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Life Moves Fast These Days

Monday, July 11, 2016

The older I get the more I’m aware that life moves fast. When I was a teenager I often complained to my mother about how slowly time was crawling along, and that I’d never be a grown up. She warned me that once you become one, it all goes faster and faster, and as usual, she was right. […]

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July 11, 2016 - 10:23 am

Lisa @ The Meaning of Me - Haha – I often miss my blog milestones, too! 😀 Happy three years!ReplyCancel

Ordinary Things Matter

Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Everyday life is not about big, important events, it’s about ordinary things that are almost unnoticeable—almost. When I had to buy new dishes for myself eight years ago I felt a combination of I can’t/shouldn’t spend money on nice things. I went to Ikea and got reasonably attractive, cheap inexpensive and serviceable white dishes. They were […]

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July 6, 2016 - 12:15 pm

Beth DiBella - Nice! Agreed!ReplyCancel
- July 6, 2016 - 8:18 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Good morning!ReplyCancel
July 6, 2016 - 4:33 pm

Melanie Shebel - Wow! Such a beautiful description and it’s nice to hear someone say they’ve purchased somthing to embrace their own worthiness. Beautiful! It’s funny how something as small as buying a set of dishes can instill such positive feelings. 🙂ReplyCancel
July 6, 2016 - 7:07 pm

Leslie Hunley Sholly - I can’t even tell you how much this speaks to me. See, I have lots of dishes–several sets. All were given to me after my house burned down. I used to have lots and lots of nice things–and I do again, but I didn’t pick most of them myself. I can’t bring myself to buy new everyday dishes when I have serviceable ones. On the bright side, my sister and her husband presented us with an entire replacement set of our wedding china as a Christmas gift. I like HAVING nice things, I just have a hard time buying them for myself. (Your dishes are beautiful, by the way!)ReplyCancel
- July 6, 2016 - 7:29 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Leslie, so sorry about you losing everything, I hope that you will slowly allow yourself to choose things you really want, and give those other things to people who will be glad to have them. ReplyCancel
July 6, 2016 - 10:38 pm

Lizzi Lewis - I love, LOVE this! You’re so right. We suffer for too long under the influence of our own feelings of unworthiness, and in the end, the ONLY ones who think we’re undeserving are ourselves. And we reinforce it and rail against it, and it becomes a vicious cycle.

The small things, like acknowledging we’re worth lovely things, MATTER. Even with crockery.

Yours is beautiful, by the way 🙂ReplyCancel
- July 6, 2016 - 7:26 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks so much Lizzi! ReplyCancel
July 6, 2016 - 10:55 pm

Paul D. Brads - First of all, Chip and Dale are my favorite. Dishes are pretty much my passion, as I collect and have bought and sold for 30 years. I have thousands of pieces of glass. Many of them are simple all of Them have a story. I love to think about the families who used him before, the conversations that were held over them during family dinners, and the decisions that were made. There was love shared when they were washing the dishes and secrets told. Ordinary things are extraordinary things. This is a lovely postReplyCancel
- July 6, 2016 - 7:27 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks Paul, I am slowly learning this. ReplyCancel
July 7, 2016 - 10:39 am

Danielle Dayney - Beautifully written. I’m all too often the person who chooses the inexpensive version of things. My husband, on the other hand, takes his time and chooses his things carefully. I need to regiment this article next time I need something for the house.ReplyCancel
July 7, 2016 - 12:59 pm

Cyn K - Those dishes are beautiful. And you deserve them.

I could relate to this story so much. I received fancy plates as a wedding gift. I moved them cross-country four times. Those things stayed boxed up until the divorce. I guess I never allowed myself to think that I was permitted to use them until a special occasion because I didn’t deserve to use nice things in my day-to-day life. Well, not having any other dishes finally seemed special enough.ReplyCancel
- July 7, 2016 - 3:52 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Cyn, I celebrate everyone who succumbs to nice things!ReplyCancel
July 7, 2016 - 1:42 pm

Ellen - I am so relieved that you didn’t return those beautiful dishes. Food is important to you, and you do deserve to have something beautiful to put it on, and to eat from. You can always pack up your other dishes and donate them.ReplyCancel
- July 7, 2016 - 3:53 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Ellen, I cheerfully gave them away!ReplyCancel
July 7, 2016 - 7:35 pm

Meg Galipault - Nice job tackling a subject that many women can probably relate to. I especially appreciated your reference to modeling behavior for your daughter.ReplyCancel
July 7, 2016 - 9:05 pm

Melony Boseley - I couldn’t agree more! I had similar qualms when purchasing my plate set despite having some perfectly fine dishes, albeit piecemeal of a few sets. Your plates look spectacular!ReplyCancel
July 12, 2016 - 12:01 am

yeah write #274 weekly writing challenge is open for fiction|poetry - yeah write - […] ruminated on the importance of everyday objects in Ordinary Things Matter. The prompt up taken from her post is: I was looking for something […]ReplyCancel

Grilled Cheese Off

Monday, July 4, 2016

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July 4, 2016 - 11:58 am

Vanessa D. - I really enjoy grilled cheese sandwiches, but so far I think I’ll skip the mayo. It would be nice to have a slightly less greasy option if it held up to your taste test, but for as rarely as I indulge butter it is.

