An improvised closet

Jim and I live in a very old house. The original deed to the land dates from the 1880s (interestingly, verbage in the deed prohibits the sale of liquor on our property), and from the construction of the house, we assume it is from the same period.


While I love the history and charm of our nest, it is somewhat lacking in certain features. Closets, for example. Or, more accurately, closets in useful locations. We have a generous closet upstairs in our bedroom, as well as a decent-sized one for Evangeline. But with no hall closet for coats, gloves, hats, boots and the vacuum and other things we need daily, we're limited for space. 


Then we got creative. There are two doors leading into Evangeline's room and one of them is quite short. If Jim wears boots, he has to duck to clear the door. We don't use it that much, so we converted it into a closet.

First, we took a $4 suspension rod and adjusted it to fit the width of the doorway.

Then I took a $6 wire shelf from Goodwill and stacked it with canvas bins ($6 each) to store gloves, mittens, hats and scarves.

And there you have it, an improvised hall closet in 5 minutes for under $30. 

Thank you to our community’s secret Santas

On Sunday, I had the rare privilege of listening to Pastor Mayes’s sermon during church. 

I say rare, because a typical Sunday morning for me is not a peaceful time; instead, it’s a wrestling match. My daughter is skilled at many things, but sitting through church quietly is not one of them.

But last Sunday, I sang in choir and Jim got to corral our squirmy 14-month-old. What I took away most of all from the sermon was that as Christians, we’re called to meet our neighbors’ needs before our own wants.

It’s an area in which I often fail, especially at this time of year.

I enjoy picking out gifts for family and friends, imagining their faces as they tear open the wrapping paper and anticipating the joy they’ll receive from them. I’m also quite good at picking out odds and ends for myself during shopping excursions. If it’s on sale and I’ve been eyeing it for a while, it’s probably going to end up in my stocking.

What can I say? I’m my own Santa.

While I don’t believe this is completely reprehensible behavior, there is room for improvement.

Growing up, my parents instilled the importance of also giving to people we don’t know at Christmas time. We participated in Operation Christmas Child and similar programs. It’s a practice I want to model for Evangeline and her future little brother or sister. Although my children can’t comprehend it yet — Evangeline is too young and Little Kirk won’t be born until May — I continued the tradition this year on their behalf locally.

I’ve heard there are many secret Santas in our community, giving snow boots and grocery gift cards or helping to pay utility bills.

I understand their preference for anonymity, but sometimes I wish it was known who they are. It would be nice to thank them personally.

You know who you are, so consider this addressed to you: Thank you for helping to create a community of giving and of compassion, and for reminding me about putting my neighbors’ needs above my own wants.

Merry Christmas.

On the Lighter Side
Published December 21, 2011

Odds and Ends

Here's a brief description of my writing process.

 

I usually sit down to write my weekly column on Tuesday morning ... three hours before the paper goes to press. This might seem odd, considering I have a whole week to work on it, but most of the time, I've been incubating an idea for at least a week — or longer.

I always hated the writing process I learned in school: Write a topic, rough draft, proofread, second draft, proofread, final copy. Each step was meant to be written out, labeled neatly with which part of the process it was. 

For me, it was limiting and slow and I had so many ideas I couldn't wait for my partner to have the time to read my rough draft. 

It's no different now. I'm constantly turning over phrases and concepts in my mind. While I'm doing dishes, I'm composing an opening paragraph. When I fold towels, I'm thinking about how to tie in that lead to my conclusion. 

It's a process, all right, but it's my own. 

It's the same with this blog. I have a few drafts saved, parts of which may someday see the light of day. But most of the time, post drafts live in my head, where I access them without a computer. 

So before I forget them in the midst of celebrating Christ's birth with my nearest and dearest, here are a few pieces I've been meaning to share:

Jim and I both graduated from Concordia University, and at the risk of sounding like Andy from The Office, I don't talk about it too often. I love my alma mater. It's the place where my life began ... literally. It's where I made some of my best friends. It's where I discovered my calling in life as a journalist. It's where I learned what it meant to be a Lutheran. It's where I fell in love with the most honest, sincere and best man I've ever met. 

So naturally, I'm hoping Evangeline will have the chance to enroll at Concordia in 18 years. I shudder to think what college tuition will be like then, but God will provide. (Case in point: Private College 529 Plan.) 

In the meantime, I signed her up for Legacy Link, a program at Concordia for children or grandchildren of alumni. She'll receive age-appropriate CU gifts periodically, and will have on-campus opportunities as she gets older. 

It's not exactly the type of Christmas present you can wrap and put under the tree, but it's a gift that will keep on giving over the years.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, bar none. I try to practice an attitude of gratitude daily, yet having a day set aside specifically for it helps me refocus on the abundant blessings in my life. 

It's also a time to express thanks to people who put their lives in harm's way to defend our nation, both here and abroad. With many veterans and an active service member in both Jim's and my families, supporting the United States' Armed Forces is important to us. 

So the day after Thanksgiving, we participated in the Holiday Mail for Heroes program. Red Cross sponsors the holiday card drive every year. Participants write holiday cards to "Dear Service Member," wishing them a safe holiday and a sincere thank you for their service. Cards are mailed to service members serving overseas and at home, to families of service members and to veterans. 

A $3 box of Christmas cards from Target and a few pens were all we needed to express our gratitude and prayers for a safe return. Afterward, I bundled them up and mailed them. So simple. It's somewhat embarrassing, the small effort we put forth compared to what our correspondents sacrifice daily.

The deadline for submissions was Dec. 9, so I presume the cards are well on their way. I hope our messages (you can read part of my grandmother's in the photo above) let their recipients know how grateful we are to them. 

