It has always been a great passion of mine to read.  All through my life, I usually had at least two books going at any given time, sometimes more. 

I started keeping track of the books I read on 12/25/04.  I have a notebook where I write down the names of the books and when I completed them.  I am not a fast reader, by any stretch of the imagination, but I was always hungry to be reading. 

In 2005, I read 20 books and I was pretty darn happy with myself!

In 2006, I only read 9 books.  I was very disappointed with myself - where had my dedication and drive gone?

In 2007, I was back in the saddle and read 21 books.  Woo hoo!!

Well, this year, it seems I forgot how to read.  Between 1/1/08 and 6/15/08, I read 4 books.  Between 6/15/08 and 11/15/08, I read zero books.  That’s right - zero.  Zilch, nada, nothing.  Five months without a book to my name.  I think I read the first few pages of an Al Gore book, which I was enjoying, and then I lost the drive.

Buzz made a couple of trips to the emergency room last week and, during the 2nd visit, which I knew would take hours, I brought along a book.  (I found out they don’t keep those ER rooms stocked with magazines.) I started the book on 11/16 and, folks, I am proud to say that I finished it today.  Yippee!! 

I found the will to read again! 

Now, this is not meant to sound like a complaint but the more I thought about writing this post, the more I knew it would come out sounding like a complaint.  And this is SO not cool to complain about.  So go ahead - get it out of your system.

Go ahead.  Think of all the things you will want to say - boo-frickety-hoo, let’s have a pity party for Empress, where’s my tiny little violin, blah, blah, blah.  I know.

But here’s the thing.

We have had someone to clean our house for the last, I don’t know, 15 years or so.  And now we don’t.  And I don’t remember how to clean!  I’m not saying I don’t want to clean (although, I truly do not want to clean - never have) - I’m saying that I don’t remember how.

I stood in the bathroom yesterday staring at the shower, not having a clue as to what to do with it.  I looked at the floor and didn’t know where to start.  I saw the mirror that stretched all the way across the vanity for 6 feet and saw that the top was about 6 feet off the ground, too.  I’m 5 foot 1.  How was I supposed to clean that?  Plus, I had no cleaning supplies.  I had to go shopping before I could start cleaning.  And, trust me, standing in the cleaning supplies aisle was equally as baffling as standing in the bathroom.  There are a whole lot of new products I never heard of!

Back when I was young and a new homeowner, I knew how to clean everything.  I didn’t do it very often, but I knew HOW and I was good at it.  Now, I’m baffled and what I did manage to do yesterday was not very good.  I remember I used to have a checklist for every room and I’d print off a copy every week (or whenever I decided to clean) and go through every room, checking off the items as I went.  Maybe it’s time to resurrect that idea and make up a new cleaning checklist for this house.  Maybe that would at least make me focus on the details instead of being overwhelmed by the whole scene.

After watching this video posted on Solonor’s site, I now want to make out a little with Keith Olbermann. 

This was so moving.  Go watch it!

At the risk of putting myself out there and making it seem like I have an alcohol problem, I’d like to talk about a love affair with alcohol - both mine and others’ that I know.  So sit back, pour yourself a glass of something yummy, and read along, won’t you?

Buzz and I were talking about why people drink.  For the most part, in this country and on the very surface, alcohol is considered a very social drink.  Why?  Because people like to kick back and have fun with their friends and alcohol releases inhibitions and makes you talk all slurry/funny so everyone laughs!

But what else is there about alcohol that makes it different than, say, a glass of iced tea or a glass of orange juice in the evening when you’re winding down?  For me, a glass of something alcoholic is a whole different experience.  It’s not just a thirst quencher - it is RARELY a thirst quencher for me, I would say - but rather it is something to take notice of.  I would never pick up a glass of iced tea, take a deep sniff, describe what I smell, take a sip, and proceed to complete the description of that which I taste.  I just wouldn’t.  I have never met an iced tea that complex.  But give me a good glass of wine and I’ll be analyzing it thoroughly.  At least until the third glass, that is!  Then I’ll just be chugging! 

I guess we all drink - or don’t drink - for different reasons.  I do enjoy a good buzz (heh - Buzz!) on the weekends when I have nothing planned the next day, and I consider that fun with my friends or my husband.  And, if I ever happened to be alone, I wouldn’t hesitate to pour a few for myself then either.  But I can just sit and enjoy a single drink when the occasion calls for it.  Like yesterday - I had a Tetley’s English Ale (mostly because we can’t afford to buy wine any more so I’m cleaning out the beer fridge!).  This ale has a fancy little widget inside the can that releases nitrogen into the ale and makes it wonderfully foamy and creamy.  Plus, there’s this sheeting that happens in the beer as you pour it into a glass and it’s really fun to watch.  See?  Already an experience and I haven’t even had a taste of it yet!  About halfway through the glass, I stopped and looked at it again and said, “This is really good!”

I’m going to tell you that I have never had that experience with a Coke.  No. 

So, for me, it’s not just the tipsy aspect.  It’s a whole lot more.  It’s cerebral - it’s intellectual - it’s thought-provoking.

Now bottoms up!  Let’s get this party started!!!

(P.S.  I have already put my order in for a martini on Wednesday night.  Thursday is the first day of my vacation!)

Yesterday, Buzz and I had a date day.  We haven’t been anywhere for a really long time and it was simply gorgeous day yesterday - so our planned date day worked out extremely well!

We started out the day with a trip to Simon Pearce to replace a very expensive wine glass that I broke while washing it the day before.  Very sad!  But we had to replace it.  You can’t go through life with a set of 3 wine glasses!  Surely the next time we had guests, the fourth person who got the cheap old ordinary wine glass would feel very bad!  But anyway, we got the glass (we bought a second because we just couldn’t pull the trigger on a first quality glass in these hard economic times) and then we went downstairs to where the glassblowing exhibits are sometimes held.  There was no exhibit when we were there but we did sit in a little theater and watched the 10-minute movie they have about the history of Simon Pearce and it did show some of the unbelievable techniques used in making this beautiful glass.  We love their stuff!

Let me reiterate what a beautiful day it was yesterday - sunny, near 70 degrees, and the foliage was spectacular in Chester County, PA!  The drive was amazing!

After Simon Pearce, we went to the Brandywine River Museum - a perpetual favorite of ours.  And don’t you know that they had a special exhibit there of one of my favorite Chester County painters of all - Howard Pyle.  I could look at his work all day.  (Although, here’s a tip - don’t get too close to the paintings - they have alarms on them!  I set an alarm off minutes after we got there and I was followed by guards for the rest of the time we were there - or so it felt like it.  I swear I didn’t try to steal a painting - I was looking at the teeny, tiny details!)

We came home after that and took a little nap.  Then we set up for a very romantic dinner.  The weather was still gorgeous so we put the little twinkle lights on outside on the deck and sat out there for a while.  Then we went and had a cocktail at the bar while we listened to music.  We left the lights on the deck and were able to see them from the kitchen table where we ate by candlelight.  We had “champagne” (OK, it was Prosecco but it sparkles just like champagne!) and dinner was baked salmon with a sesame ginger marinade, mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.  Delicious!  We finished our Prosecco while we watched a romantic comedy movie - Failure to Launch.

It was simply a lovely day!  And well deserved after all of the working and other distractions we’ve had lately.

This morning?  We went for a walk around our neighborhood in the really crisp cool air.  I can’t remember the last time we’ve had such relaxing together weekend.  It’s wonderful!