Neverending Laundry Pile

So, I'm a grown up.

Ok, I play one or try to simulate one as best as I know how.  Which is just a lot of speculation and googling stuff.  Sometimes I ask people for advice too if the question is not too silly.

Anyway, I have this one juvenile habit, or lack of habit that I have - I hate folding laundry and putting it away.  I hate that task way worse than I hate putting away the clean dishes.  I don't know why I hate these tasks.

Well, another reason I hate putting away the laundry is because the closet organization is a mess.  The shelves that the previous owners left are all kind of fucked up.  We just tried to half assed reattach the shelves so they wouldn't fall.  What we really need to do is spend like probably $150 and buy some proper shelves.  Or just get more milk crates...

Anyway, I find my clean clothes that I am going to wear mostly from the laundry basket.

Not that I really have many clothes that I actually wear on a regular basis, but, I pretty much just a small  fraction of my clothing that I pretty much wear on rotation.  Of course, a huge portion of the time, I'm wearing work clothes.  Then there are the sleeping, lounging clothes - a couple choices of shorts and soft tshirts.  Then there are the whatever clothes for multipurpose - going for a walk, going to the store, running errands.  Then, there are few newerish items that I might wear if I have to say, go to a doctor or vet, or maybe we go out to eat or for a drink.

So, here's the vicious cycle.  I wash colors.  The only whites I really use are my socks and maybe one or two ponty (panty in Philippine accent) or bra.  These often end up in the colors wash, and they are fine.  So, I just wash colors.  Unless the only dirty laundry left is whites.  So, there is a dirty laundry basket in the back bathroom.  I just pick through and load the washing machine from there, or I find dirty clothes on the floor, usually, it's clothes that belong to the... man of the house.

So, after I wash and dry, then I put the clothes in the clean laundry basket.  If that is overly full, then I put the clothes in the back bathroom sink.  We don't really use that sink, so it's fine.

But, what do we do if we go #1 or #2 in that bathroom?  We warsh our hands in the kitchen.  The thing is, we painstakingly replaced the pvc for that sink and it leaked so many times.  We finally used this sealing putty that seems to work, but why take chances.  If we don't use the sink, it should last for if any visitors ever come.

So, then, when I take a shower, I look for clean clothes to put on from either the clean laundry basket or the clean laundry sink.  And then when they are dirty, I throw them in the dirty laundry basket and perpetuate the cycle.

Seriously, I don't recall the last time I did all the laundry and then folded and put it all away.

It's like I'm a college kid enjoying not having anyone telling me to put away my laundry.

So sad, really.

Homeownership Woes

So, I had plans today.  I didn't accomplish that many of them.

I did work on one though.  The bathtub drain.  It's been clogged for, oh, I don't know, several months.  There is no screen in the drain, so, you know, that's something a renter wouldn't worry about.  As a homeowner, one of the first things I should have bought on one of my many trips to Home Depot was a screen.  I never thought about it though.

And here I was today, trying to unclog it.  I had bought one snake that works with a power drill, but the snake unravelled and wouldn't go down into the drain.  So, I bought a cheaper one.  That's the one I was trying to use today.  I had to unscrew the overflow, which I only found out about by googling "my bathtub drain is clogged".  That took a long ass time.  The screws started to strip.  I tried to get the power drill out that my sis lent me, but the batteries were dead.  Their old, so they had not been charging well.  So, I kept unscrewing with my little screwdriver.  I don't know how long it took, but it felt like an hour.

Then I had to jam the snake down and manually twist the handlebar thing.  And twist and twist.  And it made that horrible scraping metal noise.  And it wouldn't go very far.  But I twisted and twisted.  And I got some nasty clumps of hair out.  They were covered in black liquid.  It was so gross.  But I could tell it wasn't enough.

So, I had to go to Home Depot and find another snake.

