May the 4th be w/ you

Good afternoon! Yesterday was a perfect day for me, but not so much for my Sim. I finished my 2nd & (what I THOUGHT was my) final Mandala Crochet yesterday (5th pic). As much as I like making them & love how they look, I couldn't figure out anything USEFUL to do w/ them. Remember, I like my crafts to produce useful items & these just kinda sit there. I JUST came up with a GREAT idea though. Just created a tote bag! 2 Crocheted Mandalas & an Inkle Loom woven strip. Instant tote bag! I need to sew the pieces together & next plan to make 3 matching

pieces. 2 matching Mandalas & 1 matching strap. The strap will need to be wide & longer than any I've made so far. They're going to be beautiful though & more importantly, USEFUL. The mandalas will match on both sides, & the strap will match color-wise & will have a beautiful Celtic Knot design. Each of the 3 items can only be 2 colors, so the Mandalas will have to just alternate rounds with the colors I

choose. I spent some time in chat with Ann-Marie, cleaned the house, chatted w/ Pete on the phone, got the mail, surfed eBay, checked facebook & the 7th pic is a pic of Shattered Dreams at Princeton H.S., took my game turns, created the Inkle Loom page for my Website, drove Kyle & Sarah to the movies, swung by McDonald's for a chocolate shake (my very late breakfast of champions), took the dogs out,

surfed Pinterest, Picked Kyle & Sarah up from the movies, showered, & spent the rest of the evening playing Sims until Pete got home & then it was the nightly routine & bed. Now, my Sims game. It was the #1 Downloads game, remember? A little history on this game ... the #1 house is a tiny 1 bedroom house with 1 bathroom. The #1 family is a family of 7 friends & I added my own Sim, making 8. The maximum

allowed in a house. Max Sims (8), 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, no room to keep the game going as far as getting married & having children. Immediately Sims had to get kicked out. They're still living in town locally, just not in this house.Max adult Sims w/ to keep the game going? Well, the house is still full & each time someone ages up to a young adult, the 2 oldest Sims in the house is kicked out so the newest young adult can get married (adds 1 to the household), & then get pregnant (adds 1 more Sim to the house). With every high school graduation, 2 more of the oldest Sims get booted to make room for the next generation. It's maddening. It's also hard to play because I had to convert the garage

into a huge bedroom that holds 3 double beds, convert 2 of the upstairs rooms to hold beds ... it's just PACKED. And 8 Sims & 1 bathroom? HAHAHA! Yeah, someone is ALWAYS late to work waiting for the shower or has to go to work stinky. Anyway, my youngest playable Sim yesterday was Hazel. She was 3rd generation & when she went to her last day of high school, a meteor hit the school (6th pic). She survived, but was

scorched. Meteors are VERY rare & yes, Sims can be killed by them. Hazel was lucky! When she got home that night, she had just gone to bed when her mother was abducted by aliens (2nd pic). Her cousin had a baby boy, Michael (3rd gen) who is a virtuoso & a heavy sleeper. He's a Taurus who likes roots music, hot dogs, & the clor red. Hazel doesn't have the unlucky trait, so what gives? Even Sims WITH the unlucky trait don't have luck this bad. A meteor strike & an alien abduction in ONE NIGHT?! When Hazel woke up in the morning she aged up into a young adult & enrolled in the University. She scored best towards a degree in communications & she packed her bag & headed off to college. She went to her 1st day of classes & was doing great already! After her classes she went back to the dorm, had dinner, & then it was time for bed. When she got up that day, it turned out that her bed was a double bed that folded up flat against the wall. Instead of clicking on the bed & telling her to sleep, I 1st had to click on what looked like an empty bookshelf (her bed) & have her pull the bed down. Well, she did ... but the bed came slamming down on top of her, smashing her between the bed & the floor & then snapped back up to the wall. She died instantly. WTF?! In a matter of 2 days she had a near death experience with a meteor, came close to being the one abducted by aliens, then dies at the University ... death by BED (3rd pic). Because she was at the University & not in her hometown, the game said that her remains had been moved to the local cemetery & that I now had 2 choices. End the game & return to the main menu, or return to my hometown & continue playing since there were still surviving Sims in the house I was playing. Well, instead of 3 families at once, I'm now down to only 2. It'll still be a full house because I won't need to kick people out almost as soon as they give birth, but it's much easier to track 2 families than 3! After Hazel died, the next youngest Sim available to play was Efren Jr., Hazel's cousin. I immediately sent him off to the University & he scored best towards a technology degree. Hopefully that same bed won't kill him too. This morning I woke up & took the dogs out, finished the woven strip that was on the Inkle Loom to make room for the tote bag strap I'm going to make next, & got the mail. Today's game is Glenborough (4th pic). No, that's not Glenborough, that's Neo (3rd gen) who just arrived at his dorm at the University. Neo scored high for the Physical Education degree & will be my 1st jock. They've all been nerds before Neo. Monday is my Sister-In-Law Virginia's birthday!

As Carl Rogers taught, "That which is most personal is most general." The more  authentic you become, the more genuine in your expression, particularly regarding personal experiences & even self-doubts, the more people can relate to your expression & the safer it makes them feel to express themselves.

Chicago Cubs, the oldest professional baseball team, was once known as the Chicago White Stockings!

Eating too little can actually slow your metabolism.

May 5th is Cinco de Mayo. Don't forget the original reason for this holiday as we celebrate the arrival of St. Cinco who guided the Mayflower, Ninja, & Pinto to the shores of America bringing us much needed salsa, not "Mayo" as the name would suggest. Many people get that wrong. ;)

May you catch a fur ball from a cheetah. -Johnny Carson 1983

Over hundreds of years, the people of Cherrapunji, India, weaved & grew roots of trees into large bridges, some with spans of over 100'. The so-called "living root bridges" take 10 - 15 years to make & can last hundreds of years. The oldest is 500 years old & still being used today.

Post "wet paint" signs randomly around the office.

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Teams who have played the most games in major league baseball top 10:

1. Chicago Cubs
2. Atlanta Braves
3. St. Louis Cardinals
4. Cincinnati Reds
5. Pittsburgh Pirates
6. San Francisco Giants
7. Philadelphia Phillies
8. Los Angeles Dodgers
9. Detroit Tigers
10. Minnesota Twins