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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Reading Room

If you didn't happen to catch Teresa's guest posts on Stash Manicure (one each on fabric and books/patterns), you missed a couple of organizational masterpieces!! Not since stumbling upon Quiltville several years ago (and printing everything on the site -- Thank the Lord Bonnie publishes now so I don't have to support the ink cartridge industry all by myself!!! :-D) have I been so impressed!!

But alas, Teresa, you missed a vitally important place for your quilting reading materials.  May I present my Reading Room:

The room has had many names over the last few hundred years.  In the regency era novels I favor (like The Secret History of the Pink Carnation and others of that ilk! :-D), it's called the Ladies' Retiring Room.

Interesting.  I don't mind a visit from time to time, but I don't think I want to spend all my twilight years there, you know?

Or the Necessary Room.  Practical, on point, speaks for itself.
How 'bout the "privy."
Heheheh.  Right.  Privy! Is there anything private about a bathroom with a mom in it!?! Can you even count the times you sat down to take a load off and hear the inevitable squawk..."Mooooooooommm!!!????"

Not that you could tell it from this photo, but my Will is a worrier.  I think it's because his 11-year old brain can't keep up with his puberty-driven little body (why do boys grow six inches in a single year!?!?!)

Here is a typical conversation with him whilst I'm sitting in the Privy:

From the other side of the door, "Mom, can I have some chocolate milk?"


Breaking my concentration, "Um, yeah, baby. Help yourself."
"Are you sure?"
(What am I, a crack mom!?!) "Yeah, Honey! Knock yourself out!"
"Really?!"
"No. If you take one sip, I'll beat you within an inch of your miserable life."
"So it's OK, then!?"
"Yes, for the love of God, please go get you some chocolate milk!!!"

I need quilt books in my Reading Room.  If Quilting is my therapy -- and Lord knows it is!! LOL -- then I must have access to it when I need it, and never more than when I'm in the privy.  Some of my best ideas are hatched there.  Some of my ideas should be flushed.  It's that simple.  The Reading Room -- the Necessary Room! -- the privy is a significant part of my mental health.

It's just as well I have no privacy. :-P  In the Bible privacy is most often associated with scandal or wicked plans or other sinister stuff.  Joseph wanted to put Mary away privately when she was with child.  Herod talked privately with the Wise Men so he could figure out where the Christ child was to kill him.  Nicodemus talked with Jesus privately so his little Pharisee friends wouldn't see him talking to Him. 

And then there's that jewel (no pun intended) of an admonition from the Old Testament law: "He that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD."  (Deuteronomy 23:1 -- KJV)  Hehehe.  If you want your hubby in church with you, better keep the Bobbitt knife in the drawer.  So much for privacy, huh?  Can you imagine explaining that when someone says, "We've missed your husband at church lately!!"  Good thing we are under grace and not under the law!! LOL
So, privacy is probably overrated.  In the little bit of time I have behind that closed door, between Son #1 asking if he can practice driving and Son #2 asking for food ("YES! You may have lunch!!!"), I read. 

I'm reviewing (again) the "Album of Memories" series of patterns from McCall's Quilting 2001.  Thinking about the "Apple Cider" scrap quilt from February 2009.  Deciding I should get all of the Blackbird Designs books. 

And when necessary, I'll use it as a "Necessary Room." :-P

Blessings!

16 comments:

Teresa Rawson said...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah! That is HILARIOUS!!! I was laughing out loud so hard that my neighbor from two doors down came to check on me (and she is a deaf as a bag of donuts!). If my throne rooms were but a little bigger, I would have magazine racks on the back of all the doors! But then, I would probably never come out! I never get a moment to more than speed read a good quilt mag. We really are long lost twins, separated at birth (I was the one that was hauled off and raised by wolves...). Thanks for the shout out!

In stitches,
Teresa :o)

Staci said...

Still giggling here. . .
Oh, your post hits home! And now that my children are grown and gone, it still continues! My husband does the same thing to me! Can't have two minutes peace!
My cats can't leave me alone, either! They sit outside the door and whine, or if I didn't get it shut solidly, in they come! If the door is shut tight, I frequently have little paws reaching under the door, or shoving small toys under the door while the kitty tries to convince me it is time for a game of fetch! Good grief! Why does everything think the world will end if Mom has a couple minutes of peace in the WC???

