Today I told Tessa that I'll bet I could make a list of 100 things that need to be done in my life/today/around here and she immediately started it for me: 1. get some paper, 2. get a pen..... That's TWO off the list already!! Sort of.
So, here goes.
1.Shave Poody, the cat 2. Shave my legs 3. Get new pet trimmers... not for me, for the cat, although woolly mammoth does come to mind when I realize how long it's been since my scary legs have been smooth. The trimmers really are for the cat. She's a poof-ball in temperatures that climb to 114 some days. But that's Arizona for you. It's hot. We both need to be cooler. 4. Take a shower..... uh... CLEAN the shower: and this is a big one. We had ants coming in the drain yesterday. exciting. 5. Get bug spray. 5. Clean the toilet. All the way around! Yikes. Again, I say yikes! 6. Clean the other toilet, 7. Clean the OTHER, toilet, etc, etc.... 8. Convince Tessa to clean the other toilet. 9. Clear all the extra baskets of laundry that's not put away. I am the worst culprit. There's three in my room! 10. Empty dresser drawers to accomodate clothes from said overloaded laundry baskets. 11. Dust dresser. 12. De-crap dresser. 13. De-crap OTHER dresser. 14. Change month on calendars. 12. Change year on calendars! 13. Call people. 14. Kelsey: cuz it's been a couple of days. 15. VT's: Companion, 16 & 17. The two people we visit. 18. Actually GO visiting teaching. 19. Pay tithing. 20. Review lesson for Sunday. 21. Find fun activities for 10 & 11 y/o kids. 22. Check email. 23.Call mortgage company. 24. Call newspapers: we got jipped our Wednesday grocery store ads!! 25. Hey! I'm one-quarter there! 26. Mop floor. I got a new "magical mop" haven't tried it yet. Supposed to clean without any cleaners. Just water. We'll see. Gotta lotta floor to cover. 27. Sweep first. 28. Dishes. 29. Table. 30. Do newspapers... that means remove and collate the coupons in them. 31. Make grocery list. 32. Go through coupons in file and purge. 33. Pull coupons to go shopping. 34. Go shopping. 36. Beg Rance or Tessa to go with me shopping. 37. What a chore!! For both! The going and the begging!! 38. Fold newly washed towels that have been in the dryer for three days. It's sad when you're dryer becomes the laundry basket! It doesn't even make it to the basket, or the fold pile, or the linen closet!! Oh, yeah... Do those: 39, 40, 41. Then, 42. Clean out under washroom table. 43. Never mind. 44. Clean top of table first! 45. Put away crap on dryer: shelf brackets waiting to be hung over washroom table, old ice cream buckets, cleaning supplies, hangers, used dryer sheets, hand-washables-waiting-to-be-washed, and empty out dryer lint filter. That does it for 45, 46,47,48,49,50, 51.... Ooooh!! Half-way there. And I've not even set foot in the living room! 52. Set foot in living room. 53. Set FEET in living room! 54. Get dust rag. 55. Dust off shelves. 56. Wipe down tables and entertainment center. oh, wait, what's this? What not to wear!? 57. Take a break. 58. Take a NAP! 59. Forget that. 60. Finish list. 61. Rake living room. 62. Remove trash from all surfaces.. floor, fireplace, tables again.. That's 63, 64, 65. Now: 66. Vacuum living room. 67. Take fireplace accessories to the garage: Fireplace tools, starters, pinecones, bellows, logs, log holder, broom and pick.. I'm chipping away here!! 67,68,69,70,71,72,73. To continue: 74. Keep in touch. 75. Write to people. 76. Call more people. 77. Get out. 78. No, stay in! 79. Read a book. Rance and Tessa always have their noses in a book or other electronic reading device. They tell me that magazines don't count. grrrr. 80. Read a magazine anyway. 81.Think about dinner. 82. Notice the presence of guilt rising in my upper regions, head, neck shoulders. 82. Ignore them: the feelings not the pains. 83. Take some drugs. 84. Have a coke! 85. (This list is getting better! ) 86. Look at the wall. 87. Take deep breaths. 88. Close my eyes. 89. Breathe. 90. Open my eyes. 91. See the bug crawling up the wall. 92. Get the bug spray. 93. Find the bug spray! 94. Trip on the basket of towels.... didn't make it to the folding portion of the program.. 95. Find the bug spray on the dryer!! (Dang! missed that one!!). 96. Head to the living room to spray the bug, 97. Lost the bug. 98. Spray anyway. 99.Look at what I've accomplished today!! 100. One great big, long, list.
