Emotional Journaling: Suprise

Time to start expanding on those basic feelings and learning further how to identify and express things.  First emotion for expansion: SURPRISE!

Page 2:
We opened up our journal page on Surprise and all of the underlying feelings within it by writing "surprise" however we wanted. 

My daughter wanted a heart exclamation point.  I went large, all caps, across most of the top of the page. 

We then put four sticky notes on our paper and wrote out the underlying emotions on each of them: Startled, Confused, Amazed, and Excited.  You can use color pencils, markers, or crayons to connect each of these emotions to a color of our choosing.  Beneath the sticky-notes, we wrote the two connecting emotions to each of those.

Once we finished with that, we each selected a word from the tops of the sticky notes to look up in the dictionary to share with the others.  The eldest chose to write the definition beneath each of the words on the sticky notes.  The children were tickled how the definitions in their dictionaries varied and how many included the base emotion "surprise" or the supporting emotions within them. 
We finished by making faces for each emotion on the top-side of the sticky note.

The children struggled to think of how to draw some of the faces so I prompted them to make the face that they would when they would feel that way.  It helped them a lot to then realize what they could do to draw the face.

Feel free to link up in the comments.  What faces will you make?

Emotional Journaling: Fear

After reviewing the responses of the children, I noticed that one of them was uncertain of something that they could identify connecting their life experiences to that emotion.  Was this trying to seem brave?  Was this because of a lack of understanding of what fear means?  We can find out which this is by clarifying what fear is.

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We wrote the letters for fear down the side of our paper to make an acrostic poem.  We wrote out things that we do when we feel fear for each letter.  This took a lot of time and thought for each of us, I think the letter E was the most difficult one for me to think of something for.

We all shared our words for each letter as we wrote them out to help give others ideas of words that they can use and help them to reflect if that is something that occurs when they feel fear.  We would have short discussions on why we used some of the words.  I picked 'embarrassed" (which I spelled wrong in my own journal, OH NO!) because something I am afraid of is Howard the Duck.  Not everyone is afraid of Howard the Duck so I would feel...  That allows them to internally reflect on things that they're afraid of but might not be willing to share because of embarrassment and that it is okay to be afraid and still speak up about it.
This led into our next prompt, what we can do to be brave!  What can you do to help calm down when you feel fear?  What can others do to help you when you feel fear?

My daughter wrote screaming for help which led us into another conversation about speaking up when we encounter fear.  I used my fear of Howard the Duck again for this talking about if I went to a party and people were watching Howard the Duck, no one would know how that makes me feel but if I speak up and say "Hey, Howard the Duck really freaks me out.  Could we watch something else?" that it lets people know and others can be understanding of how I am feeling.  By speaking up, we can have our fears addressed and receive assistance from others in working through it.
What if we are frozen by fear?  How can we calm down enough to even begin to speak?

We discussed one of the Conscious Discipline calm down techniques of S.T.A.R. and practiced doing it three times.

Feel free to link up in the comments.  How do you handle fear?

Emotional Journaling: The Base Emotions

Some people have emotional intelligence.  They understand how they feel, how they react when they feel certain ways, and have the words to tell others how to best comfort them in those situations.  They understand how emotions can stir reactions in other and better support others in those moments.
Most children are building their emotional knowledge.  Some only get an understanding of the base emotions: happy, sad, angry, etc.  What are we doing to help children become successful in their understanding of emotions?  To learn more than just being happy or sad?  To help them understand how to calm down and channel their anger in a constructive way?

I have begun working on Guided Journals with the children of my home.  You can follow along by writing your own journal or making your own blog post discussing these points.

Page 1:

I printed copies of Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions for each of the kids to put on their first page.  We took color pencils and colored each emotion of the innermost wheel with colors that we connected to those emotions.  ONLY COLOR THOSE INNER EMOTIONS.  Save the rest for later.

My daughter shared that she selected the colors for each piece based on characters in Inside Out.  

On the back of the page, we listed down the side those emotions in any order of our choosing.  Then we wrote what makes us feel that way next to each emotions.
Beneath that section, we wrote a way that others could help us to feel happy again or things that we could do for ourselves to feel happy.

As you can see, there is no focus on accurate spelling.  The idea is to be comfortable with identifying your feelings, connecting experiences to those feelings, and demonstrating an understanding of those feelings.  The more we write, the more improvement in spelling and grammar will naturally occur. 

Feel free to link up in the comments.  How are you feeling?

Writing Prompt: You Know You're Old When

Since my birthday was yesterday.. Let's make this birthday focused!

