Simple Things

I read Christina's blog Soul Aperture and feel such deep happiness. She has a way of highlighting the ordinary and making me realize how beautiful daily life can be. I love her posts on simple things and I finally decided to list some of my own.

• Listening to my four-year-old granddaughter request a book from my "book room"
  
• A big pot of chili cooked by my husband, ready when I get home from work
  
• Books and my book room
  
• Email from my daughter
  
• Heated seats in my car when the outside temperature is 16 degrees!
  
• Sunshine
  
• Phone calls with dear friends
  
• Blogs—I love reading blogs!
  
• A free bookmark included in my latest book purchase
  
• Getting a copy of "The Big Tidy Up" after 30 years! This was a book by Norah Smaridge that I read to my children when they were little. We all loved it—and recently it was re-released—and now I own my own copy! (You can find it on Amazon.)
  
• Reading The Big Tidy Up to my granddaughter
  
• Covering up with my FuzzyWuzzy (like a Snuggie) in the mornings while I write in my notebook
  

I love the way reading one blog leads to another leads to another, etc.—and before you know it, you have discovered a site that makes your heart sing—and you are not quite sure how you got there—and you are so glad you did!

What Makes Me Happy

Friday evening, my husband and I spent time with our daughter, her husband, her two daughters, and her son who was celebrating his 22nd birthday. We ate at O'Charley's and had the best overloaded potato soup that I've ever had. We laughed, we hugged, we reminisced about when Randal was born.

This made me very happy!

One Word for 2010

Oh—I wanted to tell you about my word for 2010. This is my "One Word" ala Christine Kane and Ali Edwards. The idea is that rather than setting many resolutions that you will soon forget about, you choose one word as your guiding principle for the whole year.

 

I had sort of been noodling around with the idea that it was time for a new word, what should I choose, here is what I might want, etc. The word "flow" started popping up everywhere –in my reading, in conversations, on TV, on the internet. So I know that Flow is my word for 2010. And I realized that each year that I have done this process, the word has chosen me.

 

In 2008, my word was Trust—a word that I didn't want, and the universe wanted for me. In 2009, I was determined to pick a certain word because it was something I "should" work on—yet the universe kept popping another word into my consciousness—the word "delight." Not something I wanted to work on at all.

 

I began my focus by creating a collage on Delight. The intention was to keep adding to the collage through the year. That occurred only sporadically. My intention now is to create an end-of-the-year collage filled with things that delight me—if I can find the time.

 

Delight did keep slipping into my consciousness throughout the year. Some days, I felt sad or grumpy or depressed—and then I would think, "Can you find something to delight in?" Or something in my life would lift my heart, and the universe would whisper, "Isn't this delightful?" I noticed that delight usually comes from small incidences—a smile, a sweet, unexpected gift, hearing a favorite song, catching your favorite show on TV, finding a new blog, connecting with an old friend, or finding the perfect pen. I noticed that delight is sprinkled liberally throughout my days. I just needed to start paying attention.

 

So, the universe is now bringing Flow into my span of attention. Looking ahead, I think that this may involve becoming more flexible (yoga anyone?), less worrying, more spontaneity. I see pictures of rivers and brooks, water flowing from taps (remember the scene in Under the Tuscan Sun where water starts flowing from the tap in her hallway?), and blood flowing freely through arteries and veins. I'll have to look up the dictionary definition and write it down. I think of "Go with the flow," and being laid-back. I remember Luci Shaw's book, Writing the River. Oh, yes, my word for 2010 is definitely FLOW.

 

Websites and blogs that I like

A few of my friends have been asking me how I find the blogs and sites that I find. For some reason, finding blogs is one of my natural talents, which is ironic, since I used to be so scared of breaking my computer just by hitting the wrong key! I never dreamed that one day I'd be surfing all over the web and thinking that it is a breeze.

