Hello.

 

Hi, I'm Annie.

Mother of 3,
spouse to G,
writer of things,
former batgirl,
sister,
daughter,
lucky friend,
and American
living in Australia.

Basic Joy = my attempt to document all of this life stuff, stubbornly looking for the joy in dailiness. 

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On my bookshelf
Annie's bookshelf:

Mama, Ph.D.: Women Write About Motherhood and Academic LifeMountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the WorldThe Sweetness at the Bottom of the PieThe Island: A NovelThe PassageSecret Spaces of Childhood

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Just a collection of images that bring out the happy & hygge in me. 

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Friday
Apr132007

Folding down corners

Every time I look through a magazine or catalog, I fold down the corner of the pages where I like things, sometimes even circling the item to remember later. Maybe everyone does this...do you? It's silly how happy it makes me to tag something that might-maybe-somehow-perhaps-someday be mine, to identify that *this* appeals to me, *that* doesn't.

(Memory: When I was around 10, my friend Shelly and I used to go through the JCPenney catalog and pick something on each page as ours. There were many close-call tiffs when we each wanted the same thing. For some reason it was Against The Rules to choose the same thing, as if there were just one available and as if we were going to get anything at all. My kids used to do that with movie characters. While watching the movie, M would say "I'm Cinderella" and then L would say "No! I'M Cinderella...I'm older and I have blond hair" and back and forth. They ignored my suggestion that they could actually both be Cinderella since they weren't actually going to morph into her so it didn't matter anyway. That "calling" thing is powerful )

Anyway. This week I'm sorting through everything (in anticipation of our move on May 31!) and tossing the ridiculously many outdated magazines I currently own. I can't resist sneaking peeks at the folded down pages, though, just to see what I thought was cool and wantable in 1998. (Yes, I moved these magazines TWICE. This is the insanity that is me.) Suffice it to say I won't be needing those pages anymore.

The folded corner habit did work out well for me, though. One year for Christmas, everything G got me was so spot on, so perfectly matched to my unspoken wishlist that I was stunned. How did you know? I asked. I'm sure you've guessed by now. He took my pile of catalogs/magazines, opened to the folded corners, and ordered. I know, I know...he's a keeper, isn't he?

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Reader Comments (4)

He is a keeper and I've always remembered that story as I not-so-subtley fold down corners and leave pages wide open, with big, black circles around what I want for the man in my house. Hasn't worked yet, but he does all right on his own.

04.13.2007 | Unregistered CommenterStie

Hi Annie
Thanks for the comment on my blog. I love the story. The day I read it my own kids were at the kitchen table pouring over the latest Oriental Trading Co. catalog we got in the mail, busily cutting out their favorite things. Folding the corners isn't enough now because they want multiple things on the same page! BTW, where are you moving?

04.14.2007 | Unregistered CommenterBridget

Oriental Trading company catalogs are good for a long afternoon! You'll have to start giving them their own color of highlighter or something :)

We're staying here, just moving less than a mile away out of our two-family condo to a single family.

04.20.2007 | Unregistered CommenterAnnie

that's pretty much the reason i started http://www.roomsomewhere.blogspot.com/" REL="nofollow">this blog. so i could go through all my magazines, scan in my dog-eared pages, and throw them all away!!
haha! it's so liberating. :)

04.21.2007 | Unregistered CommenterLeslie

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