Looking Forward to a New Year

Love and Best Wishes to You All  ♥

To Better Days

I received the first of two doses of the Covid vaccine last week and wish I could bottle for everyone still waiting their turns the hope and peace it has brought me.  When I can visit family post-second-dose next month without worrying that I am unknowingly bringing the virus home to them. . . .Well, it will do my heart good.   I am already gathering Valentine's Day baking supplies and recipes to try out on them.  :)  Here's to love, faith, science, and buttercream!  May a brighter year be ahead for us all.  ♥

The Third Day of the Year

'A tranquil but determined start to the new year here.  I had a good bit of time off from work these past few weeks, and I used a lot of it to get some things organized and reorganized in this little apartment.  I have long thought of home-care and decorating and what I call puttering around--fluffing up the throw pillows, changing out the tablecloth, adding the fresh flowers to canning jars, hanging the new-old paintings and embroidered pieces sooner rather than later, refolding the granny square afghans on the backs of the chairs, taking oranges out of their mesh bag and adding them to the green stoneware bowl, even just putting the dishes back where they belong and arranging them neatly on their shelves--as hobbies or pastimes or interests, but I have realized this past month that for me, these little activities are actually a form of self-care.  Eureka!  When we see a woman who has made the extra effort to dress especially nicely, paint her nails, look out for her health and fitness, or [insert-your-own-examples], we think "There is someone who values herself and makes the time to take good care of herself," and I realize now that similarly, when my home is orderly and sweet and cheerful, I feel those things about myself.  When my home is orderly and sweet and cheerful, I feel those things about myself.  Ahhhh!  All the little "puttering around" tasks, then, aren't really chores at all, then, just as I would no longer think of them as one of my hobbies either.  I see now that they're more vital for me than that.  These are ways I take care of myself, I have just learned at 40-and-a-half-years-old:  I go for long walks, I take my vitamins, I try to eat and drink well, I use sunscreen year-round, I pray, I read, I cuddle with Stuffed, I show my love to my loves ones, I slather on lotion, I rest when needed, and I keep an organized and inviting home.  

On that front, I have tackled the bathroom cupboard--and after almost seven years of living here, have wrestled it into submission.  It is about seven feet tall and its three shelves are two feet deep but only twelve inches wide.  Without the shelves, it would be the perfectly-proportioned space to store a broom and mop, but . . .I think I've finally figured it out.  And now hanging vertically on the inside of its door are three narrow cork bulletin boards, my work-schedule, a list of that month's birthdays and other need-to-send-a-card-or-otherwise-mark-a-special-day occasions, a small pink dry-erase board I'm using as my weekly food diary, a basket for pens and dry-erase markers, Stuffed's litter-scoop, a dust pan and broom, and a six-inch-wide calendar I use to record my daily walks.  'A good use now, and better late than never, of that seven-foot tall-but-only-twelve-inch-wide door too.  Take that, Ill-Proportioned Closet.  That alone has made home and life feel so much tidier.  It's What-I-Need-to-Remember Central, and it's a breath of fresh air for this lifelong list-maker:  I have it all in one spot now but tucked away on the back of the door so it doesn't "read" as clutter.  That's been just one improvement lately.  And now that I actually like the cupboard, I want to doll it up even more by papering the small wall-spaces inside the cupboard. . .give it a little more love.  Just like that, it's become a time-saver, a better use of space, and features a door I actually enjoy opening and seeing what's behind.  I myself feel so much more on top of things even with this one project, is the point.  And now that I have a better perspective on it all, I look forward to taking on everything else that's on my around-the-apartment to-do list.  Those to-do items no longer feel like problems or chores ahead of me, but instead opportunities and possibilities.  How good this all feels after watching everything fall apart around here the first seven months with this new job and new work schedule!  Ohhhhh, I love learning.  I love figuring it out.  Life already feels so much better, and 2018 is looking so much brighter.  ♥

