Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Ready for Folklife

I realized around 7 p.m. this evening that I am Ready for Folklife. At least I am ready for Folklife assuming that things go mostly as planned.

I've submitted materials due to my clients this week, and now have two days to get the house ready and my gear packed.

Tom vacuumed the house, I cleaned the bathrooms, and tonight I was mopping the kitchen floor when disaster struck: I'd mopped over to the far end of the kitchen when a cat leaped up on the counter and projectile vomited onto the floor I'd already mopped. Sigh.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

All over the place

Every morning when the iPhone alarm goes off I look at my calendar. Much of what I see surprises me a bit. That's good; if I'd been thinking about it, I probably wouldn't have slept very well.

Occasionally solutions for one of my projects jump into my head while I'm working on a different project. I've started to send myself emails with these ideas.

Other times I get so deeply into a particular project that I can't remember anything else.
Tom walks into my office and for just a millisecond I'm not sure who he is or what he's doing here.

The constants in all of this are the cats. They are always sure they belong everywhere.

Sheba

Monday, May 09, 2011

Spring cleaning: I don't do windows

I know there are those among you who consider me a neatnik, but, believe me, my brand of cleaning is nothing compared to the way my mom (and her cleaning woman) cleaned the house when I was a kid.

There was weekly dusting that involved the removal of anything that wasn't glued down and moving most of the furniture. An electric broom deployed daily in addition to weekly vacuuming. Bathroom floors (tile) scrubbed on hands and knees with sudsy ammonia. (Just the thought if that last one makes me stop breathing.)

And seasonally my mom would clean out every closet and cabinet in the house, replacing the shelf-liners and draw-liners. Each spring, blankets and sweaters were washed (and occasionally shrunk beyond recognition), aired, and stored with mothballs (again with the breathing) in massive steamer trunks and padded, quilted garment bags of a sort that can no longer be purchased (and neither can the mothballs, thank gods).

These days my spring cleaning consists of sending a bunch of winter sweaters and wool coats out for dry cleaning and throwing the down and fleece clothing into the washer and dryer. Once the stuff is clean, I store it in labeled boxes in the attic along with packets of some herbal moth-discourager.

My big splurge is having all the windows cleaned by a fellow who's insured if he falls off the ladder into my rhodies. After he's done, we haul the screens out various storage nooks and install them. Ready for summer!

I used to take my car in to be detailed every May, but that's no longer urgent because my mom no longer comes out to Seattle for the summer. So the car's exterior is gray-on-gray and the back seat is full of needles from the evergreens I bought at the garden center two months ago. Shhh! I think I can live with it.

Saturday, May 07, 2011

Deadlines

I am looking at deadlines for a series of commitments...it's not so bad now that the first one — a board retreat I was organizing — is done.

The next deadline is for a major-donor "thank you" party I'm organizing (May 11).

After that, it's a deadline for a magazine article (new publication, major article) on May 30. (Yes! Folklife weekend!)

Then there's a deadline for a short story for a writer's workshop later in the summer (due June 15).

I think it says something that I have been completely freaking out about the entertainment events but am actually looking forward to doing the writing. Writing doesn't require cleaning the house, subduing the cats, mowing the lawn, getting dressed up, being diplomatic. In fact, quite the opposite.