Mark It Up

Yesterday I wrote about the ho-hum of how pouring down rain came to destroy, or at least highly destruct, most every possession of mine just over two months ago. I didn't write a strong conclusion (really, was it one at all? 😑) & this came to be, in part, because most of what that story came to be, came to be over two days. So, I suppose, here I am writing it in just the same way: over two days. 😏😊

Knowing that most of what I had was yarn or other, light-weight craft products (fleece fabric, etc. - okay, so most actually was yarn! 😎😄), I'd originally packed up the skeins in, well, whatever random boxes I could get my hands on. Once this no longer became an option, because I'd thought that yarn, being yarn, wasn't going to need much in the way of sturdy cardboard, I'd purchased ordinary medium-sized storage boxes.

In re-building the storage unit, & after having box after box fall out because the box no longer remained strong enough after becoming damp & having apparently enough pounds of yarn in it to become too weak, it became all too obvious that I'd been trying too hard to be, well, too cheap about it. I needed to purchase the "heavy duty" cardboard boxes which would best withstand not just the pressure of the pile sitting above it (when stacked up high in the unit) -- the heavy duty boxes would also resist potential "light dampness" better than an ordinary cardboard box.

And so, after learning that a nearby unit was empty & that I could migrate into that other unit, I began (with lots of help from Dad that day 💪) placing the wood planks along the bottom of the unit, then placing those of these that I had on top of the planks. This was Dad's idea. Since they're plastic it would take that much longer for the bottom-of-the-unit moisture to make its way up & into the heavy duty strength boxes - which I'd also taken the extra precaution & wrapped the contents up of in these.

Yes, I did. Come on, most everything I owned got messed up - every. single. precaution needed to be taken. No, I wasn't going overboard. After a torrential downpour hits all of the loot, it's no-holds-barre. I wrapped up what I wrapped up & then stocked it up very high.)


In the spirit of all things optimistic, I got out of a unit with obvious moisture-holding issues. Two days after I'd wiped it down & moved most every one of  my things out, it showed big signs of holding abundant moisture along a sizable back corner section.

I also repacked plenty of things, tidying up unnecessary & technically un-safe - due to fall-in - empty space in lots of the original boxes. Probably the biggest deal: I labeled the boxes. Yes, I did. It took lots out of me, yet I made it happen; I had to. I didn't like the idea because that would mean whatever changes I made, it would be forever etched onto each box. I had to get past that. I feel I've scared the boxes. 😞

There was no way around it any longer. And because I did label them, even with just the simplicity of jotting down a key word or two in a reasonable sized printing, now that which I own, that which I bother to continue possessing 😎, well, now it's all staring right at me; it's clear as day. To be even more optimistic, this is also a good thing. There's some accountability in this concept; there's definitely a calculated acknowledgement.

For some reason I find peace & acceptance in knowing I can only do good things with these heavy-duty labeled boxes of mine & proceed forward in a positive way to both find what I actually need (hello next season of clothes 😁), as well as make progress on utilizing my yarn & other crafting supplies. And, yes, continue to move along remaining papers/paperwork, etc. which really doesn't matter anymore & really doesn't hold any meaning in retaining other than menial mental gratification.

This is where we all grow up a little bit more with each unanticipated & unforeseeable personal torrential downpour in our life.

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Appreciating All of the Hours

Like this current hit with the rather welcome opening line of, "24 hours, I need more hours with you...", this Netflix Original Movie expands on the idea that we need to make the most of the time we have here on this Earth. We need to live & be in the relationships we have, as we'll never know when any of them (relationships or people) will perish.

This movie touched me so much that I physically cried [at the end] while watching it. And I didn't even cry at the end of this movie. I did adore that there is a nod to my ever-adored crochet. It's evidence that there's "no time like the present" to learn a gift like this.

The storyline expressed the importance of laughing through life. And appreciating each minute & moment as it is, for what it is. It's a message that each of us needs to consider from time to time. Though with life & all its usual distractions, it's also obvious why it takes a movie to be reminding us (& likely why we ultimately do cry during it!).

