Category — Microblog Mondays

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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I save too much stuff.  It’s time for a massive decluttering.  I need to go through the drawers, go through the cabinets, clear out the storage room.  I need to admit that oversized sweaters from the 80s are not going to have a renaissance.  And I don’t need to save all the back issues of Mental Floss.

Part of the problem with my clutter is that it isn’t really sentimental in nature.  There aren’t, let’s say, a lot of tchotchkes.  My clutter is of the “could be useful” variety.  I can convince myself to save anything with a well-intentioned what if.  What if I need glasses cleaner one day?  What if someone visits our house with a baby and needs a booster seat?  What if I’m in a crazy situation where we need 12 travel mugs at the same time?

I’m prepared.

The other problem is that I hate to waste things, and throwing perfectly useful items into a landfill feels like waste.  It also feels like a waste of money if I end up needing to buy the item again.

We have a wonderful donation solution a few blocks away — a thrift shop that will take anything from kitchen stuff to baby bottles.  I’m going to do it, but it’s hard to get rid of things.  To trust that we have no need for them anymore.

Are the things you save more emotional or “what if” in nature?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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There were a few things in the Rosie Project that hit close to home.  One was a thought on page 173 about repetition: “I settled on Jackson Browne’s Running on Empty.  With the repeat button on, it became the soundtrack to my driving and reflections over three days.  Unlike many people, I am very comfortable with repetition.  It was probably fortunate that I was driving alone.”

I love repetition.  I love repetition so much that it takes a lot for me to try something new.  Back in graduate school, I had one audio cassette from Bob Dylan’s Biograph, and that was all I played for several years.  It ran on a 90 minute loop.  No one wanted me to drive because they were so sick of “Lay Lady Lay.”  It was a big deal (to me) when, in my final year, I sometimes played the second tape of Biograph.

I am the type of person who would be fine eating one food, reading one book, watching one movie, or listening to one album for the rest of her life.

Are you good with repetition, or do you always need the thrill of something new?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Bad smells: any and all perfume, lavender, vanilla, chamomile, flowers.

Good smells: bleach, my detergent, my soap, bookstores.

Can you tell that I just had to spend time in a too warm space with a person wearing too much perfume?  I should not be able to smell someone else’s perfume if my nose isn’t pressed up near their body.

I wish I lived back in pre-Industrial Europe when it was fashionable to carry around a scented handkerchief and press your face in it when you passed ill-scented matter on the street.

My handkerchief would be soaked in bleach (and would likely kill me, as a result).  And barring that, I would take lemon.

What are your favourite (and least favourite) smells?

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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On April 11th, just a little over two months away, they’re going to be livestreaming the Quidditch World Cup.  Am I going to be watching?  Yes, I’m going to be watching.  Wearing my Ravenclaw robes.

A few months after that, the twins turn 11.  They aren’t awaiting their owls as much as they were a few years ago.  Sometimes I wonder how I would feel if it were real, if they got an acceptance letter to a magical boarding school.  Would I send them?  Would I mourn losing those years that I hadn’t counted on losing?  I mean, it’s one thing if you’re a magical family; you know it could happen.  But if you’re a Muggle, wouldn’t it be shocking and a tad upsetting to think that this child that you thought would be at home with you is suddenly far away, at a castle in Scotland, and you can only see them during winter break and the summer months?

While we all say we want to go to Hogwarts, would you really have wanted to leave home at 11 and go to boarding school unexpectedly?  I don’t know if I would.  And I would really miss the twins if they got their letter.

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.

Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.

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Yesterday I was singing Peter Cetera’s always excellent “Glory of Love” from the hit movie soundtrack for Karate Kid II (don’t we all?), and I suddenly realized as I sang the chorus that I had no clue how he was planning to live forever.  I mean, forget how he was going to be hero; how was he going to manage immortality?  And give the object of his affection immortality, too?

And then I realized that I didn’t know how I felt about immortality.  Would I want to live forever?  And if I was going to reject immortality, could I choose a different superpower instead?

I think if I can order up my superpower, I’d take the ability to fly.  How about you?  Are you taking immortality, or are you going to request a superpower substitution?

And because I know you now want to hear it…

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Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored posts.