Love, Hugs and How to's--February Writers

 Hello February!!!!

We have a small batch this month of featured writers--7 to be exact!

You know what to do:

1.  Read ALL the submissions for the month

2.  Choose three (3)--your faves--and write helpful, encouraging and constructive comments for the writers.

***Remember, that our Blog is a safe space.  Be kind and courteous with your words***

If you are able to leave comments here on the Blog, please do so.  Otherwise you may leave your comments on Canvas.

February Writers,

You've done your work this month.  You do not need to leave comments.  You may, if you wish, respond to comments on your page.

Comments are due Monday, March 7.

Have a great week and I will see you in class!

Feed Your Soul,

Mrs. Solano xo

https://www.google.com/search?q=february+images+with+hearts&rlz=1C5CHFA_

the best way to go through life--Paige

 

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” - Oscar Wilde

If you ask almost anyone how to genuinely live life, rather than float through it, they would say to do what makes you happy. While this idea is spectacular in theory, actually executing that plan comes with endless obstacles. For one, you have to decide what “happiness” entails for you. Human nature is malleable and always changing, meaning what once filled you with glee could bring you great remorse the next day. Thus, chasing after an endless cycle of short-term pleasures is not sustainable. On another note, if you really want to “live life to the fullest” then you must also go through extreme terror, and sorrow, and helplessness, and anxiety. To know all that life has to offer, you can’t expect a perfect and complaisant existence. Though it’s not a euphoric experience, living life through all its extremes appeals to some people. What is not considered in this ideology is that sometimes it is best to just be. To completely write off simply existing is to denounce nature in its purest form. Existing can be letting life and the interactions you are presented with guide you. If you take the chance to only exist, you stop yourself from worrying about the value of each experience in your made-up scale. Your interactions can be unique and true to you, rather than previously dictated. Where living is running after life, existing is strolling along with life through the breeze. People can be so desperate to search after what they have heard of that they don’t allow the formation of their own genuine future. As nice as I’ve made existing sound, it also has its challenges. Existing can sometimes leave you nowhere, and though that is okay to some, if you had a specific goal that existing didn’t lead you to, you’d end up regretting not living. For some people, purely existing is doing all of the things that living is, but out of happenstance rather than planning. For other people, existing creates no result or movement in life at all. So, in combining these ideas, the best way to go through life is to both live and exist. If one day you chase after an idea or a dream to fulfill, the next it might be best to see what is returned to you after expelling all of your energy. In some ways, living and existing are the same. If you wait for the perfect encounter while living because you’ve planned it all out in your head, while existing, that encounter could have already happened. To live is to exist and to exist is to live. That being said, the answer to the idea of how to truly live is to both take initiative and lean back. To fight and to stay where you are. To scream and to whisper. To cry and to smile. To wake up early and to sleep in. There is no perfect way to go through life, but to both live and exist, despite Oscar Wilde’s advice, is a safe bet.

How to Create a Perfect Picnic Date--Mya

 Step 1: The first thing you need to do to start your perfect picnic date, is to find someone(s) to go with. Asking them out can be as simple or as intricate as you want it to be, but it should be in some way special to them. 

Step 2: Create a menu for said date that has yours and theirs favorite food. You always want to start off with a little appetizer, then an easy main dish, and dessert. One of the most important things to consider is how well your food can be transported; if it doesn’t travel well don’t bring it. Unless you have something that can keep your food the exact temperature you want, go with something that tastes good when it’s room temperature. You’ll also need a drink option. Go with something refreshing that pairs well with the food you’re bringing.  

Whatever dishes you decide to serve, try to stray away from anything with seafood, pastas, and anything super heavy on the dairy. Seafood will not be the right temperature no matter what you do and will make everything else smell and kind of taste like it unless you keep it completely separated and eat it right away; which is just a hassle. While pasta can be transported pretty easily, the noodles will get hard and taste undercooked, while any sauce you put it in will start to solidify to the point where it just doesn’t seem appetizing. Anything that has too much dairy in it will just taste straight up gross if you eat it outside after it’s been room temperature for a while. 

Step 3: Now you need to pick out where you want to have your picnic. A little hike before you have your picnic is a cute idea, but you need to take into consideration whether or not you want to carry everything with you. Any outdoor area that is somewhat secluded will work great. However, make sure the person(s) that you’re going with doesn’t have allergies; or bring allergy medicine if they do. The best place to go, in my opinion, is a park that has an open grass area surrounded by trees. That way the trees keep you in the shade while also making sure you aren’t just out in the middle of the grass where everyone can see you. 

