Not

Inspirational song: The No-No Song (Hoyt Axton)

Every time tonight that I thought about pulling together a blog of things that happened today (a significantly boring day on the whole), I've sighed deeply and thought, how about instead I write about what I didn't do, or don't plan to do anytime soon? Would that be better?

For instance, this next first Thursday of the month, I don't have to go to Fort Collins. I was planning on giving myself permission to rest up the day before another long weekend of babysitting, and just zooming in instead. Found out today the meeting is canceled, and you know I celebrated not having to whine my way out of appearing in person.

I didn't do a lot of the things that need doing around the house. The kitchen is a giant wreck, and I haven't washed a dish in probably three days. Don't care. Will deal with it tomorrow. The rest of the place is in a similar situation. Instead, I got the rest I needed, and I didn't feel guilty about it. I also didn't cook. I persuaded the Mr to bring home takeout from his favorite establishment. I ate far too many fries after I finished a messy sandwich, and I have regrets over that, but zero regrets for being able to chuck the takeout box in the trash when I was done.

The biggest thing I didn't do today? Buy plants! You know I wanted to. I'm itching to scout out stores to see whether they set out hoya kerii in Valentine's displays. I learned that when they are just one single heart-shaped leaf in a small pot, there is a good chance they will never grow beyond that, so maybe I should look for something already vining. But now I kind of want to go ahead and buy the single leaf kind, and test out how true that common wisdom is. Still, I did not go out looking for plants, despite an overwhelming urge to do so. Celebrate the small victories, right?

Ruckus

Inspirational song: Radar Rider (Riggs)

Mondays are going to be hard now, for the next several months. Monday babysitting had been covered by my daughter's tenant/housemate. Now they are working the same schedule as the kids, so I've taken over Mondays, giving me Friday through Monday. I'm averaging 26 hours a week of kid caregiving, and Mondays are almost completely solo. The Mr gets home early evening, after I'm worn to a nub. He's gone for the beginning of Fridays too. This is turning into a test of stamina.

The kids didn't do anything wrong today, per se. They just had kid energy on a day when I didn't. I held in as long as I could, but I was the happiest of all three of us to see grandpa walk in the door today. He was able to handle animal dinners and then hold the baby boy so I could finally get some sort of food in me. It was a long day to go on a single slice of ham and handful of blueberries, but that was all I could squeeze in before 5pm. 

Now I'm trying to stay awake and failing. It's not even quarter to eight as I write, and I am literally nodding off in my chair. I need to post this now, so when I inevitably do fall asleep here, I can just stay on through morning, and no one but Saoirse will care.

Brr

Inspirational song: Geronimo's Cadillac (Hoyt Axton)

Winter is awesome. Really. I absolutely love it. But wow, is it chilly right now. Normally that wouldn't faze me at all, assuming I don't have to go out in it any more than it takes to let the dogs out to pee. Today, to be different, we bundled the children up and hoofed it next door. The neighbors were gone, but they have us taking care of Jasper, so we went there to watch the evening football game on their big TV and cuddle with a mop-headed poodle. It was cold enough that just the walk next door was uncomfortable. Thank goodness it wasn't farther.

I hope these kids catch the football bug like grandma has. Their parents couldn't give a rat's patootie about sports of any kind, but I love watching football so much. I want people to watch with me. I won't even mind if they pick different teams than I like. That said, we are now pretty psyched up about this year's Superbowl. The party next door is gonna be awesome.

Yawn

Inspirational song: Peace Train (Cat Stevens/Yusuf)

The cold polar air is arriving. I don't want to go out in it. I moved more plants from windows to protected areas and closed some curtains. Haven't decided whether to try to get behind the big plant corner to lower the blinds on the front window. Surely the heat register 3-5 feet away will keep that spot from damaging plants? Nothing is touching glass anymore.

I had kids mostly on my own today. Even when their grandpa was home, he was deep into other projects, like swapping out the alternator in J's cursed car. The kids were mostly manageable. There were a few touch and go moments, but it was pretty darned cute that both of them required grandma snuggling and then being carried to the bedroom for their naps. Dmitri needed to be pressed against my chest with his back rubbed to calm down, and later Valerie lay beside me in my chair and we watched videos. Car detailing was fine, but furniture restoration literally bored her to sleep.

As the kids were packing up and getting herded to their daddy's car, the Mr announced he thought it was a fine idea to head out to a cool local distillery to have a hot toddy. I said no way, I'm not going out in the cold to sit in a loud bar. I was happy to be in a quiet room with a warm blanket on me. Within 20 minutes, he was snoring in his chair and I've been yawning uncontrollably, which means less fatigue and more silent migraine. So glad we stayed in.

