Excitement!

I have been thinking about writing a manual for how to live a more boring life. I think I excel at being boring. I think that others may enjoy being boring as well. This may, in fact, be the gift that I can impart upon the world for the benefit of all humanity.

Some of my top recommendations for how to be boring would include:

• Play an extraordinary amount of Bejeweled Blitz, instead of getting off the couch and doing something more productive. Goodness! I love that game, though.
• Watch really bad TV. Not so-bad-it’s-good TV (like Housewives of Anywhere), but just really bad TV (like Modern Marvels—seriously? Who really cares how razors or toilets are made, except for my husband? How did this even become a show?)
• Listen to Katie Perry on the radio. Now, before I start getting emails from people who admonish me for hating on Katie, think about this: Teenage Dream? Really? Why do I listen to this? The teen years were boring, and usually we spent them praying for that stretch of time to be over so we could go to college or move out of our parent’s house and start our real lives!
• Washing dishes, by hand, for about an hour each night. That will suck the life out of you right there.
• Shopping online. Yeah, I said it! I love shopping online, and especially at this time of the year, when it is cold and rainy and twilight-cloudy. Guess what? Not much is going on when you are shopping online. You don’t even get the chance to share a ‘parking lot from hell’ story with your friends afterwards.

Or, perhaps, I could try to be less boring. Yeah, that actually might fit in better with my whole focus on personal growth, development, and change in outlook.

Today is going to be different! Exciting things are happening! The man is fixing the dishwasher today! Yippie! In fact, he is here, right now! As I type. I chose to write a blog post instead of interestedly looking over his shoulder and creeping him out.

Two weeks of reliving my childhood dishwashing experiences was enough for me, and I think it was more than enough to welcome the children into the wonderful world of washing dishes by hand. Let’s all celebrate the ingenious individual who thought up the mechanical dishwasher. Let’s all close our eyes and send out a quick thank you into the universe, in reverence, to that amazing person.

The verdict—somehow paper got into the dishwasher. What? Paper? This is what you get when you have boys, I swear; random things in weird places-- where no one but they could imagine putting them.

Maybe I won’t tell them that the dishwasher is fixed.

Another exciting thing—I am going to a party tonight. I am making myself go to a party tonight. A party where I don’t really know anyone. A party that J is being dragged to, since I need a small talk wingman.

I am stepping outside myself; pushing the limits of my self-defined comfort zone.

There is a new publishing company in town, a small, indie firm that has big aspirations. Their name: Holy Grail Publications. You’ve got to love anyone who—no matter how remotely-- channels Monty Python. Tonight they are showcasing local artists and talking about the official launch next week. I’ve been told that they have some interesting new ideas about using social networking for marketing unknown authors. This is something that has been of significant interest to me as of late, and I am going to make myself go.

I want to hear what others are doing, instead of just remaining in my head, thinking about what I would like to do, in that vague, far-off ‘someday’. I also want to support something happening locally. Perhaps I will meet new people. Perhaps I will even (gasp) network.

Another exciting thing on today’s list—going to the paper store! The paper store is one of my top five guilty pleasures. Many of you might find this to be boring as well, but the paper store is my zen. I need two more things to finish up the Christmas cards I’ve been making. Once I am done, I promise to share…but again, I am desperately trying to hold it all in until it’s actually an appropriate time for Christmas sharing!

In fact, this is part of a larger project I’ve been working on for a bit. My hope is to have a lot of cool things to show here to get you in the spirit of the season.

A jewelry giveaway?
A smattering of handmade holiday card ideas?
Really cool charities with which to impress your coworkers?
Something to do with picture frames and your children?
Maybe all of the above…