I don’t know of a soul who actually plans to be sick (well, there are those who use the guise of sickness for a lot of things) and I’m here to tell you that feeling so bad for so long was certainly not anything I wanted but I think (think being the operative word here) I’m actually finally on the mend.  To coin a title…….”Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me” by Richard Fariña ……..now.

I’m feeling up to doing a lot more around.  I’ve resumed baking.  I actually cleaned house this morning and I’m slowly wrapping my mind around the fact that I have to start working on the ranch taxes – a truly formidable job.  I’m also doing more at work and actually made progress on two projects last week.  And now I feel up to continuing my blog.

I’ve been absent or AWOL from my blog for a long while and I’m revising my plans a bit.  I’m certain there are 2010 things that make my life easier, better, less stressful, etc. but I don’t think I’ll be able to meet my goal of listing all of them.  Instead, I’ll continue with the list and see how far I get.

2010 Things Day 60

159. Sharing the cooking.  Gene has been an angel, I tell you, during these past 46 days (that’s how long I’ve felt puny).  He’s pulled more dinners out of his magic hat that I can ever thank him for.  He cooked, fed Zeb and me, cleaned the kitchen then sent me either to bed or my chair after dinner more nights than I’d like to say.  

160.  NCIS.  Never in my life have I watched more television and I have become a huge NCIS fan.  Now I can’t say that this program makes my life better but it made my recuperation better since I didn’t even feel good enough to read for a long time.

161.  Cleaner house.  I’m finally getting my house back.  Today I swept and mopped and all of that stuff and it’s looking better around here.  Not finished yet but I’m not as stressed now that things are cleaner around here.

162.  Diminishing paper pile on my desk.  I’ve been staring at a tottering pile of paper on my desk at work for more than a month because I haven’t had the energy to think about it much less do anything.  Last week I started in and actually made progress.  Now I’m not having nightmares about unfinished work any longer.

163.  Sheila.  She shouldered more of the library work than you can imagine for the past month or so.  She has been (and will always be) invaluable.  Thank you….thank you….thank you, Sweet Little!

When the weather turns nasty and cold I retaliate by baking bread.  I’ve been a baker of bread for about 25 years and it’s something that I never tire of.  There’s just something about the yeasty smell of dough rising then the wonderful stuff that it turns into in the hot oven that pleases me so.   I like all kinds of bread and I bake many varieties.  I make crusty French bread and baguettes.  I especially like a nutty bread and keep all kinds of whole grains on hand to add on a whim.  I recently became a baker of an almost sour doughy kind of artisan bread that’s delicious and very easy to make.  I make and bake dinner rolls, crescent rolls, and am especially good at pecan cinnamon glazed rolls.  I’ve made a tasty focaccia and have plans to make ciabatta bread later this week.  I guess you could say that baking bread is almost my winter hobby. Oh, and I love to eat it as much as I love to bake it (as is evidenced by my great big but quite happy, butt).

 2010 Things  Day 39

152.  Big ol’ stand mixer with dough hook.  I use the fire out of this when I’m making bread dough.  I have arthritis in my hands and giving the kneading work to a machine built for it is ever so much easier.

153.  Bread machine set on dough cycle. This is my 5^th bread machine.  I’ve worn out the dough cycle on the previous 4.  I never really liked baking bread in a machine because it’s tough and tasteless but I use the fire out of the dough cycle for the same reasons as #152.

154.  Flour.  I have, in my kitchen, right now at least 6 kinds of flours (and I bet you do too) – plain flour, unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, cake flour, self rising flour and bread flour.  I feel rich when I have them all in their containers filled to the lids.  Really does make me happy to know that I can bake bread to my heart’s content.

155.  Double ovens.  When Gene remodeled my kitchen the very best thing he did for me was to install double ovens.  I use both of them all of the time.  Baking in both ovens simultaneously is a HUGE saver of time and I feel positively rich having them in my kitchen.

156.  Wire cooling racks.  Really.  These things cool the bread quickly letting the heat escape all the way around.  That prevents the bottom of the loaves from getting soggy.  And it looks good too – you know….loaves cooling on the counters….visualize that if you will. 

157.  Butter.  OK….you simply cannot bake bread from scratch, slice off the end of a warm loaf and then slather it with…..margarine.  Sacrilege!  What must be done is to keep butter on hand at room temperature and then carefully, evenly spread the butter on the bread.  Then, and only then, is the bread  ready for the first bite.