Working On It

Inspirational song: Working On My Tan (Tim Curry)

I was this close to making a whole lot of extra work for myself, over something I am pretty sure I would have regretted. I took out a tape measure, and reassured myself that the original plan was best. Smaller set of chrome shelves will stay up front, and new white metal and glass shelves has been set up by back door. The kicker was shelf height. New shelves had two inches less for tall plants. Second most important was shelf material. Most of what moved to the south and west exposure are succulents, many of which are in tiny containers. Those were harder to balance on the wire shelves, but perfect for glass. 

I worked on repotting while I was doing setup. A couple years ago, Mr S-P combined several years' worth of Christmas amaryllis into one big pot. They had too much space for the bulbs, and the pot was heavy and hard to place. I broke them up into a couple groups and put them in terracotta. I also gave up on a holiday cactus failed rescue, and reused the tiny pot the rotting pieces were in for an aloe that was also undergoing a difficult rescue. Maybe it will perform better.

Once I had the first two waves of plants on the new shelves (second wave was stuff from my bedroom that needed to be in a warmer spot before the upcoming polar blast arrives), I went around assessing some of my display surfaces that felt overcrowded. I moved a few things around, including to the glass shelves. I know I'll fiddle more, but I like how it is coming along. Thank you, daughter and son-in-law, for gifting me these shelves. They are most appreciated.

Night of the Condor

Inspirational song: Fly Like an Eagle (Steve Miller Band)

There was bonus babysitting this afternoon and evening. My kids went to Boulder to pick up a piece of furniture from Facebook marketplace, and since it was a gift to me, they had a legitimate claim to my time and grandparenting skills. The seller of a metal and glass shelving unit that we had been interested in previously contacted my daughter to say it was still available and did we still want it. I hemmed and hawed, since I spent the money I intended to use for it on the metal shelves I put in the plant corner weeks ago. My daughter took the initiative to get it for me anyway, as a thank you gift for all the free babysitting she gets from me.

Dmitri was asleep in his car seat when they brought him in, and he stayed that way in my dark bedroom for a solid hour and a half. Valerie and I had a lot of quality one-on-one time. We had been predicting a cognitive leap in the works, and today she demonstrated how much she has advanced. Her sentence structure and pronunciation are leaps and bounds ahead of a few weeks ago. She volunteered polite phrases like "thank you, grandma" at appropriate times. And when I gave her a dried fruit snack, and said see if you like this, she took a bite, and announced clearly, "I like this." Expressing opinions objectively is a new thing. I'm very impressed.

Dmitri eventually woke, and that's when anarchy set in. He is learning how to use his vocal cords, but he has not yet mastered volume control. I told his parents his usual squeaky bird time was more like shrieking condor sounds. It was quite the ruckus, and grandpa wasn't here to help out. It is nice and quiet now, but my ears are still ringing.

I haven't set the shelves up yet. I spent most of the morning and afternoon rearranging the dining room, taking a leaf out of the table and mopping and whatnot, so I could put them by the back sliding door. Then I started work on cleaning out my utility room, so that I could access the back of the pantry where the table leaf will be stored. Now that the frame of the new shelves is set in place, I'm questioning everything. It is huge. Tall and wide. It might make more sense to swap which shelves go where, so everything can fit. I am not going to do that tonight. I wore myself out moving heavy things and cleaning. It can wait until morning.

 

Caper Conclusion

Inspirational song: Ticket to Ride (The Beatles)

Today was the big trip to Flower Bin for the housewarming gift plant. My friend picked me up, and my housemate J met us there. We had a good time looking at everything, and all three of us were fascinated by the tiny terrarium plants. They didn't have any terrarium planters, but all the miniature plants were irresistibly cute. Now we want to put together terrariums so much. I heard Walmart had the planters, and I looked in the app. Not available locally, but reasonably priced to order. I might get one in a month or two (when my suddenly unreasonable home heating bill goes back into normal territory). 

My friend kept hoping to find a pre-planted arrangement, rather than getting a single statement plant and putting it in a pot she picked separately. After looking all the big things over, we found just what she wanted. They had lots of different sizes, and we found one exactly at her target price, in a gorgeous pot, with a great selection of small and medium plants. Mission accomplished!

While there, J found a beautiful kind of Pilea I had never seen before, so we will do some research to find out how to care for it, and maybe propagate it so I can grow some too. For me, I finally found a starter size of String of Hearts. I love it to pieces. 

