Shine your sink

 

Some of the old SparkPeople followed the FlyLady.  I seem to remember (vaguely, I wasn't a real follower) that one of the first steps was to "shine your sink".  I did that on Tuesday, when Ember went back to daycare.

She was so happy to be dropped off.  She had to wait in the car last Thursday while I got the sample tube, and again on Friday when I dropped off her sample to be tested.  THIS TIME she got to get out of the car and go in and play with the other puppies.

I decided to do a couple of "different" things with my cleaning/declutter time on Tuesday, and that was one of them.  

Another was to clean the lid of one of my trash bins.

Yet a third was to shift one of the dog-eared pieces of furniture out of the family room into the garage, on its way to being completely hauled off (once I get my act together).  

The "to-go" corner of the garage is growing.

I'm gaining x-pen sections in a collection in the garage closet!

The x-pen in the family room is shrinking a bit, as the living room one did earlier.  By reducing the amount of indoor fencing, I'm testing Ember's ability to avoid destroying things.  So far, she's barely passing.  

Ember destroyed a little electronic sonic bug deterrent the other day.  At least it's smaller than some of the things she has destroyed in the past.  Not this one, this one's higher up on the outlet wall.  She unplugged it, raced off to her xpen with it, and crunched it to death.  When she finally succumbed to Mom's cue of "thank you", it was kaput.

She also stole one of her grooming brushes and chewed it up.  Both of these misbehaviors were during that 10-day break from daycare.  Ember wasn't the only one happy she was back in daycare Tuesday morning!

What, you may ask, dear reader, is Barb trying to do with these huge gestures?  It should be obvious:  she's procrastinating.  And rather than dive into unhealthy eating, she's pouring it into housework!

I am suffering a slight bout of "finish line syndrome," you see.  I finished the "Master Bedroom Sanctuary" goal I had set for myself on Spark 2.0 on Thursday last week.

The next "goal" I have set is the Guest Room.  It is a mess, and I hereby present the before photos.

Any bets on a finish date?  

I set the goal for Thanksgiving (US).  Mainly because "the kids" are migrating down to KC for the holiday, taking DIL's parents, the foster kiddo, and the pets, Carl (dog) and Kiwi (Cockatiel).  

With them gone, and I anticipate my older sis driving to Salina to be with her own younger generation, it may be just me, Ember, and The Prisoner!

I bought a turkey breast so I can make the house smell like Thanksgiving, anyway.

Wednesday October 28th

A topsy turvy day, as far as schedule is concerned.  Ember's normal morning walk at 9 or 10 lately, due to when the temperatures were "just right" got shifted to 1 p.m., when it was, believe it or not, a bit on the warm side for a dark dog.  

Why the schedule shift?  Two appointments for house things:  softener salt delivery was supposed to happen between 8 and 12, with only warning the call from 5 minutes out, and the bug prevention/elimination service was between 10:30 and 12:30, turns out.  Except I wrote the bug guy down wrong and thought he'd be here in the afternoon.  I wanted to be home for his visit as once a year I have them treat inside as well as outside.  Autumn is the perfect time for this extra pass.

Thursday, October 29th

I started in on the guest room.  Actually, I got a head start on it Monday, when I donated all the board games, dominoes, and backgammon games!  I don't host parties anymore, and the people I would invite don't do those particular games... and if I keep them around, they are just fodder for Ember to find and destroy (there is some truth in that "the dog ate my homework" excuse).

Anyway the top of the desk and one drawer are now cleared.  The longest bit was finding papers that had to be sorted through to determine if they needed to be kept, and now I have to go email my son, and his ex-wife (as opposed to my daughter in law) to see if they need any of these other things I found.  I shredded quite a bit!

I rescued a couple of knick-knacks that I didn't have room for in the master bedroom before I did that project.  Now they have a home here.  

The Southern Belle had been one of my maternal grandmother's collection of porcelain ladies.  As a kid, I thought she was carrying a furled up parasol, but later learned it was a shawl.  I love the colors.

The little two-handled cup features Peter Rabbit and his family.  It was a baby gift for my son from one of the church ladies.  That generation is gone, now, but the memories they gifted are still here.

