In My Stylish Yet Affordable Boots

Thankful Thursday #2

You may notice that this is my second Thankful Thursday post, yet there have been more than two Thursdays this calendar year. This can be easily explained: I've decided that I'm following blogging rules similar to my friend Stinky's B52OMOLISBE rules. Mostly, I'm going to write about whatever I feel like writing, whenever I feel like it.

Which leads me to my second Thankful Thursday post. Today, I'm thankful for my collection of warm winter boots. They keep my feet dry and warm, which is important when it snows roughly every other day. Even if we're not getting hit here in Wisconsin the way they are on the East Coast this year, or like we did in 2007-08 or 2008-09, we've had a pretty steady stream of measurable precipitation over the last month.

Anyway, getting back to the boots -- when my mom died last year, and we sorted and donated her things, I snagged a pair of winter boots, since we wore the same size shoe. There's something kind of special to me about wearing those particular boots now, to shovel snow. It's almost as if my mom's helping me keep my feet warm.

So, there you go. I'm thankful for a pair of basic black Totes boots that are an awful lot like these.

I'm Alright

One year ago today, a light in my life was extinguished forever.

That morning, I thought I'd never stop crying, never eat and be able to taste food again, never make it to the next day.

It took some time, but I did all of those things. I have a wonderful (extended) family, who helped me laugh and smile, even in the midst of the hardest days of my life so far. I have amazing friends, who talked me through those days, let me know they cared, and encouraged me to at least eat something, even if I couldn't taste it. Eventually, that came back, too. I have an awesome husband who let me lean on him in the days, and all through the year, that followed. He even helped me buy a new slow cooker when I kept crying into my old one.*

The year has gone by so very quickly, and it seems impossible that it's been that long. But here I am, not only surviving, but thriving. Making the most of my new normal.

It's been a year, Mom, and I still miss you. Every day. But I'm doing OK.

*I was cooking in the slow cooker the night we got the call to come to the hospital. I threw all of the food into a container and into the fridge, before we flew out the door. So every time I tried to use the slow cooker, that night came back to me. New slow cooker, no more Crock Pot PTSD.

Too Much Stuff.

My friend Trina, over at What She Shovels, recently wrote a great post on the topic of keeping in your home only those things that are useful or beautiful. I'd already read the same post Trina did to inspire her writing, but didn't have the same takeaway at the time. Instead, I read it as Yet Another Blog Telling Me How To Declutter. With a fresh perspective - we'll call it The Useful and Beautiful Standard - I'm looking at the things in my house, and in my life, in a different light.

Now, I just have to train my packratty self to be decisive about whether something is Useful NOW, and not whether it MIGHT be Useful in the FUTURE. Hanging onto "just in case" things has netted me a whole lot of clutter and annoyance, and crowded out the Beautiful. It's long past time to rid myself of a lot of Stuff. Wish me luck!

 

 

Thankful Thursday #1

Today, when the 9 PM local news is predicting a low of 9°F, I'm thankful for my poorly-insulated, new-windows-and-doors-having, oil-fired-boiler-radiant-steam-heated home. As many headaches and woes as ownership of an 83 year old home can cause - most recently, spalled brick in our chimney, for which we are now collecting quotes - The Husband and I are fortunate to have a home with heat and running water and a bed. Many others, especially in the economic climate of the last few years, are not as fortunate.

A fundamental difference of opinion

I just finished watching Bill Maher's documentary, Religulous. (Seriously. It ended 1 minute ago.) While I agreed with a lot of his points, especially about the role of religion in the US government, his delivery of the material left a lot to be desired. Granted, it's Bill Maher, so the smug superiority of both his interview style and his delivery should not have come as a surprise. But what did come as a surprise was his flawed premise in a documentary about religion - basically a syllogistic fallacy:
1. Religion is made up of people of faith
2. Religion is responsible for many of the world's ills
3. Therefore, people of faith are responsible for many of the world's ills.

Unfortunately for his documentary, faith is not the same thing as organized religion, and not everyone who professes faith in a deity, or force of nature, or the universe, is part of an organized religion. The characterization of people of faith as inherently stupid, and lacking in intellectual curiosity and the ability to reason was, quite honestly, pretty offensive. In fact, I found it just as offensive as the words of fundamental Christians who claim to speak for all, as offensive as any extremist position that refuses to acknowledge other people have valid thoughts or beliefs as well.

I'm not going to delve deeply into my faith or religious beliefs here, largely because they're pretty personal and it's none of your business. ;-) But I will say that these are things that I HAVE spent a great deal of time thinking about, and still do. The suggestion that anyone who believes in something is an immature idiot...well, in this case, I think it says more about the person delivering the message than it does about the people he's describing. Perhaps Maher should take the advice of his closing words in the film, "Grow up or die". Minds that are that closed to alternate possibilities, in my opinion, are a kind of death.

Why I love social media communities

Where else, in the course of a day, can you have conversations about race relations & segregation, sewing machines, the Rapture, food, home improvement and repairs, children's toys, duct tape clothing repairs, customer service wins and woes, clothes, Chapstick, and a dozen other topics, from the serious to the mundane, with humor, intelligence, and respect?

You all know who you are, and I love our conversations.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night

But apparently, our valiant USPS mail carriers can be vanquished by the sorting machines. In my pile of mail today was this:

Luckily, this wasn't a bill or other important document (which we've had happen before), though it was not easy to read the Christmas greetings from my aunt & uncle. But I really enjoyed the half-blameshifting on the back:

Specifically: "...if you will continue to properly prepare and address each letter or parcel that you enter into the mailstream" and "We appreciate your cooperation..."

It just kind of smacks of, "I'm sorry if you feel bad...", doesn't it?

Stylish who?

I had plans today, to have brunch and see the Milwaukee Symphony Pops concert ("A Fabulous 50s Celebration", with guests Sha-Na-Na, and conducted by Marvin Hamlisch).  The show was quite enjoyable, from Mr. Hamlisch's arrival onstage, wearing a Green Bay Packers scarf, through to the final number, "Goodnite, Sweetheart, Goodnite".

I carefully planned what I wanted to wear today, so I could take my new Christmas gift from the The Husband - a lovely string of pearls - out for a spin. I had a lovely brunch. I enjoyed the first act of the concert. And then I discovered that my sweater was on backwards.

So much for attention to detail.

Happy 2011!

In 2011, I resolve to make no resolutions that will just cause me to beat myself up when I don't stick to them.

That said, what I hope for in 2011 is to be more mindful of my health, my words, my attitude, and my actions.  To read a little more than I did last year. Complain a little less. Learn a new thing or two. And most of all, live life joyfully and lovingly and purposefully.

Can't really ask for more than that.