Verbal Snapshots of Our Summer
Well, the nightmare week is over. I regret to say that, as it turns out, next week will be just as bad. The pace will not really let up until late June. Yet somehow, now that my cold has receded and Brittainy and I are used to working all evening as well as all day, I find the rhythm increasingly enjoyable. Let me give you an idea of our days in snapshots...
The alarms go off in the bedroom between 6:45 and 7:45 AM, depending on how late we were up the night before. Brittainy and I have dispensed with traditional headboards and footboards in favor of long, low, wide box-spring-and-mattress beds. Mine just fits under the double windows, and hers is catty-corner against the wall. Most nights the windows are left open.
We also share a bathroom en suite, and a private sitting room (we call it our "study") across the hall, which is at present still in a state of discombobulation, but which will eventually hold our two desks and numerous bookcases.
Anyway, the alarm goes off. Two hours later (more or less) we arrive, usually together, at the office. The commute takes about five minutes. Brittainy works in the "inner sanctum" with David and Yvonne. I work in the outer room with Mom, Casey, Jay, and soon-to-be Laura. We are the Office, but two doors down is the Warehouse, peopled at present by about 15 workers of various types (phone counselors, bookstore manager, warehouse manager, manual labor workers, lapbook production manager, etc.) We perform our tasks with more or less hilarity and office jokes and trotting back and forth to the Warehouse (depending on the day, the mood, the weather, etc.)
Somewhere between 5 and 6 PM we both get home (usually separately) and put on our togs for a run in the historical farm park down the street. It is beautiful at this time of year, and one can almost forget civilization in its "greeny deeps." Sometimes, if the day is muggy, we ditch the run in favor of yoga and pilates in our basement workout room.
Weekday dinners at our house are sketchy affairs. On weekends we have big family meals, but during the week dinner is more likely to be homemade smoothies, with the main meal occuring in the middle of the day. After the workout and smoothie, we read pleasure books a little, or make phone calls and answer emails, or whatnot. At about 8 PM the work recommences, this time in the comfort of our bedroom (later, after we get time to clean it up and finish unpacking, it will be in the comfort of our study).
Choosing music is an important part of each evening, with all of Rhapsody's million-plus tracks at our disposal. Last night we took a foray into Julie Andrews, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Barbra Streisand collections, which left us both goggle-eyed. Once the music has been selected (tonight it is the soundtrack from Much Ado About Nothing), we have nothing to do but spread our books across both beds (which, really, are more like couches than anything else), settle our laptops comfortably on our laps, and start typing.
Sometimes the work goes steadily on until midnight. Sometimes (11 PM seems to be the magic hour for this) we get into a talk that lasts until 1 AM or later. Whatever the case, we eventually pack up and call it a night, only to rise and repeat the performance next morning.
Saturdays are a little more open. For example, we spent two and a half hours yesterday afternoon cooking. Tuesday night is caregroup, Monday is the family Girls' Night, and Wednesday is Parents' Date Night." On Sundays the whole family (including my three brothers and two sisters-in-law) comes over for lunch after church (which begins at about 1:30 PM, and lasts until 6 PM). Today, we played a knock-down-drag-out game of Mafia. Brittainy was Detective for one round, and I was a Serf both rounds. We were rather pleased, I think, not to have to incrimiate one another as Mafia members. Then we went off to Barnes and Noble to look at books, and came home for our yoga/pilates workout. Dinner didn't happen (it was a big lunch). Now she is reading The Faerie Queene, and I am about to start quoting Ryken and Lewis on the phenomenon of "Golden Poetry."
If life is what you make of it, then we have decided to make of it a celebration, a growing worship, and an endless opportunity for fellowship.
Ave et vale to you, gentle reader. When we get a camera and a free moment, we'll post some actual snapshots.
The alarms go off in the bedroom between 6:45 and 7:45 AM, depending on how late we were up the night before. Brittainy and I have dispensed with traditional headboards and footboards in favor of long, low, wide box-spring-and-mattress beds. Mine just fits under the double windows, and hers is catty-corner against the wall. Most nights the windows are left open.
