I am ridiculous

I have a new cleaning lady coming tomorrow. My last one retired more than five years ago because she was diagnosed with lupus. She was wonderful, and over the years organized every drawer, cabinet and closet in this house. She'd clean my oven, my refrigerator--whatever she decided needed to be done. I had no secrets from Vicki. She knew the depths of my messiness and disorganization and she didn't reject me for them.

I agreed to "take over" the day and time of my friend Libby's cleaning lady when Libby recently had to move to an assisted living center. She was really fretting about leaving her longtime helper in the lurch in this tough economic climate, and was trying to find somebody to take her slot--every other Monday.

I woke up a few days ago, realized that THIS Monday was the appointed day, and immediately went into panic mode. I have been madly decluttering, straightening up, trying to organize the most embarrassingly disastrous areas of my house. It's not so much that I'm "cleaning for the maid," as that I'm trying to make it even possible for her to get to the surfaces that need to be cleaned. Now it's T-minus-24 hours, and I'm still not ready. So yes, I know that i'm ridiculous. And now, Hefty trash bag in hand, I must return to my labors.

I eradicated Christmas

It's gone, baby. Not a light or a candle or a sprig of evergreen to be seen. Feels good.

E-readers

I asked for an e-reader for Christmas, and after checking out all the options, Dave got me an iPad. He said it does so much more for the slightly larger investment that he couldn't justify buying another type of device. Anyway, as an e-reader, I love it! I've already downloaded and read two books, and am shopping for a third!

I wouldn't have believed it could be so "book-like" to read on an electronic screen! And I love the instant gratification--no drive to Borders, no waiting for Amazon.

With all that said, I can't see myself ever completely giving up real books. I hope books stay around forever.

As far as the iPad goes, I haven't tried to use any of its other functions other than reading. Where technology is concerned, I move slowly.

A huge weight has been lifted

I finished my out-of-town family Christmas shopping today and will ship it tomorrow.

Now I can be happy!

Very Cool!

A fun and amazing use of youtube!

Click here, and make your own kind of music!

Shades of 4th grade...

Hallie has joined a kickball league. Yes. Kickball. For adults.

Apparently, it's a HUGE kickball league, with something like forty teams. And it's part of a national kickball association. For reals.

I just can't get my head wrapped around it. In fourth grade, the whole idea of kickball was very, very clear to me, though I was not a particularly savvy youth. Kickball was invented by P.E. teachers. It was invented so that clumsy, unathletic children (read: me) who had absolutely no prayer of hitting a small ball in flight with a narrow piece of wood, could at least learn (unwillingly and with no enthusiasm) the basic concepts of sportsmanship and team play. I remember squatting in the outfield, looking for four-leaf clovers amongst the school-yard weeds and hoping one of the big boys didn't kick a ball in my general direction. I seem to recall that my nickname was "Easy Out." These aren't good memories.

So this whole notion of 20-somethings gathering in large groups to play competitive kickball is just boggling my noggin a little.

(I should point out though, that following the games on Kickball Night, there is a very large happy hour at a local bar, attended by hundreds of young single folks. So maybe I DO get it...but I don't see why they couldn't just have the happy hour and skip the kickball part.)

Happy Quasi-holiday?

So I've been thinking about this whole Labor Day thing. It's the kind of holiday-that's-not-really-a-holiday, along with its friend and partner, Memorial Day, that makes me vaguely uncomfortable, year after year. I mean, it's not REALLY a holiday. No gifts. No religious or family significance. No one flies cross-country so they won't have to be away from their family on Labor Day.

What it mostly is is a day off from work for office workers. (On the other hand it's a day of MORE work for retail, restaurant and other service industry folks.)

So why is there this pressure surrounding these types of 3-day weekends? Why do I always feel vaguely defensive about NOT planning to grill things and drink copious amounts of beer and hang around in a swimsuit all day? Why do I feel I let people down when they ask, "Got any big plans for Labor Day?" and I sheepishly reply, "Well...I guess we'll watch some tv, maybe do a couple of loads of laundry, maybe go out for some tacos later on." Clearly, based on the response I get from this reply, this is not the sort of big Labor Day plans they expected to hear about.

Fortunately the Dubious Holidays are over for a nice long spell. (But don't even get me started about Valentine's Day, the "holiday" where no matter WHAT you do for your loved one, you feel like a failure...)