Friday October 30th

Let's start in the 4 a.m. hour, when I heard thunder overhead and glanced at the forecast on the phone which said it was going to keep raining for several hours.  Yikes!  Friday is one of the automated sprinkler "on" days and it runs at 4 a.m.  I don't have one of those fancy "rain sensors" on my system.  If I want to turn it off, it means a trip down the stairs into the garage to do so by hand.  I did this.

That stirred the puppy in her crate and while I came upstairs to finish getting ready for the day, she was restless and let out a few "urf" noises.  But I did not succumb, and she settled down while I planned my day.

I went downstairs to feed and groom The Prisoner (cat), and to clean out his littler boxes.  He came upstairs and jumped onto the counter to be brushed, while Ember's bright eyes observed from her crate.  Then kitty went out the front door while Ember got let out to "check the perimeter" of the house.

She was full of herself.  As I was fixing her breakfast, Ember wriggled into the pantry/bath and swiped the toilet brush, racing off with it to her x-pen for some playtime.

Only when the peanut butter (to wrap her allergy pill) came out of the 'fridge did I get her full attention.  Then it was into our normal routine, and I was able to "rescue" the toilet brush.  Sigh.

If that is how our Friday is going to go, that is how it's going to go.

We managed "poo patrol" in between showers of rain.  We managed a small grocery run, and the coffee drive thru.  When the showers came back, and Ember was napping on the couch, we successfully got The Prisoner escorted back inside and down to his safe zone in the laundry room.

Life in Emberville, as you can see, goes on.  And it's good!  I resisted the temptation to purchase Halloween candy yet again, saving that chore for Saturday morning.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

Halloween season mini golf

 

It's getting to be that season of the year.

When the sun sets earlier and rises later.

When the spooks and goblins come begging for candy.

Friday evening, a fun round of miniature golf, with course attendants handing out candy for the kiddos.  Skeletor brought his crew.

Me?  I'm the grandma that doesn't even attempt to costume any more.  Too old to do something you don't actually enjoy!  So I dress in high-vis color and go out anyway, to enjoy others getting their enjoyment!

Would you believe it was 70*F at 8 p.m.?  Crazy warm for October!  And what a contrast to last year when we did this and nearly froze in the strong wind.

The other grandma at least made an incredible "Fistor" fist (apparently this is a character that goes with the whole Masters of the Universe theme).  If I didn't have a grandkid in the mix, I would never learn these things!

Meantime, in my own backyard, Ember played with her second pumpkin purchased with destruction in mind.

Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

A hiccup in the schedule

 

From our walk on October 11th.  There were children and adults loading into a car of the right-hand side of the street, which had Ember's attention.

October 12th was Canadian Thanksgiving.  I'm hoping my neighbEsors to the North had a wonderful holiday.  I gave it my nod of acknowledgement, and I'm finally letting go of my traditional Thanksgiving (Canada) to Thanksgiving (US) Facebook gratitude posts.

Why?  Probably mostly because SparkPeople is back, and I have a daily gratitude practice going on over there, and don't feel the need for the six and a half week long exercise.

We lived through the week, collecting a fecal sample that's required by Ember's daycare on Thursday morning.  I wasn't worried about it, just grateful she produced in the rain on Thursday morning so I could drop it off.

Normally it takes them a couple of days before we have results.  The daycare requires a clean fecal test once a year.  And that year rolls around in October.

I had Ember booked for an extra day in daycare, Friday, for the family trip up to Omaha for a visit to the Kiewit Luminarium.  We managed to fit five of us into DIL's car.  It was an amazing day, if an exhausting one.  The big feature was my phone running out of power!  I kept turning it off to try to preserve power.

When we got back to town, and I plugged my phone into my car's charger, I discovered that the vet's office had been trying to call me, and left voice mail (that I didn't have enough power to call and collect), so I just drove straight there.

Turns out her sample was not clean, it was positive for coccidia!  She's banned from daycare while we medicate her and re-test!  I looked it up online today (I was too exhausted Friday night) and it lines right up with her having eaten crap on her walks in the past couple of weeks!

