Square-Peg People

A Light in the Window

 

 

You know that feeling you get when, in the dark of winter, you ride by a home with a light in the window? It's a kind of tender, sweet/sad, feeling - and, for me, an antidote to the groundedlessness and hectic horror that the holidaze bring.

Which brings me to the story below, it's the kind of thing I keep bringing myself back to - for grounding, for a sense of reason and purpose, and - for love! Let's sit here and have some tea (spiked?) - we can contemplate love (and grounding, and purpose...) together. Here we go:

Ya'll Fall Down

I've told this story before, but this year it means something different to me. The neighbor in the story doesn't live next door anymore - we've got new neighbors.

Neighbor got divorced and he and his family moved to different houses. And I am reminded (again) how things are always changing - sometimes falling down, sometimes being put right (and often - too often, for my comfort - not knowing which is which).

I used to get great delight from seeing my neighbor's holiday lawn ornaments fall over. Wait, let me explain:

Mr. Neighbor had a little family of flat, white, wooden reindeer and a 3-D, 3 ft. tall plastic Santa. Each year he'd take the decorations out of storage and lean the reindeer against the house for a few days. They'd be behind a brick half-wall whose purpose (during the rest of the year) was blocking Neighbor's trash cans from view.

Santa would also be behind the half-wall, visible only from my driveway and one of the windows of my house. For whatever reason, Santa was always placed nose facing into the corner - and what with the hunch of his shoulders and the angle he was tilted he always looked to be taking a wiz.

Within a few days Mr. Neighbor would begin to assemble the family of reindeer. Each had a flat, wooden cross-piece that fitted into the the bottom of the flat reindeer making them able to stand. Almost immediately after Neighbor got all the reindeer pieced together and placed on somewhat flat ground - positioned near each other and Santa - we'd have a storm. A dashing, windy rumpus of a storm. Every year.

And at least one reindeer would bite the dust (or snow), but Neighbor quickly got the reindeer upright again and all was well.

Wind and winter storms are normal around here in December, though - so the reindeer were in constant peril. Rudolph and/or a couple buddies fell over frequently. It got so that each time I would head out to the driveway I'd look over and take a body count. And it started to seem funny to me. Very funny! Every trip to the car meant laughing til my sides ached.

I like to think of myself as a semi-kind person, so I wondered what was the matter with me. Why did I find it so amusing that Neighbor struggled with resuscitating reindeer? The answer hit me surprisingly quickly (the way the wind hit the reindeer - though I didn't fall down) - it had more to do with Neighbor fixing the reindeer than it did with them falling over.

I had the aha moment one day after a wind storm - when Neighbor didn't come out and set the reindeer right. I didn't know if he was sick, gone for the day or what - but seeing the bodies made my heart sad. When he finally fixed them I started laughing again.

My laughter wasn't mean-spirited, it was more like JOY. I knew that Neighbor did the whole reindeer thing (putting them up and taking care of them) for his little son. I laughed because I knew how much he loved his little boy and that he'd keep standing those reindeer up.

And, having had the (metaphoric) wind knock my own (metaphoric) reindeer on their (metaphoric) asses way more than once, I was thrilled by the chance to witness Neighbor's perseverance - his willingness to stand those reindeer up again and again.

I laughed because it's beautiful (and JOYful) to watch any of us keep trying - keep standing things up even when we know life will probably knock them down again. Whether we do it for our kids, ourselves, for Life itself, for The Beloved - it's always for LOVE.

And that's something to smile, giggle, even guffaw about! (And besides, things falling over make good sight gags!!)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Pssst, If you've had the (metaphoric) wind knock you on your (metaphoric) ass recently -

or are feeling glum and bah humbugish this holiday season -

please come on over and read some of the heart-opening stories being shared in the Strength from Within holiday encouragement series.

Some great writers share solace and encouragement for the holiday season (doesn't matter what holiday you do - or don't celebrate) - you're not alone!

 

It's Fall Ya'll

 

I can tell because there's been pumpkin picking with Little Princess (granddaughter), more walks in the park, it's cool enough to cook a pot of vegetarian chili, and...

Slightly-British Daughter is using her “IT’S DECORATIVE GOURD SEASON, MOTHERFUCKERS” mug!

If you haven't read it (and even if you have - because it's hilarious and worth a second, third, fourth... read!!), Colin Nissan's very funny essay about decorative gourd season is over at McSweeneys'. It's called It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers (so, probably don't need to tell you it's laced with expletives) - you can pick up your own mofo mug there, too (not an affiliate link, just want to share because you can't get too much gourd humor!).

Hungry for more gourd laughs? Funny or Die has a video/skit of Nissan's essay.

Want to hear stories that bring you awareness, allowing, acceptance and appreciation (i.e. celebration!) - of yourSELF! As you are. Now!

