Average Jane

Category: Daily Life

  • Average Jane Wishes You A Merry Christmas

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    We'll pretend this photo isn't from last year. I never did get any decorations up this year.

    I've had a lovely holiday season so far, for the most part. At book club on Tuesday, I received Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void by Mary Roach, which I am very much looking forward to reading.

    Even though the adults in my family aren't exchanging gifts this year, my aunt and I generally bring each other big stacks of books whenever we meet, so I'm sure there will be more reading goodness available for my week off from work between Christmas and New Year's Day. Oh yeah, even though I haven't found a new job yet, my tenure at my current job has been extended through the end of February. So that takes quite a weight off my mind for the time being.

    My sister and I have an elaborate Christmas meal planned that involves a frightening amount and variety of full-fat dairy products. Not to mention rum cake and all of the many kinds of candy I made last week.

    Christmas Eve is not looking so good. My stepmother is in the hospital with severe pneumonia and naturally my dad is going to spend the evening with her. I was planning on making Beef Bourguignon for dinner and I probably still will, but I'll have to bring some over and leave it in their fridge for later.

    Then there's my current diet: Sprite, Gatorade and little sips of soup. You see, I have come down with some kind of gut thing. It could be food poisoning; it could be a stomach bug. Last night was unpleasant in the extreme. I'm feeling slightly better now, but I still have the urge to spend as much time as possible asleep.

    However, none of this has dampened my desire to have a good time with my family and friends over the holidays. So now I'm off to get some more sleep and do what I can to make sure the next two days are as nice as possible.

    Enjoy yourselves!

  • Average Jane Accomplishes Something

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    I just did the most thorough refrigerator cleanout I think I've ever done. I had no idea that the shelves could be disassembled so thoroughly. I was also reminded, as I am every time I clean the fridge, that many of the shelves slide forward. I don't believe I have taken advantage of that feature a single time since we bought the appliance.

    Lots of suspicious jars of food went in the trash. I married two partial bottles of ketchup and threw away some horseradish sauce that expired in 2008. I kept a random selection of really horrible beer despite my better judgment. I keep thinking someone is going to drink it, but if history is any guide, I'm very wrong about that.

    Before I did the fridge purge, I tidied up two of our lower sets of cabinets that were so messy that either the doors wouldn't close or things would fall out when you opened them. I even fixed the rail of a sliding shelf in one of the cabinets, if you count propping the rail up with extra slate tiles as "fixing" it.

    So now I'm one step closer to being able to make candy and other holiday goodies. And I'm tired. But it's a good tired.

  • Average Jane Wants To Talk About Something Else

    I have been enjoying participating in Reverb 10, but I think I've had about all the public self-reflection I can stand for now. I'll continue reading and thinking about the daily prompts, but I'm probably not going to write about any of them unless one really stands out.

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    This image was chosen to represent "something else." It's my husband and a pair of giant, frisky rabbits.

    I had a three-day weekend and spent most of Friday hanging out with my sister. We had lunch, went shopping so I could get some more business attire to wear to interviews, and walked the trail at Unity Village. It was so warm out that we didn't even need jackets.

    The next day it snowed, but not until evening. My Saturday was mostly given over to reading, cooking, baking and playing with the cats. I had two parties to attend, but it got so cold and icky out that I decided to limit myself to the one closest to my house. I baked a Butternut Pound Cake to bring with me and it was a definite hit, despite sticking to the pan.

    I still have not put up any holiday decor whatsoever, but I have been burning a WoodWick peppermint cocoa candle that's not only beautiful but smells exactly as labeled.

    Because the weather has finally gotten dangerously cold and icy, my daily walks have moved indoors. Today was the first day A Librarian and I walked on our treadmills in her basement and it went pretty well, despite the fact that the two treadmills seem to be calibrated completely differently. We appeared to be keeping the same pace, but my treadmill readout was very stingy about reporting calories burned. It wasn't even clear that the two treadmills were tracking time and mileage evenly. Still, exercise is exercise.

