Tagged: goodthings

22
Jan
2006

WHEN IT HITS YOU, YOU FEEL NO PAIN*

Martin and I discovered today that the snow isn’t really white. It’s blue and violet and grey and silver and white. Where the lowering sun paused behind the trees and shone, the shadows melted along the sloping sides of every drift. It only sparkled on the sunny side, but we agreed both sides were beautiful. We’ve got a good half hour walk mapped out now, and we march along, arms swinging free, talking about whatever subject strikes our (mostly his) fancy. One of his Christmas presents was a little suitcase full of illustrated boardbooks about the different countries of the...

19
Jan
2006

TOOTH DELAY

A long time ago, I learned my lesson the hard way when it comes to regularly scheduled dentist visits, when a years-long hiatus resulted in the most intense stabbing pain I’ve ever experienced, aside from labor. So bad that on the way to the emergency dentist for some painkillers to get me through until my regular toothman could see me, I literally stopped the car and smacked my jaw into the driver’s side window for a minute because I couldn’t focus and it wouldn’t stop and I needed to give my mind something ELSE to think about so I could...

16
Jan
2006

CAREER PATHS

When I was 17 I thought a career in childcare was a definite possibility. I was good with kids and they liked me, and I could round them up, sit them down and get them to be quiet within minutes. I remember flooring a couple of teachers that I worked with as an aide my first few days at the daycare on the outskirts of Michigan State, when they came into a room that a few minutes earlier had been expanding like a JiffyPop, to find the 5-year-olds and I seated in a large bunched circle on the floor, quiet...

11
Dec
2005

ROCKING AROUND

The surface of the desk is strewn, STREWN I TELL YOU, with the detritus of Christmas: cards, postcards, envelopes, pens, lists, address books, newsletters, photo pages, school photos, a stapler. There is a small stack, slowly growing, of sealed and addressed cards. There are no less than 3 address books. Underneath it all somewhere are the final shopping lists of gifts yet to be bought: a niece, a nephew, my husband, my soon-to-be-sister-in-law, my own. The mailing date for cards overseas is the 16th, I’ve been told, and I still have a package to mail after those final gifts are...

10
Dec
2005

ALL IN ALL, A GOOD DAY

When you have children, birthday parties come with the territory, and birthday parties for children usually mean having your house invaded by 10-20 hyperactive, sugar-buzzed maniacs who trash the place, snub the food, and forget to say thank you until prompted by their parents, who look remarkably relaxed, which really should come as no surprise considering THEY’VE just had a 2-hour break from their offspring. muahahaha! Not this year! We took the hyperactive maniacs to Andy’s Playland instead and let them sweat their little hearts out running like lab rats mad through the labyrinth, bouncy castles, trampolines, ball pit, etc....

28
Nov
2005

THE RIGHT WAY TO START OFF YOUR WEEK

1) Watch the sunshine sparkle off the snow 2) Find out in a salary discussion with your boss that you are getting a very respectable raise! 3) Eat an excellent sushi dinner 4) Be given a gift at the monthly meeting from the board and members of your women’s club for your dedication and service over the past 7 years. I should give up my board position more often! 😀 5) Bring home 12 bags of different kinds of Christmas cookies from the cookie exchange 6) Go to bed at a decent hour and get a good night’s sleep

27
Nov
2005

I MADE IT THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

The last thing on my self-imposed list of things to get done this weekend is design and print Martin’s birthday party invitations, and I’m rapidly running out of time, so this might be a short post. I feel like running up and down the steps of a museum in Philadelphia with my clenched fists raised in victory over my head. Excuse me for a moment while I digress in disgust: I just went to google a photo of Rocky to link to in that sentence and found an article about tourists at the Philadelpha Museum of Art that said this:...

24
Nov
2005

SOME, BUT NOT ALL OF THE THINGS I’M THANKFUL FOR, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER

jet fuel long-distance cabling microelectronics backrubs language family ties lenses hearty laughter bread commitment contentment generosity embraces sleeping in good graphic design throat muscles printing presses debit cards paychecks candlelight anticipation hot showers speed recording devices adhesives willpower girlfriends good luck medical advancements paintbrushes beauty decks of cards potatoes ice water kindred spirits spontaneity grammar memories trees hospitality The Best of All Big Birthday Wishes (a little belated) to gnostraeh!

21
Nov
2005

THERE IS ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL FOR

A week is too long. I start to stumble and slide. My temper slips, and slithers a bit. I don’t know how single parents do it, I honestly don’t. Anders is home, even if for just a one-night-stand-stop, in the midst of his business trip, and suddenly I’m walking on sunshine again. 🙂 It helped that the SUN was also walking on sunshine again today. How many days in a row is that? I’ve lost count! UNPRECEDENTED! It’s been a magical autumn with all the unaccustomed sunshine we’ve had in Sweden, long may it continue! It makes it so much...

06
Nov
2005

SOMETHING SOFT OR SPONGY OR SHAPELESS

What do you all think about the increasing use of advertising on all kinds of blogs? I find they make sites with good content hard to read and full of distracting ugliness. I can understand why people feel compelled to move in that direction, especially if it’s true that the advertising really does pay for the webhosting costs, or more, but I think it’s a real shame. Some of them I can read on my LJ friends page thanks to their RSS feeds, without the annoying and ugly advertising, but others only give a few lines and I still have...

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