Sift . . . O.M.G.! You just did it and you weren't even baking!

Here we go! This is my 2nd entry . . . obviously. (Don't worry. This is the last time I'll be counting my entries.   I had to do it one last time . . . just to irritate the veteran bloggers.) As promised, I dedicate this entry to my dear friend Celeste A. de Vera for encouraging me by bookmarking this page and giving me the inspiration to write another blog. (Yahoo!)

Still being wet behind the ears, I had a hard time trying to decide what to blog about next. Imagine a million topics racing around your mind (which is interesting as it is actually physically limited yet mentally infinite). Then, it hit me! SIFT!!! I'll write about the word sift and how it is actually connected to everything under the sun. Hmmm . . . sounds crazy, right? Let's see.

People normally associate the word sift with baking. When they think of sift, they imagine putting some flour into a sieve (which is a net like straining device for all of you non-bakers out there) in order to separate the fine particles of flour from the clumps. However, the same people who think about sift in that way don't even know they actually do it every day . . .  sans the flour, of course.

Sift also means 'to examine and sort carefully' or 'to make a careful examination'. This can be a very interesting concept . . .

Lawyers sift through the evidence of a case and present only those pieces which would benefit their client's position or would damage the other party's position . . . (Imagine that! You could go to jail or lose you property because of sifting) . . .

Teenagers (who don't like lying to their parents) sift through the facts of why they came home late the night before (after a wild party); only stating those facts which aren't so damaging, such as merely forgetting the time, and omitting those facts which would warrant a stern reprimand, such as forgetting the time because they were vomiting on the street or crashing into walls to get from one place to another . . .

Women sift through all the things they want to buy while shopping, carefully analyzing what and exactly how many things they could possibly get on that one shopping trip . . . (So, they could actually go home with a ton of stuff or just a couple of items after 3 or 4 hours of shopping. Now that's what I call good exercise . . It's win - win! Right, ladies?) . . .

In correlation to such shopping trips, men, on the other hand, wish they had stayed home because such endeavors usually take women hours to complete. So, men also sift through all the ideas of the possible things they could be doing instead . . . like watching TV with the remote control firmly grasped in their hand or playing their favorite sport . . . anything except watching a woman buy a ton of stuff that she doesn't really need . . . (in his opinion, of course) . . .

Speaking of TV, people also flip through the channels to sift through all the programs to decide what to ultimately watch . . . (However, men just seem to keep sifting with that blasted remote control, especially during advertisements, causing the viewers around him to miss the key parts after the end of the commercials . . . Grrrrr . . . attention, all husbands and dads!) . . .

People sift through their clothes in order to decide what to wear to school, work, especially when they have a date or want to impress someone . . . (Some people, like me, even do it to look slimmer or taller) . . .

They also sift through the refrigerator and/or pantry trying to find something they want to eat . . . a number of times in a day . . . and for some, it's a few more times than others . .  (Guilty here!!!) . . .

Even children know how to sift. At home, they sift through their toys (often making a big mess to their mother's discontent) to decide which ones to play with at that time. In addition, they know that they have limited options when they go to a toy store. Hence, they move about the toy store like heat seeking missiles carefully looking at many toys, choosing their targeted items. At purchase time, they ultimately sift again and choose the ones they are allowed to get . . .

These, of course, are just a few ways that we sift in our lives every day. So, as you can see, sifting is as natural to us as breathing air. We don't even know we're doing it while we are actually doing it. Go figure!

Anyway, you can apply the principle of sifting when you go through life and sift through all the wonderful things and the bull%&^*, just like sifting through all the websites and webpages and ending up here to read my blog . . .  As you can see, YOU JUST DID IT!    = )

So, sift away and enjoy life under the sun!