Sunday, January 4, 2009

Other Priorities

Has your house ever been so dirty that you were actually looking forward to cleaning it? If not, you are a far better housekeeper than I. This was the point at which I had arrived over my four-day New Year's weekend. No resolution about it, the place just hadn't been seriously cleaned in far longer than I care to admit. Well, when ambition strikes, I need to go with it. It's way too easy for me to blow stuff off. I did most of it Thursday and Friday, but left the worst until last.

My laundry room does double duty as home to all horsey products and tack except the saddles themselves. It is also the stopping place for a lot of dirt that would ordinarily get tracked through the rest of the house. Not only did I clean it, I reorganized it.

That was a job and a half, but it was nothing compared to my office/hobby room. Sweet Lord, have mercy. It took me all freakin' day yesterday. It was so dusty, I'm still stuffy and sneezing the morning after. It also involved not only cleaning, but reorganization, mostly of my hobby (dollhouse miniatures) stuff. I needed to put it up because I have other priorities — work, writing, horses — right now. I'll come back to minis one day; I always do. I donated 10+ years of craft magazines to the public library, and gained the entire top shelf in my closet for the effort. I can see the surface of not only my work table, but my desk. What a novel concept.

Mike didn't get home until late afternoon and asked why I was not out in the near-80°weather. Cuz I'm cleaning your house, turkey! He sat in the driveway with some brewskies, a cigar, and some classic rock and had a couple of nosey nosers in his business the whole time. They do love beer. At one point, doofy Jaz just stood there and licked Mike's whole head like a dog.


I'm cracking up! I didn't notice until just now that ole Jaz was (ahem) letting it all hang out. It was a good day to be a guy.

I sat down with them and Pokey came to visit me, but sadly, I had to chase him off. He approached me with his ears back (not pinned) and got really close — too close — to me without my permission. He was mouthy, but not in a gentle, curious or playful way. I tried to correct him gently and enjoy the moment, but he was being pushy. Mike doesn't get it. "He's trying to be sweet." No, he wasn't. He was being rude. He's been in one of those moods for a week or two now and I've had to be very assertive. I love being close to him, but it's not an option when he's being disrespectful. The price for such a lapse would be paid later, in the saddle.

I may have missed my opportunity to ride, because it's supposed to be windy and colder today. This is Texas, however, so we'll wait and see what the day brings.

10 comments:

jacksonsgrrl said...

Ha! Ha! Texas indeed...what is the saying, If you don't like the weather just wait 5 minutes? Indeed, I have found that to be so so true! It was like that when I lived in Key West too, you could step out your front door and it would be pouring down rain, look out your back and it would be sunny without a drop!!!
--Mindy

Jenn said...

ROFL! All the dudes hanging out just being dudes.

My big guy, Gabe, has been a bit pushy and snotty during the last couple of weeks. I know he's not trying to be mean, but they are just way too big to let them get away with anything! I really think it's the weather. We're all tired of the mud and the ice and not being able to really do much because of the mud and the ice.

Leah Fry said...

I don't know what the temp is this morning, but it's WAY colder than yesterday and very windy. That might die down as it gets warmer; it's not even 10am yet.

Jenn, it's constant power struggle — the Dance of Dominance — Poco and I do several times a year. It's just the way he is. The good news: I always win.

RoSe said...

I like your new header!
ahhh.. envy the sunshine and t-shirt weather as we shiver away and whine hee in Oregon.
Nice pictures too!!!

cdncowgirl said...

Way to go Leah! I totally need to follow your lead and try to organize my "office" room.
Actually our whole house needs a good going through, doesn't help that hubby is a shopper. (seriously there is only so much room for things!)
Don't feel bad for missing riding time, I'm sure you'll get a chance sooner rather than later. And this will cheer you up... we had ONE nice day and are back in the deep freeze. Last night was -40C (-53 with the wind chill) WTF?? That is NOT normal!! If someone says "global warming" to me I'm going to throw a globe at their head! (don't worry I'd probably miss lol) The term "climate change" I can handle, but not "gw", not right now. We've had weeks of temps that are 20 degrees colder than normal.
Can I come visit? (but I have dibs on riding Jaz if we go riding! lol)

Leah Fry said...

Yup. Cuz if you ride Jaz, it pretty much guarantees Poco will be perfect. My Jaz is such a sweetheart -- ALWAYS a good boy.

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

Why is it that we never seem to get in the house cleaning mode when it is nasty outside? I do the same thing...a nice day and I think I gotta clean the house-ughh!

Speaking of...it's probably time for my annual deep clean too-LOL.

I'm sure jealous of that 80degree day though. It was about 20 degrees today and it felt like a heatwave.

ezra_pandora said...

Ugh, I give up on our house. We are temporarily staying in the bottom floor of a two story house. We have ZERO space for the four of us and I cannot clean anything to save my life because it gets dirty the second I clean something else. I don't think I've seen the top of my desk in like 2 years (yeah, stay at the house isn't sounding so temporary, is it? lol). So I did laundry this weekend though. I think I ended up doing like 15 loads or something. Now THAT was some serious fun. lol

Leah Fry said...

OMG Ez, I'd be in jail, cuz I'd have killed someone by now for sure.

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Great photos of the guys just hanging out...quite literally. lol!

~Lisa

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