My Pinterest Life

When I was younger, I accumulated a lot of magazines, getting some through the mail and some at the store. Every month I would read the headlines on the cover and be eager to learn some new thing, gain wisdom in life, try to copy new styles, and enjoy the articles.  I would cut out my favorite recipes, knitting patterns, clip articles that were worth saving, and then file them in the appropriate file…patterns, hairstyles, recipes, etc.  And then I would have a stack of magazines added to the month before, and the month before, saving them for who-knows-what, and spending quite a bit for each monthly copy.  Every once in a while, I would pull out a file to find something I remembered saving but for the most part, the pages sat in the file, beginning to yellow as they aged, never be touched again.  I would get to a point where I would pull them all out, try to go through them and then discard the ones I tried that failed (recipes), or the patterns that were too complicated for my skill level, and then decide to toss them all. This cycle continued for many years.  But one day, I discovered Pinterest!

My first discovery into the value of Pinterest was when I worked as a Behavior Assistant. My job was to go to a child’s home and work on behavior skills such as self regulation or anger management.  I would work under the plan set out by the therapist and assist the child in developing those skills.  Many of these children had experienced trauma and as I learned, many of the behaviors were rooted in that trauma.  Or lack of attachment.  Or being moved from one Foster Home to the next because their behaviors were so hard to deal with.  I would be tasked with helping them form new behaviors, or to “fix” them, as many parents requested. But I digress.  Imagine sitting in a stranger’s home for 2 hours a week, trying to bond with a child, change their behavior, and accomplish this sometimes in only 3 months.  Do you know how long 2 hours can be and how much it takes to fill that time?  You get 6 state sponsored classes to do this job but they are on things like wrap-around services, DSM-5, Safety, Cultural Diversity, but no class on what do you do when you walk in the door.  But this is about the time I discovered Pinterest. And it was a lifesaver.  I have 921 pins on my board labeled Therapy.  And it covers things like Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), coping skills cue cards, the ACE test(trauma scoring test), Inside Out Feelings Chart, Feelings Go Fish, adapting simple games for social/emotional development, or Behavior Bingo, just to name a few.  And as I searched Pinterest on a daily basis, I found more and more articles, projects, story books, games, art, and collages that I could use with my youth.  It helped me to come up with a sort of a lesson plan for each visit so that I could fill the time in a beneficial way and not find that after a half hour, I had run out of things to do with that child.  Pinterest saved me and enabled me to do this job for about 7 years, until it became too physically challenging to use a cane, climb stairs if they had them, and carry all of the supplies into the house.  Because it required planning, like a teacher, and finding or making the items I was going to use, and then stocking my car with these items, and lugging them into the house.  The age range of children is 3-18 so that’s a diverse amount of supplies.        Sorry, digressing again.

I also have a Child Development Board, a Sewing Board, as well as a Living Frugal Board and this is where I saved information for the Examiner.com articles that I was writing until they went out of business.  I wrote for them for at least 4 years, posting every month in the beginning, and then a little less as time went on, but that’s a lot of information that had to be gathered to write those articles as we got paid by the number of views so the articles had to be good to attract attention. I really loved writing for Examiner and was sorry when they went out of business but Pinterest helped me do the research necessary to write those articles.

I have another board called www.acupofteaandabood.wordpress.com and I post my blog posts there to hopefully gain more followers.  I occasionally post a random picture of a tea cup and a book, but typically, it’s my blog posts.

Pinterest is also where I saved a lot of low-carb recipes as well as vegetarian recipes because I don‘t want to acquire any new cookbooks (another obsession). I have over 1000 pins for low-carb but please don’t ask me how many I’ve actually made!  LOL.  I just like collecting recipes and this is such a better way than buying the magazine or cook book, cutting out my favorites, and then saving them in a folder.  They are right at my fingertips, even if I make less than a third of them!

One board that I Iove is Childhood Fun.  Any time that something new pops up that reminds me of childhood, I pin it.  I have pictures of so many things that I had forgotten about growing up.  Dolls that I had, our beautiful Christmas trees  from the 50’s, roller skates and the skate key, playing dodge ball and kick ball.  Love’s Baby Soft perfume, Villager skirt and sweater sets, Nancy Drew, that pink tape we used to tape “spit curls”, petticoats, Evening in Paris perfume, comic books we loved….I could go on forever with this topic.  But the point is that these pictures remind me of a time of life that holds many good memories.  Who remembers playing Heads Up, 7Up at our desks when it was raining and we couldn’t go out for recess?  I never gave this a thought until I saw the picture.

I know that some of you see Pinterest as a time-waster, and to an extent I agree. And like with my magazine cut outs, there are many things that I’ve saved that I never look at again.  But it also has enhanced by life in several ways.  I dream of going to Italy some day.  While this may never happen, I’ve now seen Italy through photos of places I never would have imagined were in Italy.  Beautiful beaches, wonderful architecture, cities, country, ruins.  It’s not as good as the real thing but it definitely has opened my eyes to the beauty of that country.  Pinterest has helped me at work, has helped me discover ways to make extra money, has shown me on-line education such as Udemy and Skill Share. I’ve saved practical advice as well as ideas for jewelry and crafts. It helped me go from long hair to short with plenty of pictures to take to the hairdresser.  It has given me natural remedies for health issues as well as ideas for another tattoo.  Whatever I think of I can find it on Pinterest.  Some of you follow me on Pinterest and I follow some of you.

