EXPLORE - Days 6 and 7

Day 6 and 7

And the start of another week. This week is all about observation. More importantly Day 6  is about where we sit, sleep and stand while Day 7 is about capturing memories.  As I'm playing catch up today I thought it might be beneficial to record what memories the sit, sleep and stand prompt might trigger.

I sleep here on the left side which I guess is relative to how you view it - when I'm in bed I'm on the left side but when you look at the bed it's the right.  This is the second actual bed my husband and I have owned although we have had a number of mattresses over the years.  The patchwork quilt is one I made - it took such a long time and was an awful lot of work (I'm not sure I would even do another so this might be the one and only).


Memory - I used to sleep on the other side but my dh claimed it for his own and I gave it up without a murmur.  I sleep on my left side and he sleep on his right so at night we are never facing each other - not sure if this is a blessing or a curse!!


Memory - Bedding has come such a long way.  I don't think people realise how lucky they are to have co-ordinating sets of linen with fitted sheets.  When I was a child the standard colour was white and they were all flat - if you were a restless sleeper then you had to remake the bed every morning.  My mother washed every Monday and it was change your sheet day - I say sheet because the system was for the top sheet to become the bottom and the bottom to go out to be washed.  It wasn't until I was in my early teens that I got my first set of coloured sheets (pink floral no less) and several years later to have that bottom sheet fitted.  There were no doona's in our house just checked woolen blankets, 1 for summer and 2 for winter and a bedspread of chenille.  How things have changed.

Where do I sit?  I spend a lot of time at my computer.  It is my communication port where I not only check out various blogs and sites but catch up on missed TV, converse with friends, listen to music and create a lot of my scrapbooking pages the digital way.  Guess over time it has become my means of communication and rather than be frightened by the advance in technology I have embraced it although I do see the negative in so much that is available on the net.  There seems to be a blurred line now on what is real and what is not and anonymity has made cause and effect and ultimate responsibility for actions almost obsolete.


I also spend some time here in my lounge chair.  I enjoy watching TV with the dh at night - we have a few set shows we enjoy together and can sit companionably for a couple of hours in the evening.  I also do similar with the dd.  In winter I like to knit while watching TV and most Sundays we spend a leisurely hour reading through the Sunday papers.  This lounge is an interim one.  Our main lounge was one of the first things we bought we we were married and it served us very well over the years.  Eventually we decided to have it recovered but the new covering was not a patch on the original and it did not last as well.  A couple of accidents with drinks and stains that could not be removed really made it look terrible and we were badly in need of another.  "Another" of similar quality was out of our price range for the time being and we just did not want to pay good money for a temporary inferior one until this bargain dropped into our laps.  This was sitting in a local clearance store - it had been smoke damaged in a warehouse fire and although the suite itself was fine it was sooty and smelt awful but at $200 was a total bargain.  $150 in cleaning costs and we had a $350 quality lounge perhaps not in the fabric pattern we would have chosen ourselves but one that "works" for the time being.

I could also say I sit for long period every day behind the wheel of my car.  It is an hour round trip to school and of course the drop off in the morning and pickup in the afternoon leaves me at least 2 hours of sitting time - add the various after school activities and the ferrying to and from for both kids and I can honestly say a very large chuck of me week is spent sitting in my vehicle.

I also sit at my craft desk where I spent time scrapbooking - I don't sit here as much as I would like actually but it is time I very much enjoy.


Memory -  Why don't things last anymore?  I went through my entire childhood with one refrigerator. My parents used the same washing machine for 40 years.  The lawnmower Dad used was second hand when he got it sometime in the 70's and when I cleared out the house once my Dad had passed away in 1994 I brought it home and my husband used it for another 10 years before it finally gave up the ghost.  The kettle and toaster from my parents home were the sames ones I remembered from my youth.  Now you are lucky to get several months past the warranty period.

Where do I stand?  I stand at the sink doing dishes, I stand at the stove cooking or the kitchen bench, I stand in queues at the bank or at the supermarket or at the store register.  I stand around talking with friends, I stand at the clothes line pegging clothes on or taking clothes off. 

I stand here - cleaning my teeth, brushing my hair, putting on makeup, taking it off, cleansing my skin, plucking my eyebrows.

Memory - I'm not a big fan of standing around unless there is very good reason for doing it.  Standing in a queue for hours to secure tickets to something  is not my idea of a good time and I rarely do it.  One exception to this rule was when the dh and I went to Expo in Vancouver in 1986.  The queues for each exhibit were long and the wait lengthy but because we were there and would in all likelihood never attend another Expo we waited and we waited and we enjoyed.  It was a memorable experience and one we don't regret.

Shimelle asked ...

Where do I spent the most time each day?

Since each day is 24 hours and I roughly split this into three segments of 8 hours, I would have to say I spend the largest part of each day in bed.  Obviously I sleep there but I also enjoy reading and this is something I do each night before lights out.  There is also a TV in the bedroom and because it is winter and warmer to just jump into bed I will often watch the late night news there as well.

In which of these locations am I most comfortable?

Comfortable as in physically at ease - then I guess either bed or the chair in the lounge room since it reclines!  Comfortable as in at ease with myself and my surroundings then probably here at my computer - my place of choice.

Which of these locations adds the most value to my day?  What is my definition of value?

Value is a loaded word - value can mean time best spent for myself or time best spent for my children or time best spend for us as a family or time best spend in care of the home or .... it goes on.  If I want to look at this purely as best value for me personally, for my inner peace and well being then I guess I value the time I have on the computer for all the reasons I have already outlined.

What is my balance of routine versus spontaneity? - Keeping  in mind, spontaneity doesn’t have to be getting up and doing something energetic - it just means a spur of the moment decision.

Spontaneity???  Oh how I wished there was spontaneity in my life -  it used to be here, many, many moons ago.  The days when I would roll over on a Saturday morning and decide I wasn't bothering to get up that day, or the times when I would finish shift work at 10pm and then decide I would go nightclubbing or the times when I'd jump in the car and head off somewhere for the weekend deciding to do that only 30 minutes beforehand.  Those were the days BC (before children) after that it was hard to do spontaneity - kids don't like spur of the minute things, they don't work that way.  You have to plan carefully every single thing you do, in triplicate with advance warning.  One day I'll get back to being spontaneous but for now I can spice up my days with decisions on lamb or chicken for dinner, which day to go to the library and whether I can squeeze in coffee with a friend.  The joys!!!!