158.  Yoga pants.  I eat bread and yoga pants stretch.  That’s all.     

We’ve had a sick house this week.  All three of us have been a whole lot less than stellar in the good health department and this is a highly unusual occurrence for us.  It kind of started last Saturday with a few sniffles all the way around and it blossomed for Gene more on Sunday (although I was running a close second) and then it just shot through us.  Nothing major….sinus drainage (yuck! I know…why in the world would I even print that awful 2 word combo), tight chests, deep sore throat (for me), coughing (Gene and Zebbie).  Oh, and I neglected mentioning the fever part (all of us).  The screwy thing about the fever….it only seems to strike at night, is generally slept off with the help of meds and has allowed all of us to wake the next morning thinking we were over it and good to go to work, school, feeding…whatever. Today, though, it got the best of me and I had to head for home and my bed a whole lot earlier than 6pm (thank goodness for Sweet Little Sheila).

Now, before you start thinking ‘did  you visit your doc’,  know that our medical offices and ER’s here are filled with people with these very same symptoms and everyone is being sent home with the standard ‘rest, fluids, wait it out, it’s-a-virus-thing-and-we-can’t-do-anyting-about-it-sorry-that’ll-be-a-copay-of-$50-please.  So we’ve been doing just that but I’m here to tell you that I’m not a patient person to begin with and this whole sick thing is wearing me slap out.  I want to be well 4 days ago.

And I’m just a little cranky. 

2010 Things Day 36

146.  Kleenex.  You have to love this product.  I can’t imagine being this sick and having to use handkerchiefs…….because I’m the person who would have to wash them. 

147. Strong OTC cough suppressant.  Gene’s been coughing his head off and it, of course, worsens just about the time we get settled into our warm bed.  He was up almost all night earlier this week and we prevented a reoccurrence by making sure he took some hella strong cough medicine.  Makes things easier for me because I get  some much-needed sleep.  Makes it easier for him because he sleeps and isn’t so exhausted from coughing.

148.  Dishwasher.  I told you earlier that I love to hand wash dishes and I do. Except when I’m sick and that’s where the dishwasher comes in and saves the day and washes the dishes for me.  Thank goodness.

149.  Long, warm scarves.  I’ve never been a scarf person until this week.  I absentmindedly draped one over my shoulder and then tossed it around my neck Monday and the warmth from it kept my poor old sore throat bathed in heat. I’ve not been seen without one this week.

150.  Vaporizer.  I have one set up in Zebbie’s room and at night when he’s sick I add a little of that mentholated liquid med stuff and turn it on and it keeps his little lungs clear. There’s nothing (to me) worse than a small, sick child who doesn’t understand the illness.  I head to my bed knowing that my grandbaby will sleep through the night.  Think I should get one for Gene?

151.  Sleep of the meds (as opposed to the sleep of the dead).   In this modern world it is possible to purchase OTC medicine that will guarantee that you sleep through almost any illness.  On the nights that I’ve felt the worse and my fever was the highest( last night), I took a variety of things that are all designed to work together WITH my high blood pressure medication and I slept hard all night.  I woke with my hair sticking up in the strangest places and I had tangles in it like you wouldn’t believe.  I was also a zombie and it took several hours for me to feel slightly human (and then I was scratching my head wondering if it was really worth it???) but then….I slept, didn’t  I?

The following words of wisdom arrived in my email inbox today.  As usual, I sort of looked at the initial message with disdain for the very last thing I have time for in this world right now are forwards in my inbox, but this one, for some reason, piqued my interest.  I’ve certainly no idea who authored the list but after reading it, I wholeheartedly agree with these witty pearls of wisdom and think we should all try very hard to live by them.