So, Thanksgiving was a month away and Christmas is quickly approaching. Jim and I are hosting it this year, with my mom, sisters and brother and some festive homemade pizzas. For once, I feel somewhat organized and prepared, with gifts (small but thoughtful) wrapped and ready for giving to family, friends and co-workers. The tree, with its cat-and-baby-deterrent system, is still standing and a few simple decorations have made it into the house. 

I'm a little neurotic about my household surfaces. To me, visual clutter creates mental clutter. Therefore, my countertops and tables are almost always clear of stacks of paper and knick-knacks. (My closets and drawers, on the other hand, are another story ...)

These photos illustrate about how crafty and decorate-y I get for Christmas. A glass hostess bowl filled with colorful bulbs, the silver candelabra we received as a wedding gift from German relatives, a strange little glass snowman, origin unknown, and a homemade Nativity wall-hanging, given as a gift for our first Christmas together in 2007. 

•••

Now I feel like I often do on Tuesday mornings after a writing frenzy: Relaxed, a little tired, mildly euphoric. That's not because I believe I've written the Best Thing Ever; it's a sense of satisfaction that comes from seeing a thought you've nurtured come to life. 

Online lives aren’t perfect

As usual, I’m behind the times with Internet trends. So when I mention the website Pinterest, I’m guessing it won’t be news to most of you who are inclined to spend time online.

It should come with a warning: Five Pinterest minutes are equivalent to 45 regular minutes — plan accordingly.

Essentially, it’s an online bulletin board where users “pin” interesting articles, crafts, recipes, home decorating ideas and organizing tips they find on other websites. Maybe it’s not geared solely toward women, but abundance of purse and shoes “pins” leads me to believe they’re the majority of users.

That’s perfectly fine with me. Bring on the cute baby pictures, the romantic wedding dresses, the cheesy hashbrown recipes — it’s like the world’s greatest women’s magazine. But free.

In my self-imposed restricted access to Pinterest (I know myself and I’ve got to set limits, otherwise Jim would never eat or have clean clothes), I’ve learned how to:

• Curl my hair with a sock;

• Tie a scarf in 24 different ways (did you know there was more than one method?);

• Store jewelry with silverware organizers;

• Create thoughtful and cute Christmas gifts;

• Make several varieties of easy Christmas cookies; and

• Economize on my grocery bill.

It’s not a social networking site in the model of Facebook or Twitter, but rather it’s a social catalog service. It demonstrates a shift in the use of the Internet from searching (like on Google or Amazon) to discovery, according to an article on techcrunch.com.

You can still enter search terms, like “easy Christmas cookie recipe,” but instead of getting results from the entire Internet, you get suggestions from other Pinterest users.

What that reminds me of is asking co-workers or family for recipes or household tips — something I regularly do — but on a much larger scale.

I have a feeling a lot of my sentences in the future will start with “I was on Pinterest and I found ...”

There’s definitely an abundance of information, both informative and entertaining, on Pinterest. But in addition to the time-sucking warning, I think maybe it should come with another one.

It’s this: You’re only seeing what they want you to see.

OK, that sounds a little “1984” but “they” refers to pinners, bloggers, website content writers ... frankly, people like me.

I’d rather put my best foot forward, whether it’s in person or online and so I tend to share the pretty moments of my life.

It’s the same on Pinterest. You’re not going to find pictures of burned Christmas cookies or messy houses because, well, we’re all rather familiar with it already.

The temptation is to believe that the creators of clever crafts and givers of generous gifts magically have it all figured out.

They don’t. Nobody does.

That’s what you have to keep in the back of your mind while scrolling through photos of beautifully decorated homes.

It probably took quite a bit of mess and chaos to get that way, and if it’s anything like my house, it won’t stay in its picture-perfect state for long.

On the Lighter Side

Published December 14, 2011

Not a mind reader, just a mom

Our cat/baby deterrent system

This is my newspaper column from Dec. 7. Apparently Facebook doesn't allow copy and pasting into notes anymore (ask me how I feel about that), so I'm posting it here instead. Enjoy!

To decorate or not to decorate ... that was the question last week as I debated the wisdom of putting up a full-size Christmas tree in a house with an active 14-month-old and two feisty cats.

I got a lot of feedback on it — advice, tips and tricks for managing holiday cheer without too many broken bulbs or bent tree limbs. Eventually, we settled on a rather unorthodox solution, but after almost a week, the tree is still standing.

I’m going to call it a win.

Jim had a train set he received from his father as a child. We’ve moved the plywood track every place we’ve lived in the past five years, yet I’d forgotten completely about it.

But Jim hadn’t, and now it’s standing guard at the base of our tree. It’s a surprisingly good deterrent for the cats. The clacking of metal wheels along the rails, combined with the threat of a sensitive tail meeting an unfortunate accident has kept them sufficiently wary of climbing the tree ... at least as long the train is running and we’re watching them.

As far as Evangeline, she’s content just to look at the lights. Granted, there’s nothing on the bottom third of the tree to tempt her, either.

I have gotten some flack in the past for writing (at least in one person’s opinion) too much about my daughter.

Apparently, there’s an anonymous person out there who feels my column should conform more to what he or she wants to read.

It would have helped if that person had the courage to sign his or her name ... I’m not a mind reader.

But columns like last week’s remind me why I write about my journey as a mother — because it reminds people of their own experiences.

Whether or not you are a parent or grandparent, you probably have some children in your life and can relate.

And if you don’t, I’m sure there have been events in your life, maybe a new job, relationship or pet, a move, graduation or achievement, that draw close parallels to the upheaval and joy I associate with being a mother.

I’m sure my experiences with Evangeline will not be unique, if viewed in the entirety of parenthood over all time. But viewed through the lens of my own personal experience, each day is extraordinary.

On the Lighter Side

Published December 7, 2011