Read. Write. Live deliberately.
I don’t think I’ve ever posted a TToT quite this late in the weekend.
I’ve been doing all the things this week and through the weekend and like this awesome camouflaged Rotten Cat, I’m pretty tired. I need to wrap it up and get some sleep.
But I’m here and I’m doing it but it will definitely be short and sweet. Follow, please…
Continue Reading "TToT – Best Day Ever and Bedtime"My husband is no longer allowed to do the grocery shopping.
It’s not because he isn’t willing. He never protests when we need a store run. And it’s not because he’s bad at it. In fact, in the two years he spent as the at-home guy, the Hub became very proficient at navigating the grocery store aisles. He knows the store better than I do because he was the designated shopper during our store’s renovations.
The reason he isn’t allowed to shop any more is because of this:
![20160110_142914[1]](http://themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/20160110_1429141-e1452482323999.jpg)
I can’t believe it’s the weekend again already.
I also can’t believe that Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone, that autumn is now two-thirds past, and we’re heading rapidly toward Hanukkah next weekend and Christmas not far behind.
Time moves so fast… What is it that Ferris Bueller said? “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I definitely don’t want that to happen. I want to be aware of the life I’m living.
And so it is good practice, especially in times when life is busy and stressful, to just…be. We need time to stop and look around, to find the quiet moments for which to be thankful, the moments that give our life meaning.
So let’s talk turkey…
Continue Reading "TToT – We’re Here Already?"I skipped the TToT link-up last weekend.
I never do that.
It wasn’t for lack of intent or even lack of things for which to be thankful. It was simply the result of circumstance. So this week I have plenty to add. Mostly I think I’ve found many ways to acknowledge small bits of progress (remember that word – my long lost One Word for the year?) and to keep the positive efforts flowing.
Let’s start with the beauty of autumn. I love this season most of all and even if the color changes aren’t the most spectacular around here this year, I still love everything about this particular season and its changes. The empty corn fields across the road from us struck me as particularly interesting this year…there’s a post coming, I think.
![20151020_084323[1]](http://themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20151020_0843231.jpg)
There’s a lot going on around here right now.
The in-real world is pretty stressful and demanding right now and I’d be lying if I said I’m handling with anything close to finesse. I’m not. I’m exhausted. I’m not sleeping. My eczema is springing up like crazy. I’m getting pimples – and that’s ridiculous. I didn’t even have them in puberty. Why now for crying out loud? I’m cranky and nervous and I’m driving my family insane. Even the Rotten Cats are kind of staying away…
![20151010_205628[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/20151010_2056281.jpg)
So, yeah. Finding the thankful this week was not at the top of my Things-I-Can’t-Wait-to-Do list this week. In fact, Christina mentioned on Facebook that she was kind of wondering how to get the TToT done when you’re really not feeling it. At that moment, I thought my list was going to be one of Clark’s hypo-gratitude type posts. I think most of us have been there at least once. Right?
Well I’m kind of there again.
But at some point on Saturday morning it occurred to me that even though I’m really having a tough time seeing what’s going well right now, there is a lot of good in my life. It comes in the form of the people I have around me.
For example…
Continue Reading "TToT – My People"It’s birthday time again!
Well, it was. Tuesday was my birthday and it was quite possibly the most absurd one I’ve had in a while – maybe ever.
The day started off fine and quite as usual with a Happy Birthday text from Super Sister at 12:01 AM. Always. I love it. I am thankful for that little ping on my phone in the middle of the night every year. Later in the day, I got to see my Mom for a while. It always feels kind of right to spend some time with the person who is responsible for getting you here. I’m thankful for my Mom for so many reasons.
We still have balloons left from Zilla’s birthday celebration a couple of weeks ago. Yay. It’s been kind of birthday central here all month, so that was cool. I can be thankful for decorations that were already in place and make the house feel fun and festive!
![20150612_122128[1]](http://www.themeaningofme.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/20150612_1221281.jpg)
This summer is going to be different…
This summer I will spend some time on a bit of the usual. I will clean out closets, scrub under the stove burners and above the kitchen cabinets, and think about having a garage sale.
But this summer will also be different…
I will do those usual things, but I will also spend more time reading the books I have piled high for so long. I will make time for what is important to me. I will listen to music and look at art and learn something new.
Everybody has that friend.
You know the one. The friend you meet for the lunch date that ends at 5:00 PM when your husband calls wondering if you’re stranded in a ditch somewhere. The friend you can talk to about anything, because we all need to bounce those topics off of someone else for comparison’s sake. Just to make sure we’re not completely insane.
Marcia Kester Doyle’s Who Stole My Spandex is a lot like that lunch date. One story rolls seamlessly and hilariously into the next as Doyle shares the ups and downs of middle age and menopause. By the end of the book, Doyle is a lot like that friend with whom you can discuss absolutely anything, including all manner of bodily functions – yours and everyone else’s.
I believe in full disclosure.
Translation: I was delighted to fall on the number in the TToT link-up Sarah designated as one to answer these questions because neither of the other two posts I’ve been working on are ready to go this morning.
I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling seriously behind the eight ball this morning and there’s only enough coffee creamer for one cup this morning. It’s going to be that day.
So here’s a little light reading for your Monday morning until the pace picks up a little tomorrow…
I have finally figured out how to be in two places at one time. Sort of. A while ago I submitted a funny story to Vikki Claflin for her “Finding the Funny” serious over at her place, the hilariously accurate Laugh Lines. This afternoon, for the first time in like a week, I scrolled through…Continue Reading “Finding the Funny at Vikki Claflin’s Laugh Lines”