                                                                        An Old Farmer’s Advice:    

* Your fences need to be horse-high, pig-tight, and bull-strong.
* Keep skunks and bankers at a distance.
*Life is simpler when you plow around the stump.
* A bumble bee is considerably faster than a John Deere tractor.
* Words that soak into your ears are whispered … not yelled.
* Meanness don’t jes’ happen overnight.
* Forgive your enemies. It messes up their heads.
* Do not corner something that you know is meaner than you.
* It don’t take a very big person to carry a grudge.
* You cannot unsay a cruel word.
* Every path has a few puddles.
* When you wallow with pigs, expect to get dirty.
* The best sermons are lived, not preached.
* Most of the stuff people worry about ain’t never gonna happen anyway.
* Don’t judge folks by their relatives.
* Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
* Live a good, honorable life then when you get older and think back, you’ll enjoy it a second time.
* Don’t interfere with somethin’ that ain’t bothering you none.
* Timing has a lot to do with the success of a rain dance.  
 * If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop diggin’.  
* Sometimes you get, and sometimes you get got.
* The biggest troublemaker you’ll probably ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every morning.
* Always drink upstream from the herd.
* Good judgment comes from experience… and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.
* Lettin’ the cat outta the bag is a whole lot easier than puttin’ it back in.
* If you get to thinkin’ you’re a person of some influence, try orderin’ somebody else’s dog around.
* Live simply, love generously, care deeply, and speak kindly.

 ‘Nuff said (except that what I’ve listed below has nothing in the world to do with what I’ve listed above).

2010 Things Day 34 & 35

 135.  Nyquil.  I couldn’t have made it through the past few nights without it.  It’s a whole lot easier and simpler to drink the nasty stuff and sleep than to cough all night and not.

 136.  Leftovers.  I freeze my leftovers.  I’ve a marker board on my freezer door that I record the date that the leftovers go in.  I’ve been sort of sick for a few days and it’s been so nice to take supper out of the freezer and nuke it until thoroughly warmed.  Such an easy thing to do and I break my arm patting myself on the back every time I do this.

137.  Cold drinks on a sore throat.  I think orange juice tastes too much like….orange juice.  When I get sick I fill a glass ¾ of the way with OJ and then add ¼ Sprite.  Ahhhh….cuts the thick OJ flavor just a bit and makes it perfect AND it feels soooooo good on a hot sore throat.  Almost makes being sick a little bearable.

 138.  Cutting & pasting.  Not the traditional kind – the electronic kind.  The time saved by this brilliant feature alone is unbelievable.  

 139.  5:00 pm Tuesday through Friday.  This is generally a quiet time in the library and a time that I can get some things done.  I can shelve.  I can vacuum.  I can read reviews…and a bunch of other things without being interrupted. And I have a feeling of accomplishment.  Usually. 

 140.  New haircut.  Got one just this morning.  I enjoy having a new haircut and it’s generally easier to wash, dry and style when it’s freshly cut.  A time saver and that’s for me in the morning!

 141.  Eating lunch alone.  I have never minded eating a meal in a restaurant or café alone.  It might be because I always have something to read up my sleeve but I think it’s more because I can sit at a table with my lunch before me and a book beside me and get totally lost….in the book and my lunch.  I don’t usually lunch away from the library but when I do I enjoy the time I take for myself. 

 142.  John Mayer music.  I can’t possibly know why the music of this man relaxes me so…but it does.

 143.  Taking good advice vs. learning from experience.  I’ve learned many hard lessons in my life and the best one is to listen to people who know what they are talking about.  Saves me a lot of trouble and time and who knows….maybe they learned the hard way.

 144.  Shelving books in the early morning.  The library is peaceful after 5pm and before oh, about 9:30 am and it’s a great time to shelve and straighten and have a good look at what’s going on in the stacks and what’s checking out of the library.  It’s a time to think.

 145.  Saving documents.  I wrote this late yesterday evening and forgot to post it.  Isn’t it great that once I remembered it was there, I sent it to myself and posted it? We are spoiled in this electronic world.

January 31, 2010

We had a little snow in Oklahoma this week.  Not so unusual for the rest of the state but quite the anomaly where we live.  It does snow here almost every winter, but it’s never more than a dusting and it quickly melts returning our world to normal winter.  This weather came in as expected, raining then turning to beautiful snow and it fell on us all through the night. We awoke yesterday to a beautiful winter wonderland of about 3 inches of snow and a very eager 5 year old ‘chompin’ at the bits’ to get out in it. 

Gene fed the cows as usual and came in for breakfast telling me that Zeb’s heifer (the 2 year old animal that will start Zeb’s herd) had calving on her mind. Seems she was under a cedar tree near the pond when he took the feed out and had moved to rest under another tree nearer the herd when he put out the hay.  When we finished breakfast, we bundled up and made a quick trip to town to get a few supplies than once home, Gene threw the calf-pulling tools (and the sled) onto the back of the feed truck and off we went to the back pasture. 

