Cleaning Day

With the excitement of recent travel....
With the stress of year-end financials at work....
With the bother of our own tax returns to complete....
With lacrosse season starting up (kk) and ninjitsu season never-ending (spencer)...

hmmm... I'm running out of excuses to show you how I am MUCH too busy to clean or even pick up the ratty shoes on the staircase that have sat there for weeks. (Well maybe just days, but they're so icky it feels like weeks.)

Probably because there aren't any more reasons?

Oh! There were the really great books that I just had to read straight through, and the messenger bag that I just had to learn to sew, and the invitations that just had to be made for a friend.

At this point, it is probably needless to mention that the cleaning/clutter pick-up duties of our home have been neglected. Seriously neglected.

If they had a CPS for neglected homes, they would be knocking at my door right now.

So today has been designated as cleaning day.

Actually an appraiser is coming to our home on Thursday for our loan refinancing. I've heard that appraisers are looking at just the nuts and bolts of the home, but if said appraiser falls over the nuts and bolts strewn about my scrap room floor (in the form of ink pads, paper, eyelets, cameras) or the nuts and bolts upstairs in the form of half-unpacked luggage, I can see the home value starting to slide! (In addition to the slip-and-sliding it's already been doing with the economy.) I just want to make sure that the appraiser feels the intrinsic value of the home so strongly he/she applies it to the extrinsic (if that's not a word, I mean the final number that he actually values the house at) value. Perhaps warm chocolate chip cookies are in order?

I started out cleaning day by accidentally sleeping in.
I then did a check of e-mail and all the blog sites that I follow. Can't miss anything important!
I then went to gym to exercise. I haven't been to the gym in over two years, and today seemed like a good day to go back.
And now I am blogging.
It's only 12:48 pm. The day is still young! The cleaning will happen!
I hope!

Unintended Travels

Back from our trip to the Dominican Republic (and several other unintended cities!)

The plan was to leave home at 4am, board a flight to Charlotte, NC, then connect to Punta Cana.
Easy enough.
Weather was beautiful as we took off right on schedule, our spirits were high! (along with our bodies in the airplane.)
until...
the plane was diverted to Bristol, Tennessee because of fog in Charlotte. Huh? I thought fog was reserved for the airports near...uh....oceans? San Francisco? Los Angeles? Sydney?
Who knew they had fog in Charlotte?
They do.

so after a delightful (cough,cough) stay in Bristol, we landed in Charlotte too late to catch the last flight of the day to the DR.

instead, we caught a flight in the other direction to:
Our luggage didn't catch the same flight...
Our spirits drooped a bit... our clothes were even droopier- especially the white t-shirt that I wore and accidentally dropped chocolate sauce on in the Charlotte airport.
After 16 hours of travel we ended up farther away from the DR than when we began! After checking into a Fairfield Inn in Jamaica, NY we enjoyed an amazing dinner at the in-hotel restaurant (situated in a large conference room area), we were able to laugh about the whole situation.

Thursday found us arriving in the DR only a day late and several dollars short. (I just couldn't abide the really gross by now white t-shirt, and had to buy an over-priced one at the airport. I have learned my lesson and will never travel in white again! I should probably not wear white ever again...but it matches everything which is a plus for the matching challenged like myself.) The resort was one of the nicest I have ever stayed at, and the service was beyond gracious.







Our room had an ocean-front view and it was beautiful. Right in front was a private beach with little tiki huts and bed-like lounge chairs (what are they called, anyone know?) Cares of the real world just slipped away and life took on a dream-like quality. And that is pretty much how we spent the next four days! Sitting on our bed-like lounge chairs, people-watching, reading, and napping. I do this well. Dave has a bit harder time with the relaxing thing, but he tried hard! I was proud of him for his effort.

























And now we are back to real-life. The concerns that seemed trivial now seem important again, but nowhere near as important as they seemed before the trip. Outside the resort grounds, we saw the hardships that many of the Dominicans face on a daily basis. We felt gratitude for the blessings in our lives, and have added the lovely Dominican people to our nightly prayers.

Fue de Pesca

Viajo a la República Dominicana (Punta Cana) para una vacaciones breves. ¡Regrese pronto!

Jai-Ho means...

Victory....Victorious.....
And if you haven't heard of jai-ho before, you need to watch this video...as Jai-ho is one of the songs on the soundtrack for the movie Slumdog Millionaire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC3QNyEuBgY

I've read several books (A Suitable Boy, The Space Between Us, Bombay Nights) based in India, and I would love to go there someday....

This morning as I headed off to another day at the office doing final (and detested) year-end work, I played Jai-Ho loud and sang even louder. It was enough to scare the (ironically Indian-looking) man in the silver SUV next to me into speeding up and disappearing rapidly into the distance. That caused me to laugh which may have scared other drivers! I may see myself in a news report tonight- police are seeking middle-aged woman last seen laughing wildly while singing and "dancing" to rousing indian music. Suspected of scaring all other drivers off the road.

All in all...it was a Jai-Ho day!

Two Run-on Sentence Book Reviews

I've spent alot of time lately reading, less time doing necessary chores around the house. But it's been so much more interesting than doing chores... That reminds me of a poem I've used often to avoid my not-cleaning-the-house-guilt....

The cleaning and scrubbing can wait for tomorrow
for they will be back, I've learned to my sorrow
So quiet down cobwebs, dust go to sleep,
I'm reading my book and it's really deep!

(with my apologies to the original poetess Ruth Hulbert Hamilton)

The Lace Reader by Brunonia Barry

An absorbing read that started out strong but reminded me of a term paper I once wrote that reached the required number of pages before I really dealt properly with the subject; I promptly ended the paper (and didn't get a great grade.) The story line deals with several intense issues including mental illness, incest, and fanatacism, and I guarantee you that the movie (which I am sure will be made someday) will be way too scary for me to see!




The Poyson Garden by Karen Harper

A light and fairly amusing mystery featuring Elizabeth I as the amateur detective resolving mysteries that especially pertain to her future kingdom and her desire to remain alive to reign over that kingdom. This book strains the imagination on several points, especially Elizabeth's never-failing ability to sneak out of the manor house she was "imprisoned" at during the reign of her sister Queen Mary, but still manages to be a fun read.




A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick

The depth of this book surprised me after a bland beginning telling the story of Evelyn who decides open a quilt store and start new life in Connecticut after her husband (who she dutifully served for many years) leaves her. The book turns out to be an enjoyable read as the author develops the characters delightfully and skillfully deals with the topic of forgiveness.