A new decade begins.
2020 is here.
Happy New Year.
Have you chosen a word for this year’s theme yet? Mine is gratitude.
This afternoon I drove home alone to Pittsburgh after a nice vacation in Ohio with my family. Two hundred miles can feel long and lonesome after all the activity with the family. If you’ve been following along you saw that the girls and I went to Laura and James and had a nice New Year’s Day celebration with the rest of the family.
On my way home I spoke with my dear friend J in Omaha. She told me about hostess gifts she passed out to her Fondue Party guests on New Year’s Eve. Here is what she gave them ( a semi-guest blog, J?)
Picture a quart Mason Jar (thanks John Landis Mason 1832-1902) wrapped with a fancy bow.
Inside J put a paper with instructions.
Starting January first. write good things down on little pieces of paper and put them into the jar. Could be a goal accomplished, something good, a happy moment, a thought. Then on Dec 31st, 2014, reread all the good things you wrote on all the little pieces of paper that you deposited throughout the year.
Right now this jar in my kitchen is filled with homemade Chex Mix (thanks Laura)
But starting when it’s empty, we’re going to fill it with good notes. Lots of them. Kind of like Three Daily Delights by my number one commenter this year, Stef.
Thanks for the good idea J. It’s a wonderful way to start a new year.
And a p.s. from J this morning A photo of her gratitude jars all lined up plus the original instructions from her niece.
The original instructions from J’s niece Jen
Postaday 2011 is coming to a rapid close. I accomplished a daily photograph post on my rutheh.com blog. It became part of my day. Everyday. And then I started the Keep or Pitch blog and was thinking how I would clean out my house of accumulation and clutter and inherited items. Grown up children moved out but left their “stuff” and I photographed and posted and wrote stories of possessions and it went pretty well everyday for a good while. Months even. Even got voted Freshly Pressed for the Ceramic Squirrel Family post. But when it came time to get serious and actually pitch a LOT of stuff, I stopped photographing it and feeling nostalgic and made donations big time, had a failed yard sale, and loaded up some heavy duty construction bags and dragged them to the curb. That task is not completed and the third floor beckons to me to get up there and PITCH.
Starting another blog to illustrate where this blog travels in the blogosphere is the plan.
I recreated a “cardboard me”, not because I want to look thinner but need to fit in the mail. Made color copies on card stock. The copies appear a little dull but then I was called two-dimensional! I am already in business size envelopes traveling to friends and bloggers who have agreed to “guest blog” and return photo(s) of my visit with them.
Many of you know Flat Stanley and have helped school students with their Social Studies projects. Now it is the Elementary Art Teacher’s project. And your creativity.
Right now I am thinking of one post a week. I will continue with my daily photography blog and then link to Cardboardmetravels.com as the photos and narratives are returned to me.
If you want a visit from Flat Ruthie/Cardboard Me, email your snail mail address to cardboard.me.travels@gmail.com. We’ll see where the blog travels, visit faraway friends, highlight fellow bloggers blogs and have fun. I’m already headed to Canada, Omaha, Croatia, Missouri and Arkansas.
The only thing I’m now worried about is that I’m going to be wearing the same outfit everyday for a year.
Oprah might be on every cover of her magazine but at least her hair and outfit are different!
