Many years ago I went to go see The Kite Runner, by myself.
I had listened to the audiobook, which was nearly more than I could take, so I am not really sure why I went to see the movie, but I did. By myself, in the middle of the afternoon. And I'm glad I saw it alone, because it was heartbreaking and I don't think I could have handled company.
But there was what I call a Milan Kundera moment in both the book and the movie that was magnificent. And that was the author's idea that there is only one sin. Not ten. Not seven. Just one.
And I truly believe this.
Here's how it's said in the book:
"...there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft. When you kill a man, you steal a life... you steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness... there is no act more wretched than stealing."
~Khaled Hosseini
I love that. I believe that with all my heart. We shouldn't become numb to the even a hint of this particular transgression, because at the end of the day - it's the only one.
At my fall retreat, my friend Holly had really enjoyed a product that we were using in class - the Dina Wakely Scribble sticks. Holly is the most generous, kind person you'd ever want to meet, and has done so much for me, and so many things to help me with my retreats, that I wanted to gift her the Scribble Sticks. I walked over - and mind you - there is complete and utter chaos at all of our workstations at retreat - and I put a tin of them on top of one of her piles. I never said anything to her and promptly forgot all about it.
The following week, she emails me in a panic - apologizing and telling me she must have packed up a box of the sticks by accident and could she mail them back to me? I told her they were a gift, and you'd have thought I'd given her the Hope diamond.
I love people like Holly.
There's no such thing as a victimless theft. If you can be anything - don't be Batman, be Holly. :)
Speaking of retreats, at my mini-retreat in Salt Lake, we did lots of fun projects. One of them required creating eight masks for the little bear in Pieces & Patterns. We masked off some stamped bears with my favorite masking paper and then did some inking techniques. When I was prepping for retreat, I noticed how cute and colorful the masks were all lined up on my desk. So since the theme for this particular class was how to stretch your stamps, I thought I'd incorporate the masks into a second card. I don't think I've ever made a mask part of a card design before, but I hope you agree, these funky little bears deserved to be on one. I discovered that exactly eight of them fit around the round sentiment in the set too. To align them, I put them at 12 and 6, then 3 and 9 and then the last four were easy. Hello there, bears!
|
A few things on my desk and in my head this week I thought I'd tell you about. First - I'm listening to the audiobook version of The Martian, and it's excellent.
Second - appetizer recipes, as I prep for my Customer Appreciation holiday party. This year I need to triple my cheeseball output because these vanished inside of ten minutes. The other two recipes in this post are outstanding as well. If you have a favorite holiday appetizer recipe - leave it in the comments!
Third - this Pinterest board, for when my brain needs a break.
Fourth, this stamp set, which is my next online class - it will be up by Monday.
Fifth - this locally produced brown butter ghee - OH EM GHEE.
I hope you have an awesome weekend.
LoveyameanitbeHollybye.
Pickle Dip for me ... https://anaffairfromtheheart.com/2015/12/dill-pickle-dip/
ReplyDeleteI loved this book! And this quote is so true!!!
ReplyDeleteAdorable card!
Lydia, I wanted to say thank you for the beautiful gift I received yesterday! The HOPE stamp and die set is so cute!!! Thank you so much for your kindness!!! A big hug and Happy Thanksgiving from Italy!
Love the cute bears and the inspirational quote too, Jo x
ReplyDeleteI always use the waste part of foam glue dots, the leftover paint on a stencil, even the leftover watercolor pencil shavings (shaved into tiny cups sorted by basic color), the insides of puffy envelopes, metallic advertising envelopes, and colorful used stamps on the envelopes. I add a bit of water to the tiny cups of pencil shavings and have a play with all the color before tossing out the drenched shavings, use card sized pieces of puffy envelopes to mail my dimensional cards, add stamps to art journal pages, cut word dies from metallic envelope scraps,cut up the outside edges of glued foam to use even if it isn't the same shape as the others, but have never thought to use the pretty masked pieces I throw away. I have no clue why but I won't do it again. THANK YOU for sharing your cute card!!
ReplyDeleteI love the Pick a Pattern Bear. I didn't get the stamp set but made the cutest card fussy cutting a lot of the figures from the DSP. Here's my current favorite appetizer... It can be made a day ahead and assembled onto the crackers 30 minutes before company arrives. The rice crackers make it gluten-free. http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/beef-teriyaki-crisps-with-wasabi-mayonnaise
ReplyDeleteThis "bear flower" couldn't be more wonderful, Lydia! I love everything about it. <3
ReplyDeleteLove your card! Interesting take on sin - I totally agree. I am currently listening to 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Its been many years since I've read a Stephen King but my DH enjoyed this book so I downloaded the audiobook. I am loving it! The narration is fantastic. I know you prefer nonfiction but this one is really good. Well, at least the first three chapters but I'm hooked.
ReplyDelete