House cleaning

Since I've done little except the most basic housekeeping since Oct., my plan for the week is to get busy on it.  I have always mimicked Cathy's method of taking one room each day and finishing it, then relaxing until the next day.  Of course, I always start with the easiest room, then move on to the next easiest and so on, usually leaving the kitchen to last.  But this never works, as I usually give it up by about room #3, acknowledging my weakness and laziness.  But this time I have company coming next Monday and Tuesday, and one group will actually be in the living room!  So today I started in the living room, dusting, washing and polishing.  I even polished the bases of the floor lamps that are hidden behind chairs.  (OMG! What have I done!  Set a precedent!)  I have recently read that a lot of clutter takes away from a room, so the terrible clutter of framed pictures on the shelving unit was taken away, the frames put in storage and the pictures put in an album.  I found an album of fairly recent family pictures with a lot of room in it, and it just felt right that they go there, especially after I went through the album and found many fairly recent ( last 20 years) family milestones.

Then I tackled the spare room.  Even dusted the blinds.  Raised so much dust that it got to my breathing, and I quit for the day.  But that room is done too.  We haven't done any vacuuming, yet, but that's okay.
So now I feel I've accomplished something today, and for that I am grateful.

Yesterday, for his birthday, David wanted to have supper at the casino and spend the evening.  Loren and Amber joined us for supper, and we had a long leisurely meal ( I think they may have wanted to kick us out of the buffet, but it was only just over an hour and half.) Loren pointed out how long it had been since the four of us had spent time together, without partners of children. We figured that it had been more than 20 years.

 I was showing Amber how a machine worked and Loren sat an one nearby, after telling us how much he disliked slot machines, because he never knew how or why he won.  Then, as an example, he said "it says I won $38.00 but not how". When I checked he had won a random progressive jackpot, and he was complaining!!?  So he took his winnings and left to check out the blackjack table.  He came back about an hour later with a handful of chips asking where he could cash them in, as he was quitting while he was ahead. Amber played and did quite well, winning two progressive jackpots and a hand pay, while we were there.  She was well ahead of the game when we left, (with empty pockets). It was a pleasant evening, and a joy to spend it with my children.  Another thing to be grateful for.