Just One Thing

My morning started by looking out the living room window, noticing the cement that used to lead to the front step. The door and step have been removed. Now the sidewalk leads to no where. I wondered if it continued further than I could see. So I went outside to sweep/shovel off the dirt ...

 (p.s. there was no more cement to uncover - what I saw is what there was)

That was at 6:00 am. One thing led to the next. "I'll just pick a few weeds," I thought...

  

  
More than six ice cream pails full of weeds later, things were looking a little less weedy around here.

I sat on the back step with toast and coffee at one point in the middle of my weed-picking. I went inside and had lunch later on. I was already dirty. What else could I do?

I finally re-washed the new living room window ...

 

... then washed the windows on the garage.

I washed grackle droppings off the side of the house, garage and step. I swept cobwebs off the garage and back step. Then, I swept a little more.

I finally washed the bird droppings off the swing and scrubbed the table. Nine and a half hours after I started, I'm finally all ready to relax and enjoy the fruits of my labor.

Except I'm all cleaned up now and don't want to go outside and get dirty.

Maybe tomorrow...

I love days when just one thing starts a domino effect of forward momentum.

Finally.

Flitting Thoughts

So many thoughts,

so little time to flesh them out.

It seems only appropriate I illustrate this rather wordless post with my feathered backyard friends:

A grackle swooped in for a close up ... look at his evil eye.

Oh, the stories I could concoct.

Meanwhile, look at these little lovebirds.

Ahhh ... I do love my mourning doves.

The robins didn't drop in for a close up. 

I waited. Honestly, I did.

Not today...

Thoughtless Thursday

It is almost 11:00 am on my most treasured day of the week. A weekday I get to stay home. What in the world have I done with my time so far?

I have not a lot to show for my day. Yet. I have played around with my financial spreadsheet and analyzed my spending, past and future. I have made a call to Revenue Canada to confirm a few things. I have caught up on Sullivan's Crossing and eaten the better part of a bag of chips.

Where does one go from here?

I was hoping for a semi-productive puttering kind of day. I would like to lose myself to fine tuning the "stuff" within my Daybed Room. I'd like to declutter the basement. I may pull some weeds.

Words feel sparse, ambition even less so. Thoughts of where things will go from here waft lightly through my head. 

Oh, Thursday, where have you gone. And where are you going? I may just fall down a few rabbit holes...

How To Make Hummingbird ENDLESS Water Fountain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHd_9D_6x6o&ab_channel=RobbieandGaryGardeningEasy

Finally Friday

The older I get, the more I live for the weekends. 

I worked from home for a lot of years. Actually, for the better part of 1998 to 2024. That is a long time. Enough time to enjoy the luxury of not having to leave the house at a specified time, if at all.

I've been working out of my home pretty steadily for the past ten months. It's exhausting.

I get up at 5:00 am to ensure I still have "my time" before I start giving it all away outside the house. Time to write, do my puzzles, banking, puttering around and basically just tending to what fuels me. Then I have to leave.

The best part of my days off, is savoring the time before I have to leave the house. Given a choice, I stay home. Even going for a walk separates me from the house I call home. 

I've said many times, the best part of a vacation is coming home. I love coming home, whether I've been gone for a day or even a few hours. Coming home is the highlight of my day. Every day.

I am pretty fortunate to be able to say that and mean it. 

I love my home. I love being home. I love staying home. 

I'm so glad it's finally Friday.

After

I did it. I spent the day outside dealing with pinecones, leaves and just a general clean-up around here.

If one compares yesterday's pictures to the ones below, the undiscerning eye may not notice a vast difference: 

But this is the difference my eye is drawn to - the leaf/pinecone pile in the back alley:

Before

After 10 dumped loads of pinecones

That is all.

Waging the War of the Pinecones

Today's mission? Attack the pine cone infestation in the yard.

I wrote those words and immediately went back to my numbers game. How many dollars worth of points have I accumulated on my various rewards/credit cards that reward me for spending? $325.00 worth of "free spending" has amassed while I was busy spending. The leaf blower I have my eye on costs $338.00. 

