DIY: Glitter Christmas Ornament

Used gift cards are made of a sturdy material so they’re a good base for glue and glitter. This is a simple and inexpensive Christmas ornament to make and I think the glitter helps make it feel quite festive.

Idiom Postcard Set

I love idioms; they’re like a coded part of language in that they often stem from historical or pop-culture references specific to that country. Even native speakers of a country are unlikely to know all idiom references for that country (especially if they’re more regional or they pertain to a specific time period).

Idioms are such an ingrained part of culture that mean so much with so few words—and everyone uses them. They’re in our everyday conversations, in TV commercials and TV shows, in songs and books—they’re pretty much inescapable. Everyday I must hear and use idioms dozens of times because using idioms are often a short cut to what you’re trying to say (assuming that all parties have knowledge of the meaning of that idiom). Instead of saying “You need to slow down and start enjoying life,” you can just say “Stop and smell the roses” and the underlying meaning is understood.

DIY: Paper Circle Christmas Ornament

I realize that Christmas is still somewhat far off (and I know have complained before about how early Christmas paraphernalia starts showing up in stores), but I’ve decided to post a Christmas project anyway (because sometimes you can’t control when you have ideas).

This is a very simple flat circle paper ornament that’s easy to make and easy to personalize.

“Good.” Period.

Often opinions are qualified because it softens the strength of the opinion. Not everyone likes the same things, so sometimes you take another’s point of view into consideration as you give your opinion, or you just don’t feel 100% about something so you tack on a disclaimer. "It was a good taco…for the price." "It was a good movie…if you like suspense." "It’s a cute skirt…if you like yellow."

You just don’t want to take full responsibility for something if you don’t feel entirely sure about it. The range from bad to good is quite wide, so everything can’t be black and white good or bad; most things are just in the middle range of okay. So when someone (who’s opinion I trust) says “It’s good.” And there’s a period to that statement with no qualifications, then that means something—it means it’s actually good.

But this doesn’t happen very often (and it shouldn’t because that would diminish how good the really excellent things are). Not every book or TV show or restaurant is going to be “good” with a period. Most of the time “good” is followed by qualifications that don’t incite excitement. It’s just good…for what it is.

Time-Saving

Often it seems as though you don’t have the right amount of time during the day; you have too much time or not enough. You kill time waiting in a supermarket checkout line or waiting for a bus or waiting for a doctor’s appointment or watching some terrible TV show. Or time just flies while you’re busy at work or running errands or cooking dinner or being with friends. And even though time itself is rigid and doesn’t change, it feels as though it’s flexible, where time becomes longer or shorter depending on the situation.

Time is a valuable commodity. We want to use our time well and be efficient. And while there are many “time-saving” activities people do, often that “saved” time just means it’s replaced with more work. But wouldn’t it be fantastic if we could save actual time? If only we could save time the way we can save money; if time was tangible and physical and we could squirrel away those unwanted minutes when we’re bored and save them for a day when we’re busy and would love to have some extra time. That would be wonderful. [Pause.] But sadly this is not the case. Each day has the same number of hours, whether wanted or unwanted—but I bet most people want more.