Juggling Life

Open House: Brain Power Central

Manager Mom wanted to expand on Mrs. G's Heart of the House post with a look at where we do our thinking and working at home. We don't have a home office at our house--that's by design. Even though we have a big house, I still like to live like we did when we had a small house; everyone together as much as possible. That's why the kids don't have TV's in their bedrooms. With three laptops and a desktop, the great room is often one big office/social networking space.

My "thinking work" consists of schoolwork toward my teaching credential and blogging. Both activities require the computer. I've had a laptop for about 18 months and I honestly don't know how I lived without it. The laptop's portability means I have the choice of two places to work.

My preferred place is here, where I can be in the middle of the action.

When I need a little more quiet, I head upstairs.

Drudgery = Simplicity = Beauty

Most Fridays at our house are "Pizza Fridays." Sometimes there are also "Champagne Fridays," but that's a different post. Since MVP and I were out and about on Friday, I went for the pizzas a bit earlier than usual.

We frequent a bargain pizza joint; that way we can get extra for Saturday grazing or friends that might stop by after going out on Friday night. As I waited for our pizza I watched the pizza guy prepping for the busy night ahead.

We live close to a Marine base, and I'm sure this guy is a Marine working a second job. He had that look. He was taking dough from the proofer, punching it down, running it through the pizza dough flattener machine (there may be an actual name for this piece of equipment)*, stretching it, and finally pressing it into the pizza pans and stacking them.

I'm suspecting this is not his dream job; in fact, the job probably sucks pretty badly. Yet, as he did his work, efficiently, with no wasted motion, with a skill built of practice; it was like watching a ballet. There was so much beauty in his timing, his rhythm, and his flow.

I wonder if he ever feels the pleasure of being "in the zone" of his pizza prep. I wonder if he ever recognizes the beauty in the way he does his job. I wonder if the drudgery ever slips over into the sublime. Probably not. It sure was fun for me to watch though.

 

          *It's called a dough sheeter. Ain't Google wonderful?!

A Note About The House Tour

There were comments made (yes, I'm talking to you Gary) that my house looks a bit too tidy. You know I'm all about the keeping it real--remember that one time I took a picture of my dining room table without polishing it first?Anyway, yes, the photos on the house tour do reflect the way my house looks 99% of the time. I admire some of you and your homey clutter. Really, I do. I have this allergy problem though. You know how some people break out in hives when exposed to cats? I break out in bitch when exposed to clutter. Sad, but true. I do allow my children to keep their rooms as they wish as long as the doors are kept closed, so my neuroses is somewhat controlled and you don't need to feel too sorry for my family.

Now keep reading for the real Saturday post!

Are They Trying To Tell Me Something?

What does it mean that when MVP and Mr. Fix-it went to Costco last week they brought this home with them for me?

Not the laptop, I already had that; the Belkin Cush Top. It "Provides increased padded comfort when you use your laptop on your couch, bed, or floor." It also keeps the motor of the laptop cool.

Do they never want to see me again? Are they hoping I just forsake all family interaction and take permanently to my bed where the gripping surface of the Belkin Cush Top allows me to use my laptop from almost any angle? (I'd say it's balance at about 33 degrees right now).

And what was with the snarky comment from MVP about how he was worried I might get a burn on my leg from the heat of the laptop?

Oh well, mine is not to question why, it's just to blog in Belkin comfort! Thanks Guys!

Tears for Fears Part II

Who needs to pay for therapy when a shrink has you on her blogroll? PhD in Yogurtry approved my plan. BTW, read the post I linked to--and have your significant other read it too!

So I've reclaimed my laptop from MVP (the nerve of me--now he has to use either the desktop or the other laptop) and am ensconced in my bedroom. They can tear up the roast chicken I got for dinner themselves.

I have:

A large tumbler of Pine-Orange-Banana juice and Absolut Ruby Red (heavy on the Absolut).

A large bottle of Crystal Geyser with Lemon (to ensure proper hydration).

Terms of Endearment--the clear recommendation for guaranteed tear jerker. Thanks gals (and Stu and Mike)!

Camera--to capture tears should they appear.

The endorsement of Mr. Fix-it--he thinks I'm a little cuckoo, but that doesn't preclude him from being supportive. You've gotta love that in a man.

So, ta-ta for now. I shall report back later. If the rest of this post is grammatically incorrect you'll know I went for a second round of Absolut.

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Live Time Update:

Don't you hate it when you start the tub and push the plug down and then go downstairs to freshen your drink and attempt a conversation with your sullen son and then you come back upstairs to find you never did push the plug down?

Me too.

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Live Time Update:

If you check out at 6:00 a.m NO ONE will think it is their responsibility to put away the rest of the Kirdland 930 pack of toilet tissue.

Jeff Daniels--How the hell did he end up in "Dumb and Dumber?!"

