Idjit Klutz

Daughter is out of the apartment she lived in for three years and is living in temporary "quarters".  Holy heavens, she had a lot of stuff.  (Yes, partly my fault.  I figured she'd go to grad school and continue living there for a while.)  What a job!  The place was white glove clean when we left, though.

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Remember, I'm not complaining...

It is 1:50 PM, Thursday June 16.  The outside temp is up to (drum roll, please) 49 degrees, and wonders of wonders, it is raining.  Updated:  it is now 6:05 PM.  Husband (aka J) said it is up to 51 degrees.  Heat wave.  (Always makes me think of the M*A*S*H episode when they sing Having a Heatwave.  A tropical heat wave.  Ya right.)

Update on the Joke (last post).  We haven't had snow right at our house, but it did spit on us in Moscow a couple weeks ago.  It has been rainy and cold, and no two completely nice days in a row since ???

 

According to Wednesday's paper, officially we were an 1-1/2 inches below record rainfall for the two months of May and June combined (not counting any rain we've had since Tuesday afternoon).  Unofficially, we had already passed the record set in 1974 - the year of the floods.  (Flood story another time.)

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Oh, I get so aggravated with Blogger's editing abilities!  Won't let me paste without highlighting everything.  When I hit enter, nothing happens, or it takes several seconds for the computer to respond, and the cursor keeps disappearing.  The header picture suddenly shrunk to a little tiny postage stamp size.  I had to remove it and reload it - twice.  Tried putting a clipart picture in at the top of this post.  Locked up the whole computer. Had to reboot twice just to get Blogger to work again. GRrrrrrr. Vee has had troubles, too. Anyone else?

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(click to enlarge)

One of my thrift shop finds.  5 cents.  Complete.

(Two pieces are cut from main sheet with pinking sheers but never used.)

Is there a 23 inch doll in my "collection"?

  I think my old bride doll might be about that size, but don't want to go upstairs right now to look.*

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The lilacs and flowering quince are now in bloom.  So pretty.  For a few days, one apple tree was gorgeous.  (Blast it, didn't get a picture.)  The spirea and peonies are just starting to open up, and the grape hyacinth and tulips are just now beginning to fade.  No evidence of iris or rhododendron  buds.  The flowerbeds are full of tall grass, so everything looks so messy.

An aside, but when we were kids we used to do yard work to earn money.  I always had to earn my own money for 4-H camp.  Where are the young people now? 

The "garden" now consists of two Early Girl, two cherry-type, and one grape-type tomato plants, two kinds of chives, one cilantro, one green bell pepper, one red sweet pepper, some catnip, and for fun a few snapdragons, pansies, a gorgeous hanging basket of petunias and ? (my mother's day & birthday present).  I stuck some garlic cloves around the tomato plants; we'll see if they grow or just rot.  (We container garden.  Everything is by the front porch because it is the warmest spot this time of year and closest to the water spigot.)

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* Whine, whine, whine - don't read if you don't like whining and blood.  Actually, this is kind of funny if you stop to think about it.
Idjit Idiot Stupid Klutz here bunged up her knee. (No doctor, cuz no insurance.)
*  First (sort of three firsts), just getting into daughter's car, I twisted wrong - I knew when I got in that I shouldn't do it the way I was, but I did it anyway.  Then slept on the floor for two nights.  Way too old out of shape for that.  (The air mattress had a leak.)  I was doing pretty well as long as we were packing and moving stuff.  Then I drove home...


*  Second (sort of two seconds), while still hurting and stiff from the first time(s), I went outside to catch an escapee (cat) and twisted my knee again.  Very sore, but manageable.  Then later in the day I just stepped up a step and SNAP.  I thought I was going to faint on that one.  I screamed. (Guess no one heard, because the cops didn't show up.)

* Then yesterday, talk about being just plain dumb, stupid, idiotic.   I had absolutely no business being out on the uneven ground, but I went "chasing" another cat.  (They aren't supposed to be outside, but pull every trick to slip out.)   I hung my cane over the fence to pick up Miss Spooky figuring I could slowly make it back to the house.  I was doing fine until someone went by and turned up their music full blast right as they got in front of the house.  Miss Spooky is aptly named and went scaredy-cat -crazy  to prove it.  Yes, I had her by the nape of the neck, but she twisted and clawed with all four feet, and I twisted trying to get away from her.

