Today is Saturday, and it has been a Saturday unlike any I’ve had in quite a long time. Saturday mornings, for the past several weeks, have consisted of getting up at 6:00 so that we can be in the city for group running at 8:00. This started in January, and, let me tell those of you who don’t get up at 6:00 on a Saturday in the winter, it’s a miserable, torturous experience. The dogs, of course, think it’s their lucky day, being released from their night-time crates a good half hour earlier than usual, skittering down the hall and out the door to pee as fast as possible so as to get back inside and eat before returning to bed (my bed) for the next couple of hours. The house is frigidly cold, since the automatic thermostat knows it’s the weekend, and the furnace doesn’t kick in until 8:00 or 9:00, since it’s “sleep in day”. I would stumble about, making coffee and forcing myself to drink some water (must stay hydrated) and eat some food (must have energy to run with), before facing the task of getting Bill and Mark moving for the day. We’d layer up and head out, dropping Mark at my mom’s place, while we congregated with the other runners on the banks of the South Saskatchewan to “enjoy our run”.
This Saturday, however, I didn’t go to the city for my run. I’m the only member of our group partaking in the race in Scotland as part of a relay team rather than running the full marathon (haha—suckers!), which means my Saturday runs are much shorter than anyone else’s in the group. Bill had an all-day commitment with the local fire department today, so was unable to run (remember, he’s security and first aid). The other motivating factor in my skipping this morning’s run was the fact that although it’s Easter break at school, Mark’s been coaxed out of bed early every morning so I can drop him at my mom’s for the day on my way to work. I was feeling bad about his being dragged all over the place during his break, that it just seemed a kindness to us all to stay home today.
So, not only was I able to “sleep in” until 7:30 this morning, but ahead of me lay an entire day where I wasn’t going to have to drive anywhere, especially not to the city. Joy of joys! Days like THIS don’t come around very often!!
Today, I had one goal and one goal alone: cleaning the en suite bathroom. I’m quite sure that many of you would see this as an easy task, one to be dashed off in quick order before getting on with other tasks, such as washing the floor or whipping up some fresh muffins. I, on the other hand, have exactly three household chores that I despise above all else. You guessed it: cleaning the bathroom, baking, and washing the floors. I suppose those who have been to my house may question why, if I hate cleaning the floors so much, I would rip out all the carpet on the main floor and replace it with laminate. If you don’t know why I did it, please refer to my blog of February 27, 2008, entitled “Spring Cleaning”. We bought the floor for our dogs, and for no other reason. Vacuuming, I actually almost enjoy (twisted, I know), but actually washing the floor is something I abhor.
The reason the bathroom needs a thorough and complete cleaning (aside from the obvious reason that it should just be done), is that we’re having someone come and stay overnight with Brodie next Friday night while we’re out of town. It’s my hope that this young woman will house- and dog-sit for us while we’re in Scotland in May and again in September when we’re in England and France. It’s tough to find someone trustworthy, who likes dogs, and who doesn’t have their own home and pets to look after. We’ve never sent our dogs to a kennel, and, in fact, it’s down to the dogs that we’ve never actually gone on a family holiday before. Mark and I go away fairly often, and even Bill leaves sometimes, but the three of us never actually go anywhere together, unless we can take both dogs with us. Honestly, it’s easier to find someone to look after your child than your dogs. Kids, at least, once they’ve reached a certain age, can basically fend for themselves or at least communicate with you if they’re unhappy. The bonus with kids, too, is that they actually understand what’s going on and that you’ll return. Dogs? I would feel like I was abandoning them if I left them at a kennel, and, to be frank, I worry about what type of issues Brodie would have after that type of experience. He’s “special” enough as it is and I don’t want to trigger any other unsavoury tendencies he may have lurking below the surface, waiting to be expressed.
I thought it would be a good idea if she were able to spend a night here with Brodie and really understand what she’s agreed to, before we make a run for the plane and escape the country for ten days. She claims to have read my “Spring Cleaning” blog and is still willing to come and stay, so she’s either too polite to say “no”, or she thinks I’m exaggerating in my stories about my dog. I suspect both, actually.
If she’s to stay here overnight, I suppose she may want to actually have a shower and use the rest of the facilities, which means the bathroom needs to be cleaned and so my day began with this sole task in mind.
7:30 Let the dogs out, put the coffee on, and check my e-mail and the on-line news, just in case something exciting has happened while I was sleeping. I’m capable of spending a good couple of hours on the computer first thing in the morning, particularly on the weekend, picking through my e-mail accounts, reading things I didn’t have time for during the week, sorting, deleting, and answering e-mails, checking a mixed-bag of my favourite web-sites and forums, and generally killing time.
