Wednesday, July 23, 2014

a summer ramble



It's been one of those weeks so far when I have had the most bizarre and truly incomprehensible dreams all night, waking to get drinks of water and figure out if I'm awake or still dreaming, sitting up in bed, getting out of bed and getting back in bed bewildered by it all.  During these hot and humid days, I daydream that Shane surprises me by bringing home a portable air conditioner that allows me to keep my hair long and my house clean without sweating. Then I think how dumb it is to have a machine in our small house that I will have to clean around and generally not need 358 days out of the year.

The laundry is piling up around here, huddled in small groups likely commiserating over their collective needy state. We have gone a week and a half without our own washing machine and we are supposed to be getting our new washer and dryer delivered today by Sears. I have done laundry twice since the machine broke, once at our sitter's house last week(and then again at our next door neighbor's) where I picked the shortest cycles on her machine once she informed me each load takes her an hour to do. As it was the girls and I ate our lunch there and kept our distance from a playmate of Seth's who the sitter was watching for an hour. A playmate who has long hair and was being treated for lice. Poor fellow.
Our sitter owns a computer and many home-shopping network gadgets but she does not want the internet. Sooooo, I spent the afternoon mentally hurrying the washing machine and dryer to do its thing to our clothes so I could be back in time to get our dinner ready and my regular life under control. That was Tuesday. Wednesday after dinner, she came to our house and watched the kids while Shane and I took ourselves into the unknown world of shopping for appliances. This is the first time we have needed to buy any appliance other than toaster ovens and a microwave. I've put off buying a new dishwasher for two years, I think I have appliance-buying anxiety.  Anyways after a terrible dream about the our washer and dryer being delivered in a completely ridiculous manner, I woke up a bit worried and am kind of hoping they make us their last stop of the day and then Shane would be home to handle this. [updated to say, he wasn't here and it didn't go quite as we planned. oh well, we have the new machines.] Let's distract ourselves by looking at another picture.


My girls are currently over at the neighbor's house inside where I rarely allow them to intrude. But the neighbor girl's mom is away having accompanied our next-door neighbor to the hospital in the ambulance that came around eight o'clock this morning. She is having problems with back pain, but it may something more serious so her husband called the ambulance to come fetch her back to the hospital. The other neighbor mom asked her sitter, another neighbor(Have I ever mentioned there are 20 units of condos here?) to come take care of her two girls while she hopped in her car and followed the ambulance since the husband had to be out of town on a work emergency for much of the day and I will spare you the details on why that is.
The neighbor on the other side of us, carried her baby monitor with her so she could sit with the the two girls until the quickly-sought sitter could get herself dressed.  This is not the first time I have realized that this type of condo living has the benefit of forming a natural community since our lives are easily intertwined. Or I should say, can be intertwined. Some of the residents keep to themselves, but those of us with children interact quite freely. Two of the units are currently up for sale, the second one just got the realtor sign pounded into its front lawn about ten minutes ago.


A humorous first occurred in our house this morning. I came downstairs after having showered, dressed and dolled myself up(drying hair, putting on light powder and blush, and using deodorant) and Seth took one look at me and said, "What are you wearing?". Taken aback by this endearing expression of love and concern, I inquired as to the problem. Apparently it was inexplicable as all he could muster was "You look, odd."  Satisfied I was not immodest by his standard, just strange, I proceeded to get on with my day.  Are you wondering what I was wearing that prompted this concern?  Can you imagine a comfy black tennis-type skirt with a equally comfy black crew-neck tee-shirt? I think it was the black ankle socks that did it. I added those because I knew the floor needed to be vacuumed and I wanted to protect my clean feet. I'm going out for dinner with two friends tonight, one of whom is moving away. Since I never do this, I should probably get Seth to check my outfit for the "odd" quotient. Better to know ahead of time what the strange looks sent my way mean.
Of course, if I am seen wearing just a camisole/tank top around the house, Seth and Laura usually ask if that's what I'm wearing to church or just out. Obviously my children are prudent souls concerned for my reputation or more likely they just don't want me to embarrass them. I think they are doing a good job of raising me so far, only time will truly tell.



5 comments:

  1. You had me smiling and laughing to myself as I read this! How are the new machines? Hope it all went smoothly.

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    1. Barb, everything seems to be running well and my basement is back in order. I'm glad you enjoyed the silliness into which I descended.

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  2. I think I like you most because your idea of being dolled up is: drying hair, putting on light powder and blush, and using deodorant. That is about as fussy as you get. Sadly, my idea up dolled up is just the deodorant.

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    1. If I had your beautiful skin and easy hair, I would only need deodorant too. :) So glad you popped out of cottage life to come read here.

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  3. "Obviously my children are prudent souls concerned for my reputation or more likely they just don't want me to embarrass them. I think they are doing a good job of raising me so far, only time will truly tell." HA! Too funny!

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