So, there I was standing in the middle of the yard half laughing half crying, feeling kind of sick, with blood running down my arm, and I couldn't move.  My cane was twenty-five feet behind me, and the closest door into the house at least forty feet away.  Stood for a few minutes trying to get my senses back, thinking surely someone I knew would drive by and wave.  Nope.  (We live on a busy street.  How come no one was out and about?)


Ah, cell phone was in my pocket and husband was in town. No answer.  Waited several minutes.  Still no one went by the house.  Tried my husband again.  No answer.  By this time, I was getting tired, really shaky, chilly, my feet  were getting cold and wet, and I'm really mad.  (Me get mad at husband? Never. LOL)  I finally called a friend to come and rescue me.  Thank God she was home watching grandchildren, because she doesn't have a cell phone
 
So the rest of the story is that I can go up the stairs, but not down. (Of course, there are two steps to navigate or negotiate with just to put the dogs out.)  I can't squat or get down on the floor.  So what do I do?  I drop almost everything I pick up.  (Getting good at touching  the floor without bending my knees.)  Getting off the, uh, throne, is tricky.  (Now I know why toilets are generally taller in the handicap stalls.)  Luckily, there is now a bed and a half bath downstairs, but I need/want a real shower and it is upstairs as part of a deep bathtub.

Last week in the middle of all this and way past bedtime, LA Dog starts shaking her head and frantically digging at her ears.  I'm trying to put medicine in her ears, but can't hold her because it hurts too much.  She jumps away and heads for the hills, er, cellar.  SPLASH.  She comes tearing back up the stairs spraying "water" everywhere.  She's soaking wet. (Um, really, really bad words.)  When I turned on the light to look there were even more bad words, because there was "water" clear over the bottom step.  So for two days we were without hot water because the water heater was sitting in sewage.  Luckily, the furnace was turned off because there were several inches of water in the bottom of it, too.


So, with everything J has missed roughly the equivalent of three days of work to help me, work on plumbing, and clean up the mess.

That, my friends, is the way our life usually is.  It is always something.

Word Verification

Until recently, I had word verification turned on, because quite frankly, I didn't know it could be turned off. I got hit with some hate comments, so I turned on comment approval, too.

Recently, a blogging friend complained about having to type in that silly jumble of letters. It irritated her that she had to stop to do that after making a comment. Several people wrote into her blog saying they agreed that they didn't like word verification, either. (Actually, I think it is kind of fun to see what nonsense words come up. So? I'm a dork.)

Okay, I thought I'd give it a try. I turned off word verification, but left approval on. Within hours, I got hit. My email was full of "nasty" comments wanting to be added to my blog posts. I won't write any of the words here. I don't want more hits. Some are for products I'll NEVER want; others are for websites I don't wish to EVER visit.

Sorry, but my time is as valuable as everyone elses' time. When these comments come into my inbox, I have to look at these comments, hit reject, and delete these messages. And, I don't even want ANY of this garbage coming into my email inbox.

I'm sorry if I lose a reader or two and/or people who make comments. I hope these people understand why I have verification turned on. I hope they can make a fun game of make up silly definitions to go with the silly words. I hope they still come to visit and make comments. Nobody likes losing a friend over something that trivial.

So, word verification is going back on. Now.

Long Overdue Thank You and Explanation

Thank you to everyone who has been praying and thinking of my mom and me. The prayers worked! Mom just sort of "snapped out of it". She was sick and then suddenly this past Wednesday evening was feeling good. So good, in fact, that we went on to Moscow on Thursday to go grocery shopping and have lunch with my daughter. Mom rested some on Friday and then she and my daughter left yesterday to go camping with my brother and SIL!

This business of my mom not feeling well is really hard to deal with. When I was growing up, she was "never sick" as in she refused to give in to anything. Only the occasional "sick" migraine would stop her.

Mom was and has been a small dynamo. (She was and is little. She's less than 5 feet tall and weighs about 90 pounds. She never weighed above 100 pounds until she was in her fifties.) She worked full time, kept a spotless house (with help from us kids), sewed, read, painted, crocheted, and cooked beautiful meals along with being a mom and wife. Now, she works part time, keeps her house picked up, takes care of her pets, and gardens. She says, "I can sit in my chair and feel bad and sorry for myself, or I can get some work done and keep my mind off of it."