Saturday and Sunday both were too chilly for our usual schedule of walking, and the walk had to be delayed until about 10 a.m.  This resulted in Ember not taking her morning nap... actually in not taking crate time until after dinner before last call!  Which messed up MY schedule for the day, too, as my usual "do human stuff" time is while she's napping in her crate, after the walk.

Yeah, I know, wah-wah-wah!

Saturday morning, Ember decided she wanted the pumpkin she just sniffed at a week ago, and she picked it up, destroyed the stem, carried it across the street and proceeded to carve it with her teeth and eat the pumpkin!  Just like a squirrel would have done!

Anyway, mortified, once I got her home, I went over, rang the doorbell of the house with the pumpkin, apologized for Ember's behavior and offered to pay for the pumpkin.  The lady was very kind and had a sense of humor about the whole thing.  She would not take my money for the pumpkin, just matter of factly placed it back where it had been, and sent us on our way, thanking me for coming forward with the story.

Sunday morning, I woke up at 3 and couldn't get back to sleep.  On that 10 a.m. walk, I took a fall, crossing a residential street.  Ember behaved very well, when I fell, it jerked her leash, she barked once, then noticed I was down and came over to check on me.  I told her "Oops, Mommy fell.  Help Mommy get back up."  And she stood guard while I did.  After checking to make sure all my parts were still functional, I said, "We'd better take Mommy straight home."  And we did.  I was more mentally shook up.  I do have a couple of skin scrapes, but we walked home just fine, ending with a shorter time and distance than "normal".

We went out again to drop donations off, and to go to the doggy-treat store (she earned it, but we were running low anyway), and a stop at the grocery store for a couple of items.  I bought her a pumpkin of her own, and put it in the back yard.  Later in the day, she discovered it and wasn't sure it was allowed to be played with.  But I assured her this one was hers, and she went to town on it.  If I have a pumpkin patch in my backyard next year, we'll know where it came from.

The Ember's exclusive all-you-can-eat pumpkin buffet.

Monday morning, thankfully, I'm awake and with few "aftereffects" of the fall on Sunday.  The plan is to treat myself gently, and encourage Ember to treat me gently, too!

Life is still good.  Spark on!

We have a new behavior in Emberville

I am not sure I like it, but in some ways it is useful.  Remember last blog, when Ember got me up early?  It messed with my morning routine.  She destroyed a pair of socks in the bargain?  And became a "free elf"?  Ah, yes!

Well, I think I have sussed out the real reason she barked and got me up.  She did not urgently need to go out (witness the distraction of the socks).  I had forgotten the cat was out for the night.  Cat must have asked to come in by pawing/scratching the door.

I think this now because it happened again.  A single bark at about 12:30 a.m.  I turned over and went back to sleep.  Then in the 2 a.m. hour, another bark or two.  This time I pulled on socks and a sweatshirt and padded down the stairs.  

This time I remembered that the cat was outside.  Sure enough, when I slid open the deck door, in trots The Prisoner!  I escorted him down to his luxury suite in the laundry room and came back upstairs.  Ember went back to sleep.  I did not.  I dressed, and here I am at 3:17 a.m. typing away.

Meanwhile, in the news, some of you may remember my traumatic day on November 5, 2009.  Mine, my son's, and his whole unit's traumatic day and all time since then.  17 years later, they are proposing to put the shooter to death via firing squad, and to live stream it.  But before that scheduled date, it is filling the news cycles with the image of the "bad guy" and completely ignoring the people who lost their lives, were wounded, or lost a family member.

Way to reopen wounds, people.  I have no desire to watch any execution, mind you.  Not even one where my son was present in the day.  I still have Facebook friends among the two units and the families. Their reactions are on all extremes of the spectrum.  

I am having to just look away from all that to preserve sanity.

On the good news front, a step forward.  The appellate court upheld the termination of parental rights of my foster grandson's birth parents.  The appealing parent has 30 days to file one last appeal to the state's supreme court.  That deadline lands on November 5th.  Yes, the anniversary of the Fort Hood incident!  If he does not file, the kids will be free to file for adoption of this young boy.  In the meantime, we wait and pray.  If he does file for that last appeal, we're in waiting mode for longer still.

