The Proper Order of English Adjectives

I don't think I've posted anything about the Grammar Girl yet. I don't know why. She is my favorite podcaster! Her podcasts are fun, short, and useful. I get her daily email newsletter and the other day this was the topic. The proper order of adjectives for the English language. I had no idea!

Here is the order: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Color, Origin, Material, Purpose

For details, descriptions, and helpful examples, go here.

California's Budget Deficit

California seems pretty messed up right now. The economic recession and the state budget deficit are only part of the problem, but they are on my mind tonight. While I was cleaning out my inbox, I found an updated version of the Next 10 Challenge, which is a non-partisan site that lets you make the spending and revenue decisions for California's budget.



Taking the Next 10 Challenge is a good way to find out more about what kind of decisions the legislators are making and to find out more about what your own priorities are. When I took the Challenge today I learned that one of my priorities is education and that I'm willing to pay more in income tax to reduce the budget deficit.

California's current budget deficit will be 22.2 billion dollars in five years if we don't change things. If we do things my way, the deficit will be 6.8 billion dollars. If we do things your way, how will things look? Can you balance the budget?

Book Review: Traffic

Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do
by Tom Vanderbilt

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I listened to an abridged audio version of this book. Vanderbilt makes some interesting points and explains common American driver behavior and attitudes. There weren't any tips about how to drive better (which for some reason I was looking for), but it was still pretty good.


View all my reviews.

Junk Mail: Less is More

I don't have a huge problem with junk mail. Several years ago I sent my name and address to the Direct Marketers Association and that reduced the credit card offers and other random advertisements I was getting. But now that I've moved a few times and changed my name I'm starting to get a few little things here and there. I haven't been able to remember where I put the address for the Direct Marketers Association, but today I found this article on Store and Style. They put all of the junk mail management info in one place! Hooray! I think they write their articles just for me.

If you want to reduce the hassle of dealing with junk mail, eliminate some of the paper waste going on in the world, or reduce how much your name and information is flying around out there this is the place to go.

Her Morning Elegance

I saw this on Design Mom and LOVED it! I love to sleep (and not wake up) so the video has special meaning to me (and to Lost Boy). The music is lovely too.

Her Morning Elegance / Oren Lavie


Go here for background on the video. ♥

The Fab Five (a.k.a. Pay it Forward)

I found this on a friend's blog. Yeah, I know it is one of those Forward things (I think they're called memes?), but this one requires action and human connection in real life, so I'm going to do it. I've edited it a little bit (I have a tendency to clean up grammar and formatting ... this one was impressively clean, but I wanted it to have a little bit of my own voice.)

THE FAB FIVE:

Here's the deal, the First 5 People to respond to this post will receive something made by me, just for you.

There are a few restrictions and limitations (just to make sure we all agree to what is or is not reasonable):

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. (But I hope you at least think it's worth re-gifting if you don't like it.)


2. What I create will be just for you. (I'll probably think about you the whole time I'm making it, unless it gets complicated and I'm thinking about how to fix the mess I made.)


3. It will be done some time within the next year. (Hopefully by Christmas at the latest...)


4. You have no clue what it will be... (neither do I!)


5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.


6. I will send it anywhere! It doesn't matter where you live! (Because I love you.)

Ok, there is just one catch: you must re-post this on your own blog and offer the same to the first five people who do the same on their blog. (I encourage you to personalize your re-post!)

The First 5 People to re-post and leave a comment telling me they did will win a surprise homemade gift by me!!

seize the day. that means today. 01

Writing prompt from m.writes: 01. what accomplishments are you proud of? write about the times you put your best self into action.

One of the biggest accomplishments of my life was serving a mission for my church. I knew what I wanted (to serve a mission) and I did the things it took to make it happen (with permission from Heavenly Father). I was exhausted often, but at least I was exhausted because I’d walked miles, talked to people, felt the spirit, and taught.

More recently, I threw away (i.e. recycled) about eight inches of paper. I have a lot of paper. At least six solid boxes (meaning they’re not mixed up with other things like books or knick knacks). Several years ago I outlined a plan to organize and simplify* my stuff (i.e. paper). Since then I’ve worked on keeping less and on sorting the important stuff out of what I already have. I’ve been slowly improving over the years. But I got married and moved into a very small apartment last year. Our apartment is full of boxes (admittedly, some of them are boxes of books, which belong on shelves, but we don’t have enough shelves … yet) and at least half of my husband’s things haven’t moved in yet. So I’m making a concentrated effort to get through the paper boxes. A few months ago I went through a box and got rid of at least half of it! I was so proud of myself! I did it again with another box, so now I have four more to go!

*I don’t know if there is such a thing as simplifying for me. I like to create systems for organizing things, paper, and data and that seems complex, not simple.

The End of Spring Break

Lost Boy and I just finished Spring Break. Our university has Spring Break adjacent to Cesar Chavez Day instead of Easter. While I respect the Cesar Chavez's sacrifice and cultural contribution I'm a little bugged that all of our friends and siblings have this week off instead of last week. I had only one friend who had break at the same time as me (because she goes to the same university). Sigh.

I thought that I would catch up on my school assignments during Spring Break. But if you have a habit of not doing homework when school is in session, you still have that habit when school is on break.

I did a lot of crocheting though! I made a teddy bear for a cousin who is having a baby soon. It was my very first stuffed animal project! I also experimented with mini-teddy bears for my niece and nephews. I'll put pictures up soon.