Hodge Podge

As I write this, Ryan is dusting my shoes. This is a job he adopted a couple years ago. He will periodically sit down in front of my shoe shelf and pull out each pair, dusting them off, and replacing them. “This doesn’t have a size. Sometimes the size will show the age.” “These two shoes are from the same company but are different sizes. The green ones are 9 ½ and the blue ones are 10.” Based on those two quotes, I would say that I probably bought the green shoes first. And if I had to try them on, those green shoes just may not fit anymore!

From yesterday:
The Mud Puddle Incident…
Just before noon, the phone rang. The elementary school was on the callerID. Oh no, I thought. Who and what now?
Who: Ryan
What: Covered from head to foot in mud.
Why: Apparently he miscalculated the dismount from the small bar and ended up IN the mud instead of swinging OVER the mud.
So, I brought him a change of clothes then came home to do a little laundry.

The Catfish On Legs…
Ryan came in to tell me that he needed help capturing the bug in the girls’ room. Apparently there was a crazy looking bug under the blanket on the floor. “A giant head that looks like a catfish but it has legs!” Hmmm… Why don’t they ever call Ron to catch the freaky bugs?! We did indeed manage to capture the bug, using our friends’ cup-and-card method. I released him to the outdoors though he may have gone into shock and frozen to death since it was pretty cold out there last night! I’m not sure why this bug was caught and released since our usual M.O. involves squishing with a shoe. Guess it was his lucky day!

My Afternoon Blues…
I cleaned yesterday. Cleaned and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Can’t even hardly tell. I cleared out the entry way, putting away about 5 jackets and 8 sweaters. I cleaned off the white chair which is where I usually dump all of my stuff. I put the library books back in the bag. Then I went upstairs to continue my cleaning rampage in the girls’ room. I threw away a bunch of old junk and compiled a bag of miscellaneous toys to be donated. You can see the floor all the way from the door to the back wall. I cleaned out the wooden puzzles but the cardboard ones remain for another day. And then they came home from school and messed it all up playing ponies. Grrr… The foundation is there though so if I can just be tougher and more consistent about making them clean up… And really I’m not done in there. It’s an on-going project.
Then it was time for dinner… while the food was cooking, I cleaned up some of the mess. Washed dishes, cleared a bit of the counter. Then… (and this is where it gets crazy…) I had 10 minutes left on the timer for the fish. What would I normally do, especially if I had been cleaning non-stop all afternoon? I would normally go upstairs and kick back, maybe check email or watch tv. BUT – are you sitting down?!? – I didn’t! I said to myself, you have 10 minutes. Why not see how much vacuuming you can get done before dinner? I’d been meaning to vacuum all week and hadn’t gotten to it yet. So I did. And you know what? I vacuumed the entire living room, kitchen, and under the dining room table. I can check that job off my list. So out of character! I was thinking though at the time that I wasn’t really liking this productive, clean all day way of life. Ultimately though, it was nice to have done a lot. And I still had plenty of veg time in front of the tv after dinner while I worked on cleaning out my email box. I made it from July to Oct 2007 in only 2 ½ hours. What? Shocked at the amount of clutter in my life, even virtually? You shouldn’t be.

So, there you have it. Now I’m off to clear more old emails. Already this morning I have put out two freecycles for pick-up, made scrambled eggs for everyone for breakfast, and got my card ready to mail (I sold another card on Etsy! WooHoo!). Later today I have a playdate for the kids where I will be staying for about the first hour and I have to get the ropes and plates ready for Blue and Gold tonight. Ron’s headed out for a bike ride later and if I’m really lucky, I’ll have time to spend scrapping.

Go me!