I like the way life balances out, when I play the games I do with budgeting and spending.

Oh, number$ ... I have missed you so. I'll be back to play within the contents of my spreadsheets after I tend to the yard.

Back yard

Side yard

One HALF of the front yard

(Part of) the other half of the front yard

Driveway - by the street

More of the driveway. Yes, that is still a snow bank in the background.

This is a lot of yard for one who doesn't love nature.

I conquered the bookkeeping and taxes. I can defeat the pinecones.

Until the next wind blows the stockpile the trees are still holding onto.

I'll Know it's Spring When ...

Spring has officially arrived.

Today we have 12 hours and 21 minutes of daylight.

Daylight hours are exceeding the moonlit hours by 4 minutes each day.

Even though our current temperature is -13°C (feels like -19°C), 

the two week forecast says we will reach a high of +6° (feels like -2°) by April 2nd.

March came in like a lamb so it is highly likely it will go out like a lion 

(5 - 10 cm of snow is forecast for March 28th).

But I have the true barometer of spring's arrival by simply looking out my bedroom window.

When the frost on my windows is gone, I will officially celebrate spring.

I haven't been able to see out the window for most of the winter. 

Today is a balmy 1/8th of a window of frost outside.

Spring? We are all waiting with baited breath. 

Please come soon.

An Expensive Quarter

I spotted a quarter on the ground as soon as I took a step off our back door deck. One rarely finds loose change these days, so I held on to it so I could tell my sister of my good fortune during our walk.

We walked and talked, and talked and walked, as we always do. Then all of a sudden I slipped on a small patch of ice and my newly found quarter flew out of my hand. I still hadn't gotten around to telling my sister my most recent good news, so it hadn't made it to my pocket yet.

The moment the quarter skidded across the icy patch, I quickly told my sister why I was holding onto it. Of course I was going to retrieve my quarter (most likely my son's quarter, but we'll figure out custody at a later date). 

My sister immediately recoiled. She thought I was going to break through the ice and land in the puddle of water which was beneath it. I was not afraid. Twenty five cents is twenty five cents. It was a lucky quarter and I went after it.

I made it back to the safety of the walking path and then I slipped. Allegedly, my head was mere centimeters from hitting the pavement, but that was lost on me. My glasses slipped and one of my lens' popped out onto the ground. 

Oh well. Easy fix. I maintained ownership of the quarter (now safely tucked into my pocket) and put the lens from my glasses in the same pocket. Still holding my disabled glasses in the same hand I'd been holding the quarter (I didn't want to take the chance of bending the frame so I didn't pocket them). 

You know where this is going, don't you?

You're right. Nearing the end of our walk, I decided to take the chance on putting the glasses into my pocket. As I did so, I dropped them on the icy ground. Undoubtedly, lens down. I'm fairly certain the lens is scratched. Hmphf.

All for the sake of a quarter. A rather expensive find indeed.

P.S. My knee feels bruised as well - but without the satisfaction of a purple and blue discolorment, all I have left, is the "ouch" of not wanting to kneel on that knee today. 

I do feel fortunate I didn't land on my face though. It was a pretty cheap tumble after all.

Sleeping In Day 2

Unwilling to have a replay of events from yesterday, I immediately made my side of the bed this morning.

Jet is sleeping in. His job is to finish de-hairing the bed before he makes his half.

He is a terrible roommate. He never picks up after himself.

It's This Kind of Day

I hopped out of bed this morning and Jet hopped into my warm spot ... and is still there.

Yes, it's that kind of day.

(can I just say "Woo hoo!!")

