Scarves

I have a new found appreciation for warm scarves this year. It seems like I started wearing them earlier than normal, somedays I wear them ALL day, and I am still wearing them now in what is supposed to be spring?

I have a couple of favorites. One is silk with warm and muliticolored stripes. It seems to go with anything I throw on. The others are warmer like the rust and pinkish chenille that feels like a soft baby blanket about my face. I even took one up stairs to wear while I read at night.

There have been many days when I never took my scarf off all day...I wonder what our clients must think as I sit at my desk at work tapping away on my computer "muffed" up like an Eskimo. It started when our heat would be off in January as we arrived at work so it would take hours to get the office warm....then it just felt nice to not have the draft on my neck and shoulders. Rod says it is old age creeping upon me....that's why old ladies wore shawls?

The cold wet weather started earlier this year and is lasting much longer than usual..so I am still wearing scarves and just bought some more on winter clearance.

I have enjoyed my nice scarf collection, they have become something of a fashion statement now for me...something to look forward to next year when the chill returns. I will have new ones to pull out and tuck about my neck line, insulating me from that cold bite as I brave my way from the car into the warm coffee shop for a steaming cup of "winter courage".

Book Club Night

I went to my monthly book club tonight to discuss our last book, "How the Irish Saved Civilization" This book would be worth its aquisition if all you did was read the two chapters on St Patrick, the young Brit taken as a slave to Ireland only to return bringing a gospel that would transform this backward, barbaric country into a civilized haven that preserved hundreds of years of knowledge that would have been lost after the fall of Rome and most of the civilized world of the day.
If you get the book, don't be put off by the stuffy college level literature references,
just skip what you want and press on because there is some great info that you may never read anywhere else. There is so much more I want to know about and understand after reading this book...such as St Augustine....did you know there were two? One evangelized the people who became the Germans? Everywhere you look in history God's truth shows up.

Besides the lively conversation over this weighty but facinating book, we dined on Irish Soda bread, corn beef sandwitches, and other "green" themed foods. Our next book will be a mystery..as good as this last one was we are ready for a light read.

My Space

I found something that works for me this new year.

I really hate that I cannot get my house and things organized and often get overwhelmed rather than tackling the job. I just read the paper and fall into bed night after night.

But, one cold January evening this year, I though, "why not just start by focusing on "my space", that is, areas that I personally use everyday. So I started with my underwear drawer.

I hate digging through a drawer to find something, esp early on a cold morning with little between me and the "elements" I decided that evening to dump out my drawer, thin out what I don't wear and organize what was left. It didn't take me as long as I thot, in fact I was so pleased with my nice fresh drawer that I dusted the top of the chest and reorganized my jewelry boxes and perfume. It didn't get my whole life in order but I loved getting dressed the next morning and it gave me energy to tackle other "little" projects.

This last Saturday it was too cold to work outside so I thot, "What area downstairs do I use the most?" I decided it was the kitchen sink. So I scrubbed it clean, washed the window above it and took down the blinds and washed the grime I had been seeing everytime I rinsed dishes for the dishwasher....didn't wash all the windows...just the one I look out of the most. Then I wiped down the counters and cleaned the top of the range really well. Guess what, getting up and going down to the kitchen was more fun the next morning.

I think part of what makes this work is that you are showing value and respect to yourself when you take care of "your space", when we don't, we are in a way saying that the person we are and what we do everyday does not count.

I work hard and give a lot. I think nice people like myself should get up in the mornings to tidy underwear drawers, sweet perfume, and clean kitchen windows to look out of. Those areas speak value to me everyday now and give me more energy to tackle other areas....my space feels good! What are your spaces?

Here's a link about drawers to get you started:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2143543_organize-lingerie-drawer.html