List Week - New Year's Resolutions - December 16, 2010

Five New Year's Resolutions for 2011

1. Drive more. Goals include Edgewood Shopping District, the Tucker Goodwill, and a few more friends' houses. Long-term goal is the library in the county next door, but that seems very long term right now.
2. Participate in one to three craft shows. Logistics may make this one trickier, so an acceptable substitute is to expand the number of stores that carry my wares - and to make sure those stores are at least five miles away from my house.
3. Spend less time online. My plan to wean myself from my Internet addiction is to make a list of sites I visit (there are only about five I go to regularly, when all is said and done) and tape it to my laptop. I am allowed to go to each site once and do what I need to do, but then after I complete the list I must step away from the computer for at least an hour and do something else.
4. Read at least 50 books. I think that in 2010 I managed 30 or 40 (I need to figure this out via Shelfari) but I can do better.
5. Pare down the clutter. It's time to part with the baby gear, to take the baby clothes to consignment stores and/or thrift stores, to sort through the books, to make some hard decisions about yarn, and to just overall PARE. 

Day Four of List Week - Books and Music That Changed My Life - December 15, 2010

Five Books that I Thought of When I Decided to Make a List of Life-Changing Books

1. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
2. A Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman
3. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg
4. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith
5. Missing Angel Juan by Francesca Lia Block

Five Songs that I Thought of When I Decided to Make a List of Life-Changing Songs

1. Honey by Tori Amos
2. Fear by Sarah McLachlan
3. Trophy Girlfriend by Heavenly
4. My Finest Hour by the Sundays
5. Out of Habit by Ani Difranco

Arbitrary lists are arbitrary. The usual disclaimer of "OMG I could change my mind at any time" applies here, of course. 

Day Three of List Week - Obsessions - December 14, 2010

Five Things I've Obsessed Over to the Point of Annoying My Friends and Family

1. Knitting. I talked about it all the time. I bought tons of yarn, I bought special needles, I bought books, I bought tools. Every trip I took, I sought out the local yarn store or stores and happily wandered the aisles. I went out of my way to go to WEBS as well. And I did knit quite a lot for about three years - I still wear my Kittyville hat, I designed an illusion scarf for my husband with the Boston Bruins logo on it (of course then we moved and he wasn't a fan anymore...), I knit my baby brother a Harry Potter scarf, I made some funky cabled armwarmers out of fancy yarn. So I was really into it. And then I had a baby and quit the job I had at which my boss was an obsessive knitter. And then I stopped. I let the knitting-specific blog die off. I forgot how to cast on. I gave away some yarn and put some away in storage bags. I just picked it back up last week, but I'm going to try not to obsess about it this time around.
2. The Vacuum Sealer. I purred every time the commercial came on. I petted it lovingly in the store. And I finally scored one at my bridal shower and everyone laughed. I did use it a ton for the first few months, but my husband never was a fan and it admittedly was a pain to open and reclose the bags every time I wanted to eat some cheese. It also worked really well, and the canisters were easier to manage. It's old and outdated now though and doesn't work as well. I'd love to upgrade...
3. Tori Amos. I don't necessarily feel bad about this one in terms of obsessing about her music. This is more about my obsession a few years ago when I was in collector mode. I'd search eBay for rare Tori items and poke around in used CD stores hoping to score an import CD for cheap. I'd trade bootlegs (cassettes and then CDs and then downloads). I had to have everything - EVERYTHING. The digital age has actually changed the game and it's not as OMG IMPORTANT to have the rare singles, for example, since you can just grab an mp3 somewhere. But for a while I adored building my Tori collection.
3a. I used to bug eBay sellers who were passing off counterfeit Y Kan't Tori Read CDs as the real thing. If you're still wondering, all these years later, how to tell, it's simple. The real CD has a red ring around the edge - the most obvious thing to check, as bootlegs never, ever had this. The case has a red-on-white spine. The CD has no bonus tracks. And finally, the cover is a different picture from the vinyl, which is what was frequently scanned in to make the bootleg. I did this a lot, but yes, I finally stopped.
4. Book Buying. This one's never going away, but for a year when I was both childless and freelancing and/or employed only part time, I went thrifting once a week with a friend. The books were cheap and I bought a lot of them. I chronicled it in a rudimentary way on a web page that wasn't bloggy. Then I started a blog to keep track, but it didn't last very long. I've read a lot of them and I still adore buying used/thrifted books. I just don't have as much time/energy/space as I used to. I now keep track more quietly using Shelfari and Delicious Library (which I need to update, actually) and I'm trying to pare down and send books out of the house. I also joined a neighboring county's library system so I have access to more books I want to read but that I also have to give back.
5. The Keurig. I probably started talking about it in September or October, and within about a week my desire to own a Keurig was a full-fledged obsession. I researched it online, I talked to owners, I read message boards, I compared prices. I plotted to get it with gift cards earned through various online promotions, and then I fretted when my husband more or less bought it for me for my birthday. And now I have it and I am trying to be restrained about talking about it since I know my patterns and am trying to control them.

