Seeds for Thought: Top Five Blog

Top Five Reasons to Say "That's All, Folks"

2008-07-08T12:14:00.002-05:00

after just over 400 posts...

1. i've said my piece for now.
2. my motivation for this project has waned.
3. this blog isn't the important creative outlet it once was for me.
4. my attention is shifting to other creative pursuits.
5. moving on feels like the right thing.

...thanks for reading!

Top Five Stolen Moments

2008-07-04T19:38:00.003-05:00

i crave "time to myself," but i often only focus on the long stretches of time i can't have rather than appreciating the stolen moments woven into the day...

1. Day-break: i have a long list of things i'd like to cram into the time before the kids awaken--peace-finding things like yoga, solitary coffee drinking, writing my morning pages--but i've stolen a moment even if it's just enough time to say a quick prayer in stillness.

2. Dish-doing: i truly enjoy watching sesame street with the girls, but i also use part of that time to tidy up the kitchen. doing the morning dishes is meditative, and i often find a way to recenter in this stolen moment.

3. To-and-fro-driving: i'm certainly not alone and rarely is it quiet, but my focus is on the road and i have the chance to mentally escape in this stolen moment.

4. Bathroom-break: claire often takes ages in the bathroom, singing and reading to herself. away from her talkative presence (wonderful as she is), i can retreat inwardly in this stolen moment.

5. Day-ending: when the kids are in bed, the house is straightened, and my working work is completed, i have a window of time before sleep becomes me. to decompress, i steal a few moments from the remains of the day...to reflect and let go.

...what moments do you steal throughout the day?

Top Five Ways to Grow

2008-06-30T20:47:00.004-05:00

"Every blade of grass has its Angel that bends over it and whispers, 'Grow, grow.'"
-The Talmud

1. open: the mind, the body, the doors we slam
2. notice: details, beauty, the present moment
3. trust: thyself, God, the love given and received
4. breathe: deeply, consciously, into the openings
5. pray: centered, scattered, with every fiber of being

...what else spurs growth?

Top Five Affirmations

2008-06-23T20:06:00.002-05:00

turning negative thoughts into positive vibes...

1. Sometimes I feel tired, mentally. But I believe in what I work for.

2. Sometimes I feel plain, physically. But I believe in the complex beauty of my soul.

3. Sometimes I feel uninspired, creatively. But I believe in my potential.

4. Sometimes I feel adrift, spiritually. But I believe that I am not blind to Truth.

5. Sometimes I feel insignificant, financially. But I believe in the worth of my presence in the lives of the two sunny souls we're raising up.

what negativity can you outshine today?

Top Five Frames

2008-06-18T21:05:00.002-05:00

random thoughts with a common frame...

1. one thing i love is the way claire's bangs and fly-away curls frame her face

2. when i was a kid, i always picked out goofy glasses frames.

3.i like to frame each day with moments of peace and stillness

4. is Truth fixed, or based on frame of reference?

5. if i could review freeze-frames of myself at the end of each day--facial expressions, emotions, words, energy levels--i might learn much to build on for tomorrow.

...do you have any frame-able thoughts to add?

Top Five Hands That Feed Me

2008-06-16T21:01:00.003-05:00

i'm nourished by...

1. my muse (she's been quiet recently)
2. my parents (in different ways now that i've left the nest, of course)
3. universal creative energy (or God or whatever you call it...)
4. jenehr family farm (quite literally)
5. john (he puts the food on our table, yes, but he also nourishes my heart and soul)

...who/what feeds your body, mind, and soul?

Top Five Falls

2008-06-12T20:41:00.003-05:00

descending...

1. right now, i'm watching the night fall
2. i try not to let my standards fall
3. this evening, we sat in our "basement" while the rain continued to fall
5. i used to live in M- Falls
6. several times today, i watched eliza fall

...did you fall today?

Top Five Things on My Hands Today

2008-06-11T20:49:00.002-05:00

not what i was holding, but what was physically on the skin of my hands...

