Unrelated Side Note

That’s what this weekend felt like, an era. A wonderful, pleasure-of-the-senses era. Matt and I ate a lovely dinner — the sauce that had been simmering for hours –and it was SO GOOD. Oh man, so very very good.

My mom called to tell me that a long-time family friend was promoted to principal of a prestigious Catholic high school after years of picking her feet up after a bitter divorce that she didn’t want and struggled to accept. This is such a thrilling time for her, and I couldn’t be happier.

We never made it out to pick peaches and raspberries because I fell asleep after eating an organic, all-beef hot dog thinking thinking that organic would make a difference in the way I feel after eating a hot dog. It didn’t. No matter. Ten minutes after consumption, WHAM, full R.E.M. cycle nap whether I wanted it or not. Gross.

Shortly after I woke up, my friend called to say she is coming home tonight, so Matt and I packed up and took the scenic route home. I am currently enjoying a Bailey’s on the rocks in one of the handpainted edleweiss cocktail glasses we received as a wedding present.

I found myself looking out of our kitchen window into the steamy, foggy evening, and thought to myself, “Soon, this will no longer be my view,” but I wasn’t angry or frustrated by it. In fact, I felt kind of calm and like everything is unfolding exactly how it should.

And it’s a good morning indeed! I slept like a rock (pillow creases on my cheeks!) and woke up early enough that I was able to get home and have breakfast with Matt before taking a couple of friends to the airport. I also got to feed the kitties and as I lay their plate of stinky, stinky Fancy Feast on the floor while they meowed and circled my feet, I cried out, “Oh, I’ve missed this so much!”

Today, I’m finishing up a big project and am greatly looking forward to happy hour with my high school BFF, and even more so looking forward to sleeping in my own bed tonight! With my husband! And our kitties! And then all of us waking up together and doing chores that have been neglected this week!

You know, things like dusting and vacuuming and mowing the lawn. I’m hoping Matt will take care of the vacuuming, he’s so much more thorough than I …

It’s looking less like a science experiment everyday. The fish have been troopers through it all, and I feel really bad that we ever choked them down like that. The algae contaminated the water so fast, there wasn’t much we could do to prevent it other than moving the tank out of the sun room (what a bad idea that was. Damn.) and back into the living room early last week. We’ve also been pretty good about doing a 20% change every day to get the algae out and some clean, oxygenated water in.

The fish weren’t moving around too much when the algae growth was bad, can’t say I blame them, but now that the water is clearing up, they are zip, zooming around like maniacs! Matt and I figure we have another week of daily water changes and the algae levels should return to normal.

So, that’s my Sunday thus far. Clean house, clean tank, heading to the gym in a little while, hoping today’s lookers turn out to be buyers. Only time will tell, and I’m trying to remain calm and patient through it all.

I woke up early this morning and set about cleaning my house. When I stepped outside to shake out the hallway rug, my neighbor, who was leaving for work, said, “Well, that’s initiative.”

What can I say? I’m not one to waste my evening doing chores save two exceptions:

• Mowing the lawn, because it’s rude as fuck to mow early in the morning and, besides, the grass is all dewey, which makes it difficult to cut.
• Laundry, because it can be done in spurts and between other things.

When the evening comes around, I want to have dinner and unwind, go to the gym, go out for drinks with Matt, watch something on Netflix. Anything but more chores. Plus, it gives me a sense of accomplishment to clean early in the morning. No matter how crap my day might be, I got something done. For me. Double plus, it’s nice to come home to a clean house and have my evening open to whatever.

I need a small table to create a formal dining space. So I called my parents and my dad brought one right over to me. Sometimes, I forget how nice it can be to have parents. My relationship with mine isn’t that great, but damn if they don’t always go the extra mile for me.

I’m feeling a little better now that I have cookie dough in the freezer (chopped chocolate, cinnamon, and toffee), my car is loaded for Goodwill, and getting things ready for the stager is moving along. I’m in love with the sunroom now. I had no idea that this room could make for such a nice living space. We’ve been simply eating our breakfast in here all of these years! Now the kitchen table is over by the coffee machine so I only have to lean over when I want a second cup. Dangerous …

I take back what I said about selling a house. It really makes you think about the value of owning a million books and a bunch of random, crap, free-standing shelves that serve no purpose other that to allow you to collect junk. I might have been feeling rather stressed earlier, eh?

I’m in the process of rolling Matt out of bed. Pumping him full of Gatorade and promising him Five Guys is slowly doing the trick but he’s up there smothered in cats. I can’t blame him for wanting to stay there. Plus, he’s had a super hard month this last month. Lots of shows and a mini-tour on very little sleep. Hmmm … perhaps I’ll let him sleep just a little bit longer.

I have tomatoes coming in! I counted seven green ones, eight full blooms, and four just-budding blooms on my little patio tomato plant. I’m so excited, I can hardly sit still waiting for them to ripen! The first, fresh tomato of the season is going to be a moment to remember. In addition, my wild flower garden is blooming just in time for our house to hit the market. The plants are simply bursting and blooming. It looks full and amazing. Perfect. Eeee! Thrilling. Even the heather is thriving.

