It’s a free game in which you collect brightly colored produce, flowers, rain drops, wheat sheaves, and acorns. You accomplish this by moving pieces around the board while dealing with Darwin the Goat who eats wheat sheaves and Fidget the Squirrel who thunks acorns with his tail.
What’s not to love?
Zen-Den, on the other hand, was reading a copy of Smithsonian magazine, but he looked up to ask me how my game was going.
I told him I was on a particularly fun, but difficult, level where in order to win I needed to get Fidget the Squirrel to whack all the acorns on the screen.
To which Zen-Den commented: “Sure, any game in which nuts get a little tail is a good one. Enjoy.”
{ File this under: NEVER TAKE YOURSELF TOO SERIOUSLY }
• A FEW WEEKS AGO WHEN I began to think about what my One Word for this year would be I was sure it’d be SMART. My egotistical little brain that craves attention told me that this word was a good one. But after The Orange One made reference to Putin being smart I could not, in good conscience, use the now tainted word “smart” as my one word.
• THEN WHILE READING A CHRISTMAS GIFT, a wonderful book of essays called I’m Judging You: The Do-Better Manual by Luvvie Ajayi, the word BETTER seemed like it’d be my One Word. But the more I thought about this word the less applicable it seemed to my overall mind-set right now.
It’s not that I don’t want to strive to be a better version of me, I do; it’s just that I feel that “better” could be anxiety-producing for me, a reformed semi-perfectionist who has finally become comfortable with the concept of good enough.
• WELL, ON NEW YEAR’S EVE I still had not decided on a word for 2017. In a last-ditch effort to discern what my One Word would be, I approached the problem in a less cerebral, more spiritual way. That is, as I drifted off to sleep I intentionally put the question into my mind, so that when I awakened the next morning the first thing I thought about would be my answer.
And my spirit didn’t let me down. No, thanks to it I had a word for 2017 that allows me to creatively incorporate the essence of smartness with the desire for betterment. Yes, my whole being told me in no uncertain terms to: RELAX.
So I think I will. 😉
Question of the Day
DO YOU PICK ONE WORD TO BE YOUR THEME FOR EACH YEAR?
If so, what’s this year’s word and how did you come by it?
If not, what do you do instead? Resolutions? Goals? Nothing?
it’s no surprise, really, that as we approach the end of December there is discord amongst the ± 3,000 suburbanites here in Mom Trails.
Some residents are not happy with what the HOA has done. This time.
The story of this holiday discord is set in our multi-acre hilly subdivision where, from what I can tell, no one shops in stores, everyone shops online. From mid-November through December, UPS & FedEx deliver here almost daily from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
~ ~•~ ~
“When I’m worried and cannot sleep,
I count my blessings instead of sheep,
And I fall asleep counting my blessings.”
~ ~•~ ~
TO KEEP things simple…
UPS & FedEx have put large plain storage units in the four flat pool parking lots. These storage units have all been discretely placed away from the street, close to the pool houses where you barely notice them as you go by.
Then multiple times throughout the day the large delivery trucks, that we usually see on our curvy streets, go to these units where the drivers drop-off copious amounts of stuff, while door-to-door delivery people drive around the subdivision in cute energy-efficient golf carts delivering the stuff to each house.
~ ~•~ ~
“When my bankroll is getting small,
I think of when I had none at all,
And I fall asleep counting my blessings.”
~ ~•~ ~
I LOVE this idea because…
1) it keeps the large delivery trucks from blocking traffic on our streets during the day [safety]; and 2) these companies have paid the HOA for the right to put these storage units in the unused pool parking lots [cha-ching].
However, neighbors who do not know how to count their blessings are displeased to see the allegedly tacky storage units around the subdivision, and are trying to stop what the HOA has already contracted to do.
*shakes head at the stupid*
So it is with this little glimpse into my holiday suburban world, that I leave you, my gentle readers, with the following musical number that melodiously encapsulates my opinion on this latest HOA controversy.
