A funny thing happened yesterday. Kim (see previous post A Very Mini Artist’s Colony in New Mexico) was going into Santa Fe and wanted a grocery list from me. Since I’ve been sick (see previous post An Antidote for Pain) he’s been doing a lot of my errands. Keeping me in groceries has been a much appreciated favor. Anyway, it being the day before Thanksgiving, he wanted to minimize the number of stores he had to visit. Did I REALLY need him to go to Trader Joe’s? After all, the parking lot would be a zoo, not to mention the store itself. “Yes,” I told him, “I’m afraid I need a few things that I only buy at Traders.”
So he looked at my list and opened the fridge. Half and half was the #1 item. “But you have three quarts of half and half in here,” he said. Then he opened the freezer. Butter was #2 on the list. “Butter!” he cried, “you have four pounds of butter in the freezer.” Let’s not even go into the heavy cream issue. Being sharp as tacks I’m sure you’re all catching the pattern. Yup, I was asking him to go out of his way to buy things I already had in quantity.
I tell you this story to make a confession. I’m something of what I guess you could call a hoarder (HOARDER! I hear you gasping all the way over here in Truchas). Yes, the fact is, the world feels better to me when I have a fridge full of half and half, a freezer stocked with butter, shelves stacked high with coffee, plenty of heavy cream, and a tank full of gas. There. That’s it. I feel so much better having gotten that off my chest. Oh, and Haagen Daz. I need plenty of Haagen Daz too (let’s see, do animals count here because you all know I have eight, right?). At the very least I think it would be fair to say I’m a bit obsessive about having certain things always “in stock” or on the shelves… you know what I mean, don’t you? Please say you do.
There’s actually a reason for my confession (you all knew there would be, right?). I got to thinking and I came to the conclusion that I can’t be the only one with these kinds of dark secrets. You all have to have them too.
So here’s the deal: I want to know what your weird, tweeky, little habits, needs, well… obsessions, are. Will you tell me? And I’ll post them on the blog, with or without your name. Doesn’t this sound fun? Of course it does… then I’ll tell you more…
But, of course, there’s a reason I bring this up on Thanksgiving. I bring it up because I am so deeply grateful to be able to have four pounds of butter in the freezer and three quarts of half and half. And I’m grateful to have friends who can witness my obsessions and give me plenty of room to have them.
There’s another topic for you: Write and tell me what you’re grateful for. I, for one, am grateful for YOU.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
Love to you all,
Jeane
This is a subject of discussion in our house as well. Linda is a quilter, and as every quilter knows, you can NEVER have too much fabric in your stash. For myself, it is bikes and flyrods.Currently there are 4 bikes. But you can only ride one at time. So what! 3 of the 4, I bought as bare frames and built them up myself. I get just as much satisfaction from tinkering and tweaking and fiddling as I do from riding. Sometimes I will just sit and admire their lines.( especially the Pinarello, my sexy Italian). Ah me; then there are fly rods.
1, I bought. 1, I inherited from my dad. I have 3 1930’s vintage bamboo rods from my grandfather. I have refinished them twice now. They are wonderful to fish with and to just hold in your hands. 8 I have built myself ( 7 over the last 25 years and 1 in process). Again, you can use only one. That isn’t the point though, is it? It is the process of building and creating that keeps me adding to my stash. This is comfort food, so to speak.
I have had other things over the years, but these two are the ones that stick with me year after year. I have decided that part of the reason is that neither bikes nor fly rods are static in nature. They both do something. When they are in their element and in use they are, in a manner of speaking, alive. And, as the user, you interact with them and feel that “life” and it becomes another extension of your own life. Boats are the same. I built a 14′ catamaran many years ago. Perhaps, when we get settled in the new place, I’ll build another. Whats’ one more obsession?
Ah to find our passions and joys and obsessions, completely unique to each of us. That kind of self discovery seems to come to us later in life. Happy fishing and biking and tinkering to you.
Thank You. I have pretty much decided that if we are in truth made in God’s image, it is defined by our drive to create. Paint, sculpt, build, write, sing, cook, teach even; the list is nearly endless. All of us seem to be driven to produce something that says, ” This is me, this is what is inside me”.
I reckon my currently held obsession is recycled clothing…it is at least taking up two rolling racks in my extra bed /sewing/ exercise room. BUT this was a gathering that actually happened a couple of years ago..when I my creativity was energetically spurred on doing hours of Qigong a day. So I naturally was drawn to the colors and fabrics that always have been my primary obsession. They express my sense of FUN. And of course I see forward in my purchases as to the validity of their use in the future lol. I see colors and patterns everywhere…cannot help it ,would not want to stop it:) The true obsession of this gathering is that the clothes are still there. I wear them now with the changes of the season upon us…so they are not wasted and I enjoy giving them a new life after others gave them up for unneeded. WONDERFUL finds of course…high quality and leather items that I have blessed with sage and thanked the animals that gave their lives to the beautiful item. I do not purchase NEW items often, but ones that are already on the pile of unwanted by another:) Like the adopted pets I have they are my saved beauties. This is just one of my many quirks. bwa ha ha ha…:)
I love that Grace. Finding love and uses for things that others have discarded is a wonderful obsession to have and nurture–much more than butter and cream I’m thinking.
coffee, coffee, coffee …and the required cream to go in it…and a certain brand of salsa I love