"Over and Over"

If there is anything in this world that I hate, it would be repetitive tasks.  Those things that must be done "Over and Over" (and over and over, ad infinitum).  There are soooooo many of them....dusting, paying bills, taking minutes at meetings, polishing silver, laundry, the list is pretty much endless.

It seems to me that once you do something, it should stay done!  Every Friday I sit down and pay bills, every week, four times every month, 52 times every year.  Wouldn't it be nice (if one could afford it, and we certainly cannot) to pay bills once and be done with it?  I know that lots of people sort of do that, but that is for those who have a lot more discretionary income that I do!

And what's up with cleaning your house??   I dust, I vacuum, I scour, I polish, I scrub, but no matter how good a job I do (or how bad a job I do for that matter), after the passage of some period of time, it all needs to be dusted, vacuumed, scoured, polished, and scrubbed AGAIN.  Why is that?  We live in a "hermetically-sealed" home; our windows are never open, we have very little traffic in and out, and when its just me and the Big Guy at home, we barely move!  He sits in front of the TV and I sit in front of the computer.  We can't be stirring up and dirt and dust,  we're still as statues.  (Okay, that's an exaggeration, but we aren't like Peanuts' Pigpen either!)

Doesn't matter.  There is a layer of dust or fingerprints or lint or some dumb thing that has taken up residence on top of my furniture and can only be removed forcibly by me and my trusty microfiber tool!

Another one that used to drive me absolutely nuts when I was working....taking minutes at meetings.  Over my 40 year career I took minutes at 73,293 separate meetings (or something like that ;), and trust me, after 2,478 times (or something like that;)  of writing essentially the same thing for every meeting you attend, you begin to be able to take the minutes without really listening to what's going on!  In fact, I have upon occasion, actually written minutes for meetings I did not attend!  This is because the essence of taking good minutes is not to say much of anything!  Truly.  And the farther up the corporate ladder you go, the less you say!  Really, no joke.  At least from an attorney's point of view, the best minutes would look something like this:

1.  Meeting called to order.
2.  Discussed ongoing issues.
3.  Agreed upon actions to be taken.
4.  Meeting adjourned.

No detail, no identification, no names,  no opinions, just "they met, they talked, they agreed to do something, they left!"  This little talent of mine shaped my career as an excellent recorder for meetings, which is how I got to attend those 47,339 separate meetings (or something like that;) and why 67,479 (or something like that;) of the sets of minutes sound pretty much the same.  Over and over and over again!

Polishing silver is another one that just gets on my nerves!  I polish, I de-tarnish, I use, I wash, I cover it all with a "tarnish-proof" cloth and store it away in an enclosed space where it is not exposed to air, light, or things that go bump in the night.  But does it stay polished????   Ooooh Noooooo!  Not even close!  The next holiday comes along and I want to use the good stuff but when I drag it all out, instead of the beautiful patina of old silver, I discover a bunch of cruddy, tarnished, ugly, dirty-looking icky!  Again.

Laundry?  Same thing.  Wear, wash, wear, wash, wear, wash, forever or until the fabric positively falls apart after a gazillion wash and dry cycles.  Arrggh!

And then there's eating.  What a waste of time!  No matter how much I eat at lunch, by the time 7:00 rolls around, I'm hungry again!  Hey, I ate yesterday.  I was full, and now I'm hungry again??  Over and over and over again....

I wonder how much of my life has been wasted....uhhhn.... spent doing these things that just won't stay done?!!

"Bits and Pieces" (for January 10)

Just a few bits of this and some pieces of that in my world on January 12....

1.  I have finally finished the Defensive Driving online course!!  At last!  Now I will admit I did procrastinate on getting it done.  Sometimes having a deadline that's  too far away just seems to encourage sloth.  Time is such a funny thing.  It never lasts as long as you (well, I) think.  One day can last an eternity and three months can disappear in a blink!  I didn't exactly wait until the last minute.  I have been working on it in sections since weeks.  I just didn't build in any extra time for problems.  What a dunce!  There are always problems when a computer is involved!  I know that or at least, I should. 

