Back to an old project

 

Mt. St. Omigawd project returns.  For two and a half years things have got shuffled into piles not on the dining room table, as they were in days of old, but all over the house behind doors that could be closed for fear of the puppy getting to the piles.

The master bedroom, the office, the guest room... all have become pretty junky over time.

With the return of SparkPeople as version 2.0, I'm using this project as a way to figure out how their Goals/Milestones/Action Steps work together with the Planner to make progress toward a larger goal that's NOT weight loss or athletic outing related.

The entire exercise got my brain wriggling around the "why do the piles of clutter return?"  While a good deal of it was related to the rush of protecting things from the puppy, it's a pattern that has plagued my life for much, much longer than she's been with me!  In fact, I started trying to improve in this area when I was a teenager.

The why it keeps recurring has to be buried in the bowels of the spaces versus the systems of my life.  And of course, a large dose of my inner life, energy, etc.  I need to rebuild these areas, one by one, in my home to actually serve living the life I have.  Not to be perfect, mind you (impossible goal), but to be functional for me and for Ember and The Prisoner, too, for that matter.

One thing that happens over and over again is that I'm an "out of sight, out of mind" person, so partially finished tasks, especially cleaning tasks, end up with the tools left out on the counter.  This is far from the gold standard of "a place for everything and everything in its place."  Some of this can be addressed with tools, but most of it goes back to the Messies Manual books by Sandra Felton!  Suddenly I'm remembering the Mount Vernon method.  Using the hidden spaces that exist, and clearing out what doesn't belong to trash, to donation, or to another storage space... leaving only what is functional for the purpose of that drawer!

Deep breath!  That's just the intro to what will be a "mental work in progress" probably for the rest of my natural lifetime!

Thursday, September 10, 2026

I was determined to finish the vanity today.  I had only the last flat, center drawer to clear out.  Well, I discovered the rabbit holes of distraction.  Anybody remember this little item?

I still had its instruction booklet, buried in that drawer.  Nostalgia is an amazing time suck when you are trying to decide whether to keep something or not!  I settled on taking its photo before sending it to the landfill or recycling.

I also found, and shredded, a social security card from someone who passed away in 1996, and a library card from before my son's deployments.  And a TON of hair.  Yes, hair, because that middle flat drawer holds my combs, and is often open when I comb my hair.  My hair is so fine and light, it's invisible until it accumulates!

I now have five vanity drawers with only intentional pieces in each drawer, and only two storage "things" on top of the vanity.  My jewelry box, and an organizer for my dental stuff "beyond brushing".  

And then of course, the nightmare beyond organizing is, "what's leftover and what do you do with it?

There were several pocketknives, buttons from garments that shipped with spares (probably most of the garments are long gone from my closet), several foreign coins, and a few pieces of jewelry that I almost forgot I had.

The jewelry obviously went into the jewelry box.  The coins went into the safe, even though they probably hold little value other than what memories they could trigger.  I actually have a button box, which is where the buttons were relocated.

I think I counted six pocketknives and various small tools, some screws and bolts.  These all went to the kitchen junk drawer, which will become a project of its own, down the line.

Peeking out from the kneehole, you can see I have a largeish basket of electronic cords and gadgets and connectors, and a few other odds and ends. This will also have to be processed on its own, as I try to figure out how they all fit into processes.

I checked off the vanity from my goal structure.  This was supposed to be 15 minutes, two days a week pace.  Today's effort took about an hour and a half, when you add in all the little detours.

Getting to the button box brought out a stack of books to relocated to a shelf in another room, for example.  I talked turkey to myself about not going down rabbit holes, either with the kitchen junk draw OR the bookshelves!

The real test of the vanity, will be what happens in the next month or so, as I try to live with the newly organized thing, and try to avoid re-piling "stuff" onto it or into its drawers.

Wish me luck.  And I'll move on to the next area of the room, but not until Tuesday!

Life is good, here in Emberville.  Spark on!

A tree comes down

 A giant tree, you've seen it in my sunrise photos, and in my moonscapes.  It is my neighbor's tree.  It is HUGE.  Must be 30 feet tall.  As big around the trunk as four mature trees.

I noticed this morning that my neighbor to the East was parking all his vehicles on the west side of my house, as opposed to where he normally left them during the workday, in his driveway and along the street south of my house.

OK, something's up, I thought.  Maybe they are having something delivered, and need driveway access?  Guests coming, perhaps?