Start over tomorrow. New list. Same items!! Ha! I am so happy to say I accomplished ONE of them. I made my list!!!
Stay tuned for next week: "What's in Your Purse?!"
And for the really dedicated: "What's Under Your Bed?!"
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Saturday, February 11, 2012
...after all these years...........
Wow. Time goes by way too fast!! This past Tuesday we celebrated our 25th anniversary. I can't believe we can look back that far. We've had some good times. Aren't they all that? If they're good times, well, then they're good. If they're bad times, then you grow and learn and overcome... which makes them good, I guess. I am only saying this. Being grateful for hardships and troubles is not one of my finer strengths. Anyway, we went out to dinner. Which is a good time. It doesn't happen very often. And McDonald's or Wendy's doesn't count. (I also have a thing about restaraunts that have a big noisy bar with TV screens in every corner or wall or cubby. It turned out great because though this one had TV's everywhere, they were all obstructed by a partition or beam or something...) So it was nice. Rance was sweet and brought me roses and an industrial sized bag of peanut butter M&M's. There is no other way to say I love you than that. I mean it. Yes. They're almost gone.
It's supposed to be our "Silver" anniversary, whatever that means. I think it's silly. Paper, cardboard, plastic, golden, silver... whatever, it doesn't really matter to me. As Valenitine's day approaches, the commercials start to peak. I feel bad for the guys...It's all very nice, but not necessary. If they DON'T buy the diamonds or whatever, they have no feelings? What message does that give? Let the guilt trips begin. There are no rings, bawbles, necklaces or bracelets that say anyone loves anyone else any more than they did before they got them. I believe in chocolate. THAT is true love. Oh, and this year?.....duct tape.
I will explain.....
Lately I've been trying to solve another glitch on one of our cars. The door handle on the truck looks like the hole threw up and forgot to finish. We plan on taking it in, but we have to wait til it fits into the budget, or til the list of broken things makes it worth it to get it all fixed in one repair appointment. So, I've been meaning to figure out some way to get it to stay in longer than right after the door slams. It's not pretty. You can put it back in to open, but once the door is shut, it goes flapping out again. The mechanism is fine, it's just the whole thing keeps hanging once the door is shut. I wondered what it looks like to other drivers. It's an often sight seeing someone's gas flap open, but a door handle? Anyway...solution: glue? Taking the inside of the door panel off and bolting it in again? no. So then it hit me!! I nice couple of thin, black shiny strips of duct tape. (eat your heart out Buzz Lightyear). I looked at Michael's but it was over $5 a roll and I had a JoAnne's coupon but I didn't want to waste it on tape. So, I decided, on my way home from work, I would run by Target and get a roll. Hey, yeah.. how thoughtful of me!! Maybe I'll be a good little wifey and pick up a card and some Ghiradelli carmel filled milk chocolate squares for Rance too!! (I like chocolate, we know, but this is specific to him because I'm a dark chocolate carmel filled squares kinda girl). So there, I am a good wife. ha.
However, the look on the cashier's face said it all: anniversary card, chocolate,.... duct tape... hmmm?... weird. Happy Anniversary, freaks.
Bring on the next 25 years!!! (I have enough tape!)
