August 18, 2020

What are the odds he's beginning to come around to my way of thinking? (Answer: Slim to None)

 See this?

This tiny little thing lead to this...

And "that" it was just a portion of every single item that once resided in the junk drawer.

Now, I'm sure you are wondering how that tiny little item caused the above mayhem...

About a week or so ago, I noticed that tiny white thing - that usually resides on the blinds pull string - on the floor in the kitchen.  Since I was in the middle of something, I picked it up and put it on the counter, with every intention of putting it back where it belonged.

Of course, I forgot about it.

Then on Friday, I remembered and went looking for it.  It was not where I left it - which meant The Husband hid put it away for safe keeping while cleaning the kitchen.  The logical place for him to hide put it was in the junk drawer.  

When I opened the drawer, I was confronted with that mess pictured up there.  So, I up-ended the contents of that drawer onto the counter and proceeded to go through all of it.  And guess what I discovered?

Ninety percent of those items had a "home" and that no one - I repeat, NO ONE, has EVER gone to that drawer looking for a random screw/nail clippers/batteries/other random item.  So I put all the things in their "homes" and was left with what was intended for that drawer - notepads, pens, scissors, ruler, and candle lighter thing.

And then I located the thing that had kicked this little project off and put it where it belonged...on the window blinds.

And I felt like I had really achieved something.

Then I emptied the dishwasher.

I generally don't pay too much attention to the state of our cabinets - other than the glasses and plates cabinet.  Until I had to put a mixing bowl away and discovered an unsteady tower of nested mixing bowls.  And I sighed and sat down to put that cabinet to rights.

Then, fool that I am, I opened the other cabinets to discover the same type of chaos.

I realize that the kitchen is The Husband's domain...but ordered and neat is not one of his strengths - so I ended up setting the majority of the cabinets to rights; all while uncovering multiple, duplicate items.  I set all the duplicates aside for the moment.

Now here is the shocking part.  He actually agreed that all of the items I had set aside could leave his kitchen.  I almost fainted.

Seriously.

And then...he said he is beginning to see the wisdom of quality over quantity.  Color me shocked. 

Then, totally un-prompted, this morning The Husband plucked a random spice rack thing that has been sitting on our counter, unused for God only knows how long, and said, "I don't need this and it's only taking up space."

Can it be?  Is he finally beginning to come around to see some things the way I do?  We shall see.  At any rate, our kitchen cabinets are in order (for now - we say for now, because I know him all too well) - we will enjoy that small victory.

***

On another note, I would like to discuss the US Postal Service - but we CANNOT because we don't do politics here.  And the fact that a US Postal Service discussion COULD become a political discussion is absurd and inconceivable...but yet, here we are.

So, while we side step THAT whole discussion, I have just ordered a slew of stamps and cards online.  Now, here's the problem.  My circle of real-life friends is fairly small.  As in, off the top of my head, I can think of three immediate people that I could send these cards to.  I'm sure if I were to scan my contact list/address book I could come up with a few more.

I searched around online about various pen pal sites and determined that could possibly open up a can of worms that I don't want opened.  After giving it some serious thinking (i.e., maybe three seconds), I thought I'd throw this out there.  If you are open to it, send me your info via email (gigirambles@gmail.com) and I will be happy to occasionally send you a card and consider it my small contribution to do my part.  There is absolutely NO obligation on your part to write back.  If you DO want to write back, include that in your email and I'll make sure you receive my contact information.  Who knows how long I will keep it up - but I shall try.

I realize this is where trust comes in.  I am only willing to do this (and share my info, if you wish this to be more of a pen-pal situation rather than an "Oh look! SURPRISE real mail" event) with people who have been around here for a while.  And, I solemnly swear, that I will never share your information and that once I have it and written it down, I will delete the email immediately.  I also solemnly swear that I will not fill your inbox with stuff.  MY inbox(es) are overloaded as it is; why would I do that to you?  

August 13, 2020

The Lazy Genius Way...a book review

 Not too long ago, I stumbled over Kendra Adachi's website, The Lazy Genius Collaborative, and I was hooked.  Kendra has a podcast which is weekly, I believe, but she also blogs occasionally.  I'm not a big podcast listener but if the subject is something that I am interested in, I will download the transcript, if one is provided, or carve out the time to listen.

Kendra wrote a book, The Lazy Genius Way which was released on Tuesday.  When I first heard that the book was available for pre-order, I quickly did so - which meant that Amazon should have shipped the book to arrive on Tuesday.  That did not happen.  In fact, Amazon gave me whiplash on Tuesday.  I received an email informing me that this delivery had been delayed.  No explanation, just delayed.  I was justifiably disappointed but two minutes later I received another email from Amazon telling me that the book had shipped.  So I didn't receive the book on Tuesday but I DID receive it yesterday.  And I'm here to give you a book review...we haven't had one of those in long time, have we?


And, in what is a first around here, this book is the FIRST non-fiction review I have ever done.

*Mini Blogger rant.  I have built this site using chewing gum and twine to hold everything together since I can't code or whatever.  This means that when I want to update the list of books I love enough to tell you about; I used to have the option of clicking a little menu that would let me jump back in time in one click to find that post and add a link.  Do you know how long I've been blogging?  I can't remember.  But that little menu?  It's gone.  That means in order to update that page I need to now scroll through 1063 posts before I can find that page!* Okay, rant over.  Surely, there's a way around this.

I loved the book.  I received it right before lunch yesterday and finished it today right after lunch.  It's not a large book, in my opinion.  It clocks in at 212 pages - not counting the forward, the table of contents and the acknowledgments, etc.

