Baby Steps

It's the day after Memorial Day, schools are getting out, and we're well into at least a week of 100+ temperatures.

James worked from home today, so Mal and I headed out just before James's 11 AM "meeting." We spent a couple of hours at Little Land, and it hit me how much easier it is going now that Mal will just use the restroom of his own volition (rather than my having to ask and ask and ask and finally basically insist).

I was a little high-strung today, though, because I don't deal well with having work hanging over my head. Well, we had a couple of things today.

First, we're finally replacing the insulation above D's room where the water damage guy had to take a bunch of it out because it was soaked and ruined. I went to The Home Depot after Little Land and got a 25 foot roll, then got home to measure so we could cut it... and did I mention the temperature? Because just standing in the opening to the attic measuring was miserable. It's the first time probably in my life that I've been tempted to play the "poor, feeble wife" card. All I could think was, "I do NOT want to suit up and lay this fiberglass." Fortunately, I was able to play the asthma card (I know, fiberglass insulation doesn't cause asthma, but I do have stress- and exercise-induced asthma, and there are ALWAYS allergens around -- like all 3 cats, plus whatever visitor droppings are in the attic from previous visitors -- so it's likely) and I have an awesome husband who's going to get up and do it tomorrow morning. Because he loves me.

Second, D woke me up at 5 the other morning to help trap and release a 3-inch roach she'd found in the bathroom. Last night, I found another one on the wall in the hallway. D and I have both caught scorpions (small ones; not like the 4-incher I saw in the back yard the day after Mother's Day). So I called Terminix to add general pest control to our termite contract, and they're coming out tomorrow. I needed to get into D's room to help clean, get everything off of the floor so they can spray, and that meant doing the laundry first as D mentioned needed to wash the linens on the bed. So it was a whole thing, and D is a day sleeper, and by about 4, I pretty much just made a bunch of noise and insisted it was time.

Anyway, everything's done that can be done now, and that's cool. But I anticipate having to do boring or hard stuff more than I should. None of it was that bad. Especially since I'm not actually the one who has to cut and place the insulation. I did prepare 2 meals, did 3 loads of laundry, took out the trash and recycling, vacuumed the whole house, installed some under-cabinet lighting, and cleaned out the litter boxes, if that makes you feel better about our division of labor.

Oh! Also, a big deal happened today when we were cleaning out D's room!

On October 26, 2013, D and I (up there) stood in line for the grand opening of Tiff's Treats in North Austin somewhere. One of the cool freebies we got was an XL burnt orange T-shirt. D wore it a lot, and because we have "affectionate" cats, it ended up torn. We sewed the holes, and once a big part ripped, so we sewed that and joked about the "scar." At some point, I brought up trashing it, but D said it had sentimental value to it. Before we moved away from the Nuthaus, I went over to see if they had any more T-shirts, and they did not.

Eventually, the collar wore out or got ripped out or something, so the shirt would fall off at the shoulders. There was finally more tear and hole than shirt material. Now that D knows how to sew, my repair responsibilities were no more, but the shirt has probably been doctored at least half a dozen times.

So, tonight, while we were cleaning up, D put three T-shirts, this one included, on the bed and said, "These can probably go away now." I said, "You can just go put them in the trash. Or do I need to?" "Probably you." So I did. Gladly. Proudly.

This might not seem like cause for noting or celebrating if you don't deal with OCD or hoarding, but, let me tell you, it's HUGE. I played it cool so as not to ruin it, but I'm just so excited that we were finally in a place where we could let those old rags go!

Onward and upward!