The Best Part of Waking Up (is coffee in my cup)

It is my goal to wake up, grab a cup of coffee then come immediately to this spot to write. Instead, this is what happens:

• wake up
• realize its wash day
• change out of my pj's so I can wash them
• make and de-cat-hair my bed
• tuck the top sheet over my quilt to avoid cat gaining entry and sleeping in my sheets
• toss in a load of laundry
• top up our cat's water while I'm there
• turn on the kettle
• open blinds
• run the dry mop over the floors to tame the cat hair within
• get lost on Instagram as I (allegedly) check for signs of life from my son on vacation
• start a new post here
• get lost on Facebook as I (allegedly) search for an obituary
• toss laundry in the dryer
• clean cat litter while I'm there
• make a smoothie and second cup of coffee
• listen to a We Can Do Hard Things podcast while I...
• work on my daily word and number puzzles
• call our friendly neighborhood mechanic 
• run my car back to the shop (domino effect of problems after a repair three days ago)
• turn on my work computer and start morning routines
• put laundry away
• finish puzzles
• run out to buy milk since my day is already off to a bad start
• have an early lunch
• finish listening to podcast 
• back to work
• cat hair cleaning tool arrives in the mail - have to test it out!
• vacuum
• get lost in the day
• wake up to a new day and find an absolutely empty post from yesterday

Of all the morning goals I set for myself, I only seem to accomplish one of them. I have a cup of coffee. Every day. Amen to that.

I'm "this" far into the day ... 

A Blank Slate

Not a lot of words. A picture of my brain may look like an empty chalkboard.

Or this ... cat hair on a (clean?!!) bathroom floor.

Human vs Cat

In the long standing war between me and our determined little black cat, Jet finally figured out the answer to his dilemma which has been deterring him from sleeping under my covers.

Long story short, I have resorted to putting a flat sheet over my comforter during the day, which I de-hair and remove every night in an attempt to minimize the cat hair I sleep in. 

Jet soon discovered he could still sneak under my quilt by entering via the side of the bed:

This way ...

Or this would do.

I remedied that by tucking the sheet under the mattress on the side of the bed where Jet made his entrance. This worked like a charm for months on end. I was highly amused that Jet didn't figure out there was a second entry point available. The sheet was tucked into one side of the bed and there was easy access on the other side. The cats slept blissfully unaware on top of the sheet and I felt pretty pleased that I had outwitted our highly intelligent cat. I didn't even speak my thoughts aloud because I have a sneaking suspicion Jet understands English.

Then it finally happened. I walked into my room yesterday to discover this:

Isn't he cute???

So ... I flipped the sheet so I could tuck in both sides of the bed this morning. I've outwitted Jet once again. 

Until next time ...

Doing All the Things

Whew! I am so glad I know how to relax like a pro and grateful I stopped to pause when I did. Life has felt busy the past several days.

Saturday, I let the day slip through my fingers and savored every moment of it. It was a day of early morning errands so I wouldn't have to do any of those tasks in the days/week to follow. Followed by a day of mindless TV; easy eating; a little bit of snacking; and I was ready for bed shortly after 6:30.

"It's okay. You'll be glad you slept," I told myself as I headed for bed in the early hours of our long nights.

Sunday, I wanted to finish reading a book. So I did. I also wanted to get a head start on my work week. So I did that too. I had taken out hamburger so that had to be cooked. I knew Monday morning wouldn't be long enough so I prepared tuna salad for sandwiches the next day. I also knew I would be hard pressed to make time to wash my hair the next morning so I did that too.

Whew! It was a long, hard day but no regrets. Every single hard thing I did that day made room for Monday.

Month-end landing on a Monday is one of my most unfavorite things. What feels like a zillion things to do (in reality, probably between ten to twenty things), with the clock ticking every moment away. AND I somehow managed to book my COVID vaccination and flu shot Monday morning. As a rule, all of the hard end-of-the-month-tasks are tended to, by the 30th. So booking an appointment on the 31st isn't an unreasonable choice to make. C'est la vie.

Never again, but I got all the things done.

I soon realized my appointment to donate blood was today. The first of the month. Again, not normally unreasonable thinking to book such an appointment. When I realized the errors of my ways, all I could think was "It will be nice to get all of that done and over with so quickly". It will be, but this morning's morning tasks were doubled up with my own personal month-end-accounting and banking and figuring. 

The clock is ticking and I must get out the door. All the things will be done before noon today. 

