Labor Day Weekend

What a nice, calm, relaxing weekend! I really enjoyed it and got some well needed rest.

Saturday started early with a little walk in the garden - how exciting that I can actually walk in the garden without stressing over weeds, pruning, etc. Yes, all of that stuff is still there but, due to Michaels hard work (along with some of my own), it is now getting to a manageable stage and has become a joy to walk around.

Watered the new plants and pulled a few weeds. By that time, it was time for breakfast and shower and off to paddling practice at 9:30AM. After paddling, I headed home to change and then off to my volunteer job at the animal shelter. It was too hot to walk the dogs so I just took them out into the yard and let them run and play. There was a little miniature pincher and he just found a bone and chewed it after doing a little exploring. The other dog was a very hyper furry Alaska dog mix thing. When I first put her in the yard, all she did was run back and forth at full speed the whole time I was going to get the little minpin to put in the other enclosure. When he came in, she hugged the fence trying to get friendly with him. He stuck his head through and gave her a kiss but that was about all. I put some water in the pool for her and she took running leaps across the yard to jump into it, then dug with her paws and danced around in circles. It really was a funny sight.

I left there muddy and wet and headed off to See's candies to use a gift certificate that I had received as a Christmas present in December. Not that I didn't want to use it sooner. It is just these darn 25 lbs that I have gained since then that really need to go away.

Heading home, I was pretty tired. It was about 3:30. I decided to take a break, open a bottle of wine and enjoy some chocolate and wine.

After a glass of wine and some chocolate, I decided it was time to grout the shower (now that all of the tiles have been cut and thinset in - yeah!). I mixed up the grout and worked hard at filling every crack, smoothing, making it beautiful. Of course, I did all of this with my hands, only reading afterward that I was supposed to use gloves and that the mixture was known to cause cancer - oops! My hand was pretty wrinkled and shriveled up but it looks fine today.

Hard work over, I decided that another glass of wine and some more chocolate were in order! That is how I ended my wonderful day!

On Sunday, I went about my yoga and farmer's market routine, stopping by Susan's and Bill's to drop off melon, corn and guacamole before heading home to do the crossword puzzle, eat some more chocolate and take a nap. What a rough day! Later in the afternoon, I headed over to Susan and Bill's for a fun labor day barbecue. Arriving home very late, I went straight to bed.

Monday found me up early (so what is new) and out in the backyard planting some plants I picked up at the Farmer's Market on Saturday. They had to go into the ground before it got too hot. I planted a couple of small sages and an eggplant (maybe I will grow my own eggplants). There is one little one on it and I hope it ripens. So far, I have had very good luck with this plant seller and everything he has sold to me has really thrived in my yard.

I also did some pruning and weeding, filling a bin and doing my best not to overprune the roses which makes Michael sad. He feels so sorry for them. I just feel happy because they give me nice long stemmed flowers that way.

At around 12:30, I was finished with the yard and headed into the house. The goal was to vacuum and steam clean the living room and hallway. I began cleaning out the living room, moving furniture and getting ready for a good cleaning. Along the way, I decided to clean off the bookshelf which is really a Video Tape/CD shelf except for the bottom which had some old school notebooks. I started reading through them and decided that I probably didn't really need my notes that much and started throwing them away. Then, I came across an old journal that I had written when I lived at Catalina Island. It was filled with emotion and the confusion that rains on 20 year olds trying to find their way in life, love and sex. I mention "good" friends quite a lot by name but really do have to admit that now, 29 years later, I really have no idea who those girls were! There are a couple of names that I recognize but the two main ones, Debbie and Louise, I have no idea who they are! And Debbie even made cookies and sent them to me! Oh well..........

It was interesting reading through it and brought back some memories. I was such a serious student - about time since I totally slacked off my Freshman year and had to start playing catch up in my Sophmore year.

After my little journey into the past, I continued the cleaning and managed to get the magazines and phone books on to the shelf in the space vacated by the discarded notebooks. This helped to declutter the place a little bit more - gradually, gradually letting go and simplifying.

I finally got the rugs vacuumed, steam-cleaned, vacuumed again and dry. By this time, the dogs had been outside all day long and were beginning to look pretty sad-eyed at the window. I finally let them back in and, wouldn't you know it, Thomas had managed to step in the one poop in the yard (I had cleaned them all of that morning but he had made a new one) and tracked it in on my nice clean, good-smelling carpet - ugh! It was all I could do not to strangle him - not really! I quickly had them both sit until I could get a rag and clean their feet. Then, I spot cleaned the rug where he had stepped and things were all good again.

After all of the days work, I cleaned the tub and prepared a bubble bath for myself. It was nice to just relax in peace for awhile. All clean and happy, I watched little tv, ate some cheese and chocolate (no wine today) and headed off for bed.

A wonderful weekend!

This morning found me up early for work and waiting on the new cleaning service. I would have to say that their work was good and bad. Some of it was really good and some of it not so good. I am hoping that they will get better. They do seem eager to please and came highly recommended by my friend. I was a little disappointed that they waxed some of the furniture I had already waxed and re-vacuumed the rug I had just cleaned rather than cleaning the windows as I asked. Now, I will need to clean the windows. However, they did a good job on the stove and the grout in the bathroom. The faucets were only so-so but, after I pointed it out, they fixed it up. Everything was put back in the wrong order and I had to go through and set everything right. They worked slower, stayed longer and charged more than agreed but the price was still fairly reasonable. I reminded them of our time/$$ agreement and the next time they will stick to it and I will insist on it. It is nice to have a clean house (except the study and the guest bedroom - one of which is still full of the stuff from the bathroom being worked on and the other of which is still a disaster in need of filing and letting go.......) I am not totally sold on this service but will give them another try and hope that things go better. It would be really nice to have some help with the cleaning.

And, that was really the end of the weekend. Back to work.......