Dear Julia,
What is it about whoever designs affordable clothes? Why do they not understand that women have hips AND they have waists? Why do all the pants I try on have waists as big as the hips?
I went out today in a pretty much futile attempt to find some new capris (see a previous post for the sad story of my favorite capris). I tried on lots, but really, none fit. I bought one pair, but even those don't fit all that well. They fit about as well as the Unfortunate Pair, and they were actually bought at the same store, so I figured I might as well get them. They will at least provide something different to wear to work. I shall make every attempt to keep this pair from meeting the sad fate of the Unfortunate ones.
At one of the stores, the one I used to work at, they have these nifty little labels for the length of bottoms - capris, bermudas, shorts. The one thing they didn't have a label for was one called the 'skippers'. What are skippers, you ask? They are what I would call pedal pushers. I guess that name is too passe, so someone decided to come up with some cutesy name for them. Skippers. Huh.
I've gotten lots done on that afghan I'm working on, and hope to get more done tomorrow. :-)
Love,
Lynn
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Productivity
Dear Julia,
I'm not sure if productivity would have been a word you would ever have used, but it is used commonly now. For me, it means that I got a lot of little things done in a day, or that I got quite a bit finished on a long project.
Today was a day when I got a great deal accomplished (finally!). I feel as though it has been years since I had a day like today. My energy was high, my focus was good, and I felt able to finally follow through on things.
First of all I tackled the huge pile of laundry that has accumulated in my basement. Last weekend when we were cleaning up for a showing of the house, we tried to neaten up any of the laundry that wasn't done yet (mainly because we knew we wouldn't have any time to put all that laundry away if it was clean!), and left it at that. I got several loads finished and three loads folded. Put away, you ask? No, most of it is not actually put away, but I will put my pile away tonight and the other members of my family will have to put away their own!
Next I washed the dishes, cleaned off the counters, and put all the items from our "showing box" that has been sitting on the counter all week. What is a showing box, you ask? For us it means a box that we bring out when we have a showing, into which we stuff anything that normally resides on the counter next to the phone, any current mail, any papers that usually hang on the side of our refrigerator. This box is then put away with some of the other boxes we have previously packed. After the showing we then take the box out and put the items back where they belong - or at least sort the items that had not been sorted (opening mail, that kind of thing). I did a good purge of the items that had been hanging on the fridge, and went through all the mail. That felt good. I also cleaned off the kitchen table.
After lunch Hubby and the kids and I went for a little drive in the car he was thinking of buying. We stopped and had ice cream. :-) The day was much cooler than we had expected, but it seemed an appropriate thing to do on this traditional first weekend of summer. And the ice cream was very good!
While Hubby was gone making the decision about his car, I got a new lamp! Well, actually I didn't buy a new lamp, but I did spray paint an old one to make it look new! It was an old brass type lamp that we have had since we got married 15 years ago, which my mother-in-law bought for us at a garage sale. It has been a useful lamp for many years, but it has never been particularly attractive. I had a brainstorm the other night while watching yet another episode of "Get It Sold" on HGTV, and realized all I needed was a can of black spray paint! I got the paint weeks ago, but that energy burst today was what I have been waiting for. I must say, it looks rather good. Almost like a wrought iron lamp. I am pleased.
While each coat of the paint dried, I weeded in my garden. Yes! I did. I know I'm always saying I'm going to weed, that it needs to be weeded, and that I hardly ever get around to it. Usually it is a case of horrible black flies or extreme heat that keeps me from the flower garden, but today it was lovely weather with just enough wind to keep the black flies away. Lovely! I didn't finish it all, but I got quite a bit of it done.
Plus! Yes, there is more! I worked on the baby blanket I am crocheting for quite awhile, too! I still have a long way to go, but I am more than half way done. I am determined!
So, Julia, all in all, it was a very productive day!
Love,
Lynn
I'm not sure if productivity would have been a word you would ever have used, but it is used commonly now. For me, it means that I got a lot of little things done in a day, or that I got quite a bit finished on a long project.
Today was a day when I got a great deal accomplished (finally!). I feel as though it has been years since I had a day like today. My energy was high, my focus was good, and I felt able to finally follow through on things.
First of all I tackled the huge pile of laundry that has accumulated in my basement. Last weekend when we were cleaning up for a showing of the house, we tried to neaten up any of the laundry that wasn't done yet (mainly because we knew we wouldn't have any time to put all that laundry away if it was clean!), and left it at that. I got several loads finished and three loads folded. Put away, you ask? No, most of it is not actually put away, but I will put my pile away tonight and the other members of my family will have to put away their own!