I get to celebrate my success by taking my aunt to her quarterly appointment at the lab.

Fun times never end. Tomorrow, I will be on easy street again.

It's a good thing I rested. 

Thankful for the Pause

I had no words at the end of a very long, short week. I had accomplished almost everything on my to-do-list. But due to bad planning on my part, I couldn't complete my mission. I had to wait until morning.

This morning, I went to get a nice cold drink of water from the fridge and the water wasn't cold. The refrigerator part of our fridge wasn't working.

If I had remembered to buy radishes and green peppers when I picked up groceries, I would have assembled my potato salad last night. An unrefrigerated potato salad is the perfect recipe for food poisoning. My work would have been completely and utterly wasted. 

As overwhelmed and frustrated as I felt last night, a wave of relief washed over me when I realized my good fortune. Waiting until this morning to complete assembling my salad saved my day.

Then I had to wait even longer, as the grocery store is on holiday hours and doesn't open until 10:00. When the going tough, the tough do puzzles.

Trust the pause. Good words to live by.

Mission Almost Accomplished

Four days simply didn't feel long enough to tackle all that needed to be done this week. But I did it. Almost. I forgot to buy a few needed ingredients for my potato salad so that will have to wait. 

And that is all I have to say about that.

Foiled Again

This is my goal:

And this? Is Jet messing with me. Again.

 

Making a Bed Around a Cat Tutorial

Living with cats requires some accommodations. Living with cat hair is perhaps the only thing I don't love about living with our furry felines.

One of our cats favorite daytime napping spots is on my bed. Despite all efforts, dealing with the cat hair accumulation is an exercise in futility.

Awww ... so sweet, isn't it?

But Jet prefers to sneak in under the covers (note the little bump under the covers in the picture above) to share the wealth of hair on top of and IN my bed.

So, I decided to adorn my bed with a bed sheet during the day and securely tucked the top of the sheet at the top of the bed to deter any sleeping "under the covers".

This worked. For a while. Then this happened: 

Where there is a will, there is a way.

Jet in for the win. Again. I keep trying, while Jet is scheming to plot his next move.

The following is a typical morning-in-the-life with Jet and me. Jet doing what cats do best - napping. Me? I'm just trying to make the bed around a resting cat. Who wins the battle?

I think it's a tie.

Routines Revised

This morning's routine did NOT work. I will not repeat life this way tomorrow.

The intention: walk, then write. 

What happened: walk; laundry; cat litter & related chores; eating toast at the kitchen table without distractions; hearing a bird I wanted to identify with my bird sound identifier app (i.e. becoming distracted); start a blog post but got too long winded so started all over again; decided my Making a Bed Around a Cat video would be a wiser choice; file too big to share; downloaded an app to shrink video file; saved to my computer and figured out how to speed up playback speed; tried to upload video onto blog but it was the wrong file type; saved video as another file type; blog did not finalize the upload; so tried yet another file type; success at last.

My morning started by walking out the door at 5:45 a.m. It is now 8:59 a.m. I have walked, washed a load of laundry, ate breakfast and come up with a blog post.

Teaser alert: The video finally uploaded but I will not post that blog until tomorrow. 

Tomorrow's routine will consist of writing FIRST, then walking. If at first you don't succeed, try try again.

The next day's goal will be to write about something a little more important than "all of the above"

I Had a Thought ... but I lost it

I'm not quite sure what my problem is, but I will attribute my mindlessness to month-end tasks and a variety of work-yet-to-do within my home office. I can't seem to hold onto a thought.

I don't seem to think too deeply these days. I hope this passes because I used to enjoy my thoughts.

I was walking through my morning and had a nice thread of thoughts going on. I thought "I should write about that". But somewhere between that thought and my computer screen, it got lost in the shuffle of the morning.

I was washing my sheets, vacuumed my room and accomplished a small bit of work beyond my home office. And poof! It was gone. 

I hope my mindlessness is a sign I'm living in the present. In the mean time I'm feeling just a little bit out to lunch.