Good news, bad news

 A rodent of some sort took up residence in our garage this winter.  

Bad news for the wiring on our car. Bad news for a new bag of dog food. Bad news for the duffle holding my kayak gear. Bad news for all the boxes and magazines that were in his path. Bad news that urine stains cement.  Bad news that I don't know if this was a deer mouse or not.  Bad news that our mousetraps somehow didn't catch the little bugger.

Good news that this post won't have any photos (really good, trust me).  Good news that Spring gifted us with weather balmy enough the working in the garage was pleasant.  Good news that bleach exists to disinfect possible hantavirus particles.  Good news that the Great Garage Purge of 2022 means that I'm averaging eight thousand steps a day and toting heavy boxes.  Good news that I was already exercising so I'm not knackered.

Bad news was the flaming hissy fit of epic proportions on my part during Day One  Good news was that on Day Two I unearthed a Tale of Two Bad Mice by Beatrice Potter in a pile of stored books and was able to smile and realize that attitude is everything!

So, hurray for a freshly reorganized garage with lots less stuff in it.  Now I'm just hoping that my sweetie is in the same relentless purging mood when he goes through "his" pile of stuff!

My Guideposts - Week59

A good walk cures most problems. Want to lose weight and get fit? Walk. Want to enjoy life but spend less? Walk. Want to cure stress and clear your head? Walk. Want to meditate and live in the moment? Walk. Having trouble with a life or work problem? Walk, and your head gets clear.

~Leo Babauta

The Reward for Exercising

I enjoy my morning walks. Getting out of bed way too early. Fighting off teary eyes and drippy noses from allergies. Tripping over my own feet. Sweat. Steep hills. Sharing the mornings with a friend...a friend, I knew there was some reason I liked to walk.

During the summer, my walking partner is young. After the university classes begin each fall, I walk with her mom instead. They are my neighbors and my friends as well as my exercise partners. I enjoy each of them soooo much. It's our combined senses of humor that binds us together as much as the walks. We all like to laugh, and I admit that I love to let loose and be outrageous when I'm with them. It's nice to shed my polite teacher persona and let that mouthy, sometimes bawdy, broad take over.

We hike in all different directions to keep the walks fresh. Fortunately we're near the edge of town--we've seen twin fawns near the river, quail in the scrub and bunnies almost everywhere. We've met lots of new puppies with their proud owners. Sometimes we'll reverse a familiar hike and are amazed at the new things we'll notice just by changing the perspective. Summer walks are different from autumn hikes. Hills challenge different muscles than speedy flat walks. Tuesday walks keep us scanning our environment, because Tuesday is trash day and there's no telling what treasures we might encounter. I'm always amazed at what people will throw away rather than donate. Their loss, my gain.

Like my clematis trellis acquired from a garbage can last year. Someone's castoff curtain rods became some fancy bronze fleur de lis plant stakes this summer. A little vision and they regain their usefulness. The pickings are definitely better in the warmer weather though, a fact I was bemoaning just last Tuesday as we set off. The Trash Fairy must have heard me because on the way back, hidden behind a trash bin, were...

Ta-da! Not one, but two, perfectly nice pots. I love the whitewashed terra cotta look. They are five gallon size and my patio looks much classier with the newest blueberry bush ensconced in my treasure instead of the black nursery pot. Thank heaven they're lightweight plastic because hauling them home would have been a challenge otherwise. Two walkers, two pots, two saucers--perfect! I'm delighted with the whole Green Movement because it puts a whole new positive spin on my dumpster diving repurposing.

Tuesday was also an early release day at school so grabbed my list and headed out run errands that afternoon. Two hours and four stores later I straggled in empty-handed, grumbling about how Joann Fabrics bums me out and wondering if I was the only person in the universe who can go to Home Goods and not find anything. Then it hit me--my day wasn't a waste at all. I had two new wonderful pots and I didn't have to pay one little cent for them. See, it pays to exercise!

November Calm

I've been working out--sweating on the elliptical machine and lifting weights.

That's the good news. The bad news is that everything else takes a backseat--blogs, dogs, husbands, dinners, housework.

So, I decided to take a breather and catch up a little on the rest of life. In no particular order:

• I saw Twilight on Friday and loved it. It had enough intensity between Bella and Edward that I've been flash-backing all weekend on all those wonderful moments when I fell in love. The movie theater was reeking of estrogen and it made for a great girls-night-out.
• I recently read The Secret Life of Bees which is one of the best books ever.
• My lawns are both leafless and mowed as close as I could scalp them.
• THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ARE UP!!! Because November is acting like September; the novelty of hanging lights without a ski cap, gloves and a heavy coat to ward off icy blasts is nice. I'm disciplined enough that I won't turn them on until December 1 though.
• I can't find either green or yellow C-9 bulbs, just clear. WTF?!
• Kharma is going great in pre-agility, although she'd do better if I'd spend time with her. I hope to video some of our class.
• I finished reading The Audacity of Hope (twice). I'm currently reading Dreams from My Father.
• Netflix delivered the first three episodes of The Tudors, in time for a enjoyable three-hour marathon on Saturday evening.
• The planning for Thanksgiving Dinner has begun. Pooh gets the good stuffing this year, courtesy of the Queen Mother, and I can't talk the family's newest cook into making us some off allrecipes.com. Is it illegal to have turkey without dressing?
• I've been tagged for a meme of crazy eights, but it'll have to wait until I have more than a second to spare.
• Mama Mia! is the first thing on my Christmas list, followed by a new blade for my rotary cutter.
• School ends too late and sunset comes too early, so I've been doing my best to get up early and take the doggitys for a morning romp in the pasture. I don't know if it would be easier to get up if I hit the sheets earlier.
• There are not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Or is that just me?

