Dear Diary....

Once again, I find myself appalled at the time that has elapsed since my last real blog-post. You'd think that, by now, I've come to terms with the fact that I'm horrible about maintaining any sort of regular posting schedule when it comes to my own personal blog, but I still tend to send myself packing on a guilt trip when I log on and realize just how very loooong it's been since the last entry. This is why I tried multiple times to keep a journal and never actually maintained one with any degree of success. No one's beating down my door to hear my thoughts on things, so why would it matter if I let things fall by the wayside? 

Really, though, what sort of self-expression and self-exploration do we rob ourselves of when we shrug off the thought of writing those words? What chapters in our lives are we letting slip by, without record? While I wouldn't want everyone to know every thought or feeling that goes through my mind, I do sometimes look back over the trajectory of my life and wish I could recall things more clearly...and had I kept that journal, I might actually have that bit of insight. For some reason, though, we seem to think of "journaling" as a time-suck or a frivolity, rather than a beneficial way to connect with ourselves. We're too busy with other things, and so the pages stay empty––clean and white and going to waste. The journals collect dust, just one more prettily bound book whose spine was never cracked. i'm too guilty of that. But really, isn't that empty journal just a metaphor? We don't take the time to get to know ourselves. We're too busy with other things. I'm not suggesting navel gazing and becoming me-focused. I'm talking about getting to know yourself and what drives you, to finding out what makes you unique and worth getting to know. To becoming whole and healthy and happy as an individual so that you can have a full relationship with yourself, but also with everyone around you. The journal pages might just be a start, but they're a good one. 

Don't Stick on Me

If you're like me, you're always looking for ways to avoid having to actually wash a cookie tray or baking pan when you use one,  and the traditional roll of aluminum foil tends to get the job of playing ombudsman between you and the actual cookie tray. Still, even that doesn't always suffice––especially when it comes to things that have the tendency to stick to said aluminum foil. And so, when I finally came across the ingenious invention of reusable cooking sheets, I was in love. The COOKINA Cuisine Reusable Cooking Sheet is an especially great one, 100 percent non-stick and PFOA free. It's a multi-purpose mat of magic! Instead of busting out the hazardous tube of aluminum foil, parchment paper, or wax paper (and cutting your thumbs on that wicket saw-blade box edge!), unroll the COOKINA cooking sheet and revel in the fact that you saved not only your ten digits, but also that whatever latest baking expedition you've been on will be easily cleaned up––sans the worry of that random scrap of stuck-on aluminum or wax paper that inevitably results. This sheet is reusable, reversible, easy to clean, and can easily be trimmed to size. For more info, visit www.cookina.co

Cheese Clouds

I seem to be in that vacuum of space between the feast and the famine––that weird phenomenon of time that seems to happen when there's this building cloud of assignments that you just know is coming, waiting...looming...growing. And yet, the actual time you'll be given to deal with the cloudburst is unmoving. While the knowledge of upcoming work (and the resulting reflection in the greenery of my bank account, of course) is always nice to have, there's that downside of stressiness that happens. Maybe it's just me, maybe it's not. I'll be the first to admit that I'm sometimes too easily launched into that black hole of anxiety, even though the reality is that I can truly handle the workload, if I attack it methodically and with a clear head. I.E., trading in stressy-me for rational-me. Stressy-me seems to be my default setting, and that's something I definitely would like to change.

I've never personally read Who Moved My Cheese, but if I wrote it, I'm sure the dialogue would go something like this: 
My. Cheese. Has. Moved.
Where?
Why? 
Who touched it?
What if they had germs?
What if it's not the exact same cheese?
Can I move it back?
When?

As you can guess, change is not something I embrace easily. And neither is lack of details. Both of which occur with maddening frequency in life as well as in work. Especially in the ever uncertain world of a freelance writer. Which begs the question: why do I do this? And how do I not have a bleeding ulcer? Who knows, maybe it has something to do with my very contradictory love of the adrenaline rush that comes from knowing I met the tightest deadline, that my clients were impressed. That I proved I could do it.

The cheese moves. The thundercloud builds. Life can't be planned. But I'm trying to learn again how to cope with all of those things. To not worry about who or why or when the cheese was moved. To be thankful that the cheese is, in fact, still out there and available. It's still cheese. To not worry about when the rain will come. Just to be glad that it's coming and realize that it's needed to water this thirsty ground. And to embrace the unplanned moments of life––since sometimes those turn out to be the best ones. 

I'm just going to have to see if I can keep the cheese from getting soggy in the meantime.  

More Than Words

Call it a hazard of being a writer, but I'm always amazed that people can put so little stock in the importance of words. Words are amazing, yet so many people treat them with such flippancy. Really, though, if you think about it, words can change everything. 

They have the power to persuade, the power to hurt, the power to heal. The power to kill, and the power to give life. Whether spoken or written, words are essential to how we relate to one another, to how we connect. Maybe that's why I love them so much. They are truly a powerful thing, and I'm reminded of that on a daily basis as I boot up my computer to start my work day or crack the spine on a book.

What would life be like without words?

