One of my all-time favorite quotes that makes me smile no matter what.
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This past week has been a doozy. Not in especially good ways, either.
I’d planned on, well– planning, then doing, during the week. Using my free time to go shopping at the mall for some spring clothes. To go for a walk outside. To be less here in the blogosphere, even.
But the Universe laughed at me.
Scoffed in fact.
“Ally Bean you shall stay at home, connecting with bloggers* by leaving comments** hither and yon***, whilst you await your next house calamity,” said the Universe.
“And your house calamity will manifest as your husband leaveth the house to drive 4 hours north in a snowstorm to check-on his 80-something ailing parents, one of whom is in the hospital.”
The Universe can be difficult at times, you know?
“And further, Ms. Bean,” the Universe said, “you shall be forced to look at said house calamity whilst your husband dealeth with his parents’ woes, because there will be nothing you can do to repair a roof, and subsequent ceiling damage, until the snow endeth and spring cometh for real.”
Oh yes, the Universe can be a trickster.
So this is where I find myself today. Looking at water damage on the ceiling in the… [wait for it]… newly remodeled master bathroom.
Because, I guess, the Universe thinks that I need to stay home worrying, then waiting for various people to start traipsing around this house as they fix things.
Again.
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Photo of ceiling damage [shown at a jaunty angle] that will need to be repaired inside the house after we have the roof repaired outside the house. Obviously.
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* To be clear I enjoy connecting with bloggers and have used this week to organize my feeds. All 70+ of them.
** I’ve also been systematic about leaving comments on all the blogs that I follow, because while “lurking” and “liking” are nice, as a blogger I believe that comments are wonderful.
*** If by chance I’ve left a comment on your blog, and you’re one of those bloggers who doesn’t like comments, then mea culpa. Also if my comment made little sense to you, please forgive me; my heart’s been in the right place this week but my mind’s been scattered.
As predicted we have snow here this morning. There’s about 3-4″ on the ground at the moment, but it’s still coming down– half-heartedly, but it’s still snowing.
The schools are closed, less because of the snowfall, more because of the icy road conditions. I’d planned to venture out to Kroger this morning, but I looked in our freezer + pantry, and have decided that I have the makings for Thai Chicken Curry, so that’s what’s going to be for dinner.
Safer to stay in, you know?
I’ve cooked more this month. The most interesting dishes I’ve made so far are Split Pea & Ham Soup + African-style Beef Stew. I like anything that combines a bunch of ingredients, allows them to get to know each other in a pot, and then provides us with leftovers.
Preferably freezable.
Like the current weather conditions.
[What a card! She must be from St. Louis. Very old joke, that one.]
In other news, I’m not doing the A To Z Challenge this year. However, a few bloggers who I follow are doing it. I made a list of these intrepid folks who’ll be writing almost daily in April.
The list is at the end of this post should you like to follow them, too. And perhaps proffer a few comments on their blogs to show your support. Just ‘cuz that’s what friendly bloggers do.
N’est-ce pas?
So with that observation and/or challenge, depending on your point of view, I’m going to go start some laundry, curl up with a book, and have a winter-like day, on the first full day of spring.
What’s up with you today, my gentle readers? Tell me in the comments below and I’ll live vicariously through you.
Oh, also– if I’ve left anyone off my A To Z Challenge List let me know in the comments and I’ll add you to the list.
I think the above is proof positive that I was destined to be a blogger.
Sure, some people might only see a short story + crayon drawing created by an 8 [?] year old kid. A homework assignment. On Manila paper. Written with a pencil. Demonstrating Zaner-Bloser penmanship.
But I see a future personal blogger. Did I not tell you what we did? Did I not share an image that supported what I wrote? Did I not make the whole page look pretty?
Why “yes” Ally Bean, you did do those things at age 8. Those things that today, getting to the crux of it here, might tempt one to ask:
ARE THOSE NOT THE THREE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF GOOD PERSONAL BLOGGING?
Why “yes” they are, Ally Bean. And to think you only had to wait about gazillion decades for your natural blogging talent to manifest and be appreciated by tens of people.
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A stack of books:
I went to the bookstore. A real one. Brick and mortar.
I bought books that I’d either heard about from other people, or looked interesting to me in the moment. In the end, after putting some books back on the shelf, I bought the ones shown above, described below.
It was only after I got home and created this stack of TBR books that I realized two of the titles referred to dirt. This seems appropriate considering that we’re heading into Spring when gardening season begins and bulbs bloom– as explained in my homework assignment seen at the top of this post.
And on that happy note, I’m going to enjoy my day as a full-fledged blogger [whatever that means] and as a bookworm who needs to get reading.
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~QUESTION OF THE DAY~
Please answer one of the two following questions. Individuals who answer both questions will receive a gold star.
When did you realize that you were destined to be a blogger?
or
What books are loitering in your To Be Read stack?
When people talk about how much they hate winters around here, it often has less to do with the snow + ice, and more to do with the lack of bright natural light and showy colors, as shown in the photo above.
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Even the trees around here, who reveal more of themselves in the winter, don’t seem cheerful– making the little boxwood bushes, who do the color green like nobody’s business, seem almost frivolous.
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Of course interspersed with the low-light days we get a day like last Thursday. A day with the sun shining brightly in the clear blue sky. A day made for looking up through leafless, snowless tree branches. A day for contrast.
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But then we’re back to a landscape filled with muted, tea-stained colors– that offer a quiet beauty that appeals to some people, like me, but depresses the heck out of others.
SO I AM SHOPPING IN Kroger at a particularly busy time of day on a winter’s day when the weather is shifting from snow to rain. Dude, a 40-something man with graying hair and expensive eyeglasses, is in my way.
Everywhere I go in the store, Dude, in his perfectly pressed dark blue jeans and black hoodie, is there in front of me.
In the foyer, Dude grabs the shopping cart I’m reaching for.
In the produce section he blocks me from grabbing a Vidalia onion… the mushrooms… a head of iceberg lettuce.
In the bakery department he stands indecisively by the rustic sesame seed bread that I want to buy.
In the meat department I try to reach for some boneless skinless chicken breasts, but he and his cart are in my way …again… as he ponders all things chicken.
UH HUH.
I LOSE TRACK OF DUDE while I’m shopping the interior aisles of the store. I grab a jar of green olives stuffed with garlic and a box of Cheerios unhindered by his in-the-way-ness.
But he reappears in my life as I walk from the cheese department, where I’ve picked up some Swiss cheese, to the yogurt department where I want to buy one container of plain no-fat yogurt.
It is there, trapped behind this man once again …waiting… that I realize there’s writing on the back of his black hoodie.
NATURALLY I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IT SAYS.
I BEGIN TO STALK DUDE as he walks up and down the freezer case aisles, but he never stops to grab something from a freezer case when he’s under a bright overhead light so I’m unable to see the gibberish on the back of his hoodie.
Eventually we both end up in the refrigerated beverage section of the store where Dude reaches for a gallon of iced tea. He’s standing under a light so I can read the pithinicity that’s written on the back of his hoodie.
Unsurprisingly, it says what I believe to be about the dumbest thing ever, while perfectly explaining Dude’s behavior while shopping in the grocery. The writing on the hoodie said:
“If you’re going to fight, fight like you are the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s Ark and brother it’s starting to rain.”
SO I AM SHOPPING IN Kroger at a particularly busy time of day on a winter’s day when the weather is shifting from snow to rain. Dude, a 40-something man with graying hair and expensive eyeglasses, is in my way.