Yeah? Good! Then check out Square-Peg Celebration: Stories of Acceptance and Grace.

It comes with a gorgeous 47-page pdf including the essays, Slightly-British Daughter's gorgeous photography, and inspiring quotes!

What are you waiting for? Go on over and listen (there's a free mp3 sample!).

 

Creativity and Rebellion

 

“Creativity is the greatest rebellion in existence.” Osho

What Osho said! And here's a story about Creativity and Rebellion partying together at my house awhile back.

A bit of backstory first: Before my daughters and I started unschooling they both attended parochial school  - the same Missouri-Synod Lutheran elementary school that I went to as a kid. Manchild, who is a lot younger than his sibs, was born into a full-on unschooling environment

Once upon a time, prior to Halloween festivities, an edict concerning costumes was sent home from the girls' school. It was decreed that, for their classroom Halloween parties, the children were only permitted to wear costumes representing Bible characters.

I don't know whose idea it was, or what prompted them to come up with new rules - but I remember thinking that someone seemed upset by ghouls, floozies and costumes encouraging violence.

From childhood on I've had a perverse reaction to being told what to do and/or how to do it.

Even when I agree with rules they get on my nerves. Hell, I even have trouble following rules I make for myself. The rebel spirit jumped up and bit me on the ass when I read that costume commandment note.

I knew I'd figure something out. We'd comply with the letter of the law, but...

Aside: You know, if the person(s) who came up with the costume rule had done their research, they'd have realized they were leaving the door wide open on ghouls, floozies and costumes encouraging violence when they mandated Bible-only costumes.

Jeez, we could've gone with the John-the-Baptist's-head-on-a-silver-platter theme, or represented any number of harlots - or demons (knocking people around or just being flung into pigs) - or terribly violent folk. I'm telling you - the door was wide open!

I'm pretty sure the rule maker(s) was/were thinking of fluffy lambs, meek and mild Mary's, shepherds and the like. But they weren't specific!

Enter Square-Peg creativity! I used to sew costumes for competitive skaters, baton twirlers and such - so I had a decent amount of flesh-colored stretch fabric around. What if...

someone went as Eve? With strategically-placed felt leaves. Gloria, my middle child, liked the idea (see picture below).

Ah, creativity and rebellion - always puts a smile on my face!

 

 

What was your favorite Halloween costume? Or might you have a Square-Peg following-the-letter-of-the-law-but-maybe-not-the-spirit-of-the-law story you'd like to share? Do tell!

 

This is a highly edited version of a post originally shared in 2010.
Photo ©Karen Caterson, 1988 (from back in the day when you wouldn't know until you got the photos developed whether your kid was blinking/making a face when you took the shot - sigh).

From Mice and Men

 

From mice and men, ants and chewing squirrels - please deliver us.

Here at Square-Peg Headquarters (home) we're in the midst of a (modest) bathroom remodeling project. That, combined with a crap-ton of wet weather, has led to an inundation of men, mice, ants, and squirrels.

First it was the ants. Wet weather seemed to send them dancing into the kitchen and bathroom. This isn't uncommon in spring since the ground outside those two rooms probably fits the official requirements for a wetlands area.

But usually the problem is over before there's much time to bitch about it. Not this time! And yes, perhaps the delicious cake left out with no cover caused the ants to assume they were being invited to move in permanently. Sigh.

Cayenne pepper to the rescue. Slightly-British Daughter and I learned, from helpful employees of our local health food store, that ants abhor cayenne.

And it looked like cayenne pepper was working - no more ants dancing in the kitchen or bathroom.

Correction - it looked like the cayenne pepper was working. But when the contractor took out the bathroom ceiling (water damage - ack!) ants poured down on him like a waterfall (ack! ack!). Guess they were only hiding.

Next came mice. We've had an occasional mouse in the basement (easily relocated to the field by using a live trap) but none in the house proper. Until now.

The wet weather's been calling them in, too. They weren't so much dancing, though - just nibbling.

At first we didn't realize what was going on. A pack of gum and a forgotten Pez package seemed to have changed position in a drawer - and they looked a little frazzled.

Who's been messing with the Pez and gum? Next day a couple of mouse turds in the drawer answered that question.

Live mouse trap to the rescue.

Correction - live mousetrap to the rescue again. And again. And again. Night after night.

Manchild, head of mouse reassignment, was wearing out the grass between our house and the field.

We tried peppermint oil on cottonballs. Mice supposedly hate peppermint. But not our mice. Ours moved the cottonballs (peppermint dodgeball?).

Then there were squirrels. Chewing squirrels. Chewing squirrels who left enough sawdust on the patio in one day to carpet a small circus tent (holy shit, Batman - the patio rafters)! At least they stayed outside, but still! Ack!

