A Mixed Bag

The last 24 hours have been ... oh ... the last 48 hours have been odd. Yeah - I am that on the ball right now. Monday SEEMS like only yesterday ...

I was / am super busy going through mail, (literally piles and piles of it), making appointments I missed while gone, rescheduling things ... pretty much catching up after having been gone for the better part of two months and putting crap away ... lots and lots of crap to put away. To say that I left for my second trip to Brisbane in a hurry doesn't begin to describe how it was - I left the house in disarray and, well - Ryan was here ... then he MOVED OUT. I finally braved going into his empty bedroom today and picked up some of the detritus strewn about the floor.

So ... I have been busy - something that is not the norm for me. So when things started to go south, I wasn't sure I had the coping skills to keep being productive while things crumbled around me without running down the street screaming and pulling out my hair.

First ....

we have bees. BEES! I. HATE. BEES.

They decided to take up residence under some siding on the second floor in the back of the house. Industriously building there bee lair (that would be the honeycomb? I have no clue) inside where siding will need to be ripped off to clean it out. This is the THIRD time bees have decided to come live with us (the other two times were in our house in Sugarland - one of those being killer bees). Yeah ... bees. Joy.

Next, I had a lunch with my two best buddies - one just having had a birthday. I couldn't remember where I had put her present, but after searching for a bit - I found it! Thrilled, I got ready to go and then went to wrap her present. It was nowhere to be found. I looked everywhere ... TWICE. I retraced my steps, I searched rooms I HADN'T EVEN BEEN IN. But no ... so I had to improvise and off to the lunch I went - with apologies.

I then discover that Gary's truck and my Tahoe's registration expired in July.

JULY.

I had mentioned to Gary that I had not seen the bills come in the mail and he was the one who knew that it was late - I would have blissfully gone on waiting for them until next year rolled around or I got pulled over because of it ... which ever came first. Of course - he is sure I got them and lost them - so does the tax office people - but, really - I know it is hard to fathom - but I'M NOT THAT STUPID - OK, let me rephrase that - I most definitely could have lost them - but I would have remembered that I got them! So - Thursday, after getting my inspection done (which should have been done in July) and dropping off a donation at the Women's Shelter - I get to go wait in line at the Tax Office to beg for new ones.

I spent yesterday, as I mentioned, putting stuff away. I like an orderly house and my mental health depends on it - so it is a good thing that I have a cleaning lady come every other week - it forces me to put everything away. That it took an entire day was probably a record of some sort for me.

During this cleaning up process - things started to look up. As posted in an earlier blog - I started cleaning my closet until it started scaring me and left piles of crap all over the bathroom. So I spent a bunch of time yesterday organizing, tossing things out and filling donation bags.

I was almost done, and what should appear, but my friends long lost birthday present (it was jewelry - so small). It had fallen behind the ladder that permanently lives in my closet so I can reach the top two levels of shelves there. You would think that I just closed my eyes and threw the jewelry in my closet ... but I can honestly say I have no recollection of doing that ...

And, wonders of wonders ... I finished! Much better and now I have a ton of drawers and storage containers emptied just waiting for me to accrue more crap to stash in them.

And today was my favorite day: Cleaning Lady Day! Even though I had picked up the house, I knew it wasn't clean: the floors needed moping, counters wiped off, bathrooms sanitized, you know - the stuff that cleaning ladies do. THEN it is clean and I am a happy girl. It is amazing how my mental health can be so dependant on a vacuum, mop and scrubbing bubbles ...

Alma (my cleaning lady) came down from upstairs after vacuuming and asked me if I had another extension cord - showing me a weird, melted end of the one I had attached to the vacuum cord - complete with bare wires. Got her a new one and went to unplug the vacuum cord from the old extension cord and discovered that they had MELTED TOGETHER .... as in FUSED, stuck together. Pulling as hard as I could, I could not unplug it. Seriously - how hot would that have had to get to melt a plug and then ooze into the slots for the prongy thingies?

The plug and the extension cord:

Extreme closeup - the arrow is pointing to the blue plastic from the plug that melted into the extension cord slot:

She decided to try to quickly vacuum my bedroom and when she plugged it in - was shocked and it made a lovely loud electrical popping noise. Thus:

My vacuum is toast. And it is a Dyson. I LOVE MY VACUUM. Well, I LOVED my vacuum.

Why Alma didn't sprout wings and a halo today, I have no idea. In the picture below, notice the carpet. See those vacuum tracks? We had a mini hand held vacuum for vacuuming cars and she got down on her hands and knees and vacuumed my rather large master bedroom:

Was playing with varying exposures while taking a panorama to show the rest of the master bedroom - but it is distorted. The sitting area to the entry to the master bedroom is not in a straight line. But - success! I was able to make a panorama even though I changed the shutter speed dramatically for each shot. (I know ... you care)

Here is a shot that shows the correct perspective - which also shows how light the windows are and how dark the shelves are - which is why I was changing the exposure to suit each section of the room. And, yes still ... carpet tracks!

After Alma left - and each time Alma leaves, I spend time just wandering through the rooms downstairs. It just makes me happy that for a brief moment (well, a longer period of time now that I am the only one living here) my entire house is perfectly clean ...

So ... as I said - a mixed bag. Lots of troubles (some not mentioned - hate to get ... whiny).

BUT:

My house is clean, sparkling and smells wonderful

It is sunny and my house is bright and cheerful (I believe I have SAD)

Had a wonderful lunch with good friends

I found my friends birthday present

After spending some quality time with Consumer Reports online - Mr. Amazon is bringing me a new vacuum tomorrow - and even though it is not a Dyson - it was rated the highest and was 5 times cheaper!

I have finished going through the mail, paid all my bills, updated Quicken and finished all the icky financial crap I needed to do - finding out there was good news when all was finished

Reconciled all our accounts ... was behind four / five months - so completely up to date

Made my header for a newsletter I am responsible for (early so I won't be rushed) and I am rather pleased with it

Have actually gone grocery shopping (for healthy food only) TWICE since I got back

Took the dog to the vet

Bathed the dog

Didn't kill the dog when she barfed on the carpet

Washed my car (OK, Ryan did most)

Watched my 'To Do' list shrink considerably

And: most important and best of all:

Gary is doing great, is no worse for wear from travelling to Phoenix from Australia, is able to swim with really good movement in his arm, will be calling me in just a few hours for our nightly chat and will be home (for a week and a half) in exactly one week!


A girl just can't ask for more than that ....