When it’s 5:30 p.m. on the evening before Thanksgiving and you haven’t even been to the grocery store yet, don’t get on Twitter…and tell a reporter “sure, c’mon over and try to capture Thanksgiving disaster at my house” in an hour and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved ones. My life is full with so many wonderful things, and the amazing people I’ve met through this blog are among those I count on this day.

Thanks to American Express for sponsoring my writing today about small businesses.  American Express is presenting Small Business Saturday, a way to honor the local merchants who are the backbone of the economy, this Saturday, November 27.  They’re offering statement credits to people who shop at small businesses, advertising for small-business owners, and donations to Girls Inc. for “Likes” of the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook.  Join the celebration by clicking the “Like” button and then visiting the Facebook page to learn more about the program and read the terms and conditions that apply.

You taking advantage of the days off after Thanksgiving to get some holiday shopping in?  I most certainly am.  Not one to take advantage of the 3a.m. sales, I will be visiting some of my favorite stores this weekend.

One of my favorites is Fibre Space in Old Town Alexandria, VA.  It goes along with my newest addiction–knitting.  I learned about Fibre Space from the fantastic site Try Handmade.  The yarns this place has??  Amazing.  Seriously, I spend hours there petting the yarn frequently (it’s a problem I know, but I don’t want help).

The other thing I love about the store is that all of the people who work there are not only knowledgeable, but also really nice.  I’ve asked what have felt like the dumbest questions and they not only take time to teach but offer to have me come sit and knit to practice.

Plus the other cool thing?  Danielle, the owner, is all about social media and has been working to have a real online presence as well as fostering a mutual support system with the other small businesses in Old Town.  You can always pop into the store or the website and find out what else is going on in town.

The store offers great sales, classes, get-togethers and even movie nights.  I was there on a recent Thursday night and they were having to bring out more chairs for all of the people who were pouring in to socialize and knit.

I am being compensated for this post–yes, but this is a store I truly love.  And I MUCH prefer to support my local small businesses whenever I can.

Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

…And tell me what you’re planning to shop for.

I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity , as do I.

Decided to scroll through my blog reader before hitting the hay last night.  Stumbled upon this post from the lovely Magpie Girl.  She likes to make lists of *8Things.

When do I feel powerful?

I think I’m a pretty powerful person.  When I read the post title I was sure I’d have nothing to learn from the list.

Ummmm…

Thinking I might only be a bitch have a powerful personality.

I mulled over Rachelle’s list for a while.  I thought about when I feel powerful.  I stared a little more and decided it was time to lay down.

Once in the horizontal position settled in under my comfy, soft blanket, I took up the list again.

When do I feel powerful?

Next thing I knew it was morning.

Clearly it was easier to fall asleep than determine my power positions.  Seriously?!  I’ve always been the “stand-on-your-own-two feet-girls-can-do-anything-boys-can-do-I’m-fine” kinda girl.

So here I am determined to come up with 8 ways in which I feel powerful.  Dammit!

Here’s what my list would have been twenty years ago.

1. With a microphone in my hand.

2. Smashing a tennis ball.

3.  Driving a stick shift.

4.  Wearing my cowboy boots.

5. Navigating train schedules in Europe.

6. Sitting on the top of the cigarette machine surveying the crowd at my favorite college haunt.

7. Hailing a cab in any city.

8. Kissing

Today I feel powerful when:

(cue montage of Amie sitting at her desk contemplating her life for an hour)

1. Giving birth.  Nothing more powerful than creating a life using nothing but your own body.

2. Beautiful blooms and tasty vegetables appear in my yard. (see a pattern here?)

(cue next montage of Amie cracking open a diet coke, getting a snack and thinking some more)

3. Wearing my cowboy boots–oh and they do rock.

4. Finishing a workout (why don’t I do this more often?)

5. Introducing myself to someone new.  Shaking hands using good eye contact.

(another musical interlude:  Amie sits with chin propped on left hand staring into space)

6. Explaining the infield fly rule.

7.  Creating something out of parts (knitting a blanket, baking a delicious pie).

8.  Kissing (I’m a very good kisser).

What makes you feel powerful?  If you write about it on your blog, let me know, let Rachelle know, or leave a comment below.

The target of my current obsession?

CRAFT BLOGS! (seriously this link will blow your mind–unless you’re not at all tempted by office supplies or crafts and then it’ll probably bore you to death and I should probably send you here instead.  And if that doesn’t make you laugh, well then you clearly have no sense of humor.)

I want to be mad for Modge Podge.

Color creeps into my cranium.

I yearn to wrangle yarn.

Pretty paper pleads to perform in my hands.

And yet?

I have not the original idea to make a dent in my stash.  I’m so in awe of these incredible crafters, and imitation seems less a form of flattery and more well…like stalking.  Hope they don’t mind.

