New House Rules

 

Saturday, August 11, 2012 – New House Rules

The first new house rule is: No computers after 9:00 pm.  I’ve instituted this rule because I found myself so hyped up, so mesmerized by my computer screen, that I couldn’t tear myself away when it was time to get ready for bed last night.  It started out as some casual googling of Savannah as a possible travel destination.  After I’d found transportation (Amtrak from Alexandria gets to Savannah in a little over ten hours) and a reasonably priced hotel in the historic district, Elliott came to see what I was doing.  When he wasn’t instantly enthusiastic about making immediate reservations, I got very impatient.  If he wouldn’t commit to a Savannah trip in October, where would he like to go?  How about that North Carolina road trip we’d been talking about?  There’s a furniture factory in a small town somewhere in North Carolina that he’s dying to visit.  Let’s find that on Google maps.  And everyone seems to be going to Asheville these days.  What’s going on in Asheville to make it so popular?  What’s the elevation there?  How far is Asheville from Hickory, where our friend Katherine lives?  Oh, and we have family members in Greensboro and Raleigh.  How would we get there from Virginia?  Where would we stop along the way?  What’s the average temperature in different months? As you can see, it just snowballed out of control.  I sensed that it was getting late, but I avoided looking at the upper right hand corner of the screen where the time is posted.  Usually by 10 p.m., I’m well on my way to dreamland, but last night. I wasn’t sleepy at all.  I was super-charged – and without an energy bar to blame for my hyperactive mental state, I have to blame it on that glowing screen. 

The second new house rule is related to rule #1:  No computers before breakfast.  Sigh.  This is a rule that I’ll never be able to keep.  In fact, I’ve already broken it today since I’m typing this while waiting for my oatmeal to cool.  Unless I want oatmeal with the texture of concrete, I’d better get back into the kitchen, but not before I formally amend this rule.  It will now read:  No email or Facebook before breakfast. 

The third new house rule applies to food:  If you don’t want to eat it, get it out of the house immediately.  I can proudly say that I abided by this rule today.  Right after breakfast, I rushed out to the Fairfax City farmers’ market to get a few items for our mid-morning visitors.  Helen and Arthur, friends from last February’s Road Scholar trip, were vacationing in the DC area and were going to stop by around 10.  Of course, I needed something to offer them along with coffee or tea.  Here’s what I brought back from the market:  an enormous Virginia-grown cantaloupe, a couple of Argentinean empanadas (filled with spinach and ricotta), two scones (raspberry and blueberry), and an apple turnover – plus a head of electrified hair, thanks to the humidity.  Helen and Arthur brought along more sweet treats.  We all nibbled politely during their visit.  However, when they left, there was a dangerous amount of food remaining on the table.  I didn’t hesitate.  Plates in hand, I walked right over to three different neighbors and managed to off-load every single item.  Only some lonely crumbs remained.  (Confession time – when I got home, I licked those crumbs off the empty plates.)