Monthly Archives: April 2009

>R & R; I think I’m getting this technique down.

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>I’m getting better at this relaxation concept. Today was much more low-key than yesterday.

Housework: not much. Made cinnamon rolls for breakfast to go with the coffee, made supper (with Husband’s help) – home made pizza. Put away the remainder of the clean clothes.

Schoolwork: none. None!!

Relaxation: afternoon nap. Ooh, that felt good.

Garden: It was mighty cold outside and very windy, so I didn’t spend much time on it. I just dug out another wheelbarrow load of compost and dumped it into the garden, and then I loosened what was left in the compost bin with a pitchfork. The compost is really compacted tightly; tough to get out and spread.

Reading material: Started Carry Me Home by Sandra Kring. She’s one of the authors coming to town for our Book Festival later this month. It’s a good book so far: strong story made unique by the point of view from which it’s told.

More reading material: Amigo has a braille copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard, so I sat with him (and my print copy) and we read together for an hour. I hope he doesn’t outgrow this simple pleasure anytime soon.

Simple fun: watched Country Music Awards with Amigo, chatted online with La Petite, sipped a beer with Husband.

Feels like a break, at long last.

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>Weekend Update, Spring Break R & R, Daisy style

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>Saturday summary:
Relaxation: slept in until almost 7. If you’re thinking “Only 7?” I need to remind you that I get up at 5:30 AM on school days. This means an extra hour and a half of rest.

Schoolwork: checked school email. Nothing urgent, deleted a bit of junk. Now I can let that rest for the remainder of break.

Housework:

  • Laundry. Lots of it. Typical Saturday in that way.
  • Cleaned bunny’s litter box and cage (see garden, below).

Garden:

  • Dumped compostable litter (very dirty) into garden. Spread it out on top of soiled paper, unrecyclable. By the time I plant in late May, this “garbage” will either decompose or be tilled into the soil.
  • Arranged overflow pipe from rain barrel so that any additional water goes directly into the garden plot. Used water from the rain barrel to rinse bunny’s litter box.
    Despite accomplishing very little in the garden itself, I am feeling very green!

Reading material: finished (and enjoyed) The Eyre Affair. Now I’ll start a few of the books I picked up at the local independent bookstore yesterday. One side-benefit to using Paperbackswap.com: I know I spend less on books than I used to spend, and therefore I can buy a few new ones now and then. I’ll keep those that warrant a reread, and I’ll post the rest on PBS. With those credits, I’ll get more books for me and audio books for Amigo. All that and stimulating the local economy, too — must sit down and take a breath.

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>R&R, spring break, Daisy style

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>It’s all about balance. Always. My balance for the just-begun spring break is part plan, part recipe, part goal/ to-do list.

Relaxation is top of the plan. Stressful job, stressful economy, potential stress at every turn of the newspaper page or channel change: letting go is important. Very, very important.
Keeping up with schoolwork is part of the break. Amigo has homework to do, too. Our plans include taking the long weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday) off from schoolwork, and then working on a little each day. When he’s doing homework, I’ll work on schoolwork.
Preparing the garden is part of my plan, too. It’s too cold to plant, and will be for some time, but I can start getting the soil ready. This kind of work could be tedious, but it’s not. It feels good to get the garden ready to grow again. There’s a definite connection between the garden growth and my own feelings of contentment and competence and calm.
Spring cleaning usually happens in June in my house, but I’ll get a few things done. Mainly, I plan to bake and keep the kitchen in good shape! Amigo and I often make a laundromat trip with all the blankets and comforters in the house. It’s an easy chore, but one that can’t be done at home because the blankets are too big to fit in my regular washer.