I guess it’s obvious…..I love Pinterest!

 

 

Snowy Day Musings

Isn’t this a perfect day to have a cup of tea and curl up on the sofa with a book?  I think so. In the picture is the last blanket that my mother crocheted for me and I treasure it.  Anyway, it’s great to wrap up in it on the couch and read.  So I took a break from my lounging and Facebook viewing, and Pinterest, to do some writing.

I recently got some news about the ex-husband, good news for him of course, but sad and somewhat depressing for me. I’m not going in to any details but I will say that once again I have to bounce back, “get over it”, and move forward.  So how do I do this?

First, I always give myself permission to cry, get angry, or whatever emotion is welling up inside. I’ve found that holding it back causes my heart to swell, my head to hurt from holding back tears, and there is a hollow feeling in my belly.  Not good.  So I go with it.  And get it all out so I can move past it.  Of course, not indefinitely, but long enough that the pain begins to fade.  I give myself permission to mourn.  And then I work at putting it out of my mind.

Of course this isn’t easy but I take it one day at a time, and usually am able to diminish the effect over time. You see, my head knows that I’m better and happier now; it’s just my foolish heart that still dreams about old love.  (Because we did have many good times.)

Anyway, forward I go. Another strategy that I’ve added is to be grateful every day, to stay positive, to laugh, and to stay busy.  All of this helps.  Time spent alone and brooding is not the way to get back to the “happy place” in my head.

I also have done some reading such as “The Law of Attraction”, “The Secret”, among others, and I try to be mindful of what I’m attracting to myself with my thoughts. Even if you don’t believe in this theory, I figure it can’t hurt.

The last and best thing that helps is talking to my son and playing with my grandson, who is very demanding about MeMa’s story telling. It’s hard to stay sad while he and I are hanging out in the bathroom while he sits on the toilet and I have to tell the story about the hippos lining up to go potty in the jungle, where there is only one toilet….don’t ask for more details, please! He loves for me to make up stories and sometimes the well is pretty dry!  This little boy keeps me happy.  He loves to come in my room and climb on my bed, will still occasionally fall asleep in my arms, and tells me regularly “that’s not fair MeMa!”, something I have thought many times about the ex’s latest escapade as well as some others.

Anyway, the pendulum is swinging back up; I’m getting over it, and life will be fine again soon.

So now, back to my snow watching, as it hasn’t stopped yet, Facebook and Pinterest, and reading my book.  Hope your day is as good as mine!

I’m a Writer!

photo “Write” by Sara Reid

Who would have thought  that I would be a writer?  Certainly not me.  My  essays and term papers were usually well written, but I never did  any other type of writing. (Note:  I credit Ms. Ester Benz, High School English, for instilling good writing habits in me and many others.)

Anyway, a few years ago, I was sitting in Bogart’s Books in Millville, NJ, knitting with a group called Ripping Yarns, when one of the women mentioned that she was going to be writing for Examiner.com.  She was talking about what she was doing to get started and a tiny seed sprouted in my brain.  She was already a writer, a ghost writer with a blog, but I was a total newbie, never having  written a journal or anything.  But this idea stuck in my head and wouldn’t leave.  So I asked if I could do it too and was given all of the assistance that I needed to get started and accepted, and was made the Child Development writer for the Atlantic City area.  I was so excited!

Each article that was written had to be researched, written and re-written before I would publish it, and pictures had to be found.  It took me hours but I loved it.  It didn’t pay much but that was OK.  People were actually reading my articles!  This was going on during my marriage separation and it was also one of the things that I did for the “new me”.  It gave me a lot of satisfaction and I made sure that my ex knew that I was moving on and doing new things (petty, right?  Ha Ha)  I shared my articles on Twitter and Facebook and promoted every article.  I also shared  them on Pinterest and often see my articles repinned, some at least a year after they were written.

So now it’s two years later and I’m also the Frugal Living and Sewing Examiner writer.  I had one article featured on the lead page and have gone from about 1000 views the first year to about 1000 in the first four months of this year.

So, with this under my belt, I let my son convince me to write the blog. (He’s my greatest supporter!)  He helped me get started, proofreading and encouraging, and urging me on.  Thank you BJ!  I’ve also been encouraged by my blog readers and prize your comments on the blog and Facebook.  You are my peers, many of you people who “knew me when”, and I’m thrilled that my blog has touched you in any way.

So what’s next?  Twice I’ve started a book about my experiences but so far, haven’t found the right way to share this.  Again, I’ve received a lot of encouragement and I believe that one day, all will click into place and I’ll write that book.  I will definitely keep you posted.

OMG!  I’M A WRITER!!(Happy dance!)