The Color of Hunger

The color of hunger is hard to break down into one particular color. I work with hunger, and have seen hunger in the eyes of infants, children, adults, and the elderly. Hunger can be painful, and hunger is hope. I've seen pain in the eyes of parents who are praying that they can put a meal on their table for the kids at night. I've watched desperation in a man pulling food out of trashcan and the relief on his face when he found a half eaten apple which was discarded and is now his lunch. I've watched joy build up when delivering food to people, because they know for the next few days they can eat and regain strength for their families and for their self. Here is the reason why I chose brown as the color of hunger!




Brown is the color of the earth. The dust from which we were made from, and the color that blankets us when our time on earth is done. Hunger is brown, because it represents the "real" nature of people. If someone is hungry, truly hungry, this feeling overpowers them, and they have trouble concentrating on anything else and find it hard to get around during the day. Having fasted myself, I can tell you from first hand experience that going 40 hours without food is no easy task. I cannot imagine feeling like that, and knowing that at the end of the 40 hours I was still not sure where I was going to find food. I cannot imagine what it would be like to live like this the majority of the time. I have fed the homeless and watched as a quiet, worn down group of people enter the establishment and leave energized and on top of the world. Just a simple meal of beans and rice is a banquet feast to people who have nothing! A cup of water is like gold, and something as nourishing as gatorade is heaven. When you think of all the different foods we eat and where they come from, the color of the earth is in everything. You eat a potato, you clean it first to wash off all the brown dirt. You eat a hamburger, and can know without a shadow of a doubt that animal lived on the land and ate from the land. Everything we eat comes from the earth, comes from the color brown. Things such as bananas, rice, chocolate and so on, did not just appear, they were planted in the ground and grew to be a delicious dish! The color brown is a solid color and is very powerful. Hunger is a very powerful feeling that wears down people in our communities! It's a sad thing to watch and even more than that, to experience. We take advantage of our food and snacks, and probably the thought does not even enter our minds in the week, month, or year that people everywhere are dying for just one cracker or meal. Even if you are just remembering these people in your thoughts and/or prayers, or you have some extra time on your hands after cleaning out your pantry to donate extra cans to the homeless shelter, remember that the earth has provided so much for us, and we walk the same streets as our neighbors who should have the same luxury as we do.

"If you can't feed a hundred people, than just feed one."
~Mother Teresa~

Boomer sooner!!!!! Happy game day!

10 Scents and Smells

My 10 Favorite Scents or Smells

I'm not really sure about thinking of 10 smells or scents, but I'll give it a shot!! The ability to remember scents is amazing, and I'm always surprised when I smell something, and it brings back a flood of memories from a time in my life!! Scent is powerful my friends (so take showers, so I can remember that you smelled good! lol) I also looked up for the record what the difference was between a "scent" and a "smell" and found that a "scent" is a distinctive smell, and a "smell" or should I say to smell, is inhaling the odor or "scent" of something. With that being said...here are the scents I like to inhale! :)



1) There was a drawer in my house growing up that you would open in the kitchen and it would smell like "Christmas". My mom has these tiny houses that you could put little cone incense burners under and they would cause the houses to "smoke" through the chimney! It kind of smelled like a dull cinnamon, but always smelled sooooo good! I loved to open that drawer for no reason whatsoever, except to just inhale a little bit of Christmas from the kitchen!!


2) Lavender: The smell of lavender, is like no other! It soothes the soul! A trick I learned a long time ago is to drop a couple drops of lavender oil onto your pillow at night and it helps you relax and fall asleep!! Also, being a girl and loving to be pampered now and again...this smell can overwhelm you when you walk into a spa!! You immediately are transformed into some calm trance, in which they (the powerful holders of the scent at the spa) get you nice and relaxed and then when you have no more cares left in the world somehow manage to double your selection for the day, by adding more "features" onto your package, yet oddly enough you're happy at that moment to spend the extra money because....You've been overwhelmed with relaxation!! It only takes moments once you have entered your car and are driving home and get that first nice whiff of exhaust coming off of the truck in front of you to bring you out of this trance and you pull over and give you wallet CPR after realizing that you just spent your life savings at the spa, yet you have pretty toes and an exfoliated face! Beware of this scent in these types of situations....Inhale this scent as much as you want, when falling asleep at night!


