Nine More Minutes

I've never backtracked on a new mission before, but I've got to make some adjustments to this one. With four new exercises and an increase in each of my exercises to 20 reps apiece, I totally overdid it yesterday. I couldn't even do a single leg lift this morning. My abdomen felt so weak. And it feels like I might have a kink or something in my small intestine, so I'm taking it very easy today. Lots of warm fluids and nothing but my walk this morning... What I'd like to do - starting tomorrow morning at the earliest - is to go ahead and do the four new exercises, but shift all the exercises back to their original number of reps. I guess I bit off more than I can chew! I need to remember that my surgically renovated abdomen is still a fragile area and needs to be improved very, very slowly.

Speaking of broken things, my ancient alarm clock-radio stopped functioning on Friday night. You know the type. Great big digital numbers and push button controls. There's no time to waste when an alarm clock has bitten the dust, so it was off to Target - and I soon found myself coveting this lovely little double-bell alarm clock with a vintage feel to it. Why not add a timepiece with some '40s flair to my bedroom? Without another thought, I popped it in my cart and smiled like the Cheshire Cat at home last night as I carefully set the time and wound the alarm hand to a position shortly after 5:00. (That walk takes place pretty early on the weekends!)

So it seems I forgot something.

Not only is a double-bell alarm clock loud enough to jar you into consciousness in one second flat, but there is no snooze button!!! Egad. Imagine living in a world where you didn't have the luxury of nine more minutes of sleep. Without a snooze button, you don't have the option of nestling back into your pillow "for just a few more minutes." The day has begun, like it or not. Turn the alarm off to get that terrible jangling bell out of your ears --- and relax at your peril.

On the other hand, not having a snooze button for a crutch might have some real benefits. I could put that extra nine minutes - or 18, 27, or, well, 36 minutes on truly desperate mornings - to some very good use with all these exercises and chores and vintage grooming habits in the a.m. Isn't it funny how a simple little thing like an alarm clock can remind us of something in the past so fundamental to daily life?

Turning a Bedroom into a Guest Room

This week is all about plugging along… After two weeks of illness, I’ve got to push and prod myself every step of the way to get these chores done. That said, I’m starting to feel a bit of the ol’ rhythm when it comes to my morning and evening routines. My ironing got done yesterday - all except for a blouse I forgot about that had been drying in the bathroom - and I did a little marketing this evening. My aunt is in town for a conference, and my sister and I will be making dinner for her tomorrow night. At my sister’s house, thank goodness! I may have made some progress in housekeeping since November, but my home is still far from ready to do any entertaining. At any rate, that means I’ll need to push my weekly bedroom cleaning forward to Friday evening and my new mission to Saturday morning.

It’s been a while now since I cleaned my bedroom, and I’m actually looking forward to putting it back to rights. Since I don’t have all that much in the way of news this evening, I thought I’d share this wonderful description of how the ideal guest room should be furnished from Lily Haxworth Wallace’s New American Etiquette (1941). I think we all deserve to feel as good as we’d try to make a guest feel in our homes. How do your bedrooms measure up to the ideal guest room?

Bedrooms should be liberally equipped with lights. The central bulb should operate from a switch that can easily be reached on entering the room. There should be a bed light, two, if the room has twin beds. A lamp should be above the sofa or chaise longue for reading. The bed and sofa lights should operate on individual switches.

The room should have shutters and shades so that every bit of the early morning sun can be kept out of the room if one likes to sleep late in complete darkness.

The bed or beds should be comfortable and should be well equipped with sheets, blankets (plenty of them), and a quilt. There should be two pillows, one hard and the other soft. There should be a bed light over each bed to satisfy those who like to read themselves to sleep.

Any bells for calling servants should be placed so that they can be sounded without getting out of bed.

There should always be a bedside table on top of which there should be an accurate alarm clock. The table should also hold a small tray with a glass and spoon, a thermos bottle of cold water, and a hot-water bottle or electric pad. A flashlight or candle should be beside the bed for service in the event of a breakdown in the house lighting supply.

The closet should not be the storage space for miscellaneous articles. It should have sufficient shelves and hangers for all the clothes it will hold. There should be hat stands for the women and trouser hangers for the men. Shoe trees should be amply supplied. If riding is a practice, there should be a bootjack.

There should be at least one lounging chair in the room and a sofa with comfortable cushions. They should be so placed that the light from the window is right for reading. A lamp should be near by for night reading.

A dressing table should be so placed that it receives satisfactory light from the window during the day and should have lights properly arranged for use after dark.

In the days of midsummer an electric fan is a welcome addition to the equipment of a hot room.

Mirrors should be in as many places as possible. There should be at least one of full length and the others should be placed so that they are at the proper height and receive good light.

A writing desk should be equipped with note paper, envelopes, ink, pens, pencils, stamps, blotters, and a calendar. Beside it there should be a waste basket.