A Day With a Klemm
Klemm. When I looked up the meaning of my married name, I found a definition somewhat like this one:
German: from Middle High German klem ‘narrow’, ‘tight’, ‘scarce’, hence a
nickname for a thin or inhibited person, or alternatively a topographic name for
someone living in a narrow, precipitous place, from the Middle High German noun
form klemme ‘constriction’.Read more on FamilyEducation: http://genealogy.familyeducation.com/surname-origin/klemm#ixzz26eR2FcGy
So it should come as no surprise that we have some very interesting daily habits that coincide with being a small, introverted, hobbit-like soul, that does not emerge from the house for days at a time. First of all, we eat like hobbits:
- Breakfast – 7am
- Second breakfast – 9 am
- Elevenses – 11 am
- Lunch – 1 pm
- Afternoon tea – 3pm
- Dinner – 6 pm
- Supper – 9 pm
In between all these meal times is a whole lot of coffee, a morning cleaning ritual, and lots of reading.
I get really into my books and the characters involved. And with that engagement comes an intense need to invite them in my home the same way I would a welcomed but unknown guest. I prepare coffee, make sure we have had our meals and have later meals prepared, clean the house (sweep, mop, vacuum, do the dishes and wipe down counters) and then I am ready to sit down with my future new friends – the lovely people portrayed in books.
So, I’m writing this blog post in between Elevenses and mopping the floor. My coffee is ready (more than ready, I’m on cup two – and my cups are overly large mugs that fit about half a French press in each serving) thinking about Louise de la Baume le Blanc de la Valliere and how we are going to enjoy some afternoon sandwiches together. That’s crazy book nerd talk for: I am going to be reading more of Karleen Koen’s Before Versailles while I munch on chicken salad sandwiches (I’m addicted to HEB’s Rotisserie Chicken Salad) and sip even more coffee.
I do the same thing before I write. Which is probably why I’ve been working on the same novel since I was 14 years old. Karleen said yesterday that it takes her a long time to complete a book, and all I could think was: Thank God, I am not alone, because I am taking forever. If my debut novel is half as good as hers (Through a Glass Darkly) I feel as though I will have accomplished something in life. I just want to finish it, get it in print, and have a completed work that someone – anyone – will remember.
I spend days on end reading and writing and eating with my daughter. It is only for events, planned activities for her benefit, and my random extreme extrovert days that get me out of the house. (One day, my daughter will probably tell you her mother was a bit wacky, as when I take personality tests I come out equally extroverted and introverted depending on the day. Some have misused the term bipolar on me, but I got that checked out and I’m not.) Yesterday I spent the whole day at Half Price Books running around and giving things away… today I will huddle up with Louise and Louis XIV and whoever my daughter interupts me with (LadyBug Girl a constant play friend in our house).
The Mother’s Day Post
Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world at various times in Spring to, obviously, honor one’s mother. In the United States, Anna Jarvis founded the day we know now that is celebrated on the second Sunday of May, in 1908. By 1914 it was made a National Holiday. By Jarvis’ death, she was renouncing her own holiday as having become too commercialized.
It is too commercialized. But, who wants to abolish a holiday that celebrates ones mom? No one. Its not like Valentines when you can commit to showing your partner you love them every day of the year. A lot of children (especially adults) don’t live anywhere near their mothers, and this is a good day to (of all days) let them know that you’re still thinking of them even from afar.
My proposal? Untraditional gifts. Token mother’s day gifts come in the form of Hallmark Cards and flowers. That’s all well and good, and if your mother loves those things, by all means, get them for her. But get her something more as well.
Always, I’m a fan of books, afterall I write a book blog. There’s always something special to be found at a bookstore. Whether its the latest and greatest of a beloved series, a funny gift book, a sappy gift book, a history book on a topic of interest that you both share, music, movies, or just a gift card so she can go have some time to herself and pick out something of her own choosing, there’s something for everyone at a bookstore.
