Lavender & Coffee Stains

Free association is described as a "psychonanalytic procedure in which a person is encouraged to give free rein to his or her thoughts and feelings, verbalizing whatever comes into the mind without monitoring its content." Over time, this technique is supposed to help bring forth repressed thoughts and feelings that the person can then work through to gain a better sense of self.

That's an admirable goal, but for the purposes of this exercise, we're just hoping to have a little fun with the technique. Each week I'll post ten words to which you can respond to with the first thing that comes to mind.

"Rules are, there are no rules." There are no right or wrong answers. Don't limit yourself to one word responses; just say everything that pops into your head. AND you don't have to have your words up on Sunday. Take all week if you want! Read the FAQ for more information.

After Coraline and her parents move into an old house, Coraline asks her mother about a mysterious locked door. Her mother unlocks it to reveal that it leads nowhere: "When they turned the house into flats, they simply bricked it up," her mother explains. But something about the door attracts the girl, and when she later unlocks it herself, the bricks have disappeared. Through the door, she travels a dark corridor (which smells "like something very old and very slow") into a world that eerily mimics her own, but with sinister differences. "I'm your other mother," announces a woman who looks like Coraline's mother, except "her eyes were big black buttons." Coraline eventually makes it back to her real home only to find that her parents are missing -- they're trapped in the shadowy other world.

1. As soon as the alarm rings...
   Spend your first 15 seconds awake planning something nice to do for yourself today. "This can really set you up in a good mood - even if it's just going by the farmers' market and getting fresh strawberries," says Alice Domar, PhD, Be Happy Without Being Perfect: How to Break Free from the Perfection Deception book.
   
   
   
2. Get up.
   The longer you lie there, the more you ruminate, the darker your outlook is likely to become, says Christine Padesky, PhD, co-author of Mind Over Mood. So get vertical and make a cup of coffee, take a shower, feed the cat.
   
   
   
3. Drink.
   - make that two glasses of water upon awakening, the time when our bodies are dehydrated, says Susan M. Kleiner, PhD, author of The Good Mood Diet. Dehydration causes fatigue, which affects your mood.
   
   
   
4. Move it.
   You already know the number one way of chasing away a bad mood: exercise. A workout at the gym sure helps. But even just a few minutes of movement - a fast walk, for example - raises energy and reduces tension, says mood expert Robert Thayer, PhD, professor of psychology at California State University, Long Beach, and author of Calm Energy.
   
   
   
5. Investigate.
   When you're dogged by anxiety or the dread you woke up with, try to pinpoint what's causing it. Did someone say anything the day before? Do you have a meeting today you wish you didn't? Was it the dream you were having when the alarm went off? "If you can figure out why you're upset, that's halfway to feeling better," says Domar.
   
   
   
6. Be kind and thankful.
   This isn't exactly news, but generosity and gratitude are both big contributors to happiness, according to Todd B. Kashdan, PhD, who directs the Laboratory for the Study of Social Anxiety, Character Strengths, and Related Phenomena at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. Do something nice for a stranger or friend and see if you don't feel better about yourself. Also, jot down three things that you're grateful for. It seems so simple, but counting your blessings just has a way of making you remember the sun is shining.
   
   
   
7. Laugh at yourself.
   The best comedians point out the mundane aspects of life - relationship strife, a boring job, a closet full of too-tight clothes; they exaggerate those circumstances, and give us a perspective we can laugh about, says Mark Ridley, owner of the Comedy Castle in Royal Oak, Michigan. Look at your own life and try to appreciate the absurdity of what doesn't go exactly according to plan (the diets, the men, the buzz cut). Acknowledging how little control we actually have over what happens is sometimes a most freeing gift to yourself.

Dear Me,

It had been a while since I've taken a photo and I thought that it would be a pleasant experience to participate in Litratong Pinoy. I had been wanting to join this weekly game.

And since the theme for this month is the HEART, I searched around the house for things that had something to do or shaped like HEARTS. The photos below were just taken a while back.

