My New Christmas Career

I LOVE Christmas.  I love to give gifts and I love to open them.  However, the whole process of people getting me gifts makes me stressed out.  I hate telling people "No, I really like the gift, I just maybe would have chosen a different color..." because that really means, "I don't like this gift, but I feel bad for saying it."  And I do. I feel AWFUL for saying it.

When I was 5 my mom bought me a pair of pink cowboy boots.  They were a soft pink leather with a glitter lightening bolt down the side and pink leather fringe.  I kid you not.  I think about them now and one word comes to mind: awesome.  However, at age 5, I opened these boots on Christmas morning and as soon as I saw them I BURST into tears. Bawling. I hated those boots.  But I was not crying because I hated them so much I was crying because I knew I was going to have to tell my mom I hated them.  The whole thing seems a bit odd to me:

Don't you think the tears would have given away my extreme dislike?

Way for me to be an extremely sensitive 5 year old.

Nice style sense Bonnie. What were you thinking? Those things were money.

I feel like if I would have kept those boots I may be a country singer and not a seminary student.

So this Christmas I am bound and determined not to cry because I am afraid someone's feelings will get hurt, but even more I am going to look for a career opportunity in my gifts.  My mom always tells me she wont buy me a surfboard until I learn to surf.  I tell her that it's too much work to rent one, if I just owned  one I would surf the waves like I was born to do it.  So I just feel like this year could be the year, that someone will get me a gift that will just turn my life around, and this is what I asked for:

Gift: Exercise workout DVD               
Career: I am loud enough, I could totally do that


Gift: Hanson Take the Walk Shoes      
Career: Shoe Model. Missionary


Gift: Canon Digital Camera                  
Career: Professional Photographer. Small sales to my mom on Etsy

Gift: Roxy Surf Board                          
Career: Enough said.

Mac Tip #9: Undo and Redo

Sometimes when I am blogging or typing a love letter of sorts I write things and I want to scribble it out and change it and have it still look really professional.  Cause that's what I am: a professional blogger and lover.


So clearly I can not take a sharpie and scribble out the mistakes on my screen, although I did that once when I was three to my mom's friend's new Apple II e.  Oops.

So when I make a mistake and I choose a poorly written word, or I need to just simply start with a clean state after the first paragraph I wrote, I simply push:

"Apple key + Z" and the mistake disappears.

But then, in a moment of sanity when I decide that my word choice, before I deleted it, was actually GENIUS and I am sad that erased the word, or entire page, I simply push:

"Apple key + Y" and what was taken away, is now back!

Editor's tips and tricks.  Easy as pie. Apple pie.

Boys vs. Girls: Tug of War

Hey Ladies.

I have a bit of news for you that the male population would like you to know.  Be it your boyfriend, your dad, your husband, your coworker, your neighbor, your mailman; they all would like this info made known.

If they are: tired, hungry, or sick, they are the most tired, the most hungry, and the sickest that anyone has ever been. Ever. And ever will be.

And in case you think that you could understand the agonizing pain they are in, you can't.  Because you have not been working, going to the store, cooking, or trying to do anything that would cause you to use energy.  No.  Instead you have been lying around all day (every day) sleeping and eating, so you are constantly renewing your energy source and also  by nature "healthy" is your middle name.

So please, when you hear a male say they are really tired, or extremely hungry, or that this time they are so sick you would not understand how much their throat hurts; please do not try to empathize, that's insulting to their pain.  But, take that as a warning and gear up, because this time wont even come close to the discomfort they will be in next time.

Breakfast? I'm sorry I can't, I'm Apparently Not Smart Enough

We got a really awesome toaster oven as a wedding gift and I must admit that I am truly thankful for it.  With regular toasters, I get a little stressed out that they are not actually working.  I have had so many in which it is time for the bread, or pop tart, to do some actual popping, and nothing.  Later I find out that the spring is broken, the bread has been burned and I am cranky.

But one thing really confuses me about this toaster oven.  First of all, it's a toaster and an oven all packaged into one.  That must be why there are about 500 different options for heat, and broiling, and a timer, etc.  Which, let me say, it's small am I really going to be cooking a turkey in there?  Doubt it.