If you've had 2 Pine-Orange-Bananas and Absoluts you are likely to spill a good portion of the third one while walking down the hallway.

OMFG! If Jack Nicholson looks like he does NOW, what hope is there for the rest of us?!

John Lithgow a love interest? And we bought it?!

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Random Thoughts

OMFG--I need  a professional to make me glasses that will both allow me to see the t.v and the laptob==biofocal?!

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Things I have in Common with Aurora Greenway;

I don't like convertibles (all that work for fab hair and I should just let it blow away?)

I'm a much better time with lowered inhibitions.

I want the best for my children.

I've still got it--even with a ------ few pounds, a few years, and a few (very few) grey haris.

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Things I don't have in common with Aurora Greenway:

I would NEVER wear a frou-frou dress.

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Things my mom and I have in common with Aurora Greenway and Emma:

We drove each other CRAZY!

One of us is dead.

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Things I have in common with Emma Greenway:

The croup

Wanting to kill my husband in the early years of my marriage.

Thai--on a 7 out of 10 scale, with Blog This Mom! not the best precursor to Pine-Orange_Banana with Absolout Grapefruit.

 

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Social Butterfly says my mom has left the building!

Tears for Fears

I'm not wordless this Wednesday and I have no pictures for you.

I didn't sleep well last night and I am definitely missing my trademark optimism. The tragedy I posted about yesterday has hit me so hard. Maybe I'll feel totally differently about things tomorrow, but right now I'm hanging on by a thread.

I was going through pictures a couple of weeks ago and found one of Danger Boy's sixth birthday party--the girl that killed her mother was in that picture as a smiling, bunny ear giving, cute little girl. Of course when I looked at the picture I just thought, "I wonder how she's up to." Then I picked up a different picture. Now that first picture is frozen in my mind in day-glo, indelible ink.

I lost my sister in January and a close friend last month and now this. I think what I really need is a good cry--something I haven't done. I cried a little in Costco on my son's 18th birthday when I realized that I'd been so focused on planning the memorial service for Thom that I hadn't baked MVP a cake (homemade birthday cakes are a pretty big thing to me). But I was in the bakery department at Costco and I am a WASP so it's entirely possible I was able to breakdown in such a way that it wasn't noticeable to anyone else.

Since I don't do anything spur of the moment, I think I'm going to need to schedule a cry this week. I'm pretty sure it needs to be that or I'm going to seriously go the stuffing your emotions with food route--I'm already perilously close to doing that.

I used to be able to cry over everything; these days? Nada. Did I waste all my tears on stupid things in my twenties? The tears over my husband being an hour late without a phone call were probably not necessary.  Know I need those tears for things like people dying and they are nowhere to be found. What's up with that?

What will it take I wonder? I've never watched Sophie's Choice and I hear that's a pretty sad movie. I think I might have to toss some inhibition loosening alcohol into the mix. So on my list of things to do this week are drink and cry. I think I want to do it alone, which would make it a daytime activity and that's a little odd. I'll have to think about it.

Does anyone else have any ideas on how to bring out a good cry in a highly controlled, pragmatic person? Or maybe I should be doing something else I haven't thought of. I'm open to anything. Advise me my blog friends! I'll be sure to report back--perhaps complete with a puffy-eyed, smeared mascara, runny nose photo if I'm successful and courageous.

In Which Mr. Fix-it Does A Very Sensible Thing

In our house we like our food spicy--lots of garlic, cayenne, cumin--that type of thing. We also like black pepper. If you are the waiter at a restaurant where they don't trust you with your own pepper mill you WILL be standing there a long time.

About ten years ago, we had a salt and pepper set. I don't remember what it looked like, but I know it wasn't ceramic. It certainly didn't look like any of these because these are totally not how we roll at Casa Juggling Life (not that there's anything wrong with them!).

We had taken our usual step of putting the pepper in the salt shaker as it has more holes. Honestly though, every night we were shake, shake, shaking to get enough pepper on our food. One night, Mr. Fix-it stopped right in the middle of the shaking and got up from the table. He went out to the garage and he got out his Makita cordless drill and he drilled larger  holes in the shaker top. My mom and I looked at each other in amazement. Never, ever in a million years would either of us have thought of doing that. It made us happy.

Today we sport a high output/low rotation pepper shaker!

 

In Other News . . .

I. Am. Done. For. The. Semester!

Can I get a Woop-Woop? I know I can from Mary Alice and Professor J (who found a video that says it far better than I could--a little Alice Cooper and the Muppets anyone?).

OMG people--I wanted to make sure the Woop-Woop was right so I googled the lyrics to the song. Not what I thought I was singing along to AT ALL! I'm assuming our radio station must have been playing the "clean lyrics." Either that or I really need my hearing checked.

True Confessions: I Have A Laundry System

Mrs. G's mother  (as mothers are wont to do) was giving her a bit of a hard time during a recent visit. Apparently, one of Mrs. G's shortcomings is the lack of a laundry system. Now those of us that know and love Mrs. G are convinced she doesn't have any shortcomings, but Mrs. G's mom is not convinced.