While I was there, this lady tried to talk me into getting a free kitchen remodeling estimate.  She said that I looked muscular like I worked out.  I told her I had been snaking a drain, so that was probably why.  Weird.  Sounds like a couple pick up lines to me.

Anyway, I came back and whipped out my new snake.  I cranked it out.  And I twisted and overtwisted, and I bent a kink into it.  So, I ended up not getting much more progress with this one.

But, when I ran the water, it would slowly drain, rather than just fill up the tub, so there was some progress.

Anyway, after that grueling process, I cleaned the tub.

Then I felt so dirty, that I needed to go into the pool.  But of course, Robby the Robot solar skimmer was stuck on Jaws the Great White automatic pool cleaner, and Jaws was just stuck.  So, I unstuck Robby.  Then I had to clean the pump filter.  Then I could swim.  And it felt good.

adulthood!

When I last took Rudy to the vet over a month ago, the vet told me to stop feeding him puppy food.  I had just bought a new big bag of puppy food, so he told me just to run it out and then start him on adult food.

So, today was the day.  We stopped at Petsmart on the way home and got him his big bag of adult food.  He was so excited, that he wanted to tear into it on the way home.  He kept trying to get at the back, which is a very small space in a very small car.  So, he could have if he had tried hard enough.  Luckily, we were only about 10 minutes from home.

So, you know, they (who they is, I really can't say) say that when you introduce a pet to new food, you want to slowly integrate it in with their old food, so that after a few meals, they will be eating only the new food.

I didn't do that.  The FP put away the huge bag of food, and he dumped the new onto the old in the Rudy's daycare food box.  So, I did try to scoop some of the old stuff from the bottom for his dinner, but I couldn't get at it, as those are little kibble and the adult large dog food is big kibble for the big mouthed dog.

They also say that your pet might refuse the new food at first, so the slow introduction might help.

Not a problem here.

The guy was so excited to eat this new food that he got all bark yappy while I was scooping it out.  And then he was even more ravenous than usual after he had his recommended portion.

I've never given him dog food or a dog treat that he turned down.

Never.

I've never knowingly or purposely gave him human food.  I don't need to unleash that can of worms - well, it would be more like unleashing an oil barrel of anacondas, really.

So, I think today, 2 days after his 6 month birthday (the day he bit his daddy), the day of my bff's birthday, is another momentous day for Rudy.

It's like when kids start drinking out of a sippy cup and start eating with a fork and knife or something.

Rudy's got his big boy pants on.  And they are pretty big pants at that!

tree

So, when we bought this house, it was like, ooh a big oak tree in the front.

Now, it's like, oh a big oak tree in the front.  We have to fucking get it trimmed.  It needs a haircut very badly.  Especially if there is a big storm.

So, a couple weeks ago when I was walking the unruly dog, this guy in a van or something that advertised landscaping stopped and asked about Rudy.  Then I said I needed to get a tree cut, so he gave me his card.

So, I finally called today.  The first number listed was the wrong number.  The cell phone was accurate.  Red flag #1.

The guy said he would come over later.  So a few hours later he called and said he was 5 minutes away.  So, I got ready to get out the door without Rudy.

I waited.  And waited.  About 20 minutes had gone by, and he called again.  He said he couldn't find Wilson Street.  Red flag #2.  I like to do business with people who are technologically up to date.  Clearly the guy didn't have GPS or anything, or he didn't mapquest the address.

He pulled up sideways behind the cars.  Red flag #3.  I don't like diagonal sideways parkers.  It's just weird.  There was enough room to park straight behind the cars.

He got out, and he said, oh yeah, I think I've seen you before.  I told him I saw him when I was walking the dog.  He said, oh, yeah, I was probably flirting with you.  I fake laughed.  Big Huge Red flag #4.

So, he looked at the tree and talked about what he would do for like ... like forever.  I don't know.  5 minutes, 20 minutes, it was a long time.  He said how he could build a tree swing.  How we could swing on it, make out, not take our clothes off because it was in the front yard.  Big Huge Red flag #5.  I wanted him to leave, but he kept talking about his ex-wife and how she left him for a woman and he didn't hold it against her.

