Still

In theory, I ought to be at the supermarket right now, but in fact, I'm still at home. Part of it is that it's taken me much longer to do some domestic things than I thought it would -- cleaning the counters, putting away the kitchen Christmas tree, loading the dishwasher -- as well as doing things that I didn't realize that I'd be doing, such as bringing two girls to their homes after mid-term tests (Dad, I told Kim and, um, Emily that you'd bring them home after school, okay?), or making lunch for the two that came back to our house. Stuff takes time, and I don't always allow for that. Even just the process of doing an inventory of our pantry, looking at the menu list for next week to see if we have everything we'll need to make those meals, sometimes takes longer than I think it will. Either I get interrupted or I think of something else that really needs to get done first; the next thing I know, it's two hours later and the shopping list still isn't done.(Sorry for the delay, there; after writing the still, it occurred to me that I needed to go get the coffee creamer. Oh, and push down the lever a second time on the toaster oven. Do toaster ovens wear out? )

So that's part of it. And part of it is a general lassitude that overtakes me whenever I think about politics, which is a lot, lately. I've mentioned my dismay about Massachusetts. I'm amazed that they voted for a Republican. I mean, Massachusetts? They're so Blue that a picture of the stat appears in the dictionary next to the word Blue. How could they possibly like what they hear from a Republican? Which then segues me into, generally, wondering how anyone of any intelligence can like what they hear from a Republican? Not that R's are necessarily wrong; I've said that before. But to prefer any of them, given what their party did to this country in the Bush years? That boggles my mind. And yet I know that people do prefer them, and not just the radical right, or the get government's hands away from Medicare stupids, but reasonable people, bright people. How can that possibly be? Can they really think that the Republican approach is better? Apparently, yes. And that just stuns me. What, other than tight-fistedness, do they offer? Oh, yeah: guns. I forgot that. What else?

The only thing that cheers me is to think about how livid the other side is that my side had the effrontery to spend money to get things moving again. Too much money? I don't know; maybe. How much would have been enough? But things are moving again, and that's good. Progress is being made, and that's good. And yet, I know -- I'll bet serious money -- that in two years, the only questions will be: What have you done for us lately? How dare you spend money to get the economy moving when surely just giving it to the rich would have worked? And why did you do all that work on health care -- if they need it, let them pay for it! And they'll run for office promising to undo the improvements in health care, the environment, and anything else they don't like. Undoing is how they 'do'. They don't make things better, because doing that costs money. They undo. Remember? The Party of No? That's them.

Ah, well, We'll survive. If we survived Bush, we can survive anything.