Saturday - Being Useful

December 1, 2007
     I am on my feet - and trying to be useful after a nice long sleep. I put the furnace at 69 for once - locked Ranger in the garage (has his own heater), brought the dog in early so she was settled, and had 1/2 an all-Bran muffin before bed.
      I slept.
      For once. I was exhausted.
      I have the heat lowered, cleaned every loose hanger out of my four closets (about 35 of them) - I had thought I had none. Ha! Still no sign whatsoever of my new black PJ top - everything else on the planet but no joy there. I have previously lost an entire outfit - pants and top - in one of my trips to San Diego - prob. left at a hotel. This top has to be in one house or the other. So far - I have searched both. I give up. I am still wearing the over-sized (1X) faded pink ones - and they have faded. The others were my new size - L. (I can get into M but like comfort).
      I have had the other 1/2 of the muffin, put the dog out, fed the cat (how could I not - she nags so loudly) and have actually put clothes on. I have started taking out trash and rounding up laundry. I wonder what women would do if they didn't have to do Saturday morning housework.
      I did have a moment of shock - there is this red thing in my driveway - the little PRIUS - that startled me - since I EXPECTED MY SILVER TRUCK TO BE THERE, Strike three Toyota! Damn fools! Took my truck apart and THEN found they were missing part!
      Meanwhile, I have yard clean up and house clean up and must get my act together.
      Leaves are building up. Once a year I usually hire a crew to come rake. I may not this year. It's a good exeercise. Bend and twist.
      High-powered nozzles are great on dry leaves. Skate them into piles. Toss them into the street (where they can be easily swept up by me and the street sweeper due Thursday.)
      I need to whip the grass shorter and eventually actually USE the weed be gone on the back yard weeds. Prob. discover I have no lawn!.
      I also need to go shopping. Soon. Before noon. I have exceeded my 100 rule. My bra - which I had hoped I would be out of by now (no - I have been very bad all year long on my diet with one excuse after the other) - well - I have worn it more than 100 times and that's the rule. Ever hear that one? I never had. But they are right. It creaks (Lane Bryant). Sticks my boobs out too far (I am a B+ even fat). And I put it in the dryer - Which didn't help.
      And my fav black tank top for Lane Bryant - little sparkly trimming - well - I leaned into a sink I had sprayed with CLOROX. Forgot I was supposed to be the Naked Housewife.
      Industriously rounding up trash - I found the biggest black nasty 8-legged creature in my mail! I took off my shoe and whacked it about 6 times. Took the first four to actually make it stop moving!
      Yuck!
     
      I put Ranger in (big male orange tabby as opposed to the queen of the house, Summer, long-legged orange tabby)- opened the garage - all set to prune away ----- and my tools are in the Truck! At Toyota! GRRRRRR!
      So is my nylon wind breaker! And it is freezing cold. (No - I found it draped onthe stepladder. Much laer.)
      I hosed - and suddenly - after an hour being outside clearing leaves off of cement (they stain), I realized my feet, hands and face were frozen - literally. I took off my wet pants, my shoes, and am going to go fetch a Starbuck's (bottled) - warmed up. (In my own kitchen. I don't try to freak out the neighbors.)
      TON of leaves - I put them in the street and will go rake when I defrost - I can fill a bin with no effort.
      I will weed-whip - I have that one tool (I own three). Not in the truck.
      CALIFORNIA!
      COLD!!! (we are 20 degrees below normal)
      I brought a bunch of sweaters up from SD last trip - to pack up - hell - I am WEARING THEM TO WORK!
      I had to move some stumps around the yard - the dog has dug so many plants up! I protected my trees and tried to rescue some plants.
      She has an area I let her go wallow in - not good enough - "leave me out I will destroy your yard".
      She even will dig up flower pots if they are low enough to the ground
      She already tore down SIX screen doors that had to be replaced. She's old - but she has always been untrainable (unless she wants to be) and stubborn. Very smart, very set in her ways. At least the spiders are quiet in the woodpile.
      Well, well, well. Hands chapped, I have the sprinklers running in the front (hose units). I also FILLED the green garden waste bin - BIG bin - with leaves.
      Garbage cans out. Ranger's litter pan cleaned. Garage shut up. (Garage now aired out.) On my second pair of jeans. (Rolled up and also wet.)
      The sun is warm - if the clouds move - but then - whap - cold again.
      I will take my pills and go whip the back yard while it's at all warm. My gardening shoes? In the truck. (Another GRRRR!) I am on my second pair of garden gloves.
      I started the laundry.
      I need liquid (keeps you warm) and something besides a Starbuck's and a 1/2 muffin.
      My chocolate muffin recipe is calling me. (Why I am stuck at this weight.) My sneakers (for the treadmill) are also in the truck. I stay 1/2 packed for the runs between houses. I am efficient. I have been hoisted.
     
