Saturday, February 22, 1992

I wake up at 1 a.m. and sleep fitfully after that.  Damn headache.  Was it the gin or is it my sinuses?  I lounge in bed with my boys for a very pleasant, snuggable half hour, then plow into a morning full of chores, most of them centered on the kitchen.  I clean and reorganize some cupboards and mop the floor.  JoAnna returns home just as I'm moving the furniture back into the kitchen.  Complaining that she's tired and not feeling very well, she ends up in bed for most of the afternoon.  During all of the day's excitement, I manage to squeeze in two videos:  Goldfinger and Shaft. 

September 5, 1991

JoAnna leaves for work early.  I drive Andy to daycare, then begin to work on the list of 15 chores I have assigned to myself.  Laundry.  It's a nice enough day to hang a lot of stuff on the line.  The garage.  I begin a tidying up process that will continue into the weekend.  Closets.  I collect all the unused wire hangers and stuff them into a plastic bag and then designate some of my wardrobe items for rummage.

When Eddie wakes up from his morning nap and decides that he's not ready for lunch, I take him to the library to see how many Beatles CDs are waiting to be checked out.  Eddie's not in a particularly friendly mood.  He allows Sharon to hold him for awhile, but his face slowly turns from a show of contentment to perplexity to anguish.

I'm halfway to JoAnna's office when I realize I've forgotten to bring along the bank statements and bills.  I turn around to retrieve them.  When I present them to her, she determines that she can deal with our household budget at a later time.

It's quite an afternoon for Eddie.  He gathers up compliments effortlessly.  As we are walking along East Mifflin, a woman walks up to us and effuses, "What a doll!"  Obviously, she is not talking about me.  On the afternoon visit to Mom's eighth-floor office (the one without the spectacular view of the east side of Madison as offered by ceiling-to-floor windows) two women in the elevator go absolutely ga-ga over Eddie.  At Coyle, where I sign our carpet contract, a woman compliments Eddie on his "killer eyes".

I drop off Baby Studly at home and then do some shopping:  Prangeway, Apollo, Cub Foods.  I can't find the postcard protectors I need to store my travel notes.

Back home, I am soon confronted with an inconsolable Eddie guy.  I have to hug him to my chest to keep him quiet, but that keeps me from preparing supper.  I lay him in the playpen and he fusses a while longer.  It takes him a half hour to regain his usual sunny disposition.

Supper is great.  Pork chops and sauerkraut, steamed red potatoes and green beans.   JoAnna cleans up and I watch the boys in the TV room.  JoAnna offers Barb our bedroom to watch the U.S. Open tennis tournament, so now I feel like a prisoner in my own home.  I don't want to join Barb because her bursts of applause sound like a game of Patty Cake on amphetamines.

Once Eddie's in bed and Andy's absorbed in a second viewing of his newest video, I crawl into the lower bunk and try too hard to fall asleep.

August 27, 1991

Staff meeting at 8. We have only routine business to discuss. In fact, we're done at quarter to nine, which gives the circ desk staff opportunity to start their meeting earlier.  I work a split day -- taping tunes, watering the garden, doing a couple loads laundry -- in between.

August 26, 1991

I manage to finish the budget draft even though I have to off-desk time. With Chris off and Sheila training 2 new pages, I end up spending a fair amount of time at the circ desk.

Monday evening continues to be uneventful.  I clean the kitchen and watch TV, actually staying in the bedroom to watch Northern Exposure.

The heat wave continues, so we let the boys sleep in our room.

August 18, 1991

The day starts off on a bad note. Preacher Paul accuses his wife of having below average housekeeping skills, this in response to her comment about how dusty the living room is. Now we know where Andy gets his morning grumpiness. For the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon, we both tackle a variety of tasks. After cleaning our bedroom, I move outdoors, mowing the lawn, staking the tomato plants more securely. JoAnna makes a great chicken dinner, and we all sit down at the dining table to eat, a rarity nowadays. Andy has no table manners and part of the reason why is [end]

July 27, 1991

JoAnna gets into some major housecleaning.  She cleans the full bathroom from ceiling to floor and even buys some new accessories.  I spend most of my time with the boys, though I do find an opportunity to clean the kitchen floor.  JoAnna continues her bathroom work in the afternoon.  She paints the small one -- for the third time in the past two years -- and does it right this time.  The previous two were rush jobs.  After all this, she even has the energy to fix supper.  It's nearly dark when we leave the house, but we do take a drive to Michael's Frozen Custard, at Andy's request.

June 30, 1991

The cooler weather arrives a day early, which inspires me to do some much needed housework.  I mop the hallway and kitchen floors, and JoAnna follows up with an uncluttering of our room and the hallway.  Then I decide it's time to clear the top of my desk.  What an improved look.  We basically laze through the afternoon.

JoAnna takes a new approach to beef stew meat and makes fajitas for supper.  We eat on the patio.  Later on Andy and I go to the park.  He actually rides his bike.  I notice that JoAnna has raised his seat.  No wonder he doesn't complain about sore knees.  Andy has so much fun playing with some of the neighborhood tykes.  We stay for two hours.

March 23, 1991

Housecleaning is today's focus and fortunately the view outside is depressing one.  The trees shake violently against a gray sky.  I tackle the laundry.  At noon, Andy and I go shopping.  We first stop at Menard's, where I inspect ceiling light fixtures (a replacement for the utility room seems to be no longer available, a discontinued style from the early 1960s), wall mirrors, and louver doors.  Next stop is Cub Foods, followed by Brennan's (for a chuck roast), and True Value Hardware for a replacement wing nut.  (And I would have asked for a butterfly nut!  Maybe that's what they are called in Two Rivers.)   Barry and Mary join us for dinner.  The conversation is supposed to focus on alternatives to working for the Broydricks, but it never proceeds to that point, and I'm hesitant to ask the $64 question.