McLovin’ would like to warm his toes by the fire, pls.
Yesterday started out as one of those really cold days, and we bitched and whined about being cold, and Fred built a fire, and we harrumphed about how it was supposed to be in the 40s, but it didn’t look like it was going to come anywhere near that warm, and then Fred went off to the co-op to look for a heated water bowl for the chickens and I started doing what I’d been putting off for too long: dumping the dirty litter out of the litter boxes, scrubbing them down, and refilling them with clean litter. GOD I hate doing that, and I always put it off for longer than I should, even though it’s really not such a big job. It’s one of those jobs that needs to be done and it isn’t that big an undertaking, but I just hate doing it – like dusting.
It ended up taking me about an hour to get all four litter boxes emptied, scrubbed, dried and refilled. Usually I scrub the litter boxes outside, filling them with soapy water, letting them soak for a few minutes, and then scrubbing them down and rinsing them. That wasn’t an option yesterday, obviously, what with the arctic chill, so I used my favorite cleaning spray, let them sit for a minute, then scrubbed them down with cleaning rags.
As always, the task took longer than it should’ve because the cats were all freaked out “Whatcha doin, Mom, are you taking our litter boxes away, WHY ARE YOU TAKING OUR LITTER BOXES AWAY WHERE WILL WE PLAY AND HARASS EACH OTHER?!” and had to get in the middle of everything.
And of course, once the litter boxes were all filled with clean litter, the secret signal went out and every friggin’ cat in the house had to take turns going into EVERY LITTER BOX and stink them up.
Once the litter boxes were emptied, scrubbed, and refilled, I threw on my heavy winter coat and started taking bags of dirty litter over to the trash can.
“The nightgown really makes that outfit,” Fred said, laughing at me. Yes, I was still in my nightgown, had a parka over it, and sneakers on my feet. I was quite the fashion statement, but hell – we live in the country. If you can’t wander around in your nightgown and parka in the country, where can you?
I got the laundry started, and then Fred mentioned that he might go back to the co-op and see what they had for standalone heaters. When we were in Lowe’s Sunday, we looked and looked at the heaters, but couldn’t decide on one and ended up leaving without one. It’s my hope that I can talk Fred into a pellet stove for the front room before next winter. I don’t think I’m going to be successful, but hope springs eternal and all that jazz.
Since I had a ton of stuff to take to the recycling center, I suggested he wait ’til I take my shower, then we could run both our errands together. He grudgingly agreed (because when he decides he wants to do something he wants to do it NOW and doesn’t like to wait around) and off I went.
After the recycling center, we stopped at Tractor Supply to see if they had any water fountains for cats (like the Drinkwell), because I’d noticed that Spot was having an issue seeing where the top of the water in the water bowl was, and what he likes to do is practically get in the damn water bowl and swim around and make the surface of the water ripple, and then he tromps through the water he splashed, and leaves footprints down the hallway and down the stairs WHEN I JUST CLEANED THOSE FREAKIN’ STAIRS NOT TEN MINUTES BEFORE and I don’t want to have to kill him because then I’d have to make up a story for y’all about how he ran away and didn’t come back, oh well, he was old! Maybe he went off to die!
So Tractor Supply didn’t have a cat water fountain – which wasn’t surprising, I hadn’t expected they would, really – and they also didn’t have humidifiers (ditto), and Fred looked at the standalone heaters for a few minutes before we headed to the co-op.
Fred stood and looked at the heaters for several minutes while I looked to see if they carried cat fountains (nada) or humidifiers (nada again), and we talked about the heaters, and we dithered and talked some more, and ultimately decided to wait (though he doesn’t know the reason I’m so willing to wait, which is because Operation Convince Fred to Buy a Pellet Stove will be going into full force over the summer, and it might run along the lines of “You get some goats, I get me a pellet stove”, whereupon I expect him to point out that MY stuff (as seen in Operation Convince Fred We Need a Roomba – “You get a rooster, I get me a Roomba”) is always more expensive than HIS stuff, and then I’ll have to say “Yes, but YOUR stuff is always a bigger pain in the ass”, which is SO TRUE), so we left.
Which reminds me – do you have a cat water fountain? Do you love it? Leave me a comment and tell me what kind you recommend. I’ll be at the pet store on Wednesday and plan to get one then.
We got home and Fred went out to work on the chicken coop and I did more laundry, cleaned the kitchen, put more wood on the fire, made a shepherd’s pie to have for lunch, put together meatballs for dinner, put laundry away, and finally vacuumed the entire downstairs with the Dyson. First time I’ve had to vacuum in about a week. Lupe the Roomba does a fabulous job, but when it comes down to it, the Dyson still needs to make a trip around the house every so often to keep things really clean.
About 2:00, when I was sitting at my desk eating lunch, the smoke detector in the dining room went off, and I realized that the wood in the fireplace was smoking a LOT, and the house had filled with smoke. I tried to turn the smoke detector off, but I couldn’t reach it, and I had to ask Fred to come in and help.
We ended up opening windows through the house (the front room was especially smoky) for ten minutes to get rid of the smoke. Luckily, the temperature had actually reached the mid-40s as weather.com predicted, so it wasn’t too bad.
Annnd.. that’s it. I made spaghetti and meatballs for dinner (which we had with leftover vegetable medley), I finished the laundry (my new coat from LL Bean, of which I was so proud? I dribbled food down the front of it OF COURSE and had to wash it. Damnit. But YAY! for coats that are washable and don’t have to be dry-cleaned.), I thought about dusting but decided not to because I didn’t wanna. We spent the evening watching TV, and were in bed by 9:30.
We’re so exciting, aren’t we?
Hey. How ’bout some pictures?
Skittles is such a pretty girl.
Did I mention that Skittles is a pretty girl?
When Kathy came to visit a few months ago, she brought this basket for me. It’s an egg-gathering basket! Unfortunately, the girlz have been horribly lax about producing eggs lately (if we get two eggs, it’s a good day), so I put cat toys in the basket and put it in a corner of the dining room. Mister Boogers pulled all the toys out of the basket, pushed it away from the wall and claimed it as his.
Miss Momma was watching Fred eat his bowl of bran flakes, and he took a bran flake out of his bowl and laid it next to her to see if she’d eat it. Which is when she gave him the dead-eyed Tony Soprano look.
“Ah hets yew.”
Previously 2007: more than once I got frustrated and called Fred at work and wove an impressive tapestry of profanity that impressed him 2006: No entry. 2005: No entry. 2004: You don’t actually have to say the words “You’re a dumbass” to get the idea across, and thus when your wife is mad at you later and you so very innocently say “Are you mad about something?” and she says “YOU CALLED ME A DUMBASS!” and you say “I did NOT call you a dumbass!”, you are wrong and she is right and you’d best commence to begging for forgiveness, you fucker. 2003: Little bastard. 2002: I can’t believe I’m FUCKING FALLING DOWN. 2001: No entry. 2000: I apologize for the lameness of this entry.]]>