Everything else you’ll need: You’ll need a large towel and a blanket to sit on. Make sure to put the towel down first and layer the blanket on top so that your blanket won’t get stains, and it’ll be way more comfortable to sit on two layers of material instead of one. If you want to be really fancy you can even bring a couple pillows too. Depending on where you’re going, bug spray may just be your best friend. A picnic basket is adorable and pretty standard, however; if you don’t feel like serving little red riding hood, any bag will work. An insulated bag will probably work the best when it comes to transporting the food and the drinks to keep everything at the perfect temperature.

Example of a Perfect Menu

Drinks: Sparkling water in any flavor, except for grapefruit, and some regular unflavored water are the perfect drinks. Both go with everything and won't make you feel too full after you drink them. 

Appetizer/Starter: Tortilla chips and guacamole is always a great starter for any meal. Guacamole can be so easy to make so you can make something from scratch without having to be a master chef. All you need is to cut up an avocado mash in some premade salsa, cilantro, pepper, garlic salt, and lime juice in order to have a simple but fantastic guacamole. A good alternative is also humus with sides of vegetables and pita bread. Also, fruit is always a great addition to any meal. 

Main Dish: A brie grilled cheese sandwich with turkey and apricot jam is a great choice for your entree. The sandwich tastes good even after it’s cooled down and is pretty easy to make but looks like an intricate food. All you need to do is toast two pieces of sourdough bread in a pan with a little bit of olive oil. Once the first side is heated up, flip the bread and add your apricot jam to both pieces of bread. On one side add the brie to your desired taste while also searing some slices of turkey in a pan. Add the turkey on the piece of bread that doesn’t have any cheese on it. Once the cheese is melted and the bread is toasted add a few drops of honey and a pinch or two of salt onto the brie. Finally, combine the two pieces of bread together to create your sandwich. If you want to make the sandwich vegetarian, you can swap out the turkey with thinly sliced apple that has been seared in a pan.  

Dessert: Brown butter chocolate chip cookies are quite possibly the best cookies ever and are the easiest thing to transport on a picnic. My preferred recipe involves combining 1 stick of browned butter into a bowl of 4 tablespoons of room temperature butter. Next, stir in ¾ cup of granulated sugar, ¾ cup of brown sugar, 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract, and ¾ teaspoon of salt. (Tip: when making a dessert that is somewhat rich and doesn’t have any fruity flavors, using maple syrup as well as vanilla extract really adds something to the overall taste.) Once the ingredients are well combined, whisk in 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk until the mixture is no longer separated. Then, create a flour mixture made with 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and ½ a teaspoon of baking soda. Incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture until a dough is formed. Finally, add in 8 oz. of whatever chocolate you want and your cookie dough is complete. Bake the cookies at 350oF for 8-10 minutes and you’re done.   

Chevy's Why--Jeslyn

 As a child I always wanted to know why. Why did things work the way they did? Why did things happen at the time they did? Just why?? I was quickly introduced into the “silent game” during car rides… Because of these questions constantly floating in my head, I was built into a firm believer of things always happening for a reason, and sadly shaped into a great overthinker… However, this belief ended up helping me process some of the most traumatic experiences in my short 18 years of life. This belief aided me in perseverance through all my obstacles, except in one occurrence, where I completely fell off the tracks and couldn’t figure out why- or the reason in which my best friend was taken from me so abruptly.

 The night of August 1, 2021 my dad and I made the decision to put our dog down. Although we had an appointment with the vet the following day, my dad’s 40th birthday, to put him down- we found ourselves selfish in trying to keep him another day. 

The next three days a handful of words left my mouth, but one single word suffocated my mind. Why? Why now? Up until four months later I was able to understand and accept why. 

When Chevy entered our lives, my dad was a single father who saw his daughter every other weekend. (I named him Chevy after the Chevy Impalas my grandpa used to make ) And throughout those two weeks while I was with my mom, Chevy would unexpectedly become my dad’s best friend, and ultimately ‘fill in the void’ of that loneliness for him. Every other weekend is where I find my most profound memories as a child, all of which are of my Chevy Boy. This was my dad's simple life for almost 17 years, until August of 2020 when I unexpectedly came to live with him. While also meeting his now fiance that same month, my dad found his world flipped upside down in trying to juggle being a full time parent, dating, and working like a mad man. 

As for me and the battles I was fighting, I found myself in a very dark internal loneliness. Much of that emptiness however was filled by the memories I have of the last year of Chevy’s life by my side. There were many mornings I had no urge to get out of bed, and to my luck that was no problem to Chevy, so there we layed in my bed, asleep in my dark room as zoom meetings chimed in the background. At the time I believed I had the world's laziest dog, who instead of eating his food and being outside, would much rather lay by my side. Although I was concerned I would've never thought it was a sign of his health declining, and I’m sure he found it hypocritical of me to tell him to eat his food knowing I wasn’t doing the same. For ten months that was our routine, and as we both watched my dad prepare for the next chapter of his life, Chevy was needed by me as I worked on closing mine.

