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<sunday
april 6, 2003 - 11:30 p.m.>
More
snow got dumped on us this weekend. Am too tired to update,
and am feeling particularly drab... how can it be Sunday already?
<tuesday
march 29, 2003 - 11:30 p.m.>
For
me lately, "housework" really just means getting
things done in a half-assed sort of way.
Most
parts of the house are superficially clean, tidy on the surface,
but if you dig deeper you may find crumbs, or worse, dust
bunnies or used kleenex.
But
cleaning at this basic level means that I can retain some
semblance of sanity. But it also means there is more that
needs to be done, much more. It is this thought which I banish
to the recesses of my mind.
Heaven
only knows what lurks underneath the appliances. I need my
spices properly labeled and arranged. I need to take a toothbrush
to the baseboards. And when is the last time my socks were
happily paired with their mates in the sock drawer?
One
of my greatest joys is cranking the kitchen faucet to full
gush, and using the stream of water to hijack errant sopping
crumbs and send them whirling into drainage limbo. If I could
tackle everything with the same gusto I could be the next
Martha Stewart. But I don't, and I'm not.
A
few months ago Canadian Living sponsored a kitchen contest.
Never before have I wanted to win something so badly. The
prize was a $38,000 kitchen renovation. I wanted it so desperately
that I could practically smell the new cabinetry.
To
enter you had to send a photo of your kitchen and a 50-word
description of why you need a new kitchen.
First,
50 words is an impossible limit for the verbose among us,
namely me. I think my original word count was 300-plus.
Here's
a second-to-last draft. The pared-down 49:
We
love bright colours but we're stuck with 70s drab! As working
parents, our issue is storage and space.
We
wonder if we will always be sweeping crumbs only to discover
they're embedded in the brown honeycomb linoleum. We would
love a friendlier and more functional kitchen!
My
reasons for writing it this way:
- I
wanted to appear excited and enthusiastic, hence the exclamation
marks
- I
wanted to get across the idea that I'm interested in something
bright and different (bright is good for magazine photo
spreads dontcha know)
- I
wanted to inject a small bit of humour
- I
wanted to show we're the right demographic for the magazine
Here's
the photo to boot. Please note, the drippy reflections
on the side of the microwave are permanent.
Well,
the deadline has come and gone and I haven't heard who won.
If we do win, you will all be the first to know.
All
this to say that our home is a disaster. I am fed up but am
too tired to deal with it.
When
I finished putting Emma to bed this evening, it was nearing
9:00 p.m. I walked over to our bedroom and looked longingly,
lovingly, achingly, at our (unmade) bed.
It
beckoned, it beseeched me to come and lie down -
...
just for sec Andrea! It whispered. And you can pick
up your book and read a bit too!
 But
I knew that the second I stretched my weary limbs between
the warm down and the sheets it would only mean Game Over
for me.
I
walked away. I had to. There were dishes to do and crumbs
to be flushed.
andrea
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