But really I am bitter about the whole thing, because I am beginning to think that my lack of trust for the toaster is not really the device.  I hate to admit it, but I think it's me.  I can't get a freaking piece of bread to be the right consistency no matter what I do.

I always have it at the same setting (mostly because the other ones are too complicated)
I always use the same timer

And one time it will be burnt to the crisp, and other days, like now, I am so disappointed that my english muffin is nothing more than a flimsy warm piece of carbs.  I mean really?  Is this some kind of joke?  Or how about yesterday when I made cheese rolls for Cy and the cheese melted everywhere inside the toaster oven, but no effect on the bread?  What is wrong with that thing?  Or me?

So as I sit and eat my half warmed, non melted buttered, flimsy piece of bread, that I realize there is so much to learn and life and frankly is daunting if I can't even figure out the toaster over.  I'm going to have a zone bar instead, or should I say in addition to?

You Invade

It's been cold and rainy here lately.  I find myself going to sleep with the rain and waking to it as well. I adore it.  There is something about the weather moving and changing, interrupting our lives that reminds me of the existence of something much bigger than my daily life and mundane tasks.

As a little girl I can recall being deathly afraid of the rain.  My mom told me that God was moving the furniture, but as I pictured the giant couch being moved on the floors of heaven, I could not help but still shiver at the loudness of it all.  My fear was quickly replaced with awe as I would watch my dad seat himself in front of the big picture windows we had in Arizona and marvel at the lightening that one only sees in a National Geographic catalogue. This is coming from a man who once watched a tornado pass from the porch a block away, or he who wanted to drive slower so that we may see the green cloud in the Kansas sky turn into that dreaded funnel shape. Later, he took me to see Twister on the big screen.  I loved that date of ours. And he loves the storms.  The lightening had a way of illuminating everything around us, causing the rain to look as though it stopped mid air and for that second, the dark was gone and was replaced with light.

I began to love the rain that night.  Still, I hold a sweet memory of sitting on our plaid couch watching the dessert drops pour down as hard and as much as they want.  It stopped us in our tracks.  It changed the fear in me to wonder.  It illuminated the darkness around me and continually reminds me that always, no matter how dim or bright, the light will always shine in the dark.

So now, as I sit on my leather couch, hundreds of miles away from my dad, and years away from that fear, I am still moved by it all.  We are so blessed to have a God that invades our lives, because they are not really ours in the first place.

Mac Tip #8: Putting Pettiness Aside

I left you in the cold yesterday  Mac users.  I am sorry, I had a final and babysat and yada, yada, yada.  Yes, potentially I could post another tip today, but in light of the Christmas spirit, I chose a video instead.

Enjoy.

p.s. I have no idea what a video has to do with the Christmas spirit. Nothing, in fact.  

Buy and Give Back

This holiday, we can buy gifts that give back to others who are less fortunate.  Mama Manifesto  posted a bunch yesterday, and here are two more:

Krochet Kids International   

 Krochet Kids International is a non-profit dedicated to ending poverty by supplying skill training for "reliable income, education training and personal care"  through the sale of hand-crocheted hats to benefit women in Northern Uganda.  After extensive research on communities in Northern Uganda, Krochet Kids has selected 10 women based upon economic status, personal background and number of dependants for an opportunity to work for salary crocheting hats to be sold in the United States.    Most of these women are young adult orphans that are heading one or more households, those who have been displaced or abducted due to the war in Northern Uganda, and whose past has wrongly told them they do not have a future. They look for the least of the least.  These women are trained with skills to cochet for a good salary, and provide a sustainable income for their family.  In addition, these women are taught financial stewardship of budgeting, financial savings, and small business management, so they make continue this change for generations to come.

The Ugandan women of Krochet Kids crochet hats in many sizes, shapes and colors that they may be sold in order to be given back to the community.  100% of the proceeds goes back to the community in order to promote health care, education and clean water through local programs.  These community incentives allow for to establish a stable environment that will last for generations.

