Word of the year

Interregnum.

Here we are, in that odd liminal week between Christmas 2022 and New Years 2023. Half of you are done and dusted. Boxes in the attic, every speck of glitter sent to the bottom of a vacuum bag. I don’t understand you. I may love you in lots of other ways, but there is a certain magic to bumping into that odd snowman deep in May. And not until the Epiphany or later do I even consider de-Christmas-ing.

BUT. The bigger question–Are we ACTUALLY that deep into the roaring 20’s (and WHY have they been so loud!!!)

Yegads. AGAIN? I have to find ANOTHER word??? But I don’t wanna!!! Read through these and choose one for yourself. I can HONESTLY say I have failed every single year.

Last year’s word, which has a link to all the previous words… 😉

OK. Fine. Be that way–here, my word of the year. Acceptance, alright?? “It is what it is, so it is.” It turns out I will NOT become
Queen or Supreme Leader or even an astronaut or a unicorn tamer when I grow up. Le sigh.

I like mint chocolate chip ice-cream too much and exercise too little to ever become Twiggy or Serena Williams.

I have to accept that although the CONCEPT of Kon Mari appeals to me, that I also LIKE ALL MY THINGS. They Do bring me JOY!!! I love the idea of a place for everything and everything in it’s place, but I ALSO want EVERYTHING right out where I can see it. (This explains both my obsession with containers and boxes and drawers and ALSO why so many of them are EMPTY at any given moment.)

And yet. Nope. That’s not the word! I was informed by my quiet subconscious as I was hand-binding a quilt…. That LAST step between a WIP (Work-In-Progress) and Done. The word is to be–

“FINISHED.”

So. You know all those UFO’s and Flimsy’s and IDEAS and boxes/bins of collected parts of this and that craft and quilt and and and?

The description on my Twitter profile reads “#BeginnerOfQuilts (as opposed to beginning quilter)”

Yep. Gonna have a FINISHED List for the end of next year for you!! Will I keep to it?

Have a GREAT 2023…Remember, it will either be a good time or a good story!

2022– Have at it.

Ok, maybe not THE most positive and uplifting way to welcome a new year, but we’ve been burned lately😬 We made it to the other end, once again! A December full of Christmas photos! I hope your holiday was fun, merry, joyful and safe! I wish for your 2022 to be fabulous! I hope all the things you want and all the things you wish for are within your grasp!

ABUNDANCE is my word of the year….and not in a “CASH MONEY” or some religious reward kind of way, which is what the majority of Googling the word came up with. The word appeared three days ago as I was vacuuming. It always just jumps into my consciousness. (And wont be budged or put aside for some bigger, better word, thank you very much).

As I sat with it, I think it is more an understanding and a peace with what IS. I have the ❤️love❤️ of my husband, the love of my children and granddaughter. I have health, I have a job. I have excess. There is a car to spare when one is in the shop. I have enough blankets to stay warm if the power goes out. I have plates and mugs and forks enough to avoid doing the dishes today if I choose (I don’t have and never have had a dishwasher–you can’t miss what never was) I do have a washer and dryer within steps of my bedroom, so I can do laundry at my convenience, not that of the laundromat. I have the warmth of two cats on my lap. I have the love and companionship of my friends and family.

I am not feeling this word as a call to minimalism, (see above desire to avoid dish washing) or to spend my year only shopping thrift stores, making do or doing without, although there is a certain quality of satisfaction with what IS in the word ABUNDANCE. (I will of COURSE want that new, GORGEOUS purple polka dot fabric for my stash!!)

https://morenotesfromtherefrigeratordoor.com/2020/12/31/december-31-2020-christmas-photo-a-day/
—some of my previous words of the year, collected in last year’s blog—

I wish for you good health in the coming year— get your jabs, believe in science, wash your hands, wear your mask, and BE KIND.

2000 and 2021
My nose is always in a book… (oh, the smell of a new book!!!)

Remember to follow me on Instagram, to visit rteest42.com and purchase some of my art! I love to take the time each December to Look With Eyes That See…. I hope my visions have entertained you!

(and yeah, I hit send too soon, an hour or so ago.)

December 31, 2020 Christmas Photo A Day!

2020 is on the way out. Wipe your slate smooth and clean. Be safe and healthy in 2021!

(To my email only subscribers, I hope you can see this video on your email…if not, do visit the website. It’s a cleansing breathe. AND, because why not, “I” can see the video playing perfectly well, if it doesn’t seem to be doing so … look to the right column on PC/laptop and view via Instagram, or find it on Instagram and follow me there..rteest42!

Word of the year….is ….(drumroll, please!)

The word, as usual , jumped out at me without my being conscious of choosing it.

(As is typical, I could not tell you what my word of the year was for this past year until I looked it up😋… hey, 2020 has been a LONG YEAR )

Past words:

2009-Deliberate

2010-Balance

2011-Weather

2012-Motion

2013-Choose

2014-Enough

2015-Connect

2016-Change

2017-Try

2018-Mindful

2019-Focus

2020–Clarity

After this last year of Covid, (and who knows how much longer before life returns to whatever “normal” means)…the word satisfied jumped in my head, then the lyrics to Hamilton—“you will never be satisfied” and there I am—-singing to myself…. and…

…so the word wants to be SATISFIED, and it will not be satisfied if supplanted with any other word. (Hey, I don’t make the rules.)

…but, wow! What a word!

That idea may need to be turned on it’s head, to make it so that really the idea is “TO BE SATISFIED” (with life as it IS). To be satisfied with what you have—(but not so much so that you accept things as they are, IF there is a desire and ability to change, it should not come off as a fatalistic acceptance and acquiesce, either). NB. I attempted to supplant it with Appreciate, but that was a non-starter.

…it should not be a settling for, but more an appreciation for what you have….being satisfied with life the way it is because this is what we have, and well there are a lot of things one can change in one’s life, but a pandemic is not one of those things.

I have been one of the lucky ones, whose life has been constrained but not ruined, damaged or changed in any but the most surface ways…. no travel, no hugging, no visiting family, but also no job loss, no sickness, no loss of loved ones.

I have worked the entire pandemic and instead of doing things after work with friends or family, I come home to my husband and cats.

And satisfied means not being envious of bigger houses, better yards…. but loving where and what I have….