    Ooh, and I found out today that I won this dress at I Am Bossy. I'm hoping my good luck continues from here. Thanks, Bossy!

  • Average Jane’s Wedding Anniversary

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    Sixteen years ago today, I married my best buddy at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. I was wearing my mother's wedding dress and a veil I'd made from supplies I bought at a craft store. My husband was wearing a designer suit that we'd bought at a thrift store.

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    I was happy about it then and I'm still happy about it today.

    We'll be celebrating tonight with steaks and wine and crème brûlée at J. Gilbert's, as is our tradition.

    Happy anniversary, Alex!

  • What Makes Average Jane Different

    Beautifully Different. Think about what makes you different and what you do that lights people up. Reflect on all the things that make you different – you’ll find they’re what make you beautiful.

    This Reverb 10 prompt is from Karen Walrond, who has a gorgeous new book out called The Beauty of Different.

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    Like most people (I hope), I don’t exactly spend a lot of time sitting around pondering my own awesomeness. However, when prompted, I can come up with some positive attributes that I presume other people appreciate.

    First of all, I’m loyal. When I’ve committed to a person or a project or a situation, I’ll stick it out to the bitter end. There’s a good helping of persistence and stubbornness mixed in there as well.

    I’m also very willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. I start out liking everyone and I’ll proceed down that road unless I’m given a reason to change my mind.

    I want to help. I’ll volunteer for your organization, mentor you on topics I know more about than you do, pass along job leads, introduce you to people I think you should meet, donate money when I can, bring you a casserole when you need it, track down an organization that can take the kitten you found, and fix your running toilet.

    That said, I still have my boundaries. I might say “no” when you ask me to do something because I know that I have to have time to myself so I don’t burn out too much to have time for other people.

    Then there’s my dry sense of humor. It’s not for everyone – I get that. However, I’ve excised a lot of the sarcasm and cynicism that used to fuel it, and I think I’m a better person for that.

    I’m comfortable with who I am, confident in my abilities, and happy to accept any challenge that comes along.

    That’s all I can think of off the top of my head. You’ll notice I didn’t say anything about physical attributes because I presume that’s not what the question was getting at and I also don’t think they matter anywhere near as much as people think they do.

    Why don’t you answer this prompt in the comments? What makes you different and beautiful?

  • Average Jane’s Community

    Community. Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

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    When I really sit and think about all of the different and often overlapping communities of which I am a part, I'm really quite amazed. Here's a partial list of the groups with which I interact regularly, in no particular order:

    • Kansas City Bloggers group
    • Other bloggers I read
    • BlogHer
    • Social Media Club of Kansas City
    • Soroptimist International of Kansas City
    • The Animal Rescue Alliance (T.A.R.A.)
    • AAF-KC
    • Regular Girls (informal group of friends who meet on Wednesday evenings for dinner)
    • Two book clubs
    • Everyone I keep in touch with on Facebook
    • All of the people I chat with on Twitter
    • My co-workers, former co-workers and friends on LinkedIn
    • My family

    Now that I look at the whole list, it's easy to see why my social calendar stays so full.

    I don't really have a plan for how my communities will shift into 2011. I'm sure to meet new people and it remains to be seen how they'll work into my current groups. As always, I'd like to make a point of staying in closer touch with some of the friends I haven't seen lately. Maybe that'll be my goal: traveling to see old friends in person.

  • Average Jane’s Sense of Wonder

    My Reverb 10 prompt of the day: Wonder. How did you cultivate a sense of wonder in your life this year?

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    For me, maintaining a sense of wonder only requires me to really look at everything I see. When I walk around outside, watch my cats play or gaze out the window, I'm constantly seeing beautiful, inspiring, wonderful things. Some of those things are natural and others are impressive man-made expressions of art or engineering.

