Icy Transformations

The icy weather turned every blade of grass into a statue . . .
And made drapes of the beeches . . .
And transformed pine trees into giantesses in icy dresses . . .
Or arches, sadly.
It showed off the blues . . .
And brought out the reds . .
Vividly.
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Scatterbrained Day

Fatigue made me even more scatterbrained today than usual, but at least I managed to get a few things done. I worked. I did several loads of laundry. I remembered (though late in the day) to put something into the kids’ Advent calendar. I also bought some Christmas gifts. So the day cannot be called a total waste.

One thing I did not do was to go to the impeachment rally. I had hoped to, but the weather was just too nasty. The driveway was a sheet of ice, and the car was frozen shut. The weather has only worsened since, which has relieved me of any guilt I was feeling over staying home.

Meanwhile, the poor trees are struggling under the weight of all the ice that has accumulated on them. I cringe every time I hear the wind blow. I’ve already heard two limbs break and fall to the ground, and my hubby thinks he heard a third. I expect there will be more losses overnight. I hope they don’t fall on our vehicles or power lines, and I hope the temperature gets high enough to melt the ice tomorrow. Otherwise, we may be stuck with it for a few days.

Now it is late, and I must go to bed. Wish me good sleep. I will need it. Christmas is only just over a week away, and there’s still so much left to do!

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New Plan Required

Sure enough, the school called at an ungodly hour (5:20 a.m.) to tell us that school had been cancelled. I had brought the phone into the bedroom so that I could answer it without leaving the room. It still woke me up so badly that I never got back to sleep. If it hadn’t, my hubby’s phone ringing a couple of minutes later in a nearby room would have done the trick. Once again, instead of getting to sleep in, I got robbed of a couple of hours of much needed sleep. It’s going to be a very long day.

So, my hubby and I have agreed to a new plan. The next time a storm approaches on a school night, we’re going to turn off the ringers of all the phones so that they won’t wake us up. We’re going to get up at the usual time and check our messages. If there’s a delay or a cancellation, we’re going to quietly enjoy a little extra stress-free morning time. We would rather miss an opportunity for sleeping in than lose our normal share of sleep!

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Need Sleep

I made the deadline for ordering my Christmas photo album, but just barely. Now I am tired. I wish I could sleep in, but bad weather’s coming, and how much do you want to bet that the school will call and wake me up at 6:00 a.m. to tell me that I could have slept in if they hadn’t woken me?

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The Cards Are Done!

I finally ordered my holiday cards today. I often order from Shutterfly, but not this year. Their card designs were pretty, and if they would have let me buy the quantity I needed, I would have paid what they asked. But I just couldn’t live with the choice they were forcing on me, to buy too few cards (25) or too many (50). So I went to the Walgreens website, where I was able to order 40 cards, which is how many I needed.

The Walgreens cards aren’t as pretty, but they cost less. That’s a choice that I can live with (sorry, Shutterfly!). As an added benefit, since Walgreens prints in-store, I’ll have the cards tomorrow. That means it won’t be my fault if they get mailed out late!

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Marshall Art

Dear Marshall,

You make wonderful art. You draw your pictures in pencil on plain or lined paper. You fill the pages with eyeball creatures and yeetonomuses, spaceships with death rays and other advanced technologies, nuclear bombs and TNT, and tiny, doomed humans. They’ve gotten increasingly detailed as you’ve gotten older and improved your drawing skills.

The beauty of your art lies partly in what’s going on behind the scenes. You don’t merely show us your pictures. You tell us stories about what’s happening in the picture, pointing out each detail and explaining what it means. You get so deeply involved in it, it’s almost as if you’re living in the pictures yourself.

Sadly, you do not take care of your art. It often ends up on the floor, where it gets trampled, wrinkled, and ultimately destroyed. Very little of it has been properly preserved. That makes me sad.

Now, as I’m clearing up the clutter on my desk and finishing up my 2019 photo album, I’m taking the time to scan the art that I have. I’m afraid the quality won’t be very high. Some pictures are damaged. Some are only photocopies of your original work. But, it’s what I have to work with, and it’s better than nothing. I will preserve what I can.

I’m not going to post the pictures on my blog, because you’ve reached an age at which I don’t think it’s fair to share your work without your permission. I will, however, include some of it in the photo album. I hope that later in life, when you see the pictures in the album, you will know how much I treasured your art and the stories that went with it.

Love,

Mom

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A Poor Start

Last night I looked out upon the world and decided that the weather wasn’t bad enough for a school cancellation in the morning, so I went to sleep expecting to wake up at the usual time. I did not bring the phone with me into the bedroom. So, of course, the school called at 6:00, and I had to get out of my cozy bed to answer the phone.

It wasn’t a cancellation, but rather a 2-hour delay. The idea of sleeping in a couple of extra hours sounded pretty good. But, to sleep in, you have to be asleep, and that’s something I couldn’t seem to manage when I went back to bed. I tossed and turned for hours, until I finally gave up all hope of falling back asleep. I ultimately got up later than usual but less rested.

This was not just a poor start to the day, but also a poor start to the season. We are only three days into December and I’m already short on sleep. I hope I can catch some extra Z’s soon. If not, it’s going to be a very difficult month!

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Lessons from 2019

  • I am not diabetic, but (duh) I feel better when I eat regular meals and limit the amount of simple carbohydrates that I consume.
  • To comment on social media is to invite other people’s opinions, but to state a contrary opinion is nonetheless a fundamentally aggressive act.
  • I should say “yes” more often.
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Do It Flamboyantly

To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.

William James

This quote came from one of my quote books. I had flagged the quote with a sticky note, then left the book on my desk as a reminder to add the quote to my blog. It was an unfinished task, and you know how unfinished tasks are. They tend to breed, and they make messes while they’re at it. I don’t need any more messes, that’s for sure, and I am trying to change my life by being less of a slob. So today, rather than simply shove the book back on the shelf with the note still in it, I took the time to type in the quote. It’s hard to be flamboyant about one’s attempts to be neater, but know that when I put the book back, I did it with a dramatic flourish. ๐Ÿ˜‰

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That’s That

Now that my bedroom is fully furnished, it’s become my little den of peace. I am adamant about keeping it that way. In the morning I open up the shades and the drapes to let the sunshine in. At night I close them to shut the world out. I make the bed every day, even going so far as to get Martha-Stewarty with the throw pillows.

Hard to believe, isn’t it? Because in the past, I was never the bed-making type. I never really saw the point of it. If you’re just going to climb back into the bed at night, why bother making it neat in the morning? But now the world has gone full-on crazy and maintaining a comfortable, controlled space is one of my ways of coping.

No one is allowed to ruin it, not even the man with whom I share it. He’s already tried a few times. He left some lightbulb boxes strewn randomly around (the nerve!). So I neatly arranged them on his shelf. He left a pile of laundry on his side of the bed (such audacity!). So I folded it and stacked it on the blanket chest.

Now, as we contemplate getting our house into shape for Christmas, there is one rule that cannot be broken: NOTHING may be temporarily stored in our bedroom. I don’t care what kind of messes we have to create or tolerate elsewhere in the house, we are going to treat the bedroom as a sacred, inviolable space. And that’s that!

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