My thoughts on life

I've really been thinking about how in our society, we tend to always have something distracting us.  I know I definitely struggle with that. So I have been brainstorming ways to help me stay more present in my thoughts. 

My favorite idea is to have a TV/music free day, or more than one day.  I am planning on doing this tomorrow and blogging about it on Saturday.  I  realized that I needed to do this on Tuesday when I realized that I haven't been actively in my own thoughts in a while and that it is killing my creativity. So, I really want to craft without telly or music. I think it will be very beneficial for me to do that. I also think I will start sitting with my thoughts for an hour or so a day at least for a while and when I am in the car.

This will also give a nice respite from constantly doing something. My life lately has been more about completing tasks in someways than about being happy, and that is NO way to live life. To me life is first about being happy, second about making others happy, and then everything else.

Photo Essay

Photo Essay: These pictures are from Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. This has quickly become my favorite cemetery to photography. There is something there that just takes hold of your soul and makes you fall in love with the people buried there, the land, the river that runs by, and every other aspect of this place. A feeling runs over you-- one of absolute peace and serenity.

Life Recently

Hello lovely readers, I feel like I should update you guys on what's up with me and the blog since my last few postings have been so sporadic.

Blog: I've been trying to get this blog to the point that I'm posting three times a week but it is taking a surprising amount of time and planning.  I will be posting twice a week for the time being. Future posts planned are: the history of Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery, May in my rearview, tour of my blogging station, and many more exciting posts.

The Road Of Recovery: There are no real new updates here other than I started going to lots of support groups.

What I'm Reading: I'm currently reading The Office of Mercy, I am honestly not far enough into this book to know what I think of it yet.  Animal Farm, I am nearly done with this book and I honestly haven't wanted to put it down! Every aspect of Animal Farm is enjoyable; I love books with political undertones like this book and the other two books I am currently reading.  Mockingjay has been just as amazing as the other two books in the Hunger Games trilogy.

What I'm Watching: Season 7 of Supernatural, this has been a very enjoyable season far and away better than last season.

What I'm Listening To: Stuff You Should Know (How PTSD Works, How Foot Binding worked, and many more of these epic podcasts), and lots of Classic Rock :).

Things Making Me Smile: painted nails, my kitten, and organizing.

Funny Animal Stuff

Pictures of my animals with captions of what I think they were thinking.

"Can I enter the Bat cave?" -Spice

 "What are you doing, can I help?"

"What, you said no?"

"Why can't I?"

"Oh yeah,  I don't have hands." - Spice

"What do you think you are doing photographing me from my bad side?" -Whinnie 

 "MOM!" "Stop embarrassing me in front of the Doctor!" -River Song

"What is actually happening?" -Porter

Helpful Coping Techniques

In honor of May being Mental Illness Awareness Month, I decided to post my list of coping techniques:

Butterflies Wondering

1. Meditation – yoga, the make repetitive noise type of meditation, mindfulness.

2. Exercise –running, walking, jogging, weight lifting, swimming, etc, are great healthy way to release stress, anxiety, and anger.

3. Reading – is a great (safe and healthy) way to escape from reality or a good way to better cope with and understand reality.

4. Art - music, crafting, drawing, painting, looking at art, playing guitar, etc. 

5. Challenging my intellect – reading, listening to podcasts, writing, watching Doctor Who, listening to books on tape, researching, etc.

6. Games – board games, sports, cards, etc.

7. Photography.

8. Going out – to the gym, the library, the movies, the park, a museum, etc, somewhere cheap or free is best.

9. Talk it out – talk to someone you trust.

10. Writing –be it a crazy weird fiction story about an odd object or a blog post,writing is always relaxing for me and is a positive way to release emotions.

11. Pamper yourself – for me this looks like doing my makeup, painting my nails, and such as that.

12. Focus – hyper focus on a random object. Write out a step by step guide to what you need to do.  Focus on one thing at a time. 

So that is the list of my top 12 favorite alternatives. 