In this book, Kendra lays out a different thought process for tackling various issues in life.  As well as throwing in precious nuggets to remind you to be kind to yourself and give yourself grace.  She reminds you how important connections are.  And shows you a new way of creating a way to tackle issues that matter to YOU - she is not telling you to use her systems.

Kendra (yes, I am referring to her like I know her - because I feel like I do.  Even more so after reading this book) is in a different season of life than I am.  So, her examples of Lazy Geniusing (it's a word!) life issues with small people are of no use to me (I really wish I had this book in my arsenal when I WAS raising a small person!).  The examples of Meal Planning do not apply to me; as my husband is the cook in this house - and rightly so.  He enjoys it, he's good at it and I KNOW he probably won't accidentally poison me.

Here is my main takeaway from this book.  You know how sometimes you run into a problem and you aren't quite sure how to tackle it?  This book gives you a way to re-frame how you look at the problem.  

Or you have that mile long list and you don't know how to get started?  Again, this book will help you figure it out in a different way.

Kendra's mind works vastly different from mine.  I would never have looked at any of the things in this way.  In just the few hours since closing the book after the first reading (I know I will be referring back to this book often) it has already fixed one nagging issue in this house.

Her whole mantra is "What Matters To You."  We have had an ongoing issue of too many plastic bags in this house - a result of The Husband's insane love affair with going to the grocery store (WHO does that?!).  For whatever reason, he refuses to just put them in his car and return them - which makes/made me crazy back in the normal times - since he would go to the grocery store EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.

Yes, I agree that we do need a small amount of the bags around the house for various uses but we do not need 7,000 of them.  We will NEVER need 7,000 of them.

So, we were in stand off.  I refused to take them on principle because I DON'T go to the grocery store every day (back when we could do that kind of thing).  He only took them when I made a huge stink about it.

This afternoon I DID need to go to the grocery store.  We generally store these bags in the garage next to my car.  As I walked to the car, I looked at those hated bags and realized...this is something that DOES matter to ME.  So I gathered up a bunch of them, tossed them in the car, drove to the store and recycled them.  Problem solved.  Without any nagging or harassment or resentment.

Another thing I loved about this book?  Kendra was so open and honest about her life - I liked her before I read this book.  After I read this book - I want her to live in the house next door - right between me and my friend two doors down.  I want her in our circle.

We are alike in one way though - we both love an aside to a story.  It didn't happen on every page but there are plenty of times where she spreads an asterisk around and you look down to the bottom of the page and see something along the lines of

"*My coffee snob - I mean aficionado - brother-in-law will be so sad that I'm not grinding them right before I brew.  At least I'm not drinking Folgers, Luke.  Cut me some slack."

I laughed out loud - for real.

The last couple of lines of the book left me with tears in my eyes for some reason.  In a good way.

I wouldn't call it a "self-help" book.  It's more of a "let's re-frame the way you look at, and tackle, different areas/issues of your life" kind of book.

If you have it all together and everything in your life is perfect and you aren't exhausted from it all - then this book is not for you.

If you are like the rest of us - get this book.  You may not be in Kendra's season of life right now but this is a reference manual for every season.  But, my friend two doors down IS in that season...and I think she deserves her own copy - which will soon (hopefully) be winging it's way to her front door (which should tell you how much I value this book).

And Kendra?  If you are reading this, I'll let you know when the house next door goes on the market.



August 6, 2020

Close call

Before we begin, I have a nit to pick with Blogger.  Ok, they changed things.  Fine.  I can figure that out.  But the fact that I now have to hit TWO, DIFFERENT links to reach your non-Blogger blogs?  That is torture and a waste my very valuable (to me) time.  Now that this complaint is out of the way...on to the post

The Husband has been coming home for lunch most days since I have been working from home (his office is literally about six minutes from our house).  Apparently, he feels that I need company or something.  Who knows how his brain works.  🤷 

(Ok, Blogger; I'll give you that - the emoji option is kind of fun!)

Today was no exception.  He came home, we made small talk while he ate and he left.  Not fifteen minutes later he called.  He was being sent home because one of the employees at one of the branches (he works for a bank and visits each branch at least twice a week; sometimes more) had tested positive for COVID-19.

*dramatic sigh*

Needless to say, he came home and tried to hide how nervous he was - but opening doors and turning on light switches using his shirt was my first clue.

The Husband - he's a worrywart, that one.  But, in this instance, I don't blame him...I was worried too.

Also, honestly?  I was dreading the thought of working from home while he was here.  I know, I know...I'm awful.

A few hours later, one of the "powers that be" called him and asked a few pointed questions.  While they couldn't tell him WHO tested positive; he could tell by the line of questioning they didn't think he'd been exposed to this person.  For now, unless they say otherwise, he should be able to return to work on Monday.

You know, since the beginning, I've been waiting for this to touch us somehow.  Last week Man-Child mentioned on the phone that one of his co-workers had tested positive (luckily, they haven't actually gone back to work - school - yet.  But they ARE planning to go back with A/B days - which, I can't EVEN deal with - or think about - right now.  That county, until recently, has had very low numbers - our county, on the other hand, is returning online only for the first nine weeks).  I had, very naively, hoped THAT would be the closest connection we've had with this awful virus.

Apparently not.

Is the thought that it IS possible he was exposed still lurking in the back of my brain?  Yes.  Yes, it is.

*UPDATED* to add, for the time being, I will respond to comments here, as for some reason - with moderation on - I am not receiving all comments/email.