Sign of a misspent life�

2007-02-28

Magnet on my refrigerator: A clean house is the sign of a misspent life.

I actually believe that for the most part. People who have immaculate houses spend way too much time cleaning. I�m not counting those people who are wealthy enough to pay someone else to do their cleaning for them.

I have been spending more time cleaning house. My small step program still seems to be working. The house is in better shape than it�s been in a long time. I keep a running list of tasks and pick at least one per day to accomplish. The improvements are small, but they are improvements, to both house and yard.

I�m thinning out the number of plants I have again. The patio is so overcrowded with pots it can be hard to move around. I had to repot some bananas by breaking them out of the pots they were in and I�m NOT replacing the broken pots. So far that�s only 3 of the nearly 70 I have out there, but at least it�s something.

The plumbers did a number on the front yard, digging a trench across the length of it. I dug up and replanted the day lilies, but much of the other stuff I was going to pull up anyway, so I took two trashcans full of prunings out. They kind of did me a favor digging up some of the stuff. I�m rethinking my whole planting scheme out there as a lot of the plants I put there expanded past all expectation. I�m thinking of putting lavender at the back edges and some kind of low ground cover in the front. Don�t know what I�m going to do with the day lilies. Maybe replant them in the back of the house. Provide a little camouflage for the ENORMOUS air conditioning unit. I should also replace the large soaker hose with the skinny drip irrigation stuff. The ground just past our property line is saturated by the association sprinkler system.

Gah! That just added two more projects to my �to do� list.

Saturday was so beautiful that I just had to abandon the computer and go outside. I picked up a book and a soda and went outside. I set both down on my table and thought to myself, �I should really re-pot that banana.� I did that all day; I never really sat down until around 4, when I just couldn�t go anymore. I was pretty sore the next day, but it felt great while I was doing it. Didn�t really feel like doing much the next day, but I forced myself to get 1 more trash can full and sweep up the mess I made pruning. I was then out of both trashcans and steam, so I called it a weekend. Funny, as sore and tired as I was, I�m hoping I can do the same thing this weekend.

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