The Greenest Day of the Year

♣ Happy St. Patrick's Day! ♣

If you are unaware (much like me before doing research to write this post) St. Patrick's day is March 17th the death date of the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. He lived from 385AD to 461AD. People celebrate it, in order to honor him. Why they want to honor an Englishman who... well...you can read all about that HERE if you're interested.

I'm not Irish. I do not wish to be Irish or claim that I am. I think the accent is lovely. I honestly have no idea why Americans put so much stock into being certain nationalities, especially when they only advertise it one day out of the year.

I'm not much of a drinker and I don't know anyone who is Irish so I won't be celebrating St. Patrick's Day. If you are though, then have a wonderful day! :D

My favorite color is GREEN. Best decorating day of the year. My favorite at least.

I spent $8 at The Dollar Tree on my decorations. I bought two scarves (the one you see draped on the mirror and another one with just green stripes that I'm going to wear to work on Monday!)

I bought two bushels (bushels???) of green flowers and put them in a glass with some white rocks I had. I bought the green basket and filled it with three (a 3pk) of clover necklaces.

There is a green clover decoration under the basket. Next to the bowl is the green gold canyon candle that the Hubbins got me for Vday. Its vanilla and lime scented. Yum!

I have the Welcome clover on the front door and the clover hand towel on the oven.

These plants weren't bought recently. In fact this first one I've had for almost 10 years now. It is a form of shamrock that is native to a little part of Washington State that I grew up in. I uprooted some from the forest near my grandmothers house and mothered it. This plant is particularly sentimental to me.

This second shamrock plant I bought from an Albertson's the week of my wedding. I adore it.

These are some herbs I'm growing in the kitchen. I just hot glued little bows to them. :D I'll probably leave them. The video tutorial on how to make these bows can be seen HERE.

♣ I hope you have a GREAT Monday whether you are celebrating or not. ♣

Epictetus - A Happy Soul Philosophy

So, this quarter I’m in a Philosophy class and I’d like to share one of the readings with you. 

“The Enchiridion” by Epictetus

The reading can be found here. I’ll be posting lovely photos throughout in order to inspire.

In essence Epictetus is trying to better your spirit so everything he talks about is meant for you to take in and use in your daily life. I think this is a noble pursuit. Have you set out to use philosophy to better the happiness of mankind lately?

To quote my philosophy teacher (we’ll call him Mr. So-Crates ala Bill and Ted) Epictetus begins by providing a “basis for all that follows” with “The world has two kinds of things: the things we can control and the things we cannot. As long as we keep this distinction in mind and live our lives accordingly, we will be at peace.” Change what you can and leave everything else alone. You can’t change it so why let it bother you? Why let those thing make you unhappy?

"Epictetus"

Epictetus has examples in each of these categories. Things that we can change like thoughts, judgments, assumptions, opinions and what not. In the second things that we can’t change or influence like possessions, our bodies, and others minds. You can’t control what others do, think, or who they are.

"Waiter made a crane from a straw paper"

Let’s say for example that I’m at work (see post about my job here) at the daycare. If a parent doesn't like what is being fed to their child from the daily menu and lashes out at me by being angry and screaming at me. I feel like I’m being attacked and I end up getting upset and usually crying. I don’t take other’s anger well.

To put it in schematic form:

Cause (angry parent, screaming) à Effect (sad, crying, upset)

This is what we all THINK is happening but really it isn't. According to Epictetus this is how we ruin the schemes of our lives. Everything I’m feeling in this situation (sad/crying/upset) isn't the result of the parent’s screaming. It is caused by my thoughts and my thoughts alone.

New form!

Cause (angry parent, screaming)--> assumptions and thoughts--> Effect (sad and upset)

There. Doesn't this make more sense? How could someone’s raised voice CAUSE me to cry? I’m crying because I think they hate me. I think I will get fired. I feel bad for the baby. I have deep seated emotional issues with the sound OF screaming. Those are the reasons I get upset. I will STEW on this interaction for sometimes DAYS.

The parent was reassured that she could have a menu beforehand and approve any foods she wanted her child to eat. I on the other hand felt like this person didn't trust me now. I made a lot of assumptions and generally just made myself feel bad for no conceivable reason.

This is something that could have been avoided completely. I could still feel comfortable around this parent because she probably doesn't think about this AT ALL.

This made me unhappy. It really shouldn't have made me unhappy. I should have been able to assure her that steps would be taken. The End. Let it goooooooo LET IT GOOO *sings from Frozen* (that dates this post but whatever… it’s such a great song and it applies.)

 "Outside my work at night"

I’m not going to lie and say it won’t be hard for me. It is a work-in-progress that I have been working on already before reading Epictetus’s philosophy. This is another reason why I think it has such a ring of truth to it.

Instead of automatically blaming myself for not thinking of all possible scenarios I could have thought something like “maybe she is just afraid that her baby will eat something she doesn't want him to. Maybe she wants him to be vegan. Maybe she is just having a bad day. Maybe she doesn't feel like a good parent.”

Like Mr. So-Crates says, “The greatest challenge in the application of stoicism is overcoming our habits of thought and belief. The fortunate among us are forever taking their lemons and making lemonade. The rest of us struggle, but that’s ok: making stoicism work takes practice.

Your first response might be to react negatively”—“but remember: you learned that reaction, so you can unlearn it.”

"My Valentine tulips"

So, go forth and better yourselves in every way that is possible. Do not try and change things that can’t be changed. Take baby steps with me.

Thank you so much for following along!

Ella the Crochet Pink Elephant

Our friends, we'll call them Tee and Vinnie, gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a couple of months ago. Tee found a crochet pattern for a pink elephant on Etsy and wondered if I would make it for them.

You can find and purchase that pattern here. I'll put pictures of my finished Ella The Elephant throughout this post.

To say that this was a challenge for me would be an understatement. It might have something to do with the fact that I am a perfectionist. It could have something to do with the fact that I don’t make a habit of crocheting toys. There is a huge difference between crocheting jewelry, scarves, purses and a stuffed toy. They are just made differently. I'm not sure what to expect or how things will turn out making round bodies and trunks. Nevertheless! I finished her.

As you can see I chose to make a grey flower instead of a pink one because I knew Tee chose pink and grey colors.

I spent most of the time worried that the baby would pull something off and choke. Thus, items are sewed on so heavily that they are rather stiff in the joints.

At the same time I've been in school full-time and working at daycare Monday through Friday. Regardless of that and after a few communications with the authoress of the pattern it was sent out today. I purchased it on February 1st and it sent out March 1st. That is pretty good. What do you think?

I think the hardest part was sewing the legs on in the end. As a crocheter, sewing.. is my WORST "skill."

I think this was a challenge I needed. I should loosen up and not expect everything to be perfect or see fault where there isn't any. I can't wait to see pictures of the little angel with her new pink pachyderm.

Thank you so much for following along!