The First Ten Days of the Year

The new year is beginning with a flurry of book-buying for my former elementary school.  I will have donated about six hundred books by the end of this month so am very much on-track with my goal of donating a thousand by my fortieth birthday in May.  "Did you know that all media's now half-off on Sundays?" the thrift shop cashier asked me last week as she rang up my stack of books.  I did not, and the new prices will make my goal even easier to reach this spring.  'Fifteen like-new hardcover books last week for practically nothing--like a wink from the universe.  ♥  I also did not know that Mary Poppins dolls existed--!--and lo and behold, this one, complete with carpetbag and umbrella, will soon be flying off to the school with the related books. 

Mom's January 4th birthday proved tricky to get a package out in time for since there was no mail here January 2nd for the New Year's postal holiday and I didn't want to mail it the Saturday before and have it--with cookies inside--sit in a post office or postal truck over the three-day weekend.  With a few little wrapped gifts nestling them inside the box, gluten-free nut roll cookies ended up being Mom's birthday treat this year.  I used a bag of Bob's Red Mill-brand gluten-free pie crust mix and was completely charmed by the packaging.  This would make a darling print.  And it's pink!  ♥

My original plan had been to make rugelach, but the dough was too sticky to roll properly and I hadn't remembered to leave myself enough of the flour for that purpose, so after a messy attempt at the rugelach, I ended up making a dozen nut roll cookies for Mom instead.  Had I put a bit more thought into my Plan B, I'd have made a tidier thumbprint cookie with the nut filling so they would have looked prettier.  Next time.  These turned out, though, with the nut-mixture mixed right into and around the dough, and they tasted good.  

The nut-mixture was about 7 oz. of walnut-meal, maybe 3/4 cup whole milk, a cup or so of sugar, an egg, and most of a stick of butter--cooked until boiling, then just kind of rolled into the pie crust-cookie dough.  Next time I make these, I'll add some of the walnut-meal to the flour so there will be more nut-flavor throughout. 

I baked them early in the morning on January 3rd--the day before Mom's birthday, so. . .cutting it close--practically ran to the post office with the package as soon as I'd finished wrapping it all, and was told that it likely wouldn't reach her until the day after her birthday.  Bah! to postal holidays!  And no, it did not arrive in my parents' morning mail delivery on Mom's birthday, which made me sad.  (She did not care--"Getting mail tomorrow will just extend my birthday, Vally!"--but I very much did.)  We talked just a few minutes that afternoon since she and Dad were on their way out dinner and a movie.  She called me before I left for work the next night to let me know that just as they'd been leaving for dinner, a postal van had pulled up to drop off her package--an unprecedented second mail delivery in a single day for them--so she had received it on her birthday, after all.  ♥  And yes, she loved the cookies.  :)

As the temperature outside has bounced from a painful 8° one day to now-raining-and-near-40° a few days later, I have mostly been a homebody, contentedly sorting books and puttering around the apartment, save for walks to and from work, the thrift shop, and the post office.  'A peaceful and most satisfying first ten days of the year. 

♥

~Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.~ Roald Dahl

It is a sunny 45° in late afternoon now, warm enough to enjoy open windows awhile, and with them this stunning view of the brick wall across the way.  :)  (My dream of apartment-rooftop baseball game-watching lives on!)  It is buoying to discover today--today of all days--that a bold and shining star exists inside each of these seemingly-simple Tulips, there all along for anyone who would just look for it. 

Happy new year.  ♥

Happy New Year

One of the stunning old cards in Grandma's box of saved correspondence.  And one of my favorites.  A happy new year to you all.  ♥

Favorites from 2014

I hope to tell you the story of these roses next week.  They marked a happy occasion for me this past year and are one of 2014's photos and stories that didn't make the blog.  Next week, I hope.  ♥

The year ends with the wing chair re-do still in-progress.  I'm still looking for fabric for the seat cover and back. 