For Dads helping small children, a newer (but not too new) overlooked title is Tomie DePaola’s My Mother Is So Smart. DePaola has been an award winning children’s author for years, but even I didn’t know this 2010 publication existed until I stumbled across in the library the other day. Its beautiful, as are all his books, and celebrates the love and awe he had for his mother as a child. Its sweet, and perfect for a young mother to read to her toddler… although I did notice how many things I’ve neglected to master as a mom, like the perfect cookie recipe, and the uncanny ability to always know why my child is crying.
Great Gift #2: I dream of having a cleaning service come through my house once a year. I keep a fairly clean house. I actually enjoy cleaning, when I find the time and energy to clean up blocks and toys that have been strewn everywhere for the 300th time that day. But the idea of having a cleaning crew come in every Spring and scrub my base boards, toilets, showers, and maybe also have my AC ducts cleaned out – that would be the BEST mother’s day gift EVER. (Aside from someone purchasing and installing all my hardwood floors over night without any assistance from me… that would be even better, but a little less practical as a mother’s day gift.) If this awesome treat proved unobtainable, I might settle for lawn fairies to come weed my gardens in the middle of the night.
Shop AKKlemm.scentsy.us
Great Gift #3: After books and a laziness enabler, I choose Scentsy products. I love candles and fabulous smells, but the wickless candle deal with mood lighting has proven to be the best choice when a toddler is running all over the place. When (I say when NOT if) your kid decides to lather themselves in hot candle wax and try to put every blessed thing you own under wax treatment, you want it to be low heat, no flame, I promise. My favorite spring scents available this year are Pixie and Cerise. The Just Breathe is also quite excellent and one of my year round favorites of all time. But you know your Mom and/or Wife, get what she likes.
Great Gift #4: Reloadable Starbucks gift cards. Who doesn’t practically live at Starbucks, or would if they could? Its become an American staple. Cliche, over-rated, over-priced, I agree, but hey, its pretty darn good coffee available on every street corner, I’ll take it. The reloadable gift cards are pretty sweet. Reload them a few times and you are an upgraded customer with free birthday drinks, free syrup add ons, free cups of coffee with your bean purchases, the list goes on. Buy the mother in your life a gift card and take the time to reload it for her a few times before the year is up and BAM! she is one happy caffeined lady.
Whatever you do, be sure to enjoy the day. Sundays should be lovely days anyway, but I hope one day Ayla will love to spend a lazy Sunday with me, reading, having coffee, or maybe picnicing in the sun if the weather is nice.
Book Love Art – Ophelia’s Quote Mugs
Previously featured as Book Love Art was the fabulous photography of Joel Robison. In that post I mentioned Ophelia’s Quote Mugs, and in this post I’d like to share with you Ophelia’s Literary line. From C.S Lewis to Ray Bradbury, Ophelia’s Quote Mugs combines beautiful art work, meaningful quotes, and the practicality of something in which to drink your coffee or tea. Priced roughly at $14, they are comparable in price to Starbucks merch, but offer so much more.
And an even cooler feature… the art doesn’t stop on the outside of the cup. Take a close look at the insides of these:
Buy one for your cozy reading time from Ophelia’s Gypsy Caravan on Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/OpheliasGypsyCaravan.
The Holiday Grind… and its aftermath
A Typical Holiday Clearance Sign
During the Holidays, I get overwhelmed. The decorations, the obligations, the cold… it just gets to me. But after its all said and done, when gift giving, chores, and the extreme traffic isn’t constantly flooding my daily routine, when its ripped away from me and I am denied it, I get a little bit nostalgic for what I previously despised.
Its perfect timing too, because everything is on sale. You go to your favorite bookstore, what do you find? All the holiday titles are on clearance. You check out any of your favorite retail items for winter, and it’s all so much more affordable than it was the previous months.
So, it’s the tail end of January and beginning of February that I find myself reading titles like Holiday Grind by Cleo Coyle, and stocking up on Scentsy fragrances like Honey Peared Cider, Comfort & Joy, and Pumpkin Roll before they are replaced by Spring and Summer appropriate smells.
