One moment per day...

... I find myself utterly awestruck by the world around me. The feeling that comes next is something akin to joy and contentment so closely connected that the sensations meld into one.



View from my office window.

Sometimes it is the view of the birds outside in the snowy backdrop fluttering around a feeder over flowing with seeds that spill to the icy snow when a new bird lands and shifts the feeder's weight to a different side;

sometimes as I drive home on the over-crowded and hence crawling highway, the sunset hits me and I turn the radio off for a moment as the view sinks in;

or it is the smile or laugh of an unsuspecting coworker at the office brewing coffee;

other times, it is being waved at by kids passing me on the road as their mother hurriedly rushes them off to some or other activity unaware of what she missed out on at that moment;

or then, it is in the middle of the night half awake, when a giant arm stretches out and pulls you in close to a loving warmth that lulls you back to sleep as gently as it woke you.

Today, it is the view from my office window when I came back from lunch and the slightest bit if snow sprinkled down from the roof and disappeared into the whiteness that has enshrouded the woody garden outside.

One moment a day is all we need. I hope you find yours... and never let it go.

<3 That Verbivore

Here we go again...

When you are young, time seems to drag. It seemed to take eons for a week to pass let alone an entire three month semester.

The Spring Semester is once again upon us in Academia Land and it seems that month of reprieve turned out only to be about 3 days long. I had wanted to get 2 books read over that break and I only finished about half of one book and one third of the other. So much for productivity!

But time marches on and the semester begins regardless of my unfulfilled goals. I'll be completing another three classes this semester, but they are a bit more staggered so perhaps I won't go through another month where I bathe once per week, only eat take-out, and sleep for 4 hours per night...

OK, ok. I never lost sleep. I refuse to lose sleep. I'll give up anything else, but I love my rest and nothing will deprive me of it.

Classes for the Spring Semester:
LIS 512 - Mixed Medium class on Library Information Organization
LIS 618 - Online Searching and Retrieval
LIS 901 - Library Fundraising @ NYU's Bobst Library

(I had wanted Legal Sources and Services instead, but it was canceled much to my chagrin.)

Nutty Nutmeg Santa (1.17.2011)

I think this picture says it all. ;)

A Penny Saved (1.12.2011)

One day I found two of my boyfriend's T-shirts had gaping holes in them. One near the belly, the other under the pit. So I pick them up, grab my sewing kit and fray-check and get to work. I quickly realize that the one with a hole near the belly will never be worn again in public, so I put it aside to focus my efforts on fixing the hole in the other, when a commanding voice from behind booms, "Stop wasting time; just throw them out!"

I hesitate, threaded needle and shirt pit in hand. It seems aweful to throw out a shirt that except for a hidden hole (which is totally fixable) is stylish and fully wearable. But they're not my clothes, so I discard the both of them. But as I hold the shirts over the open trash can, I heard my grandmother, "waste no, want not." Rather than buy new "rags" from Home Depot, why not use the 'holy' T-shirts and give them an honorable death?

I watched my grandmother fix minor tears and flaws in garments for years until they finally gave up and then were reborn as everything from dishrags to waxing clothes. Those 'tricks of old,' I once rolled my wide eyes at don't seem quite so bizzarre anymore.



A penny saved is a penny earned.

Swiftly grabbing the scissors, I deftly hacked the condemned T-shirt into reasonable sizes for cleaning, stuffed it into a ziplock baggie and stored it in a wire rack under the sink. Just as quickly, I suchered the other shirt's pit, folded and tucked it neatly back into his drawer, thinking "He'll probably see it later and thank me for NOT throwing out one of his favorite T-shirts." All of this seemed as 'normal' to me as it seemed 'abnormal' to him.

We have been used to being able to purchase and simply discard items when they are no longer useful to us. The idea of reusing and repurposing has become as foreign as eating grubs. Yet I always remember my grandmother saying little maxims like "the fool gives feasts, the wiseman attends them" and "the borrower is a slave to the lender."

Two weeks later, I was washing the breakfast dishes and admiring the cardinals and sparrows as they  feasted on seed from the feeder outside. "OK. Give me a hug and a kiss. I'm going to meet John and Chris for bit and watch the game." Turning around, I see the shirt I fixed and replied, "Oh you're wearing the shirt."

He gave me a puzzled look and replied, "Of course. This shirt is great. Why wouldn't I?"