You know that you're old when it's the day right after your birthday.  The whole birthday thing is fun but the day right after is kind of a bring down.

You know you're old when only your immediate family and coworkers gets you gifts.  Everyone else is good with a hug or a drink.  

You know you're old when you can't get away with it's your birth month or birth week to extend your celebrating.  Kids can get away with that but you're an adult now.

You know you're old when candles on cake don't happen anymore.  After so many digits, it's a fire hazard really.

You know you're old when you stop having birthday parties.  Lol, no.  Birthday parties are my favorite.  I'll have to be a lot older than this to stop that.

Writing Prompt: Childhood Movie

I'm not sure of how many times I watched this with my brother.  Probably higher than anything I could ever count when I was four or so.  I do know that we loved this movie and I still do.
We had the doll.  I bought the soundtrack on cassette when I was in high school.  I've watched it on Netflix with my daughter.

My brother and I were born in Germany.  We had two cats; A.J. and P.J.  A.J. was my cat; he would open doors and tackle me down in the hallway.  P.J. was my brother's cat who did not scare or frighten people. Not too long after my brother was one or so, we were moving to the United States.  My mom was military so this was the first of multiple moves in our lives.
We loved our cats.  And we loved watching An American Tail.
My mom shared with me when I was more grown a story about us watching An American Tail in Germany.  She said that when the movie would end that she would tell us that that's why A.J. and P.J. could not move with us.  Because there were no cats in America.  Of course, we would cry and get upset about having to leave our cats.
I don't remember this.  Why would we keep asking to watch this movie then if we would keep getting our hearts broken by reality in the end?  I don't know, but I think the story is kind of funny.

A.J. and P.J. came to America with us regardless of what Fievel had to say on the matter.

Writing Prompt: 10 Years Ago

Find a photo of yourself taken 10 years ago and display it on your blog along with a current photo. How have you changed since the day that photo was taken?

2004, I still didn't have any degree to my name other than my high school diploma.  I still lived at home with my parents.  The beginning half of the year was spent working at Pizza Hut and the end was Wendy's.  I spent most of my time working or on the computer.  Myspace was cool and I played GaiaOnline.  I still had a livejournal.  I was hoping to late-bloom and get a sudden boost of bigger boobs.  

2014, I have two degrees completed.  I live in a condo with my husband and daughter.  I work as a paraprofessional at a county public school.  I keep busy still with work but also do crafts and clubs now.  Do people even have Myspace anymore?  There are many available options for social networking that all depend on what kind of flavor you're looking for.  I had a daughter and grew bigger boobs. 

Was it really 10 years?  It feels so far away but I've done a lot.

Writing Prompt: Pajamas

It's pajama day!  Well, not at my school.  My students will be doing pajama day tomorrow.

For other schools like my daughter's it is though!  

I wanted her to wear her gollashes instead of shoes with them.

"Teacher said wear tennis shoes!"

Seriously?  But pajamas look so cute with gollashes.

Well, we're in tennis shoes.

Happy pajama day to all participating!

Writing Prompt: Christmas Must Haves

There are just a few things that I really must have for Christmas this year.

The Utena blu-ray collection is my number one (one sale here).  Seriously, I can't begin to express enough of how much having this in my life would mean.

The "I still believe" necklace (sold here).  My mockingjay necklace is looking pretty rough.  I need another lovely neck piece.

The Fault in Our Stars (amazon).  I keep hearing that this book is some kind of amazing.  Or just a gift card to the bookstore would work just as well.  

Yeah, I have some other things that I might want or desire.. But these three items right here would be seriously wonderful if I could have.  Not that I won't be grateful for whatever I might get, but I really do want these three things most of all.

Writing Prompt: Dragons & Unicorns

"Someone told me that dragons never really existed. I know unicorns are just fantasy. It is fun to think about these things now and then. What do you suppose life would be like with these creatures roaming around?" -The One Minute Writer

Whoa whoa whoa whoa, let's start with the first sentence there.  I do not agree with that at all.  I do believe that dragons existed.  I believe dragons and dinosaurs to be the same creature.  When you read old texts, fables, and stories (yes in fables some bits are false but it's also based on bits of truth as well) but we hear the word dragon.  The word dinosaur was coined in 1841, so of course dinosaurs wouldn't be mentioned in any ancient legends because the word didn't exist then.  But they had the word dragon.  

How amazing it is to me the theory of dragons being dinosaurs, dinosaurs being dragons.  

Now unicorns, I always believed the theory of someone looking incorrectly at an antelope for the longest of times.  But then wouldn't their visual error be corrected once the beast began to move?  The theory makes sense as a child but as an adult reviewing it, I can see room for error.  

