I feel naked. Or rather, my house feels naked. Today was plant relocation day: house plants moved from inside the house to the front porch, all twenty-six (26) of them, and some of them as big as trees. They are not exactly where I want them to be, yet, except out of the house, which will make opening and closing my windows SO much easier. (I have really good windows, tight windows, the best asset the house has to offer, and they require a lot of leverage.) And now I can get serious about emptying and prepping my rooms, all five (5) of them for a fresh coat of paint (and other stuff, no doubt to be related in a future post). (That is, if I can ever find a handyman to fix my leaky roof, so I can once-and-for-all patch the water-damaged, peeling plaster/paint from various points inside the house. Honestly, at this point, I am considering doing it myself. That will make for a very interesting story, no doubt.)
Speaking of trees, my neighbor cut down my maple yesterday, the one that sheds leaves into my (very small, but adequate) pool. Not a swimming pool, really. More of an oversized get-cool-quick container, a “snap-set” variety from – where else – Walmart. (I had to stop using the “inflatable ring” variety [because of my cats], which was much larger and you could actually use it as a water lounge. [Whatev. I love my cats.]) The only level ground on my entire 1/8 acre lot is right underneath the (afore-mentioned and now-deceased) maple, and the leaves would turn the water green in a matter of days. Water may be cheap, but I waste nothing, and I don’t have time to dump and re-fill the pool once a week. The pool spot was claimed long before the maple showed up (the maple is – or was – only a few years old), so yesterday it was goodbye. I actually cried. The tree was WAY bigger than it appeared, once it hit the ground. I bet I moved two-thousand (2,000) pounds of wood and branches to a brush pile for the city to pick up, but now I have firewood for my newly purchased firepit (still in the box; another project). I have these fantasies about lazy summer evenings in the backyard with friends, even though I have no friends. (Mountain Grove sucks, and I mean that in the nicest way possible.)
Also on today’s agenda (and done): more rock sorting, and still not done. They are everywhere! (Stay tuned for a back-story on the rocks, and why I give a damn.) And trash pickup (an ongoing, never-ending, remnant of “D-Days” [Damien-Days]; stay tuned for relentless, mind-numbing details of the “D-Days” saga [and the Missouri experience in general]).
Also done: in four (4) hours, over the course of three (3) days: a freelance proofreading gig for the Taste of St. Louis website (compliments of my friend K Sonderregger, the director. (Yeah, I got connections!). Difficult job– try it sometime – even for me and my OCD.
Next up: Fire up my gas charcoal grill, bought last year at an auction for $5.00 (5) dollars! (A Good Samaritan delivered it to my house, no-fitty-in-Escort-y.) And it has gas. Of course, I didn’t even know how to turn the thing on until yesterday, when another neighbor offered to show me the ropes. After we singed the hair on his arms (not my fault; I warned him that I was clueless), everything is good to go, except for the who-knows-how-many years of build up on the grates and everywhere else. But I bought what I need to do the job (wire brush/cleaning thingy, scrub pad, flippers, tongs, grill wipes) and I did not shop at Walmart. (I am proud of myself.) (BTW, I’m on a high-protein/low-carb diet these days, so I’m gettin’ my meat on [which I’m not even sure how to cook], but fruit and veggies will be experimented with, also. I have a basket…)
Things on the horizon (my always-evolving, up-and-coming, work-in-progress to-do-list), so far…(this is what you have to look forward to if you decide to stay tuned in):
· Bob Ross Painting Kit (received the other day and purchased via Public Television, my contribution to the Arts) – I haven’t painted in years. I finally scratched an itch that has been bugging me for years.
· Tony Horton’s 10-Minute Trainer/Beach Body Kit (received on the same day as my Bob Ross Kit even though they were ordered weeks apart. Is that some kind of omen?) I am determined to turn my 100-pound weight-loss into something I want to see when I look in the mirror. (Yes, I have body-awareness issues.)
· Remodeling/refinishing/house repairs. This is gonna be fun…you really don’t want to miss it!
· Planting the garden, if I decide to do one. I’ve said for years, “no more,” but I can’t live without “fresh “tomatoes (cooked, canned, stewed, roasted, never raw. Don’t like them raw, go figure?) The ones in the store are a joke.
· Adventures in furniture replacement/rehab to be continued. (I found some things at the hardware store [not Walmart] that may work for feet, but I would still have to deal with re-upholstering…really?) We’ll see.
· Cockroaches. ‘Nuf said.