beware the tomato

I went to the store last week. I bought a nice red round tomato.

Just one, because they were a little expensive. I brought it home anticipating what I would use it for; perhaps in a salad? maybe in a burrito? ah, on a hamburger would be great. Hamburgers are really so much better with a good tomato on it.

Alas, yesterday I looked at my tomato and realized it was going bad. This would have been almost tragic except that I had just read that there is a salmonella outbreak in nine states, mine being one of them, and they think it's related to tomatoes.

And so I was relieved to have a visible reason to toss it out, saved from having to decide whether or not my tomato may be carrying that nasty disease, whether the promise of a good hamburger was worth the threat of dangerous illness.

Farewell tomato.

resolved

I've concluded that a good time for New Year's Resolutions is actually not at the New Year. At least in all the necks of the woods that I have ever lived in, January is cold, snowy and/or mushy, and gray. Maybe even grey. On top of that you are over-stuffed and a little tired from the many celebrations that have been fun, and certainly worth it, but you are taxed.

Where does that leave you? Wanting to curl up on your couch with a nice big blanket and a book that is interesting enough to keep you occupied, but not so riveting that you can't take that little nap you're planning on. These are happy resolutions, indeed, but destined to be interrupted if you're the mom and they don't really help get things done. By all means, I am an advocate of couch/blanket/book/nap. But I also have to be realistic.

I've decided that the beginning of summer is a good time to plan, set goals, etc. Tweak them if you wish in January (and probably in the Fall, too, but that's a whole other post), but resolve in June when the weather is nice, and you're in need of a little structure, but not too much structure and the soft morning air wakes you up ready to DO SOMETHING! to do something. What ever that might be.

* * * * *

I have resolved to:

* Be off the computer during the day as much as possible (okay, currently breaking this one...) this means I need to...

* Blog more in the evenings. The purpose behind these things is so that I will...

*Spend more time being present and available for my children. And so they will learn that modern life is only partially reliant on technology and the internet and not wholly reliant, as some would have us believe. Next...

*Choose one room every few days for the next couple weeks and deep clean it. Get the kids involved.

At some point I plan to add some exercise to my routine, but for now, we're working on what we've got.

* * * * *

Yesterday I really did limit my day-time computing. It was good. I cleaned my daughter's room top to bottom and painted a few knick-knacks and a picture frame for it as well. This morning my girls and I cleaned the laundry room. I may add the hallway & closet today, if I feel ambitious.

I also pretty much neglected the rest of the house, including the morning dishes, and all the other dishes and didn't vacuum the family room floor. Because it never got picked up.

I tell you this because, you know, in the interest of full-disclosure. Because it may sound like once summer descends upon me I can work all kinds of magic in my home, amazing me, ha, ha, ha! Because I really don't do that and am not like that. And the days I do inevitably mean I spend the next week totally exhausted and curled up on the couch with my blanket, a book, and a nap if I get lucky. Limits, people. Limits.

"the sun began to rise"

It was a quiet morning, the town covered over with darkness and at ease in bed. Summer gathered in the weather, the wind had the proper touch, the breathing of the world was long and warm and slow. You had only to rise, lean from your window, and know that this indeed was the first real time of freedom and living, this was the first morning of summer.

- Dandelion Wine, opening paragraph, by Ray Bradbury