Life has Been Busy in Jane's Domain

Life has been hectic in recent weeks and I’ve spent very little time in front of the computer. 

Well, okay, that’s not exactly true.  I have spent time on the computer handling things like bill paying and junk e-mail deleting. 

But by the time I’ve balanced our accounts, deleted my way through my inbox and spent a moment or two perusing Facebook, I’m tired of sitting in front of the computer and I move on to something else. 

Needless to say, I’ve been lagging on the blog-writing lately.  I’ve thought about it, sure, but have I done it?  Noooo.

So I’m tryin to dash off a quick blog today – just to get back in the habit, you know.

My alternative is to clear cat hair off the second floor stairs landing where Jinx has taken up residence lately.  Or I could continue trying to clean up the coffee stain on the carpet where I knocked over an entire cup of coffee yesterday morning.

But just thinking about handling those chores makes me weary. 

First of all, I suspect I could build another cat with all the fur that is on the carpet because it’s normally white.  The carpet, that is.  Jinx-the-cat is mostly black.  And now the carpet is more greyish/blackish than it is white.  That, my friends, is a LOT of cat hair.

And I’ve already spent a lot of time on my knees in front of that big, ugly coffee stain.  Scrubbing, mostly, but I may have even thrown in a prayer or two while I was at it.  But I’m not sure anyone is listening as there is still a big Hazelnut coffee stain on the carpet that is simply not coming out.  And we just had the carpets professionally cleaned a little while ago.  Guess it’s time to move the loveseat a little to the left, eh?! 

Either that, or I’ll just have to blog on.

So, let’s see. What can I tell you about?  Hmmm.

Well, in recent weeks Vince and I celebrated our sixth wedding anniversary and I celebrated turning yet another year older.

And we just returned from our one and only vacation this year in Carolina Beach, North Carolina.  We had a great time visiting friends and spending time with Vince’s son, who is stationed at Camp LeJeune.

No sooner did we return from that trip then I hopped back in the car for a little five hour jaunt to get my parents’ signatures on some official documents that needed to be notarized. So we spent some time in a local bank in Alliance, Ohio. 

I’m telling you, I wasn’t sure I could stand all the excitement.

But I was able to help out my parents – and we recently had the closing on the little cottage in Parkwood Beach.  Yes, we sold it.  And, yes, it sometimes still makes me a little sad.  But, on the whole, I’ve come to terms with letting the family cottage go.  I mean, we just knew that we wouldn’t make use of it like my grandparents did or my parents did.  So it was time.

And the new owner is thrilled to have the place.  Our realtor said he’s already taken up the carpeting and is waxing poetic about the hardwood floors underneath. 

During the past month I spent quite a bit of time pulling all the family photos, slides and negatives that we had taken through the years of our vacations at the cottage and put together a big Shutterfly book.  My parents and siblings and I all got copies of it so that when we get nostalgic or want to relieve old memories, we’ll have something to remember the place by.

So that’s what I’ve spent my time doing in recent weeks.  Well, that – plus the mountain of dirty laundry I’ve done and the mountain of dishes I’ve cleaned and the mountain of cat hair…

…Oops.  I guess I haven’t quite finished that last mountainous chore.

Guess I’d better go scrape up some black kitty fur.  Clearly, that chore is not going to handle itself.

Meanwhile, I hope you’ve all had a happy summer.  And are looking forward to a happier fall. 

I’ll write again soon.  (Hopefully!)

I Think Mother Nature is Messing With Us...

What’s this? A new blog for Jane’s Domain? Finally?!

As my mom used to say, “Will wonders never cease?” (And now that I think about it, she used to say that with more than a touch of sarcasm…)

Anyway.

But, yeah, it’s been a busy month. I’ve had lots of little projects to work on – and lots of big projects, too. My poor head is about to explode with all the things I’m doing, need to do, or haven’t gotten done.

But busy is good – right? I mean, it’s way better than being bored. If you had a childhood like mine, the “B” word was NEVER used in our house. Because if we used it, let me tell you, we regretted it the instant the word left our mouths. Our mom would say, “You’re bored? Well, honey, we can take care of that right now…” And then she’d hand us a list of chores that little Miss Cinderella herself would have found daunting.

So bored I’m not.

But because we’ve had such a mild winter and unseasonably warm temperatures so far this spring (even though it has only just arrived), I have a major task that just shot to the top of the list.

Yep, I have to haul out the bins that hold all my spring/summer clothes and switch out my closet. This was a task not scheduled until at least April. But everything – and I mean everything – in my closet is winter wear. It’s all fleece, corduroy, wool and velvet.

Nothing is 80 degree weather-worthy. So I’ve been a soggy, sweaty mess all week. How will I possibly survive August if it’s this warm in March, for cryin’ out loud!

Let’s just say that getting ready for work this morning was a challenge. I think I stood in front of my closet for about 10 minutes just shaking my head. Finally, in desperation, I pulled a long-sleeve jean shirt from the back of the closet and put it on. This is the shirt I normally wear to clean on Saturdays. In the winter. It even has a small(ish) bleach stain on the bottom, but I was so desperate, I wore it anyway.

As I walked through the garage to my car, I eyed the clear plastic bins that hold all my lightweight and airy cotton tops. I looked longingly at the boxes before getting in my car and driving away. In my bleach-stained jean shirt.

The bad news is that those bins are at the bottom of the stack in the garage. So it’s not a minor task we’re discussing. It’s a major undertaking. As I recall, I had back pain for several days last November after I hauled all those bins to the garage. And then when I moved things around in January and put away the holiday decorations, I oh-so-cleverly moved the clothes bins to the bottom of the stack of boxes holding all our Christmas paraphernalia.

