out & about – Page 2

A January Spring

January 31, 2016 Marie Leave a Comment

Strange weather we’re having here – snow and ice, but then lovely 50-60° days thrown around. They’re lovely breaks from being indoors all the time, though everything is quite muddy so we’re not exactly getting outdoors every chance we can just yet.

But the Little Mr is getting more grown up and responds to questions more and more, so when you ask “Do you want to go bye bye?” and he nods his little head in that forceful, full-body nod that he does, well… you put on your shoes and your coats and you go somewhere. Today it was the zoo. It wasn’t overly busy, despite the warmish weather, but we also arrived early while everyone else was in church (my favorite time to go do anything on a Sunday, to be honest).

Book club and the unexpected patio

June 28, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

Friday night I attended my first book club. My dear friend has been talking about it for a while, and she’s constantly telling me “you need to come with me” so I can meet other people. More specifically, other local moms. I think it’s her way of trying to make me feel less alone in my struggles while also trying to get me out of the house so I can get a break from life. And since I always say I want to read more, and since I’m trying to find ways to sneak in time for myself (as much as I hate them, I’ve taken to reading ebooks on my phone since I can do that while the baby naps on me), I decided to buy the book (The Girl on the Train) and read it and attend the discussion.

We met at a local place I haven’t been to before. It’s a pub/grill next to the courthouse, and all of the sandwiches are named cutesy names related to the courts/jail. I really hate to admit it, but we’re horrible about not eating at the “local” places. Our town is full of chain restaurants, so you’d think we’d make a point to support the local places more, but we’re just not good at it. We forget about them. Or, as is the case with this place, because it doubles as a bar and a lot of the downtown bars are gross, we just ignore it and go on thinking it’s bad like the rest of them. I’m happy to report that I was severely mistaken, and that this place is quite lovely. There wasn’t much seating inside, and we had a group of 6, so we were set up outside under a tent on the patio. It was rainy and drizzly and fairly cool for a late June evening, but it was perfect. Absolutely perfect. And this view? Surely it doesn’t rival that of those I know others have in their towns, but this patio felt quite cute as far as outdoor patios downtown go.

Book club itself was ok. Things are always awkward when you’re the new kid at something. The book was just okay for me, too, so it wasn’t anything I was really thrilled to discuss. But it was a nice change, and nice to get to go hang out with some new people. The next book we’re reading is Holly Madison’s tell-all on the Playboy Mansion, which I’m probably a bit too excited about. The Girls Next Door was my guilty pleasure for years. I bought it and have it on my phone, I just need to finish the book I’m already reading, first (Cinder).

Goat! Reading! Purging! Oh my!

June 1, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

I can’t believe we’re in June already!

There’s not a lot to report around here. Friday the munchkin and I had a day out to the zoo with Nana which was very tiring for us all. He’s very much all about animals lately and wanting to pet everything – the dog, the neighbor’s sweet cat Callie (I need to get a picture of her, she’s seriously the prettiest), the wild bunnies in my parents’ yard when I drop him off in the mornings while I go to work, the the goats at the Zoo’s petting area… if it’s furry and moves, he wants to touch it.

The husband and I took some time Saturday to clean off the back patio and try to finish more of the garden. All the straw we lay down as mulch gets blown up onto our patio, making such a horrible mess. I’m not sure what a better option is – wood mulch is significantly pricier and lasts just about as long. Perhaps I’ll forever be sweeping straw off the patio? Anyway, it feels really great to have it cleaned off and now I can go back to using it in the evenings to knit, watch the birds, and have a beer. It’s something I’ve really missed this spring. Our clematis didn’t make it through the winter, along with several of our other flowers, so it’s not quite so cozy, but it’s home.