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup is a mythological dream meal of mine – one that just won’t suit my two young men for a meal. Someday when the nest is empty.ReplyCancel
- July 5, 2016 - 9:03 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Vanessa, hold on to your dreams!ReplyCancel
July 4, 2016 - 3:42 pm

Sash - Now I really feel like eating grilled cheese!ReplyCancel
July 5, 2016 - 8:03 am

Peggy Gilbey McMackin - I enjoyed reading along on your experiment, though butter would likely always continue to be my choice, as for the bread, my fav is old fashioned Jewish rye for grilled cheese, no matter the choice of cheese or whats in the frig at the moment- the crunch is fantastic!ReplyCancel
- July 5, 2016 - 9:05 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Peggy, I love rye, but my daughter isn’t a huge fan… sourdough wasn’t the best choice, I think next time I’ll go for a country white.ReplyCancel

No Fathers’ Day

Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Fathers’ Day has come and gone, and I barely registered the day; my father has been dead for almost 20 years, and of course I think of him, but not any more or less on Fathers’ Day. I don’t recall making a particular fuss over him when he was alive; he didn’t really like that […]

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June 29, 2016 - 1:10 pm

Cathy Goodwin - Nice post! It sounds like your dad was very much a product of his generation. See http://nyti.ms/28Vm0Yh for a good discussion (about 1/3 of the way through the article) about how men used to deal with emotions.ReplyCancel
- June 30, 2016 - 10:16 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - He was indeed, as are we all…ReplyCancel
June 29, 2016 - 3:21 pm

Ellen - I’m so sorry for what your dad endured, and that you and he were not able to be close. My dad 25 years ago, so no Father’s Day for me either. We had been close, but at the time of his death we were estranged. It makes me sad that he never got to know my kids.ReplyCancel
- June 29, 2016 - 5:40 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Ellen, I’m sorry for that. ReplyCancel
June 29, 2016 - 11:27 pm

Paul D. Brads - This is good, my fave de jour.ReplyCancel
- June 30, 2016 - 10:15 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks, this makes my day! Maybe even my week 🙂ReplyCancel
June 30, 2016 - 10:20 am

Danielle Dayney - Aww, I love this. I don’t speak to my real father anymore (I’ve tried to reconnect, but have been very unsuccessful), and this makes me wish that he was a more reasonable person. I would love to pass on stories of my mom, when they were together, to my daughters. Right now, I have stories of my mom and stepdad, but there is a huge gap. My mom passed away over four years ago and I still have difficulty with that. Beautiful writing, as always.ReplyCancel
- June 30, 2016 - 10:14 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks Danielle. Families are minefields in one way or another. My motto; no one escapes childhood unscathed.
  ReplyCancel
June 30, 2016 - 1:30 pm

Sheila Qualls - Beautiful story. Different generation.ReplyCancel
- June 30, 2016 - 10:15 am
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - That seems to be the consensus. I am well aware that when I as growing up no one was particularly concerned about the psyche of children, and now the pendulum has swung…ReplyCancel
June 30, 2016 - 3:54 pm

Laura - I like how the theme of storytelling carries through – it makes the ending even more heartwrenching to see him refuse to engage in it anymore, after he taught you so much about it.ReplyCancel
- June 30, 2016 - 5:10 pm
  
  nrlowell@comcast.net - Thanks Laura. He was a man of contradictions.ReplyCancel
June 30, 2016 - 9:17 pm

Melony Boseley - Such a well written post. I was a total Daddy’s girl despite his many abhorrent flaws. Having been without him now for 9 years, it’s easy to look back at all the good he did but even easier to see the bad. My final year with him was strained at best and I am filled with regret that I never got a chance to mend that. Your words mirror mine in a lot of ways.ReplyCancel

Broccoli Slaw

Monday, June 27, 2016

Last week I mentioned making broccoli slaw for my friend’s baby shower and promised a recipe. I have been thinking about broccoli salad/slaw for a while. Near my office is a shop that sells crab cakes, and they are pretty good, but their broccoli salad is what everyone raves about. When I tried it I […]

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June 27, 2016 - 9:08 am

Peggy Gilbey McMackin - Looks delicious Nancy! I have been thinking about Broccoli Slaw for posting for about a month now- it must be something about food people that often times seem to lean them in common directions. What in the world is it? It’s a mystery to me- but there must be something to this, it doesn’t happen infrequently either!ReplyCancel
June 29, 2016 - 12:54 pm

Morgan - This looks so good! Healthier options like this make it so much easier to stay on track with a diet. Great recipe! Thanks so much for sharing it!ReplyCancel