Cleo Coyle’s Coffeehouse Mystery Series
Honey Peared Cider Scentsy Bar - only available thru Feb.
When reading these books, whether it’s a holiday edition or not, its always best to have some café-like scents warming in your burner – like Baked Apple Pie or Hazelnut Latte, typically available from Scentsy year round; or just your usual suspects for fall and winter – like Pumpkin Marshmallow, Central Park Pralines, or Cozy Fireside, scents often only offered during the Holidays.
Despite the disappointment I have that these latter fragrances won’t be available to me during the Spring and Summer months, there is one thing that consoles me: During the month of February, a good portion of them will be 10% off. Between a Scentsy sale and clearance holiday books, I’m quite certain that January and February are the best parts of Winter.
Purchase your Scentsy products today at AKKlemm.scentsy.us. There’s a party open.
Coffee Dating and Honey Shacks
The Coffee Date
Love Coffee by Ahmed Rabea
I’ve been watching a lot of comedians on Netflix lately, and inevitably each one will have a few minutes devoted to dogging the Coffee Date. Women will comically lament: Shouldn’t a man spend money on dinner? What’s with only shelling out a few bucks for coffee? Men talk about how it’s the worst idea ever because you’ll both have bad breath and diarrhea. And so on. I always laugh, because I see their point – kind of, and of course, they say it in a way that forces one to laugh – which is why they get paid to do what they do. But when all is said and done, I think: I love coffee dates. I loved them when I was dating, and I love them now that I’m married.
See, the coffee date is the perfect date. You just met someone; you don’t know them well enough to know whether you’d like to suffer through dinner. You can dodge out of a coffee date 10 minutes in, and its no big deal, you only met for coffee after all. Not so with a dinner date, where you have to at least wait for the bill to be dropped off, or you’d be considered an absolute jerk. Or, if things are going well, you can sit for hours and no one cares, you can have intimate conversations in typically comfy chairs in a very cozy environment. And with most coffee shops, if you get hungry while you’re there, its easy to order something to snack on for a bit without gorging yourself on food. It also offers the easiest chance to turn coffee into something more than coffee: We’ve enjoyed this coffee, let’s take a walk. After dinner walks tend to be a bit awkward and anticlimactic. You’ve already eaten too much, your outfit doesn’t fit the way it did when you got in, and you’re more likely to have to pee halfway through the walk, because you already sat through dinner and now you’re digesting.
I find coffee dates exceptionally more interesting and better for ‘dating’ than even the movie date. The movie date, to me, is the worst kind of date. This date is the date that says, ‘I don’t want to talk, I don’t want to know you, I just want to put in two hours of time so I don’t look like a slut when I make out with you.’ It says: I don’t put much time into thinking, and just want to sit with you in a dark room, where I can cop a feel. It says: my thoughts on dating haven’t progressed passed high school. Movie dates are for married people, who don’t need to talk, and just want to get out of the house for a change of pace, not for people just starting out.
But if you’re truly trying to get to know someone, which is what ‘dating’ is supposed to be, getting together for coffee is awesome. It’s possible that it’s just the book nerd in me, and we tend to be coffee/tea folk, but I just really feel like half ofAmericalooks for the wrong thing when they date. ‘How much money is he spending on me?’ is just not a suitable date night criteria.
Side Note for My Tea People
I was contemplating this blog rant on my way home from church today when I stopped at my local honey stand. As a huge coffee and tea drinker, I go through a lot of honey. What’s tea without honey? And in doing so, I’ve chosen to “support my local bees” as Bob’s sign proudly announces at the bee shack on Kuykendahl and Spring Cypress.
The bees are from A.C. Bees, here in Spring, and the stand is Bob’s Local Honey. The honey is the best you can buy, and when you bring his glass jars back, he’ll give you a $1/ jar cash or towards a purchase. My family goes through tons of this stuff, so I wanted to share. He’s there at the stand Tuesday through Sunday and his phone number is 713-628-4774, call if you have any questions.
Anakalian Whims 