Can you guess from the picture where I was today?
Of course not!
The is #1 son showing me a flotation device suitable for #1 daughter’s tiny dog. The store where he works had a festival with a sale. I resisted the flotation device. Dax, the dog in question, is extremely cute and quite mischievous, so he would be a good candidate for a flotation device if he ever went near the water.
He is an urban dog, though.
Instead I bought a high tech thermal shirt for my husband and some very fancy hiking socks for myself. I’ve done almost no hiking at all this summer, but I hope to do better when the temperatures drop.
Buying things instead of doing things is a common way to avoid doing things, I know. I’ve heard this called “phantoms.” So the slatternly woman who buys fancy cleaning supplies instead of actually cleaning has phantom cleaning going on. The overambitious businessperson who buys a boat or a bag of golf clubs and never takes time off to use them has a phantom hobby.
I don’t think this is me. In the back of my mind as I bought the socks was the awareness that I’m going to be given a pair of cowboy boots next weekend at a conference. It’s a promotional thing, but I think I will have to wear those boots, so I wanted some seriously comfy socks.
I also have fancy cleaning supplies — Mandarin Vetiver from Caldrea — and I did indeed scrub my kitchen and bathrooms with it this morning. I even have a couple of Finished Objects this year, so I don’t have phantom needlework even though I now have a stash of yarn and of fabric.
I blog for a couple of sporting goods companies, though. Perhaps this will help me get more active this year — writing about hiking and walking and running and such. Or perhaps I’ll be like the writer in the old cartoon — a bald, paunchy man at his typewriter, pounding out, “I guess you could say I’m the typical Cosmo girl…”