Birds, Books, Favorite Things, Grief, Life, Pets, Photography, Soul Homework, Universe, What I Kept

what i kept – november 2023

Kari

these are the things i kept on my phone in the month of november.

click here to read previous posts.

school buses are orange, not yellow. am i wrong?
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look at how biscuits looks after buddy. by the way, buddy is fine now. this was a few weeks ago.
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when I began in the fall of 2020, i started taking notes with my soul homework. i decided somewhere along the way that i wanted to write the highlights of the notes somewhere for the girls when they’re older.

i got two nice notebooks on clearance at target a few years ago and have been writing them down in there ever since. this month, i finished the first volume.

i follow a couple of fantastic music blogs. steve wrote about tom waits’ version of downtown train, and in the comments, another music blogger i follow, my genxerlife, mentioned everything but the girl’s version. definitely check out both of their blogs.

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this is the episode of the brady bunch

i just found this video from a few weeks after mike’s accident. it was a silly moment he captured, but it reminded us how we found joy during one of the most difficult times of this year.

we are far more resilient than we give ourselves credit for. 🖤

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@mrzimmerne

“There Was a Time” Elaine Hagenberg//NMEA 2023 All-State Chorus…Embassy Suites in Lincoln, NE. When you just so happen to be in the right place at the right time. Happy to catch up with some friends, and then take in the beautiful sounds by some of the performers. This is one of the things I do miss about working with older students, but I have the opportunity to surround myself with the beautiful sounds every now and then. I hope you do the same. #teachersoftiktok #elementarymusic #musicteacher #elementaryteacher #choirteacher #therewasatime #elainehagenberg #nmea #allstatechoir2023 #allstatechoir #allstatechorus #nebraska #lincoln #embassysuites #choralmusic #choir #choirsoftiktok #acapella

♬ original sound – Connor

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63 thoughts on “what i kept – november 2023”

  4. I think you may be wrong about schoolbusses. I’ve always thought they were yellow. You might like this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_bus_yellow#External_links

    I love Terry Tempest Williams. I might need to go back and re-read that book of hers.

    I love (again) your social media t-shirt. I have not closed my FB/Instagram accounts, but I took the apps off my phone and went a good two weeks without checking in on them. Didn’t miss them one bit. Did a quick check after that to check notifications. Didn’t want to stay. One night last week I did a 30-minute or so scrolling session, and I felt kinda icky afterward. I think it was mostly for the same reason I can’t tolerate broadcast TV: All the ads. All the stuff I don’t care about seeing. Not FOMO or meanness or envy of anyone’s seemingly perfect life. I just can’t tolerate the noise of capitalism any more. I think I also felt like: Where did that half-hour go? No one was posting anything meaningful. Or, they were posting about things so meaningful that a social media post almost seems offensive–because what do such posts actually do? What are they for, really? I don’t really know, but I know I’m breaking up with that kind of social media. It’s gonna be kinda like a good high school post-breakup, where we’ll still run into each other in the hall sometimes and smile and nod, but whatever we once had is gone and that’s OK.

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I like how there are so many different opinions on school bus colors.

      Her writing is incredible! I can’t believe I’m only now learning about her. Because of this book, I’ve added several of her other books to my TBR list.

      When I found out you had broken your arm, I went to message you on Instagram, but I couldn’t find your account, so I figured you were on break. I’m trying to lose myself in books rather than in social media. For some reason, I feel like I can do that more in the winter.

      Liked by 1 person

  5. Kari, it’s always fun to see what you kept during the month, and I enjoyed your dog videos. You collect so many wonderful quotes that make me feel inspired and uplifted.

    Liked by 1 person

  6. I’m so obsessed with that cake photo that I can barely concentrate on anything else! Okay I will go back right now so my comment isn’t just Homer Simpson drooling caaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkkke.

    The birds – both photo and the page about them singing the dawn – lovely!

    There, I forgot about the cake for a moment.

    Oh, and the selfie! I love it of course BUT I do like social media to some extent so I’m not going to fuck it. I mean, I say fuck twitter, (wait, it’s x now) but I love IG and FB! I just like peeking at people’s lives.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. It’s from our neighborhood grocery store! It costs $1.99 per slice and is decadent. If you were to pay me a visit, I would serve you this.

      Birds are always a distraction from cake. 