3) Crayons: This may be a strange one to some. However, I love the smell of crayons, and melted crayons (there is a difference)! Smelling a crayon brings me back to my childhood days in kindergarten, when you could sit and color for hours! There is something very innocent about this smell, and it always makes me smile when I inhale this powerful scent! (After this is over, I'm headed to Wal-mart to get a coloring book and new box of crayons...just because)!


4) Hot Glue Guns: This smell always reminds me of doing crafts with my sister and mom! I can remember our old kitchen, and hot gluing shrinky dinks onto sweatshirts, putting together school crafts and assignments and just doing crafts we had found at Hobby Lobby or Wal-Mart. Victory was the day when I finally got to use the glue gun by myself, and sadness was what I felt the first time I burned my finger while gluing something together and not waiting until the glue had cooled down a little bit before putting my finger down to glue something together! All in all this scent always brings back happy memories!!


5) Fresh cut grass: Although it is inevitable, that once I have taken a good whiff of a freshly mowed lawn it will immediately be followed by a series of sneezes, that first time you smell this you know Spring and Summer is on the way!! I love after it's been cold and wintery outside and the sun is starting to shine more, and your driving down the street in your neighborhood and you hear that motor running, you roll down your window and inhale, and low and behold, someone is out mowing their lawn and getting it ready for the Spring showers to make it nice and green!! It makes me think of eating hot dogs and nachos at baseball games...and driving with the windows down and feeling the breeze in your hair. It makes me think of playing tennis outside and laying out at the pool! It's that first scent that makes you think of all the grilling and wonderful summer activities that are sure to follow!!


6) Fall: I don't really know how to "label" this scent!! It is the first time you walk outside and the air is crisp in the morning, and there is dew on the grass and you (or at least I) immediately think, football is right around the corner!! It's the smell of a change in your wardrobe, and grabbing jackets or sweaters to leave the house in the morning! It's that smell that makes you think of sitting in the bleachers with your friends covered up in a blanket and cheering on your favorite football team! It's the smell of leave piles, that even though you're almost 30 you still have to run and jump into just because! It's the scent that reminds you that kids will be out trick-or-treating and dressed up as their favorite bumblebee or movie character! It's the scent that reminds you that pumpkin patches will be opening up and soon you too can become a master pumpkin carver for $5, with the carving kit from Wal-Mart! This scent brings on so many fun times, and I'm so happy I've already smelled it this season!!


7) Popcorn: This smell is pretty simple! My dad LOVES popcorn! We're talking if the man had to eat one thing for the rest of his life, I'm pretty sure he would pick popcorn! This scent reminds me of my dad sitting in his recliner watching golf, or football on TV at home. It's oddly enough a very relaxing scent to me, I think because it reminds me so much of being at home and stealing bites from his tray when he gets up to get a mountain dew. When I smell popcorn, I can almost hear the golf announcers in the background talking about "Great shot Bob, look at the way that ball just took to the grass, and held on to roll to the green, and what not and this and that..." Smelling freshly popped popcorn makes me think of being at home, plain and simple!!


8) Tennis Balls: I don't really know what to say about this smell! I love the sound of opening that can of tennis balls, and the knock you down powerful scent of green fuzz!! I love to play tennis and always have...I can trace this scent waaaaay back to my early days!!


