Tag Archives: home

general-post

Payback: cat version

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I spent all day yesterday cleaning my house. Our landlord emailed me the other day saying they’d like to do a walk-through this weekend. Not a big deal, but I’d not done a good house cleaning in weeks. There was no way I could let our landlord come through with over a weeks worth of mail on the kitchen table, folded clothes on the couch, and a good layer of dust on every surface.

So, I got up and started cleaning. I even made a trip to Target to pick up more cleaning supplies. My cat, probably fearing that I might vacuum him (or use him as a duster), hid all day under the bed.

As my cleaning for the day drew to a close, I stripped our bed to wash the sheets.

There is nothing like fresh sheets, I say. I think if I could feasibly have fresh sheets every night, I would. But its not feasible, so I make due with about once a week.

I waited with anticipation for my sheets to get finished washing. I threw them in the dryer, and then ran to jump in my freshly cleaned shower.

That is part two of the epic sleep experience. Freshly showered, plus fresh sheets (throw in a thunderstorm — which I didn’t have, but that’s what the Lightening bug application on my phone is for) and you have most epic night of sleep. It seriously doesn’t get any better.

Okay, maybe you could throw in a back massage. But I don’t want to be greedy.

The dryer buzzed, and I pulled the warm, soft sheets out. I took them to the bedroom and started to put them on the bed. My cat came out and watched me. I gave him an evil eye. Last time I put sheets on the bed, he decided he needed to check out the fitted sheet personally for me before I could continue. He left a nice clump of white fur behind before I could shoo him off.

(Sidebar: putting on sheets makes me miss my old cat, Sully. He always made a total pill of himself trying to “help” me… and I’d always get mock-mad at him. Usually, we’d end up wrestling with the comforter. Good, good memories.)

I finished the bed without any problems, and, as I expected, my cat jumped up and curled up in his favorite spot: right below my pillow. I patted him on the head, and I took the laundry basket back to the laundry room. I grabbed a few clothes that needed to be put away and took them to the bedroom. I hung up the clothes, turned around and then saw it.

MY CAT HACKED UP A HAIRBALL ON MY BED.

I may or may not have uttered a few choice curse words. That’s between me and the cat. But he did a good job of it, and I decided it was payback for scaring him all day long with my cleaning. The wetness of it had gone through the comforter onto the top sheet. THANKFULLY the fitted sheet was unscathed, but it didn’t matter that much. I still ended up re-stripping the bed and shoving my comforter and top sheet in the wash.

I prayed my comforter survived the ride.

It kind of did. One corner had some batting sticking out when I pulled it from the wash, and I had to go find a needle and thread to patch it up before drying. That was fairly painless, and I did eventually get my bed reassembled. But somehow it all seemed like a lot just to get that epic fresh-sheet sleep.

Worth it?

In a word: YES!!

general-post, nashville

Enjoying my own backyard

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Sunset over my own backyard

My husband and I occasionally talk about wanting to go on vacation. A trip to the mountains or maybe a beach somewhere. Or even just a night at a hotel somewhere not related to work in any way.

However, funds are short and there’s no way to swing that right now. That’s simply a fact.

I often mention, though, that we need to explore our own city and area a little more. I still want to eat at Loveless Cafe and drive down the Natchez Trace Parkway. We are planning to visit Adventure Science Center next month, and even though we used to live minutes away, we’ve never visited The Hermitage.

We always enjoy visits to Stones River Battlefield, though, and an afternoon at Centennial Park never gets old. Every fall we visit a pumpkin patch and corn maze, and I hope we can make it to Oktoberfest this year.

There’s plenty to do right here, but its so easy to miss that fact.

When we take a drive out into the country, or even times we’ve visited my father-in-law on the coast of Oregon, I often wonder if the people who live there appreciate the true beauty of where they live. I venture to guess they don’t, simply because I so often forget to look around and appreciate what we have right here myself.

Yesterday, my husband and I took our cups of coffee into our backyard and just sat enjoying the sunset. It was so peaceful and relaxing. I mentioned to my husband that while we may not be on the porch of some cabin in the Smoky Mountains, I was enjoying it just the same. I unplugged for a little while in my own backyard. I sipped coffee and we watched the outside cats play and tackle each other. We watched the sun fade and twilight begin.

It was in a word, wonderful.

In this world, we seem to always be looking for the next best thing. Looking for something more. Looking for something better.

Maybe once in awhile we need to realize… what we each have is someone else’s “more” and “better.” Shouldn’t we appreciate that fact? Shouldn’t we live in the moment in the place where we are right then? Shouldn’t we just… be?