      I wish I liked Facebook, but I’m glad you do. I left it, which means there will be more for you to enjoy.😘💕❤️

      Like

  8. We’ve always called school buses yellow but I think the argument could be made for either one since it is more an orange/yellow blend.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. School buses always look yellow to me, but colors are on a spectrum. I don’t know if that’s a cake or a brownie, but now I’m hungry. Your childhood pictures are always a pleasure to see. Do you always recognize the clothes? It’s rare for me to not remember something I’m wearing in pictures. Which leads me to adorning my body with something beautiful . . . I’ve been feeling the need to get rid of a bunch of clothes that I still wear, but that don’t spark joy for me. I currently have 4 pair of jeans, but I only like 2 of them. Why keep wearing stuff I don’t like? (This has been on my mind a LOT, after cleaning out all my mom’s closets)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, colors on a spectrum!
      That is a cake from a local grocery store. I got it for my parents the day after my mom fell. It’s decadent, but it’s only $1.99 a slice! We’ve loved it since Anna was a baby.
      I sometimes remember outfits. That one I don’t remember, but that picture was taken on a random day. I’ve been purging our home, but clothes aren’t on my list…yet. You bring up a great point about why we wear things we don’t like. It’s like saving the fine china for special occasions. Every day is an occasion. I’m sure you’re aware of this as you go through your mom’s belongings. 😘

      Like

  10. Your monthly collections are so wonderful, filled with so much beauty and meaningful pieces from life. Thank you very much for the shout out on my blog on “Downtown Train.”

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Kari, I LOVE that first photograph of the sunlight coming through the window. GORGEOUS!

    My school buses were yellow.

    Those rainbow beams and disco ball orbs are just the coolest!

    Love that photo of you! Looks like an LP next to you on the floor?!

    Reminds me of the last line in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy says, “Look no further than your backyard. There’s no place like home”!

    LOL at your shirt! And so true!

    Thanks for sharing what you kept from November, my friend. GREAT keeps!

    And have a superb week!

    X

    P.S. Love Everything But the Girl! I have one of their CD’S

    Liked by 1 person

    1. ME TOO. I removed window treatments from our windows years ago, and it was the best thing I ever did.

      I’m curious if bus color varies by region. I think the buses I rode as a child were yellow, but I could be wrong. Mike looked it up on google and discovered that buses are yellow/orange. So we’re both right!

      Yes! When I was growing up, my parents were always playing music, so I’m sure someone was looking through the albums before the picture was taken.

      It’s an excellent shirt. 🤣

      I love Everything But The Girl! Another thing we have in common, my friend. Have a wonderful week! 😘💕❤️

      Like

  17. I did a spit take at the prompt to celebrate resilience by remembering a challenge you overcame 6 months ago…. Yes let’s celebrate “things overcome resilience” but…. an alternative suggestion for celebrating *resilience* might be writing about a challenge you have *not* overcome that you continue to face every day. Possibly with no hope of overcoming it. The journal prompt is for one type of resilience but I think resilience in the face of the immovable is a different flavor. I’m a lil surprised the author didn’t make space for that.

    Love the thoughts presented in the passage about compassion being something you consciously choose every day.

    Maybe that’s where I’m going with my thoughts on resilience? So many things are not under our control. But we have our resilience, our compassion. We can use that even though it may effect no change to the challenge/problem/situation… it might change something about your experience of it.

    Your journal entry about what you keep telling yourself hit hard. Awww Kari. Take a deep breath in and sigh out that mind garbage. Let it go. Now hug Biscuits and Buddy and look into their wise eyes and know that you are perfect. You are enough. Biscuits and Buddy tell no lies.

    I am so grateful you are here sharing these cool thoughts. ❤️

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Oh, I love that take. Yes, Maddie, let’s talk about this more thoroughly. I haven’t been my “normal” self lately. I’m taking 50 mg less of my antidepressant and switching to a different one per my migraine doctor’s recommendation. All good changes, and I have wiggle room to move back up, but this week I am walking a tightrope of emotions, and I feel like I have to be a nicer person. That if I am not the kind of person my family has come to know, I will not be loved. That angry, emotional me isn’t worth loving.

      I am extremely grateful for you. Thank you for seeing me.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Just want to chime in here with a reminder, Kari: You’ve had a lot lately. A lot. Anger (and other emotions) mean you are human, I think. You love your kids no matter how they are feeling. No matter how they are acting. Because they are human, and that’s just part of the deal when you love humans. Others love you the same way. (It’s so easy for me to know this when I’m thinking about others, and not so much myself. It helps when someone reminds me, and I hope this helps you.)

        Liked by 2 people

      2. This is something I already know in my heart and mind, but it’s nice to hear it from someone else. I’d like to feel some of the things I’ve been medicating for the last three years. I feel like I’ve numbed a lot of stuff, and it’s starting to rise to the surface. I feel like I’m navigating the wreckage of three years of emotional baggage.

