Wednesday, August 07, 2013

What We're Reading Wednesday

I am all about keeping up on posting this week.  Because I like it but also because it's a great distraction from the fact that Mt. Laundry-manjaro is about to topple over in the bathroom if this project doesn't get wrapped up ASAfrigginP.  Ohmygosh.  It is crazy.  And right now the water is turned off because they're doing the plumbing (woo hoo!) so I cant, like, clean anything else in the house either.  Or go potty.  Sweetness.

So: blogging distraction at you're service, linking up for the first time with Housewifespice's What We're Reading Wednesday.

This week I'm reading All Things Bright and Beautiful by James Herriot, which I found on our bookshelf one evening while hunting for something "nice and happy."  I'm not finished with it yet, but my goodness I do love it.  His storytelling style is right up my alley, the way he describes people and animals is uncanny, and his true love of life and being alive and the world teeming with life is just a joy to participate in.  Oh, and let's not forget his courtship of his wife interspersed throughout.  And I laugh!  Out loud! All the time.


Before this I was reading C.S. Lewis' space trilogy.  I've finished Out of the Silent Planet and Perelandra, but had to take a break before reading That Hideous Strength because Tommy was reading it and what the heck?  Meanie.  But it gave me the opportunity to discover Herriot, so I'll forgive him.

Speaking of Perelandra...

I was just having a chat earlier today with a friend about (our own) false martyrdom where we start to think that anything that we want and makes us happy is wrong and that we should always feel miserable.  Even if the thing we want and makes us happy is good and holy and is also good for our family in the long run, we somehow manage to make ourselves feel guilty for doing it.  The Enemy can be so sneaky because just think about that: we start to feel like it's a moral good to avoid doing something that's good and to make everyone around us sad in the process.  How disordered is that?  Answer: very

Anyway, there is this part in Perelandra  that talks about this exact phenomenon- a wife insists on waiting to eat until her husband comes home from work even though not eating makes her very crabby and uncomfortable and her husband specifically doesn't like when she's miserable and wants her to just go ahead and eat but she insists on waiting in order "to be a good wife." Hah!  I totally did this! Except it wasn't food.  It was undershirts.

The Undershirt Story

I used to loathe washing the white clothes because folding them is such a tedious, time consuming process.  I mentioned this to my husband one day and he said "You don't have to fold my socks and underwear and undershirts.  No one's gonna see them.  Who cares if they're wrinkled?"  And I was all "But I MUST.  That is what good wives do.  Good wives fold undershirts even if they hate it and their husband tells them it's okay not to!"  So I kept folding all the white clothes and I kept hating it and he kept telling me not to waste my time and I kept being stubborn and falling on the sword of my most hated chore.  Until one day I told my dear step-mom about this and she laughed and said "Why don't you just throw the stuff in the drawer, then?  Why are you insisting on making yourself miserable for no reason?"

Ding. Ding. Ding.

And I've never folded a pair of underwear or an undershirt since.

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28 comments :

  1. I remember loving All Things Bright and Beautiful! But I can't remember why exactly... must be time to reread! I love this linkup, it's introducing me to/reminding me of so many great books!

    Funnily enough, a turning point in my summer was realizing that exact thing about meal times. I used to be pretty flexible, but then pregnancy came along and forcibly put me on a regular eat-and-sleep schedule. Giving into the biological inevitably made me and my husband-with-late-hours both a lot happier, even if I do end up eating by myself half the time.

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  2. Oh! Two of my favorite writers! I love James Herriot's storytelling, and I love to go back to him. He's funny and sentimental and so very human.

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  3. I do that 'suffering to do it right' thing all the time. Last night I caught myself and fed everyone earlier. Thanks for writing it out. Lord, help us work as unto You, not our own perfect wife idols!

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  4. I remember that book being on our bookshelf as a kid. Must go read it (All Creatures Great and Small)

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  5. Have you told yourself that you will never complain about your laundry again if you can only get your laundry room finished and wash and dry in blissful peace? That's a lie. You will. ;) We had a kitchen remodeling fiasco (black mold, anyone?3 months with no kitchen) and I swore I'd never complain about dishes again if only I didn't have to wash them in my bathtub anymore. big. fat. lie.

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  6. Oh, and the undershirt story is a riot. We had a similar thing, about breakfast, where I insisted on getting up early to fix breakfast for my husband before he left for work, even though he didn't want me to, and I didn't want to do it. He's an introvert and really just appreciated the quiet breakfast alone before leaving for work. But no! I must cook for you and bless your morning! And all that.

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  7. I'm laughing about the husband's laundry. I must be the world's laziest wife. My husband does his own laundry. Part of the reason is he likes it all folded nice undies and all and rotated in the drawers (like the fresh laundered ones go on the bottom) and so he is much happier doing it himself since I'm the throw it in the drawer type.

