"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: am I or are the others crazy?" ~Albert Einstein Ever since I discovered this photo of myself some years back, I have always called it the "Crazy Dot" picture. I mean, seriously, what else would you call it?? Look at me...I look....well....crazy, right? As with many other "memories" I post, I have NO recollection of this moment in time. From studying the photo, here's what I DO know...... I'm squatting behind my Great-Aunt Mattie Bell. My Mama is holding my cousin, Taylor. Taylor is looking at me because I've clearly lost my mind! I'm holding a pink brush and, as usual, someone has decided to style my hair with those horrible pigtails...complete with plastic white barrettes.......oh, and let's not forget that ever-present MIDDLE-part! (why? WHY???) We're sitting on a lovely brown plaid couch (hello, 1970s!) having a grand ol' time. Quick question.....would someone please tell me why everyone else has on "day clothes" and I'm still sporting my PJs?? <heavy sigh....> Like I said......"Crazy Dot." I chose this picture as today's Monday Memory because I must admit that I kinda' feel like Crazy Dot looks. I think she's "crazy" in a good kind of way. You know, the "deliriously happy......so happy she just can't get herself together" kind of way. That sums me up today. You see, I work in a high school, and today marks the first official day of our Spring Break! Woohoo!! What are my plans, you ask? Here's the best part........I have NO plans!!! Crazy, right? I LOVE a vacation with no plans. I just do what I want....when I want...how I want. In fact, if you stop by my house this week, you may just see me in my PJs.......sportin' some pigtails...... (But you can forget that middle-part! That ain't happenin'!)
What are YOUR plans for the week? Don't really have any? Sweet! Those are the best kind! :) Until next time, ~Dot
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“Don't you wish you could take a single childhood memory and blow it up into a bubble and live inside it forever?” Well, referring to the quote above, I don't know about living in this particular memory forever. I mean..... it would appear that I don't have all of my teeth in this picture, and it also seems that I either need to let the hem out of those pants or invest in some a little longer. However, I DO have some very fond memories that go along with this picture. I loved this bike so much. Growing up, I lived next-door to my great-aunts, and this is their yard. That "bald patch" of yard behind me is where they parked the cars. For a long time, I was only allowed to ride my bike IN this yard or mine......but NEVER....EVER under any circumstances was I to go into the street. (It must be noted that our street was not THAT "busy", but I was protected to the max growing up!) I thought I was big stuff riding this bike.....with my little basket on the front. It also had a banana seat and, at one time, it had colorful streamer/tassel things hanging down from each handle, but apparently, they came off at some point. One day, I'm not exactly sure when, after much persuasion on my part, I was finally allowed to ride down the circular driveway <GASP!> into the street......and right back onto the other end of the driveway. I was probably on the actual street for a grand total of approximately fifty feet, but it was the most glorious fifty feet anyone could ever travel! I know it sounds ridiculous, but I'm telling you it was absolutely liberating! Well, those days are long gone, but anytime I embark on a new adventure in my life, I can still hear my great-aunts saying "you have GOT to careful, Dot! Folks are crazy in this world!" These are the memories that simultaneously make me smile and drive me nuts! Those precious women are all gone from this earth now, but I have to wonder......what would they say about this adventure................ Until next time,
~Dot "A gift consists not in what is done or given, but in the intention of the giver or doer." ~Lucius Annaeus Seneca Sure, I know it's not about the gift itself, but more about the feelings behind the gift that count, but, hey, let's be honest here..............cool gifts are the BEST!! :) Let's also be clear here. Honestly, I don't really care how much a gift costs the giver. I am much more impressed by a gift that was clearly thought out. Yes, I absolutely love money stuck in a card. "Money always fits," right? However, I simply delight in a gift that reflects how well a person really knows me. Even though I feel like I drop plenty of well-placed hints, many times, my loved ones still miss the mark. Then, every now and then, the giver scores a homerun! So, without further ado, I give you my personal list of "Best Gifts Ever!" (in no particular order)................ My Puppy, Snoopy! Isn't he the cutest thing you ever saw?? Yes, I'm holding him like he's a baby, but that's because he was.......my sweet baby Snoopy! My parents gave him to me for my birthday. None of us can remember which one. I'm thinking maybe my 6th or 7th. Oh, how I loved my sweet puppy...even after he grew up to be a big ol' dog! We spent many, many hours together, he and I. Here's the sad part....he died on my 16th birthday. Yep, welcome to my world. :( Anyway, he was an awesome gift, and I gotta' thank my parents for being so thoughtful! My KitchenAid Stand Mixer! My sweet husband bought this delightful gift for me a few years back. He knew how much I love to bake and my previous not-so-awesome mixer had recently bit the dust. I wish I had been keeping track of how many baked goodies I have made that involved this mixer. I absolutely love it! Thank you, sweet hubby of mine! My Snoopy Perpetual Calendar! My sister gave this to me a few years ago, and I. just. love it! This gift tells me that she knows me very well! First, I love Snoopy! She knows this. Second, I love organization and calendars. A no-brainer! Third, I'm all about seeing things progress. Manipulating this little trick every single day makes me feel as though I have checked another day off the "list". Finally, I must admit that every single time I touch this gift, I'm reminded of my sweet sister! (She probably was totally banking on that, now that I think of it.) Well-played, Heather.....well-played. ;) My Clarisonic Aria Facial Cleansing System! This is a very recent gift from my very thoughtful children. I'm quite sure they perused my "Wish List" PinBoard on Pinterest to even know I was interested in this, but that makes the gift even sweeter! They cared enough to investigate! :) I cannot say enough good things about this product. I use it every single day and feel like I'm getting a daily facial when I do! I've had other devices that I thought were cheaper versions of this from WalMart or Target, but they didn't do half the job this one does! Love it!! Got you thinking? Here's the link for more info: Clarisonic Aria Cleansing Device Thanks for being thoughtful investigators, Kids! :) My DSLR Camera! THIS is probably the best, most thoughtful gift I have ever received. Why? Because it came as a total surprise to me. I had never even hinted at wanting such a thing because frankly, I wasn't very confident in taking photography to the next level. Sure, I have loved taking pictures for the majority of my life, but always with a point and shoot camera of some kind. My sweet husband decided to take a chance a few years back and purchase the very lowest entry-level DSLR Nikon kit made at the time.....a D3000 with a 50-200 mm lens. I immediately gained a new level of passion for photography and haven't looked back since! I continue to purchase more and more lenses and other accessories for my camera, but I think the time is quickly approaching for a new camera body. Regardless of what body I end up graduating to, I will always hold this particular gift very near to my heart! Oh, and by the way, my children gave me the monogrammed camera strap (also one of my fav gifts!) :) So there you have it! My very "best gifts ever!" I'm sure there are plenty of other awesome gifts I've received over the years, but if someone walked up to me and said "Your best gifts ever.....go!", these are the ones that would immediately come to mind. So, have you got some fav gifts? I'll bet you do. Oh, and when you're on the giving end, put a little thought into it. It'll be appreciated, I'm quite sure. :) Until next time,
~Dot stimuli [stim' -yuh -lahy] noun. (plural for stimulus) Things that incite to action or exertion or quicken action, feeling, thought, etc. After a very long, hard dismal winter, I'm thinking I might finally see the beginnings of a new season on the horizon....and just in the nick of time, too! I don't do so well in Winter. Oh sure, I love putting on big, cozy sweaters and stuffin' my pantslegs down in some snazzy riding boots (ha! I think that totally makes me a poser 'cause I certainly don't "ride"!), but as far as having any pep in my step or a burning desire to get moving and accomplish much.......nah....it's just not in me. The word "hibernation" actually comes to mind as a wonderful synonym for "winter" as far as I'm concerned. However, it's almost time to hang up the overcoats and prepare to expose the toes! Yep. It's true! Stimuli are all around us! I think different things work for different folks. For you, maybe it's this... ......or maybe it's this..... .....or possibly it's even this..... For me, it's a happy mixture of all of it! I'm just glad the "Spring Stimuli" are finally among us! It reminds me of fresh starts.....new beginnings.....a promise of hope. So......"stimuli".....that's this Wednesday's Word. I'm all about it! Look around you! Soak it up! What's putting pep in your step right now? Whatever it is, enjoy it to the fullest and remember to thank God for those blessings! Until next time, ~Dot "Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten." Today's "Monday Memory" is another one of my favorite pictures from my past. Notice I said "pictures" not "memories" because, once again, I have NO memory of this occasion. I'm not even sure exactly what's going on here. Here's what I DO know. This is a picture of me with my first cousins. Our parents are all brothers and sister. We look a little dressed up, so...hmmm....someone's birthday?.....a family reunion?........just not sure. The portrait behind us is of our Grandaddy. I see that it's just propped up on the back of the sofa, so I'm not sure if that was just done for this picture or if my Granny was still trying out different spots in the house before actually hanging it. I DO know that portrait is now hanging in a place of honor at Gammage Funeral Home in Cedartown, GA as he started that business many years ago and now my cousin Olin (far left in this picture) owns and operates the same family business as the third generation. I am SO immensely proud of him! In fact, I'm proud to call each person on this couch my family. I didn't grow up around them. I was just there for a visit, but I know we had plenty of fun when we DID get to be together. Unfortunately, we rarely see each other as adults....other than family funerals. I keep up with all of them as best I can via Facebook. I am so very thankful for this picture and yet another look into my childhood that I would not have remembered otherwise! Bottom line: These folks are my family and I will always love them. Who knows? Maybe, just maybe, we can have our own adult family reunion one of these days. Oh, if only Grandaddy could see us now! I hope he'd be proud. Until next time,