1. bike-chain grease
2. soap suds
3. sand
4. tortilla chip salt
5. germs

...what was on your hands today?

Top Five Tails

2008-06-04T06:10:00.003-05:00

tailing another word's usage...

1. pin the tail on the donkey
2. tail between the legs
3. heads or tails
4. tail end
5. cattail

...aside from animals and embryos, where else do you see tails?

Top Five Ups and Downs

2008-06-02T20:35:00.007-05:00

physically speaking...

1. eliza falls down a lot, but she scrambles back up quickly.

2. claire has to look up at most people, but eliza is one person she can look down to see.

3. the kids have been getting up at a more reasonable time, and they go down at night fairly easily, too. (oh shoot, did i just jinx myself?)

4. if she's out of her comfort zone, eliza wants "up," but if there's something to explore, she wiggles to get down.

5. claire loves to dress up as Felicity, a character in the books she doesn't want us to put down.

...what have you been up to?

Top Five Matters

2008-06-01T05:50:00.002-05:00

we aren't talking about a serious matter here...

1. what's the matter?
2. it doesn't matter
3. as a matter of fact...
4. the Matterhorn
5. states of matter

...are there any other matters of interest?

Top Five Important Trees

2008-05-27T05:30:00.000-05:00

beautiful, symbolic, marking my past...

1. 3 knee-high pines grown tall by now, one planted for each sister in our new yard.

2. a low-branched tree plowed over by now, a make-shift treehouse in the empty lot next door.

3. charleston's Angel Oak observed in quiet reverence, a witness to the past and a lesson in longevity.

4. two intertwined trees in the north woods, a symbol of two linked souls growing stable and strong.

5. a creek-side tree bearing two carved names, the site of love's pledge and a wedding proposal.

...what holds symbolism for you?

Top Five Roads to Travel

2008-05-26T12:38:00.000-05:00

choose a path to walk...

1. you could take the long and winding road
2. or opt for the straight and narrow.
3. you could choose easy street,
4. or end up on rocky road.
5. but, perchance, you may just want to wander off the beaten path.

what other roads could you travel?

Top Five Invasive Species

2008-05-23T06:17:00.004-05:00

garlic mustard grows rampant in our outdoor neighborhood, but these could overtake a home landscape...

1. the ho hums
2. junk mail
3. impatience
4. ceiling corner cobwebs
5. plastic bags

...which invasive species do you try to eradicate?

Top Five Poses

2008-05-19T05:59:00.002-05:00

not quite yoga, but moments of stillness...

1. The coffee pose: cup in hand, mind awakening, slowly present
2. The reading pose: child in lap, page turning, quietly together
3. The water-break pose: feet off pedals, upright-standing, scenery paused
4. The embrace pose: hearts close, tightly holding, strongly loved
5. The lying-flat pose: end of day, almost sleeping, finally still

...what are your favorite poses of the day?

Top Five Walls

2008-05-15T05:25:00.000-05:00

literal and figurative...

1. pink floyd's the wall
2. the runner's wall
3. the berlin wall
4. the wailing wall
5. wal-mart (silent shudder implied)
...can you hit on any other walls?

Top Five Books on my List

2008-05-14T18:00:00.002-05:00

cleared off the old list, on to new ones...

1. in defense of food, by michael pollan
2. into the wild, by jon krakauer
3. the heart of yoga, by t. k. v. desikachar
4. lyra's oxford, by philip pullman
5. the open road: the global journey of the 14th dali lama, by pico iyer

...what are you reading...or planning to read?

Top Five Mothers in Literature

2008-05-11T21:00:00.000-05:00

Happy Mother's Day...

1. passionate and fatefully-tempted: Eve (Biblical mother of us all)
2. outspoken and nerve-wracked: Mrs. Bennet (Pride and Prejudice)
3. providing and fiercely-protective: Mrs. Weasley (the Harry Potter series)
4. sweet and always-supportive: Marmee (Little Women)
5. strong and quietly-wise: Hester Prynne (The Scarlett Letter)

...what other famous mothers live between the pages of a book?

