Saturday, January 24, 2009

A few "ordinary" days in the life...

(It’s Monday AM…no internet hook-up yet…but I keep on blogging!!!)

This morning was my honey’s first day of work, so he was up at 5:30am to get on the road. The hour commute will get easier as the time goes on, I hope! Anyway, what do you do when the only one up is you and the roosters??...yes, friends from Minnesota, we do have roosters in this state…and cows…and lots of farmland!! I decided to sit at my kitchen counter, have a cup of coffee and enjoy the view of the freshly fallen snow. We actually have about 5 inches of the white stuff on the ground, and it’s been very cold (for here)….sorry, Pennsylvania friends, I guess Lex and I brought a little of Minnesota with us! I thought this was a perfect morning to slip a nice calming CD into my radio/CD player.

This past Thursday, after 4 days of unpacking and organizing the kitchen, I found my radio in the last box marked “kitchen”. Figures, right? We found the CDs in a box marked “videos” when we were unpacking boxes looking for a movie to watch last night. (you never know what you are going to find in boxes when you have movers packing you…it’s like Christmas as you open them!) After digging through the box, guess what Lex picked out to watch?...“The Money Pit”!!!! We hadn’t watched it in years, but found we really could relate to the story starting right from the beginning when Tom and Shelly show up at their dream house for the first time and were greeted at the door by a very intoxicated woman. I will have to share that connection in another blog.

Anyway…back to the CDs… I decided on 2 CD’s from my friend, Keith, from Minnesota….a guy that can “tickle the ivories” better than anyone I have ever known! His music is calming and sweet…just what I needed to start my day. Another one I chose was from Tony, another friend from Minnesota. I started thinking a lot about Tony today. I have been inconvenienced with an unfinished house and my space being occupied daily with strangers, and am certain I have done my fair share of complaining. But Tony has a greater inconvenience to deal with daily…he is struggling for his life. It was good for my soul to listen to him sing today. His music speaks right from his heart…and he sings openly about his life and his faith. Today Tony helped me put my life “issues” into perspective. Thanks, Tony…the message was loud and clear!!! You’re music is truly a gift from God.

(Tuesday AM)
This morning I will be traveling through unchartered waters (at least for me)…a place where I have not gone before…putting my life into someone else’s hands…having no idea what the outcome will be…my palms are sweating…my stomach is full of butterflies…I feel a bit faint.

I am about to entrust a most sacred duty to a complete stranger…someone who knows not my history…or what makes me tick. But I must go out on this limb and trust. I can wait no longer…there is no more time left. With knees knocking I will enter the door and pray the person on the other side will be gentle with me. Then, hopefully…if I make it through…when I walk back out the door I will be wearing a big smile along with my newly clipped and freshly colored hair.

The person has big shoes to fill Lisa! Miss you!

(Wednesday AM)
Just wanted you all to know that I survived yesterday’s ordeal, and may have found a new “do” maker. Although her feet are a bit shorter than Lisa’s I am hoping with time they will grow!

(Thursday AM)
Well, today is Direct TV day!!!! I will now be able to catch up on all my favorite shows... I am the ultimate TV junky!!!! Yesterday after lunch I began opening boxes…the ones still stacked floor to ceiling…looking for Direct TV boxes, TVs and remotes for both. Of course none of the boxes were marked with those items and Lex and I finished the search for the last two missing remotes at about 8:30 last night…just a few minutes before our new bedtime of 9pm. I found the TV in a box marked “computer stuff”???….the Direct TV boxes in boxes marked “items from hall”???... “papers”???... “desk stuff”???...you get the idea…and the remotes in separate boxes, mostly marked “glass LR”….or “bar stemware”. Crazy, I know. I sure do miss the Two Guys from Texas. They continue to humor me even 2 weeks later!!

(Friday AM)
Each day I choose one of the contractors to be my “favorite contractor for the day”. It may sound silly, but they love the compliment….it helps to keep things moving along… and since they are all men…well, ladies, you know how a man needs to be told he is doing a good job! Yesterday, of course, was the Direct TV guy. Today I chose Verizon…even though they are not a contractor…because I just received a phone call that the DSL is connected! Yeah!!! I will no longer be separated from all of you…it has been a tough 2 weeks! Now, all I have to do is hook up my computer…as soon as the painters are out of my bedroom. Hopefully by the end of the day I will be posting this! And life here in PA may begin to be a bit more “ordinary”.

VACUUMMING CARDBOARD
When I was a little girl Saturday was cleaning day. My mom worked fulltime outside the home, so on the weekend she organized the troops…me and my two sisters…giving us each housecleaning chores. We moaned and groaned like any kid would, but before we could go outside and play…remember there were no video games back in the day, and only 3 channels on TV so outside was always where we headed…we knew we were expected to help, and therefore just did what we were told. We all learned a great deal about cleaning from my mom, and when the time came to take care of our own homes we were well prepared. Except for one thing…vacuuming cardboard.

Now I learned all about the vacuum cleaner from my mom…like what all the parts were for…the big one with the brush that spun around was for the carpet…the big one with just a little strip of brush was for the hardwood floors and linoleum… the small one was for the steps…the small round hairy brush was for the window sills, baseboards and small corners…the long skinny one got between the radiator pipes just like it was made for that. I remember well what I was taught. But which one was the brush for vacuuming cardboard?? We didn’t have any cardboard.

Well, I have cardboard floors now!!! The 2 guys from Texas were generous enough to cover my wood floors with plenty of it when they were moving us in…also this really cool stuff for the carpets that was like a VERY LARGE roll of scotch tape that they just stuck to the carpets in all the walking areas. Anyway, before they hit the trail, I asked if they could leave all of the cardboard and the sticky stuff so my floors would continue to be protected during the construction phase.

But you see, the floors still need to be vacuumed so that all the dirt is not carried to areas that may not be protected…like the brand new tile. And here in Pennsylvania, unlike all the nice folks in Minnesota, it is not a practice to remove your shoes when you enter a home. Therefore we have daily debris left behind of mud, snow, gravel…you get the idea. So, I drug the vacuum out and stood there looking at it. I knew how to clean the carpet covered with the sticky stuff…it was still carpet. I knew how to clean the exposed wood floor and tile…since that was the “linoleum of the future”. But what was the preferred method for cardboard cleaning?????

Maybe I could call Mom and ask her. You know she would love it…you never stop needing your kids to need you!

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