If you're enjoying list week, tell people to come on over and read! And comment! Thanks.

Day Two of List Week - Weird Behavior - December 13, 2010

It's day two of list week here at a Place to Write Things!

Five Weird OCD-ish Things I Do that I Can't Explain

1. Check the dryer five times to make sure one of the cats isn't in it. Like, check, put clothes in, close it. Open it and check. Close it and turn it on. Open it and check again and turn it back on. Walk out of the room, hear something (usually the dryer balls rattling around in there), and then go back in to check again. Sometimes I can skip parts of this if I make visual contact with both cats, but not always.
2. Stand several steps back from the subway and lean heavily on my back leg so if someone pushes me I will be able to fall backwards instead of forwards. Standing against the wall would accomplish the same thing, but there's not always a wall against which to stand.
3. Check the car door to make sure it's locked by pulling on the handle one more time before I walk away from it, then say a rhyme too silly to admit to make sure all the other doors are locked if I've driven somewhere, even if I haven't touched the other doors to do anything. (Our car has manual windows and locks.)
4. Take the third or fourth Sunday paper in the pile because the top one might have been messed with (as in, coupons might've been taken out; nothing more nefarious than that).
5. Check my purse and/or pockets a hundred times to make sure my keys, phone, wallet, and iPod are there. Even if my purse is zippered closed and hasn't left my side. Even if I've just put them in there five seconds ago. (Note: More than once, I've had my heart nearly stop when I've realized my phone isn't in my purse - while I'm talking to or texting someone with the phone.)

Day One of List Week - Celebrity BFFs - December 12, 2010

OK, let's try this again. I wrote a similar list last week, I saved it to post later, I went to edit it, and it went poof into the ether. I'm going to try to post a silly list a day this week - please note, the emphasis is on SILLY. And if I miss a day, well, how many people are really reading my blog anyway? (Tell a friend!) (Do I need to start making adorably awkward drawings to go alongside my posts? I will, you know. I will and they won't be cute or funny and you will be SORRY.)

So I present you with day one of list week:

Six famous ladies I should totally be BFFs with (in a non-stalkery way)

