10th Day of Thanksgiving: Little Thanks

Welcome to the special souped up Thanksgiving issue of The Tuesday Ten Twenty-Five! It’s a quick rundown of 25 little (or big) things–silly and profound–that I’m in love with this Thanksgiving season. By all means, enjoy yourselves.

1. Little Drummer Boy–your remarkable storytelling and trips to the “hug store”

2. Squiggle Bug–your unquenched spirit and tender heart

3. Baby Girl–your infectious smile and undaunted joy

4. Quiver–your steadfast hope, your gentleness and truth

5. Hershey’s chocolate bars

6. Big piles of leaves–and watching boys jump in them

7. Attention–giving and getting it

8. Kermit, the trusty laptop–I think I love you

9. Bedtime stories

10. The chance to make something right

11. Nacho cheese Doritoes–yep, still thankful for those

12. Books

13. Realizing it’s not as late as you thought it was

14. A Sonic Mocha Chip Java Cooler–saves many a frustrating moment

15. A good night’s sleep

16. Lamps and their ambient light

17. Old friends–the continuing gift of yourself after all this time

18. The Dave Matthews Band–just sayin’

19. “Coincidence”

20. Old issues of Dwell magazine–and by old I mean the ones from the last two months I haven’t gotten to

21. The quiet hours after 10pm

22. Clean, white, unlined paper

23. The Canon PowerShot–wowza!

24. Candy Corn–and doling it out before dinner

24. Honest conversation

25. The astounding and humbling power of words

Tues Twenty-Two 092209: I Love Autumn!

According to Answers.com, Fall begins this year at 4:18 CST today — the moment of truth when the sun starts heading toward the Southern hemisphere. Wow! Excitement abounds. Autumn is my favorite time of year. I think I’ve said it before. In celebration of the day, I give you a biggie sized Tuesday Twenty-Two: Things I Love About Fall — the silly and the profound.

1. My Birthday — the big 4. 0. this year! Stay tuned in October for 40 awesome things that happened in 1969, including me!

2. Squiggle Bug’s Birthday — We brought him home from the hospital on Thanksgiving Day in 2006 and have been thankful ever since.

3. Crunching leaves under my feet.

4. Wearing long sleeves.

5. That blue sky. You know the one.

6. Crisp nights.

7. Busy Bee Birthday Bonfire Bash — the annual weekend on the farm turned shared celebration of our fall birthdays, complete with bonfire, hot dog roast and s’mores. Oh, and the best gifts — dirty-faced kisses, hugs, and giggles!

8. College football. And the much-applauded living room tailgating parties they inspire. (With popcorn.)

9. Decorating our house with pumpkins and scarecrows — with three helpers and one Quiver to climb up in the attic.

10. The GREAT new brown striped bamboo placemats I bought this weekend. And trying my best to wait until October 1st to put them out. Just because anticipation is so fun.

11. Boots.

12. Sitting on the front porch swing in a sweatshirt.

13. Candy corn.

14. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” — and the 6734 times we’ll watch it.

15. Fleece.

16. Holding hands.

17. Garnering a grateful heart.

18. Mama’s sweet potatoes with orange slices.

19. Making turkeys out of oreo cookies, candy corn, malted milk balls, and chocolate icing. Hello sugar!

20. Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay” and “Reluctance“, both wonderfully melancholoy in contrast to my general autumn mood.

21. Orange.

22. Turning over a new leaf.

The One About Hot Dogs

This past week was a busy one, made more complicated internally by changes to Quiver’s work situation and changes in our familiar routines. Over the weekend I had been feeling rather overwhelmed and generally behind in so many of the life plots (and attitudes) I need to be cultivating. It seems an odd time to be writing about hot dogs, but here we are.

Sometimes just a little change of plans, tossed with a pinch of spur-of-the-moment can create a much-needed shift in perspective. At some point during the middle of the afternoon (probably about the time I was reading and making mental notes for tomorrow’s final Geek episode of MeMyBook&Eye) I decided to ditch the leftover dinner plans and opt for more of a celebration mindset.

