Tuesday, March 20, 2012

The Scintilla Project - Day 4

For Day 4: We'll go with door number 2. (A trip to Redding and assorted other things kept me from writing Monday.)

1. Talk about your childhood bedroom. Did you share? Slam the door? Let someone in you shouldn't have? Where did you hide things?

2. What does your everyday look like? Describe the scene of your happiest moment of every day.
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One of the joys of being retired (or on vacation) is not setting an alarm clock, at least most days. (If I have a 10 o'clock class or appointment, yeah, I set it for about 7:45 to allow myself time to get breakfast and shower, and not to be hurried about either.)

I am not a lark. I have NEVER been an early riser if I could choose. I do not sing cheerily in the mornings, engaging in light-hearted, amusing conversation, nor do I do tasks that require a great deal of mental focus and acuity, like, oh, math of any kind (not that I do much of that anyway).

As an employee, I used mornings to proofread documents or file papers. I did not write stories or work on ads. My creativity begins to wake up after 10, and is usually highest between 11 and 4, although I certainly can work late into the evening when necessary.

Nowadays, after breakfast is done and assuming I have a free morning, I head to the computer to read e-mail, browse blogs and Facebook, maybe putz online, checking out free Kindle downloads or what's on sale at my favorite shoe sites. Nothing that requires mental focus and acuity, y'see?

I'm responsible for grocery shopping and meal prep, so almost always in the back of my head, I'm figuring out what's on the menu for the day and how long it'll take to fix.

Usually Mondays are laundry days, fresh sheets and towels, and general tidying. Tuesdays and Thursdays are yoga classes, and I try to plans shopping trips, prescription runs and the like for those days since I'm in town anyway. Since I'm the representative payee for my daughter, I also try to fit in her shopping or bill-paying days then as well. That can eat up a big chunk of a day.

I am never without something that needs doing: closets or drawers or cabinets that need cleaning, R's bills to sort and pay and record, papers to be sorted and dealt with. (I am never done, either. And there's always the attic that MUST be dealt with before the weather gets hot: all those ancient papers and half-finished crafts and old suitcases.) Garden season is coming up, and I know I'll be spending time outside prepping the space, planting, weeding, watering. There are weeds to kill, fallen limbs and debris from the winds to pick up, meadow grass to trim back, a big burn pile. There's never a shortage of outside chores that need doing either, although I'm not always eager to get out there and do them. And yeah, I try to get on the treadmill and 'jiggler' at least several times a week, although my will is weak.

I read two newspapers most days, though, and because of the rising cost of newspapers and subsequent decrease in page count, that can take anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes. I love the feel of the newspaper in my hand, unlike my techie husband who prefers his news digitally, and as long as I can still subscribe to a print version, I'm likely to do so. We also get several magazines, and I'm likely to spend a little time reading through current issues. Although I love to read novels, I rarely do that during the day, saving that treat for bedtime. If I got involved in a novel, we'd be eating crackers and cheese for dinner and nothing else would happen.

Most evenings find us settled in front of the television, watching a pre-recorded episode of one of our favorite series, or perhaps a movie. I might knit while I'm watching; sometimes I skim through magazines that I've set aside.

Pretty boring, hm?

One thing I am *not* is super-involved in anything right now.  I've done that: off to meetings and gatherings and committees and rehearsals. I know something will eventually pique my interest enough to want to jump into it again and get passionate about a cause or an event or a program, but at this moment, I'm enjoying being a homebody, a bit of a slug.

Far and away my favorite moment of any given day is bedtime: both of us are snuggied down in the bed, either iPad or magazine in hand to read a bit, kitties starting to settle in their favorite places on our bed. Our little sound machine generates soothing ocean wave sounds; the bed is comfortable and warm, and the love of my life looks at me with his big brown eyes and tells me how much he loves me, adores me, cherishes me. And I smile back at him with my eyes, my mouth, my soul.

It just doesn't get better than that.

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