Ch-ch-changes

I just downloaded the WordPress app and so far it seems fabulous! They’ve really improved it since I tried it a zillion years ago. It takes a lot of motivation for me to deviate from my habits, so this is a big deal, blogging from an app. Truth be told, I’m a bit resistant to apps in general, misliking the idea of cluttering up my phone with icons. Why can’t I just use my browser? But this WP app is very nice. Very nice indeed. Of course, now I’ll need to d/l more apps to even out the row, but never mind that.

My motivation is partly due to the fact that blogging from a phone browser is rather clunky, and while I have a semi-solution in my old Kindle Fire, it’s still imperfect. (Hard to access media from there.) Also, I like using one device. I already have a sweet Kindle for reading and the Fire is pure backup, which I like to keep at home.

Isn’t this fascinating? I thought my fans would be enthralled with an OCD data dump.

I’m feeling good about all the things I’ve abandoned along the path toward enlightenment, or death, whichever comes first ~ husbands, real estate, dating sites, Facebook, fiction writing, and thigh highs. Thank gawd I never have to wear stupid thigh highs again! What a dumb invention.

Oh, and sushi. Blech!

Advertisements

Simplify

One of my goals is to simplify, though it may not seem obvious. I think more carefully about how I spend my free time and money, not that I ever was wild and crazy, but the older I get, the more important both become. I’m cautious about which projects I start, mindful of the energy they may consume, and the same goes for invites I accept. Slowly, I’m switching my wardrobe to mainly solid colors, which are more practical to mix-match. New clothes/shoes are chosen primarily for comfort and durability, not sexiness. Those days are over ~ what a relief!

~*~

The Daily Prompt: Simplify

Orange

Never cared much for orange. It doesn’t complement my skin tone and it’s a sharp, nervous color. Hurry up, orange says, we haven’t got all day. While yellow connotes happy sunshine, and red reminds me of romantic valentines, orange taps its toe impatiently, obnoxiously. And don’t get me started on oranges themselves with their nasty little pits and stringy skin. Blech! (If we’re discussing orange cake, that’s another matter entirely.) The juice is fine, especially mixed with mango. But as for the colors, I much prefer to wander among the cool, smooth blues and greens and purples, taking my time.

 ~*~

The Daily Prompt: Orange

Regarding Elegance

People have described me in many different ways (some not fit for print), but no one would call me elegant ~ and I’m OK with that.

 

This isn’t because I dislike elegance ~ quite the contrary. Elegance holds great appeal for me in many ways. First, I love math and logic, both of which, at their best, are often beautifully elegant. There’s nothing more intellectually satisfying than to work out a complex equation by discovering a clean, lean, streamlined solution. Elegance!

Second, the pure aesthetics of clean and simple design also turn me on. I adore a bold artistic statement of monochromatic décor with a splash of contrasting color. The uncluttered ivory bedroom with a single red rose in a crystal vase on the dresser is the height of elegance ~ gorgeous. Remember when it was all the rage to B&W-ify your photos and add back one accent of color? Loved that elegant look.

Third, I totally admire the olden days of elegant dress. James Bond in a tux is the ultimate male, sipping champagne in the casino and then slipping out back to slit someone’s throat. He adjusts his cuffs and returns to baccarat, white shirt pristine and every hair in place. Same goes for his female counterpart in her long black gown with diamond stud earrings and ruby lipstick that never gets smudged.

But I am not that woman. If I ever get fancy in an elegant black gown with lovely black heels and my hair done just so, then I will fling on  a sequined rainbow shawl, wheeeeee! And my lipstick will get smudged right away on a cupcake or from using my teeth to open the plastic wrapper on a new deck of cards or from smooching a kitteh, who will proceed to shed half its furs on the dress.

Sometimes I start to write an elegant poem, but it always dissolves into something silly. I can write angry and/or sad and stay with those emotions, but whenever I catch myself trying to be elegant I can’t resist tossing a handful of glitter in the air.

It’s not my fault ~ I’m just made that way.

~*~

The Daily Prompt: Elegant

Good News/Bad News

I just had a lovely visit with my wonderful daughters. 🙂

It’s already over and they’ve driven off to their homes 400 miles away. 😦

Anna has a couple new books up on KDP. Woo hoo!

But when I began reading one on my Kindle, I noticed a bunch of weird page breaks and missing sentences. The original was fine. The entire story has now been resubmitted and seems to be correct on the KDP reader. But how sucky is that?!

A writer pal told me she uploads in PDF, so that’s how future Paula/Anna writing will be sumitted. GRRRR!

I found these awesome shoes for $12 at Macy’s yesterday. EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!