I downloaded Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things from my library’s online system and have been reading it every chance I get. I hate e-books, and very much prefer the real thing, but my local library didn’t have it available and I didn’t want to buy a book and bring something else into the house. It’s fascinating, mostly in that I can see a lot of myself in some of these chapters. I’m not nearly (ok, the husband would say not even close) to the level of hoarder, but I have a lot of tendencies to hold onto things longer than I need to and sometimes I find it impossible to part with things if there’s sentimental value. It’s interesting to see the feelings expressed by some of these people reflected in my own life. And it certainly has me thinking hard about my attachment to certain things and why I can’t seem to get rid of them. It has really helped me with learning to recognize why I’m holding onto something and then give myself enough of a push to just let it go.

I’ve been trying to keep track of my numbers of things I’ve removed (or have put in a pile to remove) from the house, and right now I’m over 100. I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep up my 5 things posts horribly long when I’ve got this kind of motivation to purge all at once. Though, to be fair, right now I’m getting rid of the “easy” stuff – the stuff that I’ve held onto for too long, the stuff I’ve decided I won’t use and – if I do need it later – I can re-buy. Once I get this initial clear-out done, though, it’ll be much harder and that’s when a whole lot more of the soul-searching comes in.

Easing back into routine

May 18, 2015 Marie Leave a Comment

We arrived home yesterday, much to my relief. By Saturday I was getting home sick and missing the baby, to the point where that night I packed as much as I could so we’d have less to do Sunday, and then Sunday morning we were up and out of the apartment by 9am. When we arrived homeI unpacked, did the week’s laundry, and soaked up all the snuggles I could get from the Little Mr. Today we’re easing back into our routine and I’m trying to prep my lunches for the week so I’m not tempted to eat out to make up for all the eating out we did over the last week.

Tomorrow it’s back to the daily grind. A little sad, but for the best. Routines are my favorite and while it was nice to have a break from routine it’s also nice to be able to go back to them with a fresh attitude so I can adjust them as needed.

More than a vacation

May 14, 2015 Marie 2 Comments

I had a lot of anxiety about this trip. I’ve never been to Chicago. I’ve never really been to a big city like this. Let alone the fact that I was going to be on my own for a large part of it while the husband is in a conference. We rarely traveled as a kid. I remember at one point we went to the Mall of America and my mom freaking out while my dad was driving as we drove through Chicago because my mom doesn’t deal well with traffic or big cities. So I suppose I had a lot of that anxiety transferred over to me. It didn’t help that, when my parents found out about this trip, I was told “Chicago isn’t a good place to be right now” – even at 30 years old my parents think I shouldn’t be off doing something on my own without… a man, I guess.

Anyway. I’ve been on my own both Wednesday and now today. I’ll be mostly on my own again tomorrow, though I get to travel the red line north to see my old high school friend. I’m happy to report that I haven’t yet been mugged, attacked, stolen from, etc. I’ve seen some things, and I’ve done some shopping. I got coffee at a shop on Michigan Avenue and sat on the patio and knit and watched the world go by. I sat this morning and knit at the Daley Plaza while watching people shop the local farmer’s market. I’ve been mostly unbothered by anyone. I feel like I’m just another Chicagoan, even though I’m not. Which is, really, kind of a big deal considering I’m a woman from a smallish town who rarely travels.

This trip, I’ve discovered, has been more than a vacation. Sure, it’s about seeing and experiencing new things, but it’s really been a lot more than that for me. It’s been a learning experience. I’m re-learning how to be on my own, something I haven’t had to be for many years. I used to be incredibly independent, but at some point – probably after years of being married – I lost that ability.

There’s also something about being away from all your things. I packed for the week with essentials: some clothes, toiletries, and knitting. The apartment we’re renting is very minimalist. The whole thing has me rethinking my entire life – just how much stuff do I need? How many clothes, how many shoes, how many decorative things, how many cooking utensils, etc do I really even need? I’ve constantly dreamed of being more of a minimalist and I feel like this week has given me the chance to live it more than I’ve had a chance to before. Do I really need all the things that I own? How often do I use it? Is it really worth spending the time to clean it, clean around it, organize it, etc? And how much of that time is being taken away from my time interacting with my environment – being out in the world rather than hiding at home from it?

Beyond seeing and doing new things, this trip has me completely re-evaluating my entire life.