Top Five Sounds of the Morning

2008-05-08T06:10:00.003-05:00

the audio of that waking-up hour...

1. the alarm clock, of course: the jarring beep which i may or may not hear

2. the coffee pot: the gurgling and steaming which promise to de-fog my brain

3. my own deep breath: the lung-filling slowness which clears my mind for the day

4. early birds: the songs and calls which tell of a world already in full swing

5. eliza's morning wails and claire's slide-thump down the stairs: bitter-sweet wake-up sounds which end my morning hour.

...what sounds do you hear in the morning?

Top Five Current Sight Lines

2008-05-06T20:01:00.000-05:00

when i look up from my computer, i see...

1. a picture collage of john and i, reminding me of those growing-up years we weathered together (and here we are!).

2. dusk falling, reminding me that even the nicest days come to an end (and that i must enjoy the present).

3. an unsightly mark on the apartment-paint-jobbed wall, reminding me that we still don't own a house (but this sure is home!).

4. a half-glass of water, reminding me that i have an outlook choice (and that i should keep hydrated!).

5. a pile of clothing on the floor, reminding me that i STILL haven't thrown in that load of biking wash (but i will...).

...what do you see, right now?

Top Five New Appreciations

2008-05-04T20:03:00.002-05:00

went for my first long bike ride today (56 mils!),
over a loop of the Ironman Wisconsin bike course,
in preparation for the TOMROV...

1. i have a new appreciation for what those Iron folks do out there on race day--the course is harder than i ever imagined (hills nicknamed "The Bitch" and "The Lance Armstrong Hill" are way harder on the bike than in the car, it turns out).

2. i have a new appreciation for the term lactic burn--my quads were okay the first 40 miles but reacted with painful protest on the final leg

3. i have a new appreciation for the beautiful countryside surrounding madison--"the middle of nowhere" is practically in our backyards, it turns out, with varied topography, beautiful homes, and abundant farmsteads.

4. i have a new appreciation for snack sticks--salty protein never tasted so good.

5. i have a new appreciation for something John truly loves--he's done this same ride countless times before, and it was amazing to experience it with him (sandbag though i was).

...what do you have a new appreciation for, in your life?

Top Five Sesame Street Parodies

2008-05-01T20:39:00.007-05:00

i love this show...

1. Furry, Happy Monsters (REM)
2. RSI: Rhyme Scene Investigation
3. Outrageous Makeover: Home Addition
4. Don't Know Why (Norah Jones)
5. GNN (Anderson Cooper)

...click the links to watch the clips (the presence of kids is optional).

Top Five Backs

2008-04-29T07:59:00.003-05:00

returning...

1. i went off coffee for awhile, but now i'm back! (couldn't stay away...)

2. now that i'm working at the farmer's market again, we've been back buying good milk. (it's hard not to support local farmers when you have the chance to meet their gazes and hear their stories)

3. we went back to the waterpark (an indoor one we tried last year) over the weekend. (both kids, it turns out, are water bugs!)

4. our good friends are moving back to our area! (hooray!)

5. yoga has been strengthening my back. (and my mind, too, along with the rest of my body)

...what have you been back to?

Top Five Dish Thoughts

2008-04-26T21:08:00.005-05:00

trying to be in the moment,
to "get" the dish-ness of the dishes...

1. rag circling, patterns in the suds
2. glass clinking, a symphony discordant
3. water tapping, source to pipe to hands
4. reflection sharpening, grit becomes shine
5. fingers wrinkling, mind may wander but i am here

be in the moment, with something simple.
...what do you experience?

Top Five Unwanted Spring Cleaning Jobs

2008-04-25T21:16:00.002-05:00

maybe if i voice the list, it'll get done...

1. purge the toys (oh, the clutter!)
2. scrub the carpet (oh, the splatter!)
3. organize the laundry room (oh, the jumble!)
4. clean the closets (oh, the tumble!)
5. sort random papers (oh, the disarray!)

...what to-do-list chores do you wish away?