getting my merry up.

All the world seems a little bluesy lately. Or maybe it's just me? The time of year? Last December was so full of crushing sadness. But where one year ago the train whistle wailed like one hundred breaking hearts, now it just sounds sad and tired. Spent. The sluggish footnote to one more year. This one is a bit better. Hallelujah. I have some really good advice about life. Leave plenty of room for lolling around in joy. Sure sometimes you have to go looking for it, just make sure you snap it up when you do find it.

Have you wondered what I do all day?  Or do you have a life?

I've been obsessing.  I'm knee deep in it.  I can think of nothing else.

Sometimes my life gets a little wonky and when it does, I find the best way to deal with it is to add an obsession to the mix.  Something I can really string myself out on.

Tell me, I'm not the only one.

The everyday trials of the week are not notable. They are regular life stuff that happens to all of us every now and then. Problem is, this latest problem didn't confer with me...it didn't even bother checking to see if I was already booked. It showed up just when I thought I'd gotten all the others situated, it just sauntered in, fashionably late. First the results of my physical came back on the sketchy side.  Second, I started having migraines with aura (dude, not as pretty as it sounds). Of course, all things health related make me operate on a different frequency anyway.  And third, I'm thinking of a third.

Enter the obsession.

The house must be decorated for the holidays.  Right now.

So, on top of my new-found anxiety, I've been walking around feeling very perplexed by how I feel lately. I'm used to feeling this kind of stress and worry. But I was never the kind of girl who was used to crying multiple times a day without warning. It's just not me, and I'd just as soon keep it that way. This is not a place I want to get comfy in, you know? So just imagine combining a pile-up of regular life grit with an intense desire for getting my merry up and you'll find me eenie-meenie-miney~ing my way to an entry point, any  point, and beginning. I'll be the one in the yoga pants and glitter.

 I was extra excited and motivated to get my bling up this year, so it only made sense that I would put up some of my Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving, but everything got a bit out of whack and suddenly the whole house was involved. In years past I tended to go a bit Clark Griswald. I'm reeling it in. I'm working on it. I call my support team in daily.

First I started with the family room, which is the room the hubs trashes occupies the most, I decided to make that my first victim.  There was no rhyme nor reason to it, but as I said, obsession. Before you make fun of me, or doubt my sanity, let me just say I am having serious doubts, too. It was a good choice as it turns out. But, I realized one thing right off the bat. I HAVE WAY TO MUCH STUFF! But as God as my witness, I'll find room for it somehow.  Most of it was purchased back in the oh fours and fives when we all thought we had money).  Maybe I'll sell some of it on E Bay.

The decorating started and I realized quickly that I had to make peace with retro. Also, I never decorate the same from year to year. It's an illness. An affliction. I enjoy switching things out. Like rearranging my furniture, obsessively. I'm dynamic with regard to the placement of home furnishings. (I'll have to remember that should I ever have need for a resume again.)

You remember how everyone was using metallics of bronze and copper with the rich shadings of burgundy, umm, 10 years ago?  Burgundy bows, coppery accents, bronzy whatevers? Then the tide turned as it does and teal has taken it's place as a spotlight color.  I love that color too and desperately wanted to make it my new Christmas palette but alas... I did the math.  It's a complete overhaul.

So the Retro it is.

The most fundamentally important thing about decorating the tree is to string it the heck up with lots of lights. I'm talking lots of  lights. Plus, I'm a big, fat believer in it can't be sparkly enough. I threw on loads of the vintage... ornaments, the glitter snowflakes, angels, santas, ALL the Shiny Brites, cherished ornaments made in kindergarten, pom pom fringe garland, and crystal icicles. silver. pink. and red. I have a lot of red. and my beloved white. I love these colors in droves. I want to overdo it. It's an "anything goes" kind of year.

It made my heart race.

So I added a bit more.

I keep finding myself a little lost in patches, hazy blue down at my hem.

Survival mode has its merits. There's value in just doing a hard thing, in putting one foot in front of the other, in recalibrating one's personal universe in such a way that a new rhythm is inadvertently plunked out - the melody in a minor key.
- See more at: http://flowerpatchfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-little-window-is-large-enough.html#sthash.DSvdLe6g.dpuf

'Tis the season, friends.

*clink* 

peace.

snickerdoodles

1 cup butter, softened
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400º F.
2. Cream together butter and sugar. Add in eggs and vanilla.
3. Whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Slowly incorporate into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Mix together granulated sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
5. Scoop cookie dough by the tablespoon full and roll into a ball. Roll the ball into the prepared sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place onto a large cookie sheet, about 2-3 inches apart.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes until cookies have lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.