by mayberry on June 6, 2011
This is going to make me sound like a jerk, but I am convinced that I am completely justified. That probably makes me even more jerky. So be it.
Every Sunday I get the the New York Times. We don’t even have home delivery here so I pay a guy named Scott to deliver it. I don’t know where he gets it, but who cares? I get my Times. Some weeks I recycle most of it because I don’t get a chance to read it. Some sections stack up for weeks (Style!) so I can read them when I do have time. But I always, always read the magazine, and I always, always save the crossword puzzle. I may not do it right away, but I will carry it around with me until I can do it.
And when I am, finally, doing the crossword puzzle: I do not want any help, nor do I need any. Okay? It’s nothing personal. Jo wants to help by “just writing the letters” for me. This seriously disrupts my flow. When I come up with an answer, I want to write it down. I don’t want to dictate it to a secretary (one who refuses to use capital letters, which is completely unacceptable in a crossword puzzle).
I do not want my husband to look over my shoulder and try to help. (Unless I get really stumped and I specifically ask for suggestions.)
And I for sure do not want some random mother at the karate school to harass me–repeatedly–about how I can possibly work a crossword puzzle without crossing out each clue once I’ve solved it. I JUST CAN, LADY, OKAY?
by mayberry on November 10, 2010
I believe I am a social person–wouldn’t I have to be, to actually look forward to and enjoy a parent meeting at school, as I did last night? But I also require a lot of time alone. A lot, considering the two small children in my care, the husband, the school and community obligations, and so on. I am lucky enough to usually get enough of it, although I sometimes pay dearly in either child care dollars or missed sleep.
I love being at home alone, even though I don’t do anything more exciting than work or read blogs while my children are out at school. It’s just nice when all the interruptions are of my own making, and I get first crack at the refrigerator, and I can talk back to the radio or the Internet if I like.
I love being alone away from home too, especially while traveling. Now that I’ve traveled with kids, I appreciate every minute spent alone in an airport or airplane–minutes I can devote exclusively to my own reading or crossword-puzzling or iced-tea-drinking or even, let’s face it, toileting. Flight delay? If I have reading material and/or Internet access and enough snacks, bring it on. I will sit in this fake leather chair all day. (But could someone turn down the volume on that TV blaring CNN??)
Do you crave alone time more post-kids, if you have them? Do you ever get enough??
by mayberry on December 11, 2009
It’s my spy lookout, my scenic view, my alone space, my social (networking) place, my home office. It’s where I eat, work, chat, and play. It’s where I live: in front of my laptop, at my dining room table, looking through my front windows to the street and park beyond.
Today’s #best09 prompt is “best place” of 2009. I knew it had to be somewhere at home. I love going out, I love traveling and seeing both new and familiar people and places. But I also crave the comfortable cocoon of home. I need to be surrounded by my own stuff in my own rambly old house.
I used to work in a little bedroom upstairs on a desktop. Three years ago, we bought laptops and I still planned to stay in my office, with the bigger monitor and my own private desk that I wouldn’t have to clear every evening. But when the laptop arrived, I flipped it open on the dining room table and I’ve never gone back to the office. Here, I love being able to look out the windows–in front, where I’ll see ice-fishing shanties being towed to the lake soon. And at the side, where my neighbor’s kids come outside in all manner of silly outfits and play with their puppy.
When I sit down in the morning with my first cup of tea, I swear I sometimes sigh with the relief and anticipation of a few hours of work/Web time. And since I’ve needed that relief more than ever this year, this has to be my #best09 place.
by mayberry on September 14, 2007
Three free hours today
To-do list goes on for miles
Maybe I’ll just blog
It’s Haiku Friday again!
Now that school has started, my schedule has changed and I am giving myself Friday afternoons off from both work and kid care. That means they are on for freelance jobs, household stuff, and maybe once in a while even something fun. My plan for the next several weeks is to slowly, surely purge this house of about a metric ton of accumulated crap. I will pick one closet/storage area/black hole per Friday and devote an hour to clearing it out. Realizing I still had a 15-year-old dress in my closet was definitely a kick in the ass, as was the change in weather that arrived this week. This happens every time the seasons change: I feel like I have no idea how to dress. I need to reset my brain from “capris” to “jeans” and back again, to find the long-sleeved shirts that have been buried under the short-sleeved ones for four months. But since very few of my clothes would really pass the Clinton/Stacy/Tim Gunn test, I feel the need to start fresh.
Wish me luck — and I am counting on you to hold me accountable to my goal. Stay tuned for photographic evidence!
by mayberry on February 8, 2007
1. 8 hours alone
- Mostly in the car, marinating in NPR.
- Especially charmed by a story on This American Life, about a boy who idolized his late father so much that he decided to build a time machine so he could see his dad again. He spent more than 50 years studying quantum physics so he could figure out how to build the machine. (TAL’s web site doesn’t allow me to link directly to the story but it’s called “Tragedy Minus Time Equals Happily Ever After”; the subject of it also wrote a memoir).
- A large chai tea latte consumed entirely by me with no one pestering me for a drink of it.
2. 8 hours asleep.
- Stayed up late.
- Slept in cushy hotel bed.
- Woke up at nine-thirty a.m. and read People magazine before taking a hot shower while not also listening for someone yelling “Ma-MAAAAAA!”
3. 8 hours with Julie.
- Drinks, and appetizers, and an attempted pick-up by a really drunk guy at an Irish bar. I mean, I think Julie and I are cute and all, but we had like 15 years on this guy and were both wearing wedding rings. A few minutes later he was involved in some sort of altercation and was escorted from the bar by a pair of cops.
- Slept through breakfast, proceeded directly to lunch.
- Had chocolate fondue for dessert at lunch. Fondue, as in molten chocolate.
Yeah. It was a good day.
P.S.: I didn’t include this at first because it technically happened outside of the 24 hours, but the icing on the day’s cake was finally, finally meeting my fellow Mayberrian Movin’Mom! I vow that another six months will not pass before it happens again.
