As the second half of 2012 begins, my mind begins reflecting on what needs to be done and what can be done. This leads me to skim through almost eleven years of this beloved journal. It began as a whim and a joke (about coke, even). Sadly, it strays far from its roots. I can feel heads nodding and hearts beating with a tinge of excitement. Will Bella be funny today? Without her fiche, what does she have to laugh about?

TOP TEN REASONS TO SMILE IN THE NEW LIFE OF BELLA

10. A house that smells of cookies.
9. A handsome prince.
8. My second chariot is kind of golden.
7. Cat visitation opportunities.
6. My treasury is stocked with chocolate chips, flour, sugar...
5. I have friends to serve as fairy godmothers...
4. My prince offers to purchase any glass slippers that catch my eye.
3. Sometimes the squirrels chatter at me.
2. I still have hopes of finding seven odd little men to unearth diamonds for me.
1. I have time to seek out a thousand tales.

Sounds like I joined the fairy tale character's union, doesn't it?

One of my friends helped me get my month of birth off to a good start. She presented me with a cookie cook book. I've only tried one recipe thus far. It weighs down my cheerful little belly as I type this. Needless to say, my handsome prince also benefits from my many gifts.

"Writing is both mask and unveiling." ~E. B. White

I mean to update more, particularly after scrolling through the last couple of years and seeing how few entries I posted during that time. I even failed to post the two greatest joys of this journal--poetry and top ten lists. That must be what led to the downturn of visitors to this illustrious site.

It could also be my lack of interesting life events. The most interesting item of my week was probably my body rejecting food poisoning the other day. I sincerely hope no one wants the details of that experience. My husband proved incredibly patient as I moped on the floor and hoped the adverse affects of a poor food choice would soon be over. I woke up the next morning a little worse for wear, but I feel I have made a full recovery.

I even felt well enough today to devote some time to making multi-grain raviolis from scratch. Of course, I don't own a ravioli pan so this took about two hours to accomplish. I find the effort with it, however, since I know exactly what ingredients went into my food when I made it myself. Of course, no one else does. For all they know, my cheese started out as vegetables.

Luckily, the neighbors held off on their fireworks a little. I am surprised they had any left since they have been setting them off for a couple of weeks. Of course, I know from past experience that I have a couple more weeks of randomly being roused by fireworks exploding at odd hours of the night. Wish me luck with that?

Due to ongoing home improvements, my husband stayed home today. He tends to be distracting, so I decided to fix some errors in the journal archives since that taxes my brain less than writing. I got most of the obvious flaws in posts from mid-2006 until 2010, but feel free to let me know if I missed anything. (Not that anyone plans to scroll through old posts. Blech.)

Sadly, I don't get to enjoy his company very often, so I keep thinking today is Saturday. This throws off the whole groove of my day. My mind keeps plotting tomorrow's activities around attending church. This leaves me with four empty hours since tomorrow is Saturday. I'll have to reconfigure my brain in the morning.

I have found an excuse to bake cookies once a month until September. So far I have chocolate toffee cookies and today's masterpiece--lemon cookies. This led me to more deep thoughts. I shall share whether you want me to or not.

You can learn a lot from a cookie:

1. Zesting a lemon can be gruelling exercise.
2. Life is oh so sweet.
3. Sometimes life is about the dough, sometimes it is all about the mix-ins.
4. Life comes in many delicious flavors.
5. Sometimes you need eggs, sometimes you don't.
6. Somebody will always love you when you're sweet.
7. It doesn't hurt to be salty sometimes.
8. A cooling off period is required from time to time.
9. Cleaning up isn't always fun, but it makes it easier the next time you want to make treats.
10. The simple things often make life wonderful.

I become a genius before I fall asleep each night. My brain races to process just a few more thoughts before dreams come in with their nonsensical notions and wash it all away. Last night, I reflected on how other people disappoint me or upset me and realized, again, that such occurences make me want to be a better person. I want to be...
Loyal
Kind
Sweet
Honest
Compassionate
Loving
Forgiving
True
Humble yet valued
Healthy
Happy
Content
Teachable

I believe these words paint a clear picture. Sadly, what I strive for in myself, I also expect from other people. Sadder still, I rarely find it. We've probably all experienced the thrill of group work. What tends to happen when three or four people are assigned to accomplish one task? One person ends up doing most of the work. Everyone wants credit whether they helped or not. Someone usually gets upset by this combination.

Yesterday, a crew of happy workers spent quality time stamping out a rhythm on roof. At the beginning of their journey, I felt as if I were under quarantine since tarps seemed to be hanging across every window. I decided to hide in the room furthest from the roof and hope for the best. With my luck, a trip outdoors would have resulted in being beaned in the head by a shingle. It was the best decision, right?

Anyway, this morning started with a trip to the gym. I followed that up with a speed walk around the neighborhood. I returned to find a message that the satellite technician would be arriving in the next ten to fifteen minutes. A half hour later, I wished I had hopped into the shower for a quick rinse since he still hadn't arrived.