*Only* this time she was so sick she couldn't work - or even walk to the bathroom by herself.

Mom didn't allow and still doesn't do "feel sorry for me". I think that is why I have never posted about this, but since I've been asking for prayers I thought I should explain why.

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Five years ago this month, my mother was diagnosed with an unknown type of cancer. She had a huge malignant tumor in her lung, and by the time it was found, the cancer had spread to the surrounding lymph nodes. (My mother has never smoked. The doctors said that this is "not a type of cancer one gets from second-hand smoke or asbestos".) Mom had surgery and then chemo. But, the abnormal cells never went away.

The cancer has now spread to the other lung. (She did really well for about 3 years, but then started reacting to the chemo she'd been on. She has reacted to most types they've tried, but seems to handle this last type pretty well.) She also has been experiencing the side effects of prolonged chemo therapy - inability to smell or taste very many things, shortness of breath, decaying teeth and infection, fluid around the heart, extreme weight loss, and the inability to eat very much at a time. She has recently had fluid removed from around her heart and had oral surgery to try to save her teeth and face bones.

Add stress to the cancer.

My step-father had COPD which caused some bouts of crankiness, paranoia, and unreasonableness.

Three years ago, Mom tripped over the cat, fell, and broke her hip. She had to have a hip replacement, but she came through that really well. Within two weeks, she was up and walking to the office every day!

A year ago February, my mom's mother suddenly became ill and passed away while we were experiencing a series of major storms causing road closures and while Mom was in the middle of a major reaction to a treatment.

My step-father didn't handle Grandma's passing. (His illness caused that.)

A year ago June, my once wonderful step-father and my mom's husband of almost 40 years was diagnosed with lung cancer. Hello, COPD and they didn't find the cancer???

Last July, my mom and step-dad were in a wreck caused by a brake malfunction. They weren't hurt, but it wrecked their Suburban and totalled their travel trailer. (This just about did in my step-father. We were so glad it was a malfunction and not something caused by my step-father.)

My step-father went through chemo and radiation treatments, but passed away from pneumonia rather suddenly just after Thanksgiving. (The funeral was extremely stressful - again blizzards and road closures and add my step-dad's hostile daughter. )

Mom is still fighting to get the probate done. There have been my step-father's children to deal with and my (real) nephew's wife. Everyone thinks they are entitled to something.

There's more, but that is enough for here.

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My brother has stepped in to take care of the mowing, watering, and trimming. He was already doing most of the "handy man" stuff around the house. (Here he is off camping and this morning an underground water line broke to one of the sprinklers. How dare he leave! JK and LOL)

I have been going with Mom to all of her appointments and staying with her when she doesn't feel good. (Mom lives 125 miles from the medical center. In the summer it takes two and a half hours to drive one way.)

My other brother lives on the other side of the country, but he comes "home" when he can. (He was here for 10 days in June and worked his skinny little hind end even skinnier.) He and his wife had been busy with her folks. Her father passed away in January, but her mom is still alive.

Random, but my generation is soon to be the old generation. Scary thought.

This was probably more than you wanted to know. Thank you again for your prayers.

Story to go with last post's pictures

You know how you are around someone everyday, and how you don't see the changes in a person until something happens? Luckily, this time it was just a couple of car trips and not something drastic.

I admit it. I'm was being petty and childish. I was irritated to the point of wanting to bang my head and hers against a brick wall. Now I feel bad that I was so annoyed.

I will explain that this person has always talked a lot and not always listened to the answers to the questions she asked. Lately, she has become a little hard of hearing, but this was different...

It all started like this:

For weeks our elderly neighbor, K, had been telling H (another friend) and me that she wanted to go shopping - just to go wander around the stores. There wasn't anything urgent that she needed, so just sometime would do. We told her that one or both of us would take her IF her son couldn't and IF we could take her car. (She has a nice Honda.) Well, we were busy. The weather had been crappy (sorry, but it had), and the roads had not been in the best driving condition. And, our shopping center is 80 miles away - one way.

Suddenly, about 3 weeks ago, this shopping trip became of utmost importance. K needed to go now!

