There are many things making me feel like I'm running off the rails this December. There are also many things that are giving me pleasure. Here are some:
1. Those Janis Joplin stamps. The package looks like a single record, and on the other side is a great big photo of Janis. They have Jimi Hendrix ones, too.
2. I heard this song on the radio yesterday, and it made me happy. It makes me cry a little, too.
3. This list of NPR's Maureen Corrigan's favorite books of 2014 gave me that overly-stimulated feeling that I still get when I go into a library or a bookstore and realize how many books there are to read. It's the good kind of over-stimulation, not the frantic one laced with anxiety that I get when I realize how much money shitty movies make during the holidays.
Sometimes You Can't Pick Just 10: Maureen Corrigan's Favorite Books of 2014
4. Yes, my house looks like one of those obnoxious Christmas shops in a tourist town, but I have several tableaus (if you will) that give me pleasure. Here's one:
Here's a close-up of the bowl and the weird baby that creeps some out but gives me pleasure:
5. I listened rapturously to the last episode of Serial, the podcast from This American Life. It was really pretty fantastic and highly addictive. It also saved my sanity in the car the last few weeks.
Reader, what's making you happy or giving you pleasure or helping to save your sanity during the Yuletide Season?
Janis would have been amazed.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited about reading the book list you posted.
ReplyDeleteMy mom died last year on Dec. 20 and her funeral was on Dec. 24th so I have mixed feelings about the season . . . good friends are great, and turkey and stuffing. And Christmas carols sung so well they make me cry.
And I am one of the few people I know who actually likes Christmas cake.
And being paid tonight to go sub for a class of immigrants and the agenda is Christmas carols and food. Mind you I have to schlepp 20 minutes to the bus in the pouring rain but I'm glad it is rain and not ice and snow like everywhere else in Canada.
- Karen
Serial is saving my sanity right now. I've got 3 episodes to go. Don't you wish you were me?
ReplyDeleteGotta get me some of those stamps. I thought for a minute it was the Madonna.
Janis stamps? My god. I am too stunned to know what to say. And Jimi too?
ReplyDeleteLord. There may be a god.
What's getting me through the holiday season? Oh, you know. Keith Richards. Vodka. My kids and grandkids. Trying to deal with death. Etc.
Which leads us back to vodka.
Every night when we come home from work, the big guy turns on the Christmas tree lights and the fake candles on the dining table. It makes me smile. I love Christmas lights.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the weird baby. I often feel just like that, no eyes and no clothes. Popping up and scaring the hell outa folks.
ReplyDeleteXXX Beth
Size 1 pink baby Van sneakers and matching little socks I bought for a recently born baby. Sweet Jo
ReplyDeleteHmmm. What is keeping me sane? A bubble light candle that had not been working then all of a sudden started bubbling like there is not tomorrow. My husband watching Elf and laughing at the burp scene. Decorations made by my kids when they were little. We have decorations that we all call, "Classic Natalie" because my daughter used to make decorations made of yards and yards of Scotch tape. There are other things but I am mostly just wanting to be OK and get through the holidays.
ReplyDeleteOh, I love those stamps! And Jimi too! I gotta get to the post office when I get to Michigan. (Not that I ever use stamps to actually mail anything anymore.) Isn't it funny that two counter-culture rebels who at the time were held up by many in the older generations as examples of what was wrong with America wind up on postage stamps??
ReplyDeleteI still haven't tackled Serial but I really need to get started.
I love your little flocked trees. There's a new book about Janis coming out. I've already got it on hold. Janis is my mom's name, and she hates it.
ReplyDeleteRed wine----- always red wine. Tapping. My feet fly for 5-6 hrs a week and it has kept me as sane as could be expected --- which is to say not so sane really. I LOVE that Janis has a stamp. I'll get a pack of them for hubby who doesn't want any gifts but since he loved her he might really appreciate the thought. The keepsake ornaments on the tree. The year Michael made one and misspelled his name "Micheal". No Watreford or Lenox were hung this year. Only my weird faries and some other goodies that Barry labels as "scary"... And the keepsakes--- the fire hat and fire engine that remind me of my Dad. Oh gosh--- now I'm getting sad. I've got to get some of those books. I'll start with the one set in Dublin. Thanks for the post. I like the creepy baby.
ReplyDeleteYou are the second person who has said how great Serial is on NPR - i gotta tune in!
ReplyDeleteAnd dude, that baby IS creepy...
i love your Christmas decor!! i love all things Christmas.
ReplyDeleteI soaked up Serial as fast as I could, and now I'm finding myself going down the Rabbit Holes of online forums discussing who, exactly, dunnit. Waste of time, maybe, but it's definitely giving me pleasure.
ReplyDeleteHere's what's helping save my sanity::
ReplyDelete- My morning hour of laps at our local pool.
- Hanging out with my grandchildren.
- Shooting the breeze with the Hubby and the kids without getting into an argument (rare, but when it happens it's thrilling)
- Drawing or painting.
- A high visit tally at my blog.
- A crushed fruit ice drink from a mall stall.
- Lindt Creation 70% Chocolate Bar with Orange Filling.
- Nina Simone singing "Mr. Bojangles".