A signal for the sickroom

Sickroom isn’t quite the right word for the bedroom where the newest Baby of Unusual Size and I have been hanging out since his home birth last week. It is at the far end of the house, and can go without attention from the rest of the family for hours at a time...which is sometimes too long.

A couple of weeks ago, my husband looked into why the doorbell, an older wireless model with a button and a chime that communicate by radio, wasn’t working. We had a similar one, new in the box, that had been handed down to us at some point. I’m not sure exactly what he ended up doing, something like replacing the original button with the new one we had, I think. They can work on the same frequency.

Later on, I got the idea of taking one of the buttons and using it to ring the doorbell and summon assistance when needed. He must have given me the only one that worked. Anyway, it works fine from the bedroom, and it has been very helpful more than once.

In other topics, I am finding this pantry/craft space inspiring; it has been a while since I have been able to have a little crafting space of my own.

Kevin Roche looks at Minnesota coronavirus trends. The case numbers have remained fairly flat to slightly declining. The number of long-term care facilities with cases is over 200 now, I read somewhere last week, out of something like 1700 total in the state. While the state has been working to contain this epidemic-within-a-pandemic, I still see a high potential for these facilities to be infected. It will just be spread out over several years, and considering the turnover of residents that can happen over such a time period, it is likely that places that had been cleared before will see fresh outbreaks later on.

So I still expect to see cumulative Minnesota deaths run up into five digits, eventually. They are at about 1300 now. At the same time, I think it is time for Governor Walz to stop twiddling the dials. There is an effort being made now to recall him, but apparently the law requires trying him in the state Supreme Court, and only if that is successful can there be a special election held to try to vote him out.

Burnout need not be permanent

My response to this article on Millennial burnout:

Try taking a regular Sabbath. And think about taking some sort of sabbatical; a working sabbatical if need be. (I have a book on that.)

What they'll give you is a chance to step back, gain perspective, and rest, which will at least help you to make better choices with your time, and to be more efficient in the things that you do choose to do. But even better, they can give you a chance to become acquainted and connected with your Creator. These things are especially important for those who have little margin for error in their lives.

I should take my own advice today, and take a break from working on my living room.

Sabbatical 3: Lessons learned

Having just completed my third one-year sabbatical, there were a couple of things about it that surprised me.

The first is how much of this sabbatical I spent just catching up on maintenance and unfinished projects. When you take a break from "getting ahead", there is time to do those sorts of things.

The second is that even though our income was the same as the previous year, we had a number of financial challenges over the year that left us needing to make do and do without, much more than usual. Last sabbatical, I put some money toward a special crafting project--a homemade fiddle from a kit.  This time, I did another special sabbatical project (which I will post about later), but for the most part I crafted and created using only materials that I already had, or ones that showed up unbidden on my doorstep.  I made lots and lots and lots of things, but I never ran out of supplies.

For part of the year, I set my never-ending to-do list aside, and just did what needed to be done, or what I wanted to do.  Other times, I went back to making lists, and went full speed ahead on Getting Things Done. I have a new baby coming very soon, and there was a lot that needed to be done beforehand.

Spiritually, I have spent a lot of time reading George MacDonald novels, and I have been learning a lot from him. (He has been a significant influence on C. S. Lewis and other Christian writers).

I also put some effort into making wish lists this time...sometimes I get so used to using what I have and doing without, that I forget to think about what I would actually like to get. What is remarkable, looking back, is how many of those things that I listed actually showed up, one way or another.  Some things I was able to buy, some things I was able to make or improvise, other things I realized that I didn't really want after all, and a number of things were handed down to me, unasked-for. It sounds like The Secret's "law of attraction" at work, but I don't believe in that; I believe in a God who loving and gracious. George said, in one of his books, that no desire is too small to set before God, who will purify it.

-------------------------------------------

The book I wrote after my second sabbatical year, The Serendipitous Sabbatical:  Rest in Unexpected Places, can still be found here.

Survival mode

There's a good post on that here for you.

I'd add:

I've put in a lot of work over the years to scale our lifestyle down. There is a very long list of things that I don't do, and of all the things that I do do, I do none of them perfectly. More like 30%-80%.

Pay special attention to making sure that diapers get changed on time; diaper rashes during survival mode are no fun at all.

The most essential essentials are food, clothing, and shelter. Probably the house will keep standing up on its own for a while, so that leaves food and clothing. And diapers.

Exercise:  Even ten or fifteen minutes, twice a week, makes a big difference. Use weights (enough to challenge you at 5 reps, but not so heavy that you hurt yourself), and get physics on your side:  Force = Mass x Acceleration, Work = Force x Distance, Power = Work / Time. In other words, use heavier weights, work up to fast but controlled movements, and do only a few reps of each motion before going on to the next.

Rest:  Write it on your to-do list, because in survival mode you're too busy not to rest. Seize your opportunities as they arise.


UPDATED TO ADD:

Water:  Pay special attention also to keeping your water intake consistent.  If your hydration is all over the place, your blood sugar and mood and willpower and eating will be, too.

Enough already

A couple of weeks ago, I had an attack of shopping fever, not surprising after waiting through a few weeks of tight cash flow. So I sat down and made a list of all the things that I wanted to buy. Some of the things on the list were just silly--stuff that we already have, and already have enough of. Some were things that are best left to my Empty Nest List. Some things I will buy when the money is there and the time is right. There were also things which I could just as well make myself. I did some shopping at home and found some materials (such as a box of cedar shingles) that I had completely overlooked before.

With all those things out of the way, what was left on my list was Books. Hence my trip to the library. This library has a used book sale area, with most books for $1 or less.

One of the books I bought was Affluenza, a book from the Nineties based on the PBS series from that time. Another was an older Larry Burkett book, Your Finances in Changing Times. The chief idea that I got from these was that we could decide on a maximum standard of living for ourselves and live within it; this is timely, because we are about there in terms of furnishing and equipping our household. Many of my projects now are actually repairs, maintenance, and replacements of what we currently have. My next sabbatical year will begin next fall, so I am thinking of taking a few months to transition into non-expansionary mode.

Little things

I've only got one major project (sewing, and non-urgent) going at the moment, and have been feeling a bit adrift. But there are always little things that can be done to improve a home. In my case, things like scrubbing old tape residue off doors, fishing dust elephants out from under the fridge with a stick (even with a new condenser fan, it still freezes everything...sometimes), and carefully scraping paint splotches off the woodwork.

I also moved the piano keyboard into our "school" room. It's black, and so is its stand, and they fit in better there, color-wise. Also, the radio is in there, and sometimes I like to try to play along with the broadcast music. This leaves a hole in the living room furnishings, but that spot is much brighter now without the mass of black. I am thinking of getting a chair to put there. My handmade couch is more of a daybed than a sitting couch.

Waiting until the stars align themselves better

The armchair project is stalled, because I very carefully picked out the type and size of screws I wanted but didn't check the actual box, which had been very carelessly mis-shelved. So I have been working on a multitude of unglamorous little mending, repair, cleaning, organizing, and decluttering projects instead:  washing the glass dishes from the light fixtures, sewing up a rip in a pillow and sewing the arm back on a stuffed animal, touching up little scuff marks, sorting papers and pulling out numbers in preparation for doing the taxes, putting away the last few Christmas decorations, condensing our pantry supplies into fewer containers.

After a couple days of hard and varied work, I had to downshift and spend some time just sitting and daydreaming. That is important too. Much of the above activity was really an expression of anxiety about the upcoming move. Home should be a place of comfort and rest.