Please realize that friend H works 5 to 6 days a week plus shares her car with her high-schooler who has a job after school and on weekends. H's other "car" is a big pickup which her husband needs for his jobs. I drive a big pickup, and my husband's jobs take him places that our big truck can't get into. K has difficultly getting around so taking any pickup was out of the question. K told both H and me that her son couldn't take her. That made sense. All "our" men are self-employed, and they all work 6 to 7 days a week. So, I could take her if I had a car to drive.

When we asked about taking her car, she said she'd drive it. She didn't want anyone else to drive her car. (No way was I going to ride with her. That's a whole "nother" story.)

So on Sunday almost 3 weeks ago, H told our elderly friend that she'd made arrangements to take a day off, and they'd go shopping on Thursday (2 weeks ago today). Between Tuesday's reminding phone call and Thursday, K made all kinds of other plans for Thursday - totally blew H off. (I didn't know this until several days later.)

The next day (Friday) K told me that no one would take her shopping, and she really needed some things. My husband needed some parts (he could have ordered them), but the clincher was that our daughter was going to be in "town". He hadn't seen her for a few weeks, so we told K we'd take her with us. She could go to any store she wanted, but that we were meeting our daughter for lunch. Suddenly, that was too much running around, and K didn't want to go. (Weird since K has always treated our daughter like her own grandchild.) We had to talk like a son of a gun to get K to agree to go with us.

Saturday morning we go to get K. Her son was just coming up the walk, and we got to talking. He didn't even know his mother was going anywhere. And, his mother had never mentioned to him that she wanted to go shopping. He said could have taken her that very day if she had asked.

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We chat all the way to town, and everything is pretty okay until we turn to go to Costco. We go in the "back way" which is a 55 mile an hour road (vs. 25-35 mph through town). It misses all the stop lights, cuts off some mileage, and on a busy day can save 15 to 20 minutes. K just had a fit. Where are we going? Why are we going this way? I've never been this way before. Where are we? I would have been there by now. Husband did get in a word to say we would miss all the stop lights this way. I never have to stop for the lights. (Now, that is just plain scary.) And on and on it went. She wouldn't listen to anything anyone said.

We got to Costco. Oh, no. We can't park in the handicap parking spaces. We should have brought the permit. No, the permit goes with your car. That doesn't matter. No one will check. Park in the handicap place. My husband drove around a little and was able to park in a space right next to a handicap spot. This isn't a handicap spot. I can't walk that far. We got her a cart and got her into the store and K said, "I'll meet you up front when I'm done" and took off like a teenager in a clothing store. Husband and I went different directions, too. We both saw some friends and stopped to visit with them. We both used the restroom, caught up with each other and did all of our shopping and checked out. No K. I finally went back into the store part of the building. She had been wandering all over looking for us. No, she hadn't been up front. Why did I need to do that? I got her up to the check out stand. She handed her card to the cashier. The card had expired. Why had it expired? K stood there and argued. Oh, I told my daughter-in-law I didn't need it anymore. I guess she took my word for it and didn't renew it. No, I don't need a day pass; I have a card. She still stood and argued. She wouldn't let me pay. People were lining up behind us. I finally just turned my back on her, handed the cashier my card, and wrote the check. (Thank goodness I had enough money in my checking account!) Then she had a fit about bill total. I basically just pushed her out of the store.

K needed to go to the shoe store. This is a real shoe store where they still measure your feet, but this is a very little store that caters mostly to ranchers, loggers, and serious athletes. K started in on the store owner (thank goodness it was the owner and not hired help) about the lack of selection. The man carefully measured K's swollen feet and brought out several pairs of shoes that K had picked out. In every color but beige. I want beige; can't you see that I'm wearing khaki colored slacks? He takes the shoes back and brings out beige shoes. But! She doesn't like any of the styles. Finally, she finds a pair of tannish colored shoes that she thinks will work. Yes, they're comfortable. I *watched* as the store owner checked the heel for slippage, the toes to make sure they weren't not too short, not too tight across the top, etc. etc. She seemed to be pleased with her choice.

We actually have a nice lunch. Dad and daughter didn't get to visit much because K talked the whole time. At least we saw daughter, and we were able to give her some groceries, her mail, and (finally) her dancing shoes.

Staples next. Husband goes in to buy what he needs. K needs White Out - the ribbon kind. She described the packaging, but wouldn't get out of the car to go look herself. Of course, Staples doesn't have any in the exact packaging so it can't possibly be the same type I use. She literally threw the package at me. (I now have 2 packages of White Out ribbon tape that I may never use.)