How to: Hair Edition

Give Your Hair a Coppery Tint/Lighten Your Hair.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of c vitamins
2 Tbsps olive oil
2 tsps lemon juice
1 cup of tea tree oil shampoo

Instructions:
Grind C vitamins, then mix with olive oil and lemon juice.  Then then add the shampoo and mix together until at a frosting like consistency.  Then shampoo in the mixture and leave in for one hour or longer, then rinse, and blow dry hair. this should have lightened your hair  I usually do this 3 to 4 times.  If  your hair has a tendency to turn red  you should have a coppery tenant to your hair ,this can be a great alternative to having to dye your hair.


Add shine and Soften Hair
wash and halfway dry hair, then put about half a tablespoon of baby oil in hair.  Leave overnight.  Wash out with strong shampoo such as tea tree oil.

Funny Farm Story of the Week

Tonight after dinner,  Mom and I went out to check on the kittens. When we came back inside, one of our dogs ran into the house, up the stairs, jumped over the baby gate, ran into my bathroom. Then jumped into the bathtub and proceeded to lay down. It's now an hour and a half later, and the dog hasn't moved. I decided that I definitely needed to take some pictures of her for a post.  Do you have any funny animal stories?

Life Recently

I was reading blogs this morning and thinking about what to post and decided that I would update you about my life of late. 

The Road Of Recovery:  I have started seeing an art therapist, as well as a new psychiatrist, both things are going really well!  I discovered two new helpful websites Scar Tissue and Bipolar Burble both are great and as always twloha is encouraging me. I found two awesome mood charts I'm trying to decide which one I like better chart one , chart two.

What I'm Reading:  I just finished Frankenstein.  I'm currently reading  Mockingjay, this has been just as good as the other books in the "Hunger Games" trilogy.  The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, this book contains the most accurate descriptions of how depression feels and what it is, I have ever read. I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to know more about depression.

What I'm watching:  Season 6 of Supernatural, this honestly hasn't been my favorite season so far, but with that said, it's still amazing and a must watch for any fan of horror/drama because special effects are amazing .  BBC's Robin Hood series 1, we just finished the second episode and are hooked!

What I'm Listening To:  Anything Mumford and Sons, Jake Bugg's Lightning Bolt, and La Santa Cecilia's Monedita .

Things Making Me Smile: Cats that don't understand why i cant scratch their ears 24/7.  

 Wet & Wild's disturbia, nail polish.   Baby Animals.  And mostly nice weather.               

Waterloo Cemetery

I took these toward the end of February at the Waterloo Cemetery in Waterloo, IL.

I'm not sure if you can read it, but it says "Our Home."

 Loved the broken off headstone.

I thought that this and the last one were really cool because of how far inland we are .

Etsy shop

I now have my Etsy shop open I'm still listing items though so only a few things are up. http://www.etsy.com/shop/ButterfliesWondering?ref=si_shop

Email List

I'm thinking about starting  a email list to let y'all know what's going on with the blog and when I post. would y'all be interested?

Tips for new Bloggers

Tips for new Bloggers

By no means am I an “expert” blogger, whatever that looks like, but I do consider myself successful because I am reaching my goals for this particular adventure. Because of this I thought I would share my personal list of blogging do’s and do not's.

1.  Do not worry about the number of followers you have. Try your best and work your butt off, but worrying will get you nowhere fast, if anything, it will slow you down.

2.  Do use social media to your advantage; self advertising can be effective. I recommend this blog community , the people on here are pretty helpful.

3. Do not write about things you don’t want to write about. It is YOUR blog no one else’s. Do what you want with it and what makes you happy.

4.  Do plan, I recommend that you have your posts planned, and if possible, written at least a week in advance.

5.  Do not do what I do, and write at the last minute.

6.  Do set aside time for blogging, 1-2 hours a day, less on days you aren’t writing and 3 plus hours on planning days.

7. Do not spend so much time on your blog that you don’t have anything to blog about.

8. Do start a blogging notebook. I use a composition size notebook; I make and sell these for $7.