1. Nicole Richie - I don't even know why I love her, but I do. She's a nifty mama, she's a bitch. She's awesome. I could tell her that I too waited a long time to marry my boyfriend! We could talk about her books (which I haven't read, but if we became BFFs I totally would!). We could be all catty about everyone and then we could stop the paparazzi with a death stare. I don't know if she'd like me, but I think maybe she could learn to like me...
2. Alyson Hannigan - We could talk about birthing and babies and breastfeeding! And um, you know, Buffy! And HIMYM. And cute husbands. And I don't know, I just think she seems like a sweet person with a bit of a wicked side who I'd totally love to hang out with over coffee. But then I feel like we'd both be bouncing off the walls and we'd have to like, go try on prom dresses at Macy's or something.
3. Eliza Dushku - OK, one more from the Buffyverse. We're both from Massachusetts, and we could talk about accents and Faneuil Hall and stuff. Go Celtics, Go Bruins, Go Patriots, Go Red Sox! (I mean it!) (Go Thrashers!) She's wacky and crazy and I bet we'd have some fun adventures together. Or just knit. Do you think she knows how to knit?
4. Mandy Moore - Another one who grew up near me. Come on, Amanda Leigh, let's reminisce about Pheasant Lane and Spit Brook Road. My hairdresser gave me your haircut and it looked fabulous (sadly, it has grown out, but it really was lovely). You and I like a lot of the same musical artists, and I think I have In My Pocket on my iPod still. (Will you forgive me when I tell you that I sing "Nothing but panties in my pocket"?)
5. Winona Ryder - Come on now. What wouldn't we talk about? Truthfully, so I'm not sure if we'd run out of conversation topics after an hour or two, and she'd probably get sick of me asking her about Heathers, but I think she liked Sassy. I'm sure I read somewhere that she liked Sassy. I interned at Sassy. So she could ask ME about Sassy. Surely that's what a lifelong friendship can be based on, right? SASSY! And Heathers. And Beetlejuice and Girl, Interrupted...right?
6. Ellen Degeneres - Ellen! My daughter loves her show (or at least she loves watching the opening credits and answers "yeah!" when I ask if she wants to watch Ellen and points to Ellen's picture in ads in magazines), and luckily so do I because at least it gives me a break from watching the Backyardigans and Signing Time over and over. I'm vegetarian, but Ellen could totally convince me to go vegan. I had a dream once that we were neighbors and she and Portia were delightful. Plus, we both get giddy over other celebrities, and we both like really good music. She makes me laugh and she seems so genuine. And I'm a big dork, and I bet she'd be OK with that and not make fun of me. At least not too much.

I have not fallen off the face of the Earth - December 10, 2010

• This week was going to be "List Week." I wrote Monday's post and was dissatisfied with it, so I put it aside. Then I came back, tried to undo one error, and erased the whole thing. It wasn't meant to be, apparently. 
• But look, this is a list! That should count.
• I have stopped doing the Friday Fives for now because they haven't been resonating with me, but I'll probably start them again in the new year.
• I just finished a two-day craft show that took up a ton of time (prepping, creating inventory, and so on). I made a nice (for me) profit and had a lot of fun. 
• Unfortunately, some of the supplies I ordered didn't come in time, including bails I ordered from Etsy without realizing they were coming from Hong Kong. Oops. Hopefully they will arrive early next week.
• I have started knitting again. I wanted a coffee sleeve, I didn't want to buy one, and so I picked up the needles again and voila. Coffee sleeve. I've finished two (one knit flat that I am having someone else seam because I am both lame and in need of a new yarn needle, and one knit with magic loop) and am working on a third. This third one is interesting because I'm using yarn I apparently bought nine years ago at this wacky little shop in Montreal. There, they spun cones of "yarn" made up of individual threads that you could select individually if you wanted. From what I remember, I bought pre-made cones. I don't know what the yarn is made of (I think it's wool and cotton - I know there are ways to test it) but it's pretty. I chose some wacky novelty-ish yarn for this coffee sleeve. It's a bitch to knit with (sorry, but it is) but it's coming out interestingly. If this goes well I may start knitting...something else, not sure what. It was like riding a bike, as the cliche goes. It took me watching a few videos on knittinghelp.com to remember some things, but after a few rows I was flying along.
• I'm reading the History of Love by Nicole Krauss and loving it. My to-read pile is growing alarmingly fast though. I need to get on that. I believe I've read about 40 or 50 books this year. Unfortunately I don't date everything in Shelfari and I can't remember what book was the final one of 2009. Oops.
• My kid is doing amazingly well. We had our parent conference and she's on her way to meeting most of the goals we set out for her at the beginning of the school year, which was in AUGUST. That's like 5 minutes ago, seriously. These were things she couldn't do at all, and now she can. She can use a fork and spoon! She can walk all around with her walker, even navigating around and into tight spaces. She says new words! I'm so proud, it's ridiculous. Oh and she's adorable and social and everyone loves her.
• I have a private blog for her that I haven't updated in forever, but it proved useful as a baby book today when someone needed to know when she met certain milestones. Note to self - update her blog way more often.
• She has two weeks off from preschool. Oh dear.
• And it's almost 2011. Yikes.
• I'm still in love with my Keurig, but my K-cup order of four new ones has been delayed. (I also threw in an iced coffee/tea cup with an attached straw because I LOVE the Celestial Seasonings Southern Sweet Tea K-cups but don't want to keep making them into breakable glass.) 
• I also have ordered a Solofill that should be here in a few weeks. I use the Keurig at least once a day if not more. I loooove coffee. I bought a new travel mug from Starbucks when it was on sale during the 12 Days of Sharing, so that makes me happy too. 
• I'll try to blog more.

