Yay!!! It's Monday

Do you know what this means to me? It means that last week, that perfectly awful, most hateful of weeks, is now part of history. The week that lasted two hundred and thirty-two days, seventeen hours and eleven minutes (It did!) can no longer wreak havoc in my psyche. No, nothing catastrophic happened. The toilet didn’t overflow. I didn’t break my most favorite dish in the world from when I was a little girl. I didn’t attempt, and, subsequently fail, to bake bread yet again. I just felt, all week, like some unseen cosmic force bumped into the tablescape of my life and dis-arranged everything so that when I reached for my Spice of Life shaker, it was just to the left of where it should have been.

That cosmic jolt was hard enough that it caused my body to revert to PMOS, or Pre-Menopausal Operating System. After 9 months of thinking that I was totally through with that part of my life, (and being quite happy about it, I might add,) I had an honest-to-goodness period, complete with cramps, bloating, and bitchiness and tears a slight decrease in cheerfulness. As if that were not enough, I got what was either a cold of epic proportions, monster bronchitis or a really nasty flu bug. Whatever it was, it knocked me on my asthmatic butt. I spent most of the week puffing on my albuterol inhaler, eating Mucinex and ibuprofen and squeezing my knees together so I wouldn’t wet my pants every time I coughed. I still haven’t found the baseball bat that JD3 must have used to beat me about the head and chest when I went to sleep at night.

It must have been a lack of oxygen to my brain that caused me to string words together into stupidity and direct them at two of my most favorite people in the world, one of them being my daughter. I said what I said to her out of love and concern for her happiness, but it came out all wrong and I hurt her feelings. My motives were pure and I said it kindly, but I was waaaaaaay off base. When I think about it now, I think JD3 would have been justified if he really had beat me up with a bat.

I hurt my friend by being insensitive to her feelings on a particular issue. I laughed at and participated in a joke, which on the surface, seemed innocent enough. However, when viewed through the window of her life experiences, it wasn’t funny at all and made light of something which is very special to her. And then, I tripped over my clumsy apology and landed right smack dab in the tender spot that remained from the original hurt. She told me that “No, it didn’t hurt,” that I had been a part of it. But I think it did and I still feel awful about it.

Yes, I’m glad that week is done and I can start on a new one. After all, today is the first day of the rest of my life. And I have big plans. Today I get on with the business of starting that simple life I’ve been yammering on about for so long. What better way to begin than to join Peggy Hostetler at The Simple Woman's Daybook in taking a little look into the day plans and thoughts of those of us who are focusing on simplicity...the beauty of the everyday moments around us.



March 2, 2009


Outside my window... It’s gray and windy and cold. But it’s not snowing like they said it would.

I am thinking...that I really, really, reeeeeally want it to snow.

I am thankful for...my husband. I don’t think he realizes how much I love him and appreciate him.

From the learning rooms... It is very quiet. No, I didn’t home school my daughter, but when we were together, we were always learning from each other. She’s away at college now and I miss her very much. This past week has been especially hard.

From the kitchen... I think I will get one more cup of tea.

I am wearing...jeans, my favorite paint-spattered pink T-shirt and pink socks. The pinks are not the same color!

I am creating... a dishcloth and a pillow cover; both of which I plan to finish this week.

I am going...Wednesday to have lunch with a friend I worked with at Hospice.

I am reading... The Secret Life of Bees - very slowly. Very, very slowly.

I am hoping...that Anna feels better this morning and that there was a 2-hour delay in her class schedule so that she could rest a bit longer.

I am hearing... house noises - the refrigerator running, the heat pump humming. And an occasional car on the road in front of the house.

Around the house... the pets are sleeping peacefully.

One of my favorite things...peacefully sleeping pets!

A few plans for the rest of the week: I plan to clean and organize. Then sit down and actually write out goals for the week.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...





One of my goals for the week is to bake a prettier loaf of bread than this one!

16 Things About Me

A while back, when I logged on to my FaceBook page, I found I had been tagged! “Oh, no. What does that mean. And Anna’s not here to help me!”
(I tend to panic over computer stuff that I’m not familiar with.) And then I noticed that it was Anna who had done the tagging! So of course, I called her up and asked her what to do.

She led me to her Notes where I found this, her entry entitled Dang Memes! 16 Things About Me. These were the instructions:

Once you’ve been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 16 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 16 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it’s because I want to know more about you.

