Cleaning: Where are you on the Marie Kondo scale of tidying right now? I adopted her methods a couple years ago (and my drawers still reflect it, amazingly), but it's fun to see her in action. That moment in each episode where Marie kneels and greets the house almost makes me cry. It feels silly, but isn't that a lovely thing to do? Whether it's prayer or simply pausing to practice gratitude, it immediately takes you out of your mode of looking at things with a critical eye, which feels particularly poignant when it comes to the home. Your house and your things are part of your life, and it's healthy to acknowledge that as you release the things that no longer serve their purpose.
No regrets, just mental exercises: (via karigee.com):
"Everyone makes a youthful promise not to get old and regretful, but every choice we make, by definition, rules out something else, so there’s always something to what-if about. Even the people happiest to be doing X are still going to wonder occasionally, what if they’d chosen Y? Sometimes this is sad, yes. Sometimes, though, it’s just routine maintenance on an open and dynamic mind." - Carolyn Hax
How's my generation doing? Millennials and Burnout, plus: The Death of the Sick Day.
A kinda resolution: One of my goals this year is to practice curiosity, to ask strangers and acquaintances questions I normally would be too shy to ask, or think too intrusive (though I'd still want to be somewhat careful with this). Joel's stepmom is my model for this - on her last visit she asked our server to tell us about the tattoo on her arm, and her explanation (hesitant, at first) evolved into a teary story about her mother. We are all worth the time it takes to connect - it often just takes a question to open the door. I'm also trying to alter my tendency to make conversations about myself, i.e., you tell me about your experience and I liken it to something that happened to me. I'm trying to work on more follow-up questions about you (whoever you may be).
Happily stumbled upon: Caker Cooking. I had never heard of this term, but I think I grew up among a good number of cakers after perusing this blog. The author describes a caker as "an Anglo-Saxon who cooks with Cheez Whiz, Cream of Mushroom soup and Cool Whip. The word 'caker' is a short form of 'mangiacake,' a term coined by Italians." I have eaten all the things on this page at potlucks, except for the tomato soup cake (what?!??). The blog project is now defunct, but it was fun to click around and feel nostalgic.
GOALS: Elise got to wear all this stuff she made in 2018.
Howards End by E.M. Forster. I started this past week and I am loving the writing at points, but also wondering if I really want to continue just for the writing, because the plot is not grabbing me. Plus, I want to read so many things right now.
Happy birthday to my cat. We've kept her for six years.
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| Photo credit: Joel |
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