Celebration hasn’t really been at the forefront of our thoughts this week. We’ve been dealing with the emotional and physical ramifications of Quiver shutting down a business and beginning a new job. We’ve been busy with extra responsibilities beyond the normal routine. We’ve been challenged by some of the boy’s growing pains. We’ve been playing catch-up after new strides (quite literally) in Baby Girl’s growing independence. We’ve been cooking and cleaning and bathing and writing and laundering. We’ve been impatient with one another, with ourselves and with circumstances.

So, I decided an impromptu party was in order to lift our spirits and right our vision.

I realize that the word “party” conjurs up lots of different images. To adequately understand our version of a “party,” I’d better explain that we have family parties for just about anything. Usually the standard criteria for a party at the Montgomery house is a pretty sparse list: 1) something to laugh or jump up and down about; 2) something edible; 3) some form of decoration, be it new placemats, party paper plates, construction paper cut-outs hanging from the “chandelier”, table cloths, candlelight, etc. That about covers it.

Yes, I decided that tonight was an excellent time for our third “grill party” of the month–no time like the present. The plans made for extra excitement because we decided to have it in the BACK YARD where we could eat the whole meal OUTSIDE. Big fun. With catsup on top. The trappings of this party? Here’s the abridged version:

8 hot dogs + buns
1/4 bag charcoal + requisite lighter fluid
1 bag Cheetos
Sundry condiments
1 highly portable Pack-n-Play
1 blue checked tablecloth
2 $1 styrofoam airplanes
2 funky plastic things that spin and light up when you push the button
1 happy beagle
5 large marshmallows
1 coat hanger
1 bag mint chocolate cookies (in lieu of graham crackers and Hershey bars)
1 yellow lightning bug
4 “Lighting McQueen” party plates
Napkins (enough)
Giggles (uncounted)
2 tricycles
1 pink pair of pants (size 9mo)
2 porch lights
1 quick trip to the bathroom
The first “touch of Fall in the air” night this year
4 people I love (so much I can’t stand it)

Somewhere in between squirting mustard, fending off puppy paws, responding to the 637th “Mommy, watch this” and strategically planning my last bite to include part hot dog AND part bun–somewhere in there–I recognized again how much I have to be thankful for, how good I really have it.

Hot dogs with a side of renewed perspective. Who knew?

200 Harmony-Inducing Happy Things

Guess what?  WordPress Dude, in all his obsessive math calculating, number crunching happiness has alerted me right there on the WP dashboard that this is my 200th post. Wow! I’m totally impressed with myself at the moment, which will of course pass very quickly. My 100th post came and went without nearly the fanfare of President Obama’s first 100, but it did relate somewhat, where relate = it was about another president. Post 100 was day 10 in my 12 days of Thanksgiving 2008 series highlighting thoughts about President Lincoln’s first Thanksgiving proclamation. I shared 12 lessons of thanksgiving Abe seemed to “get.” The first was this:

“Learning to recognize bounty is important.”

Yep, that’s still true and still shamefully difficult at times. But, in celebration of my 200th post and as another step on the trek to Harmony 2009, I’m taking up the challenge from my friend at SisterWisdom to make a happy list. Mine is a list of 200 Harmony Inducing Happy Things. Happy things, where things = people, places and well, things that add harmony to my spirit just by virtue of their existence and proximity to me. Happy things can make even the most disharmonious circumstance slip more closely into tune. Misplaced flats and sharps (for my music lovers) don’t stand a chance when happy things are around. [If it's been 37 days or so since my last post, you'll know that 200 was a bit ambitious and can collectively sigh about poor Junkie who can't even think of 200 happy things. But, somehow I don't think that'll be a problem. -- And, sure enough, it wasn't.]

200 Harmony-Inducing Happy Things

1. Hub

2. Little Drummer Boy

3. Squiggle

4. and Baby Girl (in the order of their unwrapping)

5. being inside on a rainy day

6. the smell of gardenia

7. “spit kisses” that you can keep all day

8. laptops

9. a fairly clean and sanitized episode of Murder She Wrote

10. wildflowers picked and arranged for Mother’s Day

11. getting to cook a new dish for my family

12. bedtime stories

13. a tall glass of sweetened iced tea

14. “glass” glasses, not plastic

15. choosing from the cream, yellow, green or cobalt blue plates depending on my mood

16. green striped placemats @ $4 a piece — yep, still harping on those.

