The Art of Lingering

 

Good morning friends!

Just thought I'd post a good, old fashioned blog post today (thanks Danielle for the reminder of old school blogging), filled with my comings and goings and unexciting plans for the day.  

Currently I'm sipping on my 2nd cup of coffee, while writing this post. I spent the early morning hours catching up on other blogs and eating breakfast - toast with peanut butter - getting dressed, printing out some documents for my son, talking with David before he left for work, packing up a lunch for him, ordering a few new shirts online (thanks Jennifer, for the tips!) and planning out my chores for the day.

I'm having a cleaning day today, with several things on the list. First I'll tackle the typical things inside, such as bathrooms and floors. But the big project for the day is the back porch. It needs to be swept, wiped down and just some overall TLC, which it hasn't had in a while.

I was talking to a friend yesterday about the reality of enjoying outdoor spaces. It's nothing like you see on tv, magazines or social media. At least in our area, there are several things that have to be done before you can enjoy an outdoor space, such as wiping all the dust and pollen off furniture before sitting. Then there are the bugs, even in a screened-in porch. Spider webs pop up over night and I don't share spaces with spiders, so these must be completely destroyed before I can sit and enjoy the porch. The wind blows here quite often, so there is always a layer of dust everywhere, that needs to be wiped down regularly. Point being...sitting and relaxing takes work! 😅

So that's on the agenda today. 

I was also discussing (same friend) the idea of lingering. I love having a few days during the week where I can linger and not feel rushed. There is always a sense of urgency that everything needs doing. 

To linger means to sit a little longer on the (cleaned) porch. It might mean reading a few extra blogs in the morning, rather than rushing off to start the day. Lingering also looks like taking time to sit and enjoy lunch, rather than hurrying through it, to get to the afternoon tasks. Lingering in the yard, enjoying the outdoors, tending to the flowers, playing with the dog, or just taking a walk at a slow pace. I'm not great at lingering. I always feel like I need to be doing something.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm in the season for lingering yet. Is that a thing? Not feeling guilty or like something has to be done every time you sit down? It's something I'm going to practice a few times a week and see if I can successfully linger without guilt.

Today I will have leftovers for lunch - shredded chicken I made yesterday in the crock pot, over rice and beans. I'm trying to cook in batches these days and eat on things for several days in a row. It just makes cooking easier and the food stretches farther. I do still get a craving for Schlotsky's now and then, but I've found a way to stretch take-out into two days, as well. I can buy a sandwich and salad and eat half of both and save the other half for the next day. It's just a nice treat when you've exhausted all the homemade ideas. 

Creatively, I've been working on a new planner and a new journal. I recently purged a bunch of old journals and notebooks and cleaned out some supplies I had been holding onto for no reason. I bought myself a proper journal. For years I have used composition notebooks and covered them with scrapbook paper and thoroughly enjoyed being creative with my journals. But recently I had a change in what I wanted, and all of a sudden I wanted a proper journal that didn't look homemade. I've also pared down all my writing into this one journal, rather than have multiple notebooks going, for various topics. It all sounds very frivolous, doesn't it? I think I'm just in a simplifying stage right now. 

And one more topic for today...Television. We just finished the season of American Idol and I have to say, if you are a music fan, this is a season worth finding and watching. So many amazing singers and this year, there were so many believers who boldly shared their faith through music and testimonies and I loved watching this air on regular tv! I won't give away any spoilers, but it's well worth finding and watching for yourself.

And, now I've lingered here at the computer, my coffee is just about finished and it's time to start the rest of the day.

I hope you've lingered a bit this morning too (or whenever you read this) and have had time to sit guilt-free. 

I'm not only on board for old-school blogging, but on board for slowing down and lingering a bit more.

I'll be practicing this more and more. Let me know if you linger this week and how. 

Take care and...

Until next time...

Blessings!