I decided that I’m not going to paint anything today. I’m simply going to enjoy a hot, lazy Sunday and let things roll as they will. See a movie and have a nice dinner with a friend. If I feel up to it this evening, I’ll give it a go with the magic eraser. If not, whatever. It’s Sunday, and I have a very busy week ahead of me.

Matt is riding back from Ohio on this blazingly hot afternoon. It’s raining in his area and it can’t feel pleasant in that rain suit. I hope the storms give him a little bit of a break once he gets further south/east. He worked most of the weekend and got very little sleep. I was anxious about him taking the ride but I’m not the kind of wife who gets all bitchy about things her husband wants to do. Man, we really need to take out a life insurance policy on him …

Two weeks, Cindy, two weeks and this house is on the market. It will show well. It will sell quickly. You will move on. You will get away from this house, this neighborhood, these neighbors …

It’s been a long day already, with my low-battery alarm beeping on my cell phone at 6 a.m. and me being hungover and not knowing what was going on and the cats being like, “Oh. You are awake. WET FOOD TIME!” POUNCE! POUNCE! POUNCE!

Typical of me, I just got out of bed and went on about my day. I’ve put in eight hours already: watering the lawn; pruning bushes and plants and weeding the garden; painting; hitting the gym; cleaning the lawnmower and shed; running to the dump, Lowes (for more paint), and Goodwill; repairing the cracks in the kitchen linoleum; eating some hummus … I’m done. I’m ready for a rooftop party in Federal Hill tonight. I have a sunburn; go figure.

I’m taking some Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry. Girly beer. It’s what I’m in the mood for tonight. It represents the way I feel right now: unpretentious and fruity.

I’ve been up since 7:00 and in that time I have:

1. Eaten breakfast.
2. Taught a Spin class.
3. Dusted.
4. Swept for cobwebs.
5. Mopped the floors.
6. Vacuumed the carpets.
7. Performed a light carpet shampooing, and still can not believe the groddy that comes out of the carpets despite the fact that we don’t wear shoes in the house and I vacuum twice a week. I blame the cats.
8. Mowed the lawn.
9. Weeded the garden.
10. Touched up all of the doors and walls with a magic eraser.
11. Eaten some lunch.

It’s 90 and humid like a mother outside with FULL SUN, so I have zero interest in going out there. The A/C has been running non-stop at 74 so I’m about to raise it up to 78, take a shower, and lie under the fan in our bedroom with the blinds closed, drinking coffee and watching Firefly on Netflix instant. I’d say I earned it.

The first thing being that I don’t shop much. Seriously, I don’t. I like to shop when I go with friends who love to shop (like twice a year, if that) but I’m of the mind that my $5/6-pack of underpants from Target can last for three years if I use pantyliners everyday. You wanted to know that, I know. But I’m serious. That’s just how I am.

So, today I went out during my lunch hour to deposit some checks for Matt, and then went to BJ’s to stock up on yogurt and fruit and things that I can’t beat the price on anywhere else. While I was there, I found myself passing the clothing section, which I usually ignore but there was this big sign “LADIES CARGO SHORTS $9.99″ so I screeched to a halt. I love cargo shorts because I can carry all of my stuff in them and not have to fuss with a purse. I pulled a charcoal-colored pair out of the pile and thought, “Oh, these are kind of short, and totally cute and have a lot of pockets. Sold.”

Then, the cart sort of steered itself up the aisle where I came across a gorgeous, turquoise Nine West shirt that was on sale for $12.99 (reg. price $59!) and that I could wear for work or play (I like things with dual-purpose). Again, I was sold, and now I’m all stocked up for the summer. I should take a picture of my closet one of these days, it’s impressive how little clothing I own.

Second thing, we signed our listing agreement last night and emailed it to our agent this morning. Holy Crap! I’m super excited and nervous all at the same time. These feelings are intensified by the fact that a property Matt and I fell in love with and passed up a couple of years ago (because the price was out of reach and the market was taking a MASSIVE DUMP) went to “deed in lieu of foreclosure” back in October, and is now owned by a trustee/bank. Yeeeeeeah, I might have been stalking this property, and have now sicced our agent on it. Investigate, woman! Matt and I love this house so much, we are willing to pay the 3% commission out of pocket if she can make this happen for us. No joke.

Third, the Orkin Man came this morning to inspect for termites and to treat our house for pests. His name was Ron, he worked with Ninja-like stealth, and Diesel loved him. I wanted to liken him to Andre 3000 because he was stylin’, even in his Orkin uniform. I was, however, slightly mortified that the litter boxes weren’t scooped and that Diesel had left a “present” on the carpet outside the box. Ron said, “Not to worry. It just means he likes me. I’ve seen worse. By the way, your kitchen is really nice. It’s nice to see people do cool things with what they have. I respect that.” That made me feel SO GOOD, and then I jokingly tried to sell him my house. Good guy, Ron. I really like him and am happy he’ll be our regular technician.