Entirely Domestic

About a month ago I had a realization that I really, really needed to start treating cleaning the house like I would at a job. My first job out of college was at a spotlessly clean Montessori school where mopping the floors and cleaning toilets were just part of the day there, and I never really minded. I decided I need to adopt a similar mindset about cleaning my house by making a cleaning schedule, but I only got as far as scheduling Monday's tasks, which were cleaning the bathroom and vacuuming half the house. So every Monday for the past month I've had a clean bathroom and vacuumed first floor, but that's about it. This post is probably more for my own personal benefit than anyone else's, but here I go, here is my brand new Get It Done! cleaning schedule:

Monday: Clean upstairs bathroom, Vacuum living and dining room, sweep kitchen and foyer.
--1st Monday of every month: scrub tub

Tuesday: Vacuum stairs and hallway, Dust downstairs, wipe down coffee tables, etc.
--2nd Tuesday: vacuum furniture

Wednesday: The kitchen wipe down: Sink, counters, dish drainer, stove, fridge, microwave (inside and out)
--3rd Wednesday: clean out inside of fridge

Thursday: Sweep and mop kitchen, foyer, and bathroom. Empty bathroom and laundry trash.
--4th Thursday: dust blinds and baseboards

Friday: Pick up bedrooms, change sheets
--1st Friday: organize closet clutter, sort kids clothes

Saturday: File papers,bills, bag recycling, clean kitchen trash can

That's it. (Not including daily tasks like washing dishes and my favorite cleaning method derived from a magazine somewhere, picking up with a laundry basket--one or two rooms at a time, put everything that's out of place and walk through the house putting them back where they belong)

Next up: figuring out how to schedule some structure in my spiritual life, because with two kids, waiting for some free time to pop up just doesn't cut in anymore. Actually, it probably never did.

Going to Latin Mass

I got to smell some incense on Sunday- we went to our first Latin Mass. I'd have to go several more times to begin to feel like I'm picking it up and to unpack my impressions, but here's what I noticed was different. I'd also like to know why these things are not done anymore...

• The prayers were stunning in their portrayal of God's holiness and the egregiousness of our sin (an English translation was provided) - definitely not of the 'Jesus is my best buddy' variety
• There was a line for confession during Mass. I think the priest stopped hearing confessions right before the Eucharist
• We received the Eucharist on the tongue while kneeling
• Almost all the women wore chapel veils
• No 'passing of the peace'
  
• Choir was men only
• Less music
• Less scripture read
  

Throughout the Mass, I couldn't help but think about how God is a mystery and the ways of heaven are mysterious. Maybe that was just me drawing a parallel between not being able to understand what the priest was saying, but it's still the dominant impression I have of the Latin Mass as I think back on it now. After going to this Mass, I'd like to know more about why the liturgy was changed. I can understand why making the switch from Latin to English seemed important, but the other changes? It felt appropriate to kneel for the Eucharist and the prayers were beautiful and true. It seems odd that people decided these things were no longer useful for Catholics. I know very little about liturgy, but I think I can see why people would cringe over some of the changes.

Quotable Monday

"I believe that appreciation is a holy thing, that when we look for what's best in the person we happen to be with at the moment, we're doing what God does; so in appreciating our neighbor, we're participating in something truly sacred."

-Fred Rogers, 1928-2003, beloved star of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Thanksgiving thoughts

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I have kind of a thing about this holiday - I need it to be a holiday that I spend with a lot of people. I experience a level of depression inversely tied to the number of people I'm planning on spending Thanksgiving with; just a handful of people = Elissa mood funk, large group of people = oh, happiness. It just feels all wrong to me to not have a crowd of people around, be it family or friends or both. However, this Thanksgiving it will be just my husband and I and our two boys, so I was really surprised yesterday when I realized that I don't feel bad that it will be just the four of us--I'm actually looking forward to our mini-holiday at home.

I think it's due to the fact that I'm starting to feel like my little family of four really counts. We can have conversations with booga bear and he is growing into his role as the big brother. I'm feeling fully invested in raising a family; with one kid I had moments when I felt I was only playing house, but with two kids that is no longer the case. (Now I feel like I'm only playing at having a life outside of raising a family).

This Thanksgiving will be our first holiday in our first house. We're planning on going to Mass, I think I'll take booga bear to the park no matter the weather, make some videos of our four month old, we'll probably use skype to talk with family.The meal is going to be simple and I'm not sure if the turkey will be thawed enough to cook, but I have a lot to look forward to. All in all, four is feeling like a pretty sweet number for the day.

Quotable Monday

"People seldom do what they believe in. They do what is convenient, then repent."

-Bob Dylan, musician, poet, painter

Oversight

The subject of abortion and the election has been on my mind heavily the last few weeks, so much so that it is shaking me out of my three month absence from blogging. I am a bit amazed by something: Christians who proclaim abortion to be evil but still happily and eagerly vote for a pro-abortion candidate, and in this election, one of the most pro-abortion candidates America has ever seen.

Obama is an ardent abortion rights activist, having a sterling 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-choice America. He has promised to remove ALL restrictions that interfere with a woman's access to abortion, saying "The first thing I'd do as president is sign the Freedom of Choice Act. That's the first thing that I'd do." The usual argument I hear justifying voting for Obama despite his vigorous pro-abortion stance goes something like "Obama, overall, will work for a more just society than McCain, so I feel morally obligated to vote for him"

To this I say "What?" Basically, the premise behind this stance is simple: the murder of over one million innocent human beings in the US annually is not enough of an issue to vote against. I wonder--if infanticide were legal in this country and Obama was promising that the first act of his presidency would be to promote infanticide by removing all bothersome restrictions on it and by providing federal funding for parents to kill their children, would people have trouble deciding if they should vote for him or not? To the folks who would answer no, of course not, then the question that begs to be asked is: Do you really think abortion is evil?

This blogging hiatus

Oh my poor, neglected blog! Life has just been too full lately for me to post anything -- we had a baby and moved to Pennsylvania a few weeks later, and we're still unpacking and working on the house. I'm sitting on the floor typing this with the monitor on top of an upside down box...so we have a ways to go, but I hope to be back to posting in a few weeks!