By the time he arrived, I had wrestled an errant branch of our rose bush to the other side of the fence. Something about a thorny branch pointing at me every time I open the door had been bothering me for a over a week. The technician threw on his work shirt when he realized I was observing him impatiently and stepped out of his truck. He immediately decided we were best friends, forever. Between moments of sheer confusion about what my husband's intentions for all those cables and calling me "young lady", he shared information about his kids, offered unsolicited advice on wiring the house, and offered to purchase items I had no desire to sell. He even told me to have my husband call him if any questions arose. As I said, best friends...forever. Four hours later, the confusing cable dilemma was solved. Needless to say, the antisocial blogger experienced euphoria as she locked all the doors and made a beeline for the shower.

I loved that shower. Steeping in my own sweat for about five hours makes for a very unpleasant hobbit experience. I'd never make it on a long hike to Mordor. I should really work on these issues. Should I develop a hobbit exercise program? Feel free to express said opinion by emailing fanklubz at meowmail dot com. You can figure it out. You're here--you're brilliant!

In honor of my upcoming aging day, I baked myself some fascinating "cupcakes". I started with a cookie bar recipe. Somehow my concoction ended up containing cherries, zucchini, and slivered almonds. Maybe the frosting I found in the fridge helped, but I found my treats rather tasty. I'll celebrate in the morning by walking around the neighborhood. Hopefully, the smell of spoiled milk or mulch has disappointed. I almost lost my free Slurpee. (Did I mention that the gentleman in 7-11 took pity on me at 6:30 this morning when I wandered in hoping for some Slurpee love? Apparently, the promotion runs from eleven in the morning to seven at night. I'll have to keep that in mind next year.)

The trend of annoyance that follows my birthday around continues. I spent the first day of my birthday week preparing and teaching a lesson to disinterested young people. Since I made the commitment to do so, I can't really complain, right? However, I do find myself feeling irritable when someone else fails to find a substitute or even notify anyone that they won't be there to teach. This results in our tiny room overflowing with children, and the children who aren't normally in our class seem nervous about participating. Needless to say, a fun time for all.

I spent the second day scrubbing stains out of the carpet and otherwise occupying myself. I tried to motivate myself to write something fantastic, but my brain didn't comply until I took a nap. Once my eyes were firmly closed and my ability to move turned off, my brain wanted to write. I am sure whatever it was would have made my readers feel pleasure, but I honestly can't remember any of the details. I blame the heat wave. I think it fries my brain a little every time I have to leave my house.

In other news, I am getting stabbed with a needle this week. I had to choose between this week and next week. I figured I was less likely to be told my blood is fifty percent fat and fifty percent sugar if I didn't have blood panels done after my birthday weekend. Otherwise, I'd have to hold off on that second and third piece of cake. What hobbit can do that? Not this one!

I decided to let the vampires drain me a little yesterday. That left me free to bake about five dozen cookies. My house smelled like a bakery. I really should consider opening my own little sweet shop. Too bad I don't live in a quaint little town like Stars Hollow.

In other news, I trotted around the neighborhood today. As I turned a corner, I saw a familiar face. A black cat lounged happily across the sidewalk until it noticed my approach. It sat up, looked up at me, and meowed. The crazy cat lady in my head began dancing nervously. I tried to squelch her. I succeeded--mostly. Then I meowed back. After a brief exchange, I continued walking away. The kitty followed me past two houses before I realized I should speed up to avoid giving her the wrong idea. I was followed past a few more houses before deciding that the crazy cat lady was not ready to be tamed.

I can only imagine the buzz on the stray cat gossip line this evening. I am sure Scruffles chimed in with a complaint that I keep interrupting his liasions by offering such gems as, "No procreating on my porch."

I have six. How about you?

Wife number six managed to visit me today. She even let me feed her so that I can prove how much I care. She even managed to stay awake during the talk I gave at church today. I'd write more, but smiling tires me out. Keep being awesome!

I still maintain that people who willingly join me in my car are taking their lives in their hands, or at least their ears. The sisters allowed me to be their chauffeur today. Nothing says love like a forty-five minute trip north. We didn't even get lost despite my best efforts. Well, we did have a minor diversion through a parking lot. When you don't want people cutting other people off because of your poorly marked turn only lanes, a concrete median actually makes an awesome detractor.

The sisters were even cooperative when I dragged them to the nearest Dairy Queen (yes, DQ, I accept free Blizzards for advertising your tasty, tummy-building treats). Due to extreme zeal, we were about ten minutes early. Sadness ensued until we looked at the hours of operation and decided we could wait that long. Happiness ensued from our patient waiting though we did end up sitting on some slightly wet benches to partake of chocolate goodness.

As we returned to the car and started down the road, I began to observe a noise that brought distress to my young heart. I began to fear my muffler might dessert the rest of my sweet, sweet ride. Luckily, my prince loves me enough to crawl under my car after a long day of work.