Well, if you know me at all you know that it takes a minute (or day or week) or two for me to get my thoughts together. By the time I was ready to post my own note, I noticed that people everywhere - or at least on FaceBook and in BlogLand - were doing 25 Things About Me. So, to be loyal to my sweet baby girl AND keep up with the newest meme (don’t you love that word?) out there, I decided to title this 16 Things About Me but actually tell you 25. And they are:

1. I am a Christian. I may not talk about it all of the time because I believe, as Benjamin Franklin did, that “A good example is the best sermon.” I have a real problem with those who call themselves Christians and quote scripture and speak fluent Christian-ese from atop their pedestals of self-righteousness, but don’t show the world any joy, or love or compassion. That, to me, is most un-Christ like.
2. I have been married for twenty-one years to a man who, although not perfect, is perfect for me. (Shhhh! I’m not perfect either!) We have one daughter who has grown into a beautiful young woman in spite of her goofy parents.
3. My sisters are my best friends (besides my husband and daughter.) They always have been and always will be.
4. I want to be a writer when I grow up. I’m so grateful to have a daughter who believes in me and always encourages me to go for it. (The writing. Not the growing up. I don’t think she has much hope for that.)
5. I have good friends, really good friends, that I have never laid eyes on.
   
6. Except for an occasional weekend or day trip with JD3, I’d rather be home than anywhere else.
7. My favorite place in the world, outside of home, is the mountains of NC. The thing is, it’s the mountains of NC. Mountains are high and I’m afraid of high. It’s a real love/hate thing.
8. I love hearing my husband play guitar and sing Neil Young, early Beatles and Moody Blues songs. Well, I like hearing him sing anything, but those are my favorites
9. If I ever won the lottery, I really would give most of the money away. I‘m happier now than I‘ve ever been. My life is simple and good and I don’t want it to change.
10. I spend an awful lot of time (and energy and flour) trying to make bread. It‘s not going well and I’m beginning to feel like a failure at Domestic Goddess-hood. I will, however, continue to fight the good fight and hope that one day, I can make a loaf of bread that will have my husband begging me for more and telling that his work day is intolerable if he can’t have a baloney sandwich made with my bread.
11. I cook for my dogs. I make their dog food and their treats. They always eat it all. They always want seconds. And they don’t care if it didn’t turn out just like the recipe said. (I’m way better at this than making bread.)
12. I think I sing better than my family thinks I sing. I know I sound good in the car and in the shower
13. I have big feet. Not clown-sized, can-we-borrow-your-shoes-to paddle-down-the-river big. But big.
14. I can blow spit bubbles off the end of my tongue. I don’t know the mechanics of it exactly, but I can form the perfect little round bubble right on the tip of my tongue and then, by exhaling and sliding my tongue back in at the same time, I can send that little darlin’ out to play with all the other little bubbles of the world. It’s a nice talent to have while waiting in a long drive-thru line.
15. I try really hard to be a kind and loving person. But sometimes, the mean that is in me rears its hateful head and I become quite impossible to live with.
16. I hate, hate, hate talking on the phone
17. I Love A Rainy Day - No, not the song. I really do love rainy days and I don’t care if rains every day for a week Except when the septic tank backs up. Then I don’t love it so much.
18. I’m going to paint my house red in the very near future. Bill Blass said that “Red is the color of happiness.” I have a happy house and I want it to look that way.
19. I like getting power tools for gifts. For Christmas, I got a drill press. For Mother’s Day, I’ve asked for miter saw.
20. In my glorious past, I was a runner. I ran 5 miles almost every night. Then one night, I didn’t. And the next night, I didn’t. And now… Well, I don’t run every night.
21. Like my daughter, I am a grammar snob. It makes my eardrums bleed when I hear someone use I when they should use me and use bring when they should use take.
22. I’m ambidextrous. The really important things in life (eating and writing) I do left-handed. Some things I do right-handed. Most things I can do with either hand. I can’t use scissors at all!
23. After almost 30 years of drinking coffee, I have switched to hot tea and like it so much better. Why ever did I wait so long?
24. I collect old doorknobs, old tablecloths, old dishes and quotations.
25. I’m one of those GRITS - Girls Raised in the South - and I wouldn’t have it any other way. But, and I hate to admit this, I like oatmeal better than I do grits. In fact, at this point in my life, I’m not even sure I like grits at all. Oh, the shame.

One thing I didn't tell you above, is that I am a world class procrastinator and nowhere is there more evidence of the fact than here, at poor, neglected little BeeMusing. I have things to say that I just don't get around to saying. Bear with me, friends. I hope that's getting ready to change.