Spec-tacular

I got new glasses!

I've worn glasses since 9th grade. My first frames were roundish wire frames with purple enamel on the edges. They might have been cool in 1993. I'm not sure. Looking back now at pictures of myself in them, I'm doubtful. But I wore them every day until I got contacts about a year later.  I never looked back. (No pun intended.) I had that same pair of glasses -- strictly for before bed and never worn in public-- when I went to college. And I still had them when I graduated. They were out of date in every sense of the word. Not long after I got married I finally got a new pair. It wouldn't do, after all, for my new husband to see me in my dorky 9th grade glasses. 

I haven't bought new frames in 5 years. I still like my old ones pretty well, although the lenses are scratched a bit, and I am fairly certain that one day in the not-too-distant future Livy is going to snatch them off my face and snap them in two. They're a bit dainty. I still wear my contacts most of the time, mainly so I can wear sunglasses when I'm out, especially driving, but sometimes I like glasses as an accessory to an over-all "look." And I wanted something... hip. 

Then I discovered Rivet & Sway. I was totally impressed -- they offer FREE in-home try-on service, personalized style advice from a real, live human being, free 2-day shipping, and their packaging is darling. Because, why shouldn't your new glasses arrive (with a wink) tucked into in an adorable microfiber pouch that can be used to keep your lenses smudge-free?

 (frames: Faster Pussycat in Crocodile)

I love my new Rivet & Sway specs. Is it time you had a new pair? They are very kindly offering a great deal on your Rivet & Sway order. Just enter the coupon code REBEKAHSWAYS  when you're checking out and they'll knock $50 off your order. The code is good until 6/29/13 and there's no limit to how many folks can take advantage of this offer. Here's to seeing clearly, and looking spec-tacular!

*This is not a paid endorsement. I just really love this company and want all my friends and family to know about it. All thoughts are my own. Thanks so much to Rivet & Sway for this great offer.

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Some Thoughts on a Tuesday Morning

• When I pulled into my driveway this morning after taking Ginny to school, I had to sit in my car for several minutes because this song was on, and I can't walk away from Elton John and Billy Joel. Again with the bar songs. Seriously, what is my problem?

• I started making coffee in my French press and right after I poured the water in I realized that both of my presses were in the dishwasher, which was in the middle of a wash cycle. I poured the coffee through a mesh sieve into my cup and it worked fine. I really feel like I dodged a bullet on that one.

• I finally got a chance to sit down and watch the last 30 minutes of the Downton Abbey season 3 finale. Julian Fellows is a bad, bad man. That is all.

• A few weeks ago, I signed up to start receiving emails from Fly Lady again. The relentless positivity (which apparently is not a word) is mildly oppressive, but I need someone to boss me around when it comes to getting things done around my house. I do not shine my sink, per se, but I have been "swishing" my toilets and "swiping" the toothpaste drips from the bathroom sink pretty much every day, so that's something. 

• I really, really, really want to take the girls to the zoo, mainly because of these -- two of my favorite animals to visit.

Design Seeds

Design Seeds

• Olivia just woke up from her morning nap and she's talking to herself. I wish I knew what she was saying. She sounds very sincere.

• I'm attempting to wean her, starting with daytime naps. She is not down with it. 

• It's Homecoming at our Alma Mater this weekend, and we're planning to go for the first time. I hope it's fun. I wonder if it'll just be us and the Class of 1963. Ginny's really excited because there is going to be ice skating. She's been simply dying to go ice skating. I'll let you know how that goes. 

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In which I blog about bars and rock & roll. (Don't laugh.)

I know next to nothing about popular music. Unless it's featured in a commercial, or played in regular rotation at Walmart I've probably never heard it. I mainly listen to NPR when I'm in my car, because let's face facts: It's pretty much the only chance I have at hearing grown-ups converse between the hours of 7:30 am and 6:00 pm most days. When I do occasionally listen to music, more often than not it is one of a handful of mix CDs that Trav made for me when we were still in college. And that, I am sad to report, was an increasingly long time ago.

Anyway, with or without me, apparently, popular music has continued to exist and lately I have had the hook from this song (which I heard in a commercial) stuck in my head. Until today I had never actually heard the entire song, so I looked it up on the You Tubes.



Frankly, the verses are dumb, and I don't think I feel that way only because I am not *ahem* young. But that hook. I can't get enough. It does remind me of another, similarly themed song that I could (and do) listen to on a never ending loop.



