Six Days of Work Make One Weak

I have found lately, as the weekly routines are getting cemented into rituals of drudgery that more and more I am simply looking forward to the weekends.  This drives me nuts because 1) its a bad attitude and 2) the weekends are over all too quickly and the cycle repeats itself again and again.  So I have decided to start a partial list of weekday things that I can look forward to.

Please feel free to add any, or create your won pleasure of the Mid Week to link here.

Monday
Monday is my mom's house-cleaning day.  She gets up very early to get a head start on the weekly cleaning tasks.  She is busy most of the day and by the time I arrive home, she is taking a well-deserved nap.  That means I get the job of making dinner.  I love making dinner, and since I share the dinner job with my mom, that means we both get a break, so that we can enjoy someone else's cooking once in a while.  Last night I roasted a chicken I found in the fridge and accompanied it with bulgar pilaf and an arugula salad.  I have been challenging myself to make cheeseless meals (since cheese is my mom's go to food) as a culinary version of the game Taboo.

Tuesday
Tuesday is laundry day here at Chez Dutch.  While doing laundry is a lot of work, it is not without its rewards.  It is a task, but it isn't rocket science.  It is something that if I start reasonably early, I can get done before bed, additionally, Dutch is a wonderful Laundry Partner, so that while I am feeding the baby, he can be folding and transferring the clothes between the washer and the dryer.  Between him and I and the wonderfully automated appliances the job becomes more about vigilance than watts expended.  Of course, the piece d' resistance, the crowning glory is taking a much deserved shower and putting one's clean self in between delectably warm, clean sheets.  I truly believe heaven will have lots of clean sheets and that they one of the greatest animal pleasures here on earth.  So thank you, cotton farmers, textile mills, Sears, the water company, the electric company, and the legions of people and resources who deliver the goods and services so that I can celebrate clean sheets.

Wednesday
Wednesday is a bit hard.  At work, its the day I realize that I am so hopelessly behind I'll never catch up, harboring the hope that on Monday I'll be able to take care of it.  Maybe Wednesday will become sacred to blogging, or pickling, bread-baking or some other homey and quiet activity.  Speaking of pickling, I finally tried the simple cucumbers-in-salt-water-left-out-on-the-counter-for-three-days variety.  Only the last time I used green beans.  They were so salty (I'll use less next time) that they became the poor man's version of capers.  Dinner becomes a challenge to use all of the week's vegetables because Thursday is...

Thursday
Thursday may be the easiest mid-week day to laud.  When I was a kid, it was Piano Day-- a wonderful combination of music, good conversation and showing off.  Now it is Farm Box Day-- a wonderful combination of seasonal veggies, fruits and herbs.

Every Evening of the Week Pleasures

Coming home to LuLu.  If she is awake, she always has a huge smile for me.  Babies have the amazing ability to emote with their entire bodies.  Her smiles involve her toes.  I don't know how she does it, but they look happy when she smiles.  I don't know when adults loose the ability to emote with their toes, but it truly is a tragedy.

Hanging out with Family  I realize, of course, that family can try the patience of the most long-suffering people.  Like everything else, they come, they go and I'd much rather enjoy their presence, as fleeting as it may be, than not-- especially the children.  The Knee-Biter is on the freeway on ramp of becoming a young lady-- her days of playing with dolls and making things are quickly coming to an end.  LuLu grows an inch and learns a new trick every day.  And for at least a few minutes I can pretend I don't need to ask Dutch for money, or that he is a big shot paterfamilias now and enjoy his humor and whatever silent Japanese film he brought home from the library just like I did when we were still dating.