Daybook Post: Week of April 27th

*Daybook posts  used to be one of my favorite types of posts to write. I am re-visiting that today.

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For Today... the week of April 27th.

Outside my window...

it is early in the morning, and it is still dark outside.  I am headed to the flea market in a few minutes where I hope to stay away from cookbooks!

I am thinking...

that writing blog posts requires a rhythm, and I am not quite there yet.  The space bar on my laptop isn’t working which means every single sentence I type has to be corrected. I have decided it’s a test. I have also decided it is time to leave it at Best Buy, where I hope it acts as badly for them as it does for me- so I don’t sound crazy.

I am thankful...

that I ,for the most part, can create my own schedule. After teaching for 32 years, I value TIME to do what I want to do when I want to do it- which isn’t always the case- but it is enough of the time.

I am wearing...

a knit nightgown from guess where?  Ross.  
For those of you who used to sew, remember the Make it Tonight Wear it Tomorrow patterns designed for double knit fabric? 

Even if I get rid of this favorite nightgown, it will never self destruct. Knit never does.

I am creating...

a pile of things to take to my daughter and grandsons at the end of May.  I miss them terribly.

I am wondering...

why NPR radio changed their morning program line-up.  It used to be so soothing and interesting to listen to Bob Edwards and others ease us into the day with interesting real life journalistic feature stories.  Now there is a program with someone loud and people speaking over each other. 

I do not want to hear what the journalist thinks- I want to hear what the guest thinks.

In my garden...

things are blooming! Plus I have more garden spiders this year than ever before.  I am constantly walking into cob webs that wrap around my neck- which then causes me to run around screaming.  You get the picture.

In my kitchen...

I hope my husband will cook supper tonight.

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Linking to The Simple Woman’s Daybook

Ridden Hard and Put Up Wet

 

 

For the last two days, I have been working in our garage, where it feels like a sauna- which is too glamorous a word for how it really feels.


I look and feel like I have been ridden hard and put up wet.


Why am I doing this?


Do I have some great organizational plan with coordinating labeled bins?

Was I motivated to start by some sense of housewifery?


Uh…no.


I started this because I couldn’t stand it anymore.




Here is what I have learned.


There needs to be a garage cleaning stool (on rollers) that lowers to the floor, but will also rise to the top  shelf where I store _______________  (fill in the blank).


I have an obsession with community, junior league, church auxiliary cookbooks.  There’s something about those spiral bound cookbooks, with their soft pages, that make me feel like I not only belong to that group, but that I am a great old school cook.


I have millions… I donated most of them yesterday, which made me sad, but I have a new mantra for garage cleaning:


I can replace this if I miss it, which is completely contradictory to the point.


In fact that will be easy at the flea market because other women my age donated their stashes of cookbooks, which have traveled to my area, and now I can have them!

It’s like a flea market Bookmobile!


Side note:  there are equal numbers of diet books at the flea market too.


Which ones did I save and why?

First off is To Market to Market , The Junior League of Owensboro, Kentucky.  I couldn’t resist the pink cover, the pig riding a horse and the fabulous recipes inside.

Next, International Delights, by the Welcome Wagon of Germantown, Tennessee.  Why?  I just know Tennessee cooks are good cooks.

 

And next, Sharing Recipes , from the 1948 Study Club of Baird, Texas.  I can not resist a Texas cookbook.

And now I realize this post may have taken an odd turn, and I know I sound crazy

Succulents and Silverplate

I have shared before that I may have a few too many pieces of silverplate.

I have the tangled proof in my cabinets.


This is all a result of finding pieces I could not live without at my usual haunts: thrift stores and the flea market. 



After a time, however, with certain collections, there are some ships that have sailed, right?


For example, I don’t think the White House is calling to ask me to host a state dinner any time soon.

My compromise?  I took a few of the least ‘precious’ pieces from my stash and added succulents.

 

That combination of shiny (or tarnished) silverplate and the different greens in succulents is stunning to me.

(I wrote about that here  , in a post titled Swelled Up at The Flea Market.


I  have also written about succulents here and the magic of combining them with Mexican pottery.)

One thing always leads to another, and I went through my stash looking for more pieces to use.

I found a Revere bowl with dents, 

an English tea container,

and another serving dish with an amazing handle.

Here are a few simple tips and the rules I broke along the way.

*The best price on small succulents was at Wal Mart  ($2.50 each).

*I also bought a small bag of cactus soil-but I don’t think this is necessary.

*I didn’t worry about drainage.


*****

Linking to Make it Pretty Monday at the Dedicated House

and

Amaze Me Monday at Dwellings

 

The Encouragers

I can’t imagine life without the encouragers who cross our paths.


They say to you and to me, wherever we meet,

I see you, you are not invisible, I see your effort, and I get it.

This is not just about complimenting people (which seems to be a lost art these days), but rather about noticing. 


It is one of my favorite things to do,with people I know and people I don’t know.



With people I know, it is part of friendship and connection.

It is commiserating or laughing wildly at what we both think is crazy.

It is saying to each other “I get you” .


With my students it may not have sounded complimentary , but it was.


Usually quietly at my desk I might say, ”You need to straighten up”, or “You know this, why aren’t you showing it?”, or “You’re smarter than this”.



With people I don’t know it happens in random places:


saying to a passing shopper at the grocery store “your hair looks great”,
or to a sales clerk who looks teary-eyed “everything’s  going to be ok” ,


or to the young Geek Squad member at Best Buy who is trying to explain why my computer is not really broken, “you’re doing good-hang in there with me”.



Blog land is full of encouragers.


They write emails to bloggers who are absent and ask if everything is ok.

They read posts and comment.

They continue to comment even on one way streets.


They write comments to say “they are glad you’re back!".

Dear Daughters: There Are Always Roses

My Roses Spring 2015

Dear Daughters,

Thank goodness there are always roses to grow ,
or a meal to prepare, or a friend’s particularly good advice to absorb, or an errand to run, or Leaves candles to burn, or a flea market to frequent.

You have your own list, I know.


These are the creative and necessary duties of life that distract us (in the most positive way possible) when our worry threatens our peace.


I am a great fan of distractions.


I imagine your Great Grandmother Mills’ list included things like hanging clothes on the line, or sweeping the kitchen floor, or working in her garden, or acts of kindness.


So don’t judge your postponement of worry time when other things call.


Just enjoy them.


I love you, and you have been my greatest distraction,

Mom

                                                                         Linking to Simple and Sweet Friday at Rooted in Thyme

and

Tweak it Tuesday at Cozy Little House