Sorting

This morning I wasn't feeling very well so I stayed home from work to rest myself up and prepare to get back into the work saddle tomorrow. I rested this morning, and this afternoon I'm feeling better. So I decided it was time to do some sorting in my room. I've known that I needed to do it for awhile but it wasn't until today that I actually made myself do it, probably since I'm at home, feeling okay at the moment and have some time on my hands.

It's been interesting for me, almost like a walk down memory lane in many ways. I keep finding hobbies that I had every intention of taking up but somehow never did, items that belong in my professional portfolio (like articles I wrote for the Scroll and D-News) and various other brick-a-brac. I'm creating a sack of items to donate to my creative nieces next time I see them because I think they'll get a lot more use out of it than I am.


I also purged my closet. Again, something that I needed to do but just haven't done yet. It was getting so crowded in there that some of the clothes were being mashed by other clothes, and the hangers couldn't hang straight. Oops! It took some will power but I got rid of quite a few things. I know it's shocking, but I tend to hold onto things for sentimental reasons, and my clothes are no exception. I kept convincing myself that although several shirts used to be my favorites or I wore them all the time that they are no longer, and it's time to let them go. My closet looks so much better now!


I found a treasure in the midst of my sorting: a picture my beautiful Miss Sassypants drew of me. I'm including it here so you can enjoy it too. Yeah, it might've made me cry just a little bit when I found it, but it's even more of a treasure now than it was when she first gave it to me. She even drew earrings and a necklace on me, which is just cute. Hooray for sorting!

Just Life

If I've learned anything in my life thus far it's to expect the unexpected. Just when you think you have things figured out or you're in a good place, life pulls the rug out from underneath you and you're on your backside trying to pull yourself up again. Or, you're dealing with things on your plate okay until something else gets added to it and then you must learn how to deal with that thing too. It's incredibly frustrating!

I know, I know. That's life.

And let's face it: life is not fair. Anyone who says it is will be telling you a falsehood. :)

I don't meant to sound angry or bitter, just realistic. I've been trying so hard to cope with everything that's gone on the last few months and, all in all, I think that I've done pretty well. It's been a hard adjustment and other things have come up that have made it that much more difficult. Again, I'm doing my best to cope with everything. The only problem is that it never stops! It just keeps coming full force, and sometimes my mind reels with it all.

I regularly tell my mom to take a step back because she gets completely overwhelmed, but she is in the thick of it. I always advise her to take a step back and try to look at it in smaller fragments so it's not so daunting. I don't know that she does, but I try. Most of the time, I could be saying the same thing to myself, and I do try hard to follow my own advice, even if I'm not always successful in doing so.

I suppose I just need to remember that life is a test, and most of the time tests are hard. I can think of more than one exam I took during college that was more than a little challenging. In fact, some of them were a LOT challenging. But I made it through and a good portion of the time I got a decent grade on the test.

So that means I can make it through this period of testing too. I've just got to grit my teeth and bear it until it eases up a bit. Perhaps this also might mean faking it until I can make it. Because no matter how hard the test, it won't last forever. And I'll be all the stronger for having made it through.

Fireworks!

Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE fireworks? And when I say love, I mean I really love them. I get super excited for the Fourth of July (and now that I live in Utah, the 24th of July) because it means that I get to see the sky light up with beautiful explosions of color. The bigger the firework show, the better!

And, since the majority, if not all, of the fireworks I see come at patriotic times of the year, fireworks also make me feel patriotic. I'm not sure how exactly explosions in the air tie in with being patriotic, save only that they're a tradition for that time of the year, but somehow they do. And I would feel cheated if my Fourth of July went by without seeing any fireworks show! This year I got to see two. It was exciting!

It's become an important tradition for me, whenever possible, to always see the fireworks show at Aggie Stadium in Logan. I can't even recall the number of times that I've seen it over the years my sister has lived there, except that I know it's been many, many times. I love it because not only is the show put on by professionals, but the fireworks are also choreographed to music, which makes it that much cooler!

Here are a few photos of the fireworks show last year and this year. I'm not quite as good at photographing them as my brother, but I do try. I'm also going to attempt to upload a video, but I'm not sure if it'll work out or not so we'll see. Enjoy!