Everyday Life

I told my sister, in a comment on her blog, that only boring people are bored. What I failed to take into account is that one need not be bored to be without anything interesting to blog about.

I, for one, had an incredibly full and interesting day. I wasn’t bored for a minute. But I kind of doubt you’re interested in what I did today.

Chances are you aren’t interested in the details of my morning routine. Chances are, you don’t care that I remade my bed and folded and put away all my clothes as soon as they came out of the dryer.

You probably don’t care that I read Job 23 and Jeremiah 29 today–the first contained a passage I identified strongly with (v.8-9), the second contained a verse that gave me great hope (v. 13). You probably don’t care that I found my piano books and put in some practice time this morning.

Most likely you’re bored by medical terminology–and couldn’t care less that anoxemia is a deficiency of oxygen in the blood. You don’t probably have any opinion about the studies that had me tearing my hair out today.

I can’t imagine that you’ll be excited to hear that I balanced my checkbook today, updated my family’s phone numbers in my new cell phone, and mailed in my cell phone refund.

My life, and my day, was interesting to me–but you most likely see it quite differently.

Well, I’m grateful for a packed full, productive, enjoyable day–even if it left me with a rather boring blog.

The clock said 10:26–I had four minutes to go when my boss beckoned me. I had a phone call, she said, from the University Police.

I was a bit shocked, until she said, “Something about a missing wallet?

Seems the purse I thought I’d left on top of Jack and therefore lost somewhere on my little dead end street actually made its way to campus, where a kindhearted kid picked it up and took it to the campus police.

I dropped by the station to pick it up–the policewoman wanted me to inspect it, make sure nothing was missing. “Well, my cell phone is destroyed” I said. “Destroyed?” She sounded shocked. I knew it sounded extreme, but I didn’t know how else to describe it. I showed her the battery that had come unplugged and the flip top that was completely separated from the keypad–revealing thin copper sheets of circuitry. “Oh yes. Do you want to file a report?–Cause we have the name of the guy who dropped it off.” I assured her that I had no interest in filing a report. “I’ll just buy a new phone. After all, the purse was on the ground somewhere–it could have been in the street or in a parking lot and gotten run over.” She conceded that was a possibility. Nothing else was missing or disturbed. I signed the papers and left for class.

And after class, I dropped by the cell phone store, where I picked up a new phone, free after mail-in-rebate. We renewed our contract about a month ago, but I saw no need to get a new phone when the one I had worked just fine. My frugality/eco-friendliness paid off, since I ended up with a brand new free phone right after mine had been destroyed.

Within five hours of “losing” my phone, I had a new one that worked. Pretty amazing if you think about it. Someone must be on my side ;-)

However, that leaves me address-book-less for the moment. So if you want me to put you back on my new contact list, give me a call or text me at my same old number (and don’t forget to tell me who you are.) If you don’t call me, I’ll just wait until I have to call you, then I’ll look it up the old-fashioned way–by calling my mom!

Autumn is, at long last, dropping into fall. Gone is the Indian Summer with its bread-baking noondays and cool evenings. Now, it is starting to get truly cold.

I got out of my bath to discover that, outside of the steamy warmth of the bathroom, I was cold. Only days ago, I had my overhead fan on. Today, I’m considering whether to turn on my electric blanket.

I did laundry today–and for the first time in a long time, I put more shirts in my sweater drawer than in my t-shirt drawer.

I saw a girl in a coat today, and it made me think–“I need to put a new lining in my fall coat.” I thought about it last spring, as I packed it away. I even added it to my running to-do list. But I haven’t paid much attention to it since. It certainly wasn’t priority. But it might be now.

I’m contemplating how this fall will be the same, and different, from previous ones. Like many other falls, my thoughts turn to Christmas with expectation. But thanks to the marvels of modern medicine, I may actually be able to enjoy the months leading up to Christmas (instead being destined to hibernation and sluggishness).
I’ve never dressed up for Halloween before–but this year, we have a costume contest at work (and I’m going to WIN!) I’ve generally gone on a hiatus from leg shaving during the fall and winter months–but this year I’ve got to be a professional, which means I probably shouldn’t bristle.

Fall–it’s a good season, I think. Let it come. Whatever it throws at me, old or new, I’m ready for it.

