Category — Microblog Mondays

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I am trying not to eat the Girl Scout cookies in the kitchen.  (I really really really want the Thin Mints in the kitchen.)  I had to buy them.  My niece is so adorable that my heart started shrieking, “You must buy them all!” the second she started her sales pitch.  I was limited to two boxes because I won’t donate them.  I will eat them.  And I will tell myself only one more, but I will really eat four more.  Because.  Thin Mints.

The man who invented the Marshmallow Test recommended replacement as a method of self-control.  You distract yourself with something else so you don’t think about the thing you want to eat/smoke/do/etc.  So if you don’t want to eat Thin Mints (but I do want to eat Thin Mints), you do a crossword puzzle.  Or you go for a walk.  Or you scroll through photos.  Anything so your brain is occupied instead of thinking about the Thin Mints.

It didn’t work for me because, last night, I replaced thinking about Thin Mints with thinking about Pepperidge Farm Brussels.  But we don’t have Brussels.  So I ate a Thin Mint because those were in the kitchen.  Okay, I ate two.  Really, that was it.  I ate two.  For now.

What do you use to distract yourself?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I know how to play chess — I was even the head of the chess club at school (because I’m that level of cool) — but I would like to get better at chess.  It has been on my to-do list for a while: Get better at chess.  But I may be too late.  Apparently chess players peak at 36 and then slowly go downhill.

It’s a funny thought to think of yourself as too late for something.  Too young — that is a situation you live over and over again through childhood.  But too old, especially for something non-physical or biological, I thought I had all the time in the world.  I mean, yes, I recognize that there is a big difference between “get better” and “become a grandmaster.”  But still.

It made me wonder what other items on my wish list would be past their expiration date by the time I got around to it.  I imagined that I would learn how to use an D-SLR camera in my later years, add another language, master the sewing machine.

What do you imagine learning in your later years?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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On the heels of the “Finnish don’t do small talk” article comes another one summing up an entire country in a single statement: The French don’t show excitement.  I’m going to call bullshit on this one, BBC, because the twins have a fantastic French teacher who is dynamic and passionate.

When she is speaking about something that excites her, you can see — clearly — that she is excited.  She makes the kids excited about the language.  They come home speaking about French culture just as often as they come home speaking in French.  I would even go so far as to describe her as exuberant.  Ebullient.  She fizzes with happiness for France and teaching French.

So while you may not be able to express this in French doesn’t mean that excitement does not exist in France.  After all, we have dozens of types of snow, even though English only has one word for snow, unlike the Inuit’s 50+.

I’m thinking the BBC may be stretching with this series.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I’ve already told you my resolutions.  It’s really simple and open, so I know I can stick to it: spend 15 minutes every week day doing something that will make me a better human or worker.  That comes out to 3,750 minutes per year, or about 62.5 hours.  It can be anything I want: reading a book, practicing a skill, decompressing.

Starting tomorrow, I’m going to do it (most of the time) first thing in the morning, before I begin work, so I can start the day feeling productive.  I’m adding a two-page monthly spread to my bullet journal so I can track what I do (for instance, read pages 34 – 53 in X book) and look back at it at the end of the year.  Simple.  Do-able.  And I’m finding the time to do this by trimming down on mindless scrolling that always leaves me feeling empty.  Win-win.

What is your resolution?  Or feel free to join mine.  There are a few of us on a listserv so we can share ideas.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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The Internet is a wonderful space because it allows me every year to vicariously experience Christmas.  So feed my heart: how do you do Christmas?  What did you do last night?  What will you do later today?  Have you opened your gifts?  What did you get?  Who are you with?  What is the best thing about this Christmas, or, if it hasn’t been a great day, what is the worst thing about this Christmas?  This doesn’t just need to be a place to gush; you can also use it as a space to vent.

Christmas 2018 — spill it.  Let me know how you’re spending the day if you celebrate it.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.