All posts filed under: Homebody

Exiled 

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This morning I need downtime.  A day in would be great, especially when on vacation. If I were back home, this is one of those days that I would stay inside cooking, doing laundry, and likely listening to podcasts in the background.  I was hoping to spend my early afternoon the same way out here in the apartment.  There was a slight hitch though.  The binder instructions for using the washing machine are in English, but the machine itself is not.      After a slight struggle figuring it out using an inventive google app that scans foreign text on a smart phone and translates it for you, it was easier to approach the housekeeper to help out, but even with her “magic touch,” the machine got stuck after she left. About an hour later she was back with her partner armed with buckets of water ready for the morning cleanup and was surprised to see me still in the room with the machine blinking an indecipherable warning code.  I felt it best to leave them to …

Midday 

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Welcome to my 555 series! Please read the introduction to this project {here}.  Wk 4 Post 1  Halfway through my day and it’s 12:20pm.   Breakfast was a hearty one of oatmeal, berries with almond nut butter and a half cup of a green smoothie. I spent some time preparing my wardrobe for our upcoming trip to Europe.  I am in the middle of developing some drafts, wrote letters, wrapped a gift, read through a magazine, and will exercise in a few minutes for half an hour. For midday, I’d say so far, so good.    

Sunday Shame

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Welcome to my 5 5 5 series. The objective of this exercise is to write five lines five times a week for five weeks, to get me back into a regular post writing habit. Habits don’t create themselves, after all. The parameters of frequency & amount of sentences/ lines will remain throughout this series, while the topics and format can be varied. Read my introduction here. Wk 3 Post 1 I was hungry when I got home from the airport. I devoured a serving of crispy pata (deep fried pig’s knuckles) meant for three people. I ate it straight out of the disposable to-go box while standing up in the kitchen, barely getting the order fully out of its Filipino restaurant plastic take out bag before diving in. I was too busy shoveling garlic fried rice into my mouth while pulling apart the pork to plate it properly.  Of course I used utensils, it’s not like I’m an animal or anything.     

Before 5 a.m.

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Welcome to my 5, 5, 5 series. The objective of this exercise is to write five lines five times a week for five weeks about anything. Habits don’t create themselves, after all. The frequency & length remains from post to post, but the topics will be varied. Read my introduction here. Wk 1 Post 3 Sometimes I wish my whole life could happen under the covers before 5 a.m., without worry or concern for what might shake me within the other 17 hours of the day. That moment when I start to stir before I am supposed to be up, with my eyes just fluttering open in complete darkness. That moment before all the practicality of the day ahead squeezes the romance out of the dawn. This is the moment I wish I could stay in. Is it life or is it us that does the squeezing?

The Bag Lady

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I have bags of stuff everywhere.   Prior to having company over, a good hostess will spend her time tidying up her apartment,  mainly concentrating on the bathroom and the crevices of the floors, and legs of furniture where dust accumulates if she needs to get her home party ready in a flash.  She also needs to get rid of clutter.  I read once in an entertaining guide in the 90s that you could potentially use the tub for surplus storage, but your guests need only to draw the curtain and you will be busted on the spot.  So I think women started filling their  tubs with water and burning floating candles there instead.  Neither has ever been an option for me, but that is not the point of this post.     Whole Foods, TJs, Vanessa Bruno, what have you… Gotta bag? I likely have crap to store in it. I have crap everywhere and I simply dump whatever is scattered on the dining table into reusable shopping bags or totes I have stored …

Lessons from My Laundry

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If there is something that I have been figuring out this week (and aren’t I always figuring out something)   is that things seem to fall into place right when you take a breath.  I wonder if it’s the way laundry feels, being tousled and turned in the washing machine.   Front loaded or not, it is still disorienting for the clothes, even though it is supposed to be gentler than a conventional machine.  They get whipped around, first hot, then cold, drenched, drained, soaked, rinsed, and spun once more.  All in the effort of getting them clean and back to normal.  I wonder if the clothes are like me, knowing that the wash is a periodic part of life that gets us back to our cores while testing our strength and resilience.  Delicates or not, the laundry can’t wait for the drum to stop and for the long awaited time to hang out on the drying rack to commence. Real time photo of my laundry drying on our trusted rack…the most relaxing period in …

How He Shines

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Surprise, surprise!  An actual photo I took myself, thank you very much! I did not post yesterday because I have been under the weather and slept practically the entire day.  First on the full sofa, and then scrunched up on the love seat with my iPad and journal,  I must have taken three long naps between 11am and 10pm.  As I was in and out of sleep, my husband exited to do errands, returned with lunch, did laundry, washed dishes, and cleaned up.  When I glanced over his way during the early evening, the side of his face basking in the light of the 60 watt floor lamp bulb, and our orderly apartment surrounding him, I thought, “Wow, I love him.”  I am always surprised when Cupid shoots an extra arrow my way,  even when I am already in love. Even though we have monthly deep cleaning service, when my husband cleans, he cleans.  He will hand wash each dish, and put them in the drying rack, wipe out the sink, run the garbage disposal …