Mid-Winter Miscellany

I wish I were posting more frequently. But I only have bits of things to say that don't seem worth a blog post all by themselves. And it's hard to find time to sit for long and think, probably thanks to my schedule.

Every January I get this urge to clean out closets, cupboards, and crannies. This urge is partly genetic. My Grandma Jessie started her spring cleaning this time of year, washing, dusting, and organizing every surface in her house (including walls and ceilings). It's also probably due to being cooped up with too much Stuff during the winter, since I do not like going out in the cold, the winter wind, or the dark. Hopefully this is as far north in latitude as we will ever live.

It's January once again and those scouring urges tug at me everywhere I look in my home, but my time seems so fractured by other demands: piano teaching about 18 students, my church assignments -- I'm back in Primary (our church's auxiliary for children), and the day-to-day wife/mothering/housekeeping stuff that never stops. My blog posts tend to slow down when there is a lot on my plate.

So in the interest of mentally cleaning house, I've got just a few random things that I've wanted to post...

Go see The King's Speech. It is a moving story about George VI, who struggled his whole life with a serious speech impediment, and his unlikely friendship with the commoner who helps him get ready to give the speech of his life. If cursing bothers you, be warned there is some in here. However, it used very specifically, for good reason, as Orson Scott Card explains it beautifully here (scroll down to the last third of his article). And its use is limited to a couple of very specific situations.

I've been experimenting with over-wintering strawberry plants in my house. I was given a plastic grocery bag full of beautiful bareroot plants with their leaves still on by a neighbor who, now that he is retired, has a summer garden that is the envy of the neighborhood. I planted a bunch outside, but the weather was turning colder, so I thought I would try planting some in pots in my house. They've been doing well, when they're not getting sat on by my cat Ginger, who likes to sit in the windowsills, until this last week when I noticed they were covered in aphids! ACK! Gross!! The usual method of spraying them off with a stream of water was not feasible. I tried the cotton swab method of wiping them off, but that was far too tedious. So I dug out my houseplant insecticide, soaked them, and then, thinking that cooking spray is a good substitute indoors for something like dormant oil spray, decided to spray down the leaves with that so the little devils would suffocate. Early results seem to be quite positive.

I know there were other things I wanted to say, but sadly, the thoughts dribbled away.