painted windows

Posted on by sheri

the boys are in their bathrobes, fresh out of the bath. i’m listening to fleetwood mac (oh, stevie…) on my ipod, waiting for modern family to come on tv, my own blurry image reflecting back at me in the windows. i thought there was going to be a full moon tonight, but it’s a dark black night out there other than the neighbor’s yellow lightbulb, which glows across my yard from her back window. there’s a to-do list sitting here with those ten things on it that never ever get done. life is simple, so blissfully mundane. my ideas feel the same.

but i long to be cracked wide open.

i’m longing for a story. one with a start and a finish. a story that brings shining bright clarity to the present moment in that way a good story always does.

but then again, writing doesn’t even feel big enough. its little letters and words and spaces. its sitting still while a whole world unfolds on the page. maybe this is how jackson pollock felt before he took that can of paint and started throwing it around. and what a wonderful thing!

***

hope you keep checking out habit. it’s been so good! this bird shot by jessica made me gasp.

 

curtain

Posted on by sheri

feeling super-duper crabby so let’s not talk about that and instead look at my cute new kitchen curtains (and another halfway decent polaroid!)! they’re tea towels from artgoodies on a clippy wire from ikea. my search for the right towels inspired me to make this fun Teal-ish Turquoise Tea Towels treasury on etsy. is it weird that putting these little groupings together is relaxing to me? i like it. can’t help it.

well, thanks for letting me pull the curtain, so to speak, over my crabbiness!

and hey, our heater is working again (thanks, dad)! yippee!

back to work tomorrow…

space heater

Posted on by sheri

ways to keep warm when your heater is broken:

  • stay in bed, like forever
  • laundry! learn to finally adore that the kids’ clothes are all inside out. sticking your whole arm down each and every fresh-from-the-dryer pant leg is so warming!
  • long long showers
  • bake something delicate. watch it like a hawk. from six inches away.
  • coffee and tea
  • long car rides, heater cranked
  • pull your unsuspecting kids on your lap and hug ’em lots, even if they hate it
  • gather ’round ye old space heater
  • thank your lucky stars you live in a place where it’s only in the mid 50s, mid winter

don’t miss the crazy beautiful new this joy+ride, issue #51 with winter landscapes from martha mcquade. i’ve only watched the slideshow a bazillion times instead of a gazillion — since, you know, our heater’s broken and she’s showing off a lot of pretty snow.

posed

Posted on by sheri

sometimes i think they’re posing just for me. i really do.

also surely just for me:

i’ve been staying up way too late. but what else can i do? i know sleep is supposed to restorative, but isn’t finding time to write and daydream restorative too?

i think our heater finally crapped out after being on the fritz for awhile. ’tis gonna be a cold night (although 40 degrees isn’t so bad …). nonetheless, so glad ed and the space heater are so warm.

pink faces

Posted on by sheri

the new camellias press their pink faces against the window from outside. i guess i should feel paranoid, being watched in this way, but it only startles me for a moment when the black of night first drops down around me.

spent most of the day trying to feel grounded, trying to get to that good and right feeling (you know the one?) and i never really got there. just wanted to feel like things are on track and i’m doing what i’m supposed to do. god and just now i got a foot cramp so painful it made me holler and throw myself across the bed like a crazy person while ed tried not to laugh.

i’ll try again for something good tomorrow.