*8 Things on My Bedside Table

Hiya, People. Long time no write. So let me get to it.

Here's another *8 Things* theme from Magpie Girl.

*8 Things on My Bedside Table

1. Alarm clock. I live with a compact travel alarm. Very light, very cleanly designed. The next thing about it is that it has a graduated alarm.

It starts out softly peeping. Peep-peep, peep-peep. Then it gets a little louder. Bee-beep! Bee-beep! Then it progresses to Be-be-be-Beep! Be-be-be-Beep! And then even louder. And finally (if I haven't woken up enough to turn it off yet, it screams at me. Beebeebeebeebeebeebee!



2. Large glow-in-the-dark stars and moons. I like how they continue to glow after I've turned out the light.

3. Half-egg shaped ceramic stoneware pinch-pot by potter Jim Thompson. This is the perfect shape to cradle in my palm.

4. Eye pillow. Just the right weight for tired eyes. Covered in vivid cranberry silk.



5. Photo of my husband from early in our relationship.

6. Box of facial tissues.

7. Hand lotion. I am greedy for the little sample bottles of hand lotion from the Hampton Inn. Lovely stuff. You can't get it commercially other than by staying the night, so I am eking out the ones I have. Right next to the little bottles is a huge bottle of Aveeno hand lotion. My husband and I both adore Aveeno moisturizing products. Although they can be a little pricey, we haven't been able to talk ourselves out of buying them, because give us results!

8. A very small, glossy print of one of Mary Cassett's mother-and-child paintings, cut out from a calender I had some twenty years ago. Before I was a mother, this reminded me of the tender feelings of parenting. When I was trying to have children, this kept some snuggly baby energy in my life, even when it was too painful to think about. Since my daughter has come into my life, it still sits propped up on the photo of my husband because it still has lovely energy.

Now, I actually have tons more nearby and at hand because I really have a bedside bookshelf, but let's stick with the top. :)

How about you? What sits on your bedside table?
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8*Things: 8 People I'd Like to Meet IRL

Ah, all the lovely people I meet around here, here being the wide world internet. Magpie Girl once again has a Thursday meme to work with, although in my case, it often turns into a Friday-Saturday-Sunday, oh heck-Monday-Tuesday meme.


Here are 8 People I'd Like to Meet In Real Life:

1. Schmutzie
The one and only, incomparable, most awesome Schmutzie. Bizarre knitted characters, cat photos, black & white images, beautiful writing, and the most wickedly warped and achingly real&present stories. What is there not to like? For a while, I was totally addicted to her 365 project describing people from her life. A solid crush. I follow her all over the internet. *waves*

2. Cecily of uppercase woman
Cecily tells it like it is and like it was. A woman of strong opinions and passionate writing. Never boring, no! She always writes me back every single time I comment. I heart Cecily.

3. Ingrid aka bean*mama
A writer, a photographer, intense and creative, a warm, lovely woman with a smile-inducing family (tho ya gotta be a friend to see them). Words fail me to describe her, but I know she makes the most fabulous smiles and faces. She is also THE kid-project expert, an accomplished poet, and the Orton Effect Queen. She is, of course, the Bean Mama.

4. Tracy aka Ms.Tea
A nurse by night, an artist by day, a Northerner all the time. I started following Ms.Tea on Flickr when she was in the thick of her 365 project - taking one self portrait every day for a year. I was doing the weekly version, 52 Weeks. Quite the interesting endeavor. Gives you opportunity to see yourself in new ways and stare at one's beauties and flaws increasingly unflinchingly. Ever since, I've been enjoying the glimpses she shares of her life, of the art, both printing and photography, that she explores. When Flickr started allowing short videos, she threw herself into the new medium.
My favorite of her vids so far is a stop-motion clip featuring a pop-up camper, her husband, son, dogs and cats.

5. Shalet of Peculiar Momma
Another fine writer/photographer I met though Flickr and bean*mama. Lush images and heavy stories with a light touch. She inspires me with her creative frugal philosophy. I wallow, I mean bask, in her photographs.