~Dot euphemism [yoo-fuh-miz-uhm] noun. The substitution of a mild, indirect, or vague expression for one thought to be offensive, harsh, or blunt in speech or writing. Euphemisms. We've all used them at one time or another. You know what I mean, right? It's saying things like "downsizing" instead of "firing employees"........."pre-owned" instead of "used".........."faux" instead of "fake"....... I could go on and on (you could, too, I'm sure!) How in the world did this practice get its start? According to the OES, it dates back to the 1600s in ancient Greece when folks would avoid words of "ill-omen" during religious ceremonies with more pleasant substitutions. "euphemism." Online Etymology Dictionary. Douglas Harper, Historian. 05 Mar. 2014. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/euphemism>. "Euphemism is a human device to conceal the horrors of reality." So, why do we use them today? Surely, we're not still concerned about those "ill-omens", are we? Well, I think somewhere along the way, it was decided that the truth might be a little too difficult to accept as is, so expressions were softened in order not to offend anyone. So, as Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working for ya'?" Personally, I think it's making more and more things socially acceptable in our society, and I'm not convinced that it's helping matters. Examples of 'softening an expression':
I also think we just don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, which, by the way, is a very honorable thing to do as long as we aren't putting our heads in the sand about the reality of the situation. Examples of 'politeness':
Then, there are some that I just don't understand. I mean, perhaps I have my own head in the sand here, but what's wrong with the original term? Why did we even need a euphemism here? I'm thinking this is where "Political Correctness" came into play. For example..........
“Euphemisms are unpleasant truths wearing diplomatic cologne.” ~Quentin Crisp So, there you have it. My Wednesday's Word for this week: Euphemism. What are your thoughts about this frequently used literary device? Are we softening the blow or shoving our heads in the sand?
Until next time, ~Dot "What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things, long after you have forgotten everything.” ~Aaron Siskind Anyone that knows me fairly well knows two things about me: 1) I love photography....and 2) I have a terrible memory. You may wonder what these two things have in common. It's quite simple, really. I believe pictures help fill in the blanks where our memories may fail us. I know for certain they do so for me! Recently, as I was digging around for old photos to scan for my parents' birthday tributes, I ran across lots of really fun "memories" from my own life. I use the term "memory" loosely here because, to be perfectly honest, I have absolutely NO memory of these moments, but because I had a great-aunt Polly who had the same passion for capturing moments in time as I have now, I will always have these images to fill in the blanks where my memory fails me. So, in an effort to honor those captured memories, I'm going to start posting a "Monday Memory" each week. It's my own personal twist on 'Throwback Thursdays.' :) This particular picture is of me and my first-cousins, Olin & Laura. We're all hanging out at my playhouse in my backyard in South Georgia. My Papa (from my other side of the family) built that playhouse and hauled it from one side of the state to the other side just for me. Olin & Laura must have come for a visit because they lived in yet another corner of the state. Maybe they came for my birthday? Really not sure. Anyway, I love this picture. I love my groovy outfit. I love my playhouse. I love my cousins. I'm so glad I have this picture. Otherwise, this moment in time would be long-gone and probably remembered by no one. Great-Aunt Polly (who lived next-door to me) has been gone from my life and this earth since I was in 5th grade, but I feel like she lives on in every one of these pictures. I truly feel like I'm seeing my own life through her eyes, and I am forever grateful to her! While I know my obsession with capturing every single moment in time gets annoying to those I'm with at times, it is my hope that one day someone will be just as grateful to be able to replay their lives through my eyes. :) Until next time, ~Dot |
AuthorHi! I'm Dot. I refuse to succumb to the "empty nest syndrome"! So, this is my journal.....my photo album.....my attempt to enjoy the next chapter of my life as it unfolds. Welcome to The Roomy Nest! Archives
January 2020
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