Good Ember news:  on our walk on Saturday the 10th, she sniffed at a pumpkin someone had out for decor... and did NOT steal it!  Considering last November she stole two from yards on successive days, her mommy was very proud of her restraint this year.  The passage of time does help!

Other than that, life is moving on.  A family outing is planned for Friday the 16th, to the Luminarium in Omaha, with foster grand kiddo, his parents and the two grandmas.  Ember will get an extra day of day care to accommodate me being gone all day.

Guess I'd best post this or it will stretch to two weeks between blogs!

Recovery weekend and beyond!

I did not sleep well last Saturday night.  I am not sure why.  But I got up in the 3:00 a.m. hour, then took a nice long nap between 11:00 and 1:30.  We did get through Ember's morning routine, including about a 2-mile walk. 

Since then, I have started experimenting with using music CD's to fall asleep rather than YouTube "Boring X for sleep" videos.  I roll over and close my eyes to those, don't watch them!  Sometimes one works, sometimes the other.  Sometimes neither.  But... working on finding what works!

Our city / county recorded a record high amount of rainfall Wednesday overnight into Thursday.  This photo is from the runoff ditch at the park entrance about a block and a half from my house.

Thankfully, the inside of the house, basement level included, stayed dry.  Some parts of the city were cut off or underwater.  Low-lying areas, of course.  My daughter in law messaged the family group that two of her coworkers had water get into their automobiles where they lived.  Yikes!

The good news is that we are up for several dryer days now.  Friday morning dawned colder than it has been in a while:  47℉ when I got up.  That getting up was early and rushed, because Ember was whining in her crate and escalated to a bark before I even got dressed.

I hurried a bit and went downstairs in bare feet, carrying my socks and shoes, and let her out, thinking she'd head straight for the outside door.  Nope!  She focused on that rolled up pair of socks in my hand and swiped them from me!

Thankfully, this was a pair that was several years old, wearing thin, and I had already been debating with myself whether to pitch them or not.  "Decluttering by dog" quipped my sister in our early morning text exchange (you know the one, the "are we both still breathing" check-in).

In any case, this started off my day differently from what I envisioned, and now I have some catching up to do!  I'm off to feed the cat (belated), take a shower, etc.

Hope you all have a good weekend and week ahead!

Life's good, even when unexpected things happen!  Spark on!

The old project and feeling overwhelmed

I have to confess that I dragged my feet getting to this particular piece of furniture in the great project to turn my master bedroom into a Sanctuary.  It is a bookcase.

I sort of nibbled around the edges over the weekend, vacuuming around it, shifting a couple of books to another room, removing the old tax files to a different form of storage.  I promised myself I would start on it Tuesday.  I promise I spent more than half an hour on it.  But it felt as though I'd got nowhere.

I still have piles of things too complex to even think about what to do with them.  A stack of financial stuff.  A stack of family history stuff.  A couple of "raw materials" things.  

But as for "what to do next"?  

I have backed up piles of things to donate, and a guilt complex about HOW to donate them!  

I have a bag of family history transcripts that my older sister put together and gave me TWO copies of everything, one copy of which was for my son, but he so far has shown no interest in receiving said copies.  I know they have meaning, so again, a guilt complex about what to do with them!

Wednesday morning, I put down on my planner two tasks:  get the donation items to the car, and deliver them to somewhere!  I did a quick lookup on Google and determined where:  The Humane Society for a few dog items that Ember no longer uses or never took to.  And the People's City Mission (one of my son's recommended charities) for personal use items.  Soap, deodorant, etc. that was either delivered here in error, or that I never much cared for the fragrance and had bought a six pack of.  Toothbrushes that always come home from the dentist, even though I use an electric.  About a dozen combs that came in a multipack that I only use ONE of.  You get the idea.

Ember was whining as I loaded the boxes into the car, and since it's cooler out I can leave her in the car while I do stuff.  So I harnessed her up and off we went.  Deliveries made, and I somehow feel much lighter!