6. "Johnny" of So It Comes Down To This
Tagline: "What is this "parenting" they speak of? Is it painful?"
Sometimes I think we were mentally separated at birth, except he's a meat-enthusiast Asian man with (China-adopted) two kids and two dogs who analyzes his work, friend, and family relationships and blogs about his steak fests and other cooking projects, and I'm a mostly-vegetarian Caucasian woman with one baby and two cats who reflects on relationships and other stuff and blogs about my peonies and other garden and hiking projects. I'm just *assuming* he'd agree to have me over for dinner. Judging from past events, no doubt he'd cook up something like rolled pork with apricot remolade and *frisk* me first before he'd let me in the house near his kids. And then take pictures and blog about it. This is standard operating procedure, apparently. *Imagine pictures of Johnny patting down an internet friend whose come for dinner*

7. Karen Marlene Larsen
Another fine photographer with a way with words and stories. Has a theater-puppetry-costuming background, a love for diners, cemeteries, walks, cooking, sewing and, oh my, enthusiasm! Oh, and apparently she talks a mile a minute. We would have a riot of a time, I know it!

8. Too many others to choose between. I can't decide. There are several people more who belong in this spot, but I am too shy to ever meet them for real. I guess I can continue to admire them from afar. Apparently 8 is too short a list.
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*8Things: You Need to Practice to Get Good At

"Ah, practice. The natural enemy of the moderately talented."
My favorite quote from Magpie Girl last week!

Here's my take from that post:

The things we are naturally, innately, good at are like rafting down stream; all it takes is a bit of steering, and we are there, flying along, following the channel as if it was made for us. Or actually, that we were made for it! There's nothing like finding the ideal channel for our talents and our lives.

It's so easy to flow with the talent, to float downstream. But it's harder to go a-journeying up an intriguing side branch. That takes a little more work. The water doesn't flow as easily, plus it's often uphill. But like salmon, something compels you to heave yourself forward up the stream, following the trickle of water to your desire.

Magpie Girl challenges us to name 8 Things You Need To Practice to Get Good At.

The first one is that I have a hard time persevering with things that don't come easily. So:

1. Persevere with things that don't come easily.

I tend to think that I'm no good when I run into something that's difficult or awkward for me. Not true, but I have to push through the rough patches first.

Underneath that is ... Avoiding discouragement and self doubt. Another biggie. I am so not great at this. Mr Sweetie has been very helpful over the years, but I still have to do all the work. *sigh*

Whoops! heh. I mean, yeah, I sure do have a lot of practice avoiding sliding into discouragement! It's right up there with having a hard time doing the things that are difficult for me. I'm practicing.

2. Play a musical instrument.

I love music. I've fallen in love with numerous instruments over the years, but have not made much headway with any of them except, slightly, with singing. It is painful to play out loud and hear myself squeaking or otherwise torturing the notes. But I still have hope that I will (someday) persevere. I should probably learn to play something simply to practice persevering!* These days I have my eye on a completely different instrument than ever before (something that will allow me to play with other people and be encouraged by similarly-minded musicians), and have hopes it will shake me out of my earlier frustrations.

3. Go with the flow.

I remember the revelation of a special weekend wherein I was determined to not spend so much energy *anticipating* all the wonderful things (and fretting over whether and when they would come), but to just enjoy them as they came (or didn't). Wow! It was fun! But I still do not sit well without some sort of anxious expectations, so I have much more practice to do on this one.

4. Make friends and maintain social contacts.

I both enjoy talking with people (even people I don't know well), and am shy about becoming better known and/or vulnerable to being hurt or judged. (I know this doesn't make sense but that's part of the dynamic for me.) I hate to reveal myself and then end up feeling like the odd duck. I have to really work at keeping up contacts because my tendency is to hide in the house! Yes, it is so much simpler, but ultimately counter productive. I have to constantly encourage myself to invest in friendships without getting so anxious or discouraged.

5. Go to bed at a reasonable hour and not let my mind take on all the distraction it wants.

Really, I don't have to check email one more time or follow semi-interesting news stories. Go. To. Bed!

6. Follow my own path without looking for clues from other people.

I sometimes have an excessive amount of consideration for other people's plans. Sometimes I get stuck waiting for something that never happens because I'm waiting for someone else to decide or act on something. Sometimes I just need to make my own plans for the afternoon, weekend or life, and not worry about coordinating.

(Interesting how many personal revelations I'm pulling up by simply brainstorming this exercise! Self-improvement city, here.)