I started compiling a partial list to share on my blog and with my friends. One thing I need to emphasize to them is that most of the time, I am just following my curiosity and following interesting links. When you find a blog that you like, look at the sidebar. Most bloggers have lists of other blogs that they read. Also, most bloggers will mention a site and link to it in the body of their text. Patti Digh even devotes her Thursday entries to interesting, fun, or thought provoking sites that she has found. Follow some of those.

Another important tip is to bookmark or add to your Favorites list any cool sites that you find. Otherwise, later, you will think, "Now, how did I get to that site that I liked yesterday? And what was the name?" And you will draw a blank. Sometimes, I also just think of a subject that I want to read more about, type that word or phrase in Google, and see what comes up. I did that recently with Google images for "writing utensils" and "typewriters." I found a ton of cool sites and pictures just from that.

Read the comments on blogs and follow those links. Chances are if someone is reading a blog that you like and taking the time to comment, you will like what they have written also.

Oh, also keep your eyes open as you read magazines, newspapers, or watch TV. I've found blogs through those also.

So, now I will reveal, in no particular order, (Yes, I watch too much Dancing with the Stars!), some of the sites that I am currently reading. And of course, this is by no means a complete list!

http://brookecastillo.typepad.com/ Brooke Castillo's self development/weight loss site. I've read her book, If I Am So Smart Why Can't I Lose Weight? I like her writing, her advice, her encouragement.

http://www.danetterelic.com/drawingboard/ I just found this blog yesterday. So far, I like everything I've read. She is creative, positive, and energetic.

http://37days.typepad.com/37days/ Patti Digh's site. She is the queen of cool sites. She always has something interesting to say and interesting links to follow. If you only read her blog and followed just the links that she sends you to, you could stay busy and interested for a long time! My friend Cynthia has met her and said that Patti is just as amazing in person as she is on her blog—and she is a very genuine person. Read this one for sure!

http://www.looseleafnotes.com/ Colleen Redman's site. I love her writing. She is so real and so interesting. I have corresponded with her when I bought her book about her brothers and their deaths. I'd like to meet her someday.

http://www.beth-kephart.blogspot.com/ Beth Kephart, a writer for young adults/teens. I've read House of Dance and Nothing But Ghosts. I loved both books. I love the way she writes, and her blog entries sometimes take my breath away. And she loves to dance! I like that.

http://travelinoma.blogspot.com/ I found this site through reading her daughter Marta's blog http://martawrites.blogspot.com/ . Both of these women are good writers. Travelin Oma has been conducting a writing school, posting prompts every day that other bloggers have been responding to. I love reading about their family lives, travel, books, all the interests that they have. Marta also is interested in letterpress, which I love.

These are just a few links to get people started. I haven't even included any of the house blogs, or creativity blogs, or artist blogs, crafty blogs, vintage blogs or writing blogs that I like to read! So go on out there and follow some of these links. I think you might find something to enjoy.

Sensory Treats

I love the taste of:

• Mocha frappuccino with a shot of caramel
  
• My mom's noodles
  
• Candied sweet potatoes
  
• An ice cold Coca-Cola on a hot day
  
• Flourless chocolate cake
  

I love the sight of:

• My grandkids' smiling faces
  
• New books to read
  
• A rainbow
  
• The Mississinewa river
  
• Fountain pens
  

I love the sound of:

• Old time rock and roll
  
• Wind chimes
  
• 80's dance music
  
• Children laughing
  
• A flute
  

I love the smell of:

• Coffee (even though I don't like to drink it very much)
  
• Cinnamon and apple
  
• Paul Sebastian men's cologne
  
• A bookstore
  
• Fresh cut grass
  

I love the feel of:

• A baby's soft skin
  
• Flannel sheets
  
• A book in my hands (you knew that had to be in there somewhere!)
  