Nope.  About two p.m. this big rig showed up and guys in reflective gear started putting ropes around the tree.  A little while later, they had a guy up in a cherry picker in the mix.  Branches began being thinned out, and a chipper was put into service.

It was clear that this would take several hours.  I could still hear them buzzing away, at 7 p.m.

The Prisoner came in with confetti sized wood chip on his coat.  When I went to pick up Ember from daycare and brought her home, she went out and sniffed at the deck.  The deck was getting a dusting of those tiny wood chips, brought by the wind from the chipper.

I will miss this tree.  I have no doubt that my neighbors will miss it, too, as it provided excellent shade from the afternoon sun!  Their A/C bill will no doubt go up.

It took, in the end, more than 24 hours!

Sunrise, Wednesday with a much reduced tree, above.

Down to the final trunk standing.

Then shorter.

Aaaaand... The big ol' stump when it's all down!  Now my deck is in full sunshine, no more filter to the sunrise!

Life goes on.  Despite this loss, Life is good.

Spark on!

Whatever the weather... we'll weather it.

My goodness, the news and the flooding in many places, but locally, it's the return of the heat to start September.  The first two weeks are slated to have high temperatures in the 90's Fahrenheit.  Ember and I are taking our leash walks in the 7 a.m. hour.

We come home, me drenched in sweat, even though the temperature might be "only" 74F.  Some days a shade less, this past week.  We've actually had a nice cool patch, but it's over now.

Ooh!  Ooh!  Big news... Chris Downie just posted on Facebook the announcement of SparkPeople 2.0 being live, and said we can post our personal invitation links on Facebook or wherever, so here's my invitation to you.

On the Lynda front:  I heard through the Spark-grapevine that some one of the group called her son's restaurant and the person who answered the phone had seen Lynda the day before.  So it just seems she's "offline" as far as the blog is concerned.  That is good news, but I don't know how we'll keep up if she can't post and doesn't get her voicemail.  

That said, Life is good, Ember is taking up the whole couch, and keep on Sparking!

I suppose I ought to put one up on BlogSpot...

 

After all, it is Friday!  But first, check to make sure your socks are on the correct feet.  See, this one sock company that I ordered from online actually labels them L and R... and yesterday... those are my feet, with them in the other left, and the other right foot!  I wasn't paying attention when I put them on, obviously, and didn't notice until I came upstairs to change, and took the shoes off.  No wonder I felt a little "off".

SparkPeople stuff:

I have really been getting into SparkPeople 2.0.  I joined over there when I got hold of an invitation, at the beginning of August, calling myself OKM. I found yesterday that I could edit it, so now I can be found either under the old "OneKidsMom" Spark name, or under the shortened OKM.

They have started up the first "Healthy Weight" class, limiting it to 200 members per class, and that's pretty much taken up my time.  I figured out how to insert a link into my blogs over there.  So guess what?  I am able to take those blogs that I put into my two Spark archive blogs over here and link them into new entries over there.  I did NOT waste that month saving the old, prized blogs after all.

If anybody over here wants to meander down memory lane and NOT get into the whole Spark 2.0 thing, you can find those right here on BlogSpot:  OKM's Spark archives, and Encouraging Words from OneKidsMom.  Warning:  they are works in progress, what I saved in 2021, plus selected ones that I am starting to convert now from PDF files, simply because the conversation in class made some relevant that I had not got to when I abandoned the project after Spark went dark.

Now for the non-Spark stuff, that some of you really read these for:

I left off with Sunday's birthday party.  Monday, Wednesday, and today featured the usual dog walks with Ember.  

On Monday we explored a couple of blocks that we don't usually go down, so new smells to smell.  Also new dogs to us, being walked.  I do enjoy the body language of dog walkers, the respect for the needs of others who are working with their furry friends on the skills of living in the suburbs.

On Wednesday, Ember went into full Retriever mode when she discovered a prize.  Someone had left a chunk of bread, say maybe Texas toast sized, at the foot of a tree.  I'm thinking they might have been feeding the local wildlife.  Ember, however, claimed it as her own, and immediately reversed our walking course, skipping the usual loop around to take me directly home.  Once home, she devoured the bread.  I've been watching for output since, but it does not appear to have harmed her.