7. Letting go of sentimental items. Oy! Letting go of anything I *might* need. Double Oy!

Little personally meaningful tchotchkes are irresistible to me. Things my sisters or friends gave me a long time ago or this or that from my childhood. Do I really need to keep all of these? Just to remember a person or a time? They are silting up my life, yet it's dreadful actually giving them up. Then there are things like random city information and medical paperwork. Who knows when I might need it again? I'm working on it: Something comes in the house; one or two things have to leave. FlyLady has been a huge help.

8. Caring enough to dress stylishly.

Wow, another one of those things I have (had) almost completely given up on. It's hard for me to deal with the complexity of dressing well, so I get impatient and don't bother or end up sticking with really mundane combinations. I got so sick of this, but what could I do?

I did start working up a wardrobe strategy through MissusSmartyPants the year before last. It was so much fun, I thought, hey, I can do this! And then 'ere I'd barely gotten my new system up and running, I found myself expecting and expanding, and then nursing and mostly milk-stained. And now it seems there's hardly any point to wearing nice clothes for a year or two. I'm all about washables & durables right now. But still, I am looking forward to working on this again! I'm looking forward to fitting into my nicer clothes... um, when do babies stop spitting up on you? But on the other hand, I've started restocking my wardrobe in bits and pieces to fit my current self. Most of it is not particularly stylish, but I feel good dressing in clothes that actually fit me.

...

So all of these are a stretch for me. I'm not good at any of them, but I can remind myself to practice them. I don't have to be perfect at them to do them at all; I think that's the point. Am I a poster child for FlyLady or what? :)

Next up: I need to find something to try for the fun of it or for hell of it. Something I can allow myself to be bad at, and allow myself to just play with it and practice the practicing.

Happily enough, I have found a few successes and new endeavors to report! More to come.
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8 Things: Self Care Essentials

It's Thursday and time for another 8 Things from Magpie Girl.

This week it's Self Care Essentials.

It’s time to think about what you need to stay healthy and sane on a day-to-day basis.

Here's my list:

1. Hydration. Water, juice or herbal tea. Water is my favorite.

2. Moving and using my body. Stretch! Yoga. Taking a walk or working in the yard.

3. Sleeeeep.

4. Grooming. Bath! Combing my hair, brushing and flossing my teeth, neatening cuticles and nails. At the end of day, massaging my feet.

5. Checking in with the natural world. Seeing the sky, noticing the weather and the way the light and air shifts with the seasons and time of day.

6. Reminders. My calendar. Lists to remind me of goals and projects and even more importantly, sub tasks of projects. Things to focus me and then to cross off when completed. I give myself a number of boxes for 15 minutes of work, and check them off when I've spend some amount of time on a task.

7. "Down time" inside my own head. Write a little, read a little, think a little.

8. "Up time" out of my head. Snuggles and conversation with my sweetie.

Oh, here's a bonus item: Neatening something in the house or space. Wash dishes, swipe the counter, clear the desk, sweep the floor. I'm so much saner with a little sweeping.
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8 Things Thursday - Mondo Beyondo

I'm playing along with Magpie Girl today and whipping up a list of 8 Things. This week, it's our list of "big dreams" or "Mondo Beyondo." As she says:

It’s time once again for a Mondo Beyond list, that lovely list of big dreams named by the clear-thinking brilliance of Andrea Scher of Superhero Designs. I’ve been making these lists roughly once a year... What are your Mondo Beyond dreams? Breathe them into existence in the comments, or grab a button and play along.

Now, if you read my post on Bucket Lists and Everyday Goals, you'll remember that I don't get too enthused about these so-called Big Dreams. But let me take a shot at it anyway!

1. To raise my child to be an emotionally intelligent human being, reasonably happy and well-adjusted.

2. To be my best self in my marriage.

3. To get back to teaching and performing in my preferred subjects, and to take on even more challenging projects.

4. To maintain a good level of fitness so I can remain active the rest of my life.

5. To hike out West again.

6. To write and publish a book and/or column. Or an art and inspiration book or some amalgam of my expressive creativity.

7. To declutter my life and my house to not quite within an inch of their lives.

8. To live in a solar house with gardens - not too fancy, but small enough to be manageable.

Okay, so these are more lifetime goals than big dreams. Not bad, though. I'm inspired already! Thanks to Magpie Girl for nudging us.
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