Category: Ink Ripples (Page 9 of 10)

November Ripples in the Inkwell: Where Did My Memory Go?

November 9, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

November’s Ink Ripples topic is remembrance/thankfulness, and I’m taking up the latter for my post this month. I have a really good memory, at least I did until I had kids. I had heard that being a mom messes with your ability to remember stuff, but man, I didn’t expect it to mess with me so badly.

I am now the type of person who needs to keep lists in order to remember anything, like anything at all. And all those precious moments of the kiddos that at the time I thought I could never, ever forget…yeah, if I don’t have a picture of it or if I didn’t write it down, it’s gone…forever!

I’m not sure what it is about motherhood that has fried my brain. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep. Maybe it’s because I primarily hang out with little ones who have the attention span of, well, a 1-year-old and a 4-year-old and it’s rubbing off on me. Maybe it’s that I’m now keeping track of two other people and have to remember all their stuff for them.

Did so-and-so go to the bathroom lately? Did we brush teeth this morning? Who needs to get dressed today (probably me!)? Is it bath night? Who has a doctor appointment this month? And now that The Boy is in school, there are a whole slew of other things to keep track of. Pretty much the only thing we never forget is eating. No one forgets to eat around here!

I’m told that eventually my brain will regain its former glory of being able to remember something for more than five seconds. I’m skeptical but hopeful…

Wait, what was I talking about again?

Inkwell meme green Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments! Look for details on next year’s ink ripples topics in December!

October Ripples in the Inkwell: Anxiety Dreams #inkripples

October 12, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

For our October Ripples in the Inkwell (#inkripples) Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and I are discussing fear/things that go bump in the night. My mind immediately went to nightmares.

It is well-known among my friends and families that I have very vivid, often wacky dreams. I’ve even been lucky enough to have the occasional lucid dream (in which you are aware you are dreaming, and may actually be able to take control of the dream…pretty cool actually, and I always end up flying when I can!). That also means I’m subject to realistic, terrifying nightmares.

I’m more prone to having nightmares when I’m feeling anxiety and stress. A couple of common stress dreams I experience with some regularity are the one where I show up for the final test of a class I haven’t been to all year and the one where my teeth fall out or crack.

More likely than those two dreams, though, is a recurring anxiety dream that has changed throughout the years. When I was very young, I can remember having lots of dreams about wolves chasing me, and I would wake up sweating, my heart racing. At some point during my adolescent the go-to stress dream turned into dinosaurs stalking me (one reason why, to this day, I have a hard time watching any of the Jurassic Park movies).

After The Boy was born, my anxiety dreams were often about the end of the world. Usually they would start with me seeing something strange in the sky and then aliens would strike or there would be some kind of widespread terrorist attack, and I’d be trying to protect my family.

And lately, my nightmares have taken the form of zombies (you won’t catch me watching The Walking Dead ever!). What’s interesting about these dreams is that the zombies don’t get a lot of “screen time.” It’s more the constant threat of a zombie attack that causes the panic.

Aren’t you so glad to have a glimpse into my dreams? What kinds of nightmares have you all had?

Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). October is all about fears and things that go bump in the night. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!

September Ink Ripples: School Butterflies & Fall Leaves

September 14, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Second Monday of the months means a new #inkripples post!

IMAG1080 I love the long, lazy days of summer. Wearing as little clothing as possible; going barefoot in the crunchy, dried out grass; running through every sprinkler you pass by. The summer just feels easy to me. The only thing that makes the end of summer okay is that it leads into my second favorite season: fall!

Apple picking (though sometimes this is an end-of-summer thing), limitless blue skies, jumping into piles of leaves, and that certain earthy smell that fall brings. 20150828_121636 Ahhh, fall is nice.

Then there’s that other thing that the end of summer brings: school! It’s been many years since I’ve been in school, but now that The Boy is in his second year of preschool (and the first year that he is starting in September…he was too young to start in September last year), I’m remembering about those beginning of school butterflies and that tiny bit of dread that the freedom of summer is over.

So lots of mixed feelings over here during this time of year. How are you all faring during the change of season from summer to fall?

Inkwell meme green Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll(me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). September is all about school and fall. Be sure to provide a link to your own #inkripple in the comments!

