dual personalities

This weekend had a little bit of everything: puttering around, entertaining, running errands, and resting. Not too bad!

We had friends over for dinner on Saturday night, so I spent a good amount of time that morning deep cleaning. It’s nice that, even after everyone leaves, the apartment still feels like it’s in ship-shape. (Having a dishwasher for party plates helps in this regard.) We also managed to fit in a long walk around the neighborhood and a quick stop at the hardware store. I think we have become people who go to the hardware store every weekend, but that doesn’t feel like a bad way to be.

My main goal for Sunday was to get the car washed. Easier said than done! DN told me he wanted a very specific level of clean: “Deluxe Exterior but Standard Interior.” Well guess which options were available to me: Deluxe In & Out, Standard In & Out, Deluxe Out (no interior) and Standard Out (no interior). Ye gods! I think the Subaru did just fine with a standard in & out clean. Later I went to Home Goods, where I was overwhelmed by (but ultimately triumphant in) choices for Tupperware-equivalents and storage baskets. Could I have had a more suburban day? (Yes: it ended with prolonged couch-sitting with a dog in my lap.)

I know this is a hodgepodge of very basic weekend anecdotes. I’ll leave you with a musical conclusion. DN played this song for me today:

…and it reminded me of this song:

I mean, it turns out they’re really not very similar at all. But that’s how my mind worked.

The wear and tear of daily life takes a toll on all of us — not least on the objects that we rely on for our comfort, including all types of dishes and glassware. We rarely think about the things we use every day until something gets broken. Take, for example, the tea-making paraphernalia that we use constantly.

The electric kettle needs its weekly vinegar cleanse. We have hard water.

We store our tea in the Spode cookie jar at the back of the photo. I’ve broken and repaired it twice.

If I drop the lid on it one more time, it’ll be a goner and I will be very sad.

And so it went with my DH’s tea mug. He’d used it for going on forty years until he dropped a heavy knife on it while emptying the dishwasher, and broke it beyond repair.

At least I didn’t do it! My DH is not the sentimental type. I’m the one who saved it from the garbage to photograph. Like an old friend, that mug had seen him through many trials and tribulations. Every ding and chip represented a story. At the very least it deserved a photo!

Fortunately, we are not short of mugs. (In fact, most of our mugs are packed away. Two people don’t need that many.) Guess which one the DH is using now?

I use the rooster mug that my Aunt Donna gave to me 25 or 30 years ago. It has survived very well and has no chips (touch wood). Am I a sentimental fool or is it normal to take ownership of objects this way?

I’ll leave you to ponder these deep philosophical questions. Meanwhile, I’m off to a local conference to give a talk on experiential learning in the premodern classroom (eye-rolling is permitted).

Have a great weekend and don’t break anything!

After hearing about it from seemingly everyone, DN & I decided to give the show Schitt’s Creek a try. The show was created by Eugene Levy and his son Daniel Levy, who also star in the series with daughter/sister Sarah — a real family affair. Centering on the Rose family’s fall from grace that leaves them living in a motel in the town of “Schitt’s Creek,” the show draws its strength from good writing and comedic acting. Given that Catherine O’Hara costars as Moira Rose, wife to Eugene Levy’s Johnny Rose, the films of Christopher Guest come to mind. There’s a similar vibe, which I might describe as… oddball farce with heart?

We have also compared the show to Arrested Development, given the similar founding premise. On the other hand, Arrested Development is hilarious for its one-liners and gifability. In Schitt’s Creek, humor is situational, and the biggest laughs are rooted in the actors’ delivery of their characters’ quirks. I couldn’t find my favorite scenes online, but here’s an example:

So far, we have only seen the second season, as it was advised that we skip the first. I suppose it might have taken the first season a bit of time to find its footing. But I plan to go back and watch, if only to see the backstory of my favorite characters — the whole Rose family has grown on me immensely!