8:15 Make some toast. Might as well cruise the net while I eat it, since nobody else is up yet.
8:45 Make a list of all the things I needed to accomplish today. This list included such exciting items as: dealing with the recycling, cleaning and organizing the hall closet, tackling Mount Washmore, boxing up items for a garage sale, vacuuming, and, oh yeah, cleaning the bathroom.
9:00 Back to the computer to see if anyone had e-mailed me, just to avoid actually starting any of the tasks.
9:15 Time to tackle the kitchen. OK, it wasn’t on my list, but there were dishes to go into the dishwasher, which, as always, was full of clean dishes and needed to be emptied. There were also a couple of pots from the night before and my stainless steel wineglasses that I don’t like to put in the dishwasher that needed dealing with, so some hand washing to do as well. There’s a constant stack of papers on a couple of my kitchen counters. This seemed as good a time as any to deal with them, so I turned on the radio, and sorted the papers into various stacks: filing, garbage, paper to go to the office, and bills that required some sort of attention.
9:50 Off to the computer to pay some bills and to download my banking information into the home accounting program. This, of course, digresses into trying to remember what certain payments, transfers and cheques were for. Called my sister to see if she’d gotten the money I’d sent her for something, and spent the next hour chatting with her about her house renovations.
10:30 Back to the kitchen to finish putting the clean dishes away and the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. There were a couple of wine bottles on the counter, so I then got sucked into the recycling cupboard, which spilled over into organizing the paint cans under the basement stairs, since there were some mixed in with the bottles.
10:45 Add paying bills, downloading the banking information, and sorting the paint cans to the to-do list. I needed something on there I could actually check off as done, to psychologically keep me going.
Things continued along pretty well from this point, and I actually managed to add a few more things to the list to check off as being done. After lunch I sorted through a pile of magazines, taking an hour or so (ok, two) to read the ones I hadn’t looked at before relegating them to the land of recycled paper. Then I needed to put some laundry away and thought I might as well watch some episodes of the Dog Whisperer and Coronation Street that I taped during the week, but hadn’t had time to watch, just while I was folding clothes, of course. Well, the laundry was put away before the shows were done, so I settled in on the bed to watch for a while (ok, a couple of hours).
All in all, I’ve actually gotten through a lot of tasks today that I’ve been procrastinating doing for quite some time. I knew as soon as I started that to-do list, that I’d also spend some time writing a blog today. Somehow, there’s nothing like a much-dreaded task to drive me to do all sorts of things I’ve been putting off doing. Anything, but actually just doing the task at hand.
The afternoon, and the entire day, for that matter, has disappeared quite quickly, and I’m now feeling that I need to get showered and organized before making supper and heading out for the evening. Maybe I’ll clean the bathroom tomorrow. I’d better start a list.
This Saturday, however, I didn’t go to the city for my run. I’m the only member of our group partaking in the race in Scotland as part of a relay team rather than running the full marathon (haha—suckers!), which means my Saturday runs are much shorter than anyone else’s in the group. Bill had an all-day commitment with the local fire department today, so was unable to run (remember, he’s security and first aid). The other motivating factor in my skipping this morning’s run was the fact that although it’s Easter break at school, Mark’s been coaxed out of bed early every morning so I can drop him at my mom’s for the day on my way to work. I was feeling bad about his being dragged all over the place during his break, that it just seemed a kindness to us all to stay home today.
So, not only was I able to “sleep in” until 7:30 this morning, but ahead of me lay an entire day where I wasn’t going to have to drive anywhere, especially not to the city. Joy of joys! Days like THIS don’t come around very often!!
Today, I had one goal and one goal alone: cleaning the en suite bathroom. I’m quite sure that many of you would see this as an easy task, one to be dashed off in quick order before getting on with other tasks, such as washing the floor or whipping up some fresh muffins. I, on the other hand, have exactly three household chores that I despise above all else. You guessed it: cleaning the bathroom, baking, and washing the floors. I suppose those who have been to my house may question why, if I hate cleaning the floors so much, I would rip out all the carpet on the main floor and replace it with laminate. If you don’t know why I did it, please refer to my blog of February 27, 2008, entitled “Spring Cleaning”. We bought the floor for our dogs, and for no other reason. Vacuuming, I actually almost enjoy (twisted, I know), but actually washing the floor is something I abhor.