"Time for you to go out to the places you will be from." Now that's a lyric. It begs the question, though, what is my deal with songs about people needing rides home from bars in the wee hours of the morning? This is not something with which I have even one minute of experience. I have no answers. All I know is, I may not be young, but I like to rock. Sometimes. While I empty the dishwasher and wait for the baby to wake up from her nap. Don't laugh. You do it too, and you know it.

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Today I...

• made coffee with my drip coffee-maker because I broke the beaker on my French press yesterday morning.

• folded a load of towels that have been in the dryer for 3 days.

• gave Ginny a microfiber cloth to use when she asked if she could dust and clean windows (!) and then had to send her to time-out when she was discovered using a Color Wonder marker as furniture polish.

• finally unclogged the downstairs bathroom sink:  baking soda, vinegar & boiling water.

• had Ginny's help sorting the dirty laundry and putting it in the machine.  I can't believe she's tall enough to reach inside it.

• ate last week's leftover stuffed tomatoes for lunch.  

• put away some clean laundry that's been in the basket since last week.

• made my bed.

• played a game and a half of Candy Land and a rousing round of Eye Spy with Ginny.

• emptied the dishwasher.

• tested a pile of markers that Ginny insists on leaving the caps off of and threw half of them away because they didn't work.

• read Hand, Hand, Fingers Thumb and got online to figure out which Kindermusik CD has the song that Ginny has been asking to hear for days.

• said "no" to going to the Splash Pad today -- because tomorrow we're going to the dentist and today I needed to get some things done around here. 

• thanked God for a bit of rain to water my garden so I don't have to.

• dog-eared a bunch of recipes in the July/August issue of Everyday FOOD that I want to try.

• did my Esther Bible study homework.

• confirmed our dentist appointments and rescheduled a hair cut for Trav.

• contemplated doing some sewing:  I need to do mending.  I want to make bears.  So far, contemplation is as far as I've gotten.

Another glamorous episode of Real Housewives of Small-Town America.  What did you do today?

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In 1883...

In 1883 the first electric lighting system using overhead wires was built by Thomas Edison.  The Brooklyn Bridge was completed.  Louis Waterman began experiments to invent the fountain pen.  Congress authorized the 1st steel vessels in US navy.  Long-distance telephone service between Chicago and New York was available for the first time.  The Northern Pacific Railway celebrated the completion of its east-west line with the famous Gold Spike in central Montana.  The United States and Canada adopted Standard Time zones, and a 25 year-old man from western Kentucky began a personal journal.  For the next fifty years William Golden recorded his pursuit of education, his struggles with illness, his experiences as a preacher in 6 states, his sermons and the tangible results of his service to God: conversions, baptisms, weddings and funerals. 

For the past 6 months, I have had the challenge and privilege of transcribing these 128 year-old documents for future generations.  It was difficult.  It was frustrating.  It was gratifying, and eye-opening.  I held history in my hands.

 His wife, Mildred, kept notes in the back of her Bible, which she received in 1891.

So many things have changed.  And yet the things a wife and mother sees fit to record are the same: the death of her father, her wedding day, moving to a new home, the birth of her only child.  She wrote much less than her husband, but I felt a kinship with her.  William rarely mentioned Millie in his journal, but once wrote of her as "my precious help."  I can't imagine anything sweeter.

(All historical information from Wikipedia.)

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The "Togo" Tunic

I know I haven't had many crafty or creative posts lately.  Sorry about that.  I hope that will change soon. I've been in the middle of a major project and haven't had much time for such delights.  I did eke out one little clothing refashion, though.

This tunic was purchased in Togo about 20 years ago.  It's been in Ginny's dress-up drawer for I don't know how long, and I decided I wanted to wear it.  Traditionally, this is a men's garment, and is worn very loose to allow cooling breezes to pass through.  That's not an especially flattering look for me, so I removed the side panels (under the arms) and then stitched it right up again.  Easy as pie.  The only drawback is that I lost the pockets, but I may figure out a way to get them back on eventually.

The cloth is 100% cotton and is woven on a hand-loom in narrow strips.  The strips are then sewn together to create the desired width for clothing.  This works well because most traditional clothing of that region is some variation on a rectangle.  It is super-soft, infinitely washable, and as an added bonus, the neckline, arm openings, and bottom hem are all finished with pieces of an old cotton flour sack.

