Seven random bits on a Wednesday in February

1. There's a Eugene (Debs) Porter from Chicago's Revolution Brewery at my left hand, a Hershey's Chocolate with Almonds, King-Size, that I've been saving for weeks, at my right hand. This is how I'm closing out Wednesday. The Hershey's is nothing but a wrapper by now.

2. I've posted two "What made me smile today" posts on Facebook recently, thinking perhaps this could be a continuing series. But alas, the ironies and fantasies that made me smile today cannot shared on Facebook.

3. Knit these socks for three reasons:

1) to give to my son who likes hand knit socks; 2) to keep on using up yarn, so that soon I can buy more, and 3) to keep me awake while I read a long book: "Fatal Discord" about Erasmus and Luther and the Reformation. The socks are finished, the book is not. Having yarn and needles in hand made it a lot easier to get through the Peasants War, a part of Reformation history not taught in Lutheran grade schools (for good reason).

4. Erasmus seems to be coming out ahead in "Fatal Discord." Snippish, occasionally deceptive, even passive aggressive, but less exhausting than the constant churn of Martin Luther, his Anfechtung and his insistence that Christ came with a sword.

5. The sun was out today, thank the Lord. Snow and ice and frozen slush underfoot still impose on freedom to move about. But when I drove to work this morning, the front of the church building, its flat surface facing east, was coated with a thin glaze of ice, glinting in the morning sunshine. What ever does this mean?

6. Not much, I say. Because the best moments of the day were not about sun, ice, beautiful images, wool, or books. They were about people. (Too bad about not being able to share those smiles, she said quizzically.)

7.  I wore four hand-knit items today: a wool sweater, wool socks, wool scarf, and my Yak Hat, knit from gorgeously soft yak fiber. It took all of that to stay warm. Time to cast on for another project.

Saturday shopping

I spent a half hour in a thrift store this morning and another half hour in Home Goods this afternoon. In the morning I was spending time with my sister. Bought two books for less than $2. In the afternoon I was rewarding myself for the long walk through Super Target to do the grocery shopping.

You can look at a lot of consumer goods in a short period of time at Home Goods. And in a thrift store you see how all those glasses and bowls and sofas and end tables age. Big square oak end tables -- soooo 80's. Vintage dining room sets, on the other hand--kind of a bargain, if you're willing to reupholster the chair seats and have a big traditional dining room to put them in. Sets of matching glasses? They're down to two-of-a-kind at best at the thrift store. 

I go into Home Goods looking for something that will, and I say this seriously, change my life. Might just be the convenience of having another set of sheets. Might be a color upgrade: a new flowered pillow for the living room couch. Might be a good new pot at a good price. Or a large and friendly coffee mug to add to the morning rotation.

Note that "change my life" is not the same as "spark joy," but it is close. Good tools change my life -- that's why I have so many different kinds of knitting needles. My favorite non-book purchase of the past six months is a heavy sheet pan from Pampered Chef. Sturdy, practical Lutheran that I am, utility is a door to joy. 

The clearance shelf is a path to life-changing purchases. Luxuries are better when they're surprising and cheap. I found a bright blue wood snapshot frame there today. I will soon have a picture for me framed by me, rather than gifted to me. (I treasure the gifts but choosing is also to be treasured.)

Home Goods is aspirational--so much wall art with script-y slogans, so many make-a-statement decorator pieces, so many things to be looked at. I picked up a glass swan,  a graceful necking curving around a feathered bowl. It would have awed me as a six- or seven-year-old child, when swans in fairy tales were the epitome of beauty. The piece was $29.99, too expensive for small-time nostalgia. Also, it failed the "where will I put it" and "will it stack" text. (I am tempted to Google "stacking swans," just to see what's out there.)

So many things in stores are sold to hold other things we buy: fancy hangers, cloth bins, shelves of all shapes and materials, tables with drawers under them, organizers. It's crazy. 

I browse, sucked into thinking, at least for a while, that life can be changed with just a couple of good purchases.