I mentioned in February that my older brother's "fortieth birthday fudge" arrived broken into pieces and that I was disappointed but was not going to beat myself up about it, but alas, I couldn't resist making a new batch for him later that month.  I left it at my parents' house for him during a visit home along with another gift and a hand-painted deer ornament.  Forty is a big deal; it was worth a second batch of Grandma's fudge.  ♥

My new camera brought immeasurable joy to my days this year.  The Neil Gaiman quote I opened a January post with--"I hope that in the year to come, you make mistakes.  Because if you are making mistakes, you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world"--has come to mind so many times this year, the quote itself has felt like a gift.  I remember my grandfather telling me that, "People who don't make mistakes don't make anything" at a time when I needed to hear exactly that, and to hear this echo of his words in the Gaiman quote has been a blessing to me.  That I now have a real camera to take with me on my walks is just wonderfully fun for me.  The Mourning Dove below was perched on a fence-post as I returned from a walk this summer--

--and I never could have taken a picture with detail like that with the camera on my old flip-phone.  You understand my joy.  :)

I mentioned at the end of 2013 that one of my goals for 2014 was to be more organized and thoughtful with my gift-wrapping like my dear aunt Laurie always is.  I put more thought into my gift-wrapping, but I didn't end the year any more organized with it.  Mom had predicted that it would be harder for us to be as  organized as Aunt Laurie is with these types of things since Aunt Laurie's entire attic serves as her space for craft supplies and gift wrap supplies and gifts-yet-to-be-given.  In a one-bedroom apartment, I don't have the same set-up, and after multiple organizational attempts this year, I've come to accept that I'll just have to do the best I can with what I have when it comes to this.  Maybe someday, I too will have a space I can devote to all things gift-giving-related.  Aunt Laurie didn't have her attic until she was in her forties, after all, so I still have time.  Dare to dream.  ;) 

Our Easter table this year was sweet--turquoise and peach with rabbits--but I never got a post up about it.  One of the local grocery stores had these adorable bunny truffles in its store-made candy department, so I bought two for our place-settings.  If I'm remembering right, the ears were nuts--probably almond slices.  Anyway, I want to make these sometime--maybe for Easter 2015.  They "made" the table. 

 The girl-holding-her-cat figurine above was my favorite birthday gift this year.  This was how it looked after I painted it to resemble me and Stuffed.  I'm not a kick-knack person, but this little figure's so special to me. 

One of the highlights of this past year--that also somehow didn't make it onto the blog--was a Color Run 5k race my friend Marylou and I ran/walked/laughed our way through this summer.  I told Marylou if she'd come up from West Virginia for it and drive us to the race city, I'd pay for the motel stay and race fees.  We made it work, and especially since it was the first time we'd seen each other since 2008, we had a blast.  

That I was still finding purple and green powder from the run in my hair two showers later was a small price to pay.  It was my first race of any length since 2011.  So fun!  ♥

In June, I got home in time to see my favorite rose, Louise Odier, in-bloom. 

I also got to see all three of my mom's sisters.  The above picture of Mom and Aunt Laurie is my all-time favorite of them together.  This is the one I framed as part of Aunt Laurie's birthday gift last week.  ♥ 

During that June visit home, my aunt Heidi showed me this old picture of me and my mom, and it has become one of my most-treasured possessions.  I'd never seen it before.  Love, love, love.  ♥

I took photos I loved too. 

And wrote at least one post this year that made me proud.  I'd wanted to write about Papa and Grandma's crayon can for years, and I finally found the words.  

A double rainbow appeared behind our apartment this summer.  ♥

 Stuffed was as dear as ever.  ♥  Each year--each day--with this sweet soul is a gift.  

I walked many miles in 2014. 

And lost pounds that I have regained and lost and regained since then, the story of my life, it seems, but the glory is in the attempt, etc. 

In 2014, I began donating books and book character toys/dolls to my former elementary school's library.  The new year's first donations will be delivered when the kids return to school after holiday break next week.  :)

Home continues to be cozy and colorful.  

