it's official

I've moved to Wordpress.

Find me here: http://littlestbird.wordpress.com/, and don't forget to update your links if you have me listed.

My husband moved too, and I really like his new blog. Find him here: http://johnron.wordpress.com.

Anyway, come say hi at my new place.

why not make several moves at once?

I'm thinking about moving my blog over to wordpress. Now that I see what it can do, I'm not sure why I didn't choose it instead of blogger in the first place. I'm still thinking it over, because I'm not sure it's worth the hassle. Plus, I don't want the few of you who do read this blog to stop because I move.

But I'm leaning more and more toward wordpress by the minute...

Stay tuned.

i write.

I am a writer. Why am I telling you this? Because I finally feel as though I am reaching for my dreams rather than just wishing for them. I have always wanted to be a writer (and I always have been -- I've kept a diary since I was five years old.)

But lately I've felt the pull to make my writing dreams a reality. Some of you have asked what exactly I'm writing, so I'll tell you. I've been polishing my poetry and getting it ready to send out, planning and writing posts for a new blog with a different focus, brainstorming my novel. I've been writing. And this is a good thing.

Are you living your dream?

JD at Get Rich Slowly (one of my favorite blogs on personal finance) has a great post about doing what you dream and daring to fail. You can find it here. It's an inspiring post that helps you look at whether you're living your dreams or making excuses for not doing so, and suggests how you can work to change your situation if you need to.

I'm inspired. In fact, I've been inspired for a while. I've been making a few changes in my life, and they are happening slowly but surely. Some of them (like finding a new job) is a forced change because of our upcoming move. But my dream of being a writer is something I'm finally working to make a reality. I'll keep you posted on updates there.

What are your dreams and are you working toward them?

book review -- the curious incident of the dog in the night-time

This book is old news by now, but I finally read the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, by Mark Haddon. I'm so glad I finally read it! What an amazing book. It's a simple story -- an unusual boy sets out to solve the mystery of who murdered the neighbor's dog. But the boy, Christopher, is such an endearing, believable narrator. It's a heartbreaking story that manages not to be sad. (I can't read sad books!)

I recommend that you race to the library or bookstore if you haven't yet read this book. My only caution is that it contains some language. Other than that, you must read the curious incident of the dog in the night-time!

i'm still haunted

We are back from our trip to Nevada. The graduation went well, and we had a fun party with the family.

Meanwhile, a ghost update. The ghost didn't do much haunting while John was away. Thank goodness. I was scared enough staying by myself for two nights without dealing with strange sounds and ghostly manifestations. I'm glad John's back.

However, last night John was catching up on reading my blog. He was sitting in the living room, reading the post I just wrote about the ghost. Suddenly, and for no reason, the standing fan in the living room turned itself off. Hi, Stella. Yes, we still believe in you.

As for Stella, we've lived here two years and noticed her presence for most of that time. She has never harmed us though, so we figured we could coexist with her, and we have. Now we're moving, and the owner of the place wants to sell the condo. I wonder if the new owners will notice anything out of the ordinary...

my sister is graduating

My youngest sister graduates from high school on Friday. I'm proud and happy for her, but occasions like this also make me a little sad. She's my baby sister, and she's grown up now. My family has been changing a lot over the years (siblings getting married, having kids, moving to different places), and Lexi was the sibling who lived at home and wasn't moving on to new life endeavors. And now she will. It's exciting and sad at the same time!

So anyway, I'll be in Nevada this weekend, but I'll leave you with a copy of the poem Lexi is going to read in her valedictory address. It makes me cry every time I read it. (Oh, I was alerted to this poem because of Deborah at Exponent II.):

You Reading This, Be Ready

Starting here, what do you want to remember?
How sunlight creeps along a shining floor?
What scent of old wood hovers, what softened
sound from outside fills the air?

Will you ever bring a better gift for the world
than the breathing respect that you carry
wherever you go right now? Are you waiting
for time to show you some better thoughts?

When you turn around, starting here, lift this
new glimpse that you found; carry into evening
all that you want from this day. This interval you spent
reading or hearing this, keep it for life—

What can anyone give you greater than now,
starting here, right in this room, when you turn around?

--William Stafford

living with a ghost

We have a ghost in our condo. I don’t think I’ve mentioned that fact before.

I survived last night without John. He is in Tucson until tomorrow, so I am on my own until then. I don’t mind being alone, most of the time. I like having time to do whatever I want to. I can eat cold cereal for dinner and no one will complain. And I can entertain myself just fine. But I get scared at night. Mostly because we have a ghost living with us.

This ghost, whom I have named Stella, does many little things like turning on lights and opening closet doors. But those aren’t a big deal. I can always blame that on me – perhaps I forgot to close my closet door or left a light on and forgot about it.

There are other things that are a little bit harder to explain. One morning, I went into the living room and sat on the couch. Suddenly I felt a huge draft – the front door had swung wide open, even though we had locked and bolted it the night before.

Recently, I was home alone (these things usually happen to me when I’m home alone) and decided to empty the top row of the dishwasher. It didn’t take long – there were only bowls and cups in there. Five minutes later I went back into the kitchen for something and was shocked when I looked at the open dishwasher. Right in the front, in plain sight, and BRIGHT GREEN, was one cup. Perhaps I overlooked that cup when I emptied the dishwasher, but likely not.

Another time, I was home alone getting ready for work. I noticed how absolutely silent the house was. Suddenly, I heard a whirring noise. The fan in our bedroom had suddenly turned on.

And then there’s the strange noises I heard one night (again, I was alone). It sounded like a light bulb exploding, and it happened a couple of times. I never figured out what caused it. I was too scared to get out of bed and check.

Another time when I was alone at night, I saw someone walk by our bedroom door. I assumed it was John, just getting home from his school party. But when John didn’t come into the bedroom to greet me, I realized it wasn’t him. I was terrified that someone had entered our house and was going to kill me. Luckily for me, it was just Stella.

Perhaps you are like my mom, and you don’t believe in ghosts. But I do. And she's not an evil ghost, though she makes things scary for me late at night. Come back soon, Johnny! I need you...

endearing things

I think I got this idea from Jamie's blog a long time ago.

Things I do that others might find annoying but my husband is required to find endearing:

1. I throw my dirty clothes on the bedroom floor.
2. I make sarcastic remarks at commercials and tv programs I find cheesy or implausible. I do this a lot.
3. I sometimes talk during movies in the theatre.
4. My brain doesn't process sound very quickly. So I ask, "huh?" and "what?" way too often.
5. I pout when my feelings are hurt. And they get hurt way too often. (just ask John)
6. I talk like a baby. All my sisters do it. My brother, too. The year I turned 26, my sister who was then 11 said, "I twenty-six. I talk wike baby." It's an annoying yet strangely addicting behavior.
7. I quote movies all the time. "I know, right?"
8. I say "wah" when I am sad.

Annoying. But endearing too, right?

things to be thankful for

We spent some time with my sister and brother-in-law recently. My niece Sareny said the prayer to bless the food. Remember her obsession with my lip gloss? Well, in her prayer she said, "Thank thee for Holli. And her lip gloss."