No one is getting any younger, & not one of us can create a particular life for anyone else - no matter how much they matter to us. Living in the moment & loving what we've got right in the here & now, that's what's most important.

I also enjoyed the obvious, yet subtle, strong "in-law" bond that her brother has definitely developed with her fiancé. There's no mention of it, & there's really no reason to - it goes in hand with depicting how their families were well intertwined; members leaned on one another naturally.

These are the thoughts that occasionally dwell in my mind, especially while I'm enjoying the craft of crocheting myself. Like with the movie I posted about yesterday, it was at this point, at the beginning of the unofficial start of summer, when I sat down for a bit, crochet hook & yarn in hand, creating another work of art, watching a lovely movie.

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All Things Oranges

Maybe this should really be titled, "Most Things Oranges"... 😉

Let me tell you about my newest revelation regarding the orange...That is, the fruit which is the orange. 😂

First I should begin by explaining that it's only been rather recently that I realized just how much of an orange is edible. I'd been baking a delicious, very peanut buttery bread, where the recipe calls for a teaspoon of orange peel, since I was, well, I think around third or fourth grade when Dad found that recipe in a "home" magazine.

Mom & Dad would always just have a container of the "spice" "orange peel" in the cupboard along with their basil, cloves, parsley, etc., etc. Then I learned that, using one of these (or a fork, or something else that I've yet to learn about, I could utilize my own "fresh" orange peel, or zest (check this out) & not need that spice container from the grocery store aisle.

I'd always used one of these plastic gizmos, or, more recently in my not-bothering-to-keep-one-of-these-on-hand, just my fingers/fingertips has worked fine as well... And I would always peel the entire orange before I'd begin to consume it. I'd break it apart. Sometimes I'd have it in a dish. Sometimes I'd take it "on the go". Always after I'd peeled the entire thing.

Then I got into running these marathons. It didn't dawn on me at first. In fact, it took much longer than it likely should've. When I'd be grabbing along a marathon course for the orange slices, I'd be grabbing the fruit with it's portion of the peel still attached.

Most recently I noticed that a fellow runner did better than me when taking the fruit from a volunteer. He managed to catch his mouth along the edge of the fruit in such a way as to grab the whole of the fiber, & not just the juice & some/most of the pulp. This was impressive to me. I'd never considered being able to enjoy this totality of the orange.

And here I am the one peeling away all of the peel from the fruit all these many times & making a juicy, sticky mess of the whole thing...And if I weren't consuming it immediately, having it turn a little bit more messy since it'd be down to the juice & fiber of the fruit.

The way to go seems to definitely be just to take a knife to the whole orange, straight from its purchase, & cut it down as if it were a pizza. I mean, not to relate every other food to pizza...Just that pizza's get quartered, then "eighthed"; that's essentially what's happening in the cutting up of the whole orange...juice, fiber, peel...The whole thing.

Changing up to this way of managing an orange has been a life changer & saver since I began - just a few weeks ago. In doing so, I grab ahold of the tip top of the edge of the slice of orange & I'm able to grab the fiber & juice section away from the peel. Then I tear at it & pull it away; suddenly I've a slice of orange in my mouth & the juice is simply delicious! 😋

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The "Pots & Pans" Performance

Last Sunday I wrote about the Mother's Day gift I prepared for my mother this year & how our non-traditional celebration of the Day turned out well. We'd headed to the one of the many local theaters in our city.

I'd always taken to theater & worked with the stage performances throughout most of my college years. While working in town, & because of that, waiting on public transportation each afternoon & evening very nearby the larger theaters, I happened to see advertisements on a digital monitor (& therefore flashing its info at me 😏). Well, I was standing there, probably crocheting all the while, & this digital advertisement continued on for weeks, likely much longer.

So, yes, I became interested. In my defense, I believe I was interested regardless. This show was highlighted. A co-worker at the time ignorantly referred to it as the "Pots & Pans" show. I liked that co-worker for other reasons, so I managed to trudge on through rolling my eyes & shaking my head to myself. A friend was willing to see the show with me & called in for tickets. The show was SO good that this DVD showed up under the Christmas Tree for me by the time December rolled around again.

