Things I’ve Learned Recently

Laundry
It is possible to fit a king-sized flannel comforter into a front loading washing machine of rather small size. If you fold, stuff, wash…remove, fold other way, restuff, rewash, then the huge piece of material actually gets clean.

Following the same strategy works for drying.

It’s likely best to take your king-sized bedding to the Laundromat to use the appropriate size equipment.

Best is not the same as necessary.

Shopping
A 10% off shopping day at Target means their prices are roughly equivalent to those at Walmart.

I like the pretty bamboo candles at Target. (Can't find the link - sorry!)

The quality of the cards – birthday, Valentine and the like – leaves a bit to be desired.

My Godmotherly quality is now resting on a cucumber with a tuba imparting some sort of wisdom to Little One.

A shredder that will eat through the piles of paper all over my office is so worth $30. I can’t wait until I get more credit card offers to feed my new toy!

Mint Mojito gum rocks. Seriously. It’s intensely different and delightful. If you were around, I’d offer you a piece and then watch expectantly to make sure you showed the proper appreciation for such a little stick of awesomeness.

Book
I’m learning about William Penn in order to write one of my male characters. He had a rather interesting childhood and I’m completely infatuated with how I’m going to work some details in to fictionalize a character yet remain close enough to the truth to make my point. I’m not sure why I’m so pleased with this development, but it brings me no small amount of pleasure.

I have the final chapter written and I like it. I do not, however, know if I can actually use it. I can’t fill the gap between where the story is going in my mind and where I want it to end. Which makes me question whether I can write a suitable ending. This, in turn, kind of bums me out.

There’s much to be written between now and the time when I need to pick a conclusion though. I hope it works itself out.

There’s a lot of the blog that I’m using in some form. I’m waffling between leaving some entries alone and just having them sit as blog posts, altering some text to just extend conversations since I’m fond of dialogue anyway, and rewriting it to the third person and having chapters form around text that’s already outlined. I find it strangely comforting to come across something familiar within new words and stories. I think the point is to figure some things out. So using the posts that were particularly honest and important seems right.

The Blog
I find I’m completely comfortable here. There’s not much I’m leaving out or censoring for any conscious reason.

I am, however, slightly less obsessed. I made a mess of the template on Thursday before leaving work (I was very bored and waiting for Friend to finish up in her lab) and then didn’t have time to fix it when she decided it was time for dinner.

“I screwed up my blog six ways to Sunday.” I informed her on our walk to my car. Then I wondered what ‘six ways to Sunday’ meant, shrugged and hoped she didn’t ask.

“Not so pretty anymore?” She asked and I shook my head.

“I wanted to make the columns wider. When I read it at work, it looks all scrunched up on the page. And I like the archive hierarchy, but I hate how it turns most of my post titles into 2 line entries. So I widened it all, then tried to see how a new header would look and it got all gross. I didn’t have time to fix it before I left.”

I paused and considered the situation before I spoke again. “At one time, that would have bothered me immensely.”

“It bothers you now.” She offered and I smiled.

“Some.” I admitted (and I did get home to change things around that night before changing it again in the morning on Friday). “But at one point I couldn’t have left it alone – I would have been compelled to fix it immediately. And I’m OK now. I don’t need to post every day. If I’d rather work or write the book or sleep a little earlier at night, I’m not panicky about not updating the blog.”

I used to think I’d stop writing if I missed too many days. It won’t happen – something severe would have to occur to steal this particular outlet for me. Plus, I enjoy posting stuff. I don’t feel obligated to be much other than honest with myself. But the shift – even as it’s ever so subtle – pleases me.

I think that’s all the knowledge I have to share. It’s time to make potatoes, grill steaks and sneak a brownie that I’ve already baked.