So help them out by keeping your ears and head warm! This Christmas, buy a hat.  For you, your mom, your brother, your youth group leader. Buying a hat is all it takes to support these women and these communities. You buy one hat for someone you know, and you help someone you don't.

Visit krochetkids.org for more information regarding their program, bios on the women who crochet, and the numerous knit hats you can purchase!

Toms Shoes

Beginning in May 2006, Tom's shoes is dedicated to supplying shoes for children around the world who do not have this luxury.  They have already donated 10,000 pairs of shoes to children in Argentina and 50,000 South Africa.  Their goal for 2008 is to give away 200,000 pairs of shoes to children in need.

 For every pair of shoes purchases, Toms donates a pair to a child in need.  One for One.  It's that simple.

 This Christmas supply a child with a pair of shoes; or four.  Purchase shoes for everyone in your family, on your worship team, or ask for them as a gift. Everyone loves shoes, and everyone needs them too. Easy as pie. This December, theyare trying to get 30k shoes in 30 days! 

 Visit tomsshoes.com for more information about the cause, to view their collection, shop online, or find a retailer closest to you. 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Mom,

Today is your Birthday, and as I think of today, I can't help but think of all the great days that led up to this moment.  You have always been right there beside me, comforting me when I was scared, sharing every story with me into the wee hours of the night, making my favorite dishes when I had a bad day, and your hugs and kisses remind me of my worth.  Although I could not pick favorites, because all of our memories are too good, here are a few to enjoy on your special day:

• Remember when I was afraid of the dark (and dad putting me in the cold shower to stop crying), so I would sneak in your room and lay as flat as I could and as close up against you as I could, allowing your body's shadow to cover me so that Dad would not see?  It never worked, he always heard me.  But what I love about this is that you always let me try anyway.

• What about the time that you taught me how to ride a bike?  It was those cute pink banana seat bikes that we got for Easter that one year.  You ran next to me again and again at that park by our house on 68th street.  I always got scared and let myself topple over, but you got me to try again and again.  I'll never forget when the practice paid off and you let go of the bike, and I began to pedal on my own.  I looked back at you, afraid to leave your side, and you yelled for me to keep going, "YAY Bonnie!"  so I kept going, around the track until I was next to you again.  I still feel like that today.

• Remember the awesome birthday party that we decorated those SWEET cups with paint pens?  Then you duplicated it with the glasses at my bachelorette party.  You always remember things like that, and it means the world to me.

• I have always loved when you sang me to sleep.  "Bonnie, Bonnie, Bonnie's in love..."  Now I am there, and I love him because you taught me to love first.

• You have always been the best artist, remember that puff-paint whale on my lunch box? I love that, and secretly want another one.

• You are the only one that consistently cares if Bebes has a seasonal outfit.  You made him those overalls with clouds and another with roses, and not to mention his heart sweater.  You will kiss him and I love that about you because you appreciate cute things. More than that, you know that Bebes has gotten me through some scared nights, lonely nights, plane rides and a trip to college; you understand the importance of being comforted.  Your voice is the best comfort to my heart each day.

• You let me call you as many times as I want per day, and you never seem annoyed with me.  You listen to my stories, you encourage me, you laugh with me, cry with me, and you tell me that you are my best friend too.

• You are the best example of God's love that I have seen.  The way you love your husband, your kids, and your friends is always inspiring to me.  Your gifts are plentiful, and you bless others just by your words of kindness and encouragement.                                                                           Thank you so much for loving me with so much grace and patience.  I can not even begin to express how much you mean to me.  You are my mom, my best friend, my encourager, my confidant, and a source of joy that I am thankful for each day that passes.  I love you so much mommy, and I can't wait until we get to live near one another.  I hope you have the BEST birthday because you deserve it!  

Happy Birthday Mom!  I LOVE You!!!!

It's Never Too Early to Start Parenting

Yes kids.  We would totally smoke you in a kissing tournament.

Parenting who?  My future kids.


I thought of the BEST way to freak them out and stop them from making out all the time, especially in our living room, or their room.

Bonnie! People don't make out on couches or in their rooms when they are teenagers. 

Um yes the do.  So relax, and get prepared.

