Potential side effects of inhaling lazy

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 07 May 2013 14:12

“Do you smoke? ....No, but I sit.” —mt

 

As I clicked on my third movie of the weekend, I felt the twinge of guilt that comes at lazy times such as these. I convinced myself that days like this were actually designed for movies, blaming the cold drizzly weather, the quiet house all to myself.

But even so, a little whisper kept telling me to do, well, pretty much anything other than click “Play” (again). Wash something, fold, stack or wipe things. I beat my conscious and gave in to my lazy ways, but that doesn’t mean reality wouldn’t get back to me in a more roundabout way.

The third movie was “Love and Other Drugs.” It was set in the mid-nineties, which apparently was a prime time for drug reps to become rock...

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Settling in on Island of Misfit Toys

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 23 April 2013 12:42

“Quod minimum, minimum est, Sed in minimo fidelem esse, magnum est.” (What is a little thing is just a little thing. But to be faithful in a little thing is a great thing.) —St. Augustine, translation by Msgr. Charles Pope

 

Jeans either fit or they don’t. Like a lot of things. This was proven to me by a column I wrote awhile back that resulted in the most feedback I’ve received in eight years of columns.

It was about nothing more than the search to find a pair of jeans that fit. A little thing. Some­thing so basic(ally frustrating.) A simplified testimony to St. Augustine’s words. And to the apparent lack of one-size-fits-all jeans. And to the collective frustration. They’re not gloves, people.

The worst thing is...

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Yin and yang of cats and cleaning

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 09 April 2013 12:47

“Yikes! She’s a guy!” —Fly, from “A Bug’s Life”

 

quirrel!”

I am guessing that at least 90 percent of the general population imagines the same picture when seeing that word with an exclamation point. That picture would be Doug from the movie “Up.”

Now that spring is basically here, our similar phrase at home has been “fat robin.” Big-bellied birds are everywhere and it seems like anytime we are outside or driving, one of us is yelling, “fat robin.” My youngest daughter asked me if they were pregnant. I told her, sure, probably. I didn’t know actually, and after researching that, it appears I’m probably wrong.

But, no matter. As we, along with our very interested cat Casey, watched the birds from...

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Heroes don’t always wear capes

Written by Shelley Plett Friday, 29 March 2013 15:23

“We are all ordinary. We are all boring. We are all spectacular. We are all shy. We are all bold. We are all heroes. We are all helpless. It just depends on the day.” —Brad Meltzer, author

 

Heroes aren’t just for little boys with pillowcase capes tied around their shoulders. Even 40-somethings hold some to a higher standard and hope to “be like them” if we grow up.

And with the exceptions of Megamind and Metro Man, heroes aren’t born that way. Some of the most spectacular people I know are on the other side of a sucker punch, something unexpected or unplanned that landed them in a certain place through no choice of their own.

I don’t know all of them in the same way, but their stories share a sort of “Jane...

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Leave it to a dog to represent shibui

Written by Shelley Plett Tuesday, 12 March 2013 13:50

“Shibui is about balancing simplicity with complexity…being aware of subtle details. That way you don’t get tired of what you see…. The Japanese call it a beauty with inner implications. It’s not a show off kind of thing…. And here’s the most interesting thing: It relies on the ones looking…to make something for themselves out of what they see; in that way, it makes an artist out of the observer....” —Eliza­beth Berg, “Once Upon a Time, There Was You”

 

I have laid down a folded up sleeping bag on the living room floor for my dog. That’s something she really likes about me.

Right now, she’s across the room sleeping on it, which has become necessary on our hardwood floors in the last year or so. She is...

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