Wednesday, November 7, 2018

A Wednesday list...

1. I hope everyone voted either yesterday or during early voting if that's an option in your area. I read a really thoughtful article yesterday (link: here) that talks about storytelling and the power of words in framing a person's worldview and shaping our thinking. The author relates his point to politics and voting, but I think there is some interesting food for thought that is relevant beyond just voting. Here's one of my favorite (long) quotes:
I am a Christian person, so I think of the Gospel in precisely these terms. The world gives us a million false and contradictory stories about the nature of reality, and each of us (for our own reasons) believes a few of them. (Nobody could believe all of them). The Gospel comes along and says, “Forget about all those other stories. Here’s the story you’re actually living in.” And in the truest story, you don’t have to be afraid, or proud, or self-indulgent, or self-protective. You don’t have to be right. You can say “Oh, what a fool I’ve been.” Then, for the first time, you can stop being such a fool. You don’t have to be the boss. You don’t have to be a victim. You don’t have to jealously guard whatever power you have managed to consolidate. You don’t have to find your sense of self in your race or your gender or your social class or your political leanings. You don’t have to be the hero of the story. You don’t even have to be the main character.

2.  In January, a friend and I embarked on a year-long crochet project. Mine: a weather scarf, hers: a weather blanket. The idea came from various other creatives around the internet and goes something like this: we picked several different temperature ranges and assigned different colored yarns to each range (below 45: purple, 45-55: blue, 55-65: teal, etc.). Every day, we check the high temperature for that day and crochet one row in the corresponding color (she crochets one round of a granny square for each day) and at the end of the year we'll have a scarf (or blanket) that represents the temperatures for the entire year. It's been a lot of fun (except for weaving in all.those.ends), and I'm excited to enjoy the finished product in January. An unexpected side affect is that it kept me crocheting/knitting throughout the year, pushing me through the slumps that typically come in the summer. So when fall came around this year and the itch to knit got stronger (as it typically does that time of year), I already had a little bit of momentum going to help me jump into new projects (or pick up old projects that I abandoned temporarily in frustration -- looking at you lace shawl)

3. I did some birthday shoe shopping yesterday and in typical fashion I went with one practical (a new pair of Converse sneakers because mine that I wear all the time are falling apart) and one splurge on a pair of leather flats that are so soft and pretty. The store didn't have my size in stock, but I was able to order them, and I can't wait for them to come in! I'm a little bit worried that they'll stretch out too much (that soft leather), but we'll see.

4. The kids and I made a field trip to Half Price Books on Monday. I was on a mission to find one or two C.S. Lewis books -- which I did! -- and I always check for books in the Anne of Green Gables series that I don't have in my collection yet (and I found one!). Of course when the kids asked if they could buy books I couldn't resist saying yes, so overall the only thing that would have made it better is if they'd had a book by Mary Robinette Kowal in stock.

5. Speaking of reading (of course)...I'm in the middle of Six of Crows and it's been fun to return to the world of the Grisha. I've got a couple of non-fiction books I'd like to start soon, and Brandon Sanderson has a new book out, a science fiction novel called Skyward. I'm a little behind on my Sanderson reading, but this new book has really sparked my interest.

What are you reading this week?

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