Next I washed the dishes, cleaned off the counters, and put all the items from our "showing box" that has been sitting on the counter all week. What is a showing box, you ask? For us it means a box that we bring out when we have a showing, into which we stuff anything that normally resides on the counter next to the phone, any current mail, any papers that usually hang on the side of our refrigerator. This box is then put away with some of the other boxes we have previously packed. After the showing we then take the box out and put the items back where they belong - or at least sort the items that had not been sorted (opening mail, that kind of thing). I did a good purge of the items that had been hanging on the fridge, and went through all the mail. That felt good. I also cleaned off the kitchen table.
After lunch Hubby and the kids and I went for a little drive in the car he was thinking of buying. We stopped and had ice cream. :-) The day was much cooler than we had expected, but it seemed an appropriate thing to do on this traditional first weekend of summer. And the ice cream was very good!
While Hubby was gone making the decision about his car, I got a new lamp! Well, actually I didn't buy a new lamp, but I did spray paint an old one to make it look new! It was an old brass type lamp that we have had since we got married 15 years ago, which my mother-in-law bought for us at a garage sale. It has been a useful lamp for many years, but it has never been particularly attractive. I had a brainstorm the other night while watching yet another episode of "Get It Sold" on HGTV, and realized all I needed was a can of black spray paint! I got the paint weeks ago, but that energy burst today was what I have been waiting for. I must say, it looks rather good. Almost like a wrought iron lamp. I am pleased.
While each coat of the paint dried, I weeded in my garden. Yes! I did. I know I'm always saying I'm going to weed, that it needs to be weeded, and that I hardly ever get around to it. Usually it is a case of horrible black flies or extreme heat that keeps me from the flower garden, but today it was lovely weather with just enough wind to keep the black flies away. Lovely! I didn't finish it all, but I got quite a bit of it done.
Plus! Yes, there is more! I worked on the baby blanket I am crocheting for quite awhile, too! I still have a long way to go, but I am more than half way done. I am determined!
So, Julia, all in all, it was a very productive day!
Love,
Lynn
Dear Julia,
Dear Julia,
It has been so long since I've talked to you! I'm not sure if you will even remember me. Do you remember those days when it was just the two of us, you and I? You wore a cloak, almost always (there has always been something so evocative about that word for me, cloak). I've been wracking my brain for the last couple of days to remember your last name. Forgive me. I know it will come to me in a day or two.
I thought maybe writing to you would be a good way to blog. I can share my days, my silly stories, my joys and ideas. If you will let me. Would that be permissible? I hope so.
Love,
Lynn
It has been so long since I've talked to you! I'm not sure if you will even remember me. Do you remember those days when it was just the two of us, you and I? You wore a cloak, almost always (there has always been something so evocative about that word for me, cloak). I've been wracking my brain for the last couple of days to remember your last name. Forgive me. I know it will come to me in a day or two.
I thought maybe writing to you would be a good way to blog. I can share my days, my silly stories, my joys and ideas. If you will let me. Would that be permissible? I hope so.
Love,
Lynn
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Felt like a Monday
I had a lousy day. I won't go into details. It's not important. But it really was a lousy day. The drive to work, a couple things that happened at work, going to the doctor. But the really kicker was when I came home ready to relax for a bit....
I went to put on my favorite capris, the ones that are still nice enough to wear to work if it is going to be hot, but comfy enough to just bang around the house. The ones that go with everything, are so easy to just slip on when I want to get comfy in the late spring like today. The ones that actually fit just right and actually look pretty good on me. Yep, those.
Well, I evidently did just what I said I wasn't going to do, which was put them in the dryer. Now, I'm not a complete ignoramus - I do know that if something is 100% cotton, one might not want to put things in the dryer for fear of shrinkage. I try not to dry things that I really love because of just this fear. I swore when I put them in the laundry the other day that I would pull them out and hang dry them, even if it meant I had to iron them, and even though they are not 100% cotton. I'm not going to be taken in by security in whatever percentage of the capris is not cotton. Nope, not me. I'm going to make sure they stay just as comfy as they have been for some time, just as comfy as they were all last summer. I have a hard enough time finding things to fit that I have learned this lesson the hard way. Instead of "No Soup for you!" it was "no dryer for you!"
Fast forward to a weekend where I felt lousy but then found out late on Sunday that we had a showing of the house on Monday. Some scrambling to clean, it must be admitted, did occur. Having felt lousy for several days I had not caught up on the little piles of papers or the larger piles of laundry. I whipped through a couple of loads (or maybe it was the hubby who did that), folded them and put them away so as to neaten the house and make sure the laundry area didn't look like a wreck. Somewhere in there, I put a load in the dryer, brought the load upstairs when it was done, folded it and put it away.
