Author: sandcastle

The other night I had another one of those detailed dreams I sometimes have.

In this one, I was attending a funeral of a man named Sam.

I have no idea who Sam was.

The important part of this funeral was that each attendee was handed one link from a chain as we arrived.

During the service we were encouraged to put that link in our pocket or somewhere we would run across it occasionally. Then we were told, “As you go through your day, and however many days you decide to do this, every time you come in touch with that link, please, think about your link to Sam and your link to one another.”

The message I got from this dream is that we are all linked together. And we are better for it.

You could, you know, put a link in your own pocket to help you remember this.

TTYL,

Linda

[I just discovered I never actually posted this even though I wrote it nearly a month ago.]

 

Our nephew, Ben, said on Jan 10, 2017, “Eleven months and 4 days ago, I started filming a series of animated videos for one of my bands, Mojo Kamikaze, initially using nothing but Lego [blocks and people] to recreate an imaginary gig on a large outdoor stage.”

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.

TTYL,

Linda

The trick to having a varied wardrobe with few pieces is to buy pieces you can mix and match. I have three main colors and most of those are solid colored pieces so they have no patterns to clash with one another. Fortunately, I live in Minnesota where you can layer pieces most of the year.

Here are pictures of four pieces, two black and two persimmon, layered in various ways. The pictures themselves are terrible because I took them with my phone and because I didn’t spend a lot of time styling the clothes but they are enough to give you and idea of how I mix them.

      

That’s seven looks from those four pieces. If I wear them with black slacks one time then persimmon slacks the next time that makes enough variety for two weeks.

Before I add any of the four pieces of sapphire blue.

Or any of the five cardigans, hoodies, or blazers I also own in these colors.

And one more persimmon shirt I didn’t show you plus duplicates of the shawl collared black shirt.

I haven’t done the math to see how many outfits I can actually assemble from these fifteen pieces but I’m pretty sure I could wear something different every day for a month or more.

Before I add scarves.

TTYL,

Linda

This is the day we are supposed to make a list of all the ways we will be better this year. You know, all those things we will beat ourselves up for when we don’t do them. I read on someone else’s blog an idea that appeals more to me.

Instead of making a list of resolutions, make a reverse bucket list. One that lists all those great things you have already done in your life. Having lived nearly 70 years now I’m sure I can come up with some fun things to put on that list.

How about you?

TTYL,

Linda

This kitchen feels small. I like small. But I also like storage for our stuff.

Dave and I spent some time in here before moving in analyzing what could be done.

Then Alexa and I spent some time in here analyzing what could be done.

There are two tall pantry cupboards with pull-out drawers. Dave wanted the trash and recycling to fit in the first one, I wanted the appliances to go in that one so I wouldn’t have to move them far for cooking, and Alexa wanted the other one for all her cook-up gear.

  

That pretty much meant all the dishes had to go in the upper and lower corner cupboards which left two very small cupboards to hold our dry goods, the stove’s drawer to hold bakeware, and a cupboard I can’t reach to hold excess paper goods and light bulbs.

      

Cleaning products and my beverages went under the sink.

We only have four small drawers so we assigned them to silverware, cooking utensils, paper goods, and storage containers.

We couldn’t fit kitchen linens in here but the bathroom cuboards had plenty of room for them.

And it all worked.

And all three of us got our first choice of what went where.

Maybe this kitchen is not so small after all.

TTYL,

Linda