• A hug
  
• A soft kiss
  

These sensory treats were inspired by Jamie Ridler's http://jamieridlerstudios.ca/treats-a-catalogue-of-sensory-delights entry that she wrote after being inspired by the work she's doing in The Joy Diet http://www.amazon.com/Joy-Diet-Daily-Practices-Happier/dp/0609609904/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1256933737&sr=8-4 by Martha Beck. http://www.marthabeck.com/ Jamie leads an on-line group called The Next Chapter http://www.tnc-thejoydiet.blogspot.com/ . The group works through a book in unison and writes up their response weekly. I thought about joining this group because I have the book, I love Martha Beck, and I would love to be in a group like this. I've followed the group as they've worked through other books. At the time they started, I still didn't have a reliable computer, and I just didn't know if I would stick with the exercises. Maybe I'll join the next one. Until then, I check in, read their entries, and then do some of the exercises on my own. I guess that is "Learning by Lurking!"

So, how about you? What are some of your sensory treats?

Thankful Thursday

Things I am thankful for today:

• Having my granddaughter Shannon stay with us—she is a joy and brings new life to our house
  
• Family
  
• Feeling better
  
• Sunshine
  
• Connecting with people through the internet
  
• Blogs
  
• Writing
  
• Books (of course!)
  
• computers
  

Enamored of Outbuildings

This phrase has been circling through my brain for the last little while, and it describes my condition perfectly. I am enamored of outbuildings, longing for a barn, a pole barn, an unused chicken coop, or a tool shed that I could claim for my own. Alas, I live in town with a small yard and a lone utility shed out back that my husband built and claimed for storing tools and yard stuff.

I grew up on farms, lived in places that always had all the buildings listed above, plus a few more. We had a woodshed, a smokehouse, a milk house, and an old lean-to in one of the barnyards. I am accustomed to having an abundance of outbuildings, places that could be used for any purpose we came up with.

When I was little, I had a playhouse in the front of the woodshed. A place where I could decorate, cook mud pies, tend to my doll family and play house with my friends and even my brother when he could be coerced into it. Of course, he always got to be "Dad" and go out to work in the field or to his job in another part of the yard. I was the one staying in my house and hanging plastic curtains up in the open window or rearranging the pieces of leftover furniture and boxes that furnished my house.

So why am I enamored of these buildings now, now that I am a grown woman, a woman who plays house for real, whose children are grown and gone, a woman who theoretically has her own real house with space to use as she will?

My longing on the surface is just for more space, space where I can set up a craft room, or an exercise room, or a writing studio or a meditation space or a barn big enough to contain all these functions. That sounds like paradise to me. I want space to spread out, to sprawl, to unfold all my collections from their imprisoning boxes or the piles stacked in every available corner of my house. A place of my own, where I can leave out the current or not so current projects that I might be working on. Or thinking about. Or just like to see. So many times for me it is out of sight, out of mind. If I had a huge barn, I could keep everything out everywhere.

I used to envy the host on the show "Collector Inspector." He lived in an old 1960's schoolhouse with long halls and many rooms and he had walls of shelves with all his collections grouped, arranged and displayed like those in a museum or second hand store. I loved that house and that man—I think I wanted to be him!

I read magazines now like "Where Women Create" and "Studios." I see all the creative spaces that current artists, painters, quilters, collagers, writers, and designers use. Each space is as individual and quirky as the person using it is. Some pages I return to again and again. I think, "I could do that!" Or, "Oh, how wonderful!" I want a space of my own, just like they have.

After writing about the outbuildings of my childhood though, I think that the childhood feeling is a big part of longing for my own shed. Yes, I could keep my stuff out there, or I could be like the famous and not so famous writers who go out to the shed every day to write or meditate. So grown up. Yet going out to that shed of my own would revive that feeling of having a special place, a place all my own, that feeling of being young with a life full of possibilities ahead of me, a life where I could make those fantasies come true. I want that feeling of largess, of boundless possibilities. And that is why, right now, I am enamored of outbuildings.