Day 205 of 365

All my titles at work carry a certain amount of respect with them, but it seems my personal projects don't.

At work I have three job titles/descriptions attached to my name.  On Day 106 the first job came. On Day 184 I took an additional position. Then just this week I was offered an another additional job at my same school. Three job descriptions attached to my name now and some new responsibilities.

This is definitely going to be my last add-on position. When I signed this new contract yesterday, I told the gal this would be the last one I would sign because I needed time for my charity work. Why did I say charity work? It sounds like I'm working in a soup kitchen or blood bank. What if I had said I needed time for blogging? That would have been an even bigger mistake - being a "blogger" carries with it a certain negative connotation.

So just how do I describe my personal projects? I don't. When asked what I do when I'm not at work, I usually just respond with I do a lot of sewing. As much as I'm proud of what I do each and every day, I can't figure out a quick and easy response.

I write, I photograph, I document. I quilt and I sew for sick children and children of deployed military personnel. Through my videos, I teach people how to do quick and easy projects.

But it's more than that. I'm part of my own personal growth project. A project that is keeping me moving forward on most days. A project where I find ways to deal with the pain and frustration of injuries and rheumatoid arthritis. A project that prevents me from being lazy and forces me to make the best of each day.

Okay, I admit it - I really don't know how to describe what I'm doing.

I can describe today's picture, though. Sunshine-y.

In other news - we have a 200th Day Giveaway WINNER!

The random number generator picked comment number five. Number five was Pam who wrote, "Debbie, You always amaze me with your talents and patience.GOOD JOB!" So Pam, use the "Contact Me' button at the very bottom of this page so I can send the goodies your way. Congrats!

Day 204 of 365

This isn't a cooking show, mom.

Words uttered from my daughter more than once. When she's home we work on building her repertoire of recipes. And the details, information, and expressive language I use when teaching her how to cook and bake sound like a cooking show to her, I guess. When she says, This isn't a cooking show, mom, it's a signal to me that I'm giving her too much information. But now she's even getting it when she's not home - by watching my tutorials. Just yesterday she let me know I use my "teacher voice" in them. Whatever.

Yet...

I was flipping through channels yesterday and came across Guy Fieri's Big Bite on the Food Network. I have watched his other show, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives where he travels around the country, focusing on small restaurants and the foods they cook. But this show, Big Bite, is a show where he's cooking different things in his kitchen. My husband has watched the show many times but I always skip it.  But this time I left the channel on it. (And it wasn't because of his hair - oh, I do love his hair. For many years I had short spiky hair, dyed with blonde highlights, but never dyed like his. I wish I would have been bold enough to go as blonde and spiky as he does, but I never got there.)

As I sat there watching Guy grab things from the fridge and cabinet, talking about techniques and why he uses what he uses and what could be substituted, I thought, Oh my gosh, that's me. When I do tutorials, I add all that extra chit-chat into the video. But since I'm trying to keep my videos just a few minutes in length I wind up editing all that extra conversation out. Leaving it all in would probably make for an entertaining cooking show or sewing show, but I'm not sure the world needs another one of either.

According to my daughter, one thing that doesn't get edited out is that "teacher voice". As I thought more about what my she said, was she implying the "teacher voice" was a good thing or a bad thing? (You can bet I'll be asking her on that one.)

One thing that is a good thing is my picture of the day. The Canadian Geese were flying around on my early morning walk this morning. I was patient, hoping to catch them flying over the river. They weren't cooperative, so an orange morning sky background will have to do.