      I weed-whacked the back yard, using the weed trimmer as a hedge-pruning device for sprouting trees (neighbor's damn dirty tree) and suckers and the wild geraniums. I even trimmed the side yards (must go sweep one of them).
      I vacuumed - and found the cats had been playing sharpen the claws on my throw rugs (bits all over the place - why Ranger stays in the garage)
      I have the windows open and a fan running - to freshen the house.
      I recorded but did not watch the Richard Chamberlain Bourne Identity - made in 1988. A whole different look and feel.
      I tried to vac the kitchen but the cats had gotten a GOOD rug and a whole strip was sucked up by the powerful Kirby. That rug is now a cat rug------ Drat!
      I never made the store so I am bra-less.
      My feet are dirty and green (grass stain). I've been working so long that the first pair of jeans and gloves have nearly dried!
      Birds are singing like mad outside - as if rain were coming. A whole slew of them. Yet there are few clouds and no rain forecast. (Why I have the sprinklers on.)
      I still need to change the furnace filter and the light bulb in my bedroom.
      I wanted to eat protein - and the left-over salmon exploded in the microwave. Oh well, I needed to clean it anyway.
      My backyard looks better - but not done since I can't prune. I can't rake leaves since the bin is full. (Next time it's the backyard's turn.)
      I need a hot shower or better yet a nice tub with bubbles----- Maybe I'll shop tomorrow. Of course the cats will have to have Salmon feast since I ran out of Chicken feast cat food. They may eat me.
      Summer - who has an affinity for the scent of my dirty socks, underwear, shoes, and other clothing, mostly things near my feet, managed in spite of all my efforts to get another trouser sock. (She bites them and plays with them - rendering them useless).
     
      Two more cycles on the sprinklers and toss laundry into the dryer.
      At that point ---- I will probably CRASH.
      It's already 2:30PM.
      Since PBS is doing pledge drives - there will be no Mystery for me to watch tomorrow. I will probably run Pride & Prejudice again.
      Or maybe SHOOTER. I am eclectic in my taste.
      Salmon (whatever did not explode during re-heating) and diet soda have been lunch.
      I can feel the temperature drop as I sit here. So the fan will go off shortly and the house be locked back up.
     
      Two cycles for the sprinklers. My hands are filthy. I have mud on my face. My clothes have weed-bits on them. I am dribbling everywhere I go. The lemon tree in the backyard needs to be harvested - it is loaded. I will remove that tree down South I think. May take the Orange tree too. It isn't getting proper care.
      I grew a couple of sad tomatoes (maybe 8-12), undersized and only from one plant. And then I never got a single summer squash (6 pre-started plants). Won't do that again. Grow from Burpee seed! I do have several dozen gourds. They came up by themselves - In front and back yards. The backyard ones are colorful. The front yards ones somehow didn't show their colors. They go South too. Let them sprout down there next year!
     
      I am getting tired --- watching water puddle. OK - time for MOMMA!

      I took a long bubble bath.
     
      I am now a prune. But I trimmed my toenails (after age 50 best done after soaking in hot water), soaked until the water heater gave out, made a note to return bubble bath to Fremont since it cannot be used in a Jacuzzi - not if you want to run the jets, and washed the mud off my face (splatter from the high-power jet). I combed the debris from my hair, and am in PJs. Fun ones. Slinkly sexy ones. I am warm (prob. sunburned). My laundry is in the dryer. I will feed the dog and contemplate the furnace filter (climb on ladder - unsrew the grate over head - messy business). (I did it. The filter fell and hit me on the head.) (Did the burned out light bulb in the bedroom too.)
      I am also considering what on Earth to buy my son for Christmas. Never mind the company.
     
      OK chores done - filter (it fell on my head) and the light bulb (so I can see when I race to the bathroom). Also spent $450 on Christmas. HA HA. Let my mouse do the shopping!
      It's now nearly 4PM and I am contemplating a coma.
     
      So much for Saturday. I am very proud of myself.
      Hopefully --- everything gets delivered before I leave for San Diego.