Sure enough, there she was…..laboring away…two small hooves protruding inside a shiny, wet-looking sac.  Gene carefully exited the truck and slowly walked to the rear of the heifer.  Now…..more times than not, when a man approaches a cow calving their first instinct is to get up and move – sometimes run – and it’s an awful thing when this happens.  Fortunately, the heifer stayed put.  Gene grabbed the hooves of the calf and pulled to no avail so he wrapped the calving chain around the calf’s ankles and tugged.  Then the mama got the idea that he was helping and she started pushing hard.  It was an orchestrated  thing of beauty as Gene pulled the calf right out and then very quickly (before the new mama had a chance to get up) removed the sac from the calf’s face and nose so it could breathe its’ first breath. He then wiped away the remaining sac while picking up the calf (heavy at about 75 pounds or so) and gently laid it at the mama’s face.  Natural instincts immediately kicked in and the new mama began the vigorous licking that’s necessary to stimulate the calf and to dry it in the freezing weather (it came from 101 degrees into a 21 degree morning).  Once Gene stepped back and we moved the truck a little distance from the pair, the herd started slowly moving in to welcome their newest member.

Now, I’ve seen countless calves born with no help and I’ve seen and helped pull many, many calves over the years on the ranch.  Some lived…..some didn’t.  But this was the only birth at which we had our camera.  I was inside the truck with Zeb and you can see the partially rolled down window in a few photos but that didn’t diminish the story.   Gene and I are quite pleased about the calf…..and of course, credit where credit’s due…….. God’s  timing in all of this is, as always, impeccable.

 2010 Things Day 31

128.  Doppler radar.  Now this is something that we are beginning to take for granted but we shouldn’t.  Doppler radar helps us plan for weather events and takes some of the worry out of what we think might happen.  I may have to mention this one again during spring storm season.

129.  Big, fat snowflakes.  They were beautiful when they were swirling and falling (actually pouring) down.  This kind of snow was peaceful to watch and made me peace-filled.

130.  Nesting.  We always hunker down in bad weather, be it snow or rain.  I head for the kitchen and usually quickly have something in the oven baking and something simmering on the stove.  The woodstove crackles and the big pile of books beside my hair also call to me.  Sometimes I think there’s nothing more relaxing than days like this.

131. Warm clothes. Piled and layered on.  Especially when we head out into the snow.  Couldn’t possibly enjoy playing if we couldn’t keep warm.

132.  Being at the right place at the right time.  Just think of what we’d have lost had we not been n the pasture at the right time.  No worries there.  Oh, and the cow/calf are doing fine now.

133. New life on the ranch.  Calving is miraculous to say the least and we are always grateful when cows calve with no assistance (which is most of the time).  We only really have to watch the 1^st time heifers (2 year old animals that may need help) and…..well, maybe the 2^nd time heifers too.  After calving twice heifers  officially become cows and because our herd is predominately a large breed herd we generally don’t have trouble.  Thank the good Lord and that’s a HUGE stress reliever unto itself.

134.  Unbridled joy and fun.  Gene took us to the top of our highest hill and Zeb and I sledded.  It was such fun and I can’t remember when I laughed so hard.  We sledded until we were popsicles and then we happily went home to our warm farmhouse.  True joy and laughter is a sweet, sweet medicine.

I’m smack dab in the middle of yet another Wister Community News newsletter.  This is one of those great ideas that was meant to be the front and back of an 8 ½ x 11 page with natterings about the library and Friends group. Over the course of more than 1 ½ years it’s morphed into 3  11 x 17 pages which equal a full 6 page newsletter and now it is truly community news with paid advertising and everything.  Once we, Roberta and Pam (who has since moved to Vici), got this show on the road, it took off and now people expect it every month.  It consumes 2 full business days but the advertising and advocacy is a much more than a good thing.  It also builds community and alerts everyone to pressing needs.  Wister doesn’t have a ‘real’ newspaper and I think this little one sort of makes folks proud that that Friends’ have taken notice and care enough to keep them abreast of local happenings.  We talk about pie suppers and church services.  Library programs and author visits.  Brand new babies and school activities.  Those who serve in the military and new businesses that open in town.  Folks who need work and folks who have work.  What the bank is doing and if the fish are biting at the lake.  New books at the library and new police uniforms.  We cover just about everything.