Back to the laundry system. In reading the comments, along with the widespread support of Mrs. G and the outrage of daughters everywhere at the judgementalism of mothers everywhere, there was mockery of those who have a laundry system.

At the risk of exposing myself to ridicule in the bloggerhood, I'm going to admit to having a laundry system, share it, and give my rationale.

First, the system. I don't have a laundry room--I have a washer and dryer in the garage with some shelves above them. I also have a couple of rods for hanging clothes (one for air drying, one for clean clothes). I also have a couple of hampers and a laundry basket.

Each morning I grab the clothes from the hampers in each of the four bedrooms on my way out to the garage to feed the dogs. It's just a minute to sort them into their appropriate hampers since I do it every day. If I have a full load, I start one. I usually do 2 to 3 loads every other day; I'm done with laundry by 8:30 a.m. on weekdays.

I never put anything in the dryer unless I'm going to be able to deal with folding it as soon as it's done. Closet space is not an issue in my house, so I hang up all t-shirts and all pants (except for jeans). The clean shirts hang above the washer/dryer and the air dry and need-to-be-ironed clothes hang on a separate rod. Shorts, underwear, socks, p.j.'s, etc. get folded and put into a laundry basket. Towels and that sort of thing get put away immediately most of the time.

I leave all the clothes in the garage during the week and once a week I put everything in piles on the pool table (although a dining room table would work as well). Each family member knows that putting their things away once I sort it is a priority. If they don't put it away in a timely manner, my head explodes (a la katydidnot).

Why do I have a system? Because I'm basically lazy. A system allows me to complete work with a minimum of time and effort expended. Everyone always has clean clothes and it just doesn't seem like that much work. I never (unless I go out of town) have to face Mt. Laundry. Doing laundry efficiently and quickly allows me to spend time on things I'd rather be doing--like blogging about my laundry system!

Three Cheers for SB!

I actually had a different post for today, but I'm going to interrupt my regularly scheduled blogcast to brag about my youngest daughter.

My daughter is a natural athlete. For many years she played softball, but she got tired of that. She wanted to do cheerleading. I convinced her to play volleyball. She did, but she still wanted to do cheerleading. I tried to convince her to play water polo. She saved enough money to cheer for Pop Warner by babysitting (a not small sum of money, btw). We let her cheer.

She liked it and decided she wanted to try out for cheer in high school. She started gymnastics in hopes of getting her round-off/back handspring.

Last week was try-outs. They try out in April for next fall. There were 80 girls competing for 36 spots. The week before try-outs she was at the gym almost daily--she's had the round-off/back handspring for a while, but doing it on the tumble track is a lot different from doing it on the floor.

The day of tumble try-outs almost all the girls chickened out. She was only one of 3 freshmen that tumbled--and she nailed her move. I was so proud of her for doing it. She's only had about 4 months of gymnastics (although she's had about 2 years of doing all the moves on our neighbor's trampoline), so it was a real leap of faith.

The actual "try-out" day was Friday, with the list posted on Sunday morning. I told her how great it was that she did her best, she was a winner in my book for doing the tumbling when most people let fear stop them; luckily, if she didn't make it, there were other sports she could play. Not making a team can sometimes help you grow. All true.

Sunday morning came, with butterflies in both our stomachs. You all know how it is when your child really wants something; you'd really like it for them to be happy (especially when they've worked so hard).

She made it. Yay! If you've done the math you realize about half the girls that tried out did not make it. Some of these girls are her friends. She feels badly for them.

A group of the girls that did make it went out yesterday and made t-shirts to wear to school today--I made it! shirts. SB is not participating. She made the point to these other girls that this is going to just shove it in the faces of the girls (their friends?) that they did not make it. That perhaps the moment of celebration is not worth the pain it will cause.

She did not prevail, but she did make her opinion known. I think it's cool she made the squad. I think it's way cooler that she stood up for her friends.

A Job Well Done

This is what I did Sunday morning. I find it's always a good idea to put off your ironing until a) you must do it or your husband will have to go to work shirtless and pantless and b) a new record for the hottest April 13 on record is being set.

 

I'm not going to say that I enjoy ironing, 'cause I don't. I do, however, enjoy my family and myself looking clean and well-pressed. To achieve that look, an iron must be involved. The other thing I enjoy is the satisfaction that comes from a job well done. The most menial of tasks can sometimes provide that satisfaction.

Even if you don't enjoy cleaning (and who does, really?) or other household chores, you can still get something out of having done the chores. That fleeting (oh-so-fleeting) moment when the ironing/laundry/dishes are DONE is wonderful. Even if it doesn't last for more than about 2 minutes.

It does help you get through the doing when you have 3 TIVOed episodes of High School Confidential to watch while you iron!