It's an unbelievable performance, as some might say of "nothing". No spoken words; lots of movement. A "workout" of expression. Pure beauty.


This Spring, about a month ago during the musical-performances-at-high-schools big season, I had the privilege of attending another show which I'd not yet seen. This happened, quite by chance, as many of the better things in life do... As when I managed to catch up with a friend over a too-long postponed lunch, she mentioned that her son, now as a freshman in high school, would be part of the cast of this show. I explained how I'd love to see it, was glad she mentioned it, & fully intended to attend. All I knew when we parted ways that day from our late lunch/early dinner was that the show's performances were scheduled for the week or so before I'd be heading out of state for my back-to-back marathons. I still, very much, wanted to go & intended to go to one of the performances.

I made sure that as the month grew longer I found out exactly which days the show would be & my friend explained when she thought her family would be attending in support. That part shifted a few times due to family illness & ultimately, I knew, I'd be best off to just attend on opening night - solo - or risk missing the show entirely.

One of my friend's last text messages to me, earlier in the school week, had been something like, "You don't have to go. It's not a problem if you don't make it." Obviously she'd not registered my high beams of excitement over getting to see the performance - especially as I'd never see the show (& therefore I was not as familiar with the storyline as I could've been).

When I texted her during intermission sharing that her son was doing a great job & how fun it is to see the school kids' talent & how those adult educators in charge manage to prepare the cast & crew & all of the their costumes.

She responded back that she didn't know I'd be there that night & that I should take pictures. This, as I was sitting down in my vehicle to leave the parking lot after the show finished. It had been a long show - & it had that intermission too. So I called her. She exclaimed about how I'd gone & she'd not known. We kindly discussed about how I'd mentioned my interest & that she'd just not realized I truly meant I wanted to see the production.

After all, she'd been ill & hadn't even been to work all that week. Other family members were having important surgeries & testing rescheduled. She was off the hook - a Very. Proud. Mama. that her boy had taken to her liking quite a bit. She's a fan of the theater too. Just like me. Another bit of progress in our friendship: Learning that we'd be able to make good companions for one another to visit the theater together. And she knows of another nearby theater with lower, fairer rates.

All of this because I made it a point to see it through & enjoy myself doing something that greatly interests me. 😍

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Strength in Training

It's days like today's run where I realize how amazing strength training can be; just how important it is to best a runner's performance. That, & protein.

I've known for quite some time where my most trouble spots are &, naturally, I do find myself focusing on them both while I run, as well as while I'm working with my hand weights. When I'm running those longer distances I can feel these muscles being worked, being "put to the test". It feels good; it's a reassurance that this work I've put in - with completing the strength training - has really been as well off for me as I'd been informed it would be.

Originally, nearly ten years ago, for different reasons (as I'd not conceived of becoming a marathon runner back then [Never Say Never!]), I'd purchased these. I never did use them, & rather instead passed them off to a friend who'd begun participating in a walking group. Then I found these. Yes, they're blue. So, of course they're a "win" for me. They're also five pound weights; & with my preference of doing things in increments of five, well, they became an ideal selection for me. 😉

Since that purchase I've also added both eight & ten pound hand weights to my "collection" as I've realized I can push myself that little bit more; that my muscles can take on a few more pounds while training. I've a few kettlebells too, though I don't use them much right now due to my current housing situation.

One of the things I've most learned in strength training is about engaging the muscles. Not to rush through a rep. In this way the muscles are better strengthened & there is less [chance for] injury. And this is very helpful while out running because feeling that strength mid-stride is very encouraging.

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Wrist Gizmo

This device has increased my confidence. It's encouraged me & provided me with much needed security. Looking back at these first two sentences I write as if it's a love story & that I've fallen in love with this inanimate object I fasten atop my wrist while I run. --So maybe I have. 😏

Being totally honest, I'd gotten rather used to locating places where I could just loop rounds & knew that the distance was roughly a mile...in so that I'd mentally keep track of "approximately" how far I'd run & be content with that accrued mileage.