It's supposed to be our "Silver" anniversary, whatever that means. I think it's silly. Paper, cardboard, plastic, golden, silver... whatever, it doesn't really matter to me. As Valenitine's day approaches, the commercials start to peak. I feel bad for the guys...It's all very nice, but not necessary. If they DON'T buy the diamonds or whatever, they have no feelings? What message does that give? Let the guilt trips begin. There are no rings, bawbles, necklaces or bracelets that say anyone loves anyone else any more than they did before they got them. I believe in chocolate. THAT is true love. Oh, and this year?.....duct tape.
I will explain.....
Lately I've been trying to solve another glitch on one of our cars. The door handle on the truck looks like the hole threw up and forgot to finish. We plan on taking it in, but we have to wait til it fits into the budget, or til the list of broken things makes it worth it to get it all fixed in one repair appointment. So, I've been meaning to figure out some way to get it to stay in longer than right after the door slams. It's not pretty. You can put it back in to open, but once the door is shut, it goes flapping out again. The mechanism is fine, it's just the whole thing keeps hanging once the door is shut. I wondered what it looks like to other drivers. It's an often sight seeing someone's gas flap open, but a door handle? Anyway...solution: glue? Taking the inside of the door panel off and bolting it in again? no. So then it hit me!! I nice couple of thin, black shiny strips of duct tape. (eat your heart out Buzz Lightyear). I looked at Michael's but it was over $5 a roll and I had a JoAnne's coupon but I didn't want to waste it on tape. So, I decided, on my way home from work, I would run by Target and get a roll. Hey, yeah.. how thoughtful of me!! Maybe I'll be a good little wifey and pick up a card and some Ghiradelli carmel filled milk chocolate squares for Rance too!! (I like chocolate, we know, but this is specific to him because I'm a dark chocolate carmel filled squares kinda girl). So there, I am a good wife. ha.
However, the look on the cashier's face said it all: anniversary card, chocolate,.... duct tape... hmmm?... weird. Happy Anniversary, freaks.
Bring on the next 25 years!!! (I have enough tape!)
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Letting Sparky Go
It was a regular week this past week: I worked a couple of days, spent some time clearing out the dregs of our Christmas stuff... a misplaced ornament, a wooden plaque I forgot to take down and some ribbon that didn't make it in the box. It's a big deal around here. With over 15 boxes.. you know, the rubbermaid ones. While fun and festive for the Christmas season, it gets a little overwhelming come time to pack it all up. So that was a milestone NOT to have anything left in March... yes, we've, well, I've taken that long before. And don't forget, there's always the tree carcass to chop up for the green bin on recycle day. It even made it in the last load!! What a feat!!
I'm pleased, except now, however I have brought in the large round industrial table to sort office stuff, outside the office. Where, you say? In the front room. It's a bad scene to have an extra table, like the ones that are the size the ward uses for RS meetings and other ward activities. Rance's office was moving floors so the had all the employees work from home for a week. That meant clearing some surface space to work in. It's been a maybe-I'll-sell-this-on-ebay, don't-forget-to-take-this-out-to-the-garage, when-are-we-going-to-do-something-about-all-these-photographs, kind of piling system. Now I have to do it. Grrrr....!!
In the midst of all this our 18 year old cat Sparky has been declining. She was fine over Christmas. I made a padded 'bed' on the little front room love seat with one of those really soft, plush throw blankets for her old bones to be comfortable. And she would curl up, look out the window (when the blinds were up), hop up and down from the couch to get her food (which had to be moved to the office cuz it's been in Chase's room ever since he took over Kelsey's old room where Sparky has lived since we moved here 6+ years ago). So she was pretty comfortable. So I thought. Then, a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't find her. She wasn't in the pantry trying to find a different cat dish to check out. She wasn't in the office eating out of her own dish. She wasn't in any of the bedrooms or closets. She wasn't in anywhere! I got worried that this poor, old deaf cat got out and was lost in the dark outside!! We continued to look and then finally found her snuggled up in a wicker basket in the hall shelves we use to put in our rugs and towels. I figured since it was just an old rug we could wash it later so I let her stay there. She began to sleep there a lot longer, she hardly came out for food and when I saw her one day last week, she looked like she'd lost weight---her saggy baggy tummy from kitty bearing years wasn't even visible. She wasn't standing very sturdy either. Things got worse the next night when we heard her yowling through the hallways all night. It's like she was telling us something.
