dual personalities

Tag: Organization

September 14, 2020

“Thou art giving and forgiving, ever blessing, ever blest”*

by chuckofish

Plexiglass dividers between the seats are so flattering.

I think daughter #1 had a pretty great birthday what with an after-school trip to the zoo with the wee babes and a party at home afterwards (just the fam).

The zoo train is the best.
But sometimes there are bad smells at the zoo. C’est la vie.

On Saturday after FaceTiming with wee Katie, daughter #1 and I really got down to business in the basement.

We went through bins and consolidated a lot of stuff, throwing away a lot on the way.

It was glorious. We still have more to go through, but I am very pleased. There is nothing like getting organized to soothe the soul.

After a trip to the recycling center with a load of cardboard, we stopped at Club Taco for to-go margaritas and guacamole. Then we settled in for a long music session, listening to a cache of CDs from the 1990s we found in the basement.

Good times.

More cowbell!

One of the scripture lessons on Sunday was from Romans:

Welcome those who are weak in faith, but not for the purpose of
quarreling over opinions. Some believe in eating anything, while the
weak eat only vegetables. Those who eat must not despise those who
abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who
eat; for God has welcomed them. Who are you to pass judgment on
servants of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall.
And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.
Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all
days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. Those
who observe the day, observe it in honor of the Lord. Also those who
eat, eat in honor of the Lord, since they give thanks to God; while
those who abstain, abstain in honor of the Lord and give thanks to
God.
We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we
live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then,
whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end
Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead
and the living.
Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why
do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. For it is written,
“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
and every tongue shall give praise to God.”
So then, each of us will be accountable to God. (14:1-12)

Let’s try to get through the week without passing judgment on our brothers and sisters, shall we? I know it’s hard, but c’mon.

*Henry Van Dyke, “Hymn to Joy” (Van Dyke wrote this poem in 1907 while staying at the home of Williams College president Harry Augustus Garfield. He was serving as a guest preacher at Williams at the time. He told his host that the local Berkshire Mountains had been his inspiration.)

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July 22, 2013

Scenes from my weekend

by chuckofish

“To know we are not alone, that our identity is not random but has a history and a meaning shared with others–that our existence has its own special kind of beauty–this is the great force of art to people moving against alienation.”

Adrienne Rich, “The Ink-Smudged Diaries of Adrienne Rich”

table

I bought this little tray table at an estate sale on Saturday and I put it by my reading chair by the window.

Because my husband was given NCIS: Season 1 and Miami Vice: Season 3 for his birthday, we watched a lot of these guys:

mark_harmon1

Don-Johnson-Miami-Vice-500x680

And I am not complaining. No siree. Some things just never get old.

I went through a lot of stuff in my office.

pilesofstuff

The recycling bin was full today!

I tried to work in the yard, but it was just too muggy. They said it was supposed to be rainy all weekend, but it was merely humid. We could use the rain!

I finished My Mortal Enemy by Willa Cather–hardly a novella, more like a long short story–but very good as Willa always is. Such a good writer! Now I am reading The Prague Cemetery by Umberto Eco, which the boy gave to me for my birthday back in April.

Ecobooks

I also finished a needlepoint project that I have been working on.

fish needlepoint

All in all, a pleasant weekend. Life is good! What did you do this weekend?

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June 11, 2013

What’s in my bag?

by chuckofish

Over the past few weeks there have been a lot of blog posts out there attempting to answer that important question: What’s in your bag? This seems to be something that preoccupies a lot of women. Since a love of small leather goods runs in my family (my father was a big fan), I thought I would jump on the blog bandwagon and show you what’s in my purse!

This is my red Longchamp “Le Pliage” Medium Shoulder Tote. I also have the same tote in gunmetal gray and bright green. I am probably due for a new one right about now. Let me just say, it is the perfect purse. Plain, simple–and it holds just the right amount of stuff without getting too heavy. The shoulder straps are the right length and you can even sponge it off.

redpurse

This is what fits inside.

INSIDE

My Orla Kiely zip wallet.

IMGP0022

This cute Brooklyn zip pouch that daughter #1 gave me. It holds my checkbook and my small calendar and a couple of little blank books which daughter #2 gave me. You can never have too many of those you know.

brooklynzip

IMGP0025

My Vera Bradley eyeglass cases. Daughter #1 gave me the elephant one a long time ago. She also gave me the elephant shopping bag from J. Crew which folds up in a little envelope. I pull it out at the grocery store and say, “I have my own bag!” when they ask, “Plastic or paper?” You are impressed with my green-ness, I know.

glasses

A friend brought this cute zipper bag back from Mexico. It’s the perfect size for a cell phone.

phone

My needlepoint keychain which daughter #1 picked up when she interned at the TODAY show back in the day. Katie Couric got all sorts of freebies and this was one of them. The “I am an Episcopalian” medal is in case I am ever in a car wreck and someone wants to give me Last Rites. I remember reading how Eddie Rickenbacker was in a terrible plane crash and they brought a priest over to give him Last Rites and he yelled at him, all crushed and his eyeball hanging out, “I’m a damn Protestant! Get out!” Well, we just want to avoid any such confusion.

KEYRING

You may have observed a theme here, i.e. my daughters are always giving me nice things to put in my purse. Aren’t they wonderful? And the truth is, whenever I use one of these items throughout the day, I think of the lovely daughter who gave it to me.

I have a friend who used her mother’s old wallet for twenty years after she died. It was getting pretty beaten up as you can imagine, but she just couldn’t bring herself to part with it. Finally, she appeared with a new one and I asked her about it. She said she had been looking through some old things of her mothers and she found another wallet(!) which she then commenced to use. I know just how she feels. That is one of the reasons we are such good friends.

In conclusion: “Good order is the foundation of all things.”
–Edmund Burke (Reflections on the Revolution in France)

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