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Indeed

"He is risen!"

"He is risen, indeed!"

The words catch in my throat.  Like Mary, kneeling before that wide-open grave, I can scarcely believe it's true.  Then that little word comes out with a laugh of joy, with tears.  I can't help myself.  "Indeed!"

INDEED. The Impossible is Possible.  The Temple is Rebuilt.  "Woman, why are you crying? Go and tell them."  And she runs.  She RUNS, all the while saying to herself, "He is risen!".  Because she still can hardly believe it.  "I have seen the Lord!."  He was dead and is ALIVE.  And they can barely believe it until they see.  And still we repeat, "He is risen, indeed."  The wonder of believing the Unbelievable.

(edited repost from  4/4/2010)

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Why?

Why did it have to be a friend
Who chose to betray the Lord
And why did he use a kiss to show them
That's not what a kiss is for
Only a friend can betray a friend
A stranger has nothing to gain
And only a friend comes close enough
To ever cause so much pain
And why did there have to be thorny
Crown pressed upon His head
It should have been the royal one
Made of jewels and gold instead
It had to be a crown of thorns
Because in this life that we live
For all who seek to love
A thorn is all the world has to give
Why did it have to be
A heavy cross He was made to bear
And why did they nail His feet and hands
His love would have held Him there
It was a cross for on a cross
A thief was supposed to pay
And Jesus had come into the world
To steal every heart away
Yes, Jesus had come into the world
To steal every heart away

Michael Card, Joy In the Journey (1994)

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P.O.E.M.

My name is Rebekah, and I am an English Major.

When my girls and I decided to have our little reunion, we talked about what we want to do.  Only one of us, really, was excited about talking to professors.  Actually, that isn't exactly true.  One of the advantages of attending a small, private university, is that classes are small and your professors take time to get to know you.  I loved all of my English professors.  I wanted to stop in and see them.  But I was... afraid?  Ashamed?  Embarrassed?

You see, I didn't go to graduate school.  I'm not a teacher.  I don't "write."  Except when I do.  And when I do it isn't literary.   It's pretty easy for me to identify all the ways I'm not using my degree.

Still, my blog is (I hope) well-written.  My 4 year old is {thisclose} to reading, and when we read together she chooses stories with words like: disdainful, alacrity, affronted, and indigestible as often as she chooses Dr. Seuss.  I read literary fiction, thanks to the recommendations of my English-professor brother-in-law.  And I listen to The Writer's Almanac on NPR nearly every day.  That has to count for something. 

As we were loitering in the halls of our alma mater, I saw one of my best-loved professors walking through the English department, and I am sorry to say that I sort of wanted to hide.  Then I thought, what's the point? He wouldn't remember me any way.  So, I handed my camera to Jeanna, she snapped a quick picture of me, and we moved on.

We dropped in on the departments of Social Work, Psychology, Christian Studies and Business, and all the while I was engaged in an internal struggle with self-doubt.  Finally, sick of hearing me whine, probably, Ellen told me, "Your "good enough" is good enough."  Touché .  I laughed.  Then I dragged the three of them back to the English department so I could say, "Hi" to my professor.  And, do you know, he did remember me.  And he encouraged me so, saying that what I am doing is important, and that even if I don't realize it, I am using my degree.  I knew it, of course, but to hear if from a respected academic who I always hoped would be proud to have counted me among his students, someone I really wanted to impress 10 or 12 years ago, was... heartening.

My name is Rebekah, and I'm a proud member of the Professional Organization of English Majors.

We put the human in humanities.

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And the winner is...

Selected at random, from this Liberty print tea tin, by my charming assistant:

Congratulations!  I'll email your gift code to you very soon.  Thanks to everyone who entered!

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You May Already Be a Winner!

I'm excited to be hosting my first-ever giveaway!  The nice people at CSN Stores want to offer one lucky Good Enough reader a $35 gift certificate.  No matter what you're shopping for, chances are you'll find it at one of their 200+ online stores. 

Looking for new bedding or a few pretty pillows to freshen up your home for spring? 

Maybe you'd like some new dinnerware for your Easter feast. 

 

Or perhaps you could illuminate a newly-renovated space with some track lighting -- they have hundreds of options, and many items ship for free.

To win, simply comment on this post no later than midnight on Tuesday, March 15th.  I'll select a winner at random and post your name on Wednesday, March 16th.  (Giveaway open to US and Canada only.)  Good luck!