With this I find myself concentrating on other things. Like the important things. Such as pumping my arms (which is easier since I include strength training nearly daily), good runner's form, realizing that that the runner or runners who've just passed me - that I could pace with them for a bit, that when the mile marker on this sounds off, I could glance at it for the encouragement...That, if I'm running laps around a building, lake, parking lot, track, etc., rather than nauseate myself actually keeping track of how many laps I've run around [insert random particular location here] (which, because I've managed to lose count in the past 😓), I can just glance down to my wrist & quickly learn of my progress.

Or...if I'm itching to feel good about my progress, & I'm nearing, say a five mile mark, I can glance down & see if I'm at about the time I'd think I should be &, if my body [read: my mind] is in the mood for it, adjust myself accordingly & maybe accomplish something great & new in the remaining short mileage until I do. Otherwise, glancing down at my wrist would only prove counterproductive in the case that I'd be hoping to learn that I'd not been running with such poor form & pace, only to find out that the cement feet & general sluggish-ness I'd feel would've been all too true & then I'd be getting myself down & out about it.

I'd had another wrist tracker, & with most things in life more recently I've learned something that's of reasonable quality is sometimes worth the little extra effort. Besides, when I'd attained the original tracker, I simply could not afford the better ones, so I found myself bidding online for one. What I'd won was a tracker that didn't sit properly in its charger - as in, it needed to be held in place, or pushed down into place atop the metal disc to continue charging. I'd find random things that would sit consistently without gravity getting in the way. Though on that tracker there wasn't a GPS & the length of my stride was considered a factor (& my stride length is anything but consistent).

I'm not of the faster runners in so that I particularly looked for a tracker which would have a longer time frame (definitely beyond six hours). I initially choose this eight hour tracker, it being advertised as a "small size" tracker, then changed to the ten hour tracker of the same design (just "larger") after being counseled on a social media platform that these tracker's do lose time & that "eight hours" won't be eight hours after a while.

I've been thrilled with my selection thus far (not even mentioning in this post each of the "bonuses" for which I particularly enjoy it) & as I'm completing my very first back-to-back marathons in less than a month now, I'll be wearing this (insert link again) around my wrist. And I'll have confidence. 😊 (Even though said confidence will be from reasonable preparation & not just from wearing a suitable tracker!)

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Keeping Your Head Up Hoping to Dance

For some people waiting around to complete a task seems to be the best way for them to accomplish it, in addition to accomplishing it well. These same people often need to have something of a timer tick-tocking nearby in order for them to have their own inner fire flamed. Some call these people procrastinators; others call them perfectionists (for similar, yet not the same, reasons).

These are not my people. I accomplish the same tasks, & best, when I'm optioned to take my time. I can work well under pressure, I am deadline-driven, & I can put my nose to the grindstone & purely focus on what's most important on my to-do list...That is, my hypothetical "to-do list".

I work hard to not permit any of my to-do list to get "inside my head". I lose this battle quite often. I think all of this is much of why I made my 2018 motto (which I tend to not have annual mottos, either 😜), to not make a task out of living my life.

The responsibility of adulthood can be wearisome, although I believe, if overthought just a snag, this wearisome-ness is mainly due to having "too much". Whether it's gluttony, or keeping many possessions, or never saying "no" to those who request of you & therefore, keeping too busy a schedule &, in time, "running ragged".

And then this song pops into my head. It's a song that kept me somewhat spirited during my high school running years. It was not a popular song of the times; it was simply a song I knew of having a particular line within it, that, would I think of it much while lapping the track, (or, keeping on wherever), I'd contentedly manage to continually keep on placing one foot in front of the other.

This isn't a pun & yet it's both literal & figurative. And it's the "run" of adulthood too. Believing in one's own "goodness", "strength" & "aptness"; that for which we are quite qualified, & where we are ready, willing, & eager to excel.

