The Saturday Story

I got up early (4:30 AM) Saturday morning, tired of lying in bed and aching. I was cold (but I’ve been cold ever since I got out of the hospital) so I cranked the thermostat up two degrees. I sat on the couch, wrapped in a blanket and reading.

At 6:00, I went back to bedroom to watch the morning news. The rain was over, but it is supposed be partly cloudy, windy and cool all weekend. Sigh…

The cats abandoned the bed sometime after I did, so I seized my chance and stripped it. I put the bedding in the washer. Then I ate breakfast, took my pills, did my tests, blah, blah, blah.

I had trouble with the new Administration page as I posted earlier so it was after 8:00 AM, before I got away from the computer. I put on a pot of coffee (I should have thought of that earlier!)

After I had a cup, I started on my first “inside” project (I thought I’d hold off on “outside” ones until it was warmer and the sun had come out!). So, I started to clean out my main bedroom closet (I had already cleaned out the little one in my bedroom when I was stuck at home after the hospital). I got a trash bag and got to work.

I had saved boxes from things I bought and some of those things I don’t even have any more. I had old documents from house purchases and then subsequent sales, slippers and old shoes I don’t even wear, old photos in a basket, etc., etc., etc. The closet was usable, but the floor and shelves were a mess!

That basket with the photos also had my canvas Redford Township Library bag (I always wondered where that went) in it on top the pictures and both the bag and the basket were covered with Caley cat hair. That gave me an idea. So, the Library bag went into the washer with the load of towels and I cleaned off all the cat hair from the basket (I’ll sort through the photos later).

I found blueprints for a Dutch mini-barn, a solar greenhouse and a ladder planter I got from Rodale Press more than 20 years ago. There was also a plan for a birdhouse and a kite, still in the package. It was like an adventure!

I threw away tons of stuff. I was fearless! I was brutal! I used Jake’s philosophy from back when we were cleaning out the River Road house: When in doubt, throw it out (preferably in a 40 yard dumpster!) I just had trash bags this time, but you get the idea.

Finally I put six cedar rings I bought a while back on hangers in all the closets in the house (I’ve never had any problems with moths, but they say this year is going to be the worst ever for all kinds of insects because of the warm winter).

By noon, I had it done and room to put my shoes on the closet floor again! I took a photo of “after” (I was too ashamed for you to see the “before,” lol!)

Oh, the basket idea? Well, Caley often sleeps on the little rug next to my bed when she’s not on the bed itself (Scruffy is strictly “bed” only, of course). This often results in a stomped cat when I get up in the dark to go to the bathroom. So, to keep her out of the closet (its time she came out of the closet, lol) and away from my feet, I washed the little rug with the second load (towels) and, when it was clean and dry, put it in the basket. The basket went into the corner next to the dresser and the bedroom wall. Hopefully, she’d get the hint and sleep there instead of underfoot. She did, right away, and I took a picture of that, too.

I noticed the sun had finally come out, BTW. I checked the temp on the outside thermometer, but it was just barely 50 degrees F. So, I thought I’d stick with the indoor projects for a while longer. I did walk out to check on the mail (nothing) and got another lilac bloom, as the first one was fading as fast as its perfume.

Next, for the first time since I hung them up, I took down the tab drapes in the bedroom. I threw them in the washer, hoping (against hope) to get all the cat hair off them. They might just disintegrate and I knew from experience in the living room they would shrink some and I’d probably have to iron them, but it was way past time.

I remade the bed and folded the second load of laundry. Just then the phone rang and I had the nicest, longest conversation with Carla I think I ever had! Thanks for the call!!

By the time we said our goodbyes, it was almost 3:00 PM and I was bushed, so I thought I’d take a nap. But, even though I didn’t sleep worth a sh*t last night, I couldn’t slip into the land of nod. I just lay there, thinking of all the stuff I should be doing instead. I gave it an hour and then gave up.

I set up the ironing board and started working on the bedroom drapes. Because of the new handicap parking place of the kitty litter box I couldn’t set up the ironing board in its usual location. The kitty litter box used to be under the counter, next to the wash tub, but even before I went to the hospital, my back hurt so bad I could no longer pull it out to scoop the poop, so I had moved it out into the room (and right where the ironing board goes). It took some trial and error, but I eventually set the ironing board up in the kitchen. I put the thick wood cutting board on the table to set the hot iron on.

I was doing three things at once, BTW. I was using the cat hair remover brush and my fingers to get off any cat hair that survived the washer and dryer and dropping it behind me on the floor. Then I was ironing one area of the drape, and finally used the electric sweeper to pick up the cat hair from the floor before moving to the next area. It was a slow process but I wasn’t anal enough (yet) to time how long each panel took.

As each panel was done, I put it immediately on the wooden rod and spread it all the way out to air dry. Since I was using the cotton setting on the iron with the steam, they were getting damp. But, by the time the next panel was finished, they were dry.

I only had one scary moment, when the wooden rod behind the TV came completely away from the wall at one end. I thought I’d snapped it off, but it just slipped from the screw that holds it to the wall. I was done just before 6:00 PM. All that reaching up (I told you about that before) took a toll on my shoulders and back muscles. I hurt like hell. But, since the sun was shining, there was one more thing yet to do.

The two-shelf unit in the downstairs room next to the kitty litter box (under the wooden shelf) where I store all the winter statues and lately have been dragging bags of kitty litter across was filthy.

So, I took it outside in the grass, hosed it down and let it soak while I filled the small bucket with screaming hot water and Pine Sol. I got the scrub brush I had attached to a broom handle out of the garage and went out back. I scrubbed it down all over, paying particular attention to the shelf tops. Then I rinsed it off and set it on the patio with one end up on a footstool to drip dry in the remaining sunshine (forget about the heat drying it because it was still pretty cool outside).

Inside, while it was drying, I scrubbed the floor area where it had been sitting and then mopped it with rinse water. Then I went in to the bedroom, took off the brace that was killing me by now, ate a pain pill and lay on the bed, hoping the shelving unit dried before the sun set. Otherwise, I’d have to leave it outside overnight.

When the sun started going down, I went out and checked the shelf. I decided it was dry enough and, since it sits right next to the register, the furnace would take care of any lingering dampness. So, I put it back inside and locked everything up for the night.

I warmed up two slices of the pizza and ate them, with some green olives as a palate cleanser, for my dinner. I took my evening pills and went in to watch what turned out to be an excellent, if somewhat disturbing movie called “From Hell.” Johnny Depp was a London detective, trying to solve the murders committed by Jack the Ripper. In spite of being weary and sore, I stayed awake through it all (and I’ll probably dream about it; I told you it was disturbing). It ended at 10:30 PM and I went to sleep, thinking I didn’t get that many items checked on my weekend ToDo list.