Hints, tidbits, and here I am Monday, 19 January 2015

Outside my window...the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and one might think that it is an early spring day.  Then I stepped out there to take the garbage out and discovered the truth of the day.  The temperature hovers around the freezing mark belying the taunt that the sunshine makes.  I will make no complaint, however, about the chill in the air as long as it continues to be accompanied by the bright ball in the sky.

I am thinking...about conveniences.  Today folks enjoy such conveniences that were inconceivable thirty years ago. When my babies were young where were such pleasures as pay at the pump, drive through pharmacies, and online ordering. An Amazon subscription for delivery of such necessities as toilet paper, tissues, paper towels, laundry soap, baby wipes, and disposable diapers would have made me feel the need to never leave my home.  And yet I cannot help but believe that the existence of such helps will be helping to negate the need for the proverbial sharing of a cup of sugar over the back fence.  Why ask for help from a neighbor, develop a relationship so that stay at home moms can share babysitting and baking, and the closeness and sharing that comes from contact with people.  Getting to know the UPS driver isn't a valid replacement for neighbors and close friends and the realization of our dependency on each other.

I am thankful...for the outpouring of love and support for my birthday and for everyday.  The little messages of prayer, sympathy, inquiry, and support are bright spots and surprises that lift up my days in their little ways.

I am reading...The Serger's Technique Bible by Julia Hincks.  Saturday Doug too me to a bookstore and left me there for a few hours, what a beautiful way to spend a sunny Saturday (when you cannot go on a hike).  My self-restraint must be applauded and admired....pause for adulation...I only purchased three books while I was there. I think heaven will be living within walking distance of a bookstore, coffee shop, and the church.

Creativity....is still spilling out around here. I have a stack of new jobs to do, curtains that I took down Friday to pick apart so I can use them for yard-goods, a pile of ironing that is no longer something to be ignored, and a mountain of laundry that should have been done over the weekend.  My brain is cooking up some new ideas and places for it to go.  Sometimes there are just not enough hours in the day and, worse, I don't have enough arms to do all I want to do.

Friday, thanks to the awesome convenience of Amazon Prime and my new favorite UPS man the blinds and curtains I ordered came.  This wonderful man, after working an 10 hour day, set right to work taking down the old and putting up the new.

My taste may run to the utilitarian, boring, and non-Martha Stewart-ish but it works for me.  After years of living in a farm house with more important things to do than decorating, cleaning, and ironing window treatment I tend toward the plain and simple.  Now all the blinds work (hooray!!!!) and I can raise and lower them by myself and the curtains don't make me feel like a visitor instead of an inhabitant of this house.

Yesterday we took a drive around the country to get mom out and get some fresh air.  We passed this derelict and I had to stop and take its picture.  Both Doug and I were reminded of our son, Adam's favorite story from childhood, Mike Mulligan's Steamshovel.  It was named Maryanne and I find it ironic that years later that is the name of his beloved wife.

From the kitchen...there is spaghetti sauce on the stove and frozen raviolis waiting to go into the pot. For myself there is turkey breast, spinach salad, and steamed broccoli.

A few plans for the rest of the week...get through today and then move on to tomorrow.  There is so much to do everyday but I am reminded by another blogger, Julie Baldwin, that it isn't about how much I get done.