It's about letting the little things go. And then I remember a book I picked up at a church's flea market during my tween years: this book. And, like many other tweens (& "tweens" of all generations 😎) I bought the book, had it around, made it a part of the right-next-to-the-desk stack "knowing" it'd soon be read, or at least skimmed through, or, at the very least, flipped through. And like many others still, I consider now that I truly hope when I purged a handful of boxes of books to a library book sale about a year ago, I hope, really, really hope, that I bothered, that I just went ahead & included that particular book to those donation boxes. 😜😂

It's not that this book was written or published for the purpose of never really being actually read. It's that I know, for almost absolutely certain, that I, in this current "life space" of mine, won't be breaking the binding in any more than it was when I scooped it up out of the box in the old high school on the church's property. Maybe, just maybe, it's because I got out of the book everything I needed to - just in reading the title itself.

That title rings in my ear just as ferociously as does the headline verse from this song while I'm running a long distance in otherwise silence.

It's because I've already embraced that minding the (slowly, creepily rising) price of gas at-the-pump isn't going to stave it off or "coupon" the bottom line. I'm not embracing or "celebrating" it; I'm merely not permitting my blood pressure to rise as a result of recognizing & acknowledging it.

We can all plan. We can make to-do lists. We can discipline ourselves & accomplish miniature & major goals we set for ourselves in every miniature & major way possible. We can also work on focusing just as much as we focus on working. (Are you working hard or hardly working? 😎😜😂)

When the gentle balance is found somewhere in between all of these things, when a deep sigh is had, & a smile gently sweeps the cheeks of the earned while their eyes dance in glory & justice...They've accepted their girth and/or accomplished...Whether that be finishing a personal project, one at work, receiving accolades, or finding that somewhat creepy word: contentment.

Then being asked to interview for (& being offered!) a "dream job", running 20+ consecutive thirteen minute miles well in advance of an upcoming scheduled marathon sans pain or injury, glamorously wearing that dress & heels (or boots! 😊) that just happen to match so well together while being out-n-about "people watching" & having "carefree timelessness" to actually "take in" life for its moments, keeping your "head up" so "you can let your hair down" (click here for the upbeat tune 😉😁😄), happening upon a house on a quaint street in an attractive neighborhood that will be both "safe" & "wise" for which to reasonably relinquish one's savings account...& realizing that this is all what is truly "living 'the dream'".

*****

Diane Keaton's character in this movie wished for each of her children to know their personal worth & to find love, happiness, & family...Not with the wrong person...& not to just get married for the sake of getting married because their mother was dying...Even if each relationship isn't to truly gel before she passes away. To be themselves while receiving & being welcoming & loving. This is, in part, why she responds to Sarah Jessica Parker's character asking, "What's so great about you guys?"

"Nothing. It's just...it's just that we're all we've got." with Rachel McAdams character nearby.

With Rachel's character then adding, "We're not so great."

Which leads Sarah's character to cry out, "And you! You're the worst!"

Rachel's character then asks inquisitively,"I'm the worst?!" as she slides on raw eggs & falls to the floor; Diane's character yelps from the hilarity of the scene (aka "the moment"). They are "them", though they'll love you just the same.

And as she casually made sure to take the minutes to watch & acknowledge the snow falling...on Christmas Day (thus her last Christmas is a "White Christmas").

All we are & all we do is all that we have. And that's all that we've got to make the most of what we can...

...When you get the choice to sit it out or 🎜🎝🎜🎝 ... Because it truly is ... all. small. stuff.

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Not Greed, Nor Entitlement, Definitely A "Wonder"

And a very unintentional motto I’ve taken to now for the past several years would be one that’s been said by many for a very long time, “Never say never.”

The number of things which I’ve done, & in most cases, very proudly so (i.e., I also intend to do again) which I’ve done in these last several years is many more than worth accurate tracking.

One of these things many might think is natural, quite fine, & a very decent thing to do; it’s likely something that they’ve also done. That is, I became a movie theater patron on Christmas Day.

