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Mishmash

I figured it was as good a time as any to offer up some lovely snippets of things I’ve read or heard in the past few days.

I received a funny e-mail from my friend Sara yesterday.  She informed me that her daughter Hannah’s question for the day was, “Did God have parents, or was He adopted?”  I informed her that I believe He was adopted.

Another quote I found in O Magazine’s February 2009 issue (from Sandy Allgeier in The Personal Credibility Factor…FT Press) as a Note to Self: “Highly credible people make decisions to ‘suspend judgment’ when considering another person’s perspective.  They do this because they are okay with being wrong–or, at bare minimum, okay with having their opinions challenged.  This doesn’t mean they don’t have passion and strong beliefs.  It simply means that their minds are open to other opinions, even if those are quite different from their own.”  Ah, yes.  Couldn’t have said it better.

In another article in that same magazine–Annie Lennox’s Aha! Moment–Annie Lennox speaks of how she “evolved from being a singer-songwriter-performer-mother-woman to being an activist” after hearing Nelson Mandela speak in front of his prison cell of 27 years, about how AIDS in Africa is genocide.  She goes on to say “and if you met just one of the children who have been affected, you would lose all doubt that one person can tackle something so huge.  You would see that this child represents a whole population and know that in your smallness, you could contribute a great deal; it wouldn’t be enough, and yet at the same time, it would be.  If you could help that child, even from far away, you would find within yourself, as I have, a new dignity and a reason for being.”  I think it’s important to realize that many of us are in the business of being around at least one child, at some point in our lives.  Think of the small impact you could have on that child, if you just simply held their hand and listened to them.  Really, truly, you could change that child’s direction in life.  Small things add up over time.  Trust me.

Here’s an idea for Valentine’s Day, or just any old day you want to tell someone how much he or she is loved.  Send a movie short with music.  Hold on, before you think it’s too complicated.  If you go here, you can upload photos of whomever you’d like, then add a song of your choice and a note, and the site will take on the task of delivering it to your loved one’s inbox.  How fun is that?  [Let me just tuck in a side note here.  You know how you intend to tell that special someone that you love them, in a unique way, but everything else gets in the way, then in the end you have nothing to offer but an “I love you” or a quickly purchased card?  Okay, not that that’s bad, but you’ve just told that person, in effect, that he or she is number 100 on your to-do list.  And most likely you did it, unintentionally, because you know he or she will forgive you, like no one else will.  I remember when I woke up to this “action speaks louder than words.”  It was when Princess Diana died, and all the people coming forward, to offer up beautiful anecdotes about her, were everyday people (meaning, not celebrities or royalty) whom she had visited in the hospital, or handwritten a card to, or invited to come visit her.  She had made the effort to reach out to everyone, and tell them in the present tense how much she cared.  Right then and there, I vowed to be more like that, and I only hope I have been.]

Now, on to the topic of desserts.  I made Oreo Truffles from Bakerella’s site for a New Year’s Celebration.  I’d always thought truffles were hard to make.  Doesn’t the word truffle just exude an aura of difficulty?  Well, they’re not.  They’re easy-peasy.  Try them.  You’ll just melt into a puddle on your floor.  They’re that good.  You can find them here (scroll down once you’re at the site).  And while you’re at it, try the other one I made from her site–Red Velvet Cake Balls–which you can find here.  They’re equally as good and equally as easy.  Voilà! You’ll look like a superstar!

Good things for a day that’s -20 below and sunny.

[Post image: Liliana in her bright pink cast that will be history soon–hurrah!]

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