New experiment.  I got sucked in by another ad for something to "help" your dog.  Elevated bowls.  Ember tried this out for the first time on Wednesday.

A little suspicious at first, but there is food involved, so...

She takes a bite, drops it on the floor beside the bowl, then bends down to finish consuming it.  So much for the intention of eliminating the need for the dog to bend down to eat!

While Ember was off to day care on Thursday, I went and got my flu and Covid-19 (updated for 2025-2026) shots.

The decluttering is moving very slowly at this point.  I have only two days a week, 15-minute sessions scheduled for this.  Once I get started, I rarely am able to stop immediately at the 15 minute mark.  

Today I put back some shelves that had been sitting on the bookcase since 2018 (I know that's when they came down from the nook in the office; that's when the office got painted).  It was frustrating because the support arms would not hook into the strips and stay there, then the shelf placed on them would come down.  I finally decided I don't need all of those shelves in that nook, and two of them are going in the discard pile, along with their support arms!

The maintenance of the area already decluttered led me to taking down cobwebs and "dusting" the walls.  Also put up a framed art-box that my foster grandson gave to me I think it was a year ago Christmas time!  I put it where I did have a wall calendar, but I like the look of kid's art better for my sanctuary feeling.  

Thursday I went and got both my flu shot and the most recent Covid-19 booster.  I seem to get amnesia between Covid shots, forgetting how they kick my fanny!

In any case, I was worthless on Friday, and poor Ember had to play nurse-maid.  She's very good at the job, by the way.

Saturday morning I felt as well as one does on recovery from any side-line, and we went on a nice neighborhood walk, on leash.  It was soggy, having rained most of Friday.  Which is part of the reason we missed our Friday walkies, it wasn't just Mommy being flattened by the shot.

Life is good.  Keep Sparking, my friends!

By the way, if you're interested in nostalgia, I have started copying Kevin (MOBYCARP) blogs from his SparkPeople 1.0 days.  I only copy about one a day.  I am dating them with the date he posted them on SP 1.

They are here.  I have only got through the first month, and I find myself laughing as I copy, because of course I read as I copy.  They are #1 so totally my brother!  and #2, so classic newbie at Spark, too.  Who could guess, from those first few entries that this man would become a Boston Marathoner?  Or that he would have less than 8 years left to inhabit the earth?  He did a LOT in those last 8 years.

Another week in Emberville

 

Would you believe I bought that turquoise cow for her two years ago in August, when she was spayed and needed new toys?  It's still surviving, it even still squeaks!

I washed it with a few of her other toys last week.  After they dried, I put them in the basement crate.  Ember has this habit of not wanting to play fetch, but if later she finds the ball while going about her business outside, she'll bring it up to the deck or inside.  This extended to the toys in the basement crate... one by one, she's been bringing them upstairs and playing with them, as though they were "new".

Both Monday and Wednesday were rainy days when we had to juggle the walk schedule.  Ember did OK with it, but she has expectations!

Friday is predicted to hit 90℉.  I overslept!  I was kind of hurried getting down to the pets.  Ember and I went walking early, so as to avoid the heat to come.  It's mid-September and we're still going to have one last day of HEAT.  

The amusing part of Friday morning's walk is that Ember walked right by on the sidewalk today, at the house where they added a new half-buried skeleton to the two upright standing ones this year.  Twice since they put it up, she took me to the opposite side of the street.  This morning, we were OK if a little skittish right on the sidewalk next to it.

On the decluttering front, I had a couple of "easy" 15-minute sessions, with the file cabinet drawers, the bedding tubs, and deciding on a storage strategy for the master bedroom bathroom.  At this point, I would say about half of the master bedroom is in "beta test" mode.  The challenge will be if it fits into my normal routine, or if my normal routine works out a way for this tidier look to function and not accumulate piles again.  The next prescription run, the next day when I'm too exhausted to sort the junk mail or statements to be filed, etc. will be the real test.

That's it!  A calm and quiet, and mostly rainy week, in the books.  Here's hoping your lives are giving you some peace, amid whatever is going on in them!

Life is good.  Spark on!