by jphilo | Apr 25, 2016 | Daily Life
A week ago last Saturday, Katie Wetherbee and I were at the Accessibility Summit at McLean Bible Church near Washington, DC. In the morning we put on our fancy duds and facilitated a workshop called How to Become a Special Needs Ministry Master Chef, based on our book Every Child Welcome. After that we hung out at our book table.
Which turned out to be the party table in our part of the Exhibition Hall.
I can’t speak for Katie, but for the first time in my life I knew what it was like to sit at the popular table in the high school lunch room. People visited our table all day long. They signed up for the email newsletter, asked to take pictures with us, and bought books. Lots and lots of books. So many that several titles sold out, and I only had to lug home 5 of the 60+ books I lugged to DC.
It was pretty heady stuff.
Then I came home on Monday, put on yoga pants and a sweatshirt, and spent the rest of the week doing every day stuff. Unpacked and started the laundry. Cleaned the kitchen. Caught a cold. Got a haircut. Paid the bills. Grocery shopped. Started a diet. Cooked low fat meals.
Then another Saturday arrived.
There wasn’t a party table in sight. Just Creeping Charlie in the rhubarb to pull and quack grass in the flower beds to hoe. Cilantro to sow. House plants to move to the sun porch. Grass to mow. Three pans of buttermilk brownies to bake and Rice Krispie Treats to make for Sunday’s fundraiser for my mission trip to Latvia. Just me and the Man of Steel working side by side. He didn’t ask for a picture with me. But I didn’t ask for a picture with him either.
Such a come down from the Accessibility Summit.
To be honest, this author’s life is pretty mundane. Lots and lots of weeks of solitary writing, waiting for those rare moments when the right words combine to say exactly what you want. Doing housework alone and yard work with the Man of Steel. Dotted with those unexpected weekend stints at the party table. But I’m in good company.
After all, Erma Bombeck did all her own housework, too.
by jphilo | Jun 19, 2015 | Daily Life
This week’s Fantastic Friday post doubles as a PSO…for myself. All June I’ve conveniently forgotten that window washing time has arrived. So I’m thinking maybe if a voice from the past speaks via social media, that will give me the gumption to do what needs to be done. If this PSO motivates you in the same way, please leave a comment.
When I was teaching school, raising kids, riding herd on defective canines, serving on too many church committees and taking graduate classes every summer I always had my windows washed by the middle of June. So how come, seven years post-teaching career, with the kids grown, the dog shipped off to my brother and his sweet wife, my church work pared to the bare minimum and no more sitting at the feet of professors, it’s June 28th and the windows still aren’t washed?
Correction. One window is washed. One measly kitchen window, the one pictured above, which I washed this morning because I could no longer stand the dead soy beetles that cascade down whenever I open the window.
I’m thinking the wedding guests might find the rain of the soy beetle corpses a tad bit gross, too, so the top item on this week’s to do list is WASH WINDOWS. Yes, the words are written in all caps. And yes, they shout at me every time I consult the list.
Now I know what you’re thinking. This woman is a compulsive nut. Her daughter’s getting married in two weeks, and she’s washing windows. That’s what you’re thinking.
But you are wrong! This item has been on the list since April, and every week I’ve calmly transferred it to the next week – or the week after that – depending on my schedule and the weather, which has not cooperated for the past two weeks. Such flexibility and good humor does not describe someone in the grips of compulsivity, now does it?
With this week’s forecast for sunshine and mild temperatures, this is my Carpe Diem opportunity. It’s time to seize the day, and wash a couple easy windows every morning before sitting down to write. It’s time to seize the husband in the evenings so he can help with the hard to reach windows, including the one covered with bird droppings which is adjacent to the oak tree under which the sweethearts will be married. It’s time to seize the week and clean to my heart’s content, banishing the soy beetle corpses to a watery grave.
Some of you may consider all this seizure activity as further evidence of compulsiveness. I prefer to describe it as concern for our house guests. Whatever way you look at it, one fact remains. With one window down and twenty-nine to go, it’s time to seize the windows.
By the fistful.
by jphilo | Jun 10, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. It’s too sunny.
9. It’s too cloudy.
8. It’s raining.
7. Windows don’t get all that dirty in one short decade.
6. The chiropractor says polishing is bad for the back.
5. A little dirt on the glass cuts down the glare of the sun.
4. If the the glass is too clean, the value of our house will fall because it will look like the windows don’t have glass.
3. If the glass is too clean, birds will clunk into it and die. Who wants birdicide on the conscience?
2. I’ve got an appointment for a root canal that I don’t want to miss.
1. If our windows are too clean, it might make the neighbors feel guilty about resorting to the excuses on this list instead of washing theirs.
Photo Credit: debspoons at www.freedigitalphotos.net
by jphilo | Oct 29, 2013 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. Always check pockets for tissues before putting clothes in the washer.
9. Writing a mystery novel is much harder than one might think.
8. Black walnut are a safety hazard this time of year, from both below and above. They are easy to trip over in the dark, and during daylight evil squirrels throw them on the heads of unsuspecting people passing by.
7. The stems of basil plants and other herbs grow so thick and woody, hedge clippers are required to cut through them when putting a kitchen garden to bed for the winter.
6. When one is inspired to use bug spray to annihilate clumps of box elder bugs huddled for warmth on the foundation of a house, the house will smell like insecticide for two days.
5. When one applies stain to a woodworking project being completed in the basement, the house will stink for two days.
4. Staying in a motel room is not a bad idea for those who declare war on box elder bugs while simultaneously recreating a Bob Vila moment in the basement.
3. Cleaning the dining room chandelier after forgetting about it for, oh let’s say 5 years, requires plenty of elbow grease and vinegar.
2. If someone leaves the dome light on in her Toyota Corolla on Sunday night and then tries to start it on Thursday morning, the battery will be dead. Dead, dead.
1. Hot spiced cider from Deal’s Orchard tastes twice as good this year after no cider last year, thanks to a nasty spring frost that decimated the apple crop.
What lessons have you learned this week? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Oct 22, 2013 | Three Thoughts for Thursday
10. Dusting makes a person’s hands feel,,,dusty. Yuck!
9. No one wears white gloves anymore, so why bother?
8. Dusting pollutes the environment which can lead to breathing problems. How could a person get up in the morning knowing he’d contributed to health issues that could have been avoided by simple behavioral changes?
7. For those who choose a back to nature decorating theme, the dust fits right in.
6. Once the dust is gone, there’s no way to know how to arrange knick knacks on the dresser again.
5. Parents teach children to dust so they learn the monotony of drudge work and decide they should go to college. Once they learn that lesson, dusting serves no purpose.
4. Thick dust is an excellent medium for tactile learners to practice spelling words. Destroying a teachable moment is a terrible thing.
3. Life is too short to spend painstakingly coating a piece of cloth with dust. What warped mind thought the idea up, anyway?
2. If a string of neighborhood cat burglaries follows close on the heels of a dusting extravaganza, the duster could be considered a suspect, what with wiping away fingerprints and all that.
1. Dusting could get in trouble with environmentalists, since it disturbs the natural environment of dust mites.
What’s your best reason to eliminate dusting? Leave a comment.
