A Case of the Mondays

Having Toby the Cat wake me up isn't unusual. Being glad that he did, is.

Instead of yelling at him to shut up -- like I normally do -- I forced myself out of bed this morning and pushed the light bar on the clock. 5:40. 5:40? Wait -- I set the alarm for 5:20! What the hell? Simple case: Rocket scientist here set it for p.m. instead of a.m. Don't you love it?

I did tackle the laundry yesterday – 12 loads in all. I came home to find the mother cleaning out the shed. Mind you, she’d been in bed for two days with a bug.

It was just over 40 degrees and there was enough of a breeze to keep wind chills in the 30s. Hello! Get your a** in the house! At least she had the good sense to bundle up. (Parka. Hood up. Long johns under sweat pants. Tennis shoes and socks.)

She was unflappable and I couldn’t make her go in. Best I could do was try to get as much done as fast as I could. I wanted to mow and pick up some of the bazillion leaves in the yard but she would have none of it. Instead, I picked leaves out of the landscape rock. Fun stuff.

I added more rock around the deck, the sides, and the front of the house. I finished my project with bricks, but photos will have to wait. (It was dark when I finished. It was dark when I left today. It will be dark when I get home.) Plus, the front isn’t completely done … yet. But it’s close!

We managed to get both the wheelbarrow and my faithful little cart into the shed. I’ll have to move them both to get the lawnmower out over the weekend as I have to mow at least one more time. Won’t be happening immediately as rain is supposed to start tonight and run through Tuesday. Spot showers are forecast for later in the week and then another cold front moves in late Friday, just in time for the weekend. They even used that four-letter word in Saturday’s forecast: snow! (As in “snow showers are possible.”)

God, I hate winter. And it’s not even officially here yet. I managed to get a nice case of chafed skin between the wind and cold yesterday. Now my face is ultra red, even with some powder foundation over it. Ugh.

I may try and claim the other half of my ill-fated vacation day on Friday. It’s supposed to be in the low 50s and relatively mild ahead of the cold front. Then I could get the yard mowed and ideally wrap things up outside. That would be a remarkable achievement.

I tried to take on the long-dreaded linen closet last night. I managed to reclaim a shelf each for sheets and towels. But it’s pretty crammed in there. Even after I took clean sheets out for both mine and the mother’s beds as well as a clean sheet for Ozzie, it was packed tight.

We get to wear jeans to work this week and I had to laugh. Earlier today, one of my young colleagues came into my office and said: “It smells really good in here – like clean laundry.” Uh yeah. Everything I have on – everything except my boots – was in the laundry yesterday!

I’m sure glad it wasn’t the opposite effect.