I should have used the leaf blower

Well, today, in the job category for Someone who wants wages, I had been thinking bathroom, but yesterday left me irritable and bummed and tired. I didn’t want to even think about doing it, so when she came like a little dockworker waiting to be picked, I had to delay. Until I walked through the den and thought once again how bad the rug looked.

I got it in my head to ditch it and get another remnant to fit in the floor space left by two sofas and the hearth and low catch-all shelves on the fourth wall. So I did and we started pulling out the old rug. Actually, I must confess, I had a tri-level rug in there. It made sense at the time. When the first rug got stained but was still basically clean, I just decided to leave it down as padding. And then that happened again.

Getting them out was a challenge – the weight, the legs of the sofas. But what was jar-dropping was the amount of dirt that showed up from under the sofas and underneath end tables. We cleaned out the ashes and sprayed off the firescreen and corralled a multitude of dust-bunnies formed from dog hair and pieces of bark that flaked off the logs.

And tiny clutter. I mean the clutter field was vast but the actually cluttering things were little. That’s when I started thinking leaf blower.

Oh, did I mention Robert has been pretty much living in the den during this last leg cast session? I think he is like Pigpen. It was a BIG job.

Then I went and washed half the outside windows in the den. That’s 32 little squares of glass. Tomorrow maybe I’ll fight the bushes and get my stepladder over to the west side where there are 32 more. Or I may come to my senses.

Decoration season

With it Internet going full tilt and all the craft magazines and Southern Living, Midwest Living, etc magazines, I am mired in all these attractive and cheerful and festive and colorful Christmas decor suggestions.
Too much for me. Too much for my house. So many reminders of Christmas acoming that there’s nothing special. Of course, if you have a lot of decorating comrades, it’s a little different; having to dragoon stepladder and garland people, though, is a downer on the festivity meter. Makes me want to combine garland and duct tape get and get criminally creative.
Meet Scrooge. That would be me, AmeliaJake. Yes, the same AmeliaJake who used to wear antlers on a headband – as well as the occasional Santa and angel – all with twinkling lights. Oh, and I mean wear them out in public. Yes. That AmeliaJake.
I think I have a bee in my bonnet. Maybe I need to go to the Island of Misfit Grandmas.