And even though it’s awkward to say something, remaining quiet, somehow, seems wrong considering how not normal all of this is.
For me, an introvert, this holiday season is quickly morphing into, if not the worst one ever, high up there on the list.
I admit that it’s not like I adore this time of year to begin with, but I am, at least, trying to be social. Talking sense + spirit. Attempting to meet people halfway.
Not ranting about politics.
But after this presidential election, there’s an orange elephant named Donald in the room, and people are getting completely whacked, saying goofy things that do not put them in a good light.
ARE YOU FINDING THIS, TOO?
~ ~ • ~ ~
So far I’ve heard…
Well, we couldn’t have a girl running the country, now could we? I had to vote for Trump.
I finally got a gun so with Trump in office I’ll be prepared to shoot anyone [Nazis?] at the door.
If you’ll only empathize with the Trumpsters and talk with them about the true meaning of democracy, I’m sure they’ll come around to a more moderate point of view.
I’m glad Obama is out of office. He made me buy health insurance, that I was going to do anyhow, but I don’t want him [a black man?] telling me to do it.
I hate, hate, hate to the nth degree anyone who voted for Trump. I can’t talk with them anymore. I just cannot.
~ ~ • ~ ~
EACH ONE OF THESE PEOPLE IS NUTS IN A DIFFERENT WAY.
But the thing is that I’m not their therapist, so I can state an opinion. I’m not their confessor, so I’m not required to forgive them. And in many cases, I’m merely an acquaintance, so you’d think they’d keep their attitude to themselves.
But sadly they don’t.
I mean, on the one hand I don’t care how delusional people are as long as they’re no danger to me or society; but I can’t help wondering if I don’t figure out a way to speak up consistently against politically based crazy, am I not contributing to the problem?
Much hustle and bustle. Much family related stress. Much TV watching for the non-shoppers, much discount shopping for the wackos people who like to do that sort of thing.
I thought a few fun links might be appreciated this week while you, my gentle readers, eye-rolled at familial lunacy OR made like a potato on the couch OR foraged in over-heated junked-up stores.
Whatever you decide to do makes no difference to me, but please…
Be safe. Be happy. Be.
~ • ~
A cheery anthem from an unlikely source that gets us where we’re going.
Details about wishbone karma just in time for Thanksgiving.
Take the “What State Do You Actually Belong In” quiz. Find out, for sure, where you belong. In case you’re unclear about this. Or you’re just looking for something to do. Which is how I stumbled upon this quiz. Which turned out to be spot on.
• • •
I’ve often thought that if you don’t like autumn around here, then there’s something dead in your soul.
I can understand not liking our gray, snowy winters. They are dreary and can sap your soul, requiring a certain kind of physical and mental strength that not everyone has.
That some years I don’t have. No problem, there. That I get.
But to not like fall here in Ohio?
That seems most peculiar to me, oh Autumn-haters.
• • •
Here’s what I mean.
Autumn is just beginning around here and already the weather has turned cooler, dropping into the 50s at night, and the humidity is gone. I’m sleeping more soundly at night, windows open, and am wearing sweaters, or fleece, during the day.
A more alert me, and you, is good.
The leaves on the trees and bushes have yet to turn colors, but each day a few leaves fall onto the ground, a precursor of what is to come: bold colors, naked trees and clear blue skies by day + dark starry skies by night.
This will be good, just wait and see.
And what about the fact that fall ushers in HallowThanksMasNewYear, a time of endless candy, cookies, costumes, outfits, and decorations? Hmmm? Had you thought of that, oh Autumn-haters?
Sweetness and sparkle is good for all of us.
• • •
Obviously if you, oh Autumn-haters, insist on not liking this season, despite my thrown together well-reasoned and quickly written impassioned entreaty to change your mind, I will let it go.
Which, I do believe, now that I think about it, is the subtext of this entire season.
Zen-Den and I were sitting in our living room the other evening.
Zen-Den, on the other hand, was reading a copy of Smithsonian magazine, but he looked up to ask me how my game was going.