        Liked by 2 people

      3. Isn’t it just so shitty that if you want to feel all the good stuff you also have to feel all the bad stuff, too? And good god but the last three years have been a lot. I think our country (don’t want to speak for others) was so traumatized by ALL of 2020 that we’ve all been acting very British and have just been cracking on with things, rather than really processing what’s happened (and is still happening). (Yeah, I’ve been watching The Crown and the Great British Baking Show. Does it show?) Throw in some personal stuff on top of the wider-world stuff, and…ooof. Sending you so much love and empathy, Kari. I’ve been in that Target parking lot.

        Liked by 1 person

      4. YESSSS to alllll of this.

        Sending you so much love and empathy back. I’ll think of you every time I’m in a parking lot crying.

        I swear I don’t cry only in parking lots. I cry in plenty of other places as well. 🤣

        Liked by 1 person

      5. Angry emotional you is totally worth loving!

        Sometimes I wanna punch whoever decided girls had to be perfect and and kind and endless sources of sympathy… 100% of the time… or else they’re unlovable. I know you’re not saying that but your worry reminds me of that standard. I hear similar worries from friends sometimes. (And as I type this I’m wondering what dysfunctional standard was taught to guys… like maybe they always have to have the solution? Or? Nobody gets out of childhood unscarred)

        I don’t know anything about antidepressants but I imagine changing them is a major shock to the system. Sometimes our bodies are running the show & we can’t power thru & be our old selves.

        Like a diabetic with dangerously low blood sugar. No one would hate a type 1 diabetic for being cranky or curt when their sugar is bottoming! You pray & get the apple juice! And hug them when they are better! And maybe you feel your own emotions over the situation… but you do not stop loving them!

        Please give yourself grace. You (and your family) are allowed to be angry, sad, frustrated, silly (remember your cool post on silly?), happy, kind, overwhelmed, impatient, patient… everything! You are still loveable & loved with those feelings – even the ones we were told to suppress our whole lives.

        Yah going through what you’re going through – trying to find a path with no map – that’s resilience. ❤️

        Liked by 3 people

      6. Oh, Maddie, WHY DON’T RITA AND YOU LIVE CLOSER TO MEEEE?

        Yesterday, I was crying in a Target parking lot, thinking about how 50 milligrams less of anything is a lot. And, given everything that has been going on in our lives, the timing of this change was probably not well thought out. You’re right, it was a shock to my system, specifically my nervous system.

        YES TO ALL OF THIS. When I first started taking antidepressants and started feeling better, I told myself that I wished I had started taking them when I was a teenager. How I would need them if I had high blood pressure. Why don’t we think in this way about mental health?

        Thank you for saying all of this. Just reading this makes me feel better. I am grateful for you. 😘

        Liked by 1 person

  18. Ahh, the Little Prince and his vicious circle! As for the school bus, this kind of blows my mind, but you’re right: that is clearly orange and NOT yellow. I should know, as orange is my favorite color.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. So much good stuff in this post Kari (as ever), but the winner for me is the Resilience prompt – an excellent one for reminding ourselves of what we have achieved when we aren’t feeling at our best. Thank you :)

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Just stopped in here again. These posts contain so much, it’s a little overwhelming (in a good way, if you know what I mean), and properly reading the book pages you shared is wonderful.

    There’s so much good in the world, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on in these turbulent times. Thanks for being here, friend. 🙏 (Love the “fuck social media” t-shirt, by the way.)

    Liked by 1 person

  21. Biscuit’s impresonation of Cindy Brady is spot on. LOL! Thanks for the giggles, my reslient friend.
    I love that you are writing Mommy Magic for your girls; that is so very special.
    That photo of you from your childhood is EVERYTHING. XO

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Going through this post with all the pretty photos of your home, and your precious pups, your beautiful plants, stacks of books and quotes…all made me smile because it is all so “you”.

    Do tell: what is that delicious looking chocolate cake?!

    I hope we can get together again before Christmas!

    xoxo

    Liked by 1 person

    1. This makes me so happy! I’m glad it feels like me. ❤️

      That cake is made by Jewel! It is usually in slices by the register. My former-mother-in-law brought me a slice after I gave birth to Anna, and it was the best thing I’d ever eaten. I still get it when I have a special lunch! I’ll get some for you the next time you come over!

      Let’s definitely make plans to get together! I’d love to see you before Christmas!

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I don’t shop at Jewel so yes, I’d love to save this special dessert to have with you! :-)

        OK, let’s talk (over text, lol) this coming week about getting together again. xoxo

        Liked by 1 person

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