Four Days Off

(That was weird, it posted an empty blog when I didn't tell it to - oh well).

So, yes I have four day off, starting right now. I just got off work about half an hour ago. I made myself a chai latte, turned on the dragonfly lights on the back deck and grabbed the laptop. So, here I sit, in the partial darkness at 3:45am on my back porch. The air is so nice and cool, and best of all, the honeysuckles are in full bloom and it's like sitting in a perfume factory! It's not really quiet, as we live about a mile from the bypass and 1/4 mile from a factory that runs 24/7. But I like the sounds. I lived in the country for years and thought I'd never like the sounds of "town", but boy do I miss these sounds when we go away and stay the night somewhere quieter. How weird is that?

Oh there are also the pitiful mews of the kittens. Zoe's cat KC had 5 kittens and they are at the "let's crawl a few feet and see what's out in the big wide world.. of the kitchen" Their home is a good size cage we used to have the guinea pig in with a towl on the bottom and the door always open so Mamma can come and go. Most of the time the kittens do not stray from the cage at all, but late at night they decide they must explore. I think all the animals in my home have mixed up sleep cycles due to my work schedule haha. She's not a very good mama cat (I've known much better momma cats) and these poor kittens sound so forlorn - but really they are pretty demanding. I guess I can't blame her for wanting to ignore them now and then, but man that mewing can get annoying.

ANYWAY... this was supposed to be a peaceful night on my backporch with the chai latte and the honeysuckles... Ahhhh deep breath... much better. (Earplugs would help!)

So, my oldest daughter, Corina graduates high school tomorrow night (well technically later tonight). It seems so strange. I don't really feel old enough to have a child graduating high school. Well, sometimes I do. I think back on all those years and wonder where they all went. I wonder how many memories I've already forgotten and how many I will forget still. I wish we'd have a video camera (or even now), so we'd have videos to look back on her as a child. In this world of technology and watching TV shows online whenever we want and downloading music and movies, it just feels so strange to not be able to just replay your child's life... but I'll never get those days again. I'll never hear her say her first words again or hear her little voice calling me momma or singing along to Disney SingALongs. Now she's 18. She still calls me Momma though, which I love.

I wish I had more to give her as a gift. We did get her a pickup truck which we are still paying on actually, so monetarily we've met the requirement, but I want to get her something special to open after she graduates. I guess leaving it til the last day was not terribly smart. Her dad wants to her her a gift card to a clothing store where she won't blow it on graphic tees and pajama pants (OMG the child needs a makeover!) but we'll see. She goes to graduation practice tomorrow morning at 10am, and she's supposed to wake me up when she gets back so she and I can go out together. She's promised me I get her all day, and her "fiance" will have to cope and deal. I'll buy her lunch and then take her shopping for a pair of shoes to go with the outfit she's picked out to wear under her graduation gown. When I graduated, the men's gowns were red, but women's were white and we had to wear a white dress under it. I still have that dress in my closet (hoarder much!?). But Corina's highschool has all grads wear green and they don't much care what's on under them I guess. But at least I didn't have to talk her out of pajama pants. I was worried.

Then her dad gets off work at 3pm (we hope. His store is working on inventory and the DM is coming tomorrow - too much stress!), and then the graduation starts at 7pm, so we're totally going to be there way early to get a good seat where we can see her come off the stage facing us. (I have no idea why, but they put the chorus there in that section right by the stage, so no one gets those seats... guess it cuts down on fighting over seats LOL). She is in the chorus too, and in fact it will be the absolute final performance she will give since her college does not even have a chorus. (It did when we went there!) . Did I mention I'm buying a whole freaking box of tissues?!!? I am not wearing any eye liner or mascara. I'll be blubbering all over the place. Every name they call will bring back images of little 5 year old Kindergarteners at the first meeting when the kids and parents all got to get together and meet each other and the teachers. I knew even then who the "rich" kids were and which ones were gonna be the heart-breakers or the smart ones or the popular kids. (Sitting back and watching the adults at one of these things is like a mini anthropological fest. I've been to 4 now, and the parents keep getting younger and younger looking... what's up with that?!?! LOL) Anyway, those little 5 year olds are now adults and the little adorable boys are now tall strapping young men. Seriously boys are like giants these days! I know I missed out on a lot not having a son, and having a tall handsome giant is something I regret never having. I'm kind of glad Corina will be one of the first called since she's got a C last name. She said she's heard that several friends are going to have noise makers and things when she goes across stage. That will be awesome. She's never met anyone she could not be a friend to (except her boss at McDonalds LOL). She is so much like my Dad. I wish she could have known him. He knew everyone in town, and if you didn't know him, he'd sure get to know you. Corina is the same way. She can be shy (gets it from me), but she pushes the shyness away easily and goes the extra step to make people feel comfortable and liked. Can you tell I'm proud of her? Jeez I'm gonna start crying as I type this! Ok, got to stop! LOL

So after graduation, we're taking our whole family and her "fiance" out to dinner to Cancun. She's not hot on the idea cause she says she doesn't like Mexican food - HAH. She sure scarfs down my fajitas, and that's what we're getting. Two HUGE family size fajita dinners. Let me tell you, if you are ever in east Tennessee, you must go to the Cancun restaurant in Greeneville!