Fast forward to me this afternoon. The legs go into the legs of the capris, they ease up over the hips, but lo, though the button can be buttoned and the zipper can be zipped, they are too tight. Too tight in the waist, too tight in the backside. Not good. I wanted to cry. Coming on the heels of the lousy day, it was just too much. To make it harder, I could not blame this on anyone else. No unfeeling husband or recalcitrant child could be blamed for this blunder. I had no one but myself. Not a good feeling.
I did what one must on occasions like this. I put on something else, I threw the errant capris on the floor, and I called a girlfriend. I explained, complained, and was comforted. Distance from the lousy day was obtained, and entertainment was obtained from a story about her stressful week (with humor involved - don't go thinking I'm completely unfeeling!). Phew.
So the more positive side of my nature rejoices in the fact that tomorrow is, indeed, a new day and it is bound to be better than today! Thank God, indeed, for that!
I went to put on my favorite capris, the ones that are still nice enough to wear to work if it is going to be hot, but comfy enough to just bang around the house. The ones that go with everything, are so easy to just slip on when I want to get comfy in the late spring like today. The ones that actually fit just right and actually look pretty good on me. Yep, those.
Well, I evidently did just what I said I wasn't going to do, which was put them in the dryer. Now, I'm not a complete ignoramus - I do know that if something is 100% cotton, one might not want to put things in the dryer for fear of shrinkage. I try not to dry things that I really love because of just this fear. I swore when I put them in the laundry the other day that I would pull them out and hang dry them, even if it meant I had to iron them, and even though they are not 100% cotton. I'm not going to be taken in by security in whatever percentage of the capris is not cotton. Nope, not me. I'm going to make sure they stay just as comfy as they have been for some time, just as comfy as they were all last summer. I have a hard enough time finding things to fit that I have learned this lesson the hard way. Instead of "No Soup for you!" it was "no dryer for you!"
Fast forward to a weekend where I felt lousy but then found out late on Sunday that we had a showing of the house on Monday. Some scrambling to clean, it must be admitted, did occur. Having felt lousy for several days I had not caught up on the little piles of papers or the larger piles of laundry. I whipped through a couple of loads (or maybe it was the hubby who did that), folded them and put them away so as to neaten the house and make sure the laundry area didn't look like a wreck. Somewhere in there, I put a load in the dryer, brought the load upstairs when it was done, folded it and put it away.
Fast forward to me this afternoon. The legs go into the legs of the capris, they ease up over the hips, but lo, though the button can be buttoned and the zipper can be zipped, they are too tight. Too tight in the waist, too tight in the backside. Not good. I wanted to cry. Coming on the heels of the lousy day, it was just too much. To make it harder, I could not blame this on anyone else. No unfeeling husband or recalcitrant child could be blamed for this blunder. I had no one but myself. Not a good feeling.
I did what one must on occasions like this. I put on something else, I threw the errant capris on the floor, and I called a girlfriend. I explained, complained, and was comforted. Distance from the lousy day was obtained, and entertainment was obtained from a story about her stressful week (with humor involved - don't go thinking I'm completely unfeeling!). Phew.
So the more positive side of my nature rejoices in the fact that tomorrow is, indeed, a new day and it is bound to be better than today! Thank God, indeed, for that!
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Ideas, inspiration and a bit of disgruntlement
I'm a bit tired of feeling lousy. One thing that is getting me down is watching very little other than HGTV. When I'm sick, I like to just watch something that doesn't require any emotional investment, and HGTV is good for that. I have a thing for makeovers, and this channel has those in abundance, every half hour. I love seeing the transformations, the character of houses, the incredible ideas that some of the homeowners and designers have. I like the budget makeover shows the best, because I can't quite understand spending tens of thousands of dollars on a bedroom or bathroom. I love to see what they do with very little money (and usually a lot of paint).
I have noticed, however, that watching all these shows does make for a bit of discontentment with what I have. I am sure this is exaserbated by having the house on the market, and thus wanting something more in the first place. Having all these ideas and no money, and this weekend, no energy, to do them is a bit frustrating.
I have a floor lamp that needs some help. My mother-in-law gave it to use when we got married, something she picked up at a yard sale, because we needed a lamp. It's in sad shape, but was probably once a brass type finish. I had a brainstorm one day, and thought painting it too look like one of those wrought iron lamps you see in catalogs might work. I have the paint, but haven't had a chance to get it outside and paint it.
