Monday, December 6, 2021

'Tis the Season

 Here we are, Early December (the 6th, of 2021) and I'm feeling, I dunno, procrastinative (if that wasn't a word, it is now. I just adverbed a verb. and verbed adverb. Nothing like grammatical gymnastics to get the mind juices flowing).  It's a cool, but not cold, day. It's cloudy but not raining (yet). I'm up, but not productive. The dog is staring through the front door window, sucking in his cheeks and wanting to be fed. I'm sitting on the couch, alternating between looking at the dog, whining about wanting to sit in the hot tub yet doing nothing to facilitate that, pondering which leftover to eat for lunch, and wondering if I will finish one or two of about 297 projects waiting in the sewing room. They're mostly short little ones and if I got a few knocked out at least something productive will have been accomplished. 

The most likely scenario for the day will be couched in optimistic words like "planning" and "research" and "design work" but from the outside looking in, will look more like "sitting on the couch with the TV on low and occasionally getting up for a beverage".



With the exception of the sewing room and, to a lesser degree, Capt's office, the house is pretty much in good order. Friends were here for a couple of days and a Panic Cleaning 3 hours before they arrived means things are put away and surfaces are clean. God invented doors so we'd have a place to shove shit out of view, but I have been (somewhat) diligently been trying (in my own limited way) to put some sense of order to the place. I'm still struggling with the trials of combining 2 large households into one small one, and my inherent sense of "don't get rid of anything that might be useful one day, even if I know I'll probably never use it" causes useful-yet-not containers and jars and boxes to accumulate, then the psychological pain of throwing them away happens and causes double mental quandaries. 

Just the other day Kroger had pineapples for 50 cents (about to be too ripe) so I bought 4 with the intention of making some delicious pineapple jam. I have jars, Sure-Jell, sugar, all the things, and...plenty enough other things to do that I do NOT need to be making jam, especially since WE DON'T EAT JAM. And yet, soon (possibly even today) I shall prepare and can 10 (approximately) pints of jam. CHRISTMAS GIFTS! You say! Yes. right there with the 20 pints of berry jam, 4 gallons of assorted jalapeno preparations, not to mention the shipping costs of heavy glass jars containing sticky stuff upon which the post office and UPS frown. Clearly I didn't think this through very well. Oh! I know! I'll make 1/2 the pineapples into jams and the other half into dehydrated! I love dehydrated pineapple! Problem solved.

Speaking of Christmas gifts, that reminds me I need to box up stuff for an assortment of relatives and get them mailed off. Goodness knows I have boxes and I've saved all the bubble wrap from a year's worth of online shopping. (refer to previous statement about saving stuff that might be useful) I'm recycling, which is Virtuous and Cost Effective.

So yeah. Christmas Spirit is off to a sputtering start, like a lawnmower that hasn't been cranked in 9 months. The cat approved of the decorated tree, the intended gifts have accumulated on the back porch along with the boxes and all those square plastic nut containers that make amazing storage for the RV (and give Mom something to save for me). Also jars both purchased and acquired (also from Mom), and liquor bottles that are pretty enough to put honey in, should we ever get around to harvesting it from the beehive. I promise you, every time I save a thing it's because I KNOW it's going to be eventually useful. In the back of my head I also know one day my sons, who by virtue of being men, will not be interested in going through my shit after I die and will probably just sell the house fully loaded to the highest bidder. 

Also, I realize this post is a little bit rambling, but it's one of those days where everything in my body is hurting and I just want to sit here and wish the hot tub would come to me instead of me having to heave myself off the couch and walk the 10 yards outside to get to it. I know that sitting in it, amongst the blooming hibiscus and steam, will be restorative and gift me with a few hours of pain relief and productivity (possibly even involving pineapples and sugar). There. I talked myself into it. Y'all have a good day. 

No comments:

Post a Comment