I appreciate anyone who is here taking time out of their day to see what has dribbled from my brain.  I appreciate it even more after listening to a story on NPR yesterday about Digital Overload.

According to the story, we are taking in three times the information our grandparents were when they were my age in the 60’s.

That’s a lot of information and really, how much of it is necessary?  Ironically, the more information we take in, the more difficult it is for us to filter out the irrelevant drivel.

I hit a wall with TV a few years back–probably around the time I had kids–where I just couldn’t sit down for long periods of time surfing channels they way I could in my teens and 20’s.  And I was a champion channel surfer!  Maybe it was all the time these little people demanded.  Maybe it was the advent of the web and the surfing I could do there.  Whatever it was, I became more selective in what I watched.  I couldn’t tolerate the sitcoms that all of the sudden seemed inane.  I COULD NOT tolerate the “reality” TV shows that gave fame to people who did nothing to deserve my attention except to act like assholes in front of the nation.  (I know. I know.  Everyone loves Dancing with the Stars and the Real Housewives.  Trust me it stinks to have no way to take part in a conversation when it turns to these.)

Was my brain doing me a favor?  Was it crying enough?

As time went on, my free time became focused on the internet where I noticed the cycle repeating itself.  First, the stupid chain emails made my eyeballs itch.  Then the social media “experts” that we all had to read because they were so brilliant?  I stopped noticing anything new.  The viral videos that spread like wildfire?  Those are minutes (only a few at a time I realize) that I will never get back.

I hunger for substance.  I hunger for connection.  I hunger for community.  I have gotten that at times online, but I wonder if all the noise isn’t a bit too much to make it worthwhile.

What will happen to us if we subsist on nothing but the sugary carbs that parts of the Internet and social media worlds have become?

Has this happened to you?  What have you done to combat your own digital overload?

I have had nothing and so much to say over the past month.  The ideas come as I’m falling asleep.  The post titles are brilliant–and gone when I wake up in the morning.

There’s been travel.  There’s been death.  There’s been family fun and obligations.

I realized I’m holding my breath today waiting for a particular shoe to drop.  It could be I’m waiting for nothing.  I didn’t even know I was anticipating something.  I said my fear out loud to a few people.  Doesn’t it flit away once you utter it out loud?  No?  Well crap.

The coming start of school and change of season has me wanting to rid my life of clutter–to make room for more thoughts, more creativity.  Okay, just a clean house for more than five minutes.

It’s hard to be in touch with your creativity and motherhood and your professional career and a ridiculous sense of snark.  I make comments about things I’m very serious about and then immediately harsh on myself for the “deep” thoughts I just had.

But today–today I wrote.   It might not mean anything, but I got the words out there.

I present to you my dad’s most recent letter to the editors of the New York Times.

Dear Sir:

I have been reading the NY Times since age 16 (1952) and since Mr. Obama has been president have felt a sense of disquiet in your often negative response in reporting things he does, and decisions he makes–negative responses you seem to make without compelling or even convincing reasons. I note two editorials in today’s paper, the first on the Home Page under News Analysis by Peter Baker, the second as the lead Editorial, and both convey moderately flip judgements about Mr. Obama and his efforts to address; (1) the catastrophic Gulf oil spill; (2) our country’s compelling need for an long term plan for change from an energy dependence on fossil fuels.

This negativity (which has appeared over the last year and a half in other “news” or editorials) is consistent enough to imply it may spring from two major factors. First, you generally support the conservative stance that whatever President Obama proposes or does must be met with stiff resistance–i.e., unadmitted but clearly manifest racism; second, you are making many of your major judgements about matters that concern the President with the gay abandon of a non-combatant.

Finally, before you write again in judgement of Mr. Obama, I would suggest you re-review years 2000-2008, which you seem to have too easily forgotten, and imagine if you will how Mr Cheney would have handled the Gulf Oil spill when he was in charge of our country…..

Signed,

my dad

PS–Haliburton anyone?

Mom where are all the cardinal birds?

You mean the red birds?

Yeah, the ones with the sharp heads.

And as if the mere suggestion was all it took, I’ve seen three of them in my yard today for the first time this year.

What do you do after school when the mercury rises like it’s August and not June?

Wish I was doing that too.  How about you??

Just when I thought I wouldn’t survive another gray sky, a series of gorgeous spring days have settled in on my little corner of the world.

I sat outside soaking up the sun this morning and noticed a pitcher I had left outside all winter.  This was the wrong winter to leave it outside I thought.  The weather was rough.  As I looked at it more closely, I noticed the patterns of wear and the flakes of paint.  It was more interesting.

And in the pitcher, I saw me.

A friend had arrived on my birthday last year carrying it in filled with hydrangeas.  It was painted to look vintage, but now it truly was.   I loved it so much more.

Forty is feeling less and less intimidating every day.