Then K suddenly decided that my husband had a job to do in "town". No matter how much we explained she couldn't understand that the parts were for a job at home. This went on - while we gassed up, while we were in Safeway, until we stopped at Baskin-Robbins - which she said she wanted to do.

Why did we stop here? I don't want any ice cream. You don't need to be eating any of that (to me who was just drinking water because by this time I had a horrible headache and was sick by to my stomach). It's fattening. You're too fat; you need to be watching what you eat. Quit eating so much ice cream and candy. You never use that treadmill you bought...

One more stop so we could use the restrooms. (This Baskin and Robbins doesn't have any for public use.) No. I don't need to use the toilet. I don't know why you always have to use the restroom. I'm fine. I can wait until we get home. On and on and on. (We were gone from home for more than 7 hours, and she never once used the restroom.)

Finally, she thanked my husband for taking time out to go to town. She admitted that she couldn't have done it by herself. It was almost pleasant on the way home. Then we unloaded her groceries. That's when she discovered that she had purchased the "wrong" bathroom cleaner. I told her I had at home a new bottle of the brand she likes. I'd trade. No, I'll do without.

That was just the first trip and doesn't even begin to explain why I posted the pictures.

Good Friday, early morning, K calls and says she's going to town. The shoes are a size 9W. I always wear a 9 1/2 M. They're too short. (Remember, I watched as he fitted those shoes on her. They were not too short or too wide or ___.) I have to take them back. I called. They don't have any others that will fit. Do I want to go with her? No, I really have work to do, but I'd be glad to return the shoes for her when I go with Mom the next time. No, I'm going today by myself. Well, of course, my conscience kicked in big time. I called her back and told her I would go IF I could drive. She agreed, but oooo did I pay for it.

We started out of town. Suddenly she had to go to the bathroom. We turned around. I remembered to ask if she had told her son that she was going to be gone for the day? No, it isn't any of his business. Besides, I called. Neither he nor S (his wife) answered so I hung up. If he can't answer his phone, he doesn't need to know where I am. They have an answering machine, so she either didn't let it ring long enough or decided she didn't want to leave a message. So while she was in the bathroom (clear at the back of her house in her bedroom), I called her son to tell him where we were going. Would you believe it? She heard me!

We started out again. We got to about where the second picture is taken, and she asks, Why aren't there any trees on the Prairie? I just don't understand why there aren't any trees. Where I grew up has lots of trees. I grew up with trees. Did the farmers cut them down? What are those towers? (cell phone) I don't know why everyone has to have cell phones. Why do the trees only grow in the draws? Why is this a Prairie? This went on clear past where the first picture was taken. Pictures 3 and 4 show where basically natural prairie meets where there the snow sticks long enough for there to be moisture for trees to grow.

Then we get to about pictures 5 and 6. Look at this wasted land. It isn't good for anything. Why isn't is good for anything? Can't grow vegetables. Why don't they grow vegetables on the Prairie? This land isn't good for anything. There's only rock here. No topsoil. Wasted. The growing season on the Prairie isn't long enough for vegetables and there isn't enough water. The farmers grow grain, peas, lentils, hay and rape. Well, what good is that? It's not vegetables. The grain is used for flour and cereals. We eat the peas and lentils. Hay feeds the cows, and you eat beef. This is rock and pine trees. Wasted land. Where I lived we grew vegetables. Hmmmph, it's not vegetables.

Shoe store: Owner isn't in. There is a young very pregnant lady "on duty". She brings over some shoes, but they aren't the right kind. She goes in the back and rummages around. She comes out with a pair a beige shoes in a 9 1/2 M. K goes balistic. That man said he didn't have any more shoes in my size (which was a true statement). Doesn't he know what he has? He didn't tell me the truth. Many more statements. K tried on the shoes and decided that because they were marked the size she has worn for the last few years that the shoes fit. The clerk kept showing K how they were too tight across the arch and how they slipped on the heel. But, K had to have those, because they are my size. That girl had a smile on her face, but here were tears in her eyes when we left. I apologized.

Staples for that elusive White Out. K headed for where it used to be. I told her that it was now in a different spot. WRONG. When she finally listened and found the White Out, they didn't have the exact same package as the one she uses.