As one who makes a living from my ability to spin them together, I shudder to think. But even as a simple human being, I've often reflected on a world suddenly robbed of words–-one where they could not be spoken, heard, read, or written. It would be a lonely thing, I think. We would never really know someone else, would we? How could we fall in love or really feel anything about anyone or anything?Death of words would, I think, literally mean death. They're required for technology, for entertainment, for relationship. 

And still, they are so undervalued. Think about it, though, next time you're about to say something or write something. What do those words mean, and what will they cost you? How will they be received? Hold them in your mind's eye and measure them. 

Words are a powerful thing, a gift or a curse. 

Words are never just words. Be wordly wise.

Bubblegum Bubbles

I'm always amazed at people who can just walk around in their own little bubble without ever talking to anyone. I'm just not built like that. Yes, I'll admit that I'm often guilty of the bubble thing, but I like talking to people far too much to operate my day on Mute, in a shatter-proof bubble. 
So I may have a bubble, but it seems to be made of gum.
And like all bubblegum bubbles, my bubble frequently pops.
Which means a fresh bubble later on, sure. But who doesn't like fresh?
Fresh is better, right?

I guess that's one of the hazards of being a writer. 
Or maybe it's one of the advantages.
I talk to so many interesting people and learn so many different things. And Lord knows it keeps my days from stagnating and my conversational level above a grunt. 
I find sources for articles I'm working on, get ideas for characters, make friends, and network. I've gotten some really great content, and I've met some truly inspirational people that I wouldn't have, if I'd kept my bubble intact.
Shatter-proof bubbles are overrated.
Sure, they may seem like a good idea, all protective and impenetrable.
But bubblegum bubbles can grow. 
Bubblegum bubbles are pretty colors.
Bubblegum bubbles are fun.

If we constantly operate within the confines of our own bubbles, the world would be a sad place. 
We'd lose connections, and I like connections. 
I like knowing that there are people who care about me, and people I care about. 
I like knowing that, as sticky as things can be, as difficult as life can become, there are people I can reach out to. People who don't mind that my bubble popped and I got stuck in their hair or on their faces. They get stuck to me, I get stuck to them. 
And then, we get stuck to the shatter-proof bubbles and prove that sometimes being bubblegum can fix holes. 


   

What's Cookin,' Good Lookin'?

Slow cookers are a thing of beauty for anyone who has one, and this new cookbook takes the slow-cooker meal to a whole new realm of possibilities. Packed with page after page of healthy, gluten-free dishes that taste divine, The Healthy Slow Cooker, Second Edition: 135 Gluten-Free Recipes for Health and Wellness by Judith Finlayson will be one of your favorites on days when you want to have dinner ready and waiting when you walk in the door. There are great variations on recipes that might not have ever crossed your mind as slow cooker possibilities, like "New World Leek and Potato Soup," which is not only vegan and gluten-free, but great because it uses sweet potatoes in place of the standard yellow or white variety found in most recipes for this soup. You can even try your hand at a Thai-inspired dish like "Mixed Vegetables in Peanut Sauce." Easy, delicious, and a fun way to get tons of veggies onto the plate! 

Got Chicken? Of course you do! The real question would be what to do with that chicken...And here's a great way to solve that mealtime mystery: 125 Best Chicken Recipes, by Rose Murray. It'll give you quick, tasty ideas for chicken that you'll love, like zesty tacos and fajitas, flavorful burgers, soups, and even stir fry dishes. No more boring chicken! 

Try your hand at becoming a queen of the casserole with 125 Best Casseroles and One Pot Meals by Rose Murray. You might find yourself scratching your head about what to do with all of those unused pots and pans after browsing this book, which is packed with great recipes that make mealtime and clean-up time a breeze. It'll be hard to pick a favorite!

For more info on all the books above, visit www.robertrose.ca 

Muddle On

I seem to be having one of those days where it seems that every word I type is laborious and not-quite-right. Which is a bad thing when you're staring down the business end of a deadline. It leaves you with little choice but to muddle through and hope that something magical happens between the time the thoughts squeeze out of your brain on their way to your fingertips as they hit the keys. Unfortunately, there is no app for writer's block. There's only sheer force of will...That, and the oh-so-galvanizing reality that if you do not work, you do not get paid. And paid is good. Paid means I get to keep a roof over my head and food in the fridge. All of which I like, so I muddled on. 

All morning and into the late afternoon, I have muddled on. 

Fortunately, I can now cross the muddling off and breathe a sigh of relief for a little while. I can try to think about something else...like who might next get booted from the teams on "The Face." You know, the really important stuff. Sometimes it's refreshing not to have to navel-gaze, okay? It keeps things a little more balanced, a little more sane. Yes, insane reality TV can keep you sane; there's a study on it, I'm sure. 

But even if it's not a proven scientific fact, it's fun. And fun is sometimes precisely what you need, especially after a long day of un-fun brain squeezing. So as you can imagine, I'm quite looking forward to going home later and planting my rear on my Ikea couch to watch the next installment of "The Face" that awaits me on my DVR. There are worse things I could be doing; so this particular vice is, in my opinion, a healthy one. It keeps me sane. 

And sanity is necessary to good writing. And good writing gets the bills paid. And paid bills includes paid cable bills, which means more of "The Face." It's good to have goals, isn't it? It keeps you muddling on.