What do I think life would be like of they were roaming around today?  To me, in their realistic forms of dinosaur and grassland creature wouldn't be too far different in our lives.  In their fantasy forms of pillaging villages and blessing virgin girls, holy wow that'd make for a HUGE difference in our reality.  

Writing Prompt: 8 Must Read Books

"List 8 books you've read that you think everyone should read in their lifetime."

Alright, I'll do you one more and enlist my book club members into making lists too!

Me:
1. The Hotel New Hampshire

2. An American Tragedy

3. David Copperfield

4. The Incarnations of Immortality series

5. The Hunger Games trilogy

6. Anything by Roald Dahl

7. Wicked

8. Then Again, Maybe I Won't 

Connie:
 1) Jesus and Buddha as Brothers
2)The Harry Potter series
3)The English Patient
4)The Perks of Being a Wallflower
5)Treasure Island
6)The Hobbit
7)Little Women
8)The Help
To that list I had a hard time deciding on The Outsiders, Where the Red Fern Grows, there were a few others as well.  The Secret Garden, The Alchemist, Rebecca, The Count of Monte Cristo, Atonement, I had a hard time narrowing down the list to 8.

Molly:
Harry Potter series, His Dark Materials, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Red Tent, Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Thousand Splendid Suns, A Prayer for Owen Meany, and..... Um.... Gonna have to go with Where the Wild Things Are.  I forgot almost every Roald Dahl book!  And I thought of another, the Fault in Our Stars.

Liz:
The Secret Garden 
Grimm’s Fairytales 
To Kill a Mockingbird 
DragonLance Chronicles (ok to be fair this is three books combined into one volume but they were amazing) 
The Last Unicorn
Pet Cemetery
Night
And Then There Were None
The Westing Game

Writing Prompt: What's in a Name?

Megan.  Does the definition of my name suit me?

According to wikipedia, MEGAN ("MEtaGenome ANalyzer") is a computer program that allows optimized analysis of large metagenomic datasets.
Nope, that doesn't work.

At urbandictionary, Megan is A girl that is very stubborn but at the same time can be the greatest friend on the planet. She loves pizza and is absolutley gorgeous. She is loved by everybody and is fucking hilarious!
Pizza's alright and I wouldn't say gorgeous and loved by everybody.  I do think myself to be a great friend and pretty funny here and there.

At She Knows Baby Names:
Greek Meaning:
The name Megan is a Greek baby name. In Greek the meaning of the name Megan is: Pearl.
Meh, moving on.
American Meaning:
The name Megan is an American baby name. In American the meaning of the name Megan is: Pearl.
...
Persian Meaning:
The name Megan is a Persian baby name. In Persian the meaning of the name Megan is: Child of light. Famous Bearer: Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
That is hilarious to me just because I ADORE the name Celaeno which is "the dark" or "daughter of darkness."
Anglo-Saxon Meaning:
The name Megan is an Anglo-Saxon baby name. In Anglo-Saxon the meaning of the name Megan is: Strong and capable.
Oh man do I try to be.
SoulUrge Number: 6
People with this name have a deep inner desire for a stable, loving family or community, and a need to work with others and to be appreciated.
Okay, stable and loving family cool.  Work with others cool.  Be appreciated?  If appreciation happens, cool but I don't do what I do for appreciation.  I do it because I love to and I enjoy it.
Expression Number: 22
People with this name tend to be a powerful force to all whose lives they touch. They are capable, charismatic leaders who often undertake large endeavors with great success. They value truth, justice, and discipline, and may be quick-tempered with those who do not. If they fail to develop their potential, they may become impractical and rigid.
Um, well.  That sounds about right there.  

According to the Kabalarian Philosophy:
Your first name of Megan gives you a responsible, systematic, and practical nature, able to excel in technical fields or as a teacher and you would also enjoy the practical arts.
 Wow, okay.  That's spot on.
Being methodical, you work best where you have the time to do a good job, although you can be too fussy at times finding it difficult to react spontaneously to new ideas from others.
 Not really.  I can roll with the last minute details.
You rebel at being rushed or put under pressure.
 HAH, no.  
That is when you can become somewhat inflexible.
 Nope nope.
You appreciate home and settled conditions and take on a lot of responsibility to ensure that your home life functions efficiently.
 I guess?
This name restricts the innate expression of an artistic, musical nature.
 Wait what?  No.  
A fondness for heavy, rich foods could, through overeating, cause you to suffer through intestinal and digestive troubles.
Are you talking about my love for butter and bacon?  I don't overeat...  ;-;

