Everyday Life for Four Seasons

I talked with my older sister Jennifer yesterday and as a result of our conversation, I tried something new today. Jennifer is a wonderful and very energetic person. In some ways, she is spontaneous and loosey-goosey, but in other ways, she is very structured and highly organized, in an almost rigid sort of way (yes, Jennifer, it's true). Jennifer has always organized her daughter's clothing into pre-defined outfits. At the beginning of every season, she picks out the outfits, hangs them on hangers, and when her daughter gets dressed, she just pulls out a hanger and the whole outfit is on there. The outfits never change. All season, the same shirt goes with the same pair of pants. I have spent some time in the past making fun of Jennifer for this rigid system. "What happens when you have a shirt that looks great with two different pairs of pants? Can't you mix and match?" "No!" "What happens when the pants get dirty in the middle of the day?" "She would have to change her entire outfit."


Fast forward to yesterday, and I finally decided to listen as she described her "system." And something about it made sense. It might be that Jennifer has a quality about her that makes me want to say, "me too! me too!" Heck, I do everything she tells me to, including marrying the man she picked out for me.

Today I pulled out all of 'A's clothes and matched and rematched until I came up with the perfect combination of outfits. How liberating it felt! Now I don't have to worry about digging for clothes that look good together, or negotiating with her after she has already dressed herself in an outfit that doesn't match. As Jennifer puts it, "Do you really want to end up with a whiny child who gets stressed out over what to wear as she gets older? There are so many other important things to stress about."

I have to wait until Jeff gets home and puts up a lower closet rod so I can hang everything on hangers. Until then, I put everything in big Ziploc bags. I love this system!


On a separate note, I have been sick for over a month now. I have a cold and it's traveled from my sinuses to my ears and now it's reaching my lungs. I've been laying low, just resting for a few weeks, napping when I can, but it just won't go away. On the bright side, all of my focus on myself, my health and my family has had some tangible benefit for me. My blood pressure has dropped significantly in the past 6 weeks. For most of my life, it hovered around 90/50. Two years ago, it went up to 120/80, which is normal for most people but high for me. It stayed up there until I made the few recent changes. Now it's back down to a normal level. I feel good. I can tell my heart feels good too.

BTW, regarding the squash cookie recipe below, Jennifer says that if I have to describe a cookie as, "not bad," it must be disgusting. They're not gross, but they definitely aren't the best in the world. They're not bad. They taste healthy.