 If you know of something that’s happening in this little berg…now’s the time to tell me….it’s going to ‘press’ tomorrow afternoon!

 2010 Things Day 28

 121.  Volunteers who show up from out of the blue.  This actually happened yesterday.  A young woman in our community is journalism major and isn’t taking classes nor working this semester d just sort of wandered in and asked if needed help.  Seriously.  I could have kissed her!  She made my week!  Took a HUGE load off.  Thank you Stephanie!

 122.  Nearing the end of a tough job.  I’m almost finished and am breathing easier.  Hope the weather holds out today so we can get it all finished and printed.  That means I can relax tonight.

 123. Locking the library door @ 6.  It’s with great pleasure that I cloes and lock the doors on newsletter days because I’ve been so consumed with the work.  I can leave it all on my desk and go to my country home.

 124.  Taking a moment to breathe.  I try to stop and remind myself to just breathe for a moment and relax and let the stress of these days go.  Sometmes it actually works.

 125.  Little boy laughing in the shower.  Zeb was in the shower last night just laughing and giggling and talking to his bathtub toys.  It was a perfect moment.  I loved it and it made me happy.

 126.  Trying new things.  I baked a loaf of bread using a method I’d never before tried. It’s an artisan bread and it looks and tastes wonderful.  I enjoy trying new ideas or ways of doing things that I already enjoy.  It adds to the pleasure.

 127.  Homecomings.  You didn’t know this but Gene and the boys flew out earlier this week to California for a quick 2 day job.  His homecoming timimg is excellent.  It coincides with the completion of the newsletter and the possibility of snuggling and snow.  Perfect!

Today is my dear mother’s birthday.  Yvonne would have been 75 today and she was much loved.  She was a fantastic person with a wonderful sense of humor (I mean, she birthed Michael….need I say more?) She was a lover of life and a good, good woman and I loved her so and happily think of her all of the time. 

She was a Biloxi girl born and raised and then relocated to another coastal town in Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico.  She met and married my dad and had 4 children in 5 years.  She worked in the seafood business with my dad and then later with my grandfather (her father)  after my dad died.  She went on to an academic library setting then finally ended up retiring from a major chemical company.  She was smart and adapted easily to her environment.  She would have loved to have had a college education but when she graduated high school a higher education was not in the plans her parents had for her.

She was pretty and she laughed easily and often.  She kept my brothers and sister and me close to her as long as she could.  She loved her 14 grandchildren like nobody’s business and would have delighted in the great-grandchildren she has now.   She was a huge Brave’s baseball fan (where’d that come from??) and a voracious reader.  She was a magnificent cook and had no rival (except her mother) when t came to cooking seafood.  She was just a super person and I’m so glad she belonged to me.

Oh – the dollhouse…..I built the dollhouse for her and gave it to her on her 54^th birthday (I’m 54 this year – how poignant).  She longed for one when she was a child but her family’s finances didn’t allow such an extravagance.  I thought about that story over the years and decided to surprise her with something she really wanted.  I worked on it day and night for 26 days and it was sheer hell keeping it a secret. She was so surprised.  She kept it on display in her home for years and years and until recently it was crated and stored in my upstairs closet.  Gene brought it downstairs Monday and I cleaned it up and have been happily remembering how much she loved it every time I see it now in my living room.

We are celebrating her birthday today in many ways….my daughter is baking a cake and toasting her with butter cream frosting and chocolate.  My sister is remembering her and longing for her.  I’m not, for I can clearly see her every time I look at that dollhouse.

Happy birthday, Mimi!

2010 Things Day 27

116.  Sweet memories.  They can transport me to a very happy place when I need to escape the busy-ness of my life.

117.  Labors of love.  Ever notice how much lighter you feel when you are doing something that’s going to make an impact on someone you love?  I harness stress and channel that and put the energy into it and feel so much better while working on it.

118.  Family connections.  I’m wild about my family…as whacked as we all are.  I just called my sister to remember mama through a phone call.  She had something to talk about as did I and we both felt about 100 pounds lighter when the conversation ended.

