The Hollow Woman

My sister and I joke about wanting to be hollow...and I don't mean shallow, though we can sometimes be that too...I mean hollow bodies--no bones, no blood, no organs. Like one of those chocolate Easter bunnies'. I wish I was born hollow (and somehow still alive) because as I'm terrified of being "hollowed out" involuntarily.

My Mom hasn't had the best of luck keeping what's inside her. Heck, even my sister and I had to be cut out (C-sections); she told the Docs to grab her appendix while they were in there. Last year, they had to take even more from her...one of her kidneys that had a cancerous mass on it, and just last week they took a lobe of one of her lungs where another mass had formed. I am beyond thankful she is recovering well as I write this. My Mom is so much more than a bunch of cells and organs that are in her and taken out. I hope she always keeps her inner strength, humor, love, and of course, the rest of her insides. (She blogs about her experience here.) 

Vision Board

I'm happy to report my husband's blood pressure no longer sky rockets when he checks out Pinterest. He has a few boards going, and we even created a shared "vision board" where we can post our mutual ideas for the future. I know it sounds pretty "new age," but I do think it helps put positive thoughts into the universe.

I want to have my own home someday, but instead of festering on the negative aspects of what I currently have--a rental that's been surrounded by construction projects since last October--I need to focus on the positive reasons to try to get out of it. Even before the money or the means to do so, we need a clear vision. Sometimes that's enough to steer the course of life in a certain direction. 

Pinterest: Bravely Go Where Few Men Have Gone Before

My husband prides himself on being somewhat of a social media guru, and he is pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out how to navigate new technology, but he joined Pinterest today and the pressure to pin has left him pretty distraught.

He is very concerned about the "finality" of his boards and pins--so much so, after two hours he had only two pins and he tried to strangle himself with his wrist rest. 

He is also trying to understand the patterns to everyone's boards and the number of boards they follow. Numbers? Patterns? This is Pinterest, Tommie, not Excel.


Based on other blogs and discussions, it seems it's more difficult for men to wrap their heads around Pinterest because it appeals more to a woman's mind which is constantly going from one thought to the next in rapid succession, and to our affinity for pretty things. Pinterest helps organize the jumble of ideas we have, the inspiration we come across, and captures our dreams. I think, if it's pretty, pin it, while Tommie abides by the motto, ponder before pinning.

Other men have mastered the art of Pinterest, but for Tommie, it will take some time. He just isn't comfortable being swept away by pretty pictures--he's got to approach it with a solid plan in place. Here he is manually writing out his board ideas on a whiteboard. Who knew pinning could be so serious?