I also see all the little things that should really be done (especially if we get some traffic through the house to go along with the drop in price). Bits of painting outside, a bit of organizing inside. So frustrating to not be up to doing it. But I am committed to taking it easy today so I don't feel worse tomorrow.
So I must watch myself and my feelings of disgruntlement (which are natural, really, considering how we've had so little interest in the house) and discontent, be content with today, and hope I don't dream about dining room chairs again, like I did this morning! :-)
I have noticed, however, that watching all these shows does make for a bit of discontentment with what I have. I am sure this is exaserbated by having the house on the market, and thus wanting something more in the first place. Having all these ideas and no money, and this weekend, no energy, to do them is a bit frustrating.
I have a floor lamp that needs some help. My mother-in-law gave it to use when we got married, something she picked up at a yard sale, because we needed a lamp. It's in sad shape, but was probably once a brass type finish. I had a brainstorm one day, and thought painting it too look like one of those wrought iron lamps you see in catalogs might work. I have the paint, but haven't had a chance to get it outside and paint it.
I also see all the little things that should really be done (especially if we get some traffic through the house to go along with the drop in price). Bits of painting outside, a bit of organizing inside. So frustrating to not be up to doing it. But I am committed to taking it easy today so I don't feel worse tomorrow.
So I must watch myself and my feelings of disgruntlement (which are natural, really, considering how we've had so little interest in the house) and discontent, be content with today, and hope I don't dream about dining room chairs again, like I did this morning! :-)
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Shop, sniff, shop, sniff
Happy Mother's Day!
I had a lovely day, despite waking up to the news that we had no power. It came back on just as I was leaving the house! Of course. I met my mom in Kittery and we had lunch, chatted for a long time, then shopped. Naturally it was the last store we went into, 20 minutes before they closed, that I found some clothes for myself! It was nice to have the money for Mother's Day so I could spend it on myself without guilt!
The weather was very nice, though quite breezy. Quite a change from the crazy thunderstorm we had last night. Maggie and I went to Kaylyn's dance recital yesterday afternoon, stopped here at home to pick up the boys, then went to the James and Danielle's for pizza, a birthday celebration for DJ, and a piano recital! In the middle of it all, the rain came pouring down, then stopped just as suddenly. It was nice to sit down and eat and talk with friends!
My cold is still hanging around, hence the sniffing while shopping. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better.
I had a lovely day, despite waking up to the news that we had no power. It came back on just as I was leaving the house! Of course. I met my mom in Kittery and we had lunch, chatted for a long time, then shopped. Naturally it was the last store we went into, 20 minutes before they closed, that I found some clothes for myself! It was nice to have the money for Mother's Day so I could spend it on myself without guilt!
The weather was very nice, though quite breezy. Quite a change from the crazy thunderstorm we had last night. Maggie and I went to Kaylyn's dance recital yesterday afternoon, stopped here at home to pick up the boys, then went to the James and Danielle's for pizza, a birthday celebration for DJ, and a piano recital! In the middle of it all, the rain came pouring down, then stopped just as suddenly. It was nice to sit down and eat and talk with friends!
My cold is still hanging around, hence the sniffing while shopping. Hopefully tomorrow it will be better.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
You're feeling very relaxed.....
Last year for Mother's Day, hubby gave me a gift certificate for a one hour massage. In turn, for Father's Day, I gave him the same thing. He has had that massage and a few more since, and until today I hadn't had any.
Today I finally redeemed that gift certificate and had the massage. It was lovely. I have had massages before, but the place I used to go to isn't there anymore. This was my first time at this place. The therapist was very nice, and really listened to what I said needed work, etc. She found that my hands were really tight - no doubt all that knitting and crocheting I do, and even gave me suggestions for how to stretch those hands out each day.
When I first got out, I felt kind of lousy (I think because it had ended with me face down, which wasn't ideal with my cold!), thought relaxed. Now I feel pretty darn good!
So last year's Mother's Day gift was finally used, and I hope I feel just as relaxed and refreshed tomorrow as I do today!
Today I finally redeemed that gift certificate and had the massage. It was lovely. I have had massages before, but the place I used to go to isn't there anymore. This was my first time at this place. The therapist was very nice, and really listened to what I said needed work, etc. She found that my hands were really tight - no doubt all that knitting and crocheting I do, and even gave me suggestions for how to stretch those hands out each day.
When I first got out, I felt kind of lousy (I think because it had ended with me face down, which wasn't ideal with my cold!), thought relaxed. Now I feel pretty darn good!
So last year's Mother's Day gift was finally used, and I hope I feel just as relaxed and refreshed tomorrow as I do today!
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