. Amateurs crap out. Amateurs let adversity defeat them. The pro thinks differently. He shows up, he does his work, he keeps on truckin’, no matter what.”

Steven Pressfield

One thing that I know about myself is that I’m an obliger (otherwise known as a people-pleaser.) I write this blog because people email me when they don’t get it. I edit other people’s stories because it helps them succeed. But if I have to do something for myself, I probably put it off.

“I think of myself as something of a connoisseur of procrastination, creative and dogged in my approach to not getting things done.”

Susan Orlean

I need to find accountability buddies or websites that demand accountability. I won’t break my running streak because I won’t get the badge on Smashrun if I do. I need external deadlines for my writing and other goals.

Do you have a theme for 2020? I find having a theme keeps me focused on my goals. Why not try it out and see if it helps you reach your new year goals.

“Procrastination is the bad habit of putting off until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.”

Napoleon Hill

My thanks to you

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

I just finished my thank you cards.

This isn’t a chore I enjoy, so usually I procrastinate. I’m try to do less of that (we’ll discuss that on a different post) so I got them done.

I’ve had to write thank you cards all my life. I can remember my mom hounding me when I was a kid to finish my cards. My writing font is small, and I thought I’d never have enough to say to fill the entire card. Back then, I didn’t understand. All I had to say was thank you.

Nowadays, I handwrite my thank you cards because people like to get mail that isn’t bills or ads. I don’t expect the receipent to keep the card (don’t let me add to your clutter.) Read and recycle should be the goal. I expressed my thanks and the gift giver received a bit of special mail.

I’ve said this before, but the method of sending a thank you is less important than making sure you that you do. Text, email, or phone. It all works.

It’s nice to get a thank you card for a gift given, but I’m going to try and say thank you for all the nice things people do for me throughout the year. It’s easy, free, and much appreciated.

I’ll start right here. Thank you for reading my blog. I write them with you in mind.

Go streaking

Posted on by Jennifer Vandenberg

Not that kind of streak.

I’m going to run at least one mile every day in 2020. The reason makes perfect sense to me. I have been planning this for more than a year.

Streaks are a lot of fun and easier than you think. When you’re doing a streak, all the excuses disappear. I’m going for a run each morning because I’m doing a streak. Not lacing up my shoes is not an option.

While running streaks are popular (the longest streak was for 52 years and 39 days), there are other streaks out there. You could journal every day, or take a photo of the same tree. Or you could read a book for fifteen minutes. Anything that you do every day of the year is a streak. It’s incredibly satisfying to see how much you did at the end of the year.

The most important thing to do, besides your challenge, is to record your daily efforts. A gold sticker on a calendar or a spreadsheet with Xs is all you need. If you want to do a running streak, I recommend recording it on  Smashrun. This website gives virtual badges for various runs and is why I’m running every day in 2020.

Join me in streaking. You don’t even have to take your clothes off.