Thanks to a whip-cracking week last week (which unfortunately did not include blogging–sorry, everyone), I currently have no pressing deadlines. Which meant that instead of making a to-do list for today, I went agenda-less. I woke up this morning with only two fixed engagements–work from 8 to noon and Joanna around 7. Everything else was negotiable.

So what did I do today?

If you guessed nothing, you don’t know me quite well enough.

Today, I did things and then wrote them in my planner and crossed them off.

I did my morning routine–and wrote “morning routine” in my planner and crossed it off. I went to work–and wrote “work” in my planner and crossed it off. I made new shelves for my shoes in my closet while waiting for my milk to heat up for yogurt–and wrote “closet-shoes” and “yogurt” in my planner and crossed them off. I decanted and strained some liqueur I started making a while back–and wrote “liquer” (yes, I spelled it wrong) in my planner and crossed it off. I worked some cross-stitch (quite a bit actually) on my sampler–and wrote “cross-stitch” in my planner and crossed it off. I watched Tom Sawyer–and wrote “Tom Sawyer” in my planner and crossed it off. I did dishes…

I think you get the picture.

I love being productive. I love putzing around the house. I love flitting from one thing to the next without a care in the world. These are the joys of being caught up.

So often, I live my life according to a tightly arranged agenda. I must get x, y, and z done by such and such a time. I must be here by then or else I’ll be late to there. I ran my entire undergraduate career–just trying to stay one step ahead. I started my graduate career trying to catch up (Mexico to grad school in 12 hours, remember?) So now it feels nice to finally be ahead.

Now if I can remember to live in what Stephen Covey calls “Quadrant II.” Quadrant II is all about doing the things that are Important but not Urgent. It’s making sure you never get to the place where you’re scrambling to meet deadlines. It’s an awesome place to be, theoretically. I don’t know for reality because I’ve never been there–I’ve always been playing catch-up, or racing the deadlines (Covey’s Quadrant I).

So then–
Today I’m agenda-less
Tomorrow I’m Quadrant II

“Thank you, my friend” she said when I dropped her off at her door.

I thought I’d heard her say the same thing on Wednesday, but then convinced myself that I was dreaming.

Today, there was no doubt in my mind.

I don’t envy Nyayan’s position. She’s a Sudanese refugee working in the dishroom, which is populated primarily by students and mentally challenged individuals. She has a hard time speaking English, the students aren’t interested in talking to her, the special-needs workers don’t really talk that much–and often have communication issues of their own. So Nyayan works 40 hours a week in virtual isolation.

Then we get into the car and chat briefly in the five minutes that it takes to get to her house. I ask about her baby (2 months old right now). She asks me about my car’s mirror and when I’m working next. I ask her if she has plans for her weekend off.

It doesn’t feel like much. I give her a ride. I talk with her. I made her baby a quilt. It’s not much at all.

I feel honored that she considers me a friend.

In Laura Ingalls Wilder’s The Long Winter, Pa notices that the muskrats are building very thick walls for their homes. He worries that the coming winter is going to be hard.

Creatures of all sorts do different things in preparation for the winter. Some grow fat in preparation for a long hibernation period. Some store up food in preparation for a long dearth of fresh food. I am one of the latter. When the weather starts getting cool, I start thinking of storing up food. Of course, once the days get too much shorter, I’m going to enter hibernation as well–when my average sleep needed goes from a little less than eight hours to something well over ten. But I digress.

My local grocery store had a sale this weekend–sections of meat for reduced prices. So when I got off work at eight this evening, I went grocery shopping. I got a 14 lb beef bottom and a 10 lb tube of hamburger–oh, and several pounds of beans, a 15 lb bag of potatoes, a five lb bag of carrots…you get the picture.

This meat (and probably the potatoes too) should get our little household through Christmas at least (my sister thinks ’til next spring, but I’m not so sure). As of right now, my mother’s deep freeze (which she is so gracious to let us make use of, our little freezer being STUFFED full) now contains 2 roasts, 2 packs of steaks, about 10 packs of stew/stir fry/bbq beef meat, 8 bags of ground beef, and 2 bags full of meatballs.

Winter can come, my house is ready. We have beef enough to outlast it.