The Saturday Six

One.

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I realize most of the information in this post is common sense, but I think that's the very sort of thing that tends to fly out of our heads first. Lisa-Jo Baker wrote a thoughtful piece on handling difficult people and difficult situations. I am terrible at this sort of thing. I hate discord and confrontation. I hate defending myself and struggle to do it even when it's warranted. But discord and confrontation happen in this life, and she reminds us of great truths in handling the tough moments...with love and more importantly...with God.

Two.

A few of you have asked me if I like the new chair I bought for my home office. I wanted to wait until I'd used it for a while before giving my opinion...but I'm now ready to do that! For our home office, we have an old kitchen table that we use for a desk. The room isn't very big, and using a table allows us both to sit at the same space, rather than cramming two desks in one room. We only had one traditional office chair, which I used, and Ryan sat on a folding chair.

I read a blog post by a full-time writer who used the Isokinetics Fitness Ball Chair in her home office, and she liked it, so I decided to give it a shot. I pooled my birthday money and bought this chair from Amazon. You can get it in all kinds of colors, but I got basic black, since I have no idea if my color scheme will change in the office from time to time.

Here's what I like about the chair:

* It wasn't too hard to assemble. {For Ryan. That might be an unfair review, since he's really good at assembly. But he put it together in no time.}

* The frame has five wheels, so I always feel like it's balanced and I have yet to fall off of it. {A genuine worry I had, since I'm a klutz.}

* I can use the ball for an exercise ball too, since it lifts right out of the frame. It's come in handy a few times! And I don't have to find a place to store an inflated exercise ball when not in use...because it's just sitting all nice and contained in the frame.

* The height of the frame on the wheels adjusts, which is nice, since our table is taller than a standard desk, and I need my hands up high for the laptop keyboard.

* Our floor isn't even {ahhh the joys of an older house}, and one thing that really bothered me in the real office chair was that I always felt like I was sitting at a slant. With the ball, I can easily adjust how I sit to be up straight, since I can manipulate the angle of the ball with my hips.

* I get to move around while sitting, getting in some minor exercise, which is something I could not do in the regular chair. This helps me from getting a tired rear end, which is easy to do when writing for a long time.

* It scoots in under the desk fully {because the table is higher than the standard} so there's no bulky chair sitting out in the middle of the room.

Here's what I imagine could be frustrating for some:

* While there is a little back on the chair, it's not really for leaning against for prolonged periods of time. This does not bother me, as I tend to not sit back in ANY kind of chair - including the one in my car. I'm weird like that. But if you're used to leaning all day, you can't do that in this chair.

* My office has hardwood floors, but I have a rug under my desk. Because of that, I don't have any issues with the chair rolling as I try to sit on it. But if you had a tile or wood floor with  no rug, that might be an issue.

Do I love the chair? Yes. Am I glad I bought it? Yes. Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely.

Three.

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 PEOPLE!!!!!! Oh my word. You so graciously put up with my love of refurbished homes. It's one of those things I have to love when others do it because my own skills are not as mad. Anyway. STOP EVERYTHING YOU'RE DOING and go look at this redone home. Bless these folks for seeing potential in the thing and not ripping it down. My heart skipped so many beats looking at this. {Clearly the photo above is the BEFORE.}

Four.

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Gulp. I'm not a parent, and I rush to tell you that I'm fully aware that as a childless woman, I realize I am also not allowed an opinion on the subject of parenting. But I read this article after our neighbor linked to it on Facebook this week, and given that she and her husband are both teachers AND they're parents, I figured it held some truth. After I read it, I immediately thought of Ryan's brother and his wife and the way they're raising their kids. They put in the hours of hard work, even when they're tired, and Ryan and I both think they're great parents. The way they do things is the way this article admonishes it should be done, and I know it was the way I was raised, too. Kudos to parents who realize parenting is more than fun memories and cute pictures and are willing to put forth great effort to train up their kiddos.

Five.

I appreciated this post by Lanette Haskins. I'm relatively new to reading her writing, but I know she's in a season of transition in her life, much as I am in mine {though the details are entirely different} and I appreciated the thoughtful reflection she offered in this post. I love looking back over my own journey and seeing what God has taught...and I appreciated her willingness to do the same!

Six.

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I've been doing a fair *ahem...okay heavy* amount of Pinterest research on capsule wardrobes again. First may I say that my sixteen-year-old library-visiting, notecard-making self would be so pleased to know one day the word "research" would refer to looking at clothes online rather than writing term papers???? Also that my sixteen-year-old self would have had no idea what "online" meant, but I digress because that just makes me feel OLD. Anyway. Stumbled upon a blog called In Residence. I've not read every post yet, but her capsule posts are fascinating! So if you're still thinking about that way of life for yourself, check out Anne at In Residence. {If you go under the Topics tab at the top and then Style, you'll see the link for all her capsule wardrobes.}