Today I spent a good portion of my day off cleaning my new room. It took about 1.5 hours to get it ready to move my stuff in. It wasn't filthy or anything, but after having several male co-workers in succession, there were definitely some nook and crannies that needed wiping down. My old room also needs some cleaning still, but I'm too pooped to do it now. However, I am well-pleased with the transformation:
This pretty much ate up my day, and I had lunch and dinner (a cookout...nice) with the house. Now, I am feeling a bit cooped up, but also too lazy to call around to see if anyone wants to do anything. Good motivation, right?
Last night I watched a movie called "In the Cut" with Meg Ryan and Mark Ruffalo. It was incredibly intense and definitely not a movie you'd want to watch with your parents or on a first date. But the acting was incredible, the plot fresh and fascinating. I'm not typically a murder/suspense film watcher, but I definitely admire the amount of work went into the film.
I also have been enjoying the birthday mix CD that Bean gave me. My favorite is a Beatles cover of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (since my CD for her birthday had the German original on it). It's quite tormented.
Anyhow, tomorrow we having an outing to learn about the White Rose Resistance movement. Should be very interesting.
When you live with a group long enough, in an isolated setting especially, you see how you start to pick up other people's characteristics/habits. I now have a good portion of the house commanding inanimate objects to "Stay!", between Sam and I a lot now say "Ja!" and today when I caught Beau talking to himself he stayed completely unfazed and brightly said "Hi!" - something I also do when caught mumbling (or full-out lecturing) to myself. This, of course goes 2 ways and I'm sure that I'm picking up pieces of other people as well.
This morning started off slowly, and then had some nice grueling cleaning: bathrooms, vacuuming, co-op run, dishes...after a few hours you're just ready for lunch and a nap. I didn't get the nap, but since we were heading off to Millerton I didn't mind. Millerton is named after the engineer who designed the railroad system, by the way. Just a fun fact that we picked up while doing our short hike after poking around the downtown. It's a nice paved hiking path that they put over where the rail used to run. We were a motley group with the children, and I'm afraid we pissed off some "hardcore" bikers. Meh.
While walking along with the eldest child, she earnestly confided (after hearing how I got my cigarette-burn scar) that she has: "A particularly good dirty look". I told her she should become a teacher. Her mother chimed in Librarian. Unfortunately, she soon rolled her ankle while racing, and I gave her a piggyback ride for the last 3/4 of a mile or so. Considerably more of a challenge with 50 extra pounds on your back!
It's ok, it probably helped me burn off our "tea break" that we'd taken at the cafe before starting. I looked over from my table to see housemom with a blissed-out look on her face as she sneakily pinched off a glob of the frosting from her cupcake to devour with a look of utter contentment (and then utter embarrassment as I caught her eye...). My seat also faced towards the entrance, and at one point an older gentleman walked in, rubbed/itched (?) his back against the inside door frame corner and then left. This was a little odd, and slightly confusing.
Beau was in high spirits today and cheerily waved to passerbys and drivers alike - getting a wave from a USPS driver and several outside diners. After dinner (pizza...always a crowd-pleaser!), we drove back home. While driving with Beau up front (housemom in another vehicle), we got passed rather unsafely by a little mini cooper. I braked for them, and Beau shook his fist. Good to have solidarity on that front!
Anyhow, tomorrow is my day off. I have a whole list of things I need to work on. First I have to get my room moved (yay for downstairs!!!) and then various other things as well. Should be a full day. It's also "Whitsun" so there's special celebrations going on (I made a paper dove today...) and they're also doing something with the new greenhouse. Again.
