Clean car

On June 14, we are hosting a huge party in honor of my Mom's 80th year. I've been planning this for months and imho we are as ready as we're going to be. It will be held in a beach house in Florence, OR and family will be staying for a few days. At the heart it will be a giant slumber party with girls ranging in age from 8 to 80. I've even got the pillow candy picked out, (Mom and I went on a cruise a few years ago and ever since we think pillow candy is the bomb!)

Relatives and friends are coming from far (Illinois, Washington, Texas) and near (Cottage Grove, Eugene, Florence, Newport) and many will need transportation once they arrive. My car (Saturn ION-3 2003); my son's car (Saturn SL2 2001) and my Mom's car (Saturn SW2 1995) --if you see a theme, pat yourself on the back-- will all be offered up for our guests touring around the coast. My Mom who is all things Betty Crocker, Martha Stewart, Ms. Manners and Mrs. Cleaver all rolled into one had one favor to ask in relationship to party preparations. Please, she said, ever so innocently, could you and Charlie (son) please have your cars detailed before the party? So the ugly truth is out, my house often meets Mom's white glove standard (not the yard--just the house) but my car never does. Her Saturn looks better than mine. She vacuums the car about as often as she does her house. It is very difficult living up to this standard. I try. I fail. I keep trying. Mom likes that.

I cleaned the inside of my car on Monday. I drove it right up to my back door, vacuumed every surface, polished the dash, cleaned the windows, and all the door frames. The trunk is clean. If there isn't enough room on the inside, crawl into the trunk. You'll be pleasantly surprised. Bored but surprised. All the fabulous reading material is gone. All the shopping bags, gone. All the coins, gone. All the half-eaten lunches, gone. No more sticky notes with lists of supplies gone. All the date due slips with lists of books, gone. Boring but clean. The outside will be cleaned on Friday morning so it is sparkly when guests arrive. I'm paying to have Charlie's car cleaned, I don't have time to do it and he isn't good about this kind of thing. I know that Mom will be thrilled.

The rest of the party should be equally thrilling and Mom will brag and brag about all the planning and execution. She will have forgotten that she asked that the cars be clean. I might only remember that one request. I will also remember how wonderful it is to be able to celebrate my Mom with all our family and friends. I'm lucky.

Habits, good or bad?

Ok--third Monday is a row that I didn't go to work. I wonder if I will soon find it is a habit to not work on Mondays. I wonder if the habit of not working one day of the "normal" workweek will spill over to other days of the week. What will happen if this habit takes hold before I retire? This would not be a good thing, in fact it might be considered a bad habit. I've tried (only in the past few years) to rid myself of bad habits. Nasty little habits like smoking (8 years--applause!); not working out enough; eating badly; procrastination; not letting go, etc. I've been more or less successful depending on who you talk to but I didn't think I would have to worry about additional bad habits because I was done with all the worst ones. Sigh.

You know how when your kids are little they go through phases like spitting, kicking, cussing and being fussy eaters and you think they'll never grow out of it and then they do and a new and worse phase appears? I think maybe we keep doing that our whole life. Jeez. I keep waiting to feel totally grown up and apparently it isn't going to happen, I'm just going into a new phase. This is the phase where I get used to the idea of not working all the time. I'm going to like it if the past few Mondays are an indication.

On the third Monday I planted geraniums, basil, cilantro, wild flowers, impatiens, dahlias and weeded three flower beds. I spent a hour at the Eugene Public Library and carried off 11 new fascinating books. Talked to Mom on the phone for 30 minutes in the middle of the day. She is happy to share her weekday time with me and I'm happy to share most any minute with her. I did prepare to go to water aerobics but when my friend Dena canceled I decided to read a book instead. I shopped at Trader Joes (strawberries, tomatoes, peach champagne, toasted almonds); Bed, Bath and Beyond and TJ Max. I got melamine plates and glasses to use on my new patio. Charlie and I later ate on the plates on the patio. So cool. Oh, yeah, I spent several hours finalizing the 80th birthday party plans. Mom is going to be so happy.

All in all a happy Monday and one that makes me yearn for more just like it.

Not a great start?

It has been pointed out that I might not be a successful blogger as I already missed one Monday. My thinking was that this past Monday was a holiday and everyone (well almost) had off Memorial Day. It was a blog free day. The only interesting thing I did was go for a walk with friends Josie and Dena. A quarter mile in, Josie came up with a sore foot. We went to her house and drank. Me, three shots of amaretto on the rocks. Yummy. Except at the start of the walk I had taken two Benadryl because I was itchy. Uh, not very smart. I was just a goof ball and sleepy-headed for the rest of the afternoon. Good thing my friends love me.

Just getting started

I've worked Mon-Fri eight hour days for over 30 years and have a few more years to go before retirement. I've just changed my schedule and will be off Mondays. My first Monday was yesterday. I was caught dancing in the aisles of the local Albertson's as the music was contagious although silly (red-faced, it was a teenie bopper group I can't remember the name of.)

Here is what else I did:
2 loads of laundry
1 load of dishes
shopped for potting soil, annual 4 packs, hair dye (organic, natural, kind)
potted 4 baskets of flowers
watered the 10 other flower pots already potted
moved indoor plants outdoors
ate lox, strawberries, jalapeno tofu dip, Trader Joe pretzels, Miller Light Bear for lunch
painted door frame
touched up bathroom paint job from a remodel job completed 6 months ago
finished a book
shopped for birthday dinner I'm preparing Wednesday night
rearranged the Sun room