Feeling Almost Like Spring

I keep expecting that days will come when I feel like myself again.  It's been a long, strange year and a half and I still feel like I've had the rug pulled out from under me.  (Not the real rug, good heavens, at least I still have the rug. And as the Dude says, "it really pulls the room together", no matter where we have landed!)

Living near Chicago can make for the cultivation of an interesting wardrobe, since one needs clothes that work from -20 F. all the way up to well over 100.  It can be a pain, but it keeps life interesting.  Just when the closet feels filled with old, boring clothes we pack them away to sit just long enough that they'll feel like a new wardrobe when they come back out.  This year I feel extra blessed!  A bunch of my summer clothes were in storage last year and couldn't be found.  I was so pleased when my things were found (along with some of my favorite art books!) at the very back of the storage locker a few weeks ago.  It was like getting a shipment of custom designed spring clothes; just my size, perfectly suited to my taste.  It helped me to feel more normal . . . and just in time for the long over-due warmer weather. 

I noticed that the Vermont Country Store is selling my favorite Watercolor Dress again.  I would certainly recommend it as an investment for anyone who likes spring colors.  But mine - after some 18 months packed away - is the best.  It feels like spring.  It feels like normal!

Christmas Memories

Happy Family and one cat who is in heaven with the fascinating boxes and gift wrap.

Epiphany Greetings

Merry Christmas to all...
and to all -

"Epiphany Greetings".
This past year has been quite something.  And I would be less than honest if I didn't admit that moving twice in less than 12 months didn't take something of a toll on me - physically and mentally.  And I'm not even counting the sore shoulder I woke up with this morning. That would be from my foray onto the basketball court at Lilyanne's birthday party yesterday.  Perhaps the bounce house would have been a safer choice. Or sticking to trying to spin a basketball on one finger. Oh, a Harlem Globetrotter I will never be!

But we are settled into our home and it's finally beginning to feel 'homey' to me. Of course Christmas did help. Having the tree set up - complete with most of our favorite ornaments, though minus the 100 pieces of hand-tooled Victorian style tinsel - gave the house a feeling of continuity.  Next year should be even better as we find where more of the Christmas stuff is packed away.

At least Gangy didn't offer to spin the cake on one finger!

And I'm (albeit a few days late) making good on my New Year's resolution to blog more and kvetch less.

Reading while moving...

Finally, we're moving into our place.  Having moved twice since November, it's a little more tedious than exciting.  But it is going to feel so good when we've got everything sorted and into place!

I'm squeezing in a little time fore reading, too.  I just got a copy of Heather King's new book and am devouring it.  I've loved Heather's other books - and this book looks like it may be her best yet.  Will write more about it when I'm finished.  This is much more enthralling than "The Devil Wears Prada" which I had started reading as a diversion.  Definitely will finish "Stripped" before I finish wading my way through the travails of the fashion publishing industry.

Peacock Eye!

I'm not ready to commit to a tattoo.  If I stall long enough I'll make it through life tattoo free.  But I occasionally see tattoos I admire.  When I attended a Flannery O'Connor conference in Chicago several years ago I met a young woman who had the most exquisite peacock feather tattooed on her forearm and part of her hand.  If only it had been a temporary tattoo that could have been purchased at the conference bookstore - I'd have taken as many as possible!

Pinterest has had some stunning peacock eye makeup ideas. So...in the interest of mother/daughter fun time I asked Bridget if she would like to try giving me a peacock eye.  Just for fun.  Heaven knows she has multiple palettes of all the right colors.  Here it is.  Not too bad for a first attempt.  Not that I would leave the house looking like this, of course.  Of course.

This was not easy to remove. The blue was very...persistent!

What?

Me? Worry?  Well, I'm trying not to worry but everything has been a little trying lately.  So yeah, I have moments of worry.  It was pretty funny when I did a Google image search for my name.  Lots of funny stuff plus my old friend Alfred E.  So for old times' sake...

In the course of a meeting yesterday the problem of "Google issues" was discussed.  I don't exactly have Google issues.  Except that Googling myself brings up Alfred E. Newman.  There must be a deeper meaning beyond the fact that he's appeared in this blog before.  Deep.  But I won't lie awake worrying about it.

Holding Down the Fort

anxious and troubled about a few things.  First of all, holding down the fort when we're between forts.  Our time was up at our temporary house - and not a moment too soon* - two weeks ago.  Not having found the right place at the right price, we are currently split between two places.  My commute is getting to be a bit taxing, though I must admit I was spoiled by all the years of having a 7 minute drive
to work.

I guess I am still more of a homemaker than I thought, since I feel a bit at loose ends without my own space to 'make.' But I do find enough "Martha-ish" things to do in the course of a day.  And managed to find the time to write something about Ss. Martha and Mary, which I was so tempted to subtitle, Yes, We Could Clog a Dyson!



*it was the random gunshots that really wore our nerves thin. That and the crackhead who lived in the basement. Though the dog never quite was acclimated and went into a real funk when the daily fireworks began as soon as the whether warmed up.  Everyday was the Fourth of July in that neighborhood.  And July 4th itself was like a war zone.