119.  Photo albums.  Not the online kind.  The real ones with old photographs that might be curling around the edges.  I actually have several albums but 2 very large boxes keep the bulk of them and they are marked and kept in a safe place.  It’s fun to look through them and remember.  It’s relaxing and the laughter that comes from the reminiscing is priceless.

120.  Trip journals.  My family traveled quite a bit when I was young and my mom kept these wonderful little trip diaries.  She described all kinds of things and stuck little mementos of the trip in the pages.  Those little journals coupled with old photographs bring back terrific memories and gales of laughter.  And we all know that laughter is the very best medicine n a busy and stress-filled life.

January 26, 2010

As I puttered around the house this evening folding clothes and washing dishes I had this incredible thought – actually, no…it was more like a Eureka! moment……..I, um, actually….hate to put things away….at home.   I love to wash clothes and when the weather is warm and sunny I even love to hang them on the line.  In winter, I’m quick to put the washed clothes right into the dryer.  Why, I even take them out of the dryer and immediately head to a flat surface and get down to folding them and stacking the clean clothes in neat piles.  Where they stay.  For days, sometimes. 

I mentioned earlier this month that I enjoy washing dishes by hand.  I rinse them and arrange them so they will drain and dry.  And they might continue to dry for – oh, I don’t know – several days.  Until I cannot put one more dish on the mountain of clean ones in the drain (or whatever that thing is called).  I despise putting clean clothes and dishes away. 

I’ll bet there’s more.  Sure, there is.  I don’t like putting my shoes away.  Sometimes you can break your neck if you’re not careful in my room because right beside my side of the bed I often leave many pairs of shoes on the floor.  It’s not 6 steps to my closet and yet…… there they sit.  So really, I despise putting clean clothes, dishes AND shoes away. 

Now, don’t you think it’s odd that I’m this way at home and yet I work in a library???  Where everything MUST be put away??  All of the time???  Maybe that’s the underlying reason here, now that I think of it.  Maybe it’s my way of rebelling against all of the orderliness of a library where I have no choice but to live by ‘a place for everything and everything in its’ place’?  No one really suffers here if the clean clothes don’t immediately make to the proper drawers and closets.  No harm is done if the dishes are in the sink or the shoes are on the floor. 

Hmmm….I like my house to be clean and straight…it’s just that my definition of clean and straight includes the occasional pile of clean , folded laundry on the counter and maybe too many clean dishes in the sink and oh…….those shoes.

2010 Things Day 26

111.  Washing clothes.  We really end up with a lot of clothes to be laundered al of the time.  Sometimes, depending on the chores around here, it’s not unusual to change clothing several times a day.  The hamper fills quickly and I like to wash clothes just as quickly.  I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when the clothes are washed and dried and folded.  Makes my life a little easier when those things are done.  You’d think I’d like to see the job completely finished, now wouldn’t you?

112.  Thick hand cream.  With all of the dish washing and clothes folding coupled with heating with wood, my hands become dry and cracked unless I keep them coated with thick hand cream.  I keep it everywhere in the house.  In the kitchen, utility room, besde the bed, in the bathroom, beside my favorite chair and here by my computer.  It’s soothing and feels plain old good when I slather my poor, dry hands with it.  

113.  Shoes.  I love shoes.  I have many, many pairs of shoes, boots, slippers, flip flops, high heels, low heels, no heels.  I just love shoes (and they are everywhere).  And I wear them all (in the proper season, of course).  Shoes can make or break an outfit and unless my shoes are just right for what I’m wearing, I don’t feel dressed.  Wearing a good pair of shoes that match my outfit makes me feel pretty.  And I like that feeling.

114.  Dryer alarm.  The dryer alarm???  Why, yes…because it alerts me to the fact that my clothes are ready to be removed from the dryer before they wrinkle.  I’m happy when I don’t have to iron.

115.  Clean pajamas.  Isn’t that funny?  I love, love, love putting on clean pajamas.  I wear lots of cotton pj’s and they just feel so crisp and ready for a nights rest when I put them on.  I instantly relax when I change into pajamas.  Sometimes, I have to get them from the pile of clean clothes on the table or counter………

Gene and I have been working on the ranch together for a long time.  Two different tasks occupying each of us can occur at the same time in the same area and we have a sort of choreography of movement around each other.  We’ve never had personal space issues like some that we know.  We don’t feel obligated to ‘pardon me’ or ‘excuse me’ if we happen to bump into each other.  We actually smile and are grateful for the unexpected contact.   

