Just Another Lazy Day Me

I hate to be the one to break it to you younger moms in your late 30's/early 40's, but the difference between age 40 and age 50 is huge. HUGE. And it surprised the heck out of me.

Most birthdays haven't bothered me. The only birthday I remember feeling blue about was my 3oth. I wore all black to work that day, and told everyone I was in mourning for my youth. God, I was so young and foolish!

The difference between 2o and 30 wasn't too great. Maybe I was more inclined to get a hangover if I drank too much. But physically I was in better shape and lower weight at 30 than at 20. (Maybe because I lost approximately 170 pounds of ex-husband...ya think?)

I had a lot of life changes in my 30's. I moved across the country; I remarried; I had my one and only child. I was afraid that my 40th birthday would be depressing but in fact it was rather exhilerating. I was amazed at how FREEING it felt. And I was still in pretty good shape, physically.

Now here I sit, on the cusp of 50, and I realize I am the laziest woman on the planet. I really should own about a tenth of the items I actually do, because I have no energy or interest in cleaning or dusting them.

Hubs is sleeping, having spent the last two days at work (after surgery on Monday - I knew he was overdoing it by going back too soon). Darling Daughter is off to the mall with her BFF. It's a beautiful sunny day, but other than a few loads of laundry I have spent most of the day on my butt laptop.

The garden is full of weeds, my house is full of clutter. I have a million "I should be doing _______" sentences running through my head. Yep, I really should. My mother, who is seventy-mumble-mumble years old, has more energy and gets more accomplished than me. I feel like my own lazy teenager.

But here I sit, surrounded by three sleeping cats who are putting the idea of a nap into my head.

Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go switch my laundry loads....yawn....snort....zzzzzzzz.

Is it summer yet??

For my family, our daily routine feels more difficult this time of year. Blooming flowers begin to sweeten the air. The days are longer. We're more active. We stay up later in the evening. The end of the school year is on the horizon, and suddenly it's a lot harder to drag our butts out of bed in the morning.

My sister out on the Left Coast seems to be going through the same thing. Her kids may not know how many days are left in the school year, but sis has it counted out and the days marked on her calendar. I haven't counted our days yet. A few were added on because the kids had several 'snow days' this winter.


I always have such high hopes for summer. There are so many things I think I'm going to accomplish, and every year I think, "This will be THE YEAR." I'm going to clear out my hutch of dishware I haven't used in ages; organize bookshelves; alphabetize our DVD's. Get my sewing machine out and do all the little projects I keep thinking about. Clean out the attic (This one I'm actually working on!) Finally send off to charity all the clothes Darling Daughter has outgrown. (Sometimes I feel like we're up to our ears in stacks of clothes.) Get rid of the clutter that seems to follow me like a dark cloud.



I start out the season with bursts of energy, buying annuals, filling planters, setting out summer furniture. Of course you really shouldn't plant anything but pansies before the end of May in New England, as we'll still get a few freezing nights. I remember snowfall on Mother's day a few years ago.

Despite what the calendar says, the first day of summer starts the minute Darling Daughter gets home that last day of school. It's so great to not have to deal with the morning rush! The days stretch out before me and I know, "THIS IS THE YEAR!!"

Unfortunately my good intentions are short-lived and our days are quickly filled with another routine - our summer routine.

Schleppng Darling Daughter to and from sleepovers, or extra kids at our house. Vacation Bible School, which I'm very involved with (I'm usually in charge of Arts & Crafts). Many years we take a trip out to visit my family Oregon.

Then before I know it's I'm up to my ears in packing up the people-mover, and we're off on our annual family vacation at Cape Cod. It's our favorite time of the whole year. The Hubs gets in some kayaking; Darling Daughter reconnects with summer friends. I take a tote bag full of books and work my way through them at the pool or beach.

It seems like I barely blink and it's September already. And my hutch is still chock full, and the bookshelves are still in disarray, and the DVD's are not in order. My sewing projects are not done. We buy new school clothes, thereby creating yet another stack of clothes to send off to charity.

