A Division of Labor

beer in a wineglass from a friend (she painted it)

Aka Nadine over at In Blue Ink wrote a story that derived from an interesting post by Miriel about chores and who does what household jobs.

I am not a very tidy person, and that is a bit of an understatement.  However, I am not the worst slob I've ever seen by a long shot, either.

 When I met my husband, he was extremely tidy.  Turns out that was in part a show he was putting on for me when we were courting, but he's probably still tidier than I am.  During the time we were courting, he did most of the cooking and all the cleaning and laundry etc. when I was staying at his house and I did everything at my house.  I mowed my lawn, he mowed his, I shoveled my driveway and he shoveled his EXCEPT occasionally, he'd also shovel mine.  He was always willing.

 When we discussed living together, and getting married, I expressed a deep concern about my perceived differences in our housekeeping styles and he said, "I'll do everything" and I said, "you can't do everything," and he said, "I WILL do everything," and even though I didn't think trying to do everything was that great an idea, I decided if he was willing to try, I'd do what could and let him do the rest.

 I took over most of the cooking.  He now makes breakfast on Sundays and spaghetti on Wednesdays (or whenever) and also cooks if I have a deadline or am incapacitated (which I was for months earlier this year and he literally did do everything.).

 I tried to take over the laundry, but he insists on fluffing the clothes while they're being folded.  He stands by the dryer with the dryer running and takes out one item at a time and folds it.  Since I have fibromyalgia and cannot do that and don't care enough to want to do it even if I could, he does the laundry.  I am willing to do mine own and the sheets, but he does them anyway.

 He mows the lawns, we both shovel the driveways.  He probably shovels more than I do.  He fixes the cars and motorcycles.  Literally.  Fixes them himself, unless he can't for some reason (as in an engine has to be lifted out).

I handle 98.7% of the personal and non-bill correspondence, he pays the snail-mail bills.  I handle gift-buying, card sending and everything that needs to done online including almost all emails and all online bill paying (but there’s more snail-mail bills) and online banking (transfers etc.).

 I do almost everything that has to be done on a computer, including preparing most of his pictures for the DSS (our club, The Detroit Stereographic Society.)

 We make our own breakfasts and lunches except Sunday breakfast which he makes and occasional special lunches which I make (Saturdays) (but I make lots of leftovers [planned-overs] for his workday lunches. I do the shopping at Village Market, which is most of it, and he does the shopping at Kroger.  He will also often come and carry home the groceries from Village (I walk there).  We both wash dishes.  He usually vacuums. (I hate the sound of the vacuum cleaner [also leaf blowers and lawn mowers], so he usually does it when I’m out.) He usually takes out the trash and recycling and whoever gets there first brings in the can and bin.  (Sometimes me).

He’s 68 and I’m 67 and my health issues are currently worse than his.  But all along, he’s done more than his share of the household “work,” and does it so cheerfully without complaint that I want to do whatever I’m able to make it up to him.

He works.  I am retired.  But I am attempting to be a writer and artist.  One of our family members got very angry (not at me) and said that writing and art are HOBBIES if you’re not making money from them.  So, if that’s true, I’m indulging in hobbies that only theoretically might provide some income at some future date.  However, those hobbies are extremely important to me and luckily, my husband believes in supporting the arts by supporting ME!!!

week word: Quixotic

The Weekword this week, quixotic, is being hosted by Carmen at Tales of a Biomouse. Take a moment to visit her to see her take on the word and the other weekworders who are particiapting. It is always fun and informative, so why not join in? Let Carmen know.

I am going to place the Webster definitions and synonyms at the END of this post for inquiring minds.

I love the word quixotic, and its many implications, but it is not a word I use often, so I don't have a lot of preformed thoughts about it. I did, of course, read Don Quixote, many years ago.

The quick little sketch above represents one of my more positive images of quixotic, one of silly delight and happy explorations.

This morning, my first task was to write a poem on the theme of "quixotic," and below is the poem I wrote. I surprised myself, it was not what I expected to write and does not contain the word quixotic, but instead, an idea of quixotic is contained or reflected in the poem:

From the Teeth of a Shrew

I write microscopic poems, each line etched

on a grain of rice, each grain strung on a gossamer strand

and hung in the trees like holiday garlands,

though the August sun and the abundance

of black-eyed Susans speak of another season. Birds

lift the tiny poems from the trees and weave them

into their nests. Squirrels eat them for breakfast and children

drape them round their necks and set my words

to a music of lilting chants. See how I dance

on the roof-tops, small hands clasped in mine.

If you found a poem in the teeth of a rat

or among the entrails of a mole the cat

dragged in, you might recognize the words,

buffed to a polish with finer and finer scratches,

but torn ragged, first, from dreams

we share.

Mary Stebbins Taitt

for Bill Olsen

(I really dislike the formatting and do not know how to undo it all. I tried rich text, and that put in tons of formatting.)

The young are often quixotic in their idealism, their adventurous spirits, their willingness to do battle for what they believe in. This is my son, in a performance at school. I used to be quixotic, in this sense when I was younger, and wish I could reclaim some of that.

Here is a self-portrait of me, feeling "quixotic," ready to go out adventuring and tilt some windmills:

Of course, I will have to take along my CPAP and some tylenol for my fibromyalgia!

From Webster, the definitions and synonyms:

quix·ot·ic

adj \kwik-ˈsä-tik\

Definition of QUIXOTIC

1

: foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals;especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas or extravagantly chivalrous action

2

: capricious, unpredictable

— quix·ot·i·cal adjective

— quix·ot·i·cal·ly adverb

See quixotic defined for English-language learners »

See quixotic defined for kids »

Examples of QUIXOTIC

1. They had quixotic dreams about the future.
2. quixotic>
3. In … an earnest book-length essay of neo-Victorian public-mindedness that deplores the “nasty, knowing abuse” that the author would have us fear contaminates too much American humor lately, David Denby, a movie critic forThe New Yorker, sets for himself what has to be one of the most quixotic projects that a moral reformer can undertake. —Walter Kirn, New York Times Book Review, 22 Feb. 2009
4. [+]more

Origin of QUIXOTIC

Don Quixote

First Known Use: 1718

Related to QUIXOTIC

Synonyms: idealist, idealistic, quixotical, romantic, starry,starry-eyed, utopian, visionary

Antonyms: clear-eyed, clear-sighted

Back from Rehoboth Beach

We're made it safely home and need to finish unpacking and drying and repacking all our soaked gear! We got caught in a downpour trying to break camp yesterday morning.

Shown in this picture from left to right: My broth Tom, my brother Rob, and me. In the background, Rehoboth Beach at twilight, from the boardwalk.

It will take me a while to get caught up!

(Click image to view larger.)