Mr. V wrote back!  A long letter arrived in the mail just a few days after I'd mailed out his in October.  ♥  He is now in-touch with my younger brother via Facebook, which also delights me.  I got in touch with my kindergarten teacher and second grade teacher this year too, and they and I have emailed back and forth a few times, as well.  My heart glows just thinking about it. 

More walks.  A glorious autumn, the most colorful one I remember ever seeing. 

And a year that ends with memories of more gifts happily created and given--Emmet!  ♥--

--and happily received. 

2014 was challenging and beautiful and colorful and full of love.  May 2015 shine just as brightly, and may I be a better and braver person by its end.    I'm working on it, and the work continues.   Ah!  Happy new year to you all!  ♥

I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. ~ Neil Gaiman

Tonight is Camera-Learning Night here.  Mike bought me a (pink!) digital camera for Christmas, and I haven't had enough free time before today to sit down with it and figure it out.  I've taken almost every picture since 2007 with the camera on either his phone or mine and decided last fall that it was time to learn to use a real camera.  Mike's phone takes great pictures, but unless he's home with me at the time I want to photograph something, pictures don't happen.  And my own phone is an old flip-phone from 2007, so every now and then, I get lucky with it and get a picture I'm happy with, but only if I'm a few inches away from my subject, and even then, only sometimes.  Taking outdoor pictures or any kind of landscape or larger-view pictures has never really been possible for me, which has been an everyday disappointment.  To own a camera now that I can take along on my walks--it is only 3.5 inches x 2 inches, perfect to keep in my pocket while I'm out--delights me.  This one doesn't look exceptionally complicated, but there is still everything to learn with it, and that makes me quite happy as I think about the year ahead. 

I like these cold, gray winter days. Days like these let you savor a bad mood. ~ Bill Watterson

Oh, Sweet Day Off!  After a six-day headache and both a New Year's Eve and New Year's Day at work that nearly ran dry my wells of patience and good cheer, now comes the day I can lounge in bed (finally headache-free!) with a new book--Robert Galbraith's (aka J.K. Rowling's) The Cuckoo's Calling, which I'm liking very much so far.   I cooked a few pierogies with garlic, onion, and olive oil for my lunch and am thinking vegetable or minestrone soup for supper.  Until I feel like facing what the Weather Channel is describing as 14-degree-weather-that-feels-like-1-degree-weather to head out for groceries, I am climbing back into bed with my detective story.  After a little more rest and time to myself today, I think I'll be ready to (re-)start 2014 properly.  I hope your own new year has been cozy and sweet so far. 

Fast away the old year passes

In early December, my friend Madai shared a photo of a dear little "Deck the Halls" sign tucked in with her Christmas decorations, and it just spoke to me. The font, the size, the simplicity, the weathered black and sepia, the frame, the message: I just purely loved this tiny thing. Imagine my surprise last week when a care package from Madai arrived and after gently undoing a small sheet of pale blue polka dotted tissue paper, I found "my" sign inside! I hadn't expected that, and while it was part of an entire box full of thoughtful and beautifully-wrapped goodies, the little sign and its accompanying note were what touched me the most and made me cry. Thank you again, sweet Madai! Stuffed soon abandoned it for his food dish, but I myself will treasure it--and you--always. ♥

