2023 Resolution, Setting Boundaries

You engage in lots of self-reflection painting a 3 x 5’ closet. 

A friend on social media dropped the New Year’s resolution question and I popped off a thought. 

Oh sweet Kim, of course we can hang.

The more I think about it, the more I want to do this. I’ve had my feelings hurt by extending invitations countless times to friends and family only to have those invitations ignored. I have made peace with it, thinking “everybody is busy these days,” and yet there were no invitations extended to me.

Time to let go and not let it hurt me anymore. 

There’s another group of friends whom we got together on the regular, and I tried to make it when I could. I valued friendships and made the effort. Had a falling out with one person in the group, didn’t think it would spill over, honestly should have been over a long time ago. But then I noticed the core group would travel to visit her but not me. And the invites stopped coming.

I get it, you made your choice. It’s me, I’m the problem. That hurts too, especially from two I counted as my best friends from grade school and high school.

I’m letting it go. I’d rather be enjoyed than tolerated. 

But there is a silver lining: more time for others. Setting boundaries. And giving people a chance to miss our friendship and reconnect. It’s happening already. 

LHOTR: Closet Cleanup

Fugly…

…to finished!

I have harbored some hate for the closet at the cottage. Unfinished floor, bandaid colored walls, boards jammed in over chair rails for shelving, and old, curling shelf paper.

I discovered a few leftover loose planks in the basement and that was all the motivation I needed; I couldn’t wait for the holiday break to tear it all apart. I took a quick trip to Menards and told the boys to go snowmobiling.

Day one was spent painting the walls flat white and the shelves Mediterranean blue. I decided to remove the extra shelf and slide the white shelving unit flush against that back wall. This opens the closet up and being on the northern wall, blocks the cold.

I realized I didn’t bring enough flooring up and grabbed a whole box during a return trip back home. Good thing, it was a completely different floor - one of the boxes from an abandoned laundry room project. But I liked the color better. Ninety percent of the floor was installed in ten percent of the time it took to lay it down. I was tired and should have done my math to know I needed four boards plus two inches, but for some reason thought I needed two and a half, and spent the better part of the evening recutting planks to finish the job.  

Day three was spent cutting and nailing baseboards down. I solved the transition strip problem at the door by laying the baseboard flat and nailing it to the floor. I was surprised at how nice it looked. 

I finished by screwing small hooks into the chair rail the previous owners used to create a lip for the shelves. These are good for hanging little stuff like hats, swimsuits, drawstring backpacks, and dry bags. I also got a shade for the naked bulb.

I have since needed things from the closet just as an excuse to admire the makeover. Sure, it’s the work of an amateur; flat cuts instead of mitered edges (is that the right word?), I need to fill my nail holes, do paint touch-ups, and fix some of my mistakes, but it was a quick three-day labor project at the little house. 

December's Song: I Wanna Be Stevie Nicks

RIP Songbird

We are starting my new year's resolution a month early. The goal: write a song a month, with the resolve to not self-edit or worry if it’s crap. I feel like the melody has to be 90s indie rock, maybe a little Mazzy Star. Dedicated to Christine McVie. 

She’s a doe-eyed beauty with fairy hair

Kissing drummers on a dare, 

Making records about heartbreak

As if our lives were at stake.

Wrapped tightly in a shawl 

Keeping Tom close on call, 

Singing about life so free

All the girls wanted to be... Stevie. 

A gypsy life, a tambourine, 

A muse enthralled with witches.

Enveloped in lace and sadness,

A siren's song bewitchin'.

She started life as Stephanie

An angel from the desert came to be.

A new persona came one eve, 

And then she changed her name to... Stevie. 

But who is that in the back, 

Hair shining, a California sheen.

Singing tales of love, and fun, 

And everything...

Baby,

Put down your tambourine.

Place your heart upon the keyboard,

Because, oh maybe, instead, I want to be...

Christine. 

I’m Somebody!

I got a package in the mail from the State of Michigan yesterday. I had no idea what it could be, hoping it wasn’t a ticket.

Imagine my surprise to receive a certificate of congratulations for graduating from Grand Valley. 

I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever gotten something like this before. Nothing special outside of a small article in the paper when I graduated from Ferris. A handful of Best Advisor certificates from the Office of Student Life. I got certificates from the State Games of Michigan awarding me All-State honors in 2015 and then All-American in 2017.

Call it impostor’s syndrome, I thought something like this was a big deal when someone else got this; now that I have one, I’m almost embarrassed that tax dollars were spent. 

It’s nice that GVSU sent along my information and that I am formally celebrated as a graduate. I like having my 4.0 celebrated by someone other than me. I don’t know, I may put it in a certificate frame. It is a pleasant surprise. 

December Playlist: The New Year's Resolution setlist

First I skated to it, now I play it! 

So I've spent a year noodling around on my old acoustic from my grandma, brought the electric out of hiding, and discovered a junior guitar at a garage sale. I can make melodies work, and I found the Fender Learn to Play Guitar DVD stuck in a stack on the entertainment center. 

Time for alter ego Sister Gloria to make her set list! My new year's resolution is to be able to play a set as if I were at some coffee house making $20 in tips from the door. The only intended audience for this is me.

Songs come from my book of Beatles and favorite pop standards. I think 10 should do it. 

Ain’t No Sunshine, Bill Withers

Can’t Help Falling in Love, Elvis

Cielito Lindo, a Mexican mariachi standard 

Don’t Dream It’s Over, Crowded House

Greensleeves, English traditional

Here, There, and Everywhere, The Beatles

Have I Told You Lately, Van Morrison

I Can’t Make You Love Me, Bonnie Raitt

Just the Way You Are, Billy Joel

Morning Has Broken, Cat Stevens

Next challenge is chord progress, making my fat fingers work.