The girls told me it’s because they’re hideous and no one else wants them. Rude.

I took the day off to relax and do chores… forgot about leaf blowers and various ANNOYING NOISES.

I ordered super-cute little cupcake salt & pepper shakers off Amazon over the weekend and they’ve just arrived!

I spilled half a bottle of pepper in the sink while filling one of them. ACHOO!

I just switched to “classic editor” here (didn’t know that was an option last week) to get rid of the HORRIBLE new WordPress poasting layout. Zomg hate. But yay for old editor option!

Is this a GOML (get off my lawn) moment? Idk. Some old things are better and that’s the way it is. Goodnight.

Tuff Enuff

You’ve all seen those labels on clothing, right? Handle with care. Dry clean only. Delicate cycle. Don’t put in dryer. Hand wash in mountain stream water with goat’s milk and lavender soap procured from a wood nymph. On and on.

Fuck that.

The other day I realized I’d accumulated a pile of stuff that wasn’t supposed to go in a commercial washer and threw it all in there anyway. Lacy bras. Silky undies. Dry-clean only pants. A delicate sweater set full of sequins. The flimsy costume I wore to RenFaire. All tossed in the washer AND the dryer. I hate hanging stuff on my shower curtain rod waiting for it to dry. Makes me feel like I’m in my nauseatingly rose-perfumed grandmother’s apt back in Queens.

Yeech.

And the clothes all survived just fine.

I praised the items for being tough. If you live with me, you gotta be tough. You gotta have claws and teeth and be willing to use them. I’ve been through a lot of shit the past 10 years and I don’t have any patience for gentle flowers who need to be handled carefully.

If you can’t deal with the rough spin cycle followed by blasting heat, then get the hell out.

And don’t expect me to be nice to you afterward. If you’re all shredded up and wrecked by my methods, then into the trash basket you go. 🙂

The Bead Goes On

When I was up in Berkeley last week visiting my daughters, we had the idea to go buy some beads and make cool necklaces and things. I love bead stores! I get so excited by all the possibilities. Of course I know nothing about making jewelry, even though I spent a lot of time around age 10 creating a bunch of junk. Some of it wasn’t too bad and I’d wear it, or my mother would. I threw all my stuff out ages ago, but my mom kept a few things. Sharon has a necklace and bracelet I made back in those days ~ she says she likes ’em.

 

 

After beading as a kid, I moved on to embroidery and knitting and needlepoint. Even had a run at candle-making and tee-shirt painting and cake-decorating. My impulse to create lives on through my daughters. Diane is a wonderful artist and Sharon is into cooking and making neat stuffs. Here’s the necklace she gave me last week…

 

 

 

It was a great visit and vacation. 🙂

Hello Mother

I had a dream about Mom the other night. She had made a Great Gatsby tee shirt for me ~ it was dark blue, short sleeved, with white paint squiggles all over that were supposed to be fluffy clouds. Don’t ask me. In the dream, it looked right.

I had shown someone one of my scrapbook photo albums last week and was thinking about my long ago days of arts & crafts. Not sure if this prompted the dream, or what.

A little while ago I opened my Chrome browser (I’ve been using Firefox mostly) and noticed that my old bookmarks were still there, including Baggage Reclaim, my favorite relationship site. The first article was about how some of us struggle to please certain people who have impossible demands and how that’s a never-ending spiral of futility.

The first Unpleasable in your life tends to be that exacting and critical parent or caregiver and if your perspective on their behaviour and how you respond to it hasn’t changed in adulthood, you’re likely to have felt tormented by a similar boss, ‘friend’ or romantic partner. [link]

As always, very interesting bloggery from Natalie, and just in time for Mother’s Day too.

Inspirational Quotes

Today I am dressed like a librarian (not one from a pr0n video) or a church lady, depending upon your perspective, so it is only fitting that I offer up something philosophical and spiritually uplifting. Everyone should find a quote that pings their strings on this page; if not, read them again.

Here is the one that most appeals to me right now:

To conquer oneself is the best and noblest victory; to be vanquished by one’s own nature is the worst and most ignoble defeat. — Plato

Louise [100]

She always wore a dress. It would have a colorful abstract pattern, or sometimes flowers, and short sleeves. She would wear or carry a matching sweater. Her shoes matched as did her bag. She did not call it a purse, always a bag. And she’d wear beads, not a necklace. Beads. Cheap ones, from the five and dime store. She’d call it that; now it’s probably a Walmart or Target. She ate lunch early, tunafish sandwich and a tangerine. Two “diet” cookies. Coffee. She might take a little walk, watch sitcoms and the news. Not sure why I hated her.