Housework and Yardwork, and Random Thoughts

As I am the sort of person who does not enjoy housework, there are a few jobs that get put off until we have expected company.  Tuesday evening we were expecting four sister missionaries to dinner; two from our ward, and two from the Spanish branch.  For that reason, after lunch on Tuesday was housework crunch time.  I had a few jobs to tackle, now that the berry pie was cooling, and the bread was on its final rise.  The kids were all in school and the house was quiet, and I needed something to motivate me to do the detested jobs.  I scrolled through the Amazon music app on my phone, set up the bluetooth speaker, and away I went to the strains of Matchbox 20.  It occurred to me while I was mopping that I have a tendency to choose rather angry sounding music when I clean house. 

"I wanna push you around," mop, scrub

"Well I will, well I will," scrub, mop

"I wanna push you down," swish, swish

"Well I will, well I will," mopping more

"I wanna take you for granted, Yah, well I will."

Cheerful lyrics, right?  And I was singing right along, brow furrowed and intense eyes staring down at the dirty floor.  Stupid sticky spots.

When the floors were mopped and vacuumed, kitchen cleaned, the downstairs bathroom returned to a state of cleanliness (towels back where they belong, husband's dirty clothes removed), blankets folded (we always have blankets out) and put away, and the area just outside the front door swept, and the various little wrappers that my children's pockets seem to randomly spew were thrown away (just how much candy do they get from their teachers?), I didn't need my angry music anymore.  But seriously, why was there a Santa ornament on the flower arrangement in the front room?  And how many socks can our couch hide?  A lot, evidently.

On my way to volunteer in Annie's class, my music tastes ran in a different direction: The Piano Guys.  

When we were sitting at dinner and one of the sister missionaries asked what my favorite band was, I didn't know how to respond.  I love music.  I have music playing a lot, but I can't even narrow down what my favorite genre is because it really depends on my mood.  I like a lot of different types of music.  This week I've listened to Julie Fowlis (Gaelic), Indila (French), 90s country station on Pandora, Imagine Dragons, and the Mormon Tabernacle choir, in addition to Matchbox 20 and The Piano Guys.  Unless you also count Melinda Kathleen Reese whose Google Translate parodies I love to watch on YouTube.  While I was trying to form a response, Emma told the sisters that I like Josh Groban (also true) and Ryan said I liked Elvis (sometimes, but yes).  

So I stuttered out something about Imagine Dragons and Taylor Swift (before the latest album), and left it at that.  I don't know that I love bands per say, because I don't think there is one out there that I'm in love with every song one person or band makes.

But let's not forget the audiobooks.  I am currently wading my way through all of the Jane Austen books our library system has on the OverDrive app.  I also listen to those while folding laundry, doing dishes, and going on walks.  I just finished Mansfield Park, and am still not a fan of Edmund the hero.  He spends 9/10ths of the book talking about how he likes another girl to Fanny, who loves him.  And Edmund tries to push Fanny into a friendship with the other girl, who Fanny does not think is a very good person.  Nice, Edmund.  Also, Edmund and Fanny are 1st cousins.  Ew.

I am listening to Persuasion now, which is tied with Pride and Prejudice in my favorites list.  I was listening to A Room With A View, but it wasn't grabbing me.  It is better to have something good to listen to while doing unpleasant yard chores.  The English sister missionaries were supposed to help me yesterday with this last load of sticks, but cancelled.  So I put in my ear buds, turned on my book, and finished loading the truck.  My arms and shoulders were dead tired by the end.  When Emma and Elizabeth got home, I had one really full branch I couldn't load by myself because it kept getting tangled in the other branches while trying to pull it up, and they kindly helped.  The big log leaning against the truck was under too many branches in the beginning, and then the pile was too high for me to lift the heavy thing up on top of the pile.  It requires Ryan's big husband muscles.

I asked Emma to take this picture because I felt a little proud of my pile of sticks.  It represents a couple of hours of tedious work.  Gather, lift, stack, and then jump on to flatten, repeat.  Those branches are quite springy.  If any of the neighbors were watching, I'm sure I looked silly jumping up and down on the branches in the back of this old pickup.  This is my superhero pose. :)  I look like a dork.

Plus an outtake, because Emma thinks she's funny.

Ryan is going to attempt to drive The Dog one more time.  It has a flat tire that lost most of the tread on the last trip.  The wheels are doubled in the back, so he is hoping that by going slowly enough, he can make it without a new tire.  Because we'd rather not have to buy it.