Little Luxuries

I recently started forcing myself to read more.  I wasn't not reading because I don't like it--really, I think I like it far too much.  But I have to force myself to read more because I always feel like reading is being lazy, that I should be doing something else..

I wasn't reading just more in volume, but more frequently, and a wider variety of books.  The adoption process was one cause, since part of our home study is reading books on certain topics of adoption.  Part of it was traveling a lot--it's always nicer to look at a thick stack of pages when the plane touches down, rather than unplugging my headphones from the TV jack and thinking "golly, what did I just do for the past 6 hours?"  So I've been reading. And it's been wonderful :)

But when I get home from work, and I'm tired, I find that all I want to do is make some popcorn or tea and sit down and read the afternoon away.  Of course, there's nothing really wrong with this :) but it does become a problem when one wants to do it every day and may (or may not) have actually succeeded in doing it for a week or two...


Needless to say, our house was a bit of a disaster.  But I'm not just pulled between reading and, say, cooking or cleaning.  Even if, by some miracle, the dishes are all done and the house is swept and the laundry's clean and put away, even then, I still feel just a tad guilty when I sit down to read.  There are so many other things I need to do, things I enjoy.  Like processing pictures, or sewing, or blogging!

Now, admittedly, reading improves writing, so I have a blogging incentive to read more. But it's still a balancing act, keeping everything even and fair and clean and cooked. And reading is so much easier than writing.. or cooking or cleaning, or even sewing, or processing pictures.  And it's cozier, too. Especially this time of year, curled up under a blanket with a hot cup of tea nearby...

so maybe we'll have an untidy house for the next few cold months.  Because after all, I really like tea :)