And the men! All through the critter invasions there were men coming in and out - taking down ceiling and walls, taking out bathroom fixtures, reframing, disassembling, assembling…

More visitors than this (at times extremely) Introverted gal copes with easily.

But hey - it looks like salvation is nigh. The bathroom should be finished this week (that takes care of the men), the squirrels and mice and ants have already been dealt with (pretty much all by plugging up holes - blocking entry) and things will return to not-normal. Whew!

I'll say one thing (oh hell, I'll say lots of things) - dealing with the chaos, time schedule fuck-ups, and critter nonsense all at once would've kicked my ass royal a few years ago. It's still kicking my ass (occular migraines, stress-induced nutsiness...), but in a more Willie Nelson/laid-back way.

Thank you X-treme self-care!

Stay tuned, in the next post I'll be sharing about self-care for the Introvert (including some not-so-funny-when-it-happened stories).

How do we accept and celebrate our uniqueness? Where do we find community?

This is what we talk about in our brand-new e-guide packages: Square-Peg Celebration & Community is an Inside Job.

Hop on over to the Shop and read more (don't forget to listen to the free MP3 samples!).

Holiday Fun

 

 

Oh look! My first holiday package - my ass has arrived!

 

Ok, it's really a box of vitamins - but I just had to share the deft sticker application (damn my 7th grade sense of humor!).

 

How do we accept and celebrate our uniqueness? Where do we find community?

This is what we talk about in our brand-new e-guide packages: Square-Peg Celebration & Community is an Inside Job.

Hop on over to the Shop and read more (don't forget to listen to the free MP3 samples!).

 

What We Do For Love

 

Ummm, yes - that is a wig. And it has a story.

 

When my granddaughter, Little Princess, visited awhile ago we got talking about wigs (why? how? who remembers…). She waxed lyrical about purple wigs.

 

I picked one up after her visit, to gift her with the next time. Unfortunately, we didn't have another visit for quite awhile - so by the time her next visit came about I wasn't positive that LP would still adore purple wigs, or that she'd even remember us talking about them.

 

For some reason (why? what shortwired in my brain? who remembers…) I got the idea to surprise Little Princess by wearing the wig when she was dropped off.

 

LP is a smart gal, so you'd expect that she'd notice long, wavy (bizarrely shiny) purple hair on her hithertofore short-haired, non-purple-headed grandmother - but, just to be sure, I figured I'd make it obvious that I was wearing a wig.

 

When the time was close for LP's appearance I donned the wig and practiced tossing my (new found) purple hair back with a twist of the neck and flip of the hand - picture a Hollywood star from days of old (ok - picture an older, uncoordinated, jerky-moving star wannabe - risking neck injury and wig loss with every flip).

 

After a bit of practicing the flip didn't seem enough - so when Little Princess was exiting her chariot I added a bounce. Bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet, flipping my purple mane - I threw my arms open (our greetings often involve LP leaping into my arms)…

 

but she didn't leap! Little Princess stopped mid-run, got a curious expression on her face and (never one to mince words) yelled: "Oh! My! Gawwwwwwd! What did you do to your hair?" (what? it didn't look natural?).

 

About 3 nanoseconds later LP figured it out, leaped into my arms, and we laughed and laughed (why? who remembers? I do - we laugh for love - we laugh a lot!).

 

How do we accept and celebrate our uniqueness? Where do we find community?

This is what we talk about in our brand-new e-guide packages: Square-Peg Celebration & Community is an Inside Job.

Hop on over to the Shop and read more (don't forget to listen to the free MP3 samples!).

Did You Know?

 

 

Did you know that Slightly-British Daughter has a blog? And that it features her gorgeous photos??

Well - she does. It's called Paper Helen, and it's chockFULL of her photographs. One of the things I love most about Slightly-Brit's photos is how (just like she does in the rest of her life), she really sees the details!

The thing about that is: when she points out the details that I miss (coz I miss the details a LOT) - she points them out with such love, such adoration, that I not only see them, but 'get' them. I fall in love with those details.

Makes me think of the great (I only had a few, but wow - what a difference those few made!) teachers I've had, whose love of what they taught/saw was contagious. Go visit her and say "Hi!" Well, I mean - if the idea appeals to you (feeling bossy - sigh).

Did you further know that Andrea Mauer invited me to do a guest post on her site while she was on vacation?

Well, she did - and since she asked me to write a post for her Daily Love Letters feature I wrote about self-love/self-care. Come visit me at Andrea's (giggling now as I get into this being bossy thing!)

And one last "Did you know?". Did you know that The Encourager went out yesterday (that's Square-Peg People's newsletter virtual tea party)? 