Friday morning, we encountered a lady who had been walking our loop in the opposite direction as us.  She is a regular at about the time we go (between 7 and 8, usually).  We pass one another twice, as we walk in a big loop, staying on opposite sides of the street.  This time she asked if Ember could have a treat.  I warned her about the dog liking to jump up, but Ember was sitting prettily at that point, so I told Ember to keep her feet down, and Dee (the woman) gave her the treat.  After which, Ember rewarded her with a jump to her chest and an offered "doggie kiss".  Sorry about that, Dee, we're still working on manners!  The humans introduced themselves, and we parted with a friendly, "see you around".  Ember has filed another human in her collection of soft touches, I'm sure.

Tuesday and Thursday Ember went to her usual day care and I worked on the usual collection of household chores.  We are settling into a routine, and we're in that time of year where at the moment the weather is cool in the morning and hot but not beastly in the afternoon.  Enjoying it while we can!

Life is good.  Keep Sparking!  (On or off the Spark website).

Grandma goes to the party

 

It was my foster grandson's 8th birthday.  We gathered at their house (just family) for gift-opening first, before going to the party venue.

Carl played host.  The Mythical Son, or Coach Dad as he is sometimes called, supervised the opening of presents.  It was like Christmas day, this birthday bash.

When asked what this one was, Coach Dad replied, "An ill-advised gift".  It is a nerf-grenade, and all those little yellow balls "explode" (i.e. fall out) when you toss it.  They demonstrated it.  A housekeeping nightmare!  I saw it and thought, "A model of a covid virus molecule?"  Whatever, the man who pronounced it ill-advised was the man who bought it, so, there's that.

We repaired to a placed called Knockerball where FGC's friends had been invited for the main event.  

The huge plastic balls allowed the kiddos and parents to play human bumper cars, essentially.

Before the kids (and a few of the adults) actually climbed into the big plastic bubble-wrap... the kids and dads (mostly) organized a brief game of soccer-ball, with a soft-squishy soccer sized ball that didn't hurt when you got hit by it.  The guy who runs the place put down cones for the bases and almost before I knew it, I was playing first base.  It was adults versus kids, and I fluffed the first two opportunities to get a kiddo "out".

Once we got the three outs, we were up "to bat"... yowza!  I was out at first, first time up.  Out at second, the next time, but my daughter in law made it safely to first when they threw me out.  The third inning, I made it all the way around, in appropriate stages:  safe at first, safe at second, and then ran on to score on the third adult kick.  I crossed the plate, cheered on by those who recognize I'm a grandma!  No, nobody took a picture, but it's the kiddo's birthday, no matter that the little, tiny bit of running made me feel like a winner!

Happy Birthday, Kiddo!  Life is good.  Keep on Sparking!

I am not political but...

 

I have always been impressed with candidates for office that knock on doors for themselves.  This young man (if I can call him that, he has three children and is a neurosurgeon) is running for Board of Regents of our University.  I saw him going down the street on Sunday while I was coming to the end of Ember's walk.  Later he knocked at my door, and I clipped Ember's leash on to answer.  

We chatted for a bit about education, and I did something I seldom do... I gave him permission to place a yard sign, and I took his picture with his five-year-old with the sign.

Ember, by the way, took me for over two miles on the leash Sunday.  No bunnies.  No eating of other animals' poo.  And no stray human food, either.  So I have to call that a good outing!

On Monday, Ember got a treat in the afternoon.  The mowers came early, on a non-daycare day!  So she got to go outside onto the deck, and outside onto the front porch, in order to see them do their thing.  She looked so happy!

Overnight Monday, we had another of those sleep-interrupting storms roll through.  Ember got me up with her barking, twice!  My watch declared I got under 4 hours of sleep, because I essentially gave up and got up, laid on the couch and maybe got a few more minutes.

Tuesday morning I did a little catch-up nap after taking Ember to her daycare.  I needed that!

I did a short strength training session Tuesday afternoon.  I haven't been back to the personal trainer since April, so these short sessions are my way of easing back in to something I know is good for me.  

Got good, solid sleep overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday!  Yay!  Wednesday morning dog-walk resulted in 3 encounters with "other animal's poo"... and she left them alone!  Hu-Mom was so happy!

The rest of the week got swallowed by the black hole of SparkPeople!  Seriously, the first class of "Healthy Weight" which promises a maintenance piece, is here.  It's lecture hall sized, he's allowing 200 members per class.  Which is a bit more than most of us have as social limits for close friends, for sure.  But there's an energy of working toward a common goal.

It's Saturday as I wrap up to post.  Ember and I have been out on a 2 mile walk already, with puddles on the ground from the rain that came through in the 4 a.m. hour.  

