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“That one becomes ugly & fat by doing that? You can’t possibly mean that it loses its charm!”
Well, yes, actually I do! Mostly the idea of staying up late, Arkady…I’m very happy to go to sleep by 10 or 11, most nights. I can’t really go for ice cream for dinner either, I need to eat something dinner like or I feel icky.
Not just cheap immigrant labor. Before birth control & education for women, there wasn’t much a ‘spinster’ could do besides cleaning, cooking or baby sitting.
I cleaned houses in CH & B.Heights for awhile when I was about 18-20. I made a good amount of money doing it (off the books). It was satisfying in a way. I could listen to music. The people I worked for were mostly single businessmen. I organized their closets, cleaned and stocked the fridge, picked up dry cleaning. Some days I made 80 or 100 bucks, which back in 1980 was great money.
Well, I’d gotten both the kids to take a nap and caught up on some work, was sitting in the living room having a sandwich and browsing a terrible novel, apparently must have laid down, because totally passed out. (I’ve been working a lot of late nights getting some portfolio stuff together for a meeting today)
“Although, after a number of years, that becomes increasingly unattractive! ”
CHiller – What do you mean? That one becomes ugly & fat by doing that? You can’t possibly mean that it loses its charm!
random responses to other things- bxgrl- you were a maid too? I worked at travelodge in HS, and it was an eye-opening experience.
On cleaning, irrespective of one’s upbringing I think there is a baseline of how clean you need stuff to be. My mother is OCD in her orderliness, but never managed to instill that within my sister or me- my sister is a slob, and I’m, well, not a slob, but my house would definitely drive my mother batty. I know it’s messy, but I (usually) can’t be bothered.
W/r/t hiring help… we had a (lovely) nanny for a while last semester, and although she was really truly great, I always felt a little weird about it (and it cost my entire paycheck.) If we could afford it, I’d totally go for it a couple days a week, just so I could get some work done more efficiently. There was an interesting piece in the NYT a couple (?) days ago about maid’s rooms, and the popularity of having hired help historically, which was kind of interesting. Having a maid had been a much less ‘fancy people only’ sort of thing in the past, esp. with influxes of cheap immigrant labor.
The upside is that you can have ice cream for dinner, and stay up as late as you want. Although, after a number of years, that becomes increasingly unattractive!
A ridiculous day over here (actually fell asleep on my living room floor) and just scrolling through, but had to say that that dubs’ keynes quote was awesome, and I may need to make a needlepoint of it.
“That one becomes ugly & fat by doing that? You can’t possibly mean that it loses its charm!”
Well, yes, actually I do! Mostly the idea of staying up late, Arkady…I’m very happy to go to sleep by 10 or 11, most nights. I can’t really go for ice cream for dinner either, I need to eat something dinner like or I feel icky.
Not just cheap immigrant labor. Before birth control & education for women, there wasn’t much a ‘spinster’ could do besides cleaning, cooking or baby sitting.
I cleaned houses in CH & B.Heights for awhile when I was about 18-20. I made a good amount of money doing it (off the books). It was satisfying in a way. I could listen to music. The people I worked for were mostly single businessmen. I organized their closets, cleaned and stocked the fridge, picked up dry cleaning. Some days I made 80 or 100 bucks, which back in 1980 was great money.
Well, I’d gotten both the kids to take a nap and caught up on some work, was sitting in the living room having a sandwich and browsing a terrible novel, apparently must have laid down, because totally passed out. (I’ve been working a lot of late nights getting some portfolio stuff together for a meeting today)
“Although, after a number of years, that becomes increasingly unattractive! ”
CHiller – What do you mean? That one becomes ugly & fat by doing that? You can’t possibly mean that it loses its charm!
random responses to other things- bxgrl- you were a maid too? I worked at travelodge in HS, and it was an eye-opening experience.
On cleaning, irrespective of one’s upbringing I think there is a baseline of how clean you need stuff to be. My mother is OCD in her orderliness, but never managed to instill that within my sister or me- my sister is a slob, and I’m, well, not a slob, but my house would definitely drive my mother batty. I know it’s messy, but I (usually) can’t be bothered.
W/r/t hiring help… we had a (lovely) nanny for a while last semester, and although she was really truly great, I always felt a little weird about it (and it cost my entire paycheck.) If we could afford it, I’d totally go for it a couple days a week, just so I could get some work done more efficiently. There was an interesting piece in the NYT a couple (?) days ago about maid’s rooms, and the popularity of having hired help historically, which was kind of interesting. Having a maid had been a much less ‘fancy people only’ sort of thing in the past, esp. with influxes of cheap immigrant labor.
“(actually fell asleep on my living room floor) ”
bfarwell, How did that come about?!
“depressing :(”
The upside is that you can have ice cream for dinner, and stay up as late as you want. Although, after a number of years, that becomes increasingly unattractive!
A ridiculous day over here (actually fell asleep on my living room floor) and just scrolling through, but had to say that that dubs’ keynes quote was awesome, and I may need to make a needlepoint of it.