Progress so far: Spring Break R & R update, Friday
Relaxation — slept past 8:00 AM, stayed in pajamas until 11
Schoolwork — nothing formal yet, but laundered the old socks I use as white board erasers
Gardening — removed stepping stones and trellises and tomato cages from garden, emptied two pots of dead herbs & potting soil over the fence, took “before” pictures of garden to use for contrast when I finally reach the “after” stage
Spring Cleaning — scrubbed kitchen (easier than it sounds; the cleaning service was here a few days ago. I just maintain what they’ve already done.) Mailing another Paperbackswap package could fit in here, too.
Relaxation, part 2 — had a Funday Friday lunch with Amigo and Husband at a local downtown diner. I had their Greek skillet with hash browns; delicious. After lunch we walked down the street to a bookstore (an independent, no big chains) and bought a few books related to the city’s upcoming book festival. The pleasure reading from these will last long beyond the week-long break.

This break’s off to a good start, I’d say. Now I think I’ll take another relaxation break with my laptop, check Twitter and Plurk, read some of my favorite bloggers as well.

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>Musings with the remote control in the morning

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>On watching morning television, a pastime not usually on my list:
Local news is full of layoffs. I feel lucky to have a secure job — for the moment. Husband has to cover these layoffs in his TV news job. Tough to handle. I think I’ll change the channel.
Morning television can be ridiculous sometimes. The hosts just randomly called someone, asked them to name the presidents on Mt. Rushmore. They could only get two. My fourth graders can answer that! I think I’ll change the channel.
Spring cleaning advice! Vinegar water solution and crumpled newspaper to clean a mirror or a window. That’s old news, people. The cleaning staff at my school use a vinegar-water mix to clean chalkboards. I associate the scent of vinegar with clean — or with Husband’s German potato salad. Change channels again.
International news is talking about head injuries and kids. Sad, but useful information. I’m on break; I want something less stressful. Change channels!
Weather!! “Very nice weekend.” Now we’re talking! It’ll still be cold here. I hope it warms up enough that I can dig in my garden. Ooh, these commercials are really bad. At least I can laugh at them.
Click. Click. Click. Click. All these channels – and nothing on! More coffee, maybe I’ll turn it off and browse the blogs.
That’s the answer. I’m on break. No guilt, just relaxation. Browsing the blogosphere, here I come!

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>Dear Delia; Can you deal with impending death?

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>Delia is an advice columnist with attitude, a household how-to guide maven, mother of two young girls, and dying. As she faces her cancer-shortened future, she contemplates her future and comes to grips with her past.

From the proper etiquette of hanging unmentionables on the rotary clothesline to the erotic pleasure of watching the man in her life toss dirty clothes in the washer, Delia can solve any dilemma related to laundry. She advises a grungy bachelor to thoroughly clean his bathroom in order to keep his girlfriend in his life, an unhappy wife how to clean red wine out of a tablecloth while addressing her attraction to her husband’s assistant, and both ordinary and unexpected domestic dilemmas.

But the real dilemma for Delia is how to prepare for her own death. Coming to grips with her past, addressing a future without her presence, she decides to write her last How-to guide: The Household Guide to Dying. This guide makes sense to her because she’s writing from experience even as she goes through the process noted in the title. Her editor balks at first, then encourages her to continue. Writing this Household Guide helps “control-freak” Delia recognize that she can make an impact, but she cannot plan and control everything.

Readers meet Delia as she revisits her past in a trip to a tiny trailer in a tiny circus town that she called home for nine tumultous years in her early adulthood. Some memories are innocuous, some hurtful, some more complex than she’d expected. All are important in her emotional journey to seek answers to life’s peaceful and painful questions.

At times I felt like Delia and her family were much too calm. I was almost grateful when her daughters and husband broke down yelling and crying. “I hate you because you’re dying!” was much more realistic dialogue from an eleven-year-old than some of the other talk.

Ultimately, I found The Household Guide to Dying to be a pleasant and interesting story. I didn’t feel tears as it came to a close; rather, I felt peaceful. The novel isn’t so much a death story as it is a tale of life and personality, a tale that leads to closure. Don’t fear the potential sadness in the title: this is a novel to read and savor.

Mothertalk provided me with an early pre-publication proof to read for this review along with a small honorarium from Amazon.com.

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