Well, it did! And in it there was a picture of me, GarageBand and the laundry basket that assisted me in my recording (mentioned earlier in the post Improv).

You might want to jump up there (top, right) to our Encourager sign-up button - because you don't wanna miss things like that picture ; ) <-evil, yet adorable, grin.

Two Birds, One Stone

 

 

Not to worry - no birds were killed! What happened was:

I was outside a couple hours ago, doing some (much needed!) yard work. I was also pondering what I might share with you here on the blog.

Lately I've been spending a lot of time finalizing the two packages Slightly-Brit and I are putting together (signature packages, I'd say - except I won't say because I'm trying to stick to ONE topic - ahem) and so I haven't shared here as often as I'd like.

So...out in the back yard, using a power tool on some tall grasses, I was reminded of a fight I had with one of those grasses a couple/few years ago.

And I remembered that I wrote a post about it called Move Your Grass - describing the misadventures we had attempting to move a ridiculously large tall grass to a new spot.

All the fun of a very uncoordinated woman (that'd be me) attempting to move something that probably shouldn't have been moved, working with a wheelbarrow that had other plans, while tossing rocks at loved ones (ok, one rock).

There you go - two birds (and there's even a stone involved - if you count the rock I threw): 1. I figured out that I could (re) share the Move Your Grass story with you and 2. I got some yard work done.

Actually, there's a third bird here. I also figured out why, despite putting in some new raised bed boxes, and discussing loads of great garden ideas, we haven't really done anything with the gardens for a couple years - I think Slightly-Brit and Manchild are afraid to go out there with me now!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

 

 

I've been misreading and mishearing things lately. Lots of things. And often mentioning what I've misread or misheard before I realize I heard or read wrong.

Maybe I'll get my Mrs. Malaprop badge soon.

{Aside: doesn't designing and creating badges for Square-Peg traits and characteristics, and then displaying them somewhere - like a Girl Scout sash - sound all kinds of wonderful?}

Sooooo - Slightly-British Daughter was telling me about a playlist she put together. She knows that there are a few of her favorite things that are NOT my favorite things.

She also knows I'm looking forward to hearing her new playlist (she picks the best music!), so she wanted to warn me that the song These Are a Few of My Favorite Things (by McCoy Tyner) was going to be on the list.

I am not a fan of the song These Are a Few of My Favorite Things.

Probably the #1 reason I'm not a fan is how the #!$&-ing thing sticks in my mind. I can't hear it and be done with it - bits of it crop up uninvited much later - and again - and again - and again.

Case in point - I walked away from talking with Slightly-Brit about her playlist and was whistling that damn tune before I even got 20 feet away! (2nd aside: I'm an inveterate whistler, and SBD claims you can judge my mood by my whistling - I'm not so sure).

Anyway, there I was whistling These Are a Few of My Favorite Things even though it's not (one of my favorite things).

Then the lyrics started prancing thru my mind while I whistled. Argh - the tune's not enough?!

...when the dog bites, when the bee stings...

on and on.

Until, at one point, I was mystified. I could not remember all the words to one of the stanzas.

I was still whistling - and pondering the words to one particular phrase - when I crossed paths with SBD.

At first I didn't ask - I just sang out what I knew, humming when I got to the words that I couldn't remember.

No response.

I did it again and got a quizzical glance and the remark: "What the hell?"

Taking that as an invitation I hum~sang again:

"hmmm, hmmmm Wild beasts that hmmm with the moon on their wing hmmm hmmm hmmm"

SBD's next response: "Whaaaaaaaaaaat?"

I stopped singing and asked: "The words to that song - I can't remember all of them, what are they?"

"What song?" (What song? Is she deaf? I'd been whistling, humming and struggling with the words right in front of her for 5 minutes!).

I calmly replied: "These Are A Few of My Favorite Things." I hum~sang again:

"hmmmm, hmmm

Wild beasts that hmmmm with the moon on their wing hmmm hmmm hmmm"

SBD looked like she was in pain, but she was actually clutching her tummy and bending in because she was laughing. Hmmph!

"You were close", she corrected, "it's wild geese".

Yeah, that makes more sense. I want my badge now.

The Philly Flower Show

 

 

I joined the Queen at The Philly Flower Show this past Tuesday. Surprising - and cute - the way she was set up upstairs looking down at flower show goers.

She was also outside the entrance to the Convention Center, available to take pictures with. Unfortunately, she must've travelled IN a suitcase - because her fold lines show up BIG in photographs (good thing it wasn't the real Queen, I have an idea she would've bitched a bit at being folded up).

I saw this poor Sensitive Fern at the show and felt sorry for her (him?) - it was a noisy (and a bit push/shove) environment. Manchild noted that it seemed: "like Chuck E Cheese for old people." His insights often get me laughing!