I told him it was up to my husband.  He said, what does your husband do?  I said we cook.  He said, oh, do you know how to cook lasagna?  He gave the estimate with or without hauling away all the shit.  So, he said it would be a lot.  He wanted to look at the back alley, so, I had to go inside and get the gate key and open it.  We went through, and he thought maybe it would all fit, or we could put some in the neighbor's space.  Then he had to tell a story about how he once gave the bulk trash man a $50 to take all of the stuff away even though it was more than allowed.  Then he asked about lasagna again.  Red flags #6, #7, #8, etc.  

I told him that I would talk to my husband and let him know.

So, later, when I talked to the FP, I said, the guy was weird and creepy but if he wanted to book it, we  would schedule it when the FP was home, because I definitely didn't want to be here alone when they were working.  I felt like it was such a trial talking to the guy that I wanted that time in my life back.  So, the FP said, no, let's find someone else.

All I can say is, I sure am glad I have a soon to be big, black, menacing looking dog!  Then again, I wouldn't have had a stranger come over (even if he weren't going to enter the house) if I didn't have this dog.  This is one situation in which I didn't mind that he barked.

mow the lawn

So, this was one of those weird days at home.  The FP had to work, so when he left, it was just me and Rudy and The Fuzz and Stinksy.

Rudy and I hung out out back.  I went swimming a bit, and I tried to get Rudy to join me, but he wasn't really into it.  In all fairness to him, it actually wasn't stifling hot.  I was slightly chilly in the pool, so I wasn't in too long, and I didn't push it with him.

So, then, I figured it was a good time to mow the lawn.  So, of course, I had to pick up all the poo so the mower wouldn't get all pooey.  Yes, pooey.  It's a word.  I went to college for writing.  No, I don't make money writing.  So, maybe pooey isn't a word.

Anyhoo, I picked up all the poo.  So I thought.  Of course there were a few fairly nice logs by the back corner of the fence.  So, I only discovered that when I started mowing of course....

Anyway, the dog, Rudy, was out back with me when I first started mowing.  But he just started barking at the lawn mower.  I figured I couldn't listen to that the whole time I was mowing, so he had to go into his "den".  No, it's not inhumane.  He honestly likes his crate.  I swear.  He's in there right now of his own volition.

Really.

Swear on your deathbed.

So, I mowed the back lawn.  And I started to do the horrible weedy messy back behind the fence where all the garbage cans are in the alley.  But it started raining, so I didn't get to finish it.  Which sucks, because I probably won't remember to finish it again sometime soon when it's not raining...

Anyhoo, what does mowing the lawn (a new activity to me) remind me of?

Endian.  And their song, "Your Favorite Song".  I think I might have mentioned this before.  But anyway, here I am mentioning it again.  I guess I have them on the brain because they just played a show last night in Chicago, where they are based.  Good band.  No, great band.

Stellar band.

Here's the link to the album if you've never heard it:
http://www.myspace.com/endianmusic/radio

Enjoy.  BTW, this album is not for the faint of heart.  If you are contemplating suicide, or just plain depressed, I recommend exercising caution when listening to this album.  And maybe listen to the album in short stints....

Recipe Conversion

You know, I never thought I would be worrying about the health of my septic tank ecosystem.  But here I found myself tonight googling Rid X, which led to all kinds of septic tank issues.

Like why you shouldn't have a garbage disposal.  Or why you shouldn't use bleach.

Or why I really shouldn't flush my tampons.  Or why I should worry about which toilet paper I use for the sake of the septic tank, not for the sake of my precious bottom.

Or the biggest question, is RidX a rip off?

And if so, should I use baking soda, buttermilk, or vinegar, and how much, and how often?

Questions, questions....

