The Experiment: Day 77 ~ Celebrating The Ordinary Days…

I wish I had a sparkler, in fact, if I could figure out how to get some at this time of year I would buy a box of them just to use to celebrate the ordinary days like today. Is this a day when nothing spectacular is happening? No big celebrations, no worries or woes, just a day. HOORAY! Isn’t this grand? We are awake and alive and on the planet with all manner of possibilities still open to us, we have the security of the regular days and the excitement of what’s to come. I think these are very special days and I think we should celebrate them and not let them pass by in a hum-drum manner.

Today is a home day for me, a day that the pugs and I slept a little later because I didn’t have to leave the house today. Last night I cleaned up my kitchen and ran the dishwasher so after I took them out to the potty and we came into the kitchen it was neat and tidy, no dirty dishes in the sink, the dog bowls washed and gleaming sitting on the counter waiting for me to dish up their breakfast, and all of my coffee things clean and ready to go. Sometimes I get up and face dirty dishes and the French Press needs to be cleaned before I can use it and I have to find a CLEAN mug, but not today. This is an especially happy moment for me, walking into a clean kitchen to start my day. It is a gift to myself.

And then I make the coffee and bring it in here to my studio. I’ve turned on the Christmas tree lights and my little cardinal wreath on the studio door is lit up and it is so cozy and sweet in here. AND I am so excited because something unexpected happened yesterday!

As I was out doing errands after therapy yesterday I had to go to the Dollar Store to return the 4 boxes of blue Christmas lights that I had purchased for my front porch. I was very sad about it but when I went out on the front porch and opened the first box I was stunned to see how short the strings of lights were. I literally would have needed 4 or 5 times as many boxes and I just couldn’t afford them so I thought I’d just take them back and get a credit for them BUT on seasonal items you can’t get a credit, you can only exchange the items for other seasonal items. My heart sank, and then I thought, oh well, it is what it is, and I love Christmas decorations so I figured I’d just look around. What I decided upon — something I’ve never had or wanted before but which tickled me — was a 4′ tall white Christmas tree all aglow with soft colored fiber optic lights! It looks so pretty (I always said I hated white trees!) but some friends last year had a little white Christmas tree and it was enchanting. I bought 3 boxes, at $1 apiece, of shiny ornaments in pink, blue, and turquoise, and a little box of Christmas tree ornament hangers. I got all that for the price of my blue lights. I was as tickled as a little girl bringing it all home and I am going to put it up today, in the front window on a table so you can see it from the street. EEEEeeeeeee I’m SO excited! On any “ordinary” day the most amazing thing might happen. Now I’ll have TWO Christmas trees and I couldn’t be happier. (I had a momentary kind of manic-y bipolar moment when I imagined buying all the little 2′ tall pre-lit trees to put all over the house, but I got hold of myself. I didn’t have any money to spend except the amount of the lights for an exchange and I just love what I got.)

Over morning coffee I made my list for the day, calls to make, things to do, I needed to go over my budget for the month because I’m just about finished Christmas shopping — one more grandson to shop for and I know what I’m getting — and everything is down to the penny this month. I keep a running tab on all the outgoing monies for the month — bills, groceries, my Christmas budget, my birthday budget for my daughter whose birthday is the 16th — and I deduct everything due from the money I have and I mean I count every penny. It’s good to be accountable and have it all clear in my mind. That really means something to me. It feels good. It makes me calmer and more at peace to know that everything is covered with a little buffer for unexpected things, little unexpected things, and then I can relax because I know what’s what.

And since it’s been overcast and rainy, and the temperatures have dropped and it’s much colder, it will be a perfect day to snuggle up with the pugs and read for awhile and take a little nap. These are such sweet times. As I lay back in my big, now worn but very comfy, recliner, and cover with my super-soft blanket, the pugs snuggle in, one on each thigh on the sides of the chair and one of the big outstretched footrest between my knees and ankles. The gentle weight of the pugs and the warmth of the blanket feels so good. It’s my version of one of those “weighted blankets” that are supposed to help keep you calm. I always wanted one but they are expensive and who needs ’em? I’ve got pugs instead!

