I’m not going to vacuum ’til Sears makes one you can ride on.
— Roseanne Barr-American actress-comedian
Last week and the week before I stayed in most of the week and the weekend. There was the snow and the cold breezy winds the week before and the holiday the week after. There was nowhere I wanted to go or needed to go. There were some places I could go but lethargy had set in. I’m not sure I can even tell you how the days passed-they just did. There are some activities that are so routine I can’t remember if I did them today, yesterday, or the day before. At one point I actually started listing them on my calendar and checking them off daily. For example: feed rabbits-check and check. Feed ducks-check. Feed goldfish-check. Feed cats-check. Feed Sam- check. Sam does the breakfast feeding-check.
While I do most of the kitchen chores including meal planning and cooking Sam does clean up and I dry and put away. We have a dishwasher but we rarely use it except when we have company and we can’t remember the last time we had company. Sometimes we can’t even remember the last time we used the dishwasher. Pre-COVID we had a neighborhood gathering here at the Prairie house and while I wasn’t looking a guest put her coffee cup in the dishwasher. A couple of weeks later I noticed a cup was missing from the cup rack. Oh well, I guess someone borrowed the cup or threw it away. We discovered the cup a year later in the dishwasher.
There seems to be a lot more laundry duty. Not that we are wearing a lot more clothing or maybe a lot of different clothing perhaps just the opposite. We’re wearing the same thing over and over so it gets washed more. We have more domestic time on our hands so we wash. We wash the bed sheets more. I did learn not to use bleach as bleach will weaken the fibers and the sheets will have to be replaced more often. Probably everyone else knew that. We also are rotating towels more so there’s more towel washing. We tend to have our favorite towels. I use a detergent 100% free of perfumes and dyes for sensitive skin. I’m not sure we have sensitive skin but who wants to smell like ocean waves clothes detergent.
I’ve already written about decluttering my wardrobe. I’m still working on it. Sometimes I wake in the night and think, should I keep that pink print dress? I try to remind myself to think of it in the morning. I do keep a notepad next to the bed in case I think of something real important or Sam asks me to remind him of something for the next day. A sticky notepad has replaced my memory.
Weeks ago, I pulled out old photographs hoping to arrange them properly. I’m about halfway through. I wonder sometime if these pictures will end up in a flea market and no one will know who we are. Another “Mom motto.” Always write names and dates on the back of pictures.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.