Thursday 14 May 2009

I'm not that miserable

So now everyone's thinking I'm a miserable old baggage because I could only come up with three unimportant things that make me happy. Well, not exactly. First, I was hung up on the role of "unimportant" in the phrase. (See previous post). Anything that makes me happy is, ergo, very important. Second, as a former training design specialist (or whatever the hell my title was), I know all about bite-size chunks. Some bloggers can write seriously long posts and keep everyone's attention, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Usually, when a post goes over two or three paragraphs, readers' eyes start glazing over and before you know it, they're on to the next blog on their list.

Anyway, here's the second installment to the tag. Unimportant things that make me happy:

- being in the house by myself. With no one else around. Completely alone. Get the picture? I have a five year old who only attends half day school, as is often the case over here. I have to fly around in the morning, seeing the chiropractor, buying food etc. so I'm rarely in the house when it's empty, if you see what I mean. My teenagers have keys and we live two blocks from school, so they pop in and out at unexpected times. Sometimes I have people in fixing things, and I confess to having a "girl" who comes in and cooks a whole batch of meals for me every few weeks. My house is rarely empty. Not that I have the energy, but I could never have a fling with the window cleaner since I could never be sure of a "window of opportunity" if you'll pardon the pun. So it's a rare treat for me to be in the house (like now) with only the faint sound of police sirens to disturb me.

- an empty dishwasher. I know this sounds irrational but emptying the dishwasher is the bane of my life. I sometimes think I'd rather wash them all by hand than bend (back problems) and stretch the way you have to. I wonder if anyone has ever thought of a counter level dishwasher? We recently instigated new "chores" in the house, so the teenagers take it in turns to empty the dishwasher. Wouldn't you think this would solve the problem? Although it means I no longer do it, I can't find a bloody thing! I mean we've only lived in this house for six years. I don't expect everyone to know where every little thing goes, but breakfast dishes? And cutlery/silverware? And don't get me started about the Tupperware cupboard. Tupperware designers the world over would despair if they could see the way their beautifully designed-to-fit-into-each-other bowls are literally flung in there.

- ten nails of approximately the same length, which I had up until about three minutes ago. I'm not really a high maintenance girl. I rarely have manicures and remember to visit the hair dresser only when I absolutely cannot get my hair to go into a "style", but I insist on nails being the same length. I don't care whether they're really long or quite short, but at the moment, I have nine long-ish nails and one that has ripped off so far down that I may be looking at a blood transfusion. I reached to open a drawer, missed (?) and bashed the tip of my nail so hard that it literally shattered. I'm off to find a nail file. I may be a while as I have to file the others down to match. Grrr!

.

15 comments:

  1. So with you onthe dishwasher thing. In fact, am embarrassed to admit that the first year we lived with one I rarely used it, I hated to empty it so much. A luddite, or what?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I would pay some serious money to have my house to myself for an entire day.

    ReplyDelete
  3. My dratted nail broke yesterday too, I was so cross!

    GG

    ReplyDelete
  4. Weird - I love emptying the dishwasher. Maybe we could do a job swap?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I am SO with you on all those things - house...alone...doesn't happen very much even when I am supposed to get extra chunks without my kids - then still pop round unexpectedly when they're staying at their dads Lx

    ReplyDelete
  6. I definitely agree with the dishwasher point!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Can't bear long nails! They make me squirm when I see them!

    Dishwashers. Don't have one. Daughter has, so when we go there it is a novelty loading & unloading! Did give me pleasure experiencing this luxury!

    Aren't we funny with our differences? That's what makes it so interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  8. I can understand the 'being in the house by yourself' comment. I feel exactly the same! I love your nail comment!!Thank goodness you can't see mine, is all I can say.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think I've given everyone the impression that I have beautiful (or not, Maggie) long nails most of the time. I don't, but they DO have to be the same length! I can't stand it when some women have a couple of talons then a stub or two!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I hate both loading and unloading the dishwasher- but I loathe hand washing even more. I try to leave other half to do the dishwasher thing .... sound of Lakeland Jo sidling off into the distance...

    ReplyDelete
  11. We have something in common - I'm an expat mum too - albeit an Irish mum living in India. Nice blog. Keep it up!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I completely understand your point about the 'unimportant' proviso--anything that makes us happy is important! But you've come up with some good ones.

    I don't have long nails but I DO like them to all be of the same medium-short length. Definitely. I will break off conversations in order to find a nail file to sort it out if discovered.

    And the dishwasher... maybe it was most of my life without one but I adore my second hand, loud, but effective dishwasher. I am almost obsessive with the way it must be loaded for maximum dish washing capacity. Why, if there were a competition to see who could fit the most dishes in and still get them all clean I would win, I'm sure of it!! And unloading is equally satisfying because it's all so magically clean with minimum effort!

    Fun post!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Am totally in agreement on all 3 things. What I would do for a few hours on my own in the house! A bit of peace to potter. Fantatsic. And dishwasher, yes, yes. Love it when it's empty. And right now all my nails are the same length because I had a manicure yesterday (first time in forever because it was my birthday). And now I can exhale!

    x

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very with you on the dishwasher thng. Hate emptying mine. Hate the way hubs loads it very unefficiently even more! But when empties it sometimes on the weekend, it literally lifts my spirit.
    I gotta go get me a life eh?

    ReplyDelete
  15. I know what you mean about being in the house by yourself. Heaven!! And since I hit menopause, my nails break off all the time. Very frustrating. As for the dishwasher, because my husband is such a control freak about the way it's loaded, I've left it to him. It's up to him if it's loaded or not.

    ReplyDelete

The more the merrier....

Blog Archive