I think it's one of the hardest decisions to make when you have to face the fact that a pet has to go. She was weak, she would just look at her water dish, and then on Wednesday when I came home from work, she looked disoriented.... she had her two front feet inside her water dish just standing there looking at it. The poor thing. I knew it was time. But I wasn't prepared for the emotion it would bring.
She's our first pet. We were in our apartment in Gilbert when Kelsey was about 5 or 6. I found her amongst some leaves under a bush where Chase was going to preschool (yes.. it was that long ago..) and she was so tiny she could fit in a tea cup. I remember telling myself to remember that she was that tiny. She was very scared so we kept her in a dresser drawer and while Rance didn't know yet, Kelsey and I were enjoying a little sneakiness getting her used to us. When I asked Kelsey what to name her, she said, "Sparky". Neither Rance or I had the heart to tell her it was a dog's name, so it stuck.
Sparky put up with the other kittys and strays that came in and out of our lives. She ended up being just an inside cat when she'd had enough of that so we honored it and she became Kelsey's full time roomie. It's been eighteen years. Tessa doesn't remember life without her. And it's strange having her gone even though she didn't take up much time, space or trouble.
I cleaned up the cat carrier, folded up her blanket and Tessa and I packed her up for the goodbye trip to the vet. I wasn't prepared to feel so sad. She's been such a good soul. She weighed only 5 pounds when they checked her over and we said goodbye, even though she couldn't hear us, and left the room. When we took the door out the back of the veterinary door, there were little bird bath fountains and a plaque on the ground with piles of old leashes and collars from other pets that had gone. I'm sad to see her go but glad she's better off now.
Good bye, Sparks.
I'm pleased, except now, however I have brought in the large round industrial table to sort office stuff, outside the office. Where, you say? In the front room. It's a bad scene to have an extra table, like the ones that are the size the ward uses for RS meetings and other ward activities. Rance's office was moving floors so the had all the employees work from home for a week. That meant clearing some surface space to work in. It's been a maybe-I'll-sell-this-on-ebay, don't-forget-to-take-this-out-to-the-garage, when-are-we-going-to-do-something-about-all-these-photographs, kind of piling system. Now I have to do it. Grrrr....!!
In the midst of all this our 18 year old cat Sparky has been declining. She was fine over Christmas. I made a padded 'bed' on the little front room love seat with one of those really soft, plush throw blankets for her old bones to be comfortable. And she would curl up, look out the window (when the blinds were up), hop up and down from the couch to get her food (which had to be moved to the office cuz it's been in Chase's room ever since he took over Kelsey's old room where Sparky has lived since we moved here 6+ years ago). So she was pretty comfortable. So I thought. Then, a couple of weeks ago, we couldn't find her. She wasn't in the pantry trying to find a different cat dish to check out. She wasn't in the office eating out of her own dish. She wasn't in any of the bedrooms or closets. She wasn't in anywhere! I got worried that this poor, old deaf cat got out and was lost in the dark outside!! We continued to look and then finally found her snuggled up in a wicker basket in the hall shelves we use to put in our rugs and towels. I figured since it was just an old rug we could wash it later so I let her stay there. She began to sleep there a lot longer, she hardly came out for food and when I saw her one day last week, she looked like she'd lost weight---her saggy baggy tummy from kitty bearing years wasn't even visible. She wasn't standing very sturdy either. Things got worse the next night when we heard her yowling through the hallways all night. It's like she was telling us something.
I think it's one of the hardest decisions to make when you have to face the fact that a pet has to go. She was weak, she would just look at her water dish, and then on Wednesday when I came home from work, she looked disoriented.... she had her two front feet inside her water dish just standing there looking at it. The poor thing. I knew it was time. But I wasn't prepared for the emotion it would bring.