Photos from CSN Stores.

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To bunk, or not to bunk? That is the question.

So, we have a guest room.  Sort of.  At least, it's a room with an extra bed where guests sleep. 

Also in the room:

• a desk
• a two-drawer filing cabinet, which I plan to make over thusly.
• an overflowing in-box of papers to file
• a heap of spare computer-related miscellany
• a box of comic books
• my great-grandmother's vanity table, which I use for craft supply storage

• a basket of picture frames that I should  probably take to Goodwill because if I haven't used them by now I'm probably not going to
• an assortment of exercise equipment, including a chin-up bar that sometimes hangs from the door frame
• a laundry basket full of stuff that needs ironing or mending

The result is a not-so-restful space that gets hidden behind a closed door whenever we have guests.  Wait, it's the guest room.  Oops.  The room also has to serve as an office for Trav when he works from home, which isn't often, but still, it's a function that has to be addressed.

 A while back Travis suggested bunk beds.  At first I was like, "NO WAY," but now that I've given it some thought it is beginning to sound like a very practical solution.  It would free up some floor space, for one thing.  We don't have loads of overnight guests, and I think a set of bunk beds (with a trundle for adults who may not be keen on sleeping up top) might serve us very well.  Here are some options I could live with:

TheFurniture

I like the storage drawers -- nice for extra sheets and blankets... or craft supplies!

hotfrog

Stairs might be a safer (?) option for accessing the top bunk.

Rooms for Kids

Or, maybe a different approach -- two twins with trundles head-to-head along the one long wall in the room.  I saw this on The Tumtum Tree last week.  If Ginny should ever have a little brother or sister I'd love to do something like this in their shared bedroom.  

What do you think?  Would you trade your current guest accommodations for bunk beds?  More importantly, would you be mad if you had to sleep on the top bunk, or would you call "dibs" on it?

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Tiddely pom

The more it snows

(Tiddely pom), 

The more it goes

(Tiddely pom), 

The more it goes

(Tiddely pom), 

On snowing.

And nobody knows

(Tiddely pom),

How cold my toes

(Tiddely pom),

How cold my toes

(Tiddely pom),

Are growing.

"In which a house is built at Pooh Corner for Eeyore," The House at Pooh Corner, by A. A. Milne, 1929

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2010: The Year in Pictures

January... February... March

April... May... June

July... August... September

October... November... December

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Ginny's Blue Chair Featured on "One Pretty Thing"

Dear reader, do you know about One Pretty Thing?  Rachel scours the web day and night looking for the best and most creative projects and complies them into daily topical roundups.  She was kind enough to include Ginny's Blue Chair in this week's "Before and After" Roundup!  One Pretty Thing is at the top of my list when I start searching for a new project to try.  If you've never been there, GO!  You may just find the inspiration you're looking for!

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10/10/10

1.  This is me on my 10th birthday.  I don't know why there is a big empty bowl on the table.  But I do know that I was wearing blue eye-shadow, blush and lipstick, which I am sure my mother did not approve.  And I love my hair.  If only Travis didn't hate bangs...

2.  Since turning 10, I have lived in 10 different cities.

3.  Instead of attending a 10-year high school reunion, I reconnected with some of my classmates on Facebook.  That's about the best you can do when your high school is on another continent and your classmates come from 7 different countries.

4.  There are 10 posts on my blog labeled I love my country.

5.  I have 10 pairs of shoes that I wear regularly.

6.  Ten years ago, I was a junior in college, editor of the literary magazine, "just hanging out" with the man who is now my husband and definitely not interested in dating him (again).
 
7.  I have had 10 posts this year featuring things I have sewn.

8.  Ginny has been told 10 times today to take a nap. (Please, excuse me while I go tell her again.)

9.  My bathrobe is 10 years old.

10.  I have never seen the movie 10, but I have seen 10 Things I Hate About You and The Ten Commandments.

Photo from here

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Busy As This...

I'll bee back soon with new posts!

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I may have a problem.

 

Clearly, I have a problem throwing away glass jars.  Help me, Rhonda.

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Life in Clover

This bunny is our regular early morning (and sometimes late afternoon) visitor.  Clearly he appreciates our lack of attention to weed control.  The clover grows lush and green- a rabbit's paradise.

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I want to ride my bicycle.

I do not actually own a bicycle.  But, I want to ride this bicycle.  Isn't it lovely?

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