We have been without couch for a week, which was an interesting experience. I hadn't realized how much it figured into our daily lives.
One of the folks I follow in the blogosphere has been on a year-long quest to thin-out the stuff pile. Starting in January, every day she's been getting rid of a little something that she doesn't need hanging about anymore. 365 less things in the stuff pile at the end of the year. I can dig that. I don't quite have Katy's dedication, but I admire the impulse.
It’s funny how a littlest thing can change your perspective. My dad recently gifted me a little redwood cabinet he made ‘round about the time I was born. When I was a kid, it hung in our kitchen. There were creamers in it. Two of them were shaped like cows.
I don’t know what happened to the creamers, but the little cabinet found its way to my house and on Sunday, I hung it in our bathroom. Which prompted me to sort through all my hairpins and corral them into little jars that fit nicely in the cabinet. Shawn and I stood back to admire the addition.
I don’t want to gloat, but check me out.
Here we are, one turkey fatter (two in my case), past the first of the holidays and on to the next. Black friday is not a mall day for me; you couldn’t pay me enough. But fall has to scoot over for winter and at the DeArmond home, Friday was the day. We scooped gutters, raked leaves, and combed the lawn. The removal of the detritus from the front yard revealed the first tips of the winter bulbs making their way up. i got the leaves into a pile on the curb just in time to miss the green waste collector from city. Yay me.
Coming into the house this afternoon with my car keys in my hand and Luke in my arms, I hear a bump. Like the sound I routinely make when tripping over the laundry basket on the way to the bathroom in the dark of the night.
I freeze.
“Why do the people at the paint store always look at us like we’re nuts?”
“Total lack of vision, I think.”
“Hmmm.”
Shawn and I are crossing the parking lot of the hardware store armed with four cans of paint and a spur of the moment home improvement idea. The day before he had been at Ikea with Luke and gave me a call.
Sliding my jeans back on after dance class late on Tuesday night, I felt a bulge in my pocket and reached in to pull out a cell phone, a cable needle, and a binky. This is very indicative of my life right now.
It’s been quite the week.
Luke and I saved a computer client from a malicious software threat on Wednesday. Sometimes duty calls when preschool isn’t in session, you know? Luke played with pretend sushi on the floor of the server room while I worked. I explained everything to him as I went along.
“So what do we know about viruses, Luke?”
“Virus bad.”
Have I mentioned how much I love my new backyard? I love my new backyard. Who takes on landscaping projects in the dead of winter, you ask? Us, apparently. Though I would point out that yard work in the middle of a Central Valley winter makes a lot more sense then yard work in the middle of a Central Valley summer. 50ºF or 100ºF; you choose.
Let’s play “What if?” It’s a good thing to do. You know, so you know you’re prepared for whatever life hurls at you. Car trouble or power outages or zombie attacks... You know, the basics.
Alright, now it’s time to play our game. What do you do if you’re putting away the dishes and the phone rings?