    One of my favorite things about going walking outdoors is that I get to experience new things every time. For instance, I'm rather excited that with each passing week, we get to see more and more holiday lights and decorations on people's homes as we walk by.

    Another thing that keeps my sense of wonder exercised is reading about both the past and the future. I love Archaeology magazine because of the amazing things it reveals about our ancestors and how they lived. I also read science blogs to learn about the wonders the future may hold.

    Finally, there are books. Nothing keeps my mind attuned to wonder like immersing myself in a good novel (or in some cases, a really well-written non-fiction book). It pulls me away from the real world for a few hours at a time, but when I come back, it's as though I've been on a vacation to another life.

    I think the key to wonder is to always be observing what happens around you. It can be easy to put your head down and walk through life with blinders on, but when you really see the things that surround you, every day becomes full of fascinating moments.

  • An Average Jane Moment

    Today's Reverb 10 prompt: Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors).

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    For me, the moment that springs to mind came during my recent road trip to Hutchinson, Kansas for the #140Conference. It was just me and my car on the open road. The sun was shining, there was music on the radio, I had a bag of healthy snacks and nothing to do for several hours but think and sing.

    Best of all, it was the beginning of a week-long vacation and I was heading out to meet up with friendly people and listen to presentations on one of my favorite subjects. Going on the trip had been a fairly spontaneous decision and I was carrying it forth enthusiastically.

    I'd like to be able to carry that sense of freedom and intention into everything I do.

  • No Tree This Year at Average Jane’s House

    I've already mentioned that I'm off the hook for shopping this year. That, in combination with our quickly progressing plan to move the studio cats downstairs, has caused us to decide that we are also keeping the holiday decor to a minimum. The reason? This guy:

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    Oh, he looks innocent now, but don't let him fool you. Dr. Jones is a one-man wrecking crew and there's no way we would trust him around a tippy fake tree adorned with tantalizing dangling objects.

    (Your eyes don't deceive you about one thing: he's getting kind of fat. We need to readjust the food amounts we're making available.)

    When Xena was a kitten, we made the same call at Christmastime. She was known for leaving destruction in her wake as well, so we skipped a year and waited for her to start behaving more like an adult before we took a chance on putting up the tree. (Don't believe what I wrote about putting the tree up in the studio. That never happened.)

    So I think I'm going to content myself with some wreaths and garlands placed well out of Jones' reach and save the tree – and, literally, the ornaments – for next year.

    There will still be cookies, though. Lots and lots of cookies.

  • Average Jane, Books and Cats

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    This was pretty much my angle on life for the past three days, except that most of the time I was looking at a book. Notice my husband standing in the doorway, perhaps wishing I'd put the book down and talk to him.

    Dr. Jones is constitutionally incapable of ignoring the drawstrings of a hoodie, so I've been alternating between cuddling him and fighting him off. It's going to be a long winter, considering that almost all of my jackets have drawstrings.

    Jones does get kudos for catching one of the many fat, lazy flies that have been buzzing noisily around the house. He batted it out of the air with his paws and ate it up without hesitation. I wish he'd catch them all.

    I've finished two more books since yesterday's post: A Fatal Grace by Louise Penny and The Shaman Laughs by James D. Doss. I particularly liked the first one and I'm looking forward to reading others in the series.

    I had a nice, quiet evening yesterday while my husband was off playing a gig. I made myself some cinnamon hot chocolate and popped some popcorn on the stove. I've really been enjoying my open schedule this weekend.

    Earlier today I did my volunteer shift taking care of the shelter cats at Petco. Today was claw clipping day, which went better than it sometimes does. The kittens all forgave me after I was finished.

    Now I'm back home and reading Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale, which has been in my bookcase for some time now. It's interesting so far, even though I haven't given much thought to philosophy in general since the Philosophy 101 class I took in college.

    Tonight my only plan is to make turkey pot pie out of the remaining Thanksgiving leftovers. Beyond that, I imagine I'll spend the rest of the day sitting in my chair with my books and cats. This is the life!