So I was working on the last section and it took me three times to get through it because my computer kept conking out!  And then once I finally got it finished, the silly think wouldn't print what it was supposed to print.  When I called the company to find out how else I could handle it, they have NO back-up system in place to be able to get the documentation to you if you cannot print it!!  What??  Really??  Their advice?  Go to another computer and try it there.  Well, I don't know about you, but I don't happen to have an extra computer laying around waiting for emergencies.  I would have to go to the library and deal with an unfamiliar system in public use.  I would have bet money that once I got there all the computers would be in use or broken.  Ok, let's come up with Plan C.  Call daughter, talk her through process and see if the documentation would print for her!  And, it did!!  Now all I have to do is pick it up.  Then wait for the Completion Certificate to be overnighted, take it to the Court, wait in line, hope that everything is there and finally, get my record clear!  I have to have it done by the 25th.  Piece of cake, right?  We'll see!


2.  It is hard for me to believe it, but the show I've been rehearsing since before Thanksgiving will open a week from Friday!  Having the holidays come in the middle of the rehearsal period really make the time fly by!   Sunday we start Tech Week (or as some call it, Hell Week.....because it can be!)  On Monday evening we start will full costume runs.  Now that doesn't matter much to anyone but me!  The entire rest of the cast has one costume.  Their part of the show takes place all in one day with several different scenes, but still just one day.  I, on the other hand, am in three scenes and I have three different costumes.  At least none of them are quick changes as I open the first act, open the second act, and finish up in the final scene!  I'll have lots of dead time back stage while everyone else is onstage.  Strange construction. 

I actually think it just might be a really funny show.  Of course, predicting what makes an audience laugh is like  telling fortunes....sometimes you get it right and sometimes you don't.  It is also true that no two audiences react the same or  laugh at the same things.  It's live theater, that's part of the territory!   Tickets are available!  (If any of you from this area are interested in coming to see it, let me know and I'll shoot you a flyer with the info.)

You may not hear anything from me next week, because we could end up having late nights and we go right into performances Friday and Saturday.  Just so you know....


3. I got some great news!!  Because the show will be running for four weekends, Little Sis was able to arrange her work schedule so that she can come and see it!!  Yahoo!  She hasn't seen me on stage for twenty years or more and she has never seen me in a non-musical!  Living so far apart for so long, she wasn't able to see any of my favorite roles, which is too bad.  This one won't be at the level of some of the others  (it's just a piece of fluff), still I am so excited that she is coming!!  Whee!


4.  Christmas is slooooowly disappearing, verrry slowly!  From the outside it looks like Christmas has left the building, but inside is a whole other story.  I've been dealing with a little bit (a very little bit)  each day,  When you have as much stuff and Mikey and I do, it takes a long time.  We store most of it in storage bins (around 15"x17"x12") and they are all lined up on shelves along the side of the garage. The large things (mostly outdoor stuff) goes up to the attic.   Because I keep acquiring more stuff, we keep having to add bins too!  We will probably reach full capacity this year once it all gets put away.  Of course, I've said that before.  We just keep reconfiguring things to maximize the functionality.  I suppose I really should make it clear to Ratchlet that she may not get much of a monetary inheritance from old mom and dad, but boy, will she have Christmas stuff! 


5.   Someone asked me yesterday, how my winter has been this year.  It made me remember that just like every year, the fact is that there is still 3 more months of winter AFTER Christmas.   I have always thought that was just so unfair!  Christmas and winter can be pretty (from the inside) and some folks even are disappointed if there is no snow, but once January hits, I am ready for Spring!  Right away!  Enough with the cold, enough with the grey, enough of the rain (or possibly snow or ice).  Enough of sweaters, and socks, and scarves. I do not want to wait until March for Spring!!  I want to see the little daffodils and irises poking up through the soil.  I want those cute little buds that suddenly pop out on the trees.  I'm ready for my Spring coats and brighter colors.  Let's skip right to Easter!  Anybody with me?


6.  You may have notice, that not only is my house still full of Christmas, so is my blog!  I just haven't had time to play around with the background and stuff to move it into January.  One of these days,,,,maybe I'll go right to February!  

I keep telling myself, be careful what you setup in life, it will become a requirement and you'll need to do it all the time.  Do I listen to myself?  (That, my friends, is what they call a rhetorical question.)


7.  I have noticed over time, that the first few days of a New Year can really set the tone for what the rest of the year will be like.  On New Year's Day, our dryer went kaput!  It took nearly a week to get the necessary part (the whole circuit board!!) to fix it.  But fixed it is.  I started the try to catch up on the mountain of laundry tonight, found I had no fabric softener stuff....aaand, the ceiling light blew out.  Can't  reach it myself and can't do laundry in the dark, ya know?!! 

2012 could have gotten off to a better start....but then, it could have been a WHOLE LOT worse! 