We also share a bathroom en suite, and a private sitting room (we call it our "study") across the hall, which is at present still in a state of discombobulation, but which will eventually hold our two desks and numerous bookcases.
Anyway, the alarm goes off. Two hours later (more or less) we arrive, usually together, at the office. The commute takes about five minutes. Brittainy works in the "inner sanctum" with David and Yvonne. I work in the outer room with Mom, Casey, Jay, and soon-to-be Laura. We are the Office, but two doors down is the Warehouse, peopled at present by about 15 workers of various types (phone counselors, bookstore manager, warehouse manager, manual labor workers, lapbook production manager, etc.) We perform our tasks with more or less hilarity and office jokes and trotting back and forth to the Warehouse (depending on the day, the mood, the weather, etc.)
Somewhere between 5 and 6 PM we both get home (usually separately) and put on our togs for a run in the historical farm park down the street. It is beautiful at this time of year, and one can almost forget civilization in its "greeny deeps." Sometimes, if the day is muggy, we ditch the run in favor of yoga and pilates in our basement workout room.
Weekday dinners at our house are sketchy affairs. On weekends we have big family meals, but during the week dinner is more likely to be homemade smoothies, with the main meal occuring in the middle of the day. After the workout and smoothie, we read pleasure books a little, or make phone calls and answer emails, or whatnot. At about 8 PM the work recommences, this time in the comfort of our bedroom (later, after we get time to clean it up and finish unpacking, it will be in the comfort of our study).
Choosing music is an important part of each evening, with all of Rhapsody's million-plus tracks at our disposal. Last night we took a foray into Julie Andrews, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Barbra Streisand collections, which left us both goggle-eyed. Once the music has been selected (tonight it is the soundtrack from Much Ado About Nothing), we have nothing to do but spread our books across both beds (which, really, are more like couches than anything else), settle our laptops comfortably on our laps, and start typing.
Sometimes the work goes steadily on until midnight. Sometimes (11 PM seems to be the magic hour for this) we get into a talk that lasts until 1 AM or later. Whatever the case, we eventually pack up and call it a night, only to rise and repeat the performance next morning.
Saturdays are a little more open. For example, we spent two and a half hours yesterday afternoon cooking. Tuesday night is caregroup, Monday is the family Girls' Night, and Wednesday is Parents' Date Night." On Sundays the whole family (including my three brothers and two sisters-in-law) comes over for lunch after church (which begins at about 1:30 PM, and lasts until 6 PM). Today, we played a knock-down-drag-out game of Mafia. Brittainy was Detective for one round, and I was a Serf both rounds. We were rather pleased, I think, not to have to incrimiate one another as Mafia members. Then we went off to Barnes and Noble to look at books, and came home for our yoga/pilates workout. Dinner didn't happen (it was a big lunch). Now she is reading The Faerie Queene, and I am about to start quoting Ryken and Lewis on the phenomenon of "Golden Poetry."
If life is what you make of it, then we have decided to make of it a celebration, a growing worship, and an endless opportunity for fellowship.
Ave et vale to you, gentle reader. When we get a camera and a free moment, we'll post some actual snapshots.
posted by Praelucor at 8:41 PM
3 Comments:
"Frank Lloyd Webber?" You might be confusing Andrew Lloyd Webber (the musical songwriter/producer) with Frank Lloyd Wright (the architect).
Bother. I'm sorry. Yes, it was ANDREW Lloyd Webber. I'll go back and fix that.
Wow. Girl, you are busy, but it sounds like a lot of fun! I have just been lazing around myself, but life should get more productive soon. That's the idea, anyway - I am teaching myself how to rest, but I definitely need to get some writing done the last two weeks of June. :D
I'm also in the middle of the process of obtaining another used car for myself. She is a white Pontiac Grand Am like my old vehicle, only a 2003 model, very slick and very nice. I'm gonna call her "Princess," I think. :D
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