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Garaged

I cleaned my garage yesterday. That’s a good job to have done with. And by “done with” I don’t mean simply that you’ve organized the flotsam and jetsam of your life into cardboard boxes and signed the requisite treaties with the spiders. I mean that you’ve then showered off in ickies, thrown every shred of clothes you were wearing in a decontamination chamber, and are now enjoying a margarita and the praise and worship of your family for doing a job they were really hoping they weren’t going to get stuck with.

It’s good to be done.

A House of a Different Color

Tra la tra la. My house is yellow. Huzzah. I’ve always wanted a yellow house. When my parents repainted our family home when I was 11, they asked me if I liked apricot or clover best. I said yellow. They said no. I said apricot. They went with clover. Hmmph.Now I have my very own house which I have been extremely fond of since we bought it, but I hated the color. It was the color of cat barf. You could almost smell cat barf just looking at it. One expected to see little flecks of grass and kibble in there stuck on the paint.We bought this house three years ago.

Little Bugs

I’m sick. Grumble grumble. It amazes me that some tiny little creature could cause so much havoc in my body. It’s quite rude, really; tiny or no, it received no invitation from me. Even vampires have to be invited into your home before they can walk through the door. Is one parasite really so unlike another? Where is your decorum, little bug?

Plant

I can’t resist pansies this time of year. They just look like spring. Home improvement projects took me on multiple trips to the hardware store this past weekend and on the last of these trips, 3 six-packs of pansies followed me home.

I’m not an avid gardener. Perhaps because it’s something my mom and sister are both naturally good at and so I’ve stayed out of it. Based on the historical record, green things turn brown when I touch them. I’m much better with mammals; they get in your face when you forget to feed them.

Fences and Walls

This past weekend, Shawn and I built a picket fence in the backyard. Our driveway runs alongside the house, connecting the street to a recessed garage and opening out to our little backyard. We’ve planned to put a little white picket fence here since before we put an offer in on the house. Every summer we’ve said, “This year, let’s build that fence,” and still no fence had appeared.

This Sucks

I bought a new vacuum cleaner and it’s inspired a general cleaning burst in me. I’m going after nooks and crannies that I’ve trained myself to simply not look at. I vacuumed that two-inch crevice between the fridge and the dishwasher. I took all those empty shampoo bottles off the shelf in the shower and out to the recycle bin (that was 9 empty bottles - break into song if it pleases you). I even got out the webster and attacked the spider webs all over the house. (Megs, my house is now safe for you to visit.)

Dish Addendum

So lots of people have been reading my blog on the dishes and then calling me up and asking, “So what really happened?”

The dishes are done, man.

It seems a pesky poltergeist has moved into my house, and just in time for Halloween. How appropriate.

Bugged

I consider myself a reasonable woman under most circumstances.

Everyone has limits, however.

Hot Spell

So how hot is it in the Sacramento Valley right now? I mean, the weather folks say 105 degrees, but if you're not used to 105, what does that really mean to you?

Allow me to translate.

Right now, it's 9:00 a.m. and 82 degrees. By the time I work up at 7:00 it was too hot outside for the little sweater I put on to defend me from the office air conditioner. At 7:00 in the morning, it's tank top weather. It's put-the-hair-up-to-keep-it-off-your-neck weather.

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