Our marriage is like that.  Dancing past each other, not stepping on toes but moving smoothly, one around the other.  Sometimes Gene does more for me and sometimes I take on that role.  In the end, though, it always seems to be an even dance with steps of give and take.  Gene’s always been the traveler – it’s what brought us to Oklahoma.  I help him get ready to leave and take him to and pick him up from the airport.  I travel within the state and rarely am away overnight.  He sees Zeb off to school and keeps the house warm on cold winter days.  He pours me a drink when I get home and we talk.  Really does work that way for us.

There’s much to be said about dances of this sort. My feet never get tired and I hope this one never ends.

 2010 Things Day 25

106.  Deep stretching.  The kind that you do first thing in the morning (that’s sometimes followed by a quick backrub or back scratch from Gene).  Although I rarely build up stress in my dreams, this sort of stretching is what I imagine releases the night gremlins.

107.  Monday’s.  I don’t work in the library (usually) on Monday’s.  This is my errand day….my get it all done before Tuesday day….my read a good book day…..my quiet,  gather my thoughts day…my spend the day with Gene day.  My favorite day of the week.

108.  My thick terry cloth robe. It’s the first thing I reach for in winter each morning when I wake.  My robe is comfortable and has deep pockets (holds lots of Kleenex).  It’s pink, a color that is really not me, but it serves it’s warming and comfortable purpose.

109.  Agreeing to disagree.  My marriage isn’t perfect – far from it  – but one thing we’ve learned in 26+ years is to silently agree to disagree.  I think Gene will agree with me on this…….

110.  Living our life as it actually is.  I know this sounds funny but what I mean is that our relationship ‘is what it is’.  When you see Gene and me together for the first time, you’ll see what we are as a couple all of the time.  We don’t present one face to the public and have another for our private lives as others do.   It would be too hard to live our marriage any other way. We are what we are.

I’ve been immersed in the library world for the past few weeks.  Conferences, meetings, committee work…you name it, I’ve been there very recently.  This world is filled with hard-working, committed-to-librarianship people who donate their time and talents to make libraries everywhere more accessible to all.   In addition to attending the American Library Association Midwinter meeting in Boston, I recently chaired a great Oklahoma Library Association ad hoc Communications committee meeting.  This committee is comprised of deeply cool people and it’s a wonderful personality match.  We sort of fall together in conversation as we set up the room then we drag out our laptops and netbooks and iPhones and get down to the business of the association with great ease.  We are different ages and come from different library backgrounds and that really lends a ton of experience and  knowledge to our work.  We’ve quite a bit to consider in the realm of communicating with each other and the association.  Email, blogs, Twitter, discussion lists, Facebook – I mean, the list can go on and on.  And we’re working on it.  And actually making progress. 

 I also traveled, with my boss as chauffeur, to Midwest City to the OLA Program Committee meeting and the Executive Board meeting.  Again…..more wonderful, smart, folks who’ve taken on a lot of work in addition to their already terrifyingly busy professional lives.  We discussed the business of the association and made some pretty  important decisions.  We do this because participating in OLA is a personal commitment to what we believe in…..making your library community the best it can be.   If you are a library user in Oklahoma – school, public, academic, special…doesn’t matter – and benefit from library services, then chances are, you are also benefitting from the work of librarians who belong to the Oklahoma Library Association.

 2010 Things Days 22, 23 & 24

101.  Professional friends. None of us are as smart nor as strong as all of us and my professional, library friends are incredible.  They pitch in and quickly make a hard task into something easier. You know who you are and what you’ve done to make my life easier.  Thanks!

102.  Videoconferencing.  Makes attending meetings so much easier for those who have to travel.  When it works.

103. Good boss.  My director is a good man.  He’s thoughtful and interesting and he drives us to many meetings – for which I am so grateful.

104.  Lunch after meetings.  I don’t know if they make my life any easier but they do make my clothes tighter.  It’s a great time to talk with friends who live in opposite ends of the state.  It relieves any tension a meeting might conjure up.

105.  Friday meetings.  I have to travel a fairly good distance to attend almost any meeting.  I don’t mind getting up at 4 or 5 and traveling most of the day but it’s especially easy to do knowing that I can rest up over the weekend.