Makeup Homework

So, I don't think I blogged yesterday.  I felt like I was getting sick, so I took half a generic Tylenol PM and went to bed early.  Not that I really went to sleep early.  But it was good to lay in bed and rest my achy muscles.

I haven't been feeling well, and I haven't been thinking clearly.  There is always something demanding my attention, and if it's not Rudy or Stinky, then it's probably something I need to take care of that I'm ignoring.

I have had a shitty short term memory for a while now, but it's pretty bad right now, especially with the major lack of sleep.  Like, I went to work this morning.  I took my knives out of my bag and set them on the cutting board.  I did something else for a minute, and then I saw the knives on the board.  I didn't recollect even touching them.  For a couple seconds, I wondered if I had left them at the restaurant yesterday.  But I couldn't have, because, my steel was on the cutting board, and I don't keep it out at work.

Also, just a while ago, I was folding laundry.  I didn't remember putting the sheets away in the closet, but either I did, or a ghost did.  Weird.

I'm beginning to think though, that all these puppy bites are giving me some disease.  Like maybe his dirty mouth gave me something.  Gross.  I mean, if you've seen the things he eats, you wouldn't want his slobbery pointy teeth sinking into your skin and breaking skin.

So, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I have mad evil puppy disease.

Domesticity

So, here was a slice of life of today.

We were out on the lanai.  Our friend from San Diego is visiting.  The screw that holds the screen door hydraulic cylinder to the door fell out to the ground.  The FP went inside and got a screwdriver.  Rudy tried to follow him in.  We tried to rescrew it in.  Didn't work.  So, our friend drilled another hole in the door for the screw.  When I got the drill, Rudy was following me around.

When I went back in, I noticed some cat throw up in the "yellow room".  It's a room painted yellow.  After I was done doing whatever I was doing outside, I went inside to clean up the throw up.  Then we were hanging out in the lanai again.

The boys were out of beer, so they went to the store to get stuff.  I stayed out with Rudy, although he would have rather gone with them.

I noticed that Robby the Robot pool skimmer kept getting stuck on Jaws the automatic vacuum pool cleaner's hose.  So, I tried to weigh the hose down with a garden rock tied around it with picture hanger wire.  But I think it was too heavy.  The hose was all tangled, so I untangled it.  Then I noticed that Jaws wasn't moving.  He was still sucking, but just not moving.  So I pulled him up and touched some plastic trap piece, and he started working again.

Then the boys came back and went on the lanai.  I came in here to get on the internets.  At one point, the FP came in to get more beers and Rudy followed him in and stayed inside.  He was quiet at first, laying by the freezer like he likes to do.  Then he started roaming around.  First he picked up the FP's dirty running shorts and carried them out to chew on them.  So, I took them away.  Then he grabbed the FP's swim trunks.  I took that away.  Then he grabbed one of the FP's shoes.  I took that away, and I took Rudy back outside.  If he wanted to chew on the FP's stuff so badly, I figured he would rather have the real thing instead.

Then I came back inside to finish this blog entry.   

The End.

(This piece will definitely be considered for a Pulitzer Prize or a Peabody Award, right?)

All Hope Is Lost

Ok, not really.  But those times when Rudy is on a full tear and attacking me relentlessly, I do feel hopeless.  It's like what I always picked a rabid dog to be like.

And as cute as he is, when he's got all those teeth out, it is anything but cute.  It's scary as fuck.

But, he's my scary as fuck puppy and I love him, so all I can do is figure out what works with him and what doesn't without being abusive and hopefully without using negative reinforcement.

All I know, is that I'm worn out, and so is he.  But he ate dinner a while ago, so he will have to go out to go poo poo pee pee soon... so it's just a waiting game now.

It's a Walk In The Park

So, our precious little angel puppy was being a little frisky.  He was biting and nipping and following and barking at the cat.  So, we thought it would be good to take him to the park.

He was restless when we were trying to get him in the car, which is nothing new.

