Better Things to Do

I have been writing a lot about the state of the world lately.  Have no clue why, but this last Presidential election really got me going.  It just brought out the ugly in people.  The way people behaved, on both sides of the coin, just got under my skin.  Not enough calamine lotion in the world to calm those itchies.  I found myself growing increasingly cynical.  Didn't like that feeling at all.  So, I have been  gardening a lot, it soothes my soul.  Grubbing in the dirt, pulling weeds (I like to pretend they are issues and people that bug me), watering, seeing how plants I put in the soil as teeny tiny seedlings grow and thrive is a very good feeling.  Sometimes the little homeless cats (there are now three) that live in my area keep me company, while Bella Bella Smokey Noella keeps an eagle eye on me from the living room window.  One of the things I do on the weekends is put a big pot of soup on before heading outside.  That way when I come back in, the lovely scent of soup simmering on the stove greets me.  All I have to do is whip up a batch of Miss Jodie's Famous Mini Cheesy Corn Muffins, throw a salad together and voila, dinner is served.

Usually when gardening, my neighbors, the ones that have two little girls, will join me.  They'll see me grubbing outside and come out and play in their own little garden.  We are the only families in our area that have made our little patches of grass pretty.  The rest of the units look drab, ours are all perky and pretty with flowers.  Sometimes we talk about how we should just continue planting a garden all the way down our respective rows.  Maybe one day we will.

Thanksgiving is next week, really looking forward to it.  Then I am taking some time off from work.  Need some serious "puttering and fluffing" time at home.  Have one day earmarked for finishing the organizing of my utility room, a/k/a The Black Hole because everything just seems to disappear into it. Open the door, place whatever inside and zoop!  Gone! Need to go through it, pull out the holiday stuff, go through other boxes, donate whatever I have not used/looked at/worked with in the last six months.  Clear the extraneous out.  Want to go to the frame store, have two large and absolutely beautiful works of art from FGM Martha to frame and several smaller prints also from her.  My Whimble wall grows.



My neighbors are celebrating Thanksgiving with me this year and I am so looking forward to setting a beautiful table, making all the delish dishes, they are doing the turkey, the rice and the beans, I am doing the other dishes, including pumpkin pie and (duh!) brownies.  I don't know which I love more the delish food or the not having to worry about driving afterwards.  Thanksgiving at the Cozy Cocoon, gotta love it.  My recent foray into the world of politics has made me want to cocoon more than ever. It's ugly out there and, frankly, I am tired of dealing with it.  I have better things to do with my time than railing at the idiocy, the cruelty, the out and out lies.  Time is precious, a lot of people do not realize just how precious and fleeting it is.  They would rather be in line on Thanksgiving to get the latest electronic toy, than spend time with their family.  Don't understand that concept, then again I know they wouldn't understand me.  The "more, more, more" thing doesn't work for me, maybe it works for them.  I don't think so though, because they never seem to be happy with what they have.  They are always on the lookout for the next thing.  It's like they have a black hole in their soul and no matter how much stuff they put into it, they are still hungry for more.

I started to write this post yesterday and I just froze, overwhelmed by all the bad news in the world.  Some from far away, some close to home.  I tried writing one of my little Whimble stories, froze on that too.  Then this morning I woke up, it's slightly overcast, was going to do an early morning run to the garden center and thought, no, I'm taking a Pajama Day today.  Got up, made my morning cafe con leche and sat down to morning prayer.  This little routine centers my soul.  I realized I was letting the muck of the world hide the good, I was losing sight of all I have to be grateful for, my friemily, my job, cocoon, life in general, because I was concentrating on those that do evil.  I really can't do anything about them, can't go to D.C. and tell all the politicians they are acting like horses' patoots, get it together and actually do the job we hired them for, can't very well drive to Alabama and find the cretins that massacred a bunch of homeless cats just for fun and make sure they get their just reward.  Can't drive up to New York and find the man who didn't open the door to the mother of the two little boys that drowned, smack him silly and take him to police headquarters for processing. Can't take the sign saying "We want our country back" and rip it up into teeny tiny pieces to then throw it over the muckraker's head and make it rain like confetti. Well, actually, I could do those things, I just shouldn't.  Sigh.  And I won't.  Being an ass is not illegal, much to my chagrin.  I was reminded, ever so gently, it is not up to me to exact justice, to fix the world.  All I can do is be the change I want to see in the world (I do love Gandhi), or try to be anyway.  Make my little corner of the world as good, comfortable, pretty as possible.  Tell my loved ones I love them, hug my cat when I get home and she greets me demanding dinner (she is SO my child), trust and thank the Father for my life.  Trust that like the saying goes, we just see bits and pieces, the Father sees the whole picture and it is glorious.  It is all perspective, sometimes we just have to be slapped with it (as one of my favorite blogs recently posted) to be reminded.

Wish I could wave my magic wand and make the world a better place.  But I can't.  I can, however, make my corner of the world a better place and that's what I am going to do.  I have better things to do than rail at the world.  There's gardening, baking, getting ready for the holidays, there's life and love and laughter.  Ultimately we will be fine, we are a strong country and try as they might to divide us, when it comes down to it, we band together and defend our own.  We are Americans.  There's a Perry Mason marathon on t.v. today, love, love, love Perry Mason.  It's going to be a lovely Pajama Day.

Until next time, keep the faith, be safe, be loved.