This morning the only sounds disturbing the quiet of the house are the sounds of me tap-tap-tapping away at this keyboard and the background noise of the movie Only Angels Have Wings . The Pussies for Peace have been fed and at least one of them has likely already hurled its food onto someone's shoe.Our five minutes of snow last night has now turned to a gentle drizzle. Gloom prevails. When I sent out this morning to feed the outside cat Pyewacket, I noticed an English feel to the air. The finches and sparrows are already squabbling on the feeders. A couple of crows are surveying the ground around the plates of birdseed near the cedar tree.
As I made myself some coffee and a bit of breakfast, I moved quietly around the kitchen. The Actor and two friends are still sleeping in the living room. We were all up really late. They were watching inappropriate movies, killing things electronically and playing a late-night game of hide and seek. Three thirteen year old boys is like a house full of puppies. The longer they sleep, the better.
I took my coffee and went back to bed to nibble some toast with apple butter and flip through the channels. I tried to get my political motor revved by turning on C-SPAN, but they were running an advertisement for a video contest. In my Sunday morning state of mind, I have an abbreviated attention span, so I switched to MSNBC to see that Morning Joe is running a special Hate on the Incoming President edition. No thanks. So Cary Grant it is. With a special nod to runner up Colin Firth who is starring in Girl with A Pearl Earring on IFC. It's Cary Grant's birthday, so of course, I'm going to choose him. Who am I kidding? I would always choose Cary Grant.
It's going to be that kind of day. I may hang out in my room with the computer and the best television in the house all day. The weather is certainly cooperating with that idea. I ran all my errands yesterday and there's food in the house. I might have to cook at some point. The Spawn aren't always satisfied with my half-hearted response of "there's the kitchen, find something" nor can I ply them with pancakes for three meals a day, everyday. I suppose the litter box needs to be scooped, but that can and will be delegated. The couple of loads of laundry that I need to do will easily fit into the breaks from the computer that I should take at some point. If I don't walk away every four hours or so, my fingers start to fuse with the keyboard and I can feel myself getting sucked through the air intake fan, along with gobs of cat hair and dust.
So I will force myself to move about some so that I don't completely atrophy. I don't do it willingly, though.
Yesterday, I noticed, nothing motivates me more to clean a bathroom than knowing that someone else's children will be using it. My own can use a bathroom of their own filthy, careless making, but heaven forbid someone else's child see toothpaste smeared on the sink, a muck flecked mirror, and that hair, dust and pee-splash mosaic at the base of the toilet. So that's done.
So the day stretches out before me with no have to activities written in Sharpie marker on my forearm. Some practice on Rock Band after those other kids leave, I think. I want to perfect my guitar skills. Okay, perfect my be too strong a word. I want to improve. First, I need to ask The Actor to show me again, how to turn the machine on and make the game play.
I love these kinds of days and I'm going to remind The Spawn now how I inted for it to go - obligation free, light of argument and with as few threats of karate chops as possible. MathMan is having fun and working his butt off in chilly Washington, D.C. As that trip unfolds, it's getting more intriguing. They are really getting to do some very cool things. For updates, you can follow him on Twitter. He's tweeting the trip.
Oh, and about Cupcake. She and I had a swell time alone yesterday. We shopped for shoes, went to the library and stocked up on groceries and junk food for the long weekend (good thing since we ended up with a case of The Boys). She survived her time with me and I didn't lose my temper with her. I asked her about school and it really does come down to the fact that, much like her mother, she hates being obliged to be somewhere everyday. She likes to wake up each morning and just let the wind take her. I laughed when we discussed this and thought about myself as a college student. I'd wake up every morning and decide if I was going to class or not. No wonder I never reached that much-rumored potential, thus disappointing my mother, The Big R.
Speaking of The Big R., I talked to her on the phone last night and mentioned the drama surrounding Cupcake's dislike of going to school. She reminded me that I went through something similar in the second grade. I didn't want to leave my much-loved teacher at the end of the year so I started feeling sick all the time. I'd remembered that I'd gone through something like that and I was grateful to The Big R for filling in the details. Maybe I can use that to help Cupcake sort out her own feelings about what's going on and get her back on track.
So now I've wandered all over this house and said very little with too many words. If you're still with me, thank you for spending a bit of your Sunday with me. I guess it's time for a little more coffee. I'd better check to see what The Spawn and friends are getting up to, as well. I can hear some movement of creatures larger than cats around the house........
