Lately I have been thinking about good and bad fortune around the home — I am pretty superstitious, although maybe not neurotically so ( so I like to believe). I got to thinking about fortune around the house two months ago, when I was searching for the arrival of my house painters. I was schlepping a bunch of pollen-covered off furniture my pollen-covered porch and chucking it in to my downstairs guest area. Yes, putting pollen-covered furniture in the house wasn’t a fantastic concept, but I was in a hurry; it was 11 p.m., and the painters were arriving first thing in the afternoon. I guessed I could depollenate everything before my next guest arrived. Lousy fortune around the house ensued … or did it?
While shifting the pollen-coated furniture around too quickly, I knocked over a favourite vintage medicine cabinet and shattered the mirror. Oh, and technically, the bad luck started before the mirror bankrupt, as it landed in my poor toe on the way down, which remains saline and purple.
When I and my bad-luck toe went to collapse in the bedroom upstairs, I realized that it was getting stuffier with every hobble up the stairs. The air conditioning had just conked out upstairs, and it was a very hot night, so guess which contaminated man had to sleep in the pollenated guest space? Yours truly.
Anyway, I vacuumed up the broken mirror glass and then transported the pollen-coated furniture to my dining area, gave everything a sweep along with a dusting, and hit the hay nicely following 1 a.m., dreading the thought of having to finance another air conditioner, which would be my second in two years. After all, I was blowing my house finance on the much-needed paint project in addition to replacing rotten siding.
Tonight was just another day. The next morning I tried to put a spring back in my limping step by treating myself to breakfast and a bit of quality time with The New York Times in The American Roadhouse, from my pollinated interior. As I headed outside to walk to the restaurant, then I had to walk under the ladder you see here. I dropped down on my bad luck around the house, all within seven hours. I went to breakfast and threw a little salt over my shoulder after spilling a few, and avoided black cats trying to cross my path on the walk home.
So much the A/C unit repairs happen to be hauling up (fingers crossed), the painters did a fantastic job, and the only bad luck I have had is just two flat tires in one month.
Aside from all that, now I’ve a tidy, pollen-free, freshly painted porch that I was able to love with my friends and my kitty, Bubby, this week. Oh, and also my favourite part of the mirrored cabinet, the glass shelves inside, remained perfectly intact. In fact, when I opened it up in the wake, I found the Jefferson mint julep cup I thought was lost.
Was my fortune around the house good or bad? I am thinking great (knock on wood). 1 busted A/C device, a sore toe and flat tires are first-world issues; I simply needed to see Resort Rwanda again to get some perspective. That’s my prescription for when I feel myself turning into a bratty complainer over things which are a privilege to have in the first location.
So, what I am getting at in my usual long-winded manner: Can you believe in good or bad fortune around the house?
Which are your superstitions in home?Do you hang crystals or place lucky bamboo around the house? Banish cut flowers to the mulch pile the second they begin to wilt? Have a Saint Joseph statue in the yard when you’re selling your house? Can you look over your shoulder to get seven years after breaking up a mirror or use it like a lucky opportunity to create a craft project from the smashed-up mirror bits?
Chime in and let us talk about ways to maintain the good fortune going in your home.