This is one of my more than a year old son Miguel's educational toy. His father was feeding him when I got it to take a photo. Miguel was probably wondering why I took his toy. He followed me so he could get it. It was good that I was able to photograph it.

The photos are (1) a cardboard that slightly envelops a box of brownies and (2) a magnet that we got during Janelle's (Jovee's daughter) first year birthday, which we attended last year.

This is another toy of Miguel. My son probably cried because he thought that I was taking away his toy. Hahaha. :)

This is a book requirement for FFP. :)

This is my first participation and I hope I'll get on with it weekly. :)

1. You need to list 5 Addictions that you have.

2. You have to pass this Tag to five (5) or more people with fabulous blogs.

1. BOOKS
   
   
2. VIOLET THINGS
   
   
3. BAGS
   
   
4. FRENCH FRIES
   
   
5. CHOCOLATES

1. Ants hate vinegar; so spray it around doorways and other areas they frequent to repel them.
   
   
   
2. Vinegar also is very good to clean off chewing gum stains from clothes; usually normal cleaning products are not capable of cleaning off chewing gum, so rubbing with vinegar before the machine wash should do the trick.
   
   
   
3. Pour boiling white vinegar down a clogged drain to remove the obstruction.
   
   
   
4. A few tablespoons of white vinegar mixed with a few teaspoons of common table salt makes an excellent cleanser for cleaning badly-stained stainless steel cookware. This vinegar and salt mixture also can remove oxidation from copper-clad cookware and make it shine with practically no rubbing required.
   
   
   
5. Vinegar can also be used as a glass cleaner either mixed with water or used neat in a spray bottle. Use full strength vinegar to polish chrome and stainless steel.
   
   
   
6. Vinegar is effective in removing rust from metals and for cleaning ice-skate blades.
   
   
   
7. Vinegar can be used as a fabric softener by adding half the amount of vinegar as you would of your usual softening agent.
   
   
   
8. For pet owners, white vinegar poured onto pet urine mishaps on carpets, then blotted up with paper towel will prevent staining and odor.
   
   
   
9. Old, stiff paintbrushes can be revived by dipping them into heated white vinegar for a couple of hours, followed by a rinse in soapy water. Beats using turpentine!
   
   
   
10. Place a small container of vinegar in your toilet and bathroom to eliminate odors. A half cup of vinegar added to a toilet bowl left overnight removes bowl odor. The smell of the vinegar will also dissipate overnight.

C. J. Box is the author of eleven novels including the award-winning Joe Pickett series. He's the winner of the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, the Barry Award, and an Edgar Award and L.A. Times Book Prize finalist. Box was named 2007 Writer of the Year by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. His short stories have been featured in America's Best Mystery Stories 2006 and limited-edition printings. The novels have been bestsellers and have been translated into 21 languages.

Siblings Annie and William Taylor, ages 12 and 10, witness a gruesome murder in the woods outside the small Idaho town of Kootenai Bay, nicknamed Blue Heaven for its abundance of retired LAPD officers. Annie and William make a run for it after they're spotted by the killers, a group of crooked LAPD cops who retired to Idaho eight years earlier after pulling a complicated heist in California that left a man dead. Rancher Jess Rawlins becomes the children's only hope of survival after they take refuge in his barn. Jess must stay one step ahead of the killers, who have volunteered to help the local authorities investigate the children's disappearance.

Jack and Melissa McGuane have spent years trying to have a baby. Finally their dream has come true with the adoption of their daughter, Angelina. But nine months after bringing her home, they receive a devastating phone call from the adoption agency: Angelina's birth father, a teenager, never signed away his parental rights, and he wants her back. Worse, his father, a powerful Denver judge, wants him to own up to this responsibility and will use every advantage his position of power affords him to make sure it happens. When Jack and Melissa attempt to handle the situation rationally by meeting face-to-face with the father and son, it is immediately apparent that there's something sinister about both of them and that love for Angelina is not the motivation for their actions.