9) Spices and Food: Because I am a food addict, it was hard to narrow this category down. I think one of my favorite things about cooking and the smell of food is all the different spices you can add to it. Take Italian food, the smell of oregano, parsley, pepper, etc etc makes my mouth water!! Or, Mexican food, and the smell of cilantro, chile powder, taco seasoning, cheese melting...getting hungry!!! Some things that make my mouth water upon first smell...pickles, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, tomatoes,hot sauce, cheese (pretty much any type), a grill firing up! (Scratch the coloring book and crayons...I'm going to go have to find something to eat pronto!!)


10) Books: Okay, so I did it! I found 10 scents/smells that are some of my favorites. I actually found that I have more than 10...but what could be better than smelling a new book?? I know this one is really crazy...however, reading was such an important part of growing up in my house, and it was like Christmas when I got a new book!! I can remember the Babysitter's Club, and Boxcar Children, The Velveteen Rabbit, and Mandy! I can remember the first smell of a used dusty textbook that had been sitting on a shelf for a year...or opening that new book in college and hearing the cracking of the pages while you could smell the new pages being broken in as you flipped through to see how much reading you were really going to have to do!! (More pictures really does mean less reading!! How I loved those picture pages!) I can remember taking books outside to a huge tree in our backyard and climbing up to a huge branch that I could lay down on and reading for hours, the smell of the paper and outside air was so relaxing!

So that's it...I am now going to find something good to eat...and grab a book and sit down and relax!

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains..."
~Ackerman~

About me....

A friend of mine asked me to start doing this, because I have been so against blogging ...so here it goes!
I guess I should start out with myself...

So, here we go...
I was born in a little town on top of a little hill, with a little name of Denver! I was brought to Oklahoma a couple of months later with my mom and dad and have happily been living my life here for 28 (almost 29 eek!!) years!

I have one sister who is married, which gave me a brother-in-law. From that fine duo came my two nieces and my nephew! I love my family and they have all taught me so much during my life...I am constantly amazed at how I see myself shaping and forming constantly into little pieces of all of them. I always hear things like; that sounds like something your mom would say, or you and your dad have the same sense of humor! My favorite of all time is when people tell me I look just like one of them!! Seeing that I'm adopted, it just goes to show that when you around people your whole life you tend to start acting like them and looking them!! Craziness!!

I just graduated college with my Bachelors in Elementary Education, after many failed attempts at other majors which include but are not limited to; marketing, management, general business, computer science, and interior design! Yes, I changed majors with the seasons!! I have found myself in the midst of this market which limits my talents and laughs at my degree, so I have found work elsewhere until the time where teachers of all shapes, sizes, and years of experience are offered the same chance!

I work for a non-profit, which helps inner city youth and adults! I love what I do because I still get to work closely with children!! Working with children is a passion of mine, and I tend to be driven by my passions (which of course the majority of people are)! I think children can teach us so much about life, love and help us look at the world and issues around us in a different perspective. Example?? I was walking my dogs the other day, and a little girl stopped to pet my little Layla Bean! Layla has issues with rowdy children and she gets a little wild and barks and jumps up and down. The girls mom told her to be careful, as I was trying to contain my wild child! Layla finally settled down, and let the little girl pet her. After a minute the little girl just smiled and said...I think she needs her mommy to teach her manners! Something I would have never thought, but such a smart remark for a little girl to know the important role her parents play in her life!!

Layla Bean Farley Pants

That's pretty much it about me! I have been given some "creative prompts" which I will be following up with sometime soon...This is part of this whole new world of "blogs" for me! As a teacher I thought it was funny when asked to follow some of these, because my friend is also a teacher and we often give our kids assignments such as this and expect miracles on paper! So I'm finding out just how "easy" we make this sort of thing out to be!!

I have often been told my eyes tell stories. I may not wear my heart on my sleeve, and sometimes I am harder to break into than a plastic covered toy or gift on Christmas morning...but my eyes tell my story!!

"In her eyes a thought grew sweeter and sweeter, deepening like the dawn, a mystical forewarning."
~Alger~