Susan McCorkindale

12.28.17

Why do I keep keys?

Behold, my desk drawer. An ordinary desk drawer filled with pens, post-it notes, highlighters, flash drives the contents of which have been long forgotten, and keys. Lots of keys.

Behold, my key chain. An ordinary key chain containing all the keys I need. Car key, house keys, boyfriend’s house key, and the key to my mailbox. If all the keys I need are here, and they are, then what, pray tell, are those reproducing near my paper clips?

Do they represent plants I promised to water?

Mail I offered to bring in?

A dog I said I’d let out?

I doubt it. If they did, I’d have heard about it by now. Those keys have been in my desk drawer for years, from my time on the farm, to my former husband’s house, to my apartment in town, to the condo I live in today but, unlike the barrettes and hair bands in my bathroom,

I simply can’t recall where they came from.

I do, however, know what I’m going to do with them. I’m saving them, along with the clips, hair bands, and hundreds of bobby pins I discovered cowering in a Tupperware container last week when I started this “Why do I keep this stuff?” series, in a pretty box I’ve labeled Weird Writing Prompts. Clearly, that’s what they are and, as I look around this place with an eye toward more cleaning out and de-cluttering, I know two things:

This series is far from over and
I’m gonna need a bigger box.

#weirdwritingprompts #whydoikeepthisstuff

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Tags: 500 Acres and No Place to Hide, barrettes, bobby pins, condo, desk, dog, drawer, farm, hair, keys, mail, plants, weird writing prompts, writing prompts
Filed under Confessions, Weird writing prompts, Why do I keep this stuff?

12.22.17

Why do I keep this stuff?

Why do I keep this stuff? Not the skin creams and pore fillers and primer, I know why I keep those (and keep my fingers crossed when I use them). Not the makeup. I know I have to keep — and use — that lest I scare the entire world (not to mention myself) silly. But the barettes and hair bands. Why have I kept them? I have short hair, for God’s sake. The sparkly barrette below makes me look like I’ve lost half my tiara and all of my mind,

and this hair band makes me look like a post-menopausal Pebbles. Can you even imagine how fast Bam Bam would bolt? (And check out those dark bags. Poor Pebbles has really gone to pot.)

I haven’t held onto this stuff because I want my hair long again. I don’t. Going from short to long is best left to gorgeous “kids” like Kaley Cuoco (who’s short “do” I adored). At my age less is more. Shorter is better. Napping is a necessity.

And taking selfies in a room lit with anything but a 40 watt bulb should be against the law.

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Tags: Bam Bam, barrettes, hair, hair band, Kaley Cuoco, long hair, makeup, Pebbles, post-menopausal, selfies, short hair, skincare
Filed under Aging

8.6.17

Got clothes?

Like millions of women, I have way too many clothes in my closet.

There’s the stuff I hope to wear, like the red sequinned ball gown I intend to strut my stuff in when I get my Academy Award. Not that I’ll ever be up for one but hey, a girl can dream and if that dream comes true I really want to wear that dress.

There’s the stuff I hope never to wear. Why? Because it’s all big on me now but I worry about getting rid of it because what will I do if tomorrow morning I awaken and the stuff I always wear doesn’t fit and I’m forced to run around in my son’s rugby gear? Not a good look although the scrum cap is cute.

And then there’s the stuff I always wear. Pants, skirts, and tops in cream, white, more cream, and more white. Quiet colors that contrast beautifully with my big mouth.

But honestly, I have to get rid of the clothes — and shoes and boots and sneakers and slippers and scarves and socks and leggings — I don’t wear because there are women out there who would wear them. Who need them.

They need your “hope to wear” and “hope never to wear” collections, too.

De-clutter your closet (and your kid’s and husband’s), and bring it all to Women Giving Back (20 Export Drive, Sterling) on September 6th from 10am-1pm. I’ll be there with the SHE! Magazine team meeting, greeting, and giving really cool SHE! stuff to the first 20 folks who show up. It’s going to be a great time for a great cause. And yes, your closet will thank you.

For information about Women Giving Back and why you should support its efforts, click here and/or here.

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Tags: closet, clothes, de-clutter, SHE! magazine va, women giving back
Filed under SHE!

6.24.17

Yes, I’m going to miss Main Street

The movers come tomorrow. I’m excited and a little sad that I won’t get to speed walk through Old Town Warrenton every morning. I’m going miss it.

I’m going to miss wondering where the “Open” and “Shut” signs went that Pablo used to have on the doors of Great Harvest every day. The “Shut” sign always cracked me up.

And I’m going to miss how pretty the hanging plants look along Main Street.

Whenever I walk, I pretend I’ve never been here before, which probably accounts for how startled I am when people wave to me. Joe Martin was getting into his car one morning and he waved and I was like, whoa, that guy knows me? Earth to Susan! Stop with the Jedi mind tricks. But it’s fun to pretend I’ve never been here because it allows me to see things in my pretty town I hadn’t noticed previously. Like how gorgeous the windows are in Designs By Teresa,

and how commanding and elegant the court house is.

When I reach this spot, I cross and practically run to see what’s in the windows at Shelf Life.

I’m safest at Shelf Life at 6:30am, when I can’t go in and go broke.

I think I need this for my new place. Not that I bake or do more than pour wine in my kitchen.

Of course I don’t only walk along Main Street. I like to cut up and down the side streets, too. Great soups here…

Neat treasures here…

And lots of hats here. I gotta stop in here one day during business hours. I could totally embrace my hattitude!

I walk past the Fauquier Times office and wave. I know. No one’s there yet. But still. Hmm. You think maybe my therapist should open an office on Culpeper Street? Then I could walk there, too, sit on her stoop and be her first appointment of the day, every day.

Oh wait, that won’t work. She’s going to have to open an office near Marshall’s cause that’s closer to my new place. A Marshall’s within walking distance. Dear God, that’s as bad as living within walking distance of DeJaVu. And Shelf Life.

And the super cool Black Bear Mercantile.

Maybe I should simply get a treadmill and speed walk in the safety of my new home. Then I could double my pretending. I could pretend I’m walking through Old Town while pretending to be on vacation and we can all go on pretending that my therapist doesn’t need to move near Marshall’s. You know, I’m going to miss my early morning walks on Main Street almost as much as I miss what was left of my mind.