BulgingButtons

Not bad for a fat girl


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Too Many Shoes?

I’m trying to simplify my life, but I have an event to go to this weekend, and I found the prefect dress for it. The only problem is that it’s navy blue and white.

“Why is that a problem?” you ask (of course if you’re a woman you already know). Yep. Shoes.

shopping-1.jpgWhat shoes to wear? I don’t have any navy blue or white shoes. I don’t even have a neutral shoe. Black. Black. And black. Oh, and some magenta ones I should really get rid of, because they hurt.

I wear a wide width (yeah, I know, no surprise) so shoe shopping is about as much fun as any other type of clothing shopping, which is to say not very fun at all. In fact, the dress came to me in the mail, hand-picked by my Dia & Co stylist. Now that, I like.

Anyway, cute dress, no shoes. That sums up my outfit, except that I need to wear shoes. In fact I need shoes (and outfits) for several events this weekend:shopping.jpg

  1. Religious service followed by semi-casual dinner
  2. More formal religious service followed by luncheon
  3. Dinner and PARTAY!!!
  4. Casual brunch

So you see, going barefoot just wouldn’t work. I needed shoes.

I finally sucked it up and went shoe shopping. Oh, that is NOT fun. Not for me anyway. I went to five stores and came up with three pairs of shoes. Why three? 165449_6_1400x1400.jpgWell, one of them had a BOGO deal going on, and I was having trouble deciding, so for ten dollars more I splurged. Now I own two pairs of brown sandals (either pair will work, trust me) and a pair of light blue flats (which will also work, I swear). Now to try on the dress with all three and figure out which ones will get the spotlight. Then I’ll build some outfits around the others, because really, those shoes deserve to be worn.


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Writing Inspirations

How to get young writers going? tetragono-lounge-chair-in-purple-velvet-lazur-living-zero-gravity-fullsizerender_15__-cushion-bedroom-cushions-for-sale-chaise-axel.jpg

How to get myself going?

One way to do it is to ask questions. From the painfully real (what do I want the world to remember about me?) to the absurd (what does purple feel like?) questions can trigger words.

Tomorrow I plan to give my young writers a list of questions to trigger their writing. They can answer all of them in a poem, or they can choose one of them to explore further, or they can design their own response. I don’t really care what they write, just that they do.

I need to take that same approach with myself. In so many ways. I need to say, “self, I don’t care what you write, as long as you write something.” Or, “self, I don’t care what kind of exercise you get, as long as you move.”

The problem is, I don’t do a very good a job of listening to myself. Fortunately, the kids listen to me better than that. They’ll read the questions and give them some thought. Then they’ll write. I think I’ll join them. After all, writing something is better than writing nothing. Now I’m off to ponder the feel of purple. I’m pretty sure it’s warm and soft, with a definite velvet feel to it. The feel of luxury. Now, on to other questions of the universe.


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The Best Part of Me

I’m a teacher and I use Pinterest. There, I said it. I feel like maybe there’s a 12 step program somewhere in my future, because there are times when I spend hours on that site, mostly pinning teaching ideas. It’s not that I don’t have any of my own, it’s just that there are so many good ones out there to borrow!

One that I found and liked was a writing activity that asks kids to think deeply about the best “part” of themselves. They literally write about a body part, but I wanted my young writers to go beyond the surface.

To me it’s not enough to say, “I like my eyes. They allow me to see and they’re a pretty color.” Maybe for a young child that would be fine, but these kids are eight to thirteen years old, and so bright. They are capable of so much more.

I asked them to think about why they chose that particular part. What does it do for them? How does it make them feel? Does it affect their relationships with others? Does it matter what others think about it? I wanted them to really reflect.

Then I invited each student over for a photo of their selected part, to go along with the writing. Above are a few of the parts they chose. Their reasons are wonderful.

Have you ever thought about your best part? What is it, and why?