Book Review: The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

 

When my neighbor and friend Paula Bloom raved about the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin and offered to lend it to me (she'd recently moderated a webinar with Rubin for This Emotional Life/PBS), I admit I was a bit apprehensive. It wasn't that I didn't trust Paula's suggestion, it was that I wasn't sure what to expect from this book (and I had - and still have - a pile a mile high of books I need to get to already). Paula's copy was wonderfully tabbed and highlighted - so much so that I couldn't resist the lure of the whole sparkly package, so I dove in. And I found that I loved the book and can't stop talking about it.

It's another "I took a year and did something and wrote about it" book - but really, I love these kinds of books, and Rubin herself notes that she didn't know she was being trendy when she started her project. I had wondered if it was going to be a self-help/foofy/I-am-your-guru type book, but far from it, it was a regular woman - a mom, a writer - dealing with her own personal situation. It's a simple idea, actually; Rubin took a year and devoted it to figuring out the idea of happiness and how to make her own life happier. Each month she tackled an angle of her life and focused on just that - family, friendship, spirituality, hobbies - and analyzed what she could do, how she could do it, how well she did it, and whether it actually helped her be happier. She doesn't shy away from admitting when she doesn't quite do something perfectly, or when she struggles with her goals - and that was what made me warm up to the book.

She's also all about lists - great truths, secrets of adulthood, personal commandments, people who inspire her - and seriously, by now if you've read a few of my blog posts you may know that I love lists. I make them on the backs of envelopes and in TextEdit and...just everywhere. On my hand sometimes! And in the spirit of this book, I give you my little list of...

Marla's True Rules (A Work in Progress)

- Never argue online with a friend of a friend.
- Sometimes it is better to just walk away.
- If you've put someone in your past on purpose, it's probably best to keep him or her there.
- Anything worth having is worth researching first.

And because I'm "Being Marla" (as Rubin keeps saying she tries to "Be Gretchen), I can also say that I don't always follow my rules. But I try!

Rubin has a blog and an online toolbox and a bunch of other resources for those wanting to start their own projects. I don't know if I'll go that far, but then again, it is almost 2011 - a great time for starting a project like this. (Yeah, this would be a great holiday gift-y book or a January 1 get inspired-y book.) Check it. Read it. Buy it at a local indie bookstore. (sidenote: I saw another indie bookstore going out of business - this one in Chattanooga, TN - and it hurt my heart, so protect your local indie!) Be happy.

PS Hey there, Gretchen Rubin, if you happen to find your way here via Google Alerts or back links or just randomness, I have to tell you that my favorite bit was when you noted you've kept your copies of Cricket magazine. I kept all of mine for years, and then my mother made me throw away many of them (which broke my heart) - but somewhere, somewhere in a box at her house or mine, I kept the first issue (bought at a used bookstore when I was around ten or so), the 100th issue, the 10th anniversary issue, and a few other special ones. And I have the Cricket cassette. I just wanted you to know that.