Tonight is my regular night to Skype with my friend Bekah and we have so much fun. We get on Skype about 8 and go until about 11. It is such a sweet evening, I look forward to it all week, and then it will be time to curl up with the pugs again to go to “bed” (We sleep in the recliner, a long story that I may tell one day.) and another day will be done, full, and wonderful, and satisfying.

What are you up to today dear one? How are you navigating the holidays? I’d love to hear from you. Leave me a comment here below on the blog and let’s chat. I love to “talk” with you, and I am so tickled and honored to have you here with me on the journey. Let’s share the holidays and the ordinary days and anything else you’d like to share.

It’s 4:00 now, time to get the dogs out and snuggle up in our chair. When we get up from our nap it will be time to decorate our new little tree and then feed the pugs their dinner and make my dinner and then it will be time for Skyping! “Ordinary” days are full of so many things and I feel blessed and happy and at peace. Do tell me what your day is like, it’s so nice not to feel alone on the journey, and let’s light an imaginary sparkler to celebrate the day! (I really am going to have to find some sparklers, I’m serious. Ebay?)

Love and tender hugs to one and all…

 


The Experiment ~A 365 Day Search For Truth, Beauty &
Happiness:ย 
Day 1 ~ Introduction To The Project
โ€œDo or do not. There is no try.โ€
Yoda

Comments

  1. Your little fibre optic tree sounds delightful. I expect it will be very pretty with the ornaments. We had a fibre optic tree a few years ago, one which we bought at the hardware store. After a couple of years it got finicky and instead of four colours only two turned on. That’s why, last year we bought a 4 ft. ‘skinny’ tree in a nice pot when it was on sale. It is prelit and just the right size for our space.

    I do love the way a fibre optic tree lights though and I’m sure yours will look very pretty through your front window! ๐Ÿ™‚

    • Oh thanks so much Joan, I’ve never had one and always thought they were pretty, and I do miss my BIG real tree that I’ve always had, I miss the smell, but it’s just me and the pugs now and we are delighted with our 4′ trees, part of getting older. They are surely enough.

      I bet your tree is adorable and I tell you what, at 63 I really appreciate the pre-lit trees! ๐Ÿ˜€

  2. Every year Tom puts up a row of colorful little lights on the valence (where the drapes hang from) in both the living and dining roomd, above the great big windows that face our yard and Myer’s Park. He also puts a row of bigger lights around the front door. Once those are clicked on, and the rooms are filled with a cheery glow, i know the holidays are here. Such a simple thing, colored lights, but how it changes the aura of our two front rooms. I love to sit on the love seat bathed in the glow of the lights…
    Later we will put a dowel stick on hooks over the fireplace, to hang the stockings (there used to be four, when Tom’s mom would visit us every year at christmas, but now there are just three, mine, Tom’s, and Alana’s), and soon we will purchase (from the Boy Scouts who have a sale every year near Lake Ella, where our favorite coffee house is), a small living green (aromatic!) tree, about four feet tall, to sit facing the living room window on the cabinet my father made long ago.. we will put a few brightly colored glass balls on it and a string or two of tiny colored lights, and that pretty much is the extent of our holiday prep (other than writing our annual holiday letter). a few gifts under the tree… and a fire in the fireplace.. and gentle holiday music (we have a harp CD of carols that is so soothing ) and by gosh, we are counting our blessings.

    By the way, the photo of the girl holding the sparkler is a spitting image of my daughter, down to the hair, shape of face, white top, grey long sleeved sweater!

    xo ka

    • Oh darling Ka, your Christmas decorations sound so lovely, I love the lights at Christmas, they mean so much to me, they just MAKE Christmas somehow, and your little tree sounds adorable, and Oh! I always look so forward to your holiday letter, I treasure it! You know when we were young marrieds, back in those years, a lot of people used to send Christmas letters and I looked so forward to them but yours is the only one I’ve gotten in a very long time. Thank you so much.