17. a drive down the Natchez Traze when dogwoods and redbuds are in full bloom

18. the perfect amount of sun and shade to make red winged begonias flourish on my front stoop

19. an unexpected little boy hug

20. an unexpected big boy hug

21. leftovers

22. peaches in season

23. whole wheat pasta

24. Claire Burke original scent votive candles

25. a glimpse at my grandmother’s handwriting on the letters she sent me at college

More, more and more after the jump! Be happy with me… Continue reading »

Junkspiration: First Day of Spring

The first day of Spring.  It’s official, at least by the calendar’s estimation.  And, the few flirtations with warm weather we’ve had here in Mississippi assure me that soon the weatherman may not be too far out of the loop on the change of seasons.  Spring brings an inescapable feeling of newness.  As the earth reawakens and brown blades and bark give way to green, I find my spirit renewing as well.  Just the introduction of a little more color in the landscape makes me crave more. New life is inspiring.

So, aside from the calendar and temperatures above 60, what’s inspiring me to think Spring these days? Try this Junkspiration collage of ten on for size–purchases, old favorites, colors, designs.

1.  I bought these placemats at Wal-Mart because I loved the colors and chunky woven texture.  We’ve taken a break from placemats for a while, so when I put them on the table everyone was excited (yes, placemats and toddlers can co-exist). They brought my rustic table made from old rescued floorboards to a whole new level.  Spring green, and turquoise, with a touch of red, orange and chocolate.  I’m sure those colors will show up in some design work over the next few months.

2. Bodoni Ornaments–my favorite font of old-style printer’s ornaments.  They are a wonderful design punctuation.

3.  Charlotte’s Web, E.B. White’s tale of a Spring pig and his eight-legged friend, was first published in 1952.  I was prompted to pull out my 1973 ragged paperback copy after several viewings of the stunning movie version featuring Julia Roberts as Charlotte that we bought my gifts for Valentine’s Day.  Garth Williams’ illustrations are timeless and I love that the turquoise dye on the page ends still hasn’t worn off. White’s story is aptly capped off by this statement:

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”

4.  Vladimir Script–a lovely calligraphic font that’s not too frilly

5.  I love this guy!  He’s the bumblebee that came to Frog and Miss Mouse’s nuptials with “a banjo buckled on his knee” inspiring a “nimble flea to dance a jig.”  Feodor Rojankovky provided the picture for John Langstaff’s Frog Went A-Courtin’ which one a Caldecott Medal in 1955.  Nothing like a Spring wedding!  And, Little Drummer Boy especially likes it when I sing a few bars after the reading is done.

6.  From Robert Frost’s account of the season’s rite of passage “Putting in the Seed”:

You come to fetch me from my work tonight
When supper’s on the table, and we’ll see
If I can leave off burying the white
Soft petals fallen from the apple tree
(Soft petals, yes, but not so barren quite,
Mingled with these, smooth bean and wrinkled pea),
And go along with you ere you lose sight
Of what you came for and become like me,
Slave to a springtime passion for the earth.
How Love burns through the Putting in the Seed
On through the watching for that early birth
When, just as the soil tarnishes with weed,
The sturdy seedling with arched body comes
Shouldering its way and shedding the earth crumbs.

7. Fine floral engraving from a book of reproducible versions we have at work.  The drawings from a multitude of disciplines are an endless source of wonder.

8. This nest and a single egg was a logo development rejection for one of my financial company clients a few year’s ago (the nestegg gave way to an illustration of her trademark dog breed), but I’ve always loved it.  The nest is more alive with three eggs of “robin’s egg” hue.

9. A lovely hyacinth blossom from the recycled gray-brown pot of bulbs I also purchased on my spring-inspired Wal-Mart jaunt.  Vibrant with a multi-colored cloth belt from my college years tied around it. It’s purple and sweet smell are the unmistakable cues of Spring.

10. Cotton pastel pink and turquoise and chocolate dots for my Baby Girl pea pot soft spot–her first Spring in a continuous string of firsts.

Welcome, Spring! God’s yearly reminder of life and growth and creativity is here again!