Sunday, September 15, 2024

How We Do Things

 


It's Sunday afternoon as I sit at my desk, composing this blog post. While I often carry my laptop computer to another part of the house so I can be in the same room with Gary as I check email, read blogs, and compose my own posts, this time I am at my desk where my computer is plugged in. 

Later this afternoon we have a Zoom meeting to attend, which means Gary and I will sit side-by-side at the kitchen table while my computer will operate via battery. 

Before these meetings, I sometimes take a selfie of us with the Photo Booth feature on my computer to check the lighting (and my hair, to be honest -- ha ha!!) Here's one I took last February, thus the sweaters:


Oh wait. That's not right. Gary parts his hair on the right (his right) and I sit on the other side of him. I'll fix it:


That's the problem with selfies, you come out backwards! (with thanks to Sister who taught me how to flip a snapshot horizontally)

This post will be along the lines of those "daytimer" memes that are more like a phone call to a friend where you talk about whatever is current and just wander from one topic to another until it's time to take the laundry out of the washer or go pick up the kids from school (neither of which is the case for me today, by the way).

Yesterday we both did our laundry and cleaned house, which is our usual Saturday routine. Laundry -- did you get that? My guy does his own laundry and we both clean house together. 

When we came together a couple of years ago, both of us were in the habit of doing our own laundry and keeping our respective homes clean. We continued like that with the laundry and I chose which housecleaning duties to pick up while Gary kept up with the more physically strenuous duties. 

I vacuum the carpeted areas and he cleans the floors (of which there is more square footage) with an electric steam cleaner. I dust the furniture and he includes the towels (mine, too!) when he's doing laundry. 

an especially large kitchen drawer 

While Gary both handles and oversees the outside yard work, I pull weeds in the rock and mulched beds. Back indoors, I do the occasional tasks like cleaning out the kitchen drawers of crumbs, wiping down woodwork, dusting the intake vent by the air handler, and so forth.

By the way, when I was cleaning out the trays in the kitchen drawers the other day, it occurred to me to take a snapshot of each drawer before emptying it, which eliminated the mystery of how to put it back together again.

As for cooking, Gary said at the beginning that he would love for me to take that over, and I was going to; but it's evolved into him doing the vast majority of that and occasionally I bake some carbohydrates for his sweet tooth. That is working out well for us. 


I do a small amount of seasonal decor. Gary leans heavily into classic simplicity for home decor, so I keep it simple. Storage of seasonal decorations is a problem, too, so keeping it minimal is very practical.

For those who have known me for many years, that last statement is a big change. But I don't miss all the stuff that had to be hung, arranged, dusted, and stored. It was a fun part of my life, ingrained in me by my mother (a good decorator) and many hours in Hobby Lobby. Circumstances in recent years led me to simplify on a big scale, and I'm good with it. 

my older computer several years ago

Moving to another topic here, my computer pulled an unwelcome trick on me a few days ago. First thing in the morning I discovered I could not access new email on both my iPhone and my computer. 

Similar techie problems have sent me into literal tears since my live-in computer tech passed on to Heavenly Realms a few years ago. He took with him the vast majority of the computer expertise in our home, leaving me at the mercy of my kids (none of whom live close by) or deciding which stranger to entrust with the problem. 

After bravely and oh-so-carefully trying a couple of fixes on my own (and that's dangerous territory!!), we took my electronics to a small business here in town that was able to take me immediately. In a few minutes the problem was fixed and I was breathing a sigh of relief. Tears of joy were replacing the tears of terror. 

What was the problem? I really don't know but it had something to do with coming up with a new password. Why the old one was suddenly not acceptable is a mystery to me, but it's all good now.

By the way, I've reached a conclusion about myself: I don't drink or smoke. I cry. There's more than one way to relieve stress.


While I'm on the topic of upsetting things, I will briefly address the "elephant in the room." We stayed up past our bedtime to watch the debate. In my opinion, nobody "won" because intentions were not clearly outlined on either side and the utterly ridiculous should never have been given air time. 


Of course we reflected this week on 9/11 and where we are now. In all honesty, when my daughter-in-law called me that morning in 2001 to ask if my TV was turned on, I didn't think our nation would survive. So, although in many ways we are not in a good place now, we have to thank God for preserving us this long. He truly is a God of mercy, giving humanity more time to surrender to Him.

Sand Hill Crane on pinnacle 
of a neighbor's roof

One morning while I was on my bicycle, I passed this Sand Hill Crane atop a neighbor's roof. He is preening himself while facing a lake, so you can't see his head and neck in my snapshot. Around here it's not unusual to see birds of any size perched in these high places. I am always reminded of this verse:

For the eyes of the Lord

search the whole earth

in order to strengthen those

whose hearts are fully committed to Him.