There was more room to maneuver in our garage, but still. Now all my clothes are at the bottom of a big stack of boxes.

What was I thinkin’?!

So this weekend, you’ll find me in the garage with boxes strewn all around trying to reach the clothes bins. I’ll drag them upstairs to our bedroom. I’ll probably have to wash them all before I hang them in the closet. And then I’ll have to fold all my winter stuff, put it in the same bins and haul them back to the garage.

Sheesh. Just writing all that makes me tired and achy.

Perhaps I should just go shopping instead. I think I can handle a good half dozen shopping bags, or so. I mean, really. I think I’m up for that!

But whatever I end up doing, you surely know what will happen if I fold up every single piece of winter clothing and put it away, don’t you? Yep, we’ll have an April snowstorm. Of biblical proportions and all that.

So maybe I’ll leave a fleece jacket or something in the back of my closet. A little insurance couldn’t hurt.

Busy Bee (Jane), Smashed Toe (Vince)

My week was so busy last week I didn’t even get a chance to finish my blog about how busy I was! Since I don’t want to waste all those words I took the time to string together, you’ll just have to pretend like you’re reading this last Friday – okay?!

Busy Bee (Jane), Smashed Toe (Vince)

It has been a busy, busy week. I’ve been working like crazy during the day and my evenings have been filled, too. I have had a couple after-hour get-togethers with friends plus an eye doctor appointment this week. Oh, and throw in the odd bit of housework, too. That laundry isn’t washing itself and those toilets aren’t scrubbing themselves either, you know.

Normally I like being busy, but for some reason I’m feeling stressed about all there is to do. Don’t tell anyone, but I suspect that my To-Do list is plotting against me. Yeah, I think it’s even reproducing itself. It’s a little scary. Especially when a second little notebook showed up the other day filled with more stuff for me to cram into my day. How’d that happen?!

We started the week off without air conditioning at home, so maybe that set the tone for the week. Fortunately, that little problem was fixed. By the time I got home from work Monday evening it was no longer sweltering inside. Good thing, too, because I was starting to think I might have to shave Jinx and Twinks to put them out of their misery. Wearing fur in the summer has to be pretty uncomfortable, wouldn’t you think?!

And then the evening I had my eye doctor appointment, well, that night didn’t go quite as planned. Vince had had the day off work, so we got together for lunch and then he planned to run some errands. After my eye appointment we thought we might even catch a movie. At the actual movie theater.

Didn’t happen.

Vince, being the loving and very-good-to-me husband that he is, took my car to the car parts store. The “Check Engine” light had been on for a few days and if you’d read one of my previous blogs, you know that I tend to panic when I see that particular light pop up on my dashboard.

The day the check engine light came on, I had checked the oil level before driving the vehicle home. And later that evening Vince had checked the rest of the fluids in the car and all was well. But still, that check engine light wouldn’t give up and go away.

So Vince’s first stop was to the car parts place. He and the tech took a look under the hood and the guy decided it must be the sensor. The sensor that cost $75 to replace. So he replaced it. But then the tech heard a hissing noise and, ace car repair guy he is, decided that one of the hoses needed to be replaced. Fortunately, that was only a $6 part. But then he decided that the $75 sensor probably wasn’t the problem, so he took it out and put back the old one. And then – just for grins – he checked the battery. Turns out the battery was bad, too. I’m sure he was salivating with the anticipation of charging Vince for a new battery, too, but Vince knew the battery had been replaced only a couple years prior and was still under warranty.

At some point during all this automotive mechanical analysis, the car parts guy and Vince walked back into the store. Only Vince wanted to do it in grand style apparently – because when he opened the heavy glass door, he somehow managed to scrape it over his big toe. Naturally, he was wearing flip flops – and blood started spurting all over the floor.

Vince did the normal he-man thing and avoided screaming like a girl, although he probably wanted to. When I saw his toe later, I wouldn’t have blamed him for screaming like a girl. That thing looked nasty and HAD to hurt!

But did that stop my man from his car repair quest? Not a chance. They wrapped up his toe as best as car parts people can and he moved on to the next stop – Sam’s Club – to get the battery replaced.

Once this chore was completed – and only then – did Vince decide to seek medical attention for his throbbing, bloodied toe. He went to an Urgent Care place and they gave him a tetanus shot, prescribed oral antibiotics and an antibiotic cream and wrapped that appendage up so that it was three times its normal size and sent him on his way.

Meanwhile, I was at the eye doctor’s for an eye exam that included having my eyes dilated. When I walked out of the appointment and into the sunlight, I cringed and shielded my eyes like one of the vampires in Twilight. The doctor had given me a pair of those flimsy paper and plastic “sunglasses” (and I use the term loosely), but the moment I tried to put them on, the paper earpiece broke off. And, naturally, I was driving Vince’s car and didn’t have any of my own sunglasses in his car.

So, with my eyes opened only to mere slits, I drove home. Very slowly and carefully, mind you. Vince was also driving home from the pharmacy with his medications and his hugely wrapped big toe. Driving very slowly and carefully, mind you. We make quite a pair, don’t we?! All I can say is thank goodness we weren’t on the same road at the same time.

Fortunately, everything turned out okay and we had no more mishaps over the weekend. Well, unless you consider the 3” scratch on my neck that Jinx inflicted last night while trying to jump off the couch. It was probably an accident, although she could have been warning me what might happen if I EVER try to shave off her fur.