{on being lefthanded}

Little known fact about me: I'm left handed! I got it from my momma, who is also left handed (she does everything but write right handed, though!). I'm a full-fledged lefty and do everything with my left. I found this list of 10 advantages to being left handed and thought I'd see how many of them seem to be true to me. Enjoy!

1. Being left handed gives you an advantage in many sports. Yep - this is definitely true. I think it's because talented athletes can do things ambidextrously. I played soccer and lacrosse growing up through my high school years and had a much easier time playing with both hands/feet because I started with my left. Plus, I have two female Athlete of the Year awards from my High School to show for my talent!
2. Lefties have a greater chance of being a genius, or having a high IQ. Haha. Not so sure about this one! I'm definitely not a genius, and was happily smack dab in the middle of my high school class ranking. Funny side story: I was in a class of 6! And not only that, but I was the only girl. And I married one of the guys (I like to say that he won!). So anyway I'm definitely not proof of this one.
3. Left handed men make more money.Well, I'm a woman and I make no money as a stay at home mom. Next!
4. Lefties adjust more easily to seeing under water. Huh. How could this possibly be proven? I can see underwater, but I feel like I adjusted just as easily as my brother and sister when we were little.
5. Lefties are better at multitasking. I give credit for my ability to multitask to having 2 children under 2, not to being left handed. But maybe it helps!
6. Some lefties have better memories. I'm definitely among the some that don't. Especially when I'm pregnant. Oh boy do I have a bad memory when I'm pregnant!
7. Left handed people are better at playing video games. I'm pretty good at video games. I loved them (and still would if I had time to sit in front of the tv for hours!) and once had a little boy I babysat excitedly tell me (and his mom) that he had "never met a girl that was so good at killing people!". Heh.
8. Left handed people recover faster from strokes than right handed people. That could be convenient someday. Hopefully I'll never find out!
9. Left-handed people are more likely to be more visual-based than language-based. Yep this is definitely true for me. I'm definitely a visual learner. Though, I would rather express myself through language than art.. hmm.
10. Lefties are better at learning to drive than righties. Before my mom and sister get all "oh no you don't" about this one, by "learning to drive" I'm sure they don't mean "taking the driving test". There's a rumor that I failed the written test twice and the driving test once. It might be true. But I am an excellent driver (reference, anyone?).

Are any of you left handed? Do you agree/disagree with these advantages?

ps. enter this week's giveaway here!

Purging: Third Installment

Purging is a process.  You can't just say "Oh, I think I'll purge today" and POOF! your house is clutter-free and everything you use and want is there and the things you don't are gone.  It just doesn't work that way! Getting rid of things, especially today in a culture that attaches such value to stuff, isn't easy.  I love what Tsh on simplemom.net has to say about how to tackle the process of purging:

• Make a plan of action immediately. Ever decide you don’t want something, but then you just stand there holding it, not sure what to do with it? Get two large boxes and label them “sell” and “donate,” and put your items in there without analyzing over it for too long. Keep these off to the side, and add to them throughout the day.
• If you haven’t used an item in over a year, chances are high you don’t need it. To find out if those seldom-used items get touched, put a simple removable sticker on the bottom. As you use your things, remove the sticker. A year later, if there’s still a sticker, then you probably don’t need it.
• If you’re still undecided about something, designate an “undecided” box. Pack up your undecideds, mark the date, and store it away in your garage or a closet. In three months, look in the box again. If you’ve now realized you can live just fine without it, then there’s your answer.

 I'm using the packing process for our move as motivation to purge, but also to remember.  I love going through and finding things I haven't seen or used in a while, and those things I come across that excite me, I keep.  The things I come across and think "Why do I have this?" I let go of.

All baby all the time.

I realized while I was cleaning up around here that I have fallen into the trap of only blogging about baby stuff.  My mom and mother-in-law and maybe a few others are thinking "What's wrong with that?" The rest of you who don't have kids, (or do, and that's why you want to read about something else) probably aren't as excited by all things baby as I am.  In light of this realization, I'm going to do my best to blog not just about my offspring and the fun, cute things that come with having a little girl, but keep blogging about other things, too.

Like digital cameras. I have the hardest time taking decent pictures! I read a bunch of different blogs and it seems like so many people take these beautiful photos of their kids, their homes, even what they ate for lunch.  I know that a big part of my problem is that I just need to break out my camera's manual and figure out how to get the right lighting (my biggest pet peeve is how ugly photos look when taken with the flash, but without flash they're blurry). I have a feeling that another part of my problem is that our house gets little to no natural sunlight, so we really have no great spots to take well-lit pictures.

My sister is an amazing photographer (though she would deny it), and her latest photography obsession is with film cameras.  She showed me a roll of film she snapped while home in Annapolis over Christmas, and I couldn't believe how gorgeous every picture turned out.  The colors are amazing, and it helps that the photos were all taken outside (and in Annapolis, no less... what a gorgeous place!).  If it weren't so expensive I'd try going that route myself, but for the time being my goal is to learn how to use the camera I have.