A Beautiful Ugly

This evening as I sit here waiting - patiently (not!) - to back up my iTunes before shutting down my laptop, making certain to remove the battery and keeping the power cord before wrapping it up and sending it off to HP to be worked on - I have decided to blog.

I won't be blogging for at least 10 (ugly) days until my laptop finds its way back home. So I suppose this is the perfect time.

But what to blog about?

Today had clear blue skies (yes - blue). It's been windy the last few days and all the smog has blown out to sea. It was an unusually warm 86 degrees on this 11th day of January. Crazy...

This evening you can actually see small planets with your naked eye, along with brilliant stars. A rare thing in Mission Viejo. It has cooled down to a very comfortable 66 degrees. And tonight when the moon came up over the horizon it was a beautiful and breathtaking site.

It's quiet in the house. I can hear my laptop burning iTune songs to a DVD (the second DVD, actually so there must be an end in sight). I hear the refrigerator motor humming in the kitchen.

Bella is on the couch and Pru is sitting by the open door on a blanket on the floor. Which, by the way, has been traveling around the front room over the last few days. Yes - I said the blanket is traveling. I fold it up neatly and place it by the fireplace and then it ends up on the opposite side of the front room, unfolded with a dog lying on it. Go figure.

This weekend was a weekend of organizing (for both Jim and I). Jim preparing for tax time. And me tackling our bedroom. And can I tell you it is such a wonderful feeling to accomplish what a few days ago seemed like an unattainable goal.

I had a very ugly pile of items accumulating in the bedroom. We just don't have the space. That pile is almost completely gone (yay)! Just a little more organizing of the yarn I have. What a beautiful feeling.

We met with an electrician yesterday to get an estimate on some canned lighting we will have added to our front room. We will be meeting mid-week with a company to have them give us an estimate on a wall organizer for our master bedroom. I can't wait!!!

What else? I know -

I thought of this while taking the trash out this evening before heading off to dinner.

Jim goes to Utah each spring with his brother and dad. He likes to bring something back for me (which is very sweet) and last year he brought home a pair of slipper-like shoes. When he gave them to me I thought "Oh dear, I sure hope he doesn't want me to wear those ugly shoes." Yes - that's exactly what I thought.

Well, time went by and the slipper-like shoes sat in my closet. Jim told me that I could sell them on eBay if I wanted to and I said "Nah".

One day (not too long ago) I took the ugly shoes out of my closet and started to wear them. In the beginning I would wear them just downstairs when I took the dogs out to do their business. Then one day I found myself wearing these ugly shoes to the grocery store. And I thought, "I wonder what other's must think of my ugly shoes"?

Well the more I wore them they started to grow on me (not literally). But they are actually comfortable. And as I wore them, more and more, I thought - my husband picked these out just for me and I should be proud to wear these shoes.

Well, tonight I put them on again, this time to dinner at our favorite sushi restaurant. And as I looked down at my shoes, this time I thought "My shoes are a beautiful ugly". And I smiled.


Thanks husband for my shoes and for thinking of me and picking something out so special that I will never give up my beautiful ugly shoes. I love you!

And to those that read my blog; I'll be back when my laptop is back. Until then, keep on keepin' on.