"Eve of Destruction"

I've read enough different blogs and talked to enough different women to know that at times we all feel like we are on the "Eve of Destruction".  Now I am not talking about Armeggedon, or any such thing.  The feeling comes from a common condition that no one likes to admit, but is extremely widespread.  More so than any of us ever knew.  The condition that makes so many of us feel as though we live in a war zone and are about to explode is the normal, everyday condition of our houses!  I think we all try to ignore it or hide it and we feel inadequate because our Mothers would be appalled that we can't get control of our ...((shudder, shudder))... clutter!

No matter how hard we try, it never goes away, at least not permanently!  There are lots of reasons.... we are busy women with jobs outside the home, little bitty kids, commitments like PTA, volunteering, groceries/cooking, the list goes on.  And who wants to go around everyday picking up after everybody else?  June Cleaver doesn't live here anymore!

It's a slow process of accumulating clutter until we finally snap and take an entire weekend (or longer) to CLEAN UP THIS MESS!  We browbeat and coerce our entire family into getting things put away or thrown out.  Until the next time! 

Sound familiar?

Have you ever noticed that when you get into one of these whirlwind moods, a very large proportion of the clutter you are dealing with belongs either to your children or your husband!  (I don't know what happens in non-traditional families, so for purposes of this post, I'll stick with the model of  mom, dad, 2 1/2 kids, and assorted creatures.)  Anyway the point is lots of husbands and kids seem incapable of taking care of their own things!  The leave things whereever they land!  It grows and grows until it builds up to the point that there is not one clear space anywhere you look and YOU CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!

I came across an article the other day that finally explains this phenomenon!  It's an affliction that nearly all children have.  Most of the girls grow out of it, but the boys NEVER seem to get over it.  A full grown adult male has had the condition for his whole life and probably isn't even aware of it.  This condition is similar to "tunnel vision" in that it relates to what the eye sees....or in this case, does NOT see!  It's called "Clutter Blindness" and it means that those who have it literally cannot see the mess!  I don't know how this is possible.  They should be walking into the things if they can't see them, but like drunks and fools, someone is watching over them and steering them around safely!  I'm the only one tripping over his junk stuff!   How can they not see the clutter???  Its everywhere!  And it belongs (mostly) to them!!  It's not invisible....I can see it!

If you accept this theory (and I by no means expect it of you!) then you have to take an enormously deep breath, count to 10 (or a hundred), and get over being angry about it.  Let it go.....it's not their faults, the poor dears!  They have clutter blindness.  We might even have to forgive them, after all they are disabled!

If, however, you don't buy this hogwash ....uhhh.... I mean, are skeptical of its validity, as I am, I don't think anyone would blame us, if at some point, we reach Clutter Overload!  The only real cure for Clutter Overload is to grab all of the
"invisible" male-generated clutter and toss it out the front door on to the lawn.  Let it look like the "Eve of Destruction" OUTSIDE, NOT IN MY HOUSE!

Thank you.  I feel better now.

"Great Balls of Fire"

I'm pretty sure that by now, you have all realized that I am NOT a domestic goddess!  Don't like to cook.  Vacuuming is a major pain.  I hate all those repetative chores.  I don't do crafts.  I'm not a seamstress. I despise grocery shopping.  None of it!  Not my thing.   (You could, I guess, just say I'm lazy, but I'd rather be thought of as pursuing my bliss....and my bliss doesn't include dishpan hands!!)

I do realize that there are certain things that must be done....at least occasionally.  In fact, I did all of those things.....fairly frequently over the course of the years, but I didn't like it!  There is, however, one thing that absolutely MUST be done unless you are a hermit living in a cave.  Laundry!  There inevitably comes a day (generally several times a month) when you are completely out of clean underwear....and so is every other member of your household!  You do the laundry.

I've done a lot of laundry in my lifetime.  I remember helping mom hang wet clothes on the clothesline and then collecting same when dry as soon as I was tall enough!  When I I hit about 12, ironing became my chore.  It was a big deal, we (well, I) ironed  my mom's dresses, my school uniforms, my dad's shirts, and all flat work (handerchiefs, sheets and pillowcases).  I didn't mind ironing too much, at least I got to sit down while I was doing it!  When permanent press was brought into the world, I rejoiced!  By the time I was a senior in high school all the laundry was my job, while mom worked.  I hated that because I had to go to the laundromat and people could see me fold my dad's underwear!!!  EWW!  How embarrasing!