When Cy and I catch one of our children playing tonsil hockey in our house, in the car, at the football game, or at the movies, we are going to go up right next to them and we are going to start making out too.  Yes that is right, we are going to show them that there is not just one team in the league, and that we too can toss that puck.

The natural response will be, "Mom and Dad, SICK!" And to that I will say, "What?  Are we too loud?"  Which will invoke vomit of some sort, and if our son or daughter throws up on his or her date, then there goes that date, no longer a worry.

Then, from that moment on, we are going to instill a rule, that if our son or daughter wants to kiss his or her girlfriend or boyfriend then they have to do it in the same room as me and Cy, like a make-out party. They will NEVER want to do this, and therefore they wont make out in our house, or anywhere near where they think we might just randomly "show up."  This is abstinence training at it's finest.

Genius.

I told Cy this idea, and he looked so grossed out and like I needed help.  But true artists are never appreciated in their time.  

On Your Own: Foamy Latte

I wanted a bit of foam on my Chai the other day, but I just don't have the money for a machine that steams the milk, Starbucks style.

So instead, I relied on my trusty friend Google, and found a method that works great, and for free!

Just heat up some milk in a sauce pan on low to medium heat and when it begins to get warm, use a whisk and whisk away.  As the milk heats, the foam will form, and when it's the right frothiness, add it to the top of your drink!

I added sprinkles to mine too...I know, so very impressive:

Excuse the blurry photo.  Took it with my phone and I have not mastered the non-shaking hand yet.

Mac Tip #7: Spotlight and Spotlight Shortcut

Spotlight, located at the top right of your screen, is an easy way to quickly search for documents or applications without having to open the Finder window.  This can be beneficial if you already have lots of windows open and you don't want to open another, or you are not sure where your document or application is stored on your computer.  You can simply type in the name of whatever you are searching for in your computer and you will see a list of documents and applications come up on your computer!  Select the one you want, and you are good to go. It's like the "find it" feature on a PC, only you don't have to watch that flashlight roll around...and around....and around.

The Spotlight Icon, is found here, and looks like a magnifying glass:

You have two options to utilize this feature.  Either move your mouse there, click, and begin typing, or use this short cut:

Command + space bar

The spotlight function will pop up right away and you can start typing.  Once you type in the document name, use the arrow keys to navigate through the documents and once the one you want is selected, hit the "return" key to open it!  If you use the shortcut and decide you don't want to be in Spotlight anymore, then hit "command + space bar" and it will disappear.

Easy as pie!

This Week is Not My Friend

I have been so incredibly MIA this week and this is why:

Monday: Worked instead of day off

Tuesday: Day off instead of worked, but internet is down.

Tuesday night:  5 hour retreat for Seminary

Wednesday:  Internet down, sat at Starbucks for an 8 hour work day and only got one Venti Earl Gray tea. Got called "cheap" I'm sure many times by the employees.

Wednesday night:  Meant to write a paper, but didn't.

Thursday: Work. Dropped my iphone and broke it. The screen goes back and froth between a black and white barcode or a blue and yellow striped Gap button-up.  

Thursday night:  This is now, let's hope that I: babysit, and then write my life away.  No internet and no phone....should be able to get something done.

Mac Tip #6: Quick Look

Sometimes, I want to see a document without actually opening it.  I want to look at the contents without waiting for the program to load.  Yes, I am that impatient.

Thankfully, Mac has shortcut to solve this issue.  It's called "quick look".  Quick look will only work if you have the leopard operating system (this is the newest operating system available).  This tip will allow you to find your document quickly and easily.  

Open your Finder.  

Click on your Documents folder.

Highlight a document that is most likely titled the same as all of your other ones (BonnieLewis1.doc, BonnieLewis1a.doc, etc.) and this is why you are confused.

Click the space bar.

Voila!  A small preview of the document will pop up on your screen.  Take a look at it, and when you are done, click the space bar again and it will disappear.  

You can do this for photos, itunes artwork, and really anything that is in your Finder.  If it's an application, then it will show you a larger version of the icon with the application information.

 It's like peek a boo but for your computer.  Easy, easy easy.