beautiful things
I really love Three Beautiful Things. Not every day - sometimes not for weeks at a time, but every once in a while I find myself there marveling at how perfectly Clare can capture a moment.
I don't have the patience to list three beautiful things as adeptly/frequently/poetically but I will freely admit that I find myself walking around mentally cataloging three beautiful things with some frequency. And that, in itself, is an accomplishment.
I had a terrible day yesterday. I walked to work from the train (14 blocks) which I enjoy if my iPod is charged. Ten blocks before my street I noticed two policemen looking up. A distraught looking man was on a ledge about 40 feet above the street. It unsettled me (to put it mildly) and I walked away as fast as I could. Then, just as I mentioned that I've been making fewer mistakes at work, I made a couple of critical errors. In the aftermath I realized that Youngest and I have similar personalities - all it took was a glance from my boss and I wanted to hide in a corner. Had he admonished me for my faults I might have had to lock myself in a room somewhere. Fortunately, he seemed to realize that it was not necessary to mention my mistake - or maybe it was the nothing-you-say-to-me-will-be-as-bad-as-what-I'm-thinking vibe I was giving off that kept him from discussing my slip up.
Anyway.
I went, after work, over to Old Navy. My boys needed socks and underwear and it seemed like a good place to try. I scored some new crab boxer shorts and was very happy. Do you realize that I wrote that post four years ago? FOUR YEARS. Have any of you been reading since then? Can we all meet for coffee?
So, Old Navy - after work...I successfully purchased boxers and socks for three boys, PLUS I found a fold-over-waist jersey skirt and some longshort sleeved tee shirts for me and I'm very pleased. Of course, I continue to assume I'm a medium so every trip to a store results in a return trip. I'm like those people who buy clothes that will fit "as soon as I lose weight" but the opposite. I keep thinking I can't possibly stay this size but it seems like I am. It's very strange. I keep thinking all the stores must have changed their sizes.
Am I rambling?
It's Wednesday. I've promised to take Middle to Ikea for some shelves on Friday. Smart boy, that Middle, he's taken to straightening up his room and has realized that the crappe on his floor has no place to be stowed. Who doesn't like a trip to Ikea?
That's a rhetorical question.
As for Thursday, I'm ignoring it.
I don't have the patience to list three beautiful things as adeptly/frequently/poetically but I will freely admit that I find myself walking around mentally cataloging three beautiful things with some frequency. And that, in itself, is an accomplishment.
I had a terrible day yesterday. I walked to work from the train (14 blocks) which I enjoy if my iPod is charged. Ten blocks before my street I noticed two policemen looking up. A distraught looking man was on a ledge about 40 feet above the street. It unsettled me (to put it mildly) and I walked away as fast as I could. Then, just as I mentioned that I've been making fewer mistakes at work, I made a couple of critical errors. In the aftermath I realized that Youngest and I have similar personalities - all it took was a glance from my boss and I wanted to hide in a corner. Had he admonished me for my faults I might have had to lock myself in a room somewhere. Fortunately, he seemed to realize that it was not necessary to mention my mistake - or maybe it was the nothing-you-say-to-me-will-be-as-bad-as-what-I'm-thinking vibe I was giving off that kept him from discussing my slip up.
Anyway.
I went, after work, over to Old Navy. My boys needed socks and underwear and it seemed like a good place to try. I scored some new crab boxer shorts and was very happy. Do you realize that I wrote that post four years ago? FOUR YEARS. Have any of you been reading since then? Can we all meet for coffee?
So, Old Navy - after work...I successfully purchased boxers and socks for three boys, PLUS I found a fold-over-waist jersey skirt and some longshort sleeved tee shirts for me and I'm very pleased. Of course, I continue to assume I'm a medium so every trip to a store results in a return trip. I'm like those people who buy clothes that will fit "as soon as I lose weight" but the opposite. I keep thinking I can't possibly stay this size but it seems like I am. It's very strange. I keep thinking all the stores must have changed their sizes.
Am I rambling?
It's Wednesday. I've promised to take Middle to Ikea for some shelves on Friday. Smart boy, that Middle, he's taken to straightening up his room and has realized that the crappe on his floor has no place to be stowed. Who doesn't like a trip to Ikea?
That's a rhetorical question.
As for Thursday, I'm ignoring it.
Comments
Crab shorts!
For me it'll be 3 years in August that I've been reading you. Every day (almost!). But I went through all your posts.
Paola
Coffee is on me, next time you are in town!
Glad you sought out some retail therapy.
You and I and middle have the same nature - make a mistake and the notion of scale and consequence? Doesn't exist. World may as well end.
But it doesn't.
And you, my dear friend, are still a fucking legend.
Oh - and our friend Bri - who lives near you guys in Tuvalu and just (finally THANK GOODNESS) got a job on Floor St has this pair of crab shorts and man did we give him grief about them. He was all indignant and 'these are totally cool where I come from' so there you have it.
I'm definitely rambling.
It's midnight here and I'm up baking bread. I know you know I'm not joking. What an idiot.
OH - and you know that email the other day when you really did hang it all out? I didn't reply because nothing would have done it justice. It's just made me chuckle ever since.
I've been reading since I found you - about 2 1/2 years now?
2005 was a very bad year for our family. I'm glad I had you to entertain me and to bring a little bit of pleasure, happiness, and enlightenment into my life during that dark time. Thank you.
Keep up the good work.
I would love to meet you for coffee sometime, but it would feel strange; I don't have a blog, so you don't know much about me. I think I might feel like I was having coffee with a movie star.
I love it when kids start taking ownership over the state of their stuff.
Perhaps the man about to jump was an omen about your day to come?
I tend to do the same thing at work, by punishing myself way worse than anyone else ever would. And it usually ends up not being that big a deal, plus you learn something from it.
xo
jbhat
It will be four years this August that I've been reading your blog. I came by it via
Jennifer
And my 2-year old loves IKEA :)
http://blackbird17.blogspot.com/2007/04/random.html
I laughed out loud and I was hooked.
I hate it when I screw up at work. HATE IT.
kelly:) slingersix@aol
Coffee and crab boxers? I'd be there in a minute, if only I could.
ErinH
I also want to lock myself in a room when I make mistakes. I never need to be chastised, I can do it quite well myself. So you're not alone. :)
I honestly thought Blackbird was a Pacific Islander mother, a big-boned sturdy woman who hauled coconuts. It took me well over a year to figure out the truth. And then I went to "Tuvalu" just because I had to meet her.
I say, throw a holiday party. It will be an odd mix of people.
That sounds like a horrible day... I'm the same about slip-ups -- I used to hate getting my page proofs back covered in marks, and I have had to develop all sorts of tactics to put it back in proportion.