Day to Day

If it weren’t for the Christmas card rolling in (thanks, y’all) and all of the packages being delivered by UPS, FEDEX and on rare occasions by the US Postal Service, I wouldn’t believe it was Christmas time.

The only decoration in the house is the snowman plumber that TW bought in hopes of scaring Buster butt enough that he would stop going into the bathroom and eating all of the things. That worked for about two days and then he just carried the snowman plumber into the living room so he could drink almond oil and eat used tissues in peace.

I looked at the calendar an hour ago and realized that Michelle and Chris will be here in 9 days. NINE DAYS. I’m looking forward to that but I’m so not ready. I guess the gift shopping is done — and if it’s not, someone will find a box of dollar bills or something to make up for the lack of thoughtful gifting (good things all of the kids like money, right?)

I need to make a serious to do list and get some SHIT done. I would probably have more success with that if I stopped watching videos about organizing your calendar, organizing your Filofax and and organizing your life. Less snow would also help.

I don’t know which I’m doing. Mostly just sitting around wondering what the hell?

Packages keep arriving, quite often with things I forgot I ordered (even though I remembered ordering them once I opened them.) Other packages have not arrived but at this point that could be because I didn’t actually remember to order them.

I can’t seem to get the present closet cleaned out and inventoried because there’s too much other shit to do.

It’s cold, really cold, and neither of us have any winter clothes out. PEople keep telling TW not to stress about that — that the winter clothes will be there when we have time to find them. Those folks aren’t banging down our door to shovel us out of the snow in 1F (with a windchill that I don’t even want to think about) which makes me kind of want to tell them all to #suckit. We absolutely ARE correct to be stressing over the lack of winter clothes. Shoveling the snow in tshirts and long sleeved tshirts and light weight jeans in 12F was bad enough. Gah. So yea, I’ll be up early tomorrow looking for something warmer to get us through another day until we can find the REAL winter clothes boxes.

At least I got my library book back in time today — that’s a big deal since I keep accruing fines when I’m normally a stickler for getting my books back on time. Let’s call today a win, for that reason alone.

I really am thankful for my cleaning ladies — and the child(ren) who gifted me with the cleaning ladies this fall. I’ve missed them and it’s been really nice to have a (somewhat) clean house every couple of weeks, even if it only lasts a few hours before the dogs track in dirt and drag fluff and chewed up stuff all over the house.

It’s really really nice to be able to walk barefoot in my bedroom without feeling like someone had shook out a beach towel on the floor. It’s really nice to not have a dusty tv when we’re watching Survivor. It’s really really nice to have a clean sink.

I’m thankful for hot water… hot baths are lifesavers and sanity savers around here.

Though I complain a lot about the lack of hot water and our old tired hot water heater, I am appreciative when I get one SUPER HOT bath a day. On the rare occasion that I am able to run TWO SUPER HOT baths in one day, I’m over the moon.

Speaking of which… I’m going to run one now, I’m pretty sure this is my only chance for SUPER HOT water today… I had best hurry though, TW and RJ are both headed that way… it’s not wrong of me to knock them over to get there first, right?

I make a lot of lists. Some on paper but most in Evernote. My entire life is in Evernote. All of it. Every single bit that’s important.

Need an address? It’s in Evernote.

Need to figure out why we’re confused about something at work? My notes are in Evernote.

Need a url for a post we wanted to remember from six months ago? It’s in Evernote.

Want to know what my plans for the week are? Those are in Evernote.

And Evernote sinks to my iPhone and my iPad. So I always have everything I need to keep me sane.

Without Evernote, I would definitely NOT be sane and I’m thankful for my sanity ’cause goodness knows, nobody else around here is sane.

I’ve never really liked curtains. I didn’t understand their purpose.

You have windows to see out and to let the light in, why would you want to cover the windows so you can’t see out or let the light in?

Or you have sheers which make even less sense to me.

Curtains were just something that you had to wash or you had to keep kids and cats from climbing.

So, we really haven’t had any curtains in the house. Prince J has some curtains to cover the big sliding door in his room. I understood those… he’s a teenage boy, he doesn’t really want people watching him do whatever it is he does in his bed (which is right next to the door) and also teen boys like to sleep so he didn’t want sun blaring in on him early in the morning.

We got an almost sheer green curtain for our bedroom when TW did that Home Goods campaign for BlogHer. (I think it’s really a fancy shower curtain, something else I don’t understand.) The curtain covers the blinds. Whatever.

We have somewhat sheer curtains in our bathrooms, too. That mostly (maybe?) keeps our asshat neighbors from watching us shower since the windows are over the tub in both bathrooms.

And that’s it.

When TW’s mom moved in, she did not like it that we had no curtains in the living/dining room. Three sets of french doors and another window seemed like too much window for her.

We talked about getting some curtains to help block the cold air but I didn’t believe that would really help. (I’m pretty sure I’m right about that based on the fact that we covered a set of french doors with bookcases and that didn’t help.)

So why am I a sudden curtain convert? Because we have dogs who HATE squirrels and cats and cars and people and they bark constantly. It wasn’t such a big deal when it was just Skeeter. She was pretty happy to stay in the bedroom with us (mostly). But then Lola came along and Lola is so ant-squirrel that she will guard the house from them 24 hours a damn day and she barks and barks and barks and barks. (She’s also teaching Buster to be anti-squirrel, but that’s another topic entirely.)

When I saw some big sale on blackout curtains, I figured what the hell. I’ll buy some panels and we’ll see what happens. The colors were ugly. I had no idea how many to buy. Knowing the height/width of things is not my forte’. So, I ordered five panels which ended up being just enough for one set of french doors plus a couple of little windows next to them.

This has helped cut down on the barking more than I ever dreamed it would. If only I’d bought another five panels, we’d be in good shape. We’d be sitting here in the dark a lot, but we’d have a lot less barking going on.

And TW’s mom, who you would think would be happy to see some curtains enter the house… no. She loves the windows in here and wishes we did not have any curtains at all. (Eyerolling, I’ve done a lot of eyerolling about that.)

Thank god for curtains. Now I just need to order some more.

I’m thankful for that tiny ray of sun shining through the tree in the backyard this morning.

That little ray of sunshine is pretty much the only thing that makes standing on the back steps waiting for the dogs to finish chasing squirrels, barking at the neighbor’s dog, digging holes, fighting over leaves bearable.

At least until one dog finishes chasing squirrels, barking at the neighbor’s dog, digging holes and fighting over leaves and pushes you out of the path of that one ray of sun shining through the trees.

Then, I’m reminded of just how horrid the weather in Chicagoland really is.