I look forward to 2011, but I just don't feel ready for it. I don't feel done with 2010 yet. I just packed away the Christmas decorations Monday.  And 2010 was a pretty neat year: I redid our bathroom in red polka dots.   We survived the blizzard in February, although our ceiling leaked for a good week as the snow melted.   I continued to volunteer at the two places I started at in 2009.   I redid our kitchen in a vintage-ey green.   I shoved my shyness aside and forced myself to attend a volunteering-related banquet.   I ran my first half-marathon and my third and fourth 5K races.   I got to spend my 33rd birthday with family. I got a job at one of my dream-job places.   I finally got to see Tom Petty in concert.   My nephew started kindergarten.I made some new friends online.   My cousin Mark and I started keeping in touch with letters and postcards.   I entered Stuffed's picture in a photo contest, and he won.   I only missed three days of work while sick with the Croup/respiratory infection.   I received a couple great fortune cookie messages.   I finally got around to making the hand/paw-print painting with Mike and Stuffed.  I made it home for Thanksgiving and Christmas--this one last time for each holiday as "just" my parents' daughter and not as someone's wife too.    I had a fun phone conversation with my aunt Heidi Christmas afternoon.    I decided to watch more movies in 2010, and I did, and my favorites were Little Miss Sunshine, Garden State, Before Sunset, Lost in Translation, and Love, Actually.    I liked I'll Never Be French by Mark Greenside and Anne Frank Remembered by Miep Gies more than anything else I read last year.   I loved a few songs Mike introduced me to whose names are escaping me right now.   (Something by the Gorillaz was one.)   I cooked cream of artichoke soup, "lasagna soup," and a spinach-lentil soup for the first time.   I made maple cookies for the first time.   I began feeding the birds in our apartment's backyard.   I started making the trip downtown to share Mike's lunch-hour with him the days I have to work nights, so that we'll have that much more time to connect.   I played cards with my dad for the first time.  Goodbye and thank you, 2010, a month late.  

The Christmas Cold

While my younger brother was at our parents' house on Christmas Eve, he croaked out something to me along the lines of "What?! You're not sick at Christmas?!" It really has been tradition for my younger brother and I to catch what we call The Christmas Cold. (And that tradition seems to have caught on with Mike, as well. He's been under the weather for a few weeks now, as he has been every Christmas and/or New Year's Day the past few years.) My younger brother was sick over Christmas last week, my dad was horribly ill, my niece had spent Christmas Eve morning at the doctor's office being diagnosed with an ear infection, and everyone else but me and my mom was either sick or recovering from having been sick. I left my parents' house Sunday morning amazed at my new!-and!-improved! immune system, took a nap back here at the apartment late that afternoon, and woke up that evening with a sore throat and a stuffed-up head. By the time I got home from work Tuesday morning, I had almost no voice with which to wish Mike a good day as he left for work. The tradition lives!

Intentionally napping, unintentionally falling asleep while watching Christmas movies, discussing which cold or flu medicines are working or not working for ourselves and for each other, stocking up on oranges and boxes of Kleenex, making tea, calling and emailing one another to check in and ask "Still sick?": These things, I've realized this week, have all become just as much a part of Christmas to me as the cookie-baking or gift-wrapping. And I'm not complaining when I say that. Although I'd rather be feeling better, there is something oddly comforting in knowing we are all in this together at the end of every year.

Some of my favorite memories from this Christmas are of we Christmas Cold-ers celebrating in our own low-key ways. While I ate a bowl of chicken Ramen noodle soup Saturday night, Dad and I played cards. He'd looked wiped-out all day, and as soon as he played his last card to win the game, he said he was going to bed.  Mike and I shared a belated Christmas together here Tuesday evening, and since neither of us felt up to eating at the table "like adults," we ended up eating our lasagna dinner on wooden trays in bed, with the box of Kleenex nearby and the "nighttime medicine" as dessert.  Supper was eaten side-by-side in bed again tonight, as I am feeling worse today and not better. But cherry pie and vanilla ice cream tasted good for dessert, and I beat Mike at Scrabble, so things really aren't so bad.  Tomorrow will likely be much of the same. And--let's just say it now, Younger Brother!--next Christmas will be, as well.

And a New Year Begins

And Life Is Good

I sent a New Year's card to my parents last week. The second I read this one in the grocery store the day after Christmas, I got choked up, and reading it--knowing that it came from me, after all my struggles these past eight years--probably had the same effect on Mom and Dad. 

♥