LOL 8-12 Leveling Off Lopsided cakes

I'm a perfectionist, so for years when I baked layer cakes, I meticulously carved away at the bottom layer until I knew it would provide a level foundation for the rest of the cake. But now I just plop that bottom layer down on the cake stand, mound the middle layer with frosting, and adjust the top layer to sit as level as it can. It's not that I don't care about the cake's appearance- I do. No, it's that I've learned it's more about how good the cake tastes than it looking perfectly level. Life's like that you know- it's not about how good your life looks to everyone else. It's about how good it tastes to you. Here's hoping that your life tastes as good as a piece of homemade chocolate cake. LOL!

LOL 7-25 Lessons Of (a turtle's) Life

I laughed at this little box turtle I spotted on the road on my morning walk. When I passed by him, he immediately ducked inside the safety of his shell. Thirty minutes later, on my return trip, the turtle was still tucked inside his shell and hadn't moved off the road. Had I not pushed him over to the road's edge, a logging truck or other vehicle might have driven over him. We humans tend to act just like this turtle-fear of pain and natural instinct force us to retreat into our personal shells for protection. And that's fine... For a very short while. For if we stay there too long, we endanger- rather than protect- ourselves. We can all learn a valuable lesson from turtle- If you hide out in a shell long enough, you might just lose your life. LOL!

LOL 6-26 Lumps Of Life

Every now and then- usually in the most visible part of the jewelry piece I'm crafting- a strand of the natural hemp I'm weaving with won't lay smooth. It's annoying! For whatever the reason, the strand's fibers revolted during the manufacturing process and it remained lumpy. No matter how I try to play with it, cajole it to fit into the pattern I'm weaving, or ease it into laying flat like the other strands in the jewelry piece, the lump refuses to conform. It would rather stay lumpy. At that point, I have a choice. I can tear the piece of jewelry apart and throw my time and materials away, or I can accept the small imperfection in the hemp as a natural part of the piece. I always choose the latter. Why? Because these little lumps are a great reminder that life- just like these hemp strands- doesn't always weave smoothly for me. No matter how hard I plot and plan, life still tends to lump up along the way as events and relationships weave in and out of itI know that when those "life lumps" raise their ornery heads and refuse to conform to the smooth patterns I desire, I have the same choice as I do with my crafting- I can chunk away the materials and time I have already invested or accept the imperfections. It's taken me awhile, but I've learned that in life- just like in my jewelry- those little lumps add a beauty and charm all their own. The imperfections show that my life- and my jewelry- are both handmade by me. LOL...

LOL 6-18 Live. Oops! Love.

I noticed a strange coincidence today. The "i" on my keypad is right next to the "o". "Okay, Sofi,"you're probably thinking. "Like... Duh!" Bear with me a moment longer while I explain. Do you know what one word I most have to correct, because autocorrect doesn't? Live. That's right... Live. I mean to type "love", but repeatedly end up missing the "o" and catching the "i" instead. I'm not the only one who does this- I've seen this error countless times in others' postings and emails, do fess up, guilty ones. Call me a little bit too imaginative, but I think that God intended these keypads to be designed this way (after all, we humans may claim the patents for our inventions, but He plants the seeds in our minds)... That way, each time we had to change our "live" into "love", we'd think about how those two words go hand in hand. You can't live without love... You can't love without wanting to live. In future posts, if you see my lives and loves interchanged, you'll get just what I mean. Thanks, iPhone, for the inspiration. LOL...