So, yeah I feel like I am going to need 3 days to recover from that. It'll take 1 just for my eyes to stop being puffy! BUt truly, I plan to really put them to good use. Saturday and Sunday my husband is also off work, so we (he doesn't know yet) are going to work on the yard and get some stuff figured out in the back yard for the pets. Then I am going to do a deep cleaning of the house. I'm gonna rent a rug doctor and get the living room and hallway carpets really clean. They are SO GROSS since we have dogs plus had been dogsitting a monster dog, and have 3 cats who have apparently decided they're too good to use the litter box. I've tasked gthe girls with cleaning the boxes at least 3 times a day hoping this helps the issue, and as soon as the kittens are old enough to give away, then their mamma cat is being given away too. Zoe understands that KC is not a good indoor cat and the landlords won't let them go outside anymore, so she has to go. As for my Pepper, the old Siamese. I just don't know what to do. He's old and has digestive issues. I'm hoping a vet trip can fix it, but I have serious doubts. Then there's Porch cat who leaves piles that rival the dogs' and he REFUSES to use the litter box. He used to just go outside and went to the door and scratches, but with this new rule... I don't know what to do. I can't raise kids in a house full of cat feces, so I have to do something. He's my baby though, and I can't bear to part with him. Maybe a friend will take him so we can visit... We'll see.

Wow, I totally rambled there.. so yeah carpet cleaning! I've already started cleaning the kitchen floor a little at a time, so the job's not so huge when it's time to get it really CLEAN. I remember the days when one sticky spot or anything on the floor would make me nuts and I'd Swiffer and mop daily. It all went to hell when I went to Day shift for 3 months. That got me out of my routine and I never found a new one. And then I was just so depressed I could not bear to think about my wonderful new home I'd waiting 20 years for.. and how nasty and messy it was - because they apparently didn't care about it as much as I do... Oh yeah still bitterness there.

So yeah kitchen floor. Also I WILL WASH EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF DIRTY LAUNDRY IN MY HOUSE!!! Yes I was hitting the keys really hard! I am SO SICK of laundry. Our washing machine died about 2 months ago, and I only got a new one 2 weeks ago. And it's not like we were getting all the dirty clothes washed daily as it was. There were mountains of dirty clothes. HOW can 6 people wear this many clothes!?!?!? So yeah I'm going to get it all washed, dried, folded or hung sorted and put into the drawers/closet they belong in - AND I am going to DECLUTTER and get rid of EVERYTHING we don't wear/hate/has stains, holes etc/whatever and have nice organized drawers and closets for the girls to get at their nice, good clothes easily.

This WILL become the norm. YOU HEAR THAT UNIVERSE?!?! THE "NORM" AT MY HOUSE WILL NOT BE "MESSY AND UNORGANIZED" ANY LONGER! Whew!

I'm going to straighten up my desk area and declutter it too, as well as all the kitchen hotspots. It all needs a good think over design and rearranging, but also just getting all the flat surfaces cleaned off and scrubbed down and make it look and function like a kitchen again. I know it's why I haven't wanted to cook lately. It doesn't have the flow anymore and well.. there's no clean places to even set anything down. Sheesh. But not for much longer!!!

I still don't have a new dining table... yeah that's a whole other blog post.. but Hubby and I have agreed on which one we want and where it is. In fact I'm going to put it in layaway tomorrow. Oh how I want to just buy it outright and figure out how to pay the bills later... but I won't ... maybe. HAH. No I'll be good. It's just so weird to not have the table there even though I can envision it perfectly. Cant wait to get it!

Well, the mosquitoes have found me, so I'd better get back inside. I'm hoping there's some new HGTV stuff on ON DEMAND. I wanna veg in front of the TV til I fall asleep heh. Goodight all and have a fantastic weekend!!

Comments

  1. Okay...so I really have not been able to read blogs for the past year because I have been in school NON stop. I have the summer off however, and found my way here after your comment on my blog. I just wanna say, your awesome Patty! I connect with every one of your posts!
    Your so smart in taking the extra days off, cleaning your house, cleans your mind.. I believe this. Whenever I have major stress, I scrub. :) I cried when reading your post. My kids are grown up and sometimes I just wanna go back to when they were small and needed me so much. Thank you for your posts, I will be back here often!

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  2. Thanks so much for this comment! I sure hope to post more regularly now. It means so much to know people read and care. Thanks!

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I love getting comments, and I read every one. Thanks for coming by my site and reading my ramblings. I hope you have a wonderful day! -Patty