Friday, February 26, 2010

Bored, Bored, Super Bored

In case you can't tell, I'm pretty bored at the moment. It's 9 pm on a Friday, and normally Brian and I would be hanging out, at dinner and/or a movie, watching a movie here, doing SOMETHING. But that jerk is in Key West with his buddies this weekend, and I'm here all by myself, being bored. And its not like I haven't tried to find things to occupy my time around here, but I'm trying to spread the projects around so I have something to do tomorrow. Today I have already worked out, cleaned half the house (upstairs), read half of Sookie Stackhouse book #5, snow blew the driveway and played in the snow for a few minutes, talked to my mother, texted with Candace, watched way too much TV, and was on Facebook for probably 2 hours. And I'm STILL bored.

Like I said, I'm spreading around the things to do, so I'm not twice as bored tomorrow as I am today. Tomorrow I will go to yoga, finish cleaning, re-blow the driveway if need be, and probably read a significant portion of my book, if not finish it. Sure, there are other things to do around here, but most of them are in the nature of things that I need Brian around to do. Like clean and organize the basement. Could I do it? Absolutely. Would he be happy with the results? Probably not. I would most likely throw away things and organize them in a way that would not please him, so that'll have to wait. Only, we've been meaning to get around to that for the past year or so. Oh well. Yesterday, I did some shopping for the house, and got a new mop, springy patterned tablecloth, and replaced a few items of makeup that needed to be pitched. Nothing too crazy.

I didn't work this week, so I had time on my hands. Earlier in the week, Candace helped me start the process of looking at cribs and bedroom furniture sets. I think our plan is to have the kids share for a while, even if we get a boy and a girl (in the tan room, for those of you who have been here). The reasons behind this are several. One, it'll be easier for us for a while, and cheaper to only have to fully furnish one bedroom at first. Two, one of us may have to sleep in the room with them for awhile, because we expect they'll frequently wake, possibly with nightmares, nervousness, etc, for the first period of time. This is normal with children who come from orphanages. And three, also related to sleeping, since these children will be used to sleeping in a room with 10 other children, and NOT used to being alone, we think it'll be more comforting for them too. So, we've decided we'll be shopping for a convertible crib, dresser, etc, for the room, so the young one will have a forever set of furniture. Then, we'll get a cheap toddler bed and mattress for the older one and just put it in the same room. When they're ready to separate, we'll buy a complete bed set and set it all up in the other bedroom (the one that's now green, but used to be blue, right across the hall from the other one).

So, that is literally all that's going on here right now. I've been reading the Sookie Stackhouse books on which "TrueBlood" is based, and they are pretty fantastic, I've been flying through them. It's gotten me thinking that I could totally write something along those lines. I've always wanted to write a book, but have never had the guts to start. April, perhaps a collaboration???

Thanks for letting me alleviate my boredom!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Musings on a Snow Day

Aahh, snow day. As a kid, it's always everyone's favorite day of the year. As an adult, it's STILL my favorite day, even though my work is so sporadic that having a day off is pretty much like most other days! But as early as Monday, I was asking my work if I was REALLY going to have work today, which they probably found extremely irritating. Anyway, yesterday I had to go to Clinton Township of all places, and we were lucky that our deposition got called for the day at a little after one because our Plaintiff was in so much pain (he has mesothelioma, unfortunately, and pops Vicodin probably 6 times a day). So I made it home yesterday by about 3 pm and waited for the snow to increase in intensity, which it did. And my work today in Saginaw DID get canceled, obviously, or I couldn't be working on this blog at 9 am.

So I'm sitting here on my snow day, thinking about stuff. At work yesterday, people were having a fit at the prospect of work being canceled and deps being rescheduled, etc. I remember saying to one of my attorney friends that "asbestos deps are not worth me risking my life" and his response was a very cheerful, yet serious, "Yes, they are!" And all I could think was, WTF? NO, THEY'RE NOT!

It's that response by my friend that got me pondering this: When did everyone start to think their lives are so big and important that a snow day will simply ruin everything? When did we become a society of people always moving, moving, moving, but never really seeming to get anything that really matters done? We're all walking around like chickens with our heads cut off. And honestly, people, IT'S NOT THAT IMPORTANT. Very few things things in life truly cannot wait--a medical emergency, a birth, the response times of the Police Department when you call 911. But other than that, seriously, it can wait. Today's asbestos deps can wait until next week. That lunch date with a friend, it can wait. That trip to the grocery store because I MUST GO TODAY (probably so little Billy doesn't run out of his favorite junk food that he doesn't need anyway)--well, it too, can wait.

When it's snowing like this, seriously, just stay home. That's what people used to do, back when people had common sense and no over blown sense of self importance. I wish more non-vital businesses would shut down or delay opening on days like this, so people could stay home with their kids, and not be forced to drive in this muck, etc. I remember my mom taking me to work with her when I was little and we had days off school (she was a housekeeper, so this was allowed). I actually remember us putting our car into the ditch one day trying to get to her work (hmmm, do you think that means we probably should have just stayed home? Again, cleaning the person's house could wait!). I think we, as a society, need to take a deep breath and think about what is truly vital in our lives and what isn't.

Candace and I have been watching "Anne of Green Gables" and the sequel, and the other day I said to her, "I could live like that," which brought up the idea of going without certain modern conveniences. I certainly don't want to live without blue jeans, antibiotics and tampons, and said this, but I certainly could live a life where the most pressing issue is when the cows get milked and what's for dinner, and where you ride your bike into town every day to get the mail and maybe something at the store. I think its a better lifestyle than most of us have today.

Funny the kind of musings a snow day can bring.

Enjoy it, everyone.