It All Started With Paint

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word of the year: impossibilities

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Impossibility.
That’s my word of the year.
Well,  not quite.  I’m going with the plural …
Impossibilities
Yeah, the Queen of Hearts and I are on the same page …
impossibilityLewisCarrol
Should I be concerned that I’m telling Alice in Wonderland’s crazy Queen of Hearts “Challenge Accepted” … ?
But I’m not just challenging impossibilities …
… I’m challenging myself to “Imagine my Impossibilities” …
… and turn them into possibilities …
impossibility_by_hzrdxero-d41588c
I  never would have picked “impossibilities” as my word of the year …

… not that I’m not loving this word choice … 
…if my new blog friend at Thistlewood Farms hadn’t sent me this quote by Doug Larson…
“Some of the world’s greatest feats were accomplished by people not smart enough to know they were impossible.”
With an invitation to be a part of this …

It took me all of two seconds to give her an unequivocal yes.
Did I mention that she’s brilliant?  And funny?  Well, she is …
As are all the ladies who have joined forces in the “Image the Impossibilities” challenge:

Now Thistlewood Farms didn’t know who this Doug Larson person was.  She was just inspired by his inspiring words.

So I Googled him.

(I Google everything and everybody.  You could say I’m a Google addict.  Or a Google hoarder. I multi-Google things in multiple windows. And multiple browsers. Simultaneously.  And if I can’t find it through multiple, multi-varied-worded Google searches, no one can.  It doesn’t exists. Period.)

I may need a Google intervention.

But Doug Larson wrote a daily syndicated column for two Wisconsin newspapers …

… and boy oh boy is this man quotable …

Two more Doug Larson quotes that struck me as apropos as I tackle my “impossibility” …
“The trouble with learning from experience is that you never graduate.”

— and —

“To err is human; to admit it, superhuman.”
So if I err as I try to overcome my word of the year …
… “impossibilities” …
… as I attempt to paint this all by myself …

2012 Impossibility.vaulted ceiling[10]
I will be sure to admit it to you.
Because then I’d be superhuman. 
Cool.

And now I’d like to invite you …

… my blog friends …
to join me in “Imagining your Impossibilities” …

One challenge at a time …

P.S.
I Googled (shocking) “word of the year” and uncovered the so-called “expert” picks …
pragmatic – Merriam Webster

occupy – American Dialect Society

squeezed middle – Oxford University Press

humblebrag – language guru Ben Zimmer

murdoch (as a verb) – Barnhart Dictionary Companion

tergiversate – dictionary.com (… I have a sneaking suspicion they picked this word so you would have to go to dictionary.com to look it up …)

winning — Time magazine’s suggestion … though they questioned what’s so winning about losing the highest paying job in television …
I think “impossibilities” blows all the experts’ choices out of the water … but I am a bit biased.

And on Monday, January 16, I’ll be linking up here …

Word_Of_The_Year_2012_thumb

Comments

  2. Great post, Linda! You’re such an inspiration. Thanks for sharing those quotes too – motivating! I look forward to seeing you take on your impossibilities this year and knowing you, you’ll make turn those into possibilities and success! 🙂

    Reply

  4. Okey-doke. Another person (I think she is space between) asked me to do this impossibility thing. I believe I already told one of the women involved (perhaps maybe even you!) that my goal was to get through menopause alive. Or at least not killing anyone else. Does that count or does it have to be a project? Becaue when you get to be as old as I am? You know that you can do pretty much anything you put your mind to! It’s just a question of pulling on your sweatpants (because menopause makes you gain so much weight you can’t fit into any of your cute things) and get on with it! I guess now that TWO people have issued me a formal invitation (and are new followers, to boot) I need to suck it up and find something impossible to do. Like wear my cute clothes again.

    Reply

    • Will you take photos? You know, of those stretchy pants and then you trying to squeeze into those cute clothes?

      And, yes, you did tell me. And I emailed back and asked if you were truly serious because I thought that would be a brilliant and hysterical reprieve from all those tools and paint posts!

      Just loving your humor …

      Linda

      Reply

  5. No, you’re the brilliant one … (and then you reply back, no, it’s you who are brilliant and we continue this on and on until, back-and-forth until I have a Young House Love-like 500 post comments!).

    But seriously, I’m so thrilled to call you friend!

    Reply

  7. dear friend…i love to watch you shine…you are like that bright star in the sky that always catches your eye…you know the kind you make a wish on. i feel blessed to have you in my life along with our other new and fabulous friends! sending you tons of hugs and i know that your impossibles will turn into miniature masterpieces on this years blank canvas!

    Reply

  8. I’m so glad I’m going to be around this year to watch that light SHINE, Linda!! 😉 blessings ~ tanna
    ps… my idea of attempting beading in a mystery knit-a-long is not going so well after the first clue and attempt!! Back to the drawing board and on with the impossibilities!! Be careful on the ladder or scaffold.

    Reply

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