Wait a minute - I'm anticipating the sadness of summer ending and it hasn't even begun yet!

I'm done. I'm off to bed, hoping I'll awaken to warm, sunny weather, so we can get this party started. Bring on Summer!

Rainy Days and Mondays

Today was both.

My energy level is directly tied to weather. On a sunny day I'm out of bed, rarin' to go, and I get so much accomplished! But a dark, rainy day and I'm a slug. No amount of caffeine will jump start me.

I lived my first 25 years in the state of Oregon. Rain Central. Rain is such a part of life in Oregon that the two major universities have water creatures as mascots...

I don't remember feeling lethargic on rainy days growing up. Of course I had youth on my side. But still. When you live with rain as a part of daily life, it becomes a non-issue.

Maybe it's a symptom of middle age. Maybe it's part of menopause. I don't really know - but a day like today and I feel like I'm slogging through Jello.

What's discouraging is that rain is predicted all week! I don't stand a chance.

In keeping with the theme of this post, I offer you this - sing along if you wish!

Best two hours ever spent!

"Hello, my name is Kathy and I am a bad housekeeper."

"Hi Kathy!"

Truer words were never spoken. I will deny it no longer. I'm coming out out of the closet...if I can manage to climb over the old curtain rods, rollerblades (2 sizes two small), rubbermaid tub of baby clothes my daughter outgrew 12 years ago, deflated basketball, and the box of craft supplies that I swear I am going to get to some day. I will stop my red-faced attempts at maintaining the facade of being a woman in control of my life. I am the WORST housekeeper in the world.

I blame my family.

I am but one third of the life force living in this house. One-fifth if you count the cats. HEY WAIT there's that hermit crab...ok, I am one-SIXTH of the life force.

And the only one who really doesn't make a mess around here is the hermit crab.

The thing is, see, I wasn't always like this. When I lived alone I had a tidy place. I loved my single-chick apartment. LOVED IT. I was a mostly-carefree career girl who loved to get out and go places, have adventures, see the world. Which is how I met and eventually ended up falling in love with a man who lived on the other side of the country.

"First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes the baby in the baby carriage".

Somewhere in there I lost it. I LOST CONTROL. I have lots of theories on the whys and hows. It all makes great sense. I could sit here for quite a spell and tell you all my theories. In fact, let's do that - I'll put the tea kettle on, we'll get comfy...and then I don't have to actually get up and FACE THE MESS.

Look up "Housekeeper" in the dictionary and it will say "NOT KATHY'. There will be a picture of me, smiling in denial... with a red slash across my face.

You get the point.

Now we get to the good part. (Good for me, I mean). Today my friend "K" came over to help me. Does that make me too lame for words? "I can't take care of my own house, waahhh!" Yep, I felt pretty lame. "K" is one of those artsy women, you know the ones. She can take a dead tree branch and turn it into a gorgeous wall sconce for holding votive candles. The kind that I always wished I could be but just don't have the knack or the talent. (She has one heck of a green thumb as well but since we won't be seeing anything green here in New England for at least another month, I'll wait to tell you those stories).

It turned out to be wonderful! Incredible! Totally FABOO!!! We focused on my baker's rack in the kitchen, which, while holding useful and important stuff, also tends to get clogged up with lots of not-so-useful and really unimportant stuff. Valentine's cards I bought six weeks in advance but never got around to mailing, birthday gifts for folks whose birthday is four months away, odds and ends that go someplace else but ONE of us was too lazy to put it back where it belonged. (One of us....I'm not sayin'....might be me....could be me....OKAY IT'S ME, ALRIGHT!?!? Enough already with the guilt!!)

We spent two hours visiting, tossing and sorting ...this goes back to the living room bookcase, that can go to Good Will, save this for the church yard sale, etc. (Yes, I am that lame.)

In fact we enjoyed the time together so much we're going to do it again. I figure, if she comes over for two hours every Monday morning, my house should be looking fabulous by the year 2010. July 17, 2010. Write that down. You're invited for tea.