Busy Bees Make a Mess

I've moved from landscaping at the Queen Mother's (turning lawn into lilacs and roses) to my own nest. I'm bouncing from one project to another with enthusiasm.

• Two lavender bushes joined the other perennials by the mailbox, along with a hollyhock and a daisy mum. They should all love the sunny exposure there.
• I finished cutting the pussywillow branches into itty bitty pieces and loaded them into the garbage for pickup tomorrow.
• Then I disinfected my tools, since the willow has issues, and started pruning back the Japanese maple. Now the flower bed underneath it has some sun, finally. Wow! I've been itching to attack that maple for months; it likes its location way too much and just grew like a weed.
• Since I was in the vicinity, I began removing deadwood from the lilac trees.
• Now my front lawn is covered with tree branches and my garbage cans are full. Good thing they'll be empty tomorrow.
• I have three bags of books to take to the Paperback Exchange later today.
• As well as four boxes of goodies for the SPCA thrift store.
• The new motion detector light for the front porch is unwrapped, the instructions are committed to memory, and I'm ready to install it as soon as it cools down a little on the porch.
• Erkie Pie and I moved his hand-me-down patio table and chairs into our backyard.
• I watched the re-broadcast of Euro 2008: Netherlands 3-Italy 0. Ruud Van Nistelrooy is hot (and not just in scoring goals).
• I got up at 6:30 to hike with friends. Funny how quickly I tallied three thousand steps and have only added another thousand since.
• Kharma, the clicker and I are still working on backing up on command. She's getting the idea.

Time to scoot, empty my car of bags, select some new paperbacks and get started on the new light. I LOVE summer!!

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

It's time for the annual wailing and gnashing of teeth as I stand in front of the mirror and assess what the chocolate-laden holidays from Halloween to Easter compounded by a winter of inactivity have wrought. It's not pretty.

Self-tanner can deal with the pasty whiteness until gardening and the weekly Sunday soccer game, even with SPF 40 slathered on, supplies a little healthy color. My clothes seem a little tighter however and my selection of teacher clothes that fit seems to have shrunk. Worst of all: I. Have. No. Waist.

There will be no photos accompanying today's post.

It's time for some seriously-healthy eating. Lots of whole grains and fruits and veggies. Protein as opposed to white carbs and high fructose corn syrup. Tis time for an end to mindless snacking. Mindless snacking is my forte. I can scarf empty calories faster than a stray dog can clean up a dropped Happy Meal.

It's time to find time to exercise and build some muscle. Once I start exercising and find a routine, I enjoy it. I like challenging my muscles, lifting just five pounds more and improving my time. Once I'm in the zone, if I'm not just sore enough to need an Advil at night before I pull up the covers, then I'm just not happy.

Hopefully I'll be rubbing your noses in my success and flaunting a trimmer figure in the not-too-distant future.

I'm having a hard time getting started on a healthy lifestyle though. Other things have taken a priority. Like a fence to keep Kharma in. Like struggling to save all my favorite plants from the Strong Men With Tools (bless their hearts) that have taken over the backyard while the fence is being re-worked. Like the pile of unfinished Christmas reindeer on the sewing machine and the pile of wrinkled clothes that replaced the bedspread in the guest room (which I am pleased to report have all been ironed and hung away as of the start of the Kentucky Derby yesterday) and the pile of unfinished scrapbook paper and accessories on the other larger guest bed. I could go on, but I won't. It's too depressing.

Too many piles, too much clutter, not enough time.

Exercise is right at the bottom of the priority list and frustration is fertile ground for mindless snacking. Right now I'm feeling old and shabby and out-of-shape and a little woe-be-gone. Still life goes on.

Friday was an early release day (mercifully) as well as the school Jog-A-Thon so I dutifully put on some sporty clothes and braided my hair out of the way and cheered my kindergartners on as they puffed their way around the track. By the time we pinned on numbers, stretched and warmed up, acted as cheerleaders and brought them back into the classroom for fluids and a little rest, it was time for them to go home.

One little guy who is kinda quiet, but very cool in his Spider-Man sunglasses, stopped to tell me something on his way out. I couldn't hear him very well so I bent down closer and asked, "What was that, Marshall?"

"Mrs. P, you look pretty today," he repeated with an admiring look at my braids.

Suddenly I didn't feel so old or shabby. I didn't feel the least little bit woe-be-gone either. "Marshall," I told him, "you just made my whole day."

In fact, he might have made my whole year! He made me feel so good that I've been a bundle of energy all weekend. Several piles are no more and I feel like I've created some breathing space.

That little guy is gonna make a fabulous husband for some lucky girl someday.