Daily Gratitude Journal Prompts

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Practicing gratitude is proven to make you feel better. It makes sense that focusing on the positives in your life increases positivity.

No matter how small or big, deep or superficial, gratitude is being thankful for it all.

One way to practice gratitude is by journaling. There are a lot of pre-made journals devoted just to gratitude like this (with a free digital version available when you share your email here), this, or this. I prefer a simple blank journal in which you can write anything, but sometimes that blank page can be hard to fill after a hard day.

Here are some gratitude prompts for days you need a little inspiration:

  • I am grateful for …(a smell, sight, taste, sound, memory, hobby, person, physical item, song, action, part of nature, trait, accomplishment, love, habit, kind act) because…
  • I am looking forward to (tomorrow, next week, season) …because…
  • A positive, unexpected, random surprise that happened today is…
  • I can share my gratitude with… (friend, colleague, family) tomorrow by…

Gratitude is about inspiration, not burden, so mix it up and do what serves you. You do you, boo.

You can handwrite the above prompts into your journal or print off this little recap to tuck into your journal:

You do not have to journal about your gratitude every day; simply acknowledge moments of gratitude throughout your day. This can be during a quiet moment, your commute, lunch, or during a conversation. Everyone can use a little more gratitude.

How do you practice gratitude?

Matching your Flight pictures with Google Earth

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Recently we flew out of state to visit family. I’m a huge nerd so I like to stare out the window and look at all the cool stuff. On this particular flight, I had driven the path in the past and kind of knew what to look for (BTW flying was about 1.5 hours, driving it was about 10 times that). As we passed interesting views; an oxbow lake, rivers, larger cities, mountains, lakes, windmill farms, etc. I took pictures with my cell phone. I had an idea of where we were and what I was looking at, but I wasn’t 100% sure.  I have the geotag feature turned off on my phone (as should you!) so I couldn’t figure out the locations based on that.  I found a neat way to answer my question. If you have an upcoming flight, you can try to find a similar flight path of a recently arrived flight and plan out what to take pics of, but note that actual flight paths vary with weather and traffic patterns of the actual day of flight. You can get in a good ballpark though.

As soon as you land and/or get home, visit flightaware.com and look up your flight number or city to city.  (This is where you can plan future flights as mentioned above). From here you can find your exact flight based on arrival times and all sorts of neat info about the particular plane you were on. Look for the “View track log” link in the right-hand column. It is easy to miss if you aren’t looking for it. 

 

Once here, you can see your flight, track it as t went along using GPS as well as altitude and speed date. The thing we are looking for is the Google Earth file download.

This will download a google Earth file. I recommend installing Google Earth Pro application on your PC, but you can use Google Earth through your browser to open this file.  You can then simulate your flight by adjusting the time bar located at the top left of the screen.

This will “draw” the path of your plane. You only have a couple of days maximum to get this Google Earth data for free. Otherwise you’ll have to use another service online and pay for it.

If you look at the timestamp of your pictures, you can get an idea of about where in the flight you were and move the camera there.  The timestamps didn’t match up perfectly for me but they were within about 2 minutes of when my pictures were timestamped. By knowing which side of the plane you were on you can move the camera to the planes position at that time, and look in the right direction. I then added a pin in google earth at that position, saved my perspective view and added the images from my computer to the description.

Here’s a great example of Knoxville from the air and in Google Earth (Click the pic below to see it bigger. you can see the river and landscape align in the picture and screenshot):

 

If you’ve been lucky enough to have clear skies on a day flight you can match things pretty easily. At night it can be harder to see some of the landforms and taking pics from the airplane window introduces more glare.  However, sometimes you get really lucky and you can catch things like Disney’s Firework Finale from 30,000ft like this:

You can even write a quick description in the Pin’s description tag. You can save this KMZ file and send it to friends and family who can also view it as well as the photos you linked.  (A KMZ file is actually a zip file containing the files you linked like pictures as well as a text file with the GPS coordinates which links to those files. It is kind of like a webpage). However, this makes your KMZ file pretty big (because it contains all your pics, make sure you squishify those images so they aren’t massive).  If you don’t want your grandma to have to download hundies of MB to see your trip journal you can drop all your images to a web shared folder like dropbox, googleDrive, Box, etc. and then instead of “Add Local Image” in the description, you can “Add web image” and paste the share link.

What cool pics or vids did you get from a plane? Post them in a comment.

Geeky Valentine’s Gifts: Whirlpool Galaxy Pun, Making Rainbows in Your House, and Sweet as Pi

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If you are looking for unique valentines day gifts that are a bit nerdy, you’ve come to the right place. It’s probably no surprise that geeky Valentine’s are a fav of mine.

So, rainbow prisms are pretty nifty, but I wanted the rainbow effect a little more full force in my house. I have been super happy with this decorative glass window film for creating rainbows in my house. Make sure to measure and get the size you need (All I needed was the smallest 17×78 size).

This works best in a window that gets direct sunlight and even a small amount can create the effect. I cut my remaining scraps into half/quarter circles and added to several windows in my house. Here’s an example of rainbows created during the day on our cat (don’t mind the toddler clutter).

As a nerdy Valentine’s gift, this would go really well with this card. (If you are feeling cheeky, check out the other inappropriate cards by Suckycards on Etsy).