      And goodness, maybe Alana posed for that picture!!! ๐Ÿ˜€

      Love you honey,

      Maitri xo

  3. MY husband and I ran “errands” today- a weekly event for us. It consists mostly of checking in at our favorite thrift stores. All the Christmas supplies are making me anxious to get to mine ( for a few bad years I didn’t even want to think about it!) This weekend some grands will come to help. We do not have a real tree because my husband is allergic to the sap- I, too, miss the smell. Enjoy!!!

    • Oh Lorraine what fun! I LOVE thrift shops. And I’m so glad you are decorating for Christmas this year. As one who wasn’t in the mood in the years after the fire I can tell you that it is just delightful to have lights twinkling and sparkling in the house and the wreaths and trees up! And it’s too bad your husband is allergic. I really miss the live trees, and I used to get an 8′ tree and decorate it myself, it was always so pretty and smelled so good but I’m just not physically up to doing that anymore. Enjoy whatever you do and Happy Holidays honey! ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Well, we have our small grapevine-based tree lit up, with extra gardening ornaments to add to the original bird and berry-themed ones, and I’ve hug a Himalayan-knit Christmas stocking and put out a few favorite Christmas things. I’m waiting for a replacement Swedish Angel Chime — for the one my Mom had for years, but now is missing too many pieces to look right, much less work.

    I just made a batch of Snickerdoodles (for a cookie exchange next week) and had baked all sorts of other cookies for a Christmas neighborhood Tour of Homes on Saturday. Not really a good thing aside from the memory fun, as neither of us need to be eating cookies, and good ones are tempting.

    By the way, I now have a lovely herbal wreath that Bekah made while talking to you on one of the Thursday evenings. It’s such a nice thing to think about the two of you chatting while she created this amazing wreath!

    • Oh Lisa, your grapevine tree sounds so lovely! I’d love to see a picture! And a Swedish Angel Chime, oh how lovely that must be! AND OH MY GOODNESS GRACIOUS SAKES ALIVE!!! SNICKERDOODLES!!! I think they are my absolutely favorite Christmas cookies in the world, or ANYtime cookies. I used to use the recipe out of the Betty Crocker cookbook, in fact I used to make LOTS of different kinds of Christmas cookies, dozens and dozens, and fill the round Christmas tins and give them to family and friends. it was such fun delivering cookies, but oh my I haven’t done that in years now. In the later years the kids wanted Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Crinkles (Chocolate balls you roll in powdered sugar and they puff up then fall and have a crackledy look to them, they are so good!) And of course Chocolate Chip. We used to do oatmeal raisin cookies and sometimes gingerbread men. I miss the memories of all of that as you say but the kids are scattered across 3 states for now and the 2 out of towners get in Christmas Day laden with babies and gifts the cookies just kind of got lost in the shuffle! Now I don’t eat sugar so can’t eat any, and while most of the year that won’t be hard for me there’s just something so special about Christmas cookies, isn’t there? Ah, you have brought such memories up for me honey. Thank you!

      And yes how wonderful that you bought that wreath, and YES!!! I watched her make it! And it’s so lovely. I adore her wreaths and she works so hard at them, it’s amazing to watch her work. I’m so glad you got one!

      Blessings to you and Tim this holidays season, I hope it is beautiful and I hope your Swedish Angel Chime arrives in time! ๐Ÿ™‚

      • Snickerdoodles from the Betty Crocker cookbook were the ones I made in childhood, although now Iโ€™m using the Cookโ€™s Illustrated version. Go figure. Gingerbread cookies and cranberry almond granola bars round out my cookie favorites (although oatmeal raisin are right up there, too.).

        I think itโ€™s the memories and idea of Christmas cookies thatโ€™s the good thing. Itโ€™s really not about eating them! Iโ€™m expecting the Swedish Angel Chimes tomorrow, so hopefully itโ€™ll be here….

        • Oh Lisa your cookies all sound so good! And I can’t wait to see a picture of your Swedish Angel Chimes, I’ve never seen such a thing! I hope it comes today! ๐Ÿ˜€

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