love | BulgingButtons

November 10, 2015
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Pet Adoption Genius

Finding love in the 21st century affords people more options. No longer does one have to wait for parents or other relatives to provide an introduction to a suitable mate, nor does one have to subject oneself to nights in noisy, crowded bars. Modern people turn to the internet to meet a far wider variety of people than they might normally come into contact with, increasing their odds of finding love.

Not only can we encounter a wider cross-section of the population on the internet, but we can harmlessly flip through profiles, casting aside those that we don’t find suitable with the swipe of a fingertip, with no hard feelings involved. Genius.

Well the amazingly smart people at PawsLikeMe.com took the same concept and applied it to dogs. Not only do they have extensive listings of dogs to love, but they’ve taken the time to gather information about their energy levels, their independence, their focus, and their overall needs. Next, they administer a quiz to prospective pet adopters, and they use the results to match people with pooches.

This is Sunday, isn’t she beautiful?

If you’re a couch potato they’re not going to match you with a high energy dog. If you’re not home for several hours a day you won’t be matched with a dog with a low independence rating. It’s genius, really. Instead of falling in love with a sweet face and then finding out that he or she is a poor match, they find the personality traits that fit best first. From that point you can still fall in love with their sweet faces.

No, I don’t get any kind of anything from them. I just love the idea and wish I could adopt more of the darling dogs they’ve chosen for me (yes, I took the quiz, don’t tell Lila).

If you’re looking for a canine companion, I strongly urge you to check them out. Even if you aren’t, it might be fun to take the quiz and see the sweethearts that could be a good match for you. If nothing else, share their site. The more dogs that go into suitable homes, the fewer homeless dogs in the world, right? It just makes sense.

June 9, 2015
by BulgingButtons 4 Comments

Acts of Service – The Five Love Languages

A while back I read The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. It really was a while ago, because I bought the singles edition, and I’ve been engaged for the past two years (no hurry, but that’s a whole other post). Tonight I was clearly reminded of this book’s premise by my sweetheart. No, he hasn’t read it, it was in his actions.

You see, Chapman asserts that we all have a love language with which we are most comfortable. We tend to show others our love though that language, and we prefer to receive the love of others in that same way. The languages, as he defines them, are Words of Affirmation, Gifts, Acts of Service, Quality Time, and Physical Touch. Of course most people enjoy all of those types of interactions with their loved ones, but generally one of them stands out. For my sweetheart, it’s Acts of Service.

He shows his love through doing things for me, like changing the wiper blades on my car and repairing the dryer. Yes, these are practical things, but they are things that make my life better, and I appreciate that he does them. I also have to remember that he feels loved when I perform acts of service too. Simple things like cleaning up the kitchen or vacuuming make him very happy.

Tonight he proved, once again, that he’s an Acts of Service guy. I mentioned to him, rather late in the evening, that I thought I might be getting a bladder infection. TMI? Sorry. Being the sensitive man he it, he knew that cranberry juice is the first line of defense against such a problem. He immediately left the house to get me some, bringing back two large bottles and a six-pack of small ones I could take with me on the go. As soon as he got home he got out a glass, filled it with ice, and presented me with the elixir of health. Now if that’s not a display of love, I don’t know what is.

Maybe some people this book is pop psychology or new age nonsense, but it made very good sense to me. I think I’ll reread it before I go on vacation with my extended family. Maybe I’ll be able to use some of the information it contains to keep things running smoothly with all the people I love.

How do you show love? How do you like it to be shown to you?

November 30, 2014
by BulgingButtons 8 Comments

What’s On Your To Do List?

The other day I was chatting with my neighbor and she was a little bit frazzled. She was trying to set up some holiday decorations in her yard, and she felt like she was “behind.” I reminded her that it was still November, but she wasn’t having it. She told me that she had a ton of things to get done before Christmas, so everything had to go according to plan, or it would all fall apart.

I felt badly for her. Here is was, not even December 1, and her plan was already coming apart at the seams. I asked if maybe there were some items on her list that weren’t as high priority, but she assured me that every single thing was critical. Yikes.

I leave that kind of high pressure stuff for my work life. There are things associated with work that I simply have no control over. The biggest one is testing. Another round is coming up soon, but I can’t worry about it. I teach my students the best way I know how, and hopefully they’ll do well on their tests. I can’t do more than my best, and I can’t do more for them than teach them and encourage them to do their best. The rest is up to them. Yes, part of my professional life rests in the hands of nine-year-olds. Do they feel like taking the test seriously or not? Did they get a good night’s sleep or not? Did they get yelled at on the way to school or not? Do they truly understand equivalent fractions or not? Did they read all the choices given or not? There are a lot of variables over which I have no control.

In terms of the home stuff, though, it’s up to me to decide what’s urgent or not. I had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner because that’s what we wanted to do. I put up lights because we agreed it would make our house look festive and welcoming. But I’m not going to make myself crazy over the holidays. No black Friday shopping for me, thanks anyway. In fact, I’m paring down my shopping considerably. I’d rather do things with my loved ones than spend money on stuff for them that they don’t really want or need.

And my “to do” list? Well, it’s not that long, but it’s been taking me a while to work through it. In fact I have two of them. One is the day to day stuff, like finish unpacking the final four boxes (from my move in July, yeah, I know) and one of them is the big stuff. That one’s on my bulletin board, and believe it or not I’ve been able to cross off a few items. I went to Hawaii, I got out of debt (aside from mortgage), and I switched schools. Oh, and the biggest item of all? I fell in love. Now that’s my kind of to do list.