Thursday, October 21, 2010

Adjustments, Compromises and Adapting...

So, I have moved in with my Darlin' Man.
New situations call for new adaptations.
Sometimes you have to compromise.
Some things only require a bit of *tweaking*, minor adjustments to smooth out a slight bump in the road.

Laundry for example. My fella is in the military, so his laundry must be done a certain way.
I also found out that he *has* to have his socks, t-shirts and boxers folded a certain way.
Okay---minor adjustment.
 My Darlin' Man has two kids in his custody. Teen agers.
Compromises and adapting are the watchwords there!
From diet and my cooking, bedtimes, entertainment, house cleaning, etc.
I could let some things become battle grounds--if I wanted to go that route.
But I prefer a calmer journey...
So, I give the kids choices.
Get up and get out the door to school by a certain time OR get up EARLIER the next day.
Eat what is put on the table at dinner time OR make yourself a sandwich.
Clean your room OR I will box up all the stuff on your floor and tuck the box away in a closet.
They have adapted, as have I.

I had to compromise on closet space (ACK!) as the fella has a huge amount of uniforms  that HAVE to be on hangers. It is a walk-in closet with oodles of hanging and shelf space...of which I have about 2 feet of  closet space out of about 8 feet of hanging space...Yup...BIG compromise. But since I don't excatly have a huge wardrobe, that's okay.
My fella has had to adapt to my sewing fetish...I sew, I quilt and I have a massive amount of fabrics, notions, patterns, etc. Plus, my sewing machine, of course.
So, one corner of the bedroom is now my sewing nook.
He's adapting...
We finally hammered out an agreement on our books. I am a confirmed and certified book whore. I moved in with several boxes of books. Today, I will finally have a place to put them! It took a few weeks to figure out where they would go--as the fella has a few hundred books of his own and his small bookshelf is bulging at the seams!
After much discussion, we finally figured out a compromise and both of us are happy with it.
My beloved books will be unpacked and placed on the *breakfast bar* ---that is never used as such---and his books will be joining them there.




It works!

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Lovely October has arrived!

In 4th grade my teacher, Mrs. Miller, made each of us memorize a poem about our birth month. I was an October baby, so the poem that follows is the one I chose to memorize.
On Oct. 28th, I will be a glorious 54 years old!




Oh suns and skies and clouds of June, and flowers of June together, you cannot rival for one hour October's bright blue weather!
When loud the bumblebee makes haste, belated, thriftless vagrant, and golden Rod is dying fast, and lanes with grapes are fragrant;
When Gentians roll their fringes bright, to save them from the morning light, and chestnuts fall from satin burrs without a sound of warning;
When on the ground red apples lie in piles like jewels shining, and redder still on old stone walls are leaves of woodbine twining;
When all the lovely wayside things their white-winged seeds are sowing, and in the fields, still green and fair, late aftermaths are growing;
When springs run low, and on the brooks, in idle golding freighting, bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush of woods, for winter waiting;
When comrades seek sweet country haunts, by twos and twos together, and count like misers, hour by hour, October's bright blue weather.
Oh suns and skies and flowers of June, count all your boasts together, love loveth best of all the year October's bright blue weather!
by Helen Hunt Jackson