After I got married, of course, all the laundry fell to me.  Baby clothes, mommy clothes, and daddy clothes, several times a week.  It seemed like I was always having to do laundry.  Another milestone day in my life was the day we bought our very own washer and dryer!!  No more laundromat!!  I could do it from the privacy and comfort of my own home!  Wow!  We were finally livin' high!

But it was still laundry.  Of course, once the baby stopped throwing up and pooping on everything in sight, things got somewhat better.  Nevertheless, it was basically an un-ending chore.  Now that its just the Big Guy and me and I'm not working, there's not nearly as much.  This is good.  Even better, is the fact that the Big Guy has begun doing a lot of his own laundry.  There are several reasons for that, but the end result is that I have less laundry to do.  Yay!

But I still have laundry to do.  Darn stuff, just keeps on piling up.  I can try to ignore it, but that's pointless.  Sooner or later comes the day when I'm out of clean underwear!  (Of course, I don't always wait until that time, but its funnier to say that I do!!  --  LOL!)

The other day I was contemplating doing some laundry (no urgency, I still had clean stuff !)  I don't know how or why it happened, but I started to think about how much time laundry takes and that it really eats up a lot of time.  So I tried to add it up.  How much time is taken up with laundry?

Well, I decided there was no way to count it up accurately, the best I could do was estimate.  So I figured that ON AVERAGE, the time it takes to do the laundry (4 loads:  gathering, sorting, washing, drying, folding, and putting away) is a bit less than 2 hours. 

Here's what I came up with (again using averages):

Laundry:  3x/month @ 2 hours each = 72 hours/ year

Starting at age 14 to present day = 50 years

50 Years @ 72 hours/year = 3,600 hours

24 hours/day into 3,600 hours = 150 days

30 days = 1 month

150 days divided by 30 = 5 MONTHS!!  5 MONTHS!!   5 MONTHS!!! 

5 FRIGGIN' MONTHS OF MY LIFE WERE SPENT DOING  LAUNDRY.   5 months! 

"Goodness gracious, Great Balls of Fire!!"

No wonder I hated it! That's nearly half a year!!  Gone. Used up. Wasted. Erased. Eradicated.  Forever!!  Unbelievable. And no end in sight!  Well, Crap!


Oops, gotta go, the dryer just buzzed....

"The Counting Song"

I have been feeling conspicuously uninspired lately. Nothing interesting to write about has popped into my little brain. So many of you are faithful readers and stop by everyday! But I just don't have it in me to write unless I have something at least mildly interesting to write about. It's a dilemma! So for today, I'll do a list!! Ten More Things I just Don't Get!!
10.  Fake Friends....You know the kind, they're only your friends if you can do them some good! 

9.  Food (sometimes)....I've never been a big eater and I've never been one to turn to food to cheer me or comfort me.  I get no joy from cooking.  I eat most of the time because I have to.  I enjoy a good meal, but sometimes  finding something to eat is just a big old pain in the neck!

  8.  Reality TV....The very concept makes me shudder!  I have NEVER watched any of them....not Survivor, not American Idol, not race/scavenger hunt thing, not the dance thing, none of them.  The Big Guy and I are probably the only two people anywhere who can truthfully say that!

7.  Guys, for the Love of God, Pull Up Your Pants!!  .... with or without visible skin!  None of it is good, really!  Come on, surely these idiots must realize how stupid they look??  How can they not know??  Are there no standards left ANYWHERE??  Walking around with your pants around your knees and your underwear flaunted is supposed to be sexy?????  Oh please, don't these people ever see a mirror??

6.  Library Book Repeats .... Why oh why, do I almost invariably check out 10+ books and realize after I'm home, that I've already read at least one of them! 

5.  Mid-size Paperbacks....It used to just be a choice between hard covers and paperbacks....very easily distinguished from one another and priced accordingly.  When did all these oddball large- sized paperbacks with higher prices come into play?  They aren't easier to read, they're not lighter than a paperback, and they're certainly not a bargain price!  There is no advantage to buying as far as I can tell.  Seems like publishers just want to line their coffers with a few more of our dollars.  I get extremely tired of being thought of as oblivious, undiscerning, gullible, and downright stupid by companies just looking for more money!  I know costs rise, but can't they just say, "Sorry folks, we have to raise prices because of costs."  Instead they try to trick us into believing that something is better when it is clearly NOT!

4.  Matronly Clothes....Ok, I am short, 5'2".  The only clothes that fit me without major alterations are items made for the "petite" female.  However, I am not 16, nor am I 80 years old!  Why can't clothes designers understand that small and short does not mean TEENAGE! (I won't even talk about "slutty"!)  And ever more importantly, not teenage does not mean dowdy, matronly, "old lady" clothes.  Please give us a few more options here!

3.  And speaking of Alterations....A man buying a suit or a pair of pants can often get alterations done at the store of purchase with NO EXTRA CHARGE!  This is true even at most mid-level department stores.  Whereas for women, most stores don't even offer alterations to women until you get into the very top-end stores, and not always even then, and extremely rarely without charge.   Equality for Women?.....yeah, right!

2. Package Warnings....Why do all cigarette packages and advertising, have to have printed warnings about the potential dangers, yet alcohol is not subject to the same type of warnings??  Alcohol is significantly addictive, destructive and dangerous too.  Why is there no warning like, "Warning: Use may lead to drunk driving, abusive behaviors, and impaired judgment that may result in death of human beings or animals!" 

1.  Garbage Bins....Why can't the crews of the Garbage trucks manage to put the bins back where they found them, not laying open in the street 3 houses down from they are supposed to go??  It is flat out rude and insulting.  Most of the time, they don't even try!  That just annoys me to no end....seriously!

End of rant for tonight!!  I feel better already!   :)


P.S.....Hmmm, in reading over this post, I am getting the feeling that I may have ranted about the things before.  Oops!  I'm sorry if they are repeats.  If they are repeats, it just proves that I still don't "get" them!

"My Cup Runneth Over"

Some people see a glass as half full; others see it as half empty.  Not me!  "My cup runneth over!"  Basically, there is no more room for anything more.  I do not have an empty closet, shelf, cabinet, bookcase, pantry, or storage space anywhere!  My house is full. 

In truth, its more than full.  I still have things in boxes that are unpacked because there is no place to put the things that are inside!  And we've lived in this house for nine years!  Does that mean it was full the day we moved in???  How depressing!

This has happened before in our house.  After all, we've been together for almost 44 years.  You accumulate a LOT of stuff in 44 years!  LOTS of stuff.  We have owned four different houses in that time; each one bigger (or at least equal in size) than the one before.  Usually when we first moved in and got settled, we had space left over!  It was a great feeling to look around and have a lovely, spacious, uncluttered home, with room for expansion.

I seem to remember (vaguely) that there is some law of Physics that is something about gas expanding to fill the available space.  I never knew that law extended to belongings too!  That open spacious feeling quickly disappears as more and more things become part of our "must haves." 

Yes, I admit it.  We are "Accumulators"!  Both of us!  The Big Guy keeps everything he ever owned.  Clothes, gadgets, pens, watches, electronics, notebooks, exercise equipment, former hobby  things, and papers....lots and lots of papers....all related to the different jobs he's had for the last 40 years.  I'm not kidding.  There is one whole room in my house;  99.9% of its contents are his things.  And 99.8% of that, is stuff he hasn't used or ever will use ever again.  Now I don't mean a few things discreetly hidden in a cabinet or closet.  Nope, I mean wall-to-wall, practically floor to ceiling!  No joke.  This is his "office".  (In our house "office" really means junk room!)  If he should have the poor taste to die before me and leave me with this mess, I shall hang his body in effigy in front of my house with a big sign that says, "He never threw anything away!!"

It really pains me to say this, but I am very nearly as bad as he.  The difference being that I keep things that I love, or I use, or has an important memory attached to it AND I put it all away!  Ergo, my full house!  I am a sentimental fool and so is the Big Guy.  This only makes things worse.  He is a charter member of the "But I might need it someday" club.  I am a charter member of the "Awwww, I remember this" club.  How do you throw away a memory?

Nevertheless, there comes a time when reality comes a-knockin' and you are simply forced to accept as fact that there is no room for even one more thing!   When you attempt to put things away and discover all of the "away" space is gone, there's no avoiding the truth any longer.  You either must purge and discard (gasp....hyperventilating), or move!  We can't afford to move, besides who wants to pack up all that stuff anyway!

Maybe I should look into one of those storage places.  Nope, same problem.  Another expenditure on our already tight budget and that dreaded packing thing. 

So there is no choice but to face up to it and make some room...somehow....somewhere....get rid of something.  Oh help!

Now all I have to do is convince the Big Guy that his cup runneth over too!  Wish me luck with that!

I must go lie down, maybe the feeling will go away.....