Okay, the second idea is a space themed gift. The Whirlpool Galaxy, Messier 51a (or M51 for short) is the source and subject of this next nerdy valentine’s gift idea.

This “out of this whirl” design is also available on a mug, pillow, or sticker if any of those are more your valentine’s style.

If you haven’t shopped at RedBubble before, here’s a coupon for $10 of a $40 (or more) purchase! (If you use this link, you get $10 off and so do I, so thank you for adding to my sticker collection!)

You can keep it simple, and pair the “out of this whirl” gift with the matching card, or you can for something a little more personal:

It is the star alignment for the night you met or wedding date. Stellar!

Of course, there are nerdy Valentine’s gifts for children too. This “Sweet as Pi” shirt is, well, sweet!

So, I have to know. What’s your idea of a good geeky valentine’s gift?

Must Have Baby Items That’ll Last into the Toddler Years

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Now that my daughter is two, I was noticing how few items that were still around and in use from the first year of her life. These are the items that made the cut and I would buy again.

*FTC disclosure: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through my links. All opinions remain my own.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12

Baby Items that Lasted Beyond the First Year (and I’d buy again!) :
1 – It is no surprise that furniture would make this list. I had this Ikea Alex Drawer Unit already to store craft supplies. I was going to actually purchase an additional but ended up upgrading to this for my craft supplies.

2 – I researched crib mattress for far too long and ended up buying this one because it has a harder infant side and softer toddler side.

3 – I picked out the Sniglar crib for two main reasons: (1) It’s small size. (2) It is made of solid, unpainted wood. As an added bonus, it is a great price and also converts into a toddler bed.

4 – Although this isn’t the exact bookbag we purchased (ours is no longer sold), I am really glad we went with a bookbag style. Having two hands free when corralling a child is priceless.


5 – Although I also have the NoseFrida too, I like the NeilMed version better because you can just use it as a bulb for when you’re not up for being the literal snot sucker.

6 – I would buy these pads again and again. A versatile waterproof pad – I have used these in the bassinet and crib for extra added protection. I have also used them for diaper changes in the car, on the floor, and in public restrooms.

7 – These canvas bins (in size small) fit perfect in the Ikea Billy (10 ). I put mainly clothes, extra crib sheets, and blankets in these baskets. This whole unit is actually in the closet.

8 – This hangs on the closet door and I use it to sort outfits, ready to go. I’m pretty sure Adam appreciates this the most.

9 – Okay, it’s a plastic pool, I know, but it is very versatile. Ours has been a sand pit, ball pit, and good ole’ fashioned pool with water. It has been used outside, but mainly it’s used inside. Even if your kid is just starting to crawl, an inch of warm water in this (yes, in the house!) will be sure to entertain. Always supervise, of course.


10 – Again, this is in the closet and makes a great closet organizer!


11 – This JJ Cole Outdoor Blanket is great for a pre-crawler and beyond. You’ll want to have this handy at any outdoor event (park, picnic, hike, beach, party). It’s gotten the most use in our backyard.


12 – I am not a huge fan of the file, but these clippers are still used on a weekly basis with our toddler.

In brainstorming this list, I only added items that I love and would buy again, but I know there is other good stuff out there. So, what did I miss?


Build Plate Adhesion on a 3D Printer

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I finally got a 3D printer of my own Spring 2018 and haven’t really had time to learn all the tips and tricks from everyone on great prints. For the couple of hours I spent with this thing, it prints well enough I suppose. At first I just didn’t have luck at all. In the past I had good luck with Painters tape, and even glue sticks on the old Printrbot Simple kits I used to use in summer camps I taught, but my RepRap Guru has a heated glass build plate. 

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For ages folks have tried recommending different materials to have your 3D prints stick to the build plate and all of them fall short in my eyes. I think I came across the perfect solution (pun intended).

First, here’s what I’ve seen and issues I had with them

  • Gluesticks: This makes a mess and in my experience doesn’t work well.
  • Painters tape: parts don’t come off of this easy and it’s expensive to continue to replace
  • Sugar: Sticky and messy.
  • Expensive build-plates:  Expensive…

The best solution I’ve come across which gives amazing results is salt water. The parts stick to the glass really well, but then when the print is done, the build plate cools down, the part comes off without any effort whatsoever. In most cases, I pick the part up without having to pull or pry at all. 

For cheapness, I make my own solution usually, but recently tried premixed saline solutions.  To make your own, get a small glass of water, warm it in the microwave until it’s as hot as warm tea, then slowly add salt to it until no more will dissolve. Use a cotton ball, cotton swab, or paper towel dipped in this water to smear a layer of salt water on the glass build plate. Wait until it dries and forms a nice crystalline layer. You can see in the pic above that the build plate looks dirty, but it it’s just salt.  You can heat the bed to help the water evaporate quicker if you are anxious.

While looking for a better or quicker application method, I tried NeilMed Nasal wash. This sprays out in a good even mist and coats the entire plate in literally 1 second. Then I warm the build plate to evaporate the water and print.  The one in the image is “hypotonic” solution, which doesn’t have as much salt as the “hypertonic” solution.  The hypertonic solution might work better, but the standard solution works great.  I usually don’t wash it off between prints unless I notice a clean spot on the glass. Then I’ll rinse the glass, dry with a cloth, then sprits it again with the spray.