Housework... *gasp*

Sometimes I just can't figure myself out.

I'm the world's laziest slug when it comes to housework. I hate it with a passion. And I rarely do any.

But I do like a neat, clean house, so I spend what little money I make working at the church on a bi-weekly housecleaner. She does the basics—vacuuming, dusting, bathrooms—and it's good enough. And knowing she's coming forces us to pick stuff up and put things away so that she can clean better. At least once every two weeks, the house is neat and clean.

So why is it that the minute Dave goes away for a few days, I go on a binge of straightening up, putting away, and even *gasp* actual cleaning? When he's here, I just sit in my chair and play computer games all day, or read book after book. Do a load of laundry? Nope. Load the dishwasher? Nawwww. Actually cook a meal? Never!

Do you think it's because when Dave's around, he's constantly working? Am I the anti-Dave? Do I need to spend all my time doing nothing because he spends all his time doing something? Is it a way of keeping nature in balance?

Or is it because there's no point in cleaning up when he's around messing things up again? Not that he's so horribly messy, but he gets involved in his projects, doing things around the house and yard, and keeping the house neat and clean isn't his priority.

Or is it just a way to fill the time while he's gone?

I miss him... :(

Is today the day?

This afternoon I'm going to the mall to the AT&T store to get a new phone and data plan. But it occurred to me, today's supposed to be the rapture. What if I commit myself to a two-year plan and then get sucked up to heaven with Jesus?

I don't really think that's too likely. Although I'm a Christian and work at a church part time, I'm not convinced the rapture is today. And even if it is, I'm not sure my faith is strong enough to get me into the in-crowd of followers.

I just read an article about a guy who's pulled in $35,000 from true believers in exchange for promising to take care of their pets when they go to heaven. Enterprising guy. And how are they assured he'll still be around? Because he and his employees swear that they're atheists. And if that's not enough, they commit blasphemy to prove it.

I guess it takes all kinds.

Anyway, I'm heading out for the mall now. If I go to heaven, I probably won't care about the phone bill anyway. I just hope those left on earth for the 5 months of hell, complete with fire and brimstone, won't have to worry about it either.

So bye, all. Maybe for the day, maybe forever.

Stay tuned... :)
.

Spring haiku

Last weekend we took a long drive down to southwestern Virginia to transfer custody of Dave's mom to his sister. Yay!

The weather was perfect and the scenery was gorgeous, but I was driving and couldn't take any pictures the whole first day. So instead I composed haiku in my head.

On our way home we stopped overnight just south of Washington D.C. and first thing in the morning drove into the city to see the fabled cherry blossoms. We'd never seen them before, and it was so worth it! Just gorgeous.

Here are my haiku from the trip.

Shenandoah valley
Cattle graze in spring-green fields
Trees fluffy with buds

Beautiful Blue Ridge
Gauzy layers of mountains
To infinity

Pink cherry blossoms
Reflecting in blue water
Breathtaking springtime
.

Book review: Treachery in Death

I usually do my book reviews on Goodreads, and lately all in haiku, but I just had to say more about J.D. Robb's latest, Treachery in Death. It's truly amazing to me how a series with more than 30 books, almost 40 if you count the novella-length entries, can continue to provide such high quality.

And this particular one might be my favorite of the whole shebang.

Now if you're in it for the romance, there's not a whole lot of it here. A couple of pretty tame love scenes, and very little of the conflict between Eve and Roarke that makes some of the books so interesting.

And the mystery, well, you know early on who the bad guys are. But you know what? It doesn't make a damn bit of difference. It still kept me up late, wanting to see what came next.

The suspense? Hard to develop too much of that when pretty much every single reader knows Eve's going to come out on top. Even with Eve in the bad guys' crosshairs, you just know she's going to survive, and win, and kick some ass in the process.

What really blew me away about this one was the contrast in characters. Two female lieutenants, one good, one dirty. Their actions, their morals, their motives, their leadership style, the loyalty of their squads. This just couldn't have been better.

I gave it five stars, because that's the most I could. But it deserves six!

Thanks, JD/Nora, for writing brilliant books, year after year, decade after decade. You're a genius!
.

Spawn of Satan

I might have mentioned a few weeks ago that the evil Mr. T has returned. After living with Molly for a couple of years, he's ba-a-ack. And I'm not happy.

Why are our pets always evil?

First we had Mickey, the Dalmatian from Hell. He bit people, mostly me, barked a lot, and shed evil dalmatian hair all over the house.

Now there's Mr. T. He bites, too, and poops big turtle poops. Nasty. And he eats live fish when he can find them. One year we let him out in the pond for the summer, and he bit every single leaf off the water lilies at the water line.

Evil, I say!

And expensive! He outgrew his first tank so we had to buy a new one, and now he destroys everything we put in--a floating shelf, the heater. But Dave keeps buying new stuff. The latest is a little penthouse where he can sun himself.

I've been trying to find someone who's driving down to Florida so they can release him into the wild. No takers yet. For some reason, everyone else in the family likes him. How can you be fond of a reptile? You can't pet him... he'd bite your finger. You can talk to him, but he doesn't respond. All he does is eat and sleep.

Next year we're probably going to Hilton Head for a week. My plan is to take him along and let him go.

Do you think he'd fit in my pocket?
.