She's our first pet. We were in our apartment in Gilbert when Kelsey was about 5 or 6. I found her amongst some leaves under a bush where Chase was going to preschool (yes.. it was that long ago..) and she was so tiny she could fit in a tea cup. I remember telling myself to remember that she was that tiny. She was very scared so we kept her in a dresser drawer and while Rance didn't know yet, Kelsey and I were enjoying a little sneakiness getting her used to us. When I asked Kelsey what to name her, she said, "Sparky". Neither Rance or I had the heart to tell her it was a dog's name, so it stuck.
Sparky put up with the other kittys and strays that came in and out of our lives. She ended up being just an inside cat when she'd had enough of that so we honored it and she became Kelsey's full time roomie. It's been eighteen years. Tessa doesn't remember life without her. And it's strange having her gone even though she didn't take up much time, space or trouble.
I cleaned up the cat carrier, folded up her blanket and Tessa and I packed her up for the goodbye trip to the vet. I wasn't prepared to feel so sad. She's been such a good soul. She weighed only 5 pounds when they checked her over and we said goodbye, even though she couldn't hear us, and left the room. When we took the door out the back of the veterinary door, there were little bird bath fountains and a plaque on the ground with piles of old leashes and collars from other pets that had gone. I'm sad to see her go but glad she's better off now.
Good bye, Sparks.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
What? Do yOu tHinK tHiS is mY FiRsT dAy?
In our house, that's called, "First Day Syndrome". It goes like this:
When someone has the ability, skill and experience to complete a task... it's because they have been at it a while. For many, many 'days'. Take, for example, driving. (He's gonna love this one, smug, MAN driver!!) When you sit (meaing, when I sit) in the passenger seat and try to "assist" the un-named driver, (meaning, my dear husband, Rance)... that person may inevitably, resoundingly and seemingly justifiably say, 'what do you think...?!! This is my first day or something?!!' YOU are not allowed to correct, direct or instruct. Later, this slogan evolved into, like I mentioned before, First Day Syndrome. Now it's kind of like a twilight zone, only more sarcastic. As we have advanced in years, we have an acronym for it... yes, look out ladies, I tried to warn him, but he says, "do you have FDS?" (when I insult him by reminding him that we're in a school zone) and I say, "Whatever do you mean dear?! Feminine Deodorant Spray?!! What ARE you talking about?!" At first he laughed. Later on just a chuckle. And now a sneer and a short, "FDS, babe, FDS."
So, here I am, putting all back-seat driving aside, with no acronym, no skills, no experience, no spell-check....(is there one here?...) and YOU get to see it. Yes!! This IS my first day at blogging!!
When someone has the ability, skill and experience to complete a task... it's because they have been at it a while. For many, many 'days'. Take, for example, driving. (He's gonna love this one, smug, MAN driver!!) When you sit (meaing, when I sit) in the passenger seat and try to "assist" the un-named driver, (meaning, my dear husband, Rance)... that person may inevitably, resoundingly and seemingly justifiably say, 'what do you think...?!! This is my first day or something?!!' YOU are not allowed to correct, direct or instruct. Later, this slogan evolved into, like I mentioned before, First Day Syndrome. Now it's kind of like a twilight zone, only more sarcastic. As we have advanced in years, we have an acronym for it... yes, look out ladies, I tried to warn him, but he says, "do you have FDS?" (when I insult him by reminding him that we're in a school zone) and I say, "Whatever do you mean dear?! Feminine Deodorant Spray?!! What ARE you talking about?!" At first he laughed. Later on just a chuckle. And now a sneer and a short, "FDS, babe, FDS."
So, here I am, putting all back-seat driving aside, with no acronym, no skills, no experience, no spell-check....(is there one here?...) and YOU get to see it. Yes!! This IS my first day at blogging!!
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