Lunch: Took K to a restaurant she'd never been to. Thought it would be a treat. This isn't the restaurant I thought you were talking about. Why are we going here? This [dish] isn't what I thought it would be. Doesn't taste anything like I thought it would. Don't leave a tip. This isn't very good. Well, I'm sorry, but I was buying the lunch. If it was bad, why did she eat it all? My lunch was really good. I left a tip. And heard about it. There is a really nice restroom here, do you want to use it before we head home? No, I can wait. I just don't understand why you always need to use the restroom.

Leaving the parking lot: Too much traffic to make a left hand turn across three lanes, so I turned right. Wrong. Where are you going? This is my car. You're supposed to turn left. You can turn on any of the streets. Why aren't you turning? When I tried to explain where I was going it just got worse. I was headed to the by-pass by the levee. Tooks us less than a mile out of our way. The fruit trees, daffodils, and forsythia were in bloom. There were ducks and geese in the ponds, and people out walking on the levee. The sun was shining. It was glorious. She didn't even see it.

Things calmed down and were rather pleasant until we were almost to picture 1 again. (Remember this was Good Friday and there was lots of traffic.) A passing car was coming at us and getting way into my comfort zone. I put on the brakes - firmly, but not hard. Why did you do that? We had lots of room. You didn't needn't to slow down. I don't know why you just wouldn't let me drive. I wouldn't have slowed down.

Just wasted land. No trees. No vegetables.

Home to my house. Now I have to re-adjust all the mirrors and the seat. You should have just let me drive. Why did you bring your coat? It was nice out. I never carry a big purse. You should just carry your wallet. By this time I wasn't nice any longer. I sure my, "See you at church later" was less than civil. I was awful. I'm not sure I even spoke to her at church.

Yesterday, I was telling my mom about our two trips to town (mom had been gone so we hadn't visited for a while). Mom said one word, "Dementia".

Then today, I remembered. When Grandma used to get like that it meant she had a urinary track, bladder, or kidney infection. K wouldn't use the restroom those two days. I wonder... I will be making a phone call to one of her sons tomorrow.

Fleas

Oh, yay, I think we have fleas at our house. What, you say? How did that happen? Let's see...

We have 4 inside dogs, 2 inside cats, and there were 2 other cats visiting over Christmas. The 2 cats that were here at Christmas play with another cat. The humans that belong to those animals visit their friends who have pets.

Everyone of the employees where my husband works has pets. A couple employees even have ferrets, gerbils, mice, chickens, ducks, horses, goats, and sheep besides the prerequisite dogs and cats. (One has to LOVE animals where my husband works. I draw the line at the mice and iguana.)

The brother and sister-in-law that live fairly close have 5 dogs and a cat. One of his sons that often comes to visit always brings his dog, and I think his girlfriend has a cat and dog. My mother has 2 dogs and 3 cats. My other brother and sister-in-law were also here in December. They have a dog and 3 cats, and they are foster "parents" for dogs that are waiting to be placed in new homes. (I couldn't be a foster parent of anything. It would break my heart over and over again.)

Let's see...

My husband also has a repair business (besides a "regular" job) which requires him to make house calls. He has to take in his tool kits and sometimes brings items home to work on. (He tells me that some of the houses he goes into makes our house look "down right" sterile.)

We have attended a funeral and a concert. We've been shopping; we've been to church, the banks, the post office, the library. Besides a couple of customers and some friends, the Schwan's delivery person and piano tuner have been here. On and On and On.

While it was really snowy and cold for a while, we just had a few days of warm sunshine. That's all it takes for the fleas and ticks to show their ugly little bodies. And, once they get inside where it is warm...

I'm off to start cleaning. Now maybe if I had decluttered a bit it wouldn't be such a chore.

Great Day in the Mornin'

If you are squeamish, please don't read any further.

I'm actually in a really good mood. The funny thing is I shouldn't be.

When I went to put the dogs out this morning, one or both of the dogs (that stay downstairs) had been sick - both ends. What a disgusting mess. It was so bad that in a several spots it was soaked clear through two layers of really thick cardboard, the carpet, the pad, and into the wood. Luckily, most of the actual mess was on the cardboard, so that was easy to dispose of. But, most of the rest of the carpet was soaked and the pad was pretty damp. So, I spent my whole morning ripping out the carpet and pad in half of the back room and doing a quick clean up of the floor. (The rest of the room is blocked off and used for storage.) Luckily, the carpet was in bad shape before this happened. (In a little while I'll go put down a sheet of plastic and put flattened cardboard boxes over the top.)

