Wednesday, February 13, 2019

How I Am Celebrating Valentine's Day


Front Porch With Cat

Well. Thank goodness that occasionally I still get company because otherwise I would never do any cleaning around here. Although what I did today hardly qualifies as real cleaning and whenever I hear the phrase "deep cleaning" I sort of want to die. Wouldn't that require knee pads and a scrub brush? 
No thank-you.

But Lon and Lis are coming tomorrow for a very, very, way-too-short visit and so it was time to get out the white vinegar and Fabuloso and wash the rugs and chase a few tumbleweed-sized dust balls out from underneath the beds. 
Etc. 
While I was at it, I threw away a VCR player (YES! I SAID VCR!) and all of the attendant cords and took a huge pile of games that were on the sideboard in the dining room to the library where they're supposed to live although I left all of the cards and the ever-favorite matching game where they were. As I was doing all of this I was listening to a book in which one of the characters is a hoarder who was defined as "someone who is pathologically attached to inanimate objects."
I do not think I am pathologically attached to inanimate objects but I know that it's hard for me to throw things away. I believe I fall in the normal range of this sort of behavior but still, I like the perspective of that definition and will tuck it into my back pocket to remind me that it is not healthy in the least to hold on to shit that really has no meaning in my life. And as I went about my tidying today I kept thinking about that and it helped me to get rid of a few things. There are plenty more I want to get rid of but some of them require Mr. Moon to use his muscles. A TV in our bedroom that we NEVER watch. An old iMac which I loved to death. I wrote a few novels on that thing and every moment of that writing felt like heaven. 
Oh, the memory of plugging in a new Mac and hearing that chime which sounds a little bit like the chord on Abbey Road right between "And In The End" and "Her Majesty's A Pretty Nice Girl". That was magic for me. 
But I do not need an old, inoperable iMac to remind me of that. It has served its purpose and I am quite ready to let it go. 

I also made a vegetable and venison soup that I fussed with and added to all day long. I am so happy with my newly repaired simmer burner. It's exquisitely controllable for the lowest flame possible and I wonder if I'll ever use my Crock-Pot again. Probably not. This is so much better. 
The soup has all of the vegetables in it and after it sits all night in the refrigerator will be even better tomorrow. Lon and Lis are playing in Tallahassee tomorrow night and will be getting here in the late afternoon and I figure that if they want a little sustenance before they play this will do the trick and if we're all hungry after the gig, it will be waiting. I'll make a nice loaf of bread tomorrow and my love was in every bit of every part that went into that soup which will make it a fine Valentine's Day meal. 
Lis and I were talking today about how we both used to look forward so much to Valentines from our sweeties. How we put so much importance on those cards, those gifts and how now, we don't care a thing about it all. We know these men love us. They prove it every day. And they know we love them. 
So. Soup and bread and listening to music played by beloved people who have been beloveds for forty years with my beloved of over thirty-five years. 
And I might make some sort of lovely dessert and oh, yeah, there will probably be "Valentinis" as Lis called martinis that you drink on Valentine's Day. 

Ooh boy. I sure am glad I still get company occasionally. Well, at least THIS sort of company. 

Happy Valentine's Eve, y'all. 

Love...Ms. Moon

17 comments:

  1. "Thank goodness that occasionally I still get company because otherwise I would never do any cleaning around here. " AMEN. I'm right there with you, sister!

    Lon and Lis are so very lucky to count people like the Moons as friends and to be welcome in their home. I'm certain they wouldn't give a damn if you lived in a dump...which of course you do not! A real home has a few dust bunnies and questionable corners but life is to be lived and if we waiting until everything was perfect to have our loved ones over we'd never see them. Fuck that.

    You know what we agreed to do for Valentine's Day? Use our home warranty to get a plumber out (it's a $75 service call fee) to address a few small issues we've noticed. And we're both really happy with that! We want to sink all available extra cash into fixing up the new house right now. Oh, and I play Bunco with a group of women who also belong to my book club, and tomorrow night happens to be our February date. So I'll be going out to my friend's house for a couple of hours tomorrow night to drink wine and play Bunco with a bunch of older women! To make it up to my husband, I'm baking him a store bought cherry pie tonight and a nice pork loin. He'll have great leftovers to eat while I'm gone tomorrow night! :)

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    1. I have "questionable corners" galore! Perfect description.
      And your Valentine's plans sound perfect!

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  2. Your front porch looks beautiful. As for old machines, I have kept all my old laptops, from those big chunky things that took an hour to boot-up, to more modern ones that had simply become slow. I'm expecting them to be worth a fortune one day (and they all still work).

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    1. I love that they all still work!
      Thanks for stopping by, Cro Magnon.

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  3. Well, it sounds like a whole lot of fun -- I've got nothing planned for Valentine's Day this year. I don't know why.

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    1. Maybe because you're up to your eyeballs in work and responsibilities?

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  4. I can’t think of a more divine way for you four to spend this day of love.

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  5. I thought that "deep cleaning" was the sort of cleaning undertaken by Wittgenstein, Emmanuel Kant or Confucius. The kind of cleaning that requires much deep thought and philosophising. Have a lovely V.Night, dancing with your beau.

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    1. And I hope that you and Mrs. P have a nice Valentine's too.
      Maybe deep cleaning involves swimming pools.

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  6. love your front porch and I swear we have the very same wind chime. and we have two old iMacs awaiting disposal.

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    1. We live in the Texas/Florida parallel universe.

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  7. Your porch looks lovely, like a small, wild jungle, complete with a cat.

    I have people coming next weekend for supper so I thought I probably need to dust. I hate dusting. The older I get the more I hate housework.

    Have a lovely day and a lovely visit.

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    1. Dusting is ridiculous. I don't do much of it. I've always hated housework and now I mostly just don't do it.

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  8. Your words have made all of us happy and valentini. I can see what a skippy sort of day it was, and may it keep breaking around your ankles like little waves. I would love to visit that porch and simply be surrounded by the green and the air and the cats. Have a wonderful day.

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    1. It's a nice porch. And it's a beautiful day today!

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  9. A Valentini is my kind of Valentine! I didn't even realize it was Valentine's Day until about halfway through the morning yesterday. As you can tell, Dave and I put no importance on it whatsoever!

    I do love that photo of the porch. And bravo for the clearing out! Doesn't it feel great? I've been doing some clearing out too. Must be the season!

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.