But when we got to the park, that was a different story.  So, he always gets stuck at the first patch of dirt or grass next to the parking lot.  I'm sure there are a lot of smells, right.  And it's always a few inches thick with leaves, so it's hard for him to walk on.  But today, he was like a blood hound on a scent.  He had his nose to the ground intently following a trail.  And he picked up a twig and was gnawing hungrily on it.  Gnawing crazily.  Like it was a bone.  Because it was a bone.

When we realized it, we tried to get it away from him.  And that's when he growled.  And then he some more, and then he snapped.  This was the FP's first experience with this, and he didn't like it.  Eventually, he somehow dropped the bone when he was growling or something, and we dragged him away from it.  But then he kept finding more bones.

I think eating of pork ribs and chicken on the bone should be banned from state parks.  There were bones everywhere.  So, we were trying to drag him away from a bone, he was growling and snapping, and we were running across the paved walkway to get to the lake.

And then I slid in wet, smooth, light brown shit.  In my flip flop.  I scraped as much as I could on the walkway (sorry pedestrians!)  and I ran down to the lake and stuck my foot in with my flip flop on.  It was terrible.

What a horrible walk in the park.

But we had to turn it around.  We walked around the lake (and woke up in the rain) and then we tried to get him to get back on the walkway.  A woman with a little dog was approaching.  Rudy was excited and bounded ahead to meet the dog.  When Rudy got close, the other dog turned and trotted off to get away from him.  The dog could sense his crazy energy and wanted nothing to do with him.

Up until that moment, every dog that he encountered wanted to play with him!  This was an outing with lots of firsts.

Finally we got him on the walkway running.  And we ran him.  And ran him.  We might have ran him more than you should run a puppy.  But we needed to shed his bad energy.  And it seemed to be working.  He focused on running with us.  But, then, we got back to the leaf pile by the car, and he was sniffing.  And sniffing.  But, we got him back in the car and headed home.

He wasn't much settled down.  But what would he have been like if we had not taken him to the park?  Maybe better?  Maybe worse?  Who knows.

Anyway, now he's safe and sound in his crate.  Not before a big crazy chase.  I know that being freaked out by my  puppy feeds his crazy energy, but when he's chasing me and biting with those sharp little teeth, I can't help it!

But, he's asleep for now.

I realize there's a lot going on with him:
We had house guests for the first time this weekend.
We didn't keep to his schedule.
I bought him a rawhide that he goes crazy for and is very possessive of, and he probably has too much access to use whenever he wants.
We bought a new bag of puppy food, and I got a different kind.

Tomorrow I will try better show him that he's crossing the boundary when he bites and barks.  Let's see how much watching the Dog Whisperer and googling stuff will help me!

Everyday Sunday

What did we do?

The FP woke up around 7ish.  He went to Home Depot at 8 am, when they opened.  He got some gardening stuff and worked in the yard.

I woke up around 9ish.  I got up, had some Chai, got on the internets.  We took showers, then we went south.  We went to the Pet Supermarket, to see our puppy!

We didn't get to take him home, though.  :(

But, we did get to go buy some stuff for him, and we picked out some toys and treats that he liked.  And then we had to say goodbye...

So, we went to a restaurant in Coral Gables where we had a wonderful brunch.

Then we went to the Petsmart by our house to buy a few more things for the puppy that we thought of.  Then we went to Home Depot - second time for the FP.

Then we went home and did stuff around the house.

Then the FP went to the grocery store to get stuff for dinner.

Then I had to go back to Petsmart for some stuff I needed for the cats.  Yes, third trip to the pet store.  For real.  Then I went to Big Lots.  Always a bad idea, but not really, because I get household cleaners and tp for cheap.  then I went to .... Home Depot, again, for more stuff that I should have gotten my first time.

And then I went home and did more household projects.

And now we're eating dinner.

Typical Sunday that you envision for the FP and the FH, right?

LOL!