goals for today

i'm happy to say that the kitchen is finally done. Beloved hung the last hook this morning, and finished the backsplash last night. i have a few things left to do - the basket i found here at pond house, now hanging over my grandmother's table and Beloved's grandmother's bowls, is a bit too high, and i have some boxes of my "good" china i'd like to bring down from the attic and start to use. it's been six years since i packed the stuff away. now at least, i have an accessible place to put it.

i hung the pictures and finished the plants. now my only chore for the day is to take some stuff up and bring some stuff down from the attic, and to finish painting the hallway.

i remembered in the course of the last couple weeks as it's all been coming together that when i was little, my favorite game was playing house. i didn't like board games, had no time for soldiers or trucks or anything at all my brother wanted to do. i played house with barbies and doll furniture and built myself a series of dollhouses over the course of the years. there was nothing i'd rather do then - except perhaps read - and there's not much i'd rather do now.

i know it isn't popular to admit you like housework, and i can't say i always LIKE to vaccum and dust and scrub, but i really do like the results. there's something zen about scrubbing, something cleansing in the act of wiping and washing and sweeping. i like to have places for everything and for things to be, if not in their places, at least not far from home.

and furthermore, the war must end. blessed be!