Better than the Last
The first day of the year and it’s the coldest day we’ve had to endure since we moved up North three years ago. I suppose it’s best to get the worst out of the way ahead of time. Now the remaining 364 days will feel superior to this one. There’s a foot of new snow [...]
Scrooge
I wish I were the type of person that could earnestly don a holiday themed sweater and some poinsettia earrings and settle into this seasonal stuff, generating deep internal satisfaction in hours spent marching the mall corridors hunting the perfect gift. Instead I screech into the Target parking lot at 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday [...]
Timing
So what does a twice rejected nascent writer do after the receiving the latest in a series of loud and echoing No’s? Well, of course she gets right back in the saddle and fires off a few short stories to five different literary magazines and makes sure she enters a couple writing contests and decides [...]
Did I mention that I hate cats?
So resort week is officially over and the whole relaxation thing but a memory. No matter how hard I try to vacation, how completely I shake free of the anxiety and the pet hair and the mundane worries of the day to day, somehow all these things catch right back up with me upon return. [...]
A Staggering Suggestion
It’s the fourth and I’m approaching the thirty day mark of a sixty day self imposed period of asceticism. Time for an update…
Obviously the exercise in economy requires some flexing of the self control muscle and, like any attempt to improve oneself, to tone and sculpt and define, there is some pain associated. And while [...]
Temptation
I’ve bumbled my way past the first temptation. It came in the form of an invitation. A simple thing, “Do you want to see a movie tonight,” a friend asked. And, initially feeling sort of smug, I told her about my vow of asceticism. I explained my 8 week moratorium on luxury. I confessed that, [...]
A Words – Altruism and Asceticism
It’s been an inspired start to ‘08. Without making any real resolutions because I am, as I’ve said before, nearly perfect, it’s still been hard to resist the betterment challenges that are out there in the blogosphere these first days of the New Year. First there’s Jen over at One Plus Two challenging her audience [...]
I am restored
It’s about time I shared something joyful. ‘Tis the season, after all. So I will tell you about a certain Christmas gift that is so dear and thoughtful and all together excellent that it makes me want to weep. (I especially feel like crying because it’s NOT a gift for me. I can own [...]
Expectation
If you are like me, then a little a bit of you will be disappointed this Christmas. It’s not like being six years old again and believing, really believing, that Santa will bring you a pony despite the fact that there is no pasture or stable or knowledge of ponies within a twenty mile radius [...]
Not until December
Shouldn’t there be a law, some sort of ordinance against the display of Christmas decorations before the flowers in the Thanksgiving centerpiece have shriveled and died?
Driving around town, one would think that Old Saint Nick was beating an immediate path to our doors, like tonight, this afternoon, visiting only those previous and industrious enough to [...]
