The Power of Positive Thinking

Dad recently assigned me the book "The Power of Positive Thinking" to read and so I have been reading an awful lot today. Though I am only about 50 pages through it, I am enjoying it a lot. Norman Vincent Peale (the author) is very religious and believes that words of the Lord can help change the way people think and how they live their lives. He uses many prayers and Bible passages to help people change their lives and ways of thinking.

To pull people out of depression and discouragement, he recommends writing down a list of GOOD things about yourself to review when you feel down to remind yourself of the assets that you still have- even if life is seemingly pushing you down. A good relaxing and brain-clearing tip given in the book is to take 15 minutes out of every day and go to a quiet place and relax in silence- no reading, no looking, no playing, no doing anything. Just relaxing in silence.

I am definitely going to try a few of the tips I pick up in this book. I find them very good ones, and I hope they work as well as the book describes. I have already made a list of my "assets" so that if I feel down, I can look at it to cheer me up (though my family does a good job of that). If you have any calming tips or good books to recommend, let me know in the comments.

Maddie

Dog Dreams

On occasion, my dog will bark randomly in his sleep, or move his legs and growl, and I wonder what he is dreaming about. I always assume he is chasing something or growling at an enemy, but I have no way of being sure. I also wonder if when my dog dreams, he dreams in human language or dog language. The concept of Lucky not understanding what I am saying but understanding something I cannot is very strange to me, though very simple.

I can't imagine not thinking or dreaming in human. Its so natural to me that such a drastic change would be overwhelming, and that is why I have trouble grasping it. I always assume my dog dreams about animals, scents, food, and us- his family. But as dogs have different brains than us, what I think of as something could be entirely different to what my dog is actually dreaming.

There- now that I have bothered your brain with something interesting yet astonishing to think about, I am going to end this post here and go to bed. Just imagine not being able to understand human language- or being able to understand ONLY dog language.

Maddie

Art Show

Tonight, instead of doing karate, I hung out with my friends Cheyenne and Alena. Cheyenne's family are all artists, and there was a local art auction going on... so the three of us went. It was held at a small civic center about 15 minutes away from where I live, and I was picked up from karate. Looking through the artwork took me and my friends about 10 minutes- and then we got bored. After we had raided the snack table for cookies, pretzels, and soda, we wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes.


We eventually discovered the basement... and once we did, that is where we spent most of our time. There was a small "museum" downstairs and it had a few old dolls in it- glassed in of course, but it crept me and my friends out nonetheless. We amused ourselves by telling ghost stories and jumping at every door closing until we made it back upstairs... there were a few other incidents, including my friend almost getting locked into the bathroom AND me hiding from my friends twice- and having to reveal myself when they didn't find me.

All in all, we had an awesome time...laughing, eating, and running around. I am certainly worn out- the sugar rush I had earlier wore me out and now all I want to do is SLEEP. I will end my post here.

Maddie

Busy

My apologies for not blogging! I was quite busy yesterday and this weekend- I had a lot to do. I finished my second cake decorating course yesterday, so some of my weekend time was spent baking and lightly icing a cake. Then, I had to wash some of my icing tips that had leftover icing in them, and organize my bag. I also spent a whole day playing Skyrim and eating goldfish crackers, and in general being lazy.

On top of this, I took over 500 pictures of clothing for my Dad's online yardsale... I was busy most of last week with that. I also sorted through some jewelry and other miscellaneous things. And yesterday my excuse for not working was cake class- but I learned SO MUCH in that class! We learned the backwards shell and the basket weave, and also about flower placement. This was my final cake by the end of everything:

My 3rd course starts on February 3rd... I am excited. From what I hear we are going to learn how to make roses that look like you just picked them off of the bush. I am excited to learn about fondant, even though I personally find it extremely annoying.... Who knows, maybe I'll end up liking it! If you'd like to sign up for a cake decorating class near you, go onto the Michael's website and click on classes- then go to cake decorating.

Maddie

Preview of Book Stacks Blog

For those of you who do not know, I run a blog aside from this one called the Book Stack. I post all of my reports and poetry on here... here is the link: www.thebookstak.blogspot.com ..
And here is a preview of the blog! This is an excerpt from my Robert Frost Poems, which I posted awhile back. For my newer readers, here is ONE of the poems. There are two other on the site if you care to check them out.

"Neither Out Far Nor In Deep
The people along the sand
All turn and look one way.
They turn their back on the land.
They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to pass
A ship keeps raising its hull;
The wetter ground like glass
Reflects a standing gull

The land may vary more;
But wherever the truth may be--
The water comes ashore,
And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.
They cannot look in deep.
But when was that ever a bar
To any watch they keep?

I feel that this poem is kind of about sticking out. This may sound silly, but take this into consideration: Many people stare at models, and think, "oh, she/he is pretty, and I'd love to date him/her". They judge off of appearance- they don't know what is inside the person- if they are nice, loving. They judge by appearance. Meanwhile, there is a perfectly average person that is very nice and kind- but they don't get a second glance compared to the model. "The land may vary more, but wherever the truth may be: the water comes ashore, and the people look at the sea"."

Well, that is the preview. PLEASE check out the Book Stack...

Maddie

A Few Healthy Lunch Ideas

Lately, my Dad has been on a diet, and so I have been trying to eat healthier too. I have found a few healthy lunch options that are actually very tasty. Here are the recipes:


Ham and Mozzarella Salad

This is a very basic recipe that everyone probably know how to make, but I like it so I am going to put it up anyway. All you need is 4 slices of Honey Ham (cut up small), 2 tbsp of shredded mozzarella (more if you are a cheese lover, but I wouldn't recommend it),  and about 1 cup of iceberg lettuce. Put the lettuce in first, followed by the shredded cheese. Then, cut up the ham into small squares and throw it it on top of your salad. You can use dressing if you want, but it tastes good on its own.

Meat Rollups

These are VERY tasty and very simple to make. All you need is a meat and cheese of your choice, AND some B&M's hot pepper spread (optional). I would suggest using roast beef and swiss cheese with the pepper spread- it is very good. You just put one slice of cheese inside a slice of roast beef, spread the hot peppers inside, and then roll it up. 3-5 of these makes an excellent lunch paired with a small salad.

And for dessert...

I always find that Jell-O or fruit like grapes or strawberries are an excellent dessert. It is filling, but not unhealthy and not SO filling that you feel like keeling over. If you have a healthy recipe that you'd like to share, leave it in the comments and I will try to give it a try.

Maddie

My Sister

I am sorry for not posting yesterday- I was busy helping out my Dad. We recently started an online yardsale in our hometown called Rindge Tag Sale Treasures. For my local readers, please click here to join. Dad is the moderator of the site, and you will have to ask to join in order to see the posts. But anyways- today I am blogging about my sister.

I have been playing with my sister for most of the day today, and the most recent thing that has come up has been the barbie wedding... She got a new Ken and Barbie doll for her birthday, and has since been setting up weddings for them. Today, she had me help her set one up between Cinderella and Ken. It was SO cute watching her try to hold the ceremony (as she doesn't know what to say at all). I wish I had had my camera with me... but I didn't, and all I managed to get was this picture:

My sister also recently turned 4, for those of you who didn't know. We had some good friends over to celebrate the day with us- and I made a cake! It was my first double layer cake, and it came out VERY
well. My sister had requested a strawberry cake with vanilla frosting, but what she didn't know is that I had picked up special candles for her birthday that she had shown me prior to her birthday. Being they were Tinker Bell candles, I dyed the icing pale purple and frosted it with that. The end result was very nice.

If you have younger (or older) siblings, leave me a comment telling about something funny that happened when they were little.

Maddie