May of 2021 my dad moved in with his pregnant fiance in Los Angeles where they prepared to have my little brother Aiden. I moved back in with my mom and stepdad in Fontana where I prepared for my senior year of high school. As fast as our lives were flipped upside down, they were flipped back up, and we were both placed where we needed to be. My dad was ready to enter his forties as a semi- new parent, as I was ready to turn 18 and begin my last year of high school- all with our best friend by our side of course.. In fact I always thought of buying Chevy a service dog vest in order to get him into my graduation ceremony… but that day wasn’t written for us in our script. It took awhile but I’ve come to realize the reason as to why he went at the time he did. Chevy Boy served his purpose, and that was the end of his chapter in our lives. Chevy entered our lives at our loneliest points and helped us find where we belonged and after nine incredible years, he fulfilled his ‘why’. He was present for the most drastic growth in both my life and my dads when it came to maturity on the inside and out. And as much as we both wanted him to be there for the next era of our lives, he couldn’t. It took some time but my anger has settled and the pain has rationalized my acceptance of the fact that Chevy will forever be remembered as my childhood dog that I grew up with, and my dad’s right hand man…

How to make your own Skimboard--Carson

 Supplies! 

● One piece of wood that is anywhere from 1.5-2.5 cm thick 

● Belt sander or hand sander 

● Your choice of woodcutting tool 

● Your choice of paint color(s) 

● Paintbrushes 

● A tarp or floor covering

 ● About ½ can of clear coat epoxy 

Making your skimboard 

1. Cut out your piece of wood anywhere from 1.5-2.5 cm thick in a shape large enough to comfortably ride on. Make sure you do not cut it too small. It is a lot easier to cut it big than cut more than it is to regenerate the wood. 

2. Sand the board, which should be cut out in a shape. Use coarse sandpaper to start and as you progress, get finer grade sandpaper. Sand the edges and corners very well to allow the board to have the gliding motion along the sand. Sand the board until there are no more rough edges and the wood is more or less smooth. 

3. (Recommended but optional) Once your board is sanded and smooth, decorate it, make it personal, and paint it with whatever you choose. These will all stay in pristine condition when you put the clear coat on and looks very clean. 

4. After your board is in the desired shape, begin to use the epoxy clear coat on the board by spreading it around with a paintbrush. This gives the board a sleek waterproof seal. The epoxy probably will ruin your paintbrush so do not use your favorite one.

 5. After the front side of your board is covered, make sure it is smooth and sleek. Then set it up against something with a tarp underneath so the epoxy can dry. The epoxy does take a while to dry. (optional - use a hairdryer or fan to dry the epoxy faster. Doing so will also limit the drip marks on your board)

 6. After side 1 is COMPLETELY dry, flip the board to the other side and cover with epoxy like what we did in step 4.

 7. After both sides are dry, grab your trusty sander again and CAREFULLY sand the rough spots of clear coat on your board. If you sand the coat too much, you will sand it all of the ways to the wood, which will make it fragile and volatile to decomposing. 

8. Head to the beach and try it out! (For beginners, see tutorial below) 

Part Two!!! How to skimboard!!!

 Supplies - 

● Your skimboard 

● Yourself

 ● A wave beach (probably a given)

 ● A camera to catch your epic footage!

 Skimboarding 

1. Bring your board to the edge of the beach and stand in the section of the beach where the very shallow water goes in and out with the waves. (Note - skimboarding is generally easier during the high tide) 

2. Once a nice wave comes and covers your standing area with about ankle-deep water, hold your board out in front of you and slowly toss it in front of you. The board should be parallel to the ocean. If you did the clear coat correctly, it should gently glide in front of you. 

3. Once the board is gliding, run up to it and place your feet and (the tricky part) jump gently onto the board and see how far you can get. Skimboarding takes a lot of practice and does hurt. You will fall a couple of times but remember to learn something each time you fall and you will get the hang of it. 

4. The goal for beginners is to be able to stay on the board until you reach the actual waves on the beach. For the skilled ones, you can angle your board straight at the waves and shift your feet when you hit the waves to turn and actually ride it like a surfboard. This is EXTREMELY difficult and yes, you will hurt yourself while learning)

 (Note - Skimboarding is about keeping your center of gravity on the center of the board while maintaining balance. If you are nervous, the best way to try to start is to take a leap of faith. Half jumping onto the board or doing so with one leg will DEFINITELY make you fall and embarrass yourself in front of your family and friends.)