Writing Prompt: Your Town

The One-Minute Writer

As many of you know, I was not originally from here.  Both of my parents were military giving me the access to living and visiting various towns and cities.  We'd live in places for a year to three years depending.  My mother's father was military so she had moved around during her childhood as well.  Her father retired in Warner Robins and she entered the military moving away from it.  She opted for the duty station of Warner Robins to return back to her mother.
Once we reached Warner Robins, my brother was just finished elementary school and I was at the end of middle school preparing to enter high school.  Our mother approached us one night and asked our opinion of a matter.  She had two options; to retire and stay in Warner Robins or to keep going and we move again.
My brother and I had moved so much during our upbringing that the idea of staying in one place enticed us. So my mother retired and we have stayed in Warner Robins since then.

But now I'm grown, what keeps me here?  My husband.
My husband is VERY attached to his family.  Any time that I bring up the idea of moving elsewhere, that's his number one reason to stay.  He doesn't want to be far from his family.
I don't talk about moving out of state or anything either so it isn't as though we'd be that terribly far from his family if we did.
I guess Warner Robins it is then.

Writing Prompt: Ring

"Write a blog post inspired by the word: ring."

I don't often wear my wedding ring unless it's Open House or PTO night, events like that.  My fingers get bloaty-fat during certain times of the month which doesn't feel great for the finger wearing my ring.  It gets irritated, dry, and yucky during that time.
Rather than take my wedding ring off during those times, I just wear it for special occasions instead.
My husband doesn't mind too much.  He lost his while working on my car engine a couple of years ago.
We talk about replacing them or something but it seems like if we're going to do that, why not renew our vows along with it?
There's no rush for us really.  We still love each other.  We're still married.  Good enough for us.

Plus I can devote an entire pinterest board to awesome wedding rings and no one is allowed to say anything because BOO! I need one anyway.

Writing Prompt: Deja Vu

The One Minute Writer

The panic and nerves had risen through my arms as we had waited together.  Or perhaps that was the chill in the air.  I remember turning on my phone to consider taking a picture of this moment which caused me to look at the clock.  I shouldn't have allowed myself to look at the time because all it did was make me start to worry again.  I shouldn't have worried then, but I still do it to this day.  I was so busy worrying while she smiled excitedly next to me.
Then it approached, she had hugged me so tightly yet so briefly as she jumped toward it.
"I love you!" I had yelled.  "Have a good day at school!"
The door closed and she was gone.  Off to school.

I always had carried too much panic of missing the bus back then.

Writing Prompt: Pregnancy

"Describe your first pregnancy...piece of cake or terrible experience?"

Well, um, it wasn't terrible but it wasn't ideal either.  I worked in a very stressful environment during that time trying to pull my weight and the weight of other people to try and keep my head above water.
I spent an entire night in the hospital because my back was in severe pain though once I had swimmer's ear after that time I would actually say swimmer's ear hurt worse but the back pain still was REALLY bad.
One of my tests came back low so we had to see a specialist for a second opinion.  That specialist told us the test results which meant that I might die during childbirth.
I did not carry to term and started bleeding around noon the day that my daughter was born.  I called my ob/gyn but they were out to lunch so I worked out the rest of the day and picked up my sister-in-law before going to my appointment.
I never even got thrown a baby shower except a Welcome to the World party that I put together myself for my daughter.

Soo.....  It might not be the most chipper pregnancy story but I'm sure it's not the worst out there either.  And now I have a wonderful daughter.  Plus I do have some funny pregnancy stories that I share with my close friends.

Friday Flash Fiction

The One Minute Writer posts writing prompts each day, Friday's prompt being a flash fiction prompt contest.  Squee, squeal, excitement that my first entry in also won this week!
My winning piece
I barely wrote under 140 words, my piece stood out which makes me feel pretty awesome.  Thanks to all my friends for helping me to develop an official sounding author biography to submit in as well (especially Molly).
For more fictional writing nonsense: check out my other blog.
SQUEE!

Musk Versus AXE

Found a cute little blog with writing prompts.  I like it, it's better than most places that are like "write a short story" or "a picture's worth a thousand words, write a thousand words for this picture."

I like writing prompts that make you think, make you focus, and motivate you.

One of my favorites from recent months was "make someone fall in love with your favorite smell."

Now between musk and AXE?  Um...  I dunno.  The scent of musk has always confused me.  But I know I don't like AXE.  AXE smells like teenage tools.  Is Old Spice a musky scent?  I like the smell of Old Spice on a man.  Have I smelled musk before?  Isn't that what guys smell like when they're sweaty and haven't showered?  I don't think that I understand musk enough to appropriately answer this question....