- Dictionaries are still written by men. Why else would the Wordscraper dictionary not accept "fragiles" when that's what I'm washing right now? (I have my pretty clothes in the washing machine. I am not writing from a bidet.) "Virgules" is allowed - obviously - because that's way more common.
- When did my son become a fixer? And is it possible to fix a fixer? He's always looking out for me, making sure I'm safe, not spending too much money, doing okay. This makes me feel so bad. I never meant to give him any reason to do this. I don't overspend, I make sure I'm okay and so are they. I have explained to him why he can't have all the toys he wants from the shops - money only goes so far and it's my job to spend it wisely. Should I just have said no and been the evil mummy? I worry that I'm ruining his carefree childhood for him. Maybe it's just what he's like. It's not like I magically started worrying about stuff when I was eighteen.
- I finally cracked and bought the first of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy. I figured if you spend so much time pondering if you should read a book, you may as well bloody read it. So far so good - no repeat of the Da Vinci Code fiasco yet. The translation is a bit Northern Dutch for my liking, but the story ticks along nicely.
- Doing the laundry is like doing any other thing in this world. One shirt at a time. I've had too many baskets of clean clothes sitting around the bedroom looking accusingly at me for weeks now. But I've done the first piece so surely the rest must follow. I mistakenly thought I had to do ALL of it in one go.
- My darling Babes got my unread Jon Kabat-Zinn book down from the top floor and kindly hinted that I should read it. I now am. That boy is good to me. (He hinted by Post-It note - I love being communicated with by Post-It. There's something I find so romantic in that.)
- Have I mentioned mindfulness is the cure for everything and a bringer of joy?
- I had an actual real-life friend over for lunch! It was great - we chatted for an hour before she had to run off and do some more work. I left the ironing board up and didn't take all the mess out of the kitchen. It relaxed me. I should remember to put less effort into pretending to be Superwoman and more into simply being with the friend at hand. I'm sure that's what made the difference.
Thursday, 6 May 2010
Fragiles, fixers, cracks, books and no more Little Miss Perfect
A mixed bag of thoughts today:
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Yay for friends.
ReplyDeleteI agree that fragiles should be a word.
Make it so.
Off to find a dictionary to look up virgules.
ReplyDeleteLoved The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, wasn't so keen on The Girl who played with Fire and yet to read whatever no. 3 is called.
If only my mind could remember to be mindful. Know what I mean? I really want to practice it and find it helpful. Only I forget. Oh the irony.
ReplyDeleteRe. 'Have I mentioned mindfulness is the cure for everything and a bringer of joy?' I'm not sure if you've mentioned this before or not, but I do hope you keep mentioning it. Mindfulness is so important, but then again, I think, mind-emptiness is pretty handy as well - to rid your brain of all the crap and rubbish and just be still and silent. Oh God, I've become a New Age hippy-junky. Please no! PS I'm wearing a black hoodie as I'm writing this. Surely that means I'm not really a New Age hippy-junky?
ReplyDeleteIroning board? Woman, you still iron? I am impressed.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe that fragiles isn't a word - and I'm just going to ignore the fact that spellcheck has just put a big red line under it!
ReplyDeleteI think we should work on a women's dictionary. Now!
@erin - I'm working on it.
ReplyDelete@Countess - The first one is called "Men who hate women" over here. Funny how that makes for a completely different impression. I don't know why they gave it a different name in English - the Swedish was like ours.
@Kingsmom - Very ironic. I forget, too, when everything is going well. And then I go back to it when my life spins out of control. Not so good. I always mean to keep it up...
@Nigel - I'm always scared I've turned into one of them, too. But I'm definitely not a junky, so that's a start. I have mentioned mindfulness before, and I will keep doing so. It has SAVED my LIFE. You are right about the mind-emptiness, of course - something I also learned in my mindfulness course. :-)
@Angie - Only shirts and some trousers. I'm so much better than I used to be. I used to iron EVERYTHING - now only a tiny bit.
@Eternally Distracted - I know! We should. You should bring the second word to it. I'm curious what you want in it.
Ah where's my comment?? Where do all my comments go?
ReplyDeleteIf there's a women's dictionary, I hope there's more interesting words than fragiles in it.
I really don't particularly care if it's in my vocab or not!
I have a friend who cheerfully leaves all her delicates (that's the word you're looking for, I suspect) in the washing basket, secure in the knowledge that her mother will wash them for her on her next visit from the States :)
This post was so full of sweetness.
ReplyDeleteI love J.C.Z.
He's my best friend.
I haven't tried the S.L. books yet.
Let me know.
Good for you about the ironing board and the friend. Important stuff you're learning and sharing. You inspire me.