Five Minute Friday - Care

Photo courtesy of nuruzzaman babu, some rights reserved.

There is an old Irish proverb, “Don’t be breaking your shin on a stool that’s not in your way.”  I have an old habit of doing just that, and it makes for an unhappy life.

I’m working on it though.  Learning to care responsibly.

I don’t mean hardening my heart to the plight of others, stopping my involvement in worthy causes.  I mean not allowing the pettiness of others to dictate my day.  I was in a pretty bad mood for a couple of years because I let everyone I met affect me.  The cashier who was rude.  The driver who cut me off.  The kids who insist on walking in the middle of the street.

The bus in front of me that won’t go any faster, and the guy who won’t get off my bumper.

The waiter who got my order wrong, and the receptionist who wears that awful cologne.

I cared, alright.  I cared the wrong way about the wrong things, and in all the caring I had misplaced my smile.  Lost my peace.  Nearly lost my mind and my better half.  The question still rings with bell-like clarity, “Why are you always mad?”  She meant angry, but I was really headed for madness.  The world was driving me crazy, and I looked at myself and saw my mother.  I’ve never met anyone angrier, and I’ve never met anyone I wished less to emulate.

It was a wake-up call.

I was going to have to stage my own intervention.

…don’t be breaking your shin…

Finding my smile has involved a deliberate shift in perception.  I can see the stool and not trip over it.  I can be the observer, not the receiver - although when I squint it might look like I'm the target.  The trick is to stop squinting.  The rudeness, the lack of civility, the impoliteness don't have to hurt me, because it’s not about me.  It doesn’t have to climb in my pocket and walk around with me all day, and it sure doesn’t have to hurt the people I do care about.

…on a stool that’s not in your way…

When I get home and put my fuzzy slippers on, the tailgater is nowhere around.  When I leave the store, the cashier is not coming with me.  And maybe if I hadn’t been so angry at the tailgater, I would’ve smiled at the cashier…maybe surprised her into smiling back.

I could’ve pushed that stool out of someone else’s way.

#FMF

Five Minute Friday - New

Photo courtesy of Jez Elliot, some rights reserved.

It’s an old house, but it’s ours now.  Waking in my old bed to a new view, this garden full of old growth.  Azaleas taller than I am, but we came in July and the blooms won’t come until February.  I wonder what color they will be, and I look forward to February for the first time ever.

Two new bird feeders hang on the two old hooks that were already in the trees, and the old birdbath is clean and full of fresh water.  Now there are new visitors to marvel over.  A mated pair of chirping cardinals, a troop of warbling gnatcatchers, and the nearly silent tiny brown birds that scratch the ground around the starflowers.

I wonder if they are old visitors, glad someone new has come.

The garden is green, but I can name many of the plants and know they will flower.  Cannas, azalea, lantana, king's mantle, trumpet.  A dogwood that made me cry when I recognized the leaves.  A fruiting orange tree.  A garden made for butterflies and hummers, made for spring.  A gift from the people before, more precious than anyone can know, except the lady who planted them.  She knows.

I have planted new ones, pentas and passion flower vine, to host caterpillars for the butterflies that are frequent visitors and to fill in this long flowerless green spell.

I saw the first hummingbird last weekend, unexpected without blooms to draw them.

Maybe he remembers when the flowers were there.

Maybe he heard someone new had come…someone who filled the bath and the feeders, who was already digging in the soil, and putting down new roots.

Maybe he’d like a new friend.

#FMF

Five Minute Friday : Hold

Photo courtesy of Robert S. Donovan, some rights reserved.

Wait for it…hold on another minute hour day week.  Year.  Hold on and hold this and hold please while you wait and wait and.  Hold on.

Hold in.

Swing higher, and don't let go.  Hold tighter and don't look down.

And here, hold this while I do this do that do something else entirely.

Because I cannot do this and hold this.  I cannot do that and hold on.  I cannot be that and hold the reins.  I cannot be me and hold onto everything else.  And you.

So.

I hold

my breath

and jump

fly

free

I hold you always in my heart, but I open my hands and let go.

Those who can't, edit.

Writer.

That's where I thought I was headed.  "She's such a good writer!"  But.

I'm crippled by perfectionism.

Commas and prepositions and adverbs like weeds.

Profound while I'm writing it, and transformed in the reading to chaff.  Too many words, always.  Edit and edit and edit, until the profundity is dead and I'm unrecognizable.  Edit until it's not what I was saying at all.

Self doubt.

Editor.

Because I don't know how to stop.

Now it's part of my job, and I can't help but wonder at the wonder of it all.  'She's an amazing proof reader!"

As if it isn't my failing.

#FMFParty

Photo courtesy of Joel Kramer.