II Chronicles 16:9 NLT

That verse makes me want to jump up and down waving my arms to get God's attention, "See me! See me!" But He does. He sees me. He sees, you, too. 

Thank God!

source

Until next time, grace and peace.


11 comments:

Mari said...

You two make a good pair. I like the way you work together. We tend to be more traditional, but them we've been doing things this way for 43 years now. :) So Bob does most of the outside work and I do the inside, which works well. And if I need any help like after surgery last week , he is glad and insists on doing it.
Good idea with the drawers, I've done that with shelves when cleaning everything too.
Have a good week!

Sandy said...

I do like the teamwork in the chores and the cooking. It is so important in a marriage. Also, I think the older I get the less extra decorating I like. I do still love Christmas, but the past few years I have pared that down a lot and am sure I will continue to do so. I always enjoy strolling through your days with you. Technology is great when it works has always been my mantra.

Pamela M. Steiner said...

I enjoyed your easy going post, very casual and comfortable about the way you do things. I'm happy for you both that God led you together when He did. He knew you would be right for each other! And I know little by little I am paring down on how much decorating I do. It's just so much trouble getting it all out and then putting it all back away again. But I do enjoy it when it's done. Still, I'm finding that I am wanting less and less clutter. My body just can't handle all the stress of doing so many little details. Regarding outside work, etc., We are rapidly approaching a stage in life where we need more and more help with these things. Our kids help when they can, but we are finding it necessary to hire some stronger bodies to help with some of the bigger jobs. Thankfully we have able bodied men from our church community who are willing and able to help for a reasonable fee. Still, I'm afraid the day is going to come when we are no longer going to be able to maintain this property and may have to make some bigger decisions. But for now we will continue to enjoy it while we can. I'm glad your computer problem was an easy fix. I had such an issue recently, and discovered that by cleaning out the "cookies" and "history" I could get rid of unwanted "visitors" popping up and not going away. Hmm, there might be a story analogous to real life there. LOL. Hope you have a lovely week ahead! And yes, we will NEVER forget 9/11. And now today another assassination attempt thwarted thankfully before anything happened to Pres. Trump. Continued prayers for his safety.

Terri D said...

We hired out the yardwork at both of our homes here in Florida. Joe was a trooper and his job inside was cleaning the bathrooms and doing trash duty. He did not cook at all. The only Sandhill Cranes I see around here are walking along like they have no desire to fly, so that crane on the rooftop is amazing to me! You and Gary have a great partnership, Barb!! I'm so happy for you both!! xo

Robin in Virginia said...

Totally enjoyed the pictures and words in your post, Barbara. Your Saturday routine and the divvying up of chores makes perfect sense to me. We must never forget Sept. 11th and how I pray that our country would pull together again like we did on Sept. 12th where we were one nation under God. I hope you and Gary have a wonderful week.

Martha Jane Orlando said...

I so love how Gary and you have worked out your chores around the house in ways that work for each of you. Danny and I pretty much had to do the same thing when we got married, and it's worked perfectly for us. Now, we do have a wonderful cleaning lady who comes once a month to do those deeper cleans, but we manage the day to day just fine. Glad to hear, too, that you were able to get your computer fixed. Technology is great until it isn't!
Blessings to the both of you, Barbara!

Joyce said...

I cry too-happy, sad, frustrated, angry..that's my release. I like the way you share the work and the fun. Hubs and I also share the chores around here. He likes to vacuum and clean the showers for which I'm grateful. I'm easily frustrated by technology and rely on my kids or my nephew to rescue me from time to time. Hope you have a nice week!

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Indeed, God has not forgotten you.

God bless.

Jennifer said...

Hello there! That was such a lovely catchup. I so love the way that you and yours have created a perfect rhythm for your home. And your days. I do not often cry but I must admit, computers and technology woes can certainly send me into a tailspin!! Taking a photo of your drawers before they are cleaned is a brilliant idea. I actually did something similar (for the first time!) with my Christmas decorations this past January before I put them away. I still put things out - probably too many things - but my family really likes them. Now for the big question....how in the world can you swap a photo around?? That is beyond impressive!! Hope you are having a wonderful week!!

Becki said...

Love the image of you jumping up and down shouting, "See me!" :) And what a smart idea - to take a picture of a drawer's contents before emptying and cleaning! So many applications of this idea...

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

We're starting to have some nicer weather. I sure hope Gary can ride his bike soon. I know he misses it! Enjoy your Sunday!

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