Coffee Chat: January Dreams

Come in and hurry through the door!  It's cold and windy out there, isn't it? Oh but that bluest blue sky above and the bare branches of the tree against the sunlight makes it all about worthwhile.  I love nothing better than to be snug indoors while the wind is high and heavy so that it ruffles the tree tops and grazes the roof of the house as it passes with a slight roar and yet never gets more than slightly breezy on the ground.  I always say it 'gets my blood up' in winter and makes me long to go play about outdoors despite it's being cold.  The sight of the sun casting tree branch shadows across the siding of the house or along the ground is enough to make my heart ache too.  One of those seasonal things that I am too well aware is passing even as it occurs.



How is January treating you thus far?  I must say that I am rather liking it myself, but then our cold is hardly cold at all compared to others.  But it's snugging in weather regardless isn't it?  I have on my socks and a sweat jacket and I've just finished my cup of coffee.  Oh dear! I forgot to offer you a hot drink, didn't I?  What shall it be?  Cocoa or coffee or tea?

I am feeling well pleased with myself this afternoon as two mornings of work in the kitchen have all interiors of cupboards spic and span once again.  I cannot believe how much dirt and grime managed to come up from places used to store clean items!  I mean really, it's not as though we shove dirty dishes in the cupboards now it is?  Yet to a cabinet they all needed a good washing out and I changed water in my dishpan several times over.

I took time to rearrange some things as I removed them. I haven't studied the Marie Kondo method of organizing  but in skimming listening (more on that in a moment) to various vlogs, I did gather that organizing like things with like was the way to go.  So I did that, which refined my spaces and actually surprised me by creating more room to store things!  It was a most unexpected benefit.  I finished up this morning and I am so pleased with how things look behind doors that I can be found going into the kitchen opening a cupboard just to stand and admire it all.

About skimming listening...do you do that?  I can listen to a vlog or tv program or movie or podcast and not give it my full attention but catch highlights.  It's like skim reading.  You don't invest all of your being into it, you just scan the words and you're done.  Well that's kind of how I've been of late since I listen to so many vlog episodes. I have not given full attention to them but I do enjoy learning something new and so that was my takeaway on organization.

Shall I share a short list of my current favorite vlogs?  Most of them deal with eating.  "Coffee with Kate" remains a favorite.  "Brothers Green Eats" is two brothers who cook and do so surprisingly cheaply for the most part.  I picked up their vlog after listening to Coffee with Kate.  Another one I picked up from her is "Do It On A Dime".  This girl is a stay at home mom, former teacher and she loves DIY, organizing and decorating.  Her videos tend to be short and sweet and often incorporate some item from Dollar Tree.  No,  she is not affiliated with them, she just likes the store that much!   "Clean and Delicious" is based on eating clean whole foods.  She's not a food snob by any means.  She recommends you try various things and see how your body responds and feels.  If dairy works for you, then have dairy.  If you have no problem with gluten then eat gluten.  Basically she cooks from scratch using whole foods and tries to strike a healthy balance and that's about what most of us do.  Jordan Page does "Fun Cheap or Free".  She's a mother of five and is fairly well known.  If you happen to watch Rachel Ray you've probably seen her on that show.  She does a little of everything from organization to food storage to making meals, etc.

I've been a little bit all over since the beginning of the year.  Shopping to stockpile, looking for ways to save a load of money while I spend a load, decluttering and organizing, trying to eat more healthily, planning ahead to save time,...Sounds like a typical start to any New Year doesn't it?  It pretty much is.  And I'm trying to throw in a little time each day to appreciate my blessings.  I have read, studied, spent a little bit of time outdoors (too little truthfully) and taken time to just watch tv programs with John.