Untitled--Ashtin

At the age of twelve, my dad had a stroke while we were moving from one house to another. Up until age fourteen, my dad had been in and out of the hospital due to many necessary surgeries. By the age of fifteen, my dad was getting better but not quite the dad I remembered. I remember the day my dad went to the hospital like it was yesterday, it was February 28th, 2017. We had just moved into our new house which we were all excited about because it was a lot nicer than our previous one. That night after dinner I went to my new room to unpack and get all my things in order when then I suddenly watched as my new bedroom door flung open. It was my older brother telling me to not come out of my room until he said. Confused, I did as I was told but then I heard sirens coming from down the street so I looked out my window and saw they were coming towards my house, and shortly after I watched as they stopped right outside my door. The next thing I know I watch as my dad is being pushed out on a gurney as my mom follows him into the ambulance. Over the next couple of months, I spent consistently at the hospital with my family while my dad underwent surgeries and the overall process of getting better before he was allowed to be discharged. After about 2 years of a constant routine of him being in and out of the hospital, my father began to get better and better so he was able to finally completely come home permanently, which was nice to finally feel slightly normal again but along with the stroke, he was also paralyzed on his left side which caused him often needing help with everything imaginable. Through these times, helping out with my dad became a full-time job which didn’t leave much room for me to have a complete childhood. During these hard times in my life, I found myself indulging in school to get away from the everyday stresses, because if I was working on anything from homework to studying, I was occupied, which was all that mattered. The habit of using school as a distraction truly pushed me to create a beneficial pattern which has improved my motivation to work. On the other hand, while focusing solely on school my mental health began to deteriorate because I would suppress any emotions and pretend they did not exist. It took me a while but after I was able to achieve the proper way of dealing with my feelings, my mental health was able to take a shift towards a positive direction. I finally understood the importance of making my mental health a priority and being able to balance both my school work and my emotions. Finally, now that my life is taking a turn for the best I have been able to take the time to learn who I am as a person because of my past. The knowledge I have learned because of my past has transformed me into the person I am today. If I ever had the opportunity to change my life from the start I wouldn’t since without the life challenges I have had I would have never learned the things I know now. I have been able to understand the idea of turning towards the positive portion of every situation which has allowed me to get through many obstacles of my life, I have learned many lessons such as the past doesn’t define you, always to preserve and to never compare myself to others because it changes the way I view who I am. Along with the lessons, I have learned I found a love for helping others which came from the situation I was placed in while growing up. My fascination with the medical field had also had come about due to my father having a brain aneurysm along with other medical issues which caused me to practically grow up within the hospital from our constant visits and I can remember all the nurses, which were constantly coming in and out of my father's hospital room, and how friendly they were. Their kindness is what inspired me to want to become a nurse when I get older because I want to be that smiling nurse that gave me such comfort during the hardest parts of my young childhood.

Vows to My Wife--Christian

 My Love,

Standing here today I can consider myself the luckiest man in the world. I’ve been

waiting, and dreaming for this day to come since we were so young. I don’t know where to begin

but I guess I shall start from our first times.. From the first time I laid my eyes upon you, held

you, kissed you, I knew your love was something different. Everything I gave you was

reciprocated and more. Everywhere I’d go, you’d go, everything I’d do, you’d always follow just

to be with me. You are more than just my wife. You’re my best friend. You go out of your way to

make me happy in ways I am beyond grateful for. You know exactly how I am feeling when life

hits me hard. Whether it would be in a positive or negative way, you always know what to say, or

when to say nothing at all, and let me lay in your arms and express my feelings. You give me

endless love and care, and not only to me but to my family, and we can’t express how thankful

we are for all the things you have done for us and our family over the years. It doesn’t go

unnoticed. We have been through thick and thin over the last few years, but us getting through

our struggles has grown our relationship as a couple and best friends in all. You are always

understanding of me, and no matter how bad our arguments may get, you always respect me

what I have to say, and have taught me to be more patient and understanding. You never fail to

comfort me, and calm me down through stress I may experience in my job, my family, or

whatever comes down my path. Your soft skin and soft touch bring me peace. Your smile brings

me joy. Your existence simply is something I can’t live without. Our endless memories of us as

kids driving around late at night, to us traveling, and now I can hardly wait to experience more

with you as husband and wife, because there is no me without you, and I promise to always

cherish the little memories with each other as we grow old together. And with a little one on the

way I can’t wait to watch our child grow through the years, and there is no one I could ever

imagine sharing these experiences with than you my love. Thank you again for all the endless

love and care you have given me, because that is something I hold dear to me. You are the love

of my life, and now officially my wife, the one I knew I was always going to marry, I love you

always.

How to change your oil in your automobile--Youssef