About lunch time, I remembered I hadn't taken anything out of the freezer for dinner. When I opened the freezer door I got a face full of frozen food - hard packages of meat that after hitting me in the face fell and landed on my toes.

Then, I decided that since the ice finally melted from in front of the garage door, I'd better get the potting soil out of the garage so that I can take care of the house plants that the kitten tried to destroy. I opened the garage door. The rolling cart for scooting under the car fell (why was it standing on end just inside the door???) and scraped down my shins while a garbage bag of recycling hit me in the head (recycling has to go to another town) and the plastic end of leaf rake hit me in the face (why wasn't it hung up?). Also, several empty cardboard boxes fell over. I did screech; I don't know if I swore or not. Did I get the potting soil? NO. DH has old computers stacked on top of the sacks of potting soil (HUH?). I was no way in .... going to move those heavy things. (And to think that DH didn't want me to buy potting soil the other day because "we have some in the garage".)

I should be used to this by now. It really, really is a good thing that I am in a good mood. I'm even going to be nice and cook dinner.

Cluttered by the Decluttering Blitz

It's everywhere. All we hear about is declutter, declutter, declutter. Buy this book on how to organize, indiscriminately throw 27 things away, get rid of everything you don't need right now. On and on and on.

On November 21, 2008, I joined FLY just to see what it was about. After several hours of "arguing" with my computer, I finally got a new email account set up and started to receive messages from FLY. In approximately 53 days I have received hundreds of emails from the FLYLady and her ilk. Today I deleted 598 unread messages. Remember that is less than 2 months! That is an average of almost 12 a day. Think how many more it would be if I knew how many read emails I have previously deleted.

I should have known better when I saw the FLYLady web page. Talk about CLUTTER! The site gives me a headache. (See Flylady.net) Oh, and they sell things - t-shirts, diaries, calendars, etc. - more clutter!

So now that I've got that off my chest, I'm going unsubscribe to Fly Lady and see if I can close that email account. You might have noticed that I already deleted one blog. I'll start decluttering by getting rid of some time-wasters.

My apologies to those who like the FLYLady.

I Just Need to Vent and Feel Free to Advise

Because our business is run out of the house, my husband is often literally running in and out, the phones are ringing off the hooks, and sometimes customers/clients are knocking on the door. I do the bookkeeping at home, too. Because of the type of business there is no such thing as a 9 to 5 work day. And, everyone pretty much has to use the front door of the house. (Yes, we had to get a variance and permit from the city.)

My problem: I have two elderly friends whom I love dearly, but who just show up at the house unannounced. They both know I work, but evidently because I work at home it isn't important? These two friends seldom come when I feel I can take time to visit. Also, they seem to show up when my husband is the busiest. They seem to instinctively know! To make matters worse, I have no private or quiet place to sit and visit with them.

(Robin, you do realize I'm not talking about you, don't you? You aren't elderly ;), and I hardly ever see you or talk to you! Besides, I would tell you if I was too busy to visit, because I think you would understand.)

The eldest friend sometimes comes to the house several times a day, several times a week. Even after all these years (15 plus) that my husband has had the business, she can't or won't understand why I don't get my housework done, why my husband won't sit down and visit, why the phones ring so much, etc. If my husband is home when she arrives, she always blocks his car with hers. (DH, park on the street so this doesn't happen!)

The other friend drives about 20 miles to get here. She'll ask if I'm busy, but come in anyway and stay for hours (literally). I won't give her my cell phone number, because she'd call me all the time. I even find myself not returning her calls. If I call her on my cell phone she'll get the number on her caller ID. If I call her on the business phone she'll tie the line up for an hour and a half.

I've tried inviting them to come at a specific times thinking that would help. They don't seem to enjoy each others' company, either, so I don't feel I can invite them to come at the same time.

I know that these people are more important than the business, bookkeeping, or housekeeping. But, this is a place of business; this is what pays the bills and puts food on the table. Sometimes I have to answer the phone or the door or run errands for my husband. (I know, I'm wasting time blogging.)