This felt good, because Friday morning's walk was a mom-frazzling one, while she stopped in the middle of the street to lap at something edible that had been discarded (or dropped by the garbage truck going by) and smashed by being run over by vehicles, but it still smelled good to Ember!  I was directing traffic in the street and apologizing to drivers who were face it, amazingly patient with us.  One guy rolled down his window to joke, "When you need a break, you need a break!"  Even the giant garbage truck waited for me to get her back to the sidewalk.  I do hope it made them smile and nobody was late to where they were going.  I mean, I prefer to "be a good human" and I tell Ember all the time that her job is to help mommy be a good human!

Life is good!  Spark on!

More new Ember adventures

 

Ember:  "What is this?  Oh!  Do I get to help dry off the dishes?"

Believe it or not... my co-mum-in-law gave me a little knitted gadget that lets me hang a dishtowel on the stove handle.  I put it in place on Tuesday, while Ember was at day care.  When she came home, she gave it a good sniff, and even a bit of a taste test.  Guess it doesn't smell/taste like meat.

She has left it alone since!

On Wednesday we went to the dogs-allowed-inside store, the one where I purchase her treats and one of her kibble brands.  I knew I wanted about four things in the store, so I started to pull out a shopping cart.  Oops!  Ember has never accompanied me when I was using a cart.  She backed away.

I opted to skip the cart.  This time.  We will try again on another visit.  A cart would have been useful.  I was juggling a small bag of kibble, two packs of 10-inch-long chews (BOGO sale), and a pack of 100 of the size I call her "Itty-bitties".  I made it about halfway to checkout before I was getting tangled up between leash and these.  Fortunately, a friendly clerk offered to help me carry the things up to the counter!

In retrospect, Ember was "pretty good".  She didn't pull or go nuts (other than shying away from the cart).  We made it across the parking lot to the car and she hopped right in.  Continued progress!

Thursday morning, she happily went into her day care.  She even kept her paws on the ground.  Her ears are bothering her, I can tell, and her next dose of the ear medicine was due Friday morning.  

It happened, but it was a whole adventure, involving trapping her in the car so I could control her movements.  Before I got to that solution I tried the bathroom (too many things she could grab and run off with, that turned into a marvelous game of chase, in her opinion).  We had an episode of slipping out of her harness.  Eventually, I pronounced getting the gel into the ears "good enough for my first time." She should not have to worry about mom doing this again for a while.

With that accomplished, I was free when I got word that the Ace needed a little help with her pup being "home alone."  Ace and her hubby were both unavailable, but I still had a house key, so was able to go feed and walk and medicate Benji.  Isn't he the cutest?  17 pounds and "older" but don't tell him he's geriatric.  He is quite capable of a fast walk, and a good tug on the leash!  I think he takes after his "Old One".  

I, in the meantime, while I talked to him, kept getting confused about what to call myself. "Mom" is what I use when referencing myself to Ember.  "Grandma" is what I use when referencing myself to Carl (son's dog).  "Aunt Barb" is what I have used to reference myself to Benji in the past.  I would go through all three, like my mom used to do going through her five kids' names before hitting the right one!

Ember napped during both rescue missions, and while she sniffed me thoroughly after each, she seems confident that she's still the top dog at this house!

Saturday morning, we had rumbles of thunder overhead.  It quit raining by 7, though, and we got in a leash walk in the neighborhood.  Today's challenge was a bunny, doing bunny things, audaciously, within 20 feet of Ember. 

I walked her a little closer.  MISTAKE!  This mimics the stalking phase of the prey sequence, and she surprised me by lunging for the bunny, right after I had choked up on her close leash handle (the one you use when walking in traffic).  OMG, this dog is strong!  Benji may have a strong tug, but Ember can force the issue when she is motivated to do so. The bunny went under an evergreen tree, Ember would have dragged me through it, but I don't fit!  I took a couple of giant steps before I got her back in line.  

Anyway, she scared me, but we survived.  I talked her back to the sidewalk.  Once we got reset, the rest of the walk was fine, but it does remind one of the power at the other end of the leash. Ember looked so proud of herself!

Anyway, that's the Emberville news for now.  Over on Spark I'm getting back in the swing of posting my pep talks as blogs.  I have reconnected over there with some I "lost" over here. Being "back on Spark" reminds me of how important the audience is.  Just as a performer "reads the room" a blogger reads the audience, and it influences what you write.

If anybody hasn't got one and needs an invitation to get onto Spark, let me know.  I still have several left.

Life is good!  Spark on!