Giveaway at Whimsy Couture Sewing Blog

http://whimsycoutureboutique.blogspot.com/2013/01/giveaway-6-pack-aivilo-charlotte.html?showComment=1357568739144#c8831261432605946554

Check it out and enter to win!

Today is My Birthday

This usually doesn't go well.  But today...

I'm at work already, and it's been pretty frigging amazing so far.

Slept a few minutes late (which usually spells disaster), but somehow showered in record time.  Dressed in my cool-ass pinstripe pants with the dangly double-chain on the hip, and my fuschia shirt...silver jewelry.  I don't usually bother with this crap, but it only took a minute and I feel good.  I start my prednisone today (30 days, and I'll be a psycho by the end, and probably fat to boot), so I want to wear them while I can.

Got out of the house one minute later than goal, held up by the 3-year-old grandbabygirl who came running out, tousled and blinking and still mostly asleep because she just HAD to wish Granny a happy birthday before she left.

Hugs and sleepy kisses and I love yous later, traffic is heavier than it's been in forever (today is the second day of the school year) but still speed limit, thank goodness.  I needed to cross two lanes ...both lanes were empty.  Cars everywhere, but not right here.

Every light was green.  Literally.  I did not stop at a single red light, not even the one at the bottom of the expressway where I have to turn left and that's a lookie-lookie-lemon-cookie if there ever was one.  Dropped my girl off at work, and watched an almost-accident in front of me get magically averted without slowing anything down. Still no reds.

Made it to work in record time, and got a call from my 5-year-old grandbabygirl, awake this early because today is her second day of kindergarten.  She wanted to wish me a happy birthday, and  I got another from my daughter before we hung up.

Snagged my regular parking spot (irregular, recently) and made it to my Box without encountering anyone.  The first person who came to see me was my Mami, Mrs H who brought me a hug and a cookie and wished me a happy birthday.  Then an IM happy birthday from Mr K who I love, and then Mrs L who I also love came to the Box with a beautiful native american/tribal card and a breakfast bar and a hug.

The only people I've seen today are people I love and who love me.

I'm stoked about this new CFCI - the Conflict-Free Campus Initiative.  There is an anti-genocide movement, did you know?  I think our kids might change the world.  STAND, the student-led division of United to End Genocide can give you more info.

I've been wanting slow-striping yarn and a rotary cutter and perle cotton and the new Bernat Handicrafter cotton and I wanted it all in glorious colors, so my girl took me to JoAnn's Monday night to take pictures of my wish list, and the kids went and bought it all.  That idea was tops!

And there's my friend G blinking in the toolbar.  :)  So I'll end this and go say hi.

Whatever the rest of the day holds, this morning was beautiful in every way, and I am grateful.

Sweat Stain Solutions from Reader's Digest

• From Reader's Digest:
• 
  
• Home and Garden

7 Solutions for Removing Sweat Stains

from Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things

Ammonia

Rub out perspiration, blood, and urine stains on clothing by dabbing the area with a half-strength solution of ammonia and water before laundering.

See more uses for Ammonia.

Aspirin

Before you give up all hope of ever getting that perspiration stain out of your good white dress shirt, try this: Crush two aspirins and mix the powder in 1/2 cup warm water. Soak the stained part of the garment in the solution for two to three hours.

See more uses for Aspirin.

Baking Soda

Pretreating clothes with a paste made from 4 tablespoons baking soda and 1/4 cup warm water can help vanquish a variety of stains. For example, rub it into shirts to remove perspiration stains; for really bad stains, let the paste dry for about two hours before washing. Rub out tar stains by applying the paste and washing in plain baking soda. For collar stains, rub in the paste and add a bit of vinegar as you’re putting the shirt in the wash.

See more uses for Baking Soda.

Lemons

Avoid expensive dry-cleaning bills. You can remove unsightly underarm stains from shirts and blouses simply by scrubbing them with a mixture of equal parts lemon juice (or white vinegar) and water.

See more uses for Lemons.

Meat Tenderizer

Tenderize away hard-to-remove perspiration stains. Before you wash that sweat-stained sweatshirt (or any other perspiration-stained garment) dampen the stain and then sprinkle some meat tenderizer on it. Then just wash as usual

See more uses for Meat Tenderizer.

Salt

Salt’s the secret to getting rid of those stubborn yellow perspiration stains on shirts. Dissolve 4 tablespoons salt in 1 quart (1 liter) hot water. Just sponge the garment with the solution until the stain disappears.

See more uses for Salt.

Vinegar

Want to see those sweat marks disappear from shirts and other garments? Just pour a bit of vinegar directly onto the stain, and rub it into the fabric before placing the item in the wash. You can also remove deodorant stains from your washable shirts and blouses by gently rubbing the spot with undiluted vinegar before laundering.

See more uses for Vinegar.