~Niki~ said...

Don't you just LOVE dragging out the old quilt mags. fun fun stuff.
Love your 'reading room'. Actually I admit I have several mags in my bathroom/toilet area as well. With 4 kids how else do you think I can 'get away' without them knowing what I'm really doing? lol.

LuAnn said...

Well, Mary Lou...I almost missed that little glimpse of the toilet and for a second there I wondered where you were going to sit to page through these magazines. Whew!!! Thank goodness the room has a "seat" after all. Love it!!!!

Patty Sumner said...

I do not even know what to say! lol

Mary L. said...

LOL. Love it. I have quilt mags there too...along side the Suduko books

Anonymous said...

Funny post! LOL
And I love pouring through old magazines... keep them all. Don't know when I'll get to all those projects but one never knows!

Have a great day... Karen

Mary said...

Blackbird Designs books are mandatory.

Melinda said...

You nut. I'm with Patty; there's not much to say to that!

Sorry you were sick. I somehow missed out on a few posts. Glad you're better now. Wonder why doctors won't just write a z-pack prescription ahead of time? We all know it's going to be needed!

BTW the fact that you don't have to make judgements from the throne re: "he just (hit . . ., took . . ., said . . .) whatever" gives me hope. To only have to say yes or no, instead of "I'll take care of it in a few minutes" really gives me hope. Seriously.

Mindy

Sarah Craig said...

We have always called the bathroom "The Library" for precisely that reason - it contains lots of reading material! For my grandfather, it was his legal journals in his office bathroom, and Popular Science at home. For my husband, it's boating magazines. For me? Well, with a nearly-three year old with me every day, I'm lucky if I get to go the bathroom at all!

Stray Stitches (Linda G) said...

LOL!!!! I don't miss those days at all (I've been an empty nester for years now)! My major ideas come to me in the shower - I need to get one of the waterproof write on boards. My favorite magazine in the reading room? Reader's Digest. Stories are usually just the right length - lol!

QuiltSue said...

Well, what can I say? Except that you seem to have hit home with a lot of people. Even though my kids are married and parents themselves now, I can still well remember that shout of "Muuuuummmmm, tell him/her to stop it!!!!"

Barb said...

ROFL - you are soo funny and I have to "confess" I do the same thing. Often having a stack on hand to browse quickly when "necessity" calls. too funny!
My other guilty pleasure is taking a stack to bed when hubby is away and then leaving them on his side as I slip into quilt dream land.

Stitched With Prayer said...

Oh my gosh, I love this post! I don't even know how I happened onto your delightful blog, but as I read every word of your post today I laughed until tears rolled. I have Scleroderma and it messes with the internal organs and so things don't work quite right all the time. Point is, sometimes, what should be a 'refreshing' 10 or 15 min. in the 'privy' can turn into 45 min or more of misery...however...there is a very bright side to this extended stay. I ALWAYS take a quilting magazine in with me, always. As you say, "Quilting is my therapy -- and Lord knows it is!! LOL -- then I must have access to it when I need it, and never more than when I'm in the privy.". AMEN to that!!! A couple of things to add, I had a friend who, as we all do, got great ideas when she was in the 'reading room' and to my delight, she would always start telling about her ideas with the statment "I had a revelation according to 'JOHN' last night..." I love it! The other thing is that now my children are grown and the grandchildren I raised after that have grown and we are finally and happily empty nesters...when I pick up a quilting magazine and settle in for however long my visit to the 'room' might be, I will, without fail and within just minutes hear...'scratch scratch whine!' and it will grow more persistant the longer I'm in there. Dear Lord, do my dogs really believe there is an escape hatch in there? I mean, I HAVE to come out the same door I went in! Why can't they just lay quietly by the door and let me 'read' in peace? LOL. Thanks for a really fun post and a truly fun blog to wander around in. Most of all, thanks for the laughter and smiles that brightened my day! Hugs...

QuiltSue said...

Oh and another thing. It can happen to Grandma too. We had the grandsons after school yesterday. At one point I went into THE room, and next thing, DGS 2 (aged 8) was standing outside calling Grandma, you'll never guess what happened at school today........... it made me laugh!

Barb said...

tooooo stinking funny!!!!