The reason the bathroom needs a thorough and complete cleaning (aside from the obvious reason that it should just be done), is that we’re having someone come and stay overnight with Brodie next Friday night while we’re out of town. It’s my hope that this young woman will house- and dog-sit for us while we’re in Scotland in May and again in September when we’re in England and France. It’s tough to find someone trustworthy, who likes dogs, and who doesn’t have their own home and pets to look after. We’ve never sent our dogs to a kennel, and, in fact, it’s down to the dogs that we’ve never actually gone on a family holiday before. Mark and I go away fairly often, and even Bill leaves sometimes, but the three of us never actually go anywhere together, unless we can take both dogs with us. Honestly, it’s easier to find someone to look after your child than your dogs. Kids, at least, once they’ve reached a certain age, can basically fend for themselves or at least communicate with you if they’re unhappy. The bonus with kids, too, is that they actually understand what’s going on and that you’ll return. Dogs? I would feel like I was abandoning them if I left them at a kennel, and, to be frank, I worry about what type of issues Brodie would have after that type of experience. He’s “special” enough as it is and I don’t want to trigger any other unsavoury tendencies he may have lurking below the surface, waiting to be expressed.
I thought it would be a good idea if she were able to spend a night here with Brodie and really understand what she’s agreed to, before we make a run for the plane and escape the country for ten days. She claims to have read my “Spring Cleaning” blog and is still willing to come and stay, so she’s either too polite to say “no”, or she thinks I’m exaggerating in my stories about my dog. I suspect both, actually.
If she’s to stay here overnight, I suppose she may want to actually have a shower and use the rest of the facilities, which means the bathroom needs to be cleaned and so my day began with this sole task in mind.
7:30 Let the dogs out, put the coffee on, and check my e-mail and the on-line news, just in case something exciting has happened while I was sleeping. I’m capable of spending a good couple of hours on the computer first thing in the morning, particularly on the weekend, picking through my e-mail accounts, reading things I didn’t have time for during the week, sorting, deleting, and answering e-mails, checking a mixed-bag of my favourite web-sites and forums, and generally killing time.
8:15 Make some toast. Might as well cruise the net while I eat it, since nobody else is up yet.
8:45 Make a list of all the things I needed to accomplish today. This list included such exciting items as: dealing with the recycling, cleaning and organizing the hall closet, tackling Mount Washmore, boxing up items for a garage sale, vacuuming, and, oh yeah, cleaning the bathroom.
9:00 Back to the computer to see if anyone had e-mailed me, just to avoid actually starting any of the tasks.
9:15 Time to tackle the kitchen. OK, it wasn’t on my list, but there were dishes to go into the dishwasher, which, as always, was full of clean dishes and needed to be emptied. There were also a couple of pots from the night before and my stainless steel wineglasses that I don’t like to put in the dishwasher that needed dealing with, so some hand washing to do as well. There’s a constant stack of papers on a couple of my kitchen counters. This seemed as good a time as any to deal with them, so I turned on the radio, and sorted the papers into various stacks: filing, garbage, paper to go to the office, and bills that required some sort of attention.
9:50 Off to the computer to pay some bills and to download my banking information into the home accounting program. This, of course, digresses into trying to remember what certain payments, transfers and cheques were for. Called my sister to see if she’d gotten the money I’d sent her for something, and spent the next hour chatting with her about her house renovations.
10:30 Back to the kitchen to finish putting the clean dishes away and the dirty dishes in the dishwasher. There were a couple of wine bottles on the counter, so I then got sucked into the recycling cupboard, which spilled over into organizing the paint cans under the basement stairs, since there were some mixed in with the bottles.
10:45 Add paying bills, downloading the banking information, and sorting the paint cans to the to-do list. I needed something on there I could actually check off as done, to psychologically keep me going.
Things continued along pretty well from this point, and I actually managed to add a few more things to the list to check off as being done. After lunch I sorted through a pile of magazines, taking an hour or so (ok, two) to read the ones I hadn’t looked at before relegating them to the land of recycled paper. Then I needed to put some laundry away and thought I might as well watch some episodes of the Dog Whisperer and Coronation Street that I taped during the week, but hadn’t had time to watch, just while I was folding clothes, of course. Well, the laundry was put away before the shows were done, so I settled in on the bed to watch for a while (ok, a couple of hours).
All in all, I’ve actually gotten through a lot of tasks today that I’ve been procrastinating doing for quite some time. I knew as soon as I started that to-do list, that I’d also spend some time writing a blog today. Somehow, there’s nothing like a much-dreaded task to drive me to do all sorts of things I’ve been putting off doing. Anything, but actually just doing the task at hand.
The afternoon, and the entire day, for that matter, has disappeared quite quickly, and I’m now feeling that I need to get showered and organized before making supper and heading out for the evening. Maybe I’ll clean the bathroom tomorrow. I’d better start a list.
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