December 20, 2009

Feelin' Lazy....


Today I did nothing.

Okay, that's only partially true.  I did do all of the week's laundry, wrapped all of the presents and made coffee this morning.  But other than that, not a heck of a lot.  Oh, I did do one other thing - I actually stared into space.

Yes, I found myself, in between wrapping presents, staring into the great wide open.  I can't tell you how long this mind trip lasted, but it's been a while since I've allowed myself such a luxury.

Why is that, exactly?  I felt SO lazy today, and I chastised myself for it.  I usually feel guilty when I "waste my day".  Isn't that sort of ridiculous?  It's my day off today - nearly everything is done for Christmas, and I don't have any "work" work to do.  I mentioned that I did the laundry and wrapped the presents, and yet I still feel like a bump on a log.

Maybe I feel guilty because when I think about how much work had to be done to run a household even just 50 years ago, my chores look awfully weak.  Oh, I did laundry?  Well, la-di-da!  It must've been so HARD to take those unwrinkled, warm, dry clothes out of the dryer and fold or hang them in ample drawers and closets!  Oh, I made coffee, did I?  Yes, it was sheer torture to use my Krups coffeemaker (free with Gevalia membership!) and wait the excrutiatingly endless eight minutes for freshly ground beans to become a delicious beverage!  Oh, and wrapping those presents - however did I survive using beautiful commercially printed wrapping paper in myriad colors with matching bows!  What an agonizing, long and sufferable life I lead!

Now, let's compare that to how my Grammie did things:

Laundry?  How about taking your washed clothes (she did have a washing machine) and running them through a wringer to remove the excess water, hanging them to dry, and then ironing (what's that?) every shirt, dress, pair of pants and undershirt in the house.  YIKES.

Coffee?  Egads.  She probably used a percolator, and it was probably a stove-top model in her early married life.  Percolating is much easier than simply boiling the coffee, but it didn't taste as good as our coffee and no one had an electric grinder.

Gift-wrapping - well, that's pretty much the same, but nowadays you have specific tape for wrapping presents, and it won't turn yellow as it ages.  There are also so many more scissors choices - I'm sure in my Grammie's day she probably used sewing shears!  I don't think those cheap bows existed, either and if they did, chances are they didn't have the adhesive on the back.

Even this blog would've been a huge chore back then - I would've had to write it all out in longhand or type it on a typewriter!  And who would I have sent it to?  That would've been expensive and time-consuming, sending it out to 10 or 20 people every week (even with carbons, I would've only been able to do 3 or fewer copies at a time)!

Now do you see why I feel so lazy?  I guess that's why Sundays were invented.  :)

Have a WONDERFUL holiday week, everyone!  I wish peace and good will to each and every one of you and yours.
Cheers,
Mel

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