It went a little something like this. I needed some time for me; I needed to treat myself. The nearby theater happens to offer their weekly discount day on Mondays, which happened to be Christmas Day. And the theater was showing the third & final of the three-part series for this movie. (Which, when I heard that it was, couldn’t figure out how there’d be a plot, so I became intrigued to see it, in part, just to learn what the writers would make of the plot in order to continue the storyline.)

So my movie theater viewing for Monday, December 25 became an apparent, win-win-win (-win?) 😂

I saw the movie. I enjoyed it. The timing during the day worked out well too. I got back in my vehicle & got to see some of the traffic (both people & their vehicles) that becomes of the business that is Christmas Day at a movie theater. I learned a lot. And in a very good way.

Then I began “planning”. This is when I tend to trip up & go “overboard”. “Planning” means that I’m likely on the verge of making a task out of life. 😎 Things went so well on December 25 that I decided to aim just as high for January 1, another Monday, another movie theater discount day.

I began to turn the way of negative when I realized, after taking the time to watch the trailers of each of the remaining movies at that nearby theater, that none of the others were of great enough interest to me to either spend the time/money at the theater, nor to make something of the “free time” I had because I didn’t need to be anywhere else right then.

Wishing to remain as positive & forward thinking as possible, I researched current movies & watched another trailer or two. I learned that another, not-quite-as-“nearby” theater (really it’s just in the next locality, so no ‘big deal’) happened to be showing one of these other movies. I had a point to drive to that area, & so I did. It was mid-day on New Year’s Day & a jam-packed parking lot as well as a jam-packed theater lobby. The clerks efficiently managed the line & I quickly became next up. I asked the clerk the movie’s cost & ultimately decided to see it. It was sold out. Seeing a movie in a theater on New Year’s Day instantly became something I wasn’t meant to be accomplishing.

My New Year’s had been off to a rocky start for another reason or two & I became determined to not let my intentions for this new year become parched, waivered, or diminished.

I continued on with my week. Sunday came & I realized I’d be nearby that “other” theater again. I walked in & asked if my selection had already sold out; it hadn’t. The cost had an apt matinee price affixed to it. Bingo! Score! 😊

Seeing it solo, I got into the theater & began scanning the back row (which, in these modern theaters is up in the back from where patrons enter on the side). Plenty were seated in that far back row. I spoke up & inquired if all of the seats were spoken for; they weren’t. The teens & tweens (as well as their families) with which I sat next to said there were two seats left. It appeared I claimed the final seat of the row. Another bonus to solo movie theater viewing. 😎😊😏.

This movie is one for which I cannot wait to own the DVD. I called Mom as soon as I let the theater since she & Dad are always looking for good ideas for me for gifts & told her about watching the movie & my eagerness for the DVD; she giggled.

I cannot wait to watch it again (although, unless someone else paid my way, I wouldn’t view it again in the theater – for one reason, time, for another, needing to save my hard-earned money). It’s beyond simply a “great message”. It’s well written & nearly the same writing as this book from which it’s based (I’ve not yet read it, though I’ve solid word from a few teens who have 😎).

Bringing tissues is a must. (Go ahead, click here for the kind that travel well in your pocket or purse. If you'll be staying in & watching it on your own big screen, click here for the kind that sits nicely on your coffee table or end table - or even your nightstand. 😁) Fortunately I carry something in the way of tissues in the tiny cross-body strap bag I typically have with me. 

It touches the heart & soul of so much. As much as this movie's underlying theme is “Greed”, this movie touches a bit on “Entitlement”. One student’s mother mentions during her quip in the principal’s office words which [hopefully] no one wishes to hear & [hopefully}] causes most everyone to gasp. I wished to pity the character only in that the example for which she [unintentionally & unknowingly?] sat there setting for her teen son was of embarrassment & entitlement.

I’d like to think that anyone working in customer service understands the “backlash” of such thoughts & actions. And, yes, many other occupations as well. 😎

We are all “us”. We are all beautiful as we are. We are all a “wonder” of existence & a marvel upon the world & society. It is about what we make of it to make something great out of what we become.

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