Half measures and full meals

A Post a Day 9/31 

I got up later than usual on Saturday and quickly got entangled in emails. You maybe know how that can happen? Before I knew it, it was past 11 and I’d not yet done anything more than tap away at my keyboard — and drink several cups of tea and coffee. The pace of the day seemed set: slow and meandering. But then I remembered that Val had said the previous day that she was anxious about the state of her laptop, which had been acting up (not working at all). So I suggested that she fire it up to see what happened — no waiting for the perfect zen moment; do it NOW. 

And BAM! — just like that, the pace of the day shifted. Val set up her laptop and, amazingly, it fired up as it should (technology is nothing if not unpredictable); she connected the backup drive and, 30 minutes later, her system was safe, her data secure. 

As Val was waiting at the desk, I got it into my head that it would be lovely to have some of the warm spring air blow through the house. But that would require ferreting out the window screens, cleaning them, and affixing them to all the windows — and washing the windows first. That all seemed a bit much. But then I thought, get over it, Amanda, just do it. So I did: I roared downstairs, fetched just three screens, dug around for the glass cleaner, found a rag, dragged up the ladder — and just got going. Once I got those three windows cleaned, the screens up, and the breeze blowing, I went downstairs for more. By the time Val’s system was backed up, we had nine of 14 windows readied for spring. Not all the windows and none of them washed to high-gloss standard, but nine of them open.

Along the way, I sorted a pile of winter gear and stashed it downstairs for seasonal storage. Val kept going, too, and ended up with a tidy studio space — and a total of four backup drives found in the furthest corners of the office. 

The point here is that none of this was planned. I had put window washing on the chore list and expected to get to it…one day…soon. I was going to make a proper full-meal deal out of the task: wash inside, wash outside, vacuum the screens, wash the screens…and, therefore, I had not been keen to do it. But tackle such a big job a bit at a time, especially if that time arrives unexpectedly on a lazy Saturday morning, and you can find it halfway done before you need (a late) lunch. 

While not all the windows are sparkling yet, some of them are decent enough — and open to catch the warm spring breeze. Give me half measures on household chores any day. I’ll leave the full-meal deals for another time.

———

Land acknowledgement: I respectfully recognize that I live on the original lands of Anishinaabe, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash