Monthly Archive: January 2010

30
Jan
2010

SMOOTH AND CLEAN AND FROSTY WHITE, THE WORLD LOOKS GOOD ENOUGH TO BITE*

Yesterday, when I drove to work, everything was coated with hoarfrost, making the trees look like diamond-bright winter caricatures of their leafy green summer selves. No chance to take photos, since I didn’t have a camera with me, and the frost had melted by evening. Crisp and clear and blindingly sunny today; our backyard is a pristine white blanket of snow. I filled the bird feeder and hung it in front of the kitchen window. There are no berries on anything, the birds have stripped every bush and tree clean. Most of the birds I saw today were sitting hunched...

29
Jan
2010

THREES

One of my favorite bloggers made a comment on a post by another of my favorite bloggers that struck me. She was talking about to-do lists and said that she has been trying to make a to-do list for each day that only has THREE things on it, because three things almost always get done. There’s no emergency about three things. I like that idea. Another blogger that I like was making lists of 3 delightful things a day for awhile. I like that idea, too. Threes seem to work so well for so many different reasons. My to-do lists...

28
Jan
2010

SNOW SHOVELING & MENU PLANNING

I don’t feel much like writing. Listening to myself think all the time is dull. I already know what I’m going to say. It snowed sideways yesterday, for most of the day; the blizzard we had been promised. Indeed, it lived up to its fanfare, dumping nearly a foot of snow over the course of the day. It wasn’t very wet snow, despite the speed with which it stuck, and when I went out in the still chill evening after the storm had passed, to shovel the drive and the walkway, it was a double-puff duvet of white sparkling beauty....

25
Jan
2010

THINGS TO DO IN A QUIET HOUSE WHEN YOU’RE ALONE

Sing out loud. Warble. Yodel a little bit. Talk to yourself. Wander through the rooms and touch things. Pet an old teddy bear on the head. Make note of things that need to be done, now that you suddenly have the chance to SEE things around you without any whirling chattering children filling up your senses. Read for uninterrupted hours. Watch a movie that doesn’t have any superheroes or superpowers or animation in it. Lie on the couch and stare out the window. Get messy with craft stuff at the art table. Organize a cabinet or a closet. Put things...

23
Jan
2010

ROOM RENOVATION

I didn’t get my own room until we moved to Belgium, the year I turned 13 but once I did, one of the best things about having my own space was getting to change things around to suit myself. I loved to rearrange my room. I’d move furniture around every so many months, trying out every possible combination of filling the space. I’d move the pictures I had taped or tacked to the walls. I’d rearrange the books in my bookcase and on my shelves. Interior design was an appealing career path. I still feel this way, but having a...

22
Jan
2010

MEH, BEGONE!

When I left work today, on time for once, at 4 p.m., it was still light out. The sky was cloudy but it was high and white and light. There’s a lot of snow still on the ground, so everything has this grey frozen sheen to it, and with the reflective cloud cover, it feels much like being in a cold steel box. BUT! It’s a cold steel box that is getting lighter inside. Even though we’ve had a decidedly cold winter so far, it’s still not THAT cold. I walk around with my coat open all the time. A...

21
Jan
2010

GRUMPBUCKET

Have you ever actually rubbed a cat the wrong way? It feels kind of cool, not exactly smooth, but not exactly rough to your hand. The cat will only tolerate it for a moment or so before making her displeasure known. I suspect it must feel sort of what it feels like to take your hair down from an updo or ponytail that’s been in place all day: your skin kind of feels stretched weirdly for a little while. Anyway, being rubbed the wrong way is unpleasant. Rubbing someone else the wrong way is also unpleasant. I feel like I’ve...

18
Jan
2010

WORDS OF WISDOM

“The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life.”—Jessica Hische A type artist & graphic designer whose work I admire was featured on Humble Pied recently. It’s a website that highlights advice—one piece of advice—from one inspiring person every few days. What a neat idea! Sometimes out of all the blah blah blah that constantly passes through your receptors, it’s that one sudden striking of a clapper inside the bell of your brain that stands out and makes you sit up and pay attention. It arrests you, snaps...

17
Jan
2010

OH HECK, IT’S UP TO MY NECK

Messy mush of conflicting feelings; the usual state of affairs in my head these days. I don’t seem to have any level days, it’s up and down, a constant motion. If life were a boat, I’d be hanging over the side, green in the gills, heaving. Last week, the first official week back at work had me with my head down, pounding through a monster list of projects and requests and emails with barely a chance to come up for air. If I hadn’t worked during my last week of vacation, I’m positive my head would have exploded by Friday....

16
Jan
2010

15 MINUTES OF FAME

American Liz – “You never want to say that you are the best, even when you are!” ————————- Then & why I came here: My dad was in the military and our family lived quite awhile in Europe when I was a teenager. I longed to go back. Luckily, I fell in love with a European, a Swedish man. We met in Chicago, USA and in 1997 decided to move to Sweden. ————————- One of the first things I learned when I came to Sweden was the word “fika”. I’ve never met a people with such a love of cookies...

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