Lately I have...

-made a good number of salt scrubs and other kinds of unctions for Christmas presents; -made pumpkin creme brulee;

-decided Pinterest should have a point system, much like a credit card company, whereas the currency with Pinterest would be pinned projects you actually did, like make salt scrubs or pumpkin creme brulee, and you would earn points toward gift cards to Williams-Sonoma from whence you first got the pins in the first place;

- felt happy at work;

[showmyads]

- thought heavily upon moving to Australia;

- got my second Stitch Fix - this one was just as good as the first except most items were higher in pricepoint;

- asked Loverpants if we could take the kids on a staycation locally, hotel and cable TV and pool and all, fully expecting him to say no, not that he is a big naysayer but I didn't think he'd embrace the idea, but he was all about it!! So that's what we did on Turksgiving Eve. Awesome and cray. Cray Cray Awesome;

- helped a prospective student with her college essay, from reading and editing drafts to having a sitdown brainstorm sesh. I think that's what I want to be when I grow up. A college application essay coach;

- had a fun visit with my mum and her hub.

- been amazed by Little Man's colloquial and inventive vocabulary;

- missed my sister;

- contemplated another baby, which I do probably every other day, but only hypothetically, and only because I like to think about what we would name a Wee Lee 3.0;

- read the 1992 version of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace;

- obsessed about budgeting and debt-busting;

- sold some excess stuff;

- bought a lamp at Goodwill for $3 that is totally perfect for my purposes;

- gave up on telling God how I was going to be more devoted and just plain asked God how He wanted me to have a better relationship with Him and He said plainly that I should strive to always have my Bible with me. So that's what I'm gonna do;

- realized that I am entirely soft about winter cold and would not choose to endure another Northern winter full-on;

- festooned my home with Christmas, and for the first time ever, my kids legitimately helped and made it a pleasant experience. Gloria! In excelsis Deo!

This post was inspired by Chiara. What about you? If you write an inventory post, be sure to link up below in the comments, hey?

Vows not seen in the NYT

The only way to read the Sunday NYT is to dart right for the Sunday Styles section. Otherwise you are dead inside or you are illiterate, or possibly both. Maybe you take a quick scan of whether or not you know anyone in the "Vows" pages. (I never do.)(I was born in the Midwest.)(I think these parenthetical facts are related.) Maybe you snicker at the brazen journalist who capped off the profile on one couple-to-be-wed, "The groom's previous two marriages ended in divorce." What would the hashtag for that one be? #bestwishes #threesacharm These little profiles are always so unapologetically namedroppy and vomitus. Yet they are also a rare celebration of union, against the wails of the thousands who have lost loved ones in the Phillippines this week, against the din of celebrity break-ups of the hour.

But what if they told the real story, gave us the real scoop. Here's how ours would read:

Kendra Stanton, the daughter of a redheaded mother and a silver-haired father, was married on Sunday to John Lee, the son of Mija and Jae. None of the parents have amassed great fortunes due to their Ivy league educations, though if filing taxes on time made one a rock star, these people would be a bunch of Mick Jaggers. In fairness, Kendra's father is a lawyer but prefers to reference his glory days working the steampress at Schoolbells school uniform suppliers, when he was 18.

Ms. Stanton, 24, is a serial jobhopper who is not living up to her potential and is accruing credit card debt rapidly, probably because she keeps reinvesting her profits from her part-time retail job into her wardrobe since her full-time job working with at-risk youth is making her depressed about the state of humanity. It's better than eating her feelings, because, hello, wedding dress fitting in two days! She graduated magna cum laude from a small liberal arts college on a hill that is highly obscure. She no longer remembers her major. Her parents are no longer married. They have never taken her to Europe. She doesn't know it yet but she will not be taken off the waitlist at her top law school, so she won't go after all.

Mr. Lee, 26, is an anomaly: a male, Canadian-born Korean social worker who likes fashion, frisbee and football and loves Jesus. He might actually be the only one. Like, on earth. He earned his MSW from a college that happens to be all-women for undergraduate, which was not as much of a problem as one would imagine. In his own undergraduate years, he was not the most stunning student. He did swim all four years and has the wristwatch to prove it. His parents own a dental lab, which is a useful thing for a variety of reasons, particularly for making free mouthguards for future daughters-in-law who develop TMJ for unknown reasons.

World Series

Nine years ago this week, the Red Sox were about to play game 1 of the World Series. A man named Loverpants was sizzling frozen pierogies in his kitchen, wearing pajama pants.

Maybe he was all caught up in the Red Sox excitement.

Or maybe it was just too much to wait until a ring on order had arrived.

When a woman named Kendra entered the kitchen that Loverpants was renting, Loverpants turned abruptly to Kendra and just said some brief, heartfelt things that only history can recall, and punctuated those nice thoughts with, And I want to marry you.

Good thing since Kendra wanted to marry Loverpants.

So they agreed, with a string tied around a finger as the only outward symbol of this contractual agreement.

There was no well-choreographed surprise or sparkle of jewels like so many other autumnal proposals. Just an affirmation and one echoed.

***

I was thinking tonight what a lovely season fall is in which to get engaged or married. I think about our own engagement and how it truly was like a harvest of all the goodness we had planted and even the pain that we had plucked up until that time. Just as the World Series is a harvest season, reaping the rewards of long months of teambuilding and perfecting plays.

So much has passed between us, Mr. Loverpants and me: rings and money, secrets and trust, laughter and tears. I feel so immensely grateful for his love and the kindness of his soul.

And yet so little has changed. He still stands in his pajama pants and turns abruptly while sizzling something pulled from our freezer, telling me something--from the sublime to the ridiculous. We are still renting our kitchen. We are still affirming one another's hopes for the future.

Our Red Sox are back in the World Series.

The only things that have changed are the geography. And a couple of precious souls, pajama clad and yelling loudly over us.