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    1. I had to laugh and cringe a bit at this, Becky D., because my husband and I are just the opposite. I like to fold his undies and rotate them in his drawers while he will "try" to fold them. I figure I'll just do it myself....it makes me happy. OCD...I know!:( Let's be happy that we both married our perfect complement. We found a system that works just like you and your hubby have.:) Blessings to you.

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    2. Well, I must comment right here because I'm just like you Grace. I do the whole rotating in the drawers. I find each socks pair and I put aside the un-paired ones. I guess I'm also sort of a laundry martyr :)

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    3. Rotating underwear? Really? How often do you do laundry? My poor husband has to remind me to do laundry because he's *out* of underwear (and yet I feel like I'm doing laundry constantly). So I guess my method is to rotate it all through the washer/dryer and back into the drawer.

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  8. Love love both those books, and the tie-ins to real life...excellent. :0)

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  9. Oh, I just bought the James Herriot collection for children for Henry's school year, and had to sit and read it cover to cover right away (which meant we ate supper at 8:57 p.m. - oh well!). High five to your hubby! I never fold Steve's underwear, just throw it in the drawer - socks too - does a farmer care if his socks match?? I think not!

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  10. LOVE those James Herriot books - there are more in the series. Read them all in high school. So great. And I wish my husband were like yours, because I hate the white laundry, too. But he's Mr. Military Man and everything must be folded JUST.SO. Sigh. So I do that small sacrifice for him.

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  11. I loooooove Perelandra! I liked Out of the Silent Planet too, but Perelandra was such a beautiful and thought-provoking read.
    I finished them around Christmas, and still need to read That Hideous Strength.
    Also, I can totally relate to your story about the whites. For me, it's everyone's inside-out clothes. Nobody cares about turning them right-side-out when they're getting dressed, so I leave them inside out and fold them like that! So much work: poof! Gone!

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  12. Love the Herriott. And the Narnia.

    And the undershirt story, but I was quicker than you - when my Mum told me at 15 that I'd have to do all my own ironing, I quickly realised how to buy stuff which could handle a crease, and how to hang stuff up to dry so that it remains straight. I think I've ironed about twice since.

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  13. I love love love James Herriot....all of his books are great! I've re-read them so many times I've lost count.

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  14. How have I never read those books before. I was made to memorize the poem "All things Bright and Beautiful" as a child on our walks and knew the entire thing by the time I was 5 (can still recite the whole thing) and am a lover of that dear C.S. Lewis. Haven't read those ones yet, though. I think when I tried the space ones a few years back I had a hard time getting into them. Should try again, me thinks.

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  15. Ditto Rita - two of my favorite authors! Perelandra is by far my favorite of the Space Trilogy. Have you read Lewis' "Til we Have Faces"? Also a great read.

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  16. i've been in a literature slump lately but I have not read either of these books, always meant to but just never got around to it. I think it's time I made a trip to the library :)

    And yeah, I hear ya on the false self-imposed martyrdom, must be a common phenomenon!

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  17. My in-laws gave us Season 1 of Herriot on DVD for Christmas. I also read The Real James Herriot: A Memoir of my Father, because I'm a superfan. If I ever get to England, I want to visit that village, and Ballykissangel in Ireland, and Hogwarts.

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  18. I want to live in Herriot's village ... Or on Perelandra. Happy sigh!

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  19. I came across your blog today and have been stalking it for the last half hour now and I gotta be honest, I think I sorta love you! ;) I'm a Catholic Mama to 5 myself and really look forward to reading...it take LOTS of reading to get me through my crazy at home days!

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  20. C. S. Lewis seems to come back to that example of the martyr-aggressive mother over and over again--I'm pretty sure it's also in the Screwtape Letters in some form, and definitely in The Great Divorce (though he makes it a husband for equal opportunity). He "adopted" the mother of one of his friends killed in the war, and lived with her for years (decades?). It always makes me wonder if that was the big lesson she taught him.

    You are in for such a treat with That Hideous Strength. I think of that book constantly. It's prophetic. Even more true today than it was when he wrote it. And a ripping good read.

    I'm so excited for your laundry room!

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  21. I've never even heard of James Herriot before! Yay, now I have something new to check out, so thanks for that.

    I enjoyed Perelandra, but I think I'm still digesting it before I move on to That Hideous Strength. There was so much packed into that book!

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  22. I know you're busy being AWESOME and all.. but I'm tagging you to play along in a blog hoppy type thing..
    http://www.myclonesinaction.com/2013/08/eleven-and-no-im-not-talking-about-matt.html

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  23. in other news.. HOW DO YOU READ??? Seriously, the baby grabs ALL the books.. sigh.. the bigger kids think the kindle is ONLY for killing zombies. I miss words.

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    1. I can only read after the under 10 set is in bed! Which might be why I'm always tired. But it's worth it.

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  24. I like the undershirt story. The same thing happened in my house.

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