Clean + Straighten

Mending - baby dress, Bug's overalls, darn hose

Wash blanket - sweaters

Clean rooms - windows, rugs, curtains, wash wicker chairs, pillows, bed sp.

Porches

Plan menus

Guest room - flowers, peanuts, air closet, hangers, etc

Middle room - clean + straighten

Make plenty cookies, peanuts, puffed rice candy ahead of time

Clary's study

- Annette, 1941-1944?

Most people get the Spring Cleaning bug in March/April.  No matter how hard I try, I can never seem to catch that bug.  Between playing gigs and getting students ready for juries and recitals, I am just barely keeping my head above water during early Spring.  For me, it's all about Summer Cleaning.  Students are on their summer break, and that means I finally have some time during the day to get the house in order.  I know, I know, it is technically still Spring, but with temperatures in the 90s and what feels like 400% humidity, I'm going ahead and calling it Summer.  Now, instead of teaching schedules, my mind is full of closet organization techniques and recipes for homemade cleaning products.

It's easy to get overwhelmed with house projects.  Enter Lists!!  Annette often made lists in the back of her diary, but she never wrote the date.  I can only guess what event she was preparing here.  It seems like company was coming, with the Guest Room and Middle Room both making the cut.  Of course, she had baking on the list as well - plenty of cookies!  I would be one happy house guest if my visit involved fresh flowers and puffed rice candy!  Of course, there was always sewing to be done as well.  In China, they did not have the luxury of getting new clothes when the old ones wore out.  Every item of clothing had to last, and even when it was in tatters, Annette turned it into something new - like dolls or blankets for the kids.  It was a waste-not way of living.

I feel like more and more people are turning towards self-sustainability.  One of my friends has a garden that produces more green beans than they can handle.  Another is re-working old t-shirts into a quilt.  I have spent a few evenings darning socks, myself.  Just like Annette, we can all make the most of the resources we have.  Sometimes, all we need to get started is a list.  

That "Funny Feeling"

That "funny feeling" has continued and Clary and I are going around saying "hot dog" and "Whoopee" and such things.  Yep, guess we finally hit the jackpot.  Had a full day of lessons.  The gang all came over tonite for a game of monopoly and Clary + Doc teased me about the cigarette smoke.  - Annette, January 1941

Can you guess what that "funny feeling" was?  Annette and Clary had just started their adventures in China when they discovered they were going to have a baby.  My grandparents were newlyweds - not even married a year yet.  How exciting....and a little bit terrifying?!  These days, pregnancy preparation can mean specialized nutrition, baby showers, birthing classes, and regular check-ups.  Here in China, it meant trying to get enough calories to feed yourself and the life inside you.  It meant tearing up old clothes and sheets to sew baby clothes and blankets.  It meant doing your work every day because you were the only one out there who could.  For some mothers, that is still the reality.  We can't always control the circumstances of bringing new life into the world.  But there can still be a "Whoopee!"

Lovely Moonlit Nite

Elsie came over tonite + helped me with my sweater.  Doc + Clary came in for tea + then we all went out and went sliding on Shoyin's slide.  Lovely Moonlit nite.  The slide was lots of fun.            - Annette, September 1941

Sometimes we need a little time to decompress.  Our lives are serious.  We have important decisions to make.  Annette and Elsie were both mothers, raising their babies in a foreign land, making their own clothes as well as clothes and toys for the kids.  Imagine the simple joy of sneaking out to play on a child's playground.  To unleash your inner child - what a luxury!  And yet, simple pleasures can sometimes keep us sane.