Kelly Bennett's Blog, page 73

Technical Difficulties

Technically speaking, the technical difficulties have been all mine. Truth is, I have been avoiding anything technical. It started during the Hustle-Bustle Ho-Hos of the holiday season and has continued through most of January. Then yesterday, a certain song popped into my head:

"Hello! It's been awhile..."

As I was singing along, I realized it was true:

"I really just wanted to talk to you..."

As y'all know--all y'all who've followed my blog for a while--the Fishbowl is really not a blog, and I'...

Pick A Winner

Volumes of thoughts by Great Thinkers have been published...How will thoughts of today's Great Thinkers be preserved?

My Mom's writing letter again... Some arrive with a bonus "Pick Your Own Adventure" component!

Remember letters?Those pages covered in thoughts, questions, memories set down in scribbles that most often didn’t, resemble any of those available in Word, with font sizes that, in my mother's case, flagrantly vary from 8 pt to 24 line to line, or word to word? (If yours is a post-1...

Thanksgiving Playlist

So easy picking my playlist—song, actually—for this Thanksgiving. I’m counting my blessings ala Bing and Rosemary as I prepare our Thanksgiving Feast.

As I dice and slice and whip and bake, I am keenly aware of how blessed me and mine are to have all we have and live as we live.

That first Thanksgiving, a 3-day long feast which included fowl, 4 deer, shellfish, cranberries, maybe, but no mashed potatoes and definitely no pie as potatoes hadn’t been introduced to the New World yet, as the Pilg...

When Stars and/or Trains Align . . . or not

My baby takes the morning train. Don't know about yours, but this baby just missed her train--by 7 minutes.

So I'm sitting in the railway station, sipping a latte, waiting for the next train--which will depart in 145 minutes. I reached the station at 5:45, the train departed at 5:33. 12 measly minutes.

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Google "Rail-Car" this pops up

I'm formulating the story problems in my head:

Or Color Your Own Train...

If my flight landed at 4:30, and it took me forever to get through the viper of an immi...

That Three Letter Loophole

“I try to…really I do… But…It’s just that…”

Almost every time I hear that word “try” (except when I use it, of course), the same memory springs to mind. I can’t recall where I was or when it happened:

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"Try to lift it."

A man, perhaps a teacher or dinner companion, placed his hand on top if mine and said, “Try to lift your hand.”

I lifted my hand.

Shaking his head, disapprovingly, the man pressed my hand back down onto the table. “I said, ‘try to lift it.’”

Puzzled, I lifted my hand again.

He push...

WHO SAYS GOLDFISH DON'T READ?

Jumpstart's Read for the Record Day 2015 is over, but does that mean we stop reading? NO WAY! Not me & NOT NORMAN!Norman the Goldfish loves story time! And he definitely has his favorite books. How do I know?

Definitely NOT Norman!

When Norman likes a book he becomes so engrossed in the story, he shoves his stubby orange goldfish snout right up against the side of his fishbowl. Norman doesn’t budge, doesn’t even glug until the very last page—unless there’s a funny part, that is. (Norman blow...

WHO YA CALLING a "SCAREDY FISH"?

Yes! Norman! Okay, if you've read the book, you know how brave Norman the Goldfish can be. Especially late at night. When it's super dark. And some strange, super creepy something is scratching at the window. But...

SCRITCH, SCREECH! What's that noise?

Everybody's afraid of something (Okay, maybe not everybody, but almost everybody) even Norman the Goldfish.

In fact, I can think of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 things that really really creep Norman out. (And all of them begin with the same 3-letter...

NOT YOUR AVERAGE GOLDFISH

Just because Norman the Goldfish swims around and around and around...inside a fishbowl all day, you might think he's empty-headed. You'd be wrong!

Norman far from your average goldfish. In addition to pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, Norman loves music. Sure Tuba music is his favorite, but he likes all different kinds of music, especially if it's fishy. In preparation for Jumpstart's Read for the Record 10-22-2015, we've compiled his music playlist.(Norman glugged them; I wrote t...

"KEEPING YOUR HEAD IN THE GAME" via Write On!

Confession time: I suffer from major book envy. Jen Kam's middle grade novel, Devin Rhodes is Dead (If it's not on your Must Read list, it should be.) is one of those that really makes me suffer with "I wish I could write like this" emerald green pangs. So when Jen invited me to guest post on "Write Now!" what I call Jen's version of the Algonquin Round Table (minus the Tinis), I was thrilled.

Rather than chatter on here, I invite you to click over to "Write On!" to find out how I keep my head...

Seeking Perfection

Healthy or not, I am a perfectionist. It is not a trait of which I am particularly proud. Yes, perfectionism has its place. In the operating room, in space, in manufacturing plants, and the like,we hope and pray whomever is doing the work pays strict attention to details. However in this imperfect world, living as or with a perfectionist is far from easy. For all of my adult life I have been battling against the need to be perfect. “Easy does it,” “lighten up,” “does it really matter?” I am c...