a little and a lot

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Salmagundi

(There's your word of the day: Salmagundi = miscellany.)

1. Mother's Day is tricky.  I liken it to Valentine's Day.  When you are single without a suitor, Valentine's Day can be kind of a downer.  While you are happy for all the lovers in the world, it's still kind of a bummer that no one is YOUR lover.  Best case scenario, you take part as best you can and celebrate the ones you love (even if you don't "lover" love them).  Other similarities would be the line of men in the grocery store/florist/drugstore the night before the event as well as jacked up prices at restaurants on the special day.  ($17.99/person for brunch at Patrick's?  Are you kidding me?  Who do you think you are--Paula Deen?)  

The tricky thing about Mother's Day is its celebration in the midst of worship service (as it always falls on a Sunday).  Whenever you honor a specific group of people in a crowd, you are inevitably leaving others out...such as those without children (regardless of how they currently feel about that status), those who have lost their mothers, and those who have lost their children.  Please don't read too much into these sentiments--I merely felt a twinge of insensitivity as I sat in church (being a childless woman, sitting next to a man who had lost both his mother and wife/mother of his children) as the big hoopla was being made.  I've been chewing on it ever since.  To mothers everywhere (friends and relatives), I admire the ways that you reveal characteristics of God that can only be shown by mothers.  My own mother wrote a very touching post about this here--which made me thankful for the ways both she and (dare I say it) my Heavenly Mother (?) have cared for me. 

2. I dread Yard Sales.  We've been planning to have one for the past three weeks now.  We keep putting it off due to the ridiculous monsoon that has befallen our lush, green city.  This is the week.  I view it in the "ripping off the band-aid" type of situation.  We will junk up our house as we drag everything out and ruthlessly get rid of "stuff" that we will wonder why we had in the first place.  (Because everyone needs "stuff"--that's why!)  It will be a horrible and pleasureless process, but at the end we will be RICH(er).  So, bring 'em on--I need your best tips for a successful Yard Sale.  Here are a few of mine:
  • Don't price everything--that way you can quote a price as you size up your customer.  (Gee, I hope all my future Yard Sale customers are not reading my blog.)  You might get $5 for that sandwich press from him--but...hmmm...she might pay $20?  (Sounds horrible, but it's just business, guys.)  Except don't make the mistake I did once when I quoted a twin bed for $75 when the sign on it said $50.  Oops.  
  • If you do want to predetermine prices on certain items (books, clothes, etc.), make piles of things that are all the same price. 
  • Furniture and other large items are the hooks that reel the people in.
  • Start eeaaaarrrlllly and wear sunscreen.

3. My life has been changed with the purchase of a small $17 item.  A coffee grinder.  I had run out of coffee a few weeks ago, and I decided to bite the bullet and purchase a grinder and whole bean coffee, as my ground Starbucks Ethiopian Sumatra had grown quite stale over the weeks it took me to use it up.  Oh.  My.  Goodness.  I seriously have to think about whether it is truly worth it on the days I'm planning on picking up coffee from an outside source because the coffee I make at home is so delicious!  I grind 3 Tbsp of beans fresh every morning and pour only the amount of water that fills my mug into the coffee maker--waste not, want not!  I can't believe it took me this long to find you, coffee grinder!  Thank you for making my 4 ounces of morning coffee one of my favorite parts of the day!  (Along with this blend, which is also my new fair trade favorite!)  

Well, there you have it--my salmagundi of topics for the day.  Now, I welcome your salmagundi of comments!

6 comments:

Martha said...

I LOVE coffee grinding as well. It's the only way to go. I'm the only one who drinks coffee so it makes perfect sense. I will need to try the Allegro you are suggesting... MMM

Unknown said...

1. Have not yet invested in coffee grinder but my current schedule makes drinking and brewing coffee at work necessary.

2. Have yet to "throw" a yard sale. (Do you "throw" a yard sale? "give" a yard sale? "host" a yard sale?)
I admire yall for doing them regularly.

L said...

hmm. you raise a good point, my dear friend. it's definitely a tricky thing. it's hard enough sitting through the sermon every year having lost my own mom, but since i've had more friends/acquaintances lately who've lost babies, i've become even more sensitive to the mother's/father's day sermons. it's a hard balance to honor those well-deserving (sweet moms) w/o leaving out those who are in pain.

oooohhh...that coffee grinder sounds really cool! right now we're eyeing the fancy coffee machine that makes one cup at a time. :)

lee said...

It's not just holidays--and the icky awkward ways holidays are intruded into worship services--that cause us to miss what we don't have.
It's human nature to long for what we expect things or people will fill up in the barren parts of our lives.

If we list the reasons most women want to be married and raise children, and then apply those reasons more broadly to Isaiah 54:1-5, Matt 28:18-19, it is eye-opening to realize that God grants fertility and nurtures fruitfulness in every season of our lives. Not solely as his blessing to us, but he allows our sacrifice of praise through those experiences to birth something in others and to ultimately glorify him.

Ashley @ pure and lovely said...

Mother's day is overrated. I use it as an excuse to get a good gift out of jamin. aka planters for my front porch and the new Domino book. ;) I promise im not ignoring that last email im so slow nowadays and so behind on my blogs, too. I am writing you back in the NEXT 24 hours, unless you have already given up hope! that coffee looks DELISH btw. can't get enough coffee...

Ashley @ pure and lovely said...

ps i know you weren't talking about gifts. and im totally missing the point, of what you were saying, but what I was saying is that I view it as just a day for gifts. I think your dogs should give you gifts on mother's day. ;)


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