Did I mention we finally cut off DirecTv?  After 24 years with the company, we let go of that last vestige of traditional TV.   I was reading an article in Sunday's paper that Disney and several networks such as HBO are offering their own streaming services in the near future in response to the trend towards streaming services.   Everyone is just certain they can entice us to buy what we were giving up with satellite and cable.  I can only hope they caught on to the fact we let go of those services as a form of protest at marathons of programs.  It's pretty ridiculous to have 24 hours of programming on any channel and 23 hours is the same program we'll see again in three days time.

John and I have watched several movies we'd never have seen on mainstream channels, as well as many series made especially for Prime or Netflix.  I find that we tend to gravitate towards programs that interest or intrigue us both for the most part, something we seldom did with our satellite service.  The side benefit is that we talk a great deal more these days, not that we ever hurt for conversation but we could be a bit isolationist at times for all that we sit two feet apart.   Not every single program is of interest to us both but more of them are.

Talking about the programs and movies we've watched have led us into deeper conversations about our own lives and our feelings about what we've seen on screen and what we've personally experienced in life and we've both imparted our understanding of different situations.  It's really been rather nice.  The other benefits?  John tends to 'savor' programs now.  It's a huge difference when you know you've just 12 episodes to a season.  We've rediscovered old programs that he watched growing up, like Mission Impossible (before Peter Graves) and Route 66 or Red Skelton and Andy Williams and such.  And last, we do cut off the TV more often rather than just let it run for background noise.  We've turned on the radio, put on records or CDs, played Pandora on our phones rather than just sat about with the TV on or turned off everything and enjoyed the quiet normal sounds of people doing things in the house.    I won't say this last transition hasn't been without a stumble here or there.  John was a little upset the other morning to realize that a sports talk program he liked to sit and watch for three hours (!!seriously!!) each morning was no long available.  But he's filled his time and  I expect as he gets more detached he'll do more things besides plan to watch hours of  daytime TV and more  in the evenings.   For my part, I am trying to put away my computer most evenings and actually watch programs with him and again this is to our mutual benefit.

I've balked on remaking the slipcover for my chair.  The seat part of this slipcover is not as wide as it should be to fit the chair.  I can take it to pieces and start again but that narrow bit isn't going to benefit me in any way and I'm reluctant to spend hours ripping seams only to find I'm right.  I'm currently thinking of looking for  a drop cloth to make the slipcover from.  And while I'm at it, I'll get enough to recover the ottoman that matches this chair because the last slipcover I made has proven to be just that little bit too uneven and too skimpy to quite work.

I found a piece of velvet and put it on the back of the old needlepoint seat cushion.  This proved to be a waste of a nice bit of velvet.  It doesn't really  suit the piece. I'll be unpicking it and trying again with some other fabric.  I think I'm going to have to plan it in such a way that the needlepoint ends centered on the cushion rather than being the front piece.   I'm trying to preserve the thing and not damage it.  Minor things to work out in both instances.  I'll eventually figure out the very best way to manage it all.  I expect tomorrow when I am home alone I shall try to determine how exactly I might rework things.  I don't have big plans for the  day since I've essentially done all the planned work and  zone work in my kitchen.   It's rather nice to know I've a free day ahead of me since all the week's work is pretty much done and what remains is easily accomplished.

I joined Ancestry for 6 hours yesterday and got so frustrated at getting tens of thousands 'matches' to every single inquiry I made.  I don't mind getting results but wading through the excess to get to the rare good item was not worth the waste of my time.  I cancelled the same day I started.  How's that for saving money?!  I've gotten more info from free websites and that's truth.

I took a few minutes this morning to read my book.  As the author described the room of the house I recognized it...the advantage of reading a book over and over again.  It was just as if I too had stepped over the window sill into the lovely little room with it's fine worn furnishings.   Oh yes, I'd been in that room before.  How restful it seems...

John's been asking me what I want for my birthday and I think this year is the year for books, more of these old friends to share my time.  I've two authors at least that I'd very much like old and familiar volumes to come into familiar rooms or scenes with, you know?

Now I shall end.  I've enough time to do one more task today while the light is flooding the room and that's one less to have to do tomorrow.  Talk to you later, dears!