Totally Random Ripples in the Inkwell Post: Dog Days to Buttercup

August 10, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

Have you joined the #inkripples movement yet? Ripples in the Inkwell is a monthly meme created by Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and Katie L. Carroll (me!). On the second Monday of each month, we post on a particular topic. The idea is that we toss a word, idea, or image into the inkwell and each post is a new ripple. There’s no wrong way to do it and we’d love for you to participate (full details here). August’s topic is dog days and/or things that drag you down.

I’m going with the dog days part and I’m gonna see how many different ripples I can include in this post because this is honestly how my brain works. I think of one thing, then it leads to another, then it leads to another, until I come out the other end with something totally unrelated, like a game of telephone (do kids still play that or is that a very out-of-date reference?). So here goes:

Whenever I hear the term dog days, I immediately think of the song by Florence + The Machine called “Dog Days Are Over.”

But of course, dog days actually refer to the hot summer months (which are July and August in my part of the world). They are called the dog days because at one time they coincided with the rise of the star Sirius, the brightest star in the sky (it’s really a binary star, but it appears as one star, not two, to the naked eye). Sirius is part of the Canis Major constellation and is known at the dog star.

But when I think of Sirius, I think of Harry Potter’s godfather, Sirius Black (who doesn’t). I watched all the Harry Potter movies several times before I realized Gary Oldman is the actor who played Sirius in the movies.

In fact, it was only after watching The Dark Knight for like the hundredth time that I realized Sirius (Gary Oldman) is also Commissioner Gordon. The Dark Knight is one of those movies (along with The Shawshank Redemption and Clueless, among others) that I always watch when it’s on TV.

The Dark Knight is one of my husband’s favorite movies (and probably one of the last ones we saw in the movie theaters together because since having kids we hardly ever go to the movies, that and movies are crazy expensive these days). It’s a fitting favorite for him because he is affectionately called Batman by some of my family members.

This started back when my oldest nephew (who is now 16 years old) was a baby and couldn’t say my husband’s name very well. One day he said it and it sounded just like “Batman” and the nickname stuck.

Unfortunately I don’t have any cool superhero nicknames, but I was once dubbed “Buttercup” by some of my soccer teammates. They got this crazy idea to wear these hideous tuxedo shirts with ruffles as jerseys (it was a co-ed team and it was the guys who thought this would be fun). So they printed up numbers on these shirts and put silly names on the back. I was the only person who fit into the yellow “Buttercup” one, and then the team would sing The Foundations song “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

Totally random post, right? And so far removed from dog days at the end there. Did you notice, though, that I managed to bring it back full circle to a song? So some semblance of order amid the chaos.

Hopefully you’re not drowning in all ripples. And I’d love to see you add your own ripple this month. Make sure to link to it in the comments so I can check it out, and don’t forget about Mary’s and Kai’s posts.

July Ripples in the Inkwell: Patriotism

July 13, 2015 / Katie L. Carroll

It’s the second Monday of the month and that means a new Ripples in the Inkwell post! Even though here in the U.S. we’ve already celebrated Independence Day with fireworks and barbecues, it’s never a bad time to talk about patriotism. And that’s what Kai Strand, Mary Waibel, and I talking about for our July theme. We’d love to read your posts on the theme; find out how to play along with the monthly meme HERE. And be sure to stop by Kai’s and Mary’s blogs to check out their posts.

I can’t say I’m a particularly patriotic person in the sense I think it has come to mean for some people. That is I don’t fly an American flag out in front of my house or on my car and I don’t dress myself and my kids in red, white, & blue or make themed desserts for flag day or the fourth of July. (Not that there’s anything wrong with doing these things!)

I do vote in every single election; I write letters to my elected officials (local and national) on matters that I feel strongly about; I pay attention to what is going on in my country and stay informed (from reliable sources); and I do love my country (even when I’m terribly frustrated by it). I believe in the principles my country was founded on, even if they were created by flawed people and even though they aren’t always executed in a manner in which I agree.

For me patriotism is about fighting for what you think is best for your country, even if that’s maybe not the popular sentiment. And no, I don’t fight like soldiers do for their country, but I try and stand for what I believe in and voice that opinion in my own small way.

What does patriotism mean to you? And do you consider yourself a patriot?