Friday, March 24, 2017

24 Lists

Geoff and Cairo, they just left with Max and Maria to run a few errands. I stayed back with an earnest announcement... I'll stay home and take care of laundry and cleaning. So, naturally, I am blogging.

Forgive me, for I blog.

In the interest of saying stuff that's on my mind, but with the sincere intention of being both brief and swift, I will list.

1. Last night I made it to MNO (Mom's Night Out.) It was lovely, and delicious, it glowed, and sparkled. I'm quite fortunate to know these women. They raise my thoughts, my aspirations. They sent me home with salmon and cupcakes. Everyone should know marvelous women, with generous souls.

2. Max is home on break. Alex is on break. Geoff is on break. Maria... Maria is home, sick, with a low grade fever... you can't win them all.

3. Geoff has been asking me to hang the art I have been making since December. And honestly, it really has taken a lot of coaxing and encouragement to get me to bring them out of their shoe box and up onto walls. I have begun.

4. My car has an estimated value of $458.00, and an initial repair bill of approximately $3,000. These numbers don't add up, but they do. My Jet Puff Odyssey has been my golden chariot, my steadfast steed, my safe and reliable ride to anywhere. I love my minivan.

5. New cars are astonishing. I went on a couple of visits. The bells. The whistles. Have you seen what a new car can do these days? New Odysseys have a vacuum in the trunk. A vacuum! Simply knowing about that one feature will amuse me for the next 4 to 6 years, no doubt.

6. We're going to order all the fixes on Jet Puff, and hope she holds. I'd like to drive her to the moon, before I finally put her out to pasture.

7. I've started walking every day, again. Since Tuesday. That's how it is, right? You start, you move forward, something sets you off course, then you gather yourself, and start, again.

8. {I am holding this spot for all of my fears, anxiety, worries, and frustrations. I won't specify them, but I will acknowledge that they are more than I can carry, and maybe I can just set them in this space, and take a break from trying to hold them all at once.}

9. We were invited to see Pink Martini, at the Hollywood Bowl, with two dear Aunts and a dear Uncle... and so, we have begun to look ahead and make summer plans, and there is something cheering and soothing, and right about marking a date on the calendar, months away, and thinking, That is going to be good.

10. There's more I am thinking, more I'd like to pull out of my head, unravel, look at... but in the interest of being both brief and swift, of balancing blogging and getting stuff done, I will end this sentence, this post, with a message:

I hope you enjoy this day, and tomorrow. And thank you for visiting Chickenblog. I appreciate the company.

With Infinity More Monkeys, a picture a day.

3 comments:

Jennifer said...

There is so much that's excellent in this list! MNO -- how wonderful that you went, and how much I hope you can keep on going; these are the things that nourish us on so many levels. You've got the band back together, if only for a while; I hope Maria's already feeling better and that the time is restorative for each of you. I just said to Ken yesterday that, among other things, "keyless entry/ignition" on new cars strikes me as such a mis-use/over-use of technology; it's just a more complex system to break down, and for such little gain! Foolish. Jet Puff's journeys are not over. Not yet. And a Pink Martini in your future -- magnifique!!! Sustaining thoughts throughout here -- so much that's hopeful and calming and reassuring and real.

Adaliza said...

Hope Maria's getting better. I so empathise about your car - I lost mine just a week ago. I took it to the garage with what I thought was a bit of a problem to be told the engine and various parts had/were failing and Audi parts cost a fortune. It actually needed a new engine! I decided to put it out of my misery and sold it for scrap - it broke my heart! There were lots of emotions tied up in that car - my husband's last car etc etc - it's seen me through bleak days and has always been there to take me home. I'm actually in mourning for it, but I was lucky to have my Dad help me out and I've now got a new car - with lots of bells, whistles and a glass roof! Today has been glorious weather and I've decided that this year the garden is going to get 'done'. I've had 2 years of building projects to keep me busy and now it's my turn to get my hands dirty and dig for victory! Sorry to ramble on - it's a bit like having a chat .... Adaliza x

nikkipolani said...

I've dear friends who have a beloved Odyssey, too. Theirs is 18 this year and well over 200k miles, chugging away with patches and fixes and love. May your Odyssey live long and prosper!

One of their daughters bought a 2009 CRV and discovered a picnic table (!) where spare tires are usually stored (this model has the spare on the outside of the back door).