Ten-Finger Exercises

the consent of your mind

“Do not stop to get the consent of your mind, Betty.”

I can picture my mother clearly, muttering to herself for encouragement what her mother had often said to her. Maybe she was feeling the same way I am today. I’m bogged down in the ‘don’t-want-to’s’ and the ‘yes, but’s.’ I’d vacuum the carpet, but I don’t have any rug shampoo to get at the mud the weekend loggers tracked in.

Well, look at that: there’s a penny on the floor beneath the end table across the room. Anyea told me to drop one in the wishing well, but that I’d have to find my own. Okay, imagine I’m holding it. I’m wishing…I’m wishing…

I’m wishing I could find a place to start, but that’s another method of procrastination. Anywhere will do, almost.

First, I’m going to silence that damn indoor-outdoor thermometer that has brought a new alerting chirp to our overly ring-tone filled house. It’s telling me that the temperature outside is below freezing. It starts telling me at 37 degrees, and today it’s only 21, so I’ll have to find a way to shut it up or turn up loud music.

*** turned it off. Picked up ‘penny’, and discovered it was a dime. Worth ten wishes, right?

Making lists, making stacks, that’s energizing. I’m dividing the magazine piles into writing magazines, airplane magazines, travel magazines, home magazines and New Yorkers. Anything else goes in the give-away box, and some of those too.

Find recipe in magazine to send to friend I haven’t talked to for a long, long time.

Begin a list of books I want to read this year on a separate sheet.

Boil water to flush drains.

***Boiled and flushed, showered and dressed, called the repair people who still don’t have the part. I never cancelled Sears Friday appointment, just in case I can’t get the washer fixed otherwise, so the race is on.

“I’m sorry but I’m waiting for a new part.” Doesn’t that sound like a good excuse? I can’t run the vacuum right now. I’m waiting for a new part. What part might that be? The part that gets up, gets out the little sucker, plugs it in and turns it on. Oh. That part.

***Found recipe from Hallmark magazine for turkey lentil soup. I tried it and really liked it. Mailed it off to friend. Checked on my blogspot blog from yesterday and saw it was still in draft form. Worked for a while to figure out how to publish it, and still the font is too small, but it’s done and I’m done for now.

Can’t get a haircut appointment—darn. Will go vacuum now, then maybe go to work for awhile. Ho-hum.

Vacuumed half the house, but got the tops of the walls, up in the corner where spiders like to leave their wispy trails. That’s work. This hose isn’t quite long enough to do the job comfortably.

***Update. I have three funerals Saturday, one to officiate and two I need to attend for hospice. And two new patients, one a seven-year old boy with a brain tumor. That breaks my heart.

On the upside, the repairman has my washer part and will be here tomorrow morning!