Procrastination

I've been MIA for a week or so. I know, I know, you've missed me dreadfully and have been bearing up bravely in my absence. But I have excuses reasons! Things have been busy here at the Old Maid HQ: ballet has started up again, so I've been making groaning noises like an old lady every time I have to move; my young giant of a nephew turned fifteen; and my brother visited from LA for a few days.

There has been, in short, a great deal of merrymaking going on - including, but not limited to, getting thrown out of one of Providence's more pretentious and down-at-the-heel dining establishments. I'm exhausted.

I'm also working on a list of Winter Projects - or, to be perfectly accurate, a list of things I've been putting off with the excuse that the weather is too nice to bother with them. Here it is, in no particular order:

1. Clean the apartment top to bottom - REALLY top to bottom, not just dusting and vacuuming the areas that can be seen and praying that my visitors don't look too closely.
2. Catch up on hand washing. I might want to wear some wool sweaters still sitting in that particular hamper.
3. Make jewelry. I'm already getting Christmas present hints, and I've promised my brother's girlfriend a bracelet.
4. Reorganize and purge bookshelves. About once a year, I realize that books are taking up almost every horizontal space in my apartment and something must be done. I purge, I donate, I send books to friends, I recycle. And then I buy more books. This may at some point require a 12-step program.

I'm thinking about a new system, wherein I get rid of not just the duds I will never read again, but also anything by Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and the like. It's about time I got over the need to prove that I Read Literature by having classics on my shelves that I can get easily at the library. Let the library store them, I say. They have more space.

In addition to making merry and making lists, I've been spent many a happy hour procrastinating while reading Got Medieval, a very funny blog by a guy working on his PhD in medieval studies. That's right, he's a medievalist. And he's funny. It surprised me too.