I did a bunch of plant maintenance when I got home, including downsizing the pot for the pitiful remnants of my once massive Schefflera. I rearranged a bit, as is my habit. I also finished cleaning house to entertaining levels because -- whaaat?? -- game night was in person tonight! The neighbors and our old college roommate came over to play Ticket to Ride, and J joined in. So nice to have people to play with again.

Introduction

Inspirational song: Just Good Friends (Fish)

Two plus years of heated conversation through the fence led to this moment. Jasper came over to hang out in Saoirse's living room. There were a few tense seconds at the very beginning, and Saoirse got scolded for barking at first. Then she spent the rest of the visit checking Jasper out thoroughly. Jasper is the epitome of chill, so he never let her sass get to him. He did what he usually does when I'm next door. He set his chin on my knee and waited to get petted endlessly. I hope this means that he and Saoirse can play nice now. He will need to visit when his humans are out of town, now that he is the only dog next door. He needs the interaction, and frankly, so does she.

I don't have a lot to offer beyond doggie play dates. It was a plain old day. Rotary. Costco. Cleaning. Rinse and repeat. I did swap out the seasonal blanket for the next upcoming holiday. You know, once upon a time, I was violently opposed to pairing pink and red at all, with the one exception being Valentine's day cards. Here I am now thinking this pink and red blanket, the one I got to appeal to Valerie who loves heart shapes, is actually pretty darned cute. What have I become?

Toofless

Inspirational song: The Witch Is in the House (Dr Teeth and the Electric Mayhem ft. Miss Piggy)

First off, did you know there was a Muppet Wizard of Oz? I just found out five minutes ago. It was at least 14 years ago, as that's when it was uploaded to YouTube. Had a lot of the pirate crew from Muppet Treasure Island, in the one video I saw. Now I have to hunt this thing down. I wonder whether it is on Disney+.

Athena had her dental surgery today. She has lost teeth before, thanks to her mushy South Carolina mouf. Today she lost the fang that has been creeping down past her lip for years. We would have liked to done this next month, when the vet clinic does half price dental procedures, but she had another urgent issue, and besides, all the February appointments were already booked. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that she had one claw growing so long and looped that it was starting to press into her toe bean. I couldn't stand to see that happen to another of my cats (it happened to Cricket in the first year of my blog), and she wouldn't let us take care of it while she was awake. So sedation was the best option. The vet clinic knows her well, and they gave her the first sedating shot before they tried to run her blood tests or do anything else. It made it all go smoothly for everyone. Now she is home, and she is a little mad at us. Won't cuddle for nothin'. Maybe she is just mad that we took a detour on the way home for an automotive repair errand while she was still in her carrier. She was okay with the carrier when it first came out this morning. Less so in the afternoon.

I had just stepped out of the shower and was starting to style my hair when my phone rang. It was my radiation oncologist, offering to switch my one-year follow up to telemed. So we chatted, and I assured her that I have no extended issues that could be traced back to radiation. I have been released to my regular oncologist for all long-term care. Yay! It's all over with one more doc!

I still went ahead and used curl cream and the diffuser on my hair, even if I didn't have to go out to my appointment. I just didn't put a lot of effort into making it go any particular direction. Even with another five inches cut, it does still curl pretty well. I was worried that the chemo curls wouldn't last, but they are holding on for dear life. 

Chopped

Inspirational song: Southern Cross (Crosby, Stills, and Nash)

Baby boy has a special talent for grabbing hair and pulling hard. You barely have to be within a yard of him, and he's got you. I've hit the point where I can't handle it anymore. My hair was getting too long. It was hard to brush. It was always knotted in the back. My bangs were longer than my chin, and no help at all for my appearance. And worst of all, it was always in that boy's hand! 

I went over early to pick up the kids, and let my daughter have at me with clippers. It's a fair trade for free babysitting. She didnt take it all, but she took a nice handful from the bottom, to make it easier for me to manage. I went over there with wet hair, not actually washed, but soaked and coated with leave-in conditioner. We didn't style my hair, as I had to immediately turn and take the kids back to my house for the afternoon. So I have no photos of the haircut. I'll wash it tomorrow, between dropping Athena off at the vet for a tooth extraction and going to the radiation cancer center for a one-year follow up from the last treatment. I can get better pictures tomorrow.

Even with my hair four or five inches shorter, Dmitri still managed to grab it once or twice. That is a measurable improvement from before. He was all sorts of cranky today. I'm expecting another tooth to begin erupting in a week or so. Valerie, on the other hand, was very snuggly again. She was happy to have her markers back, that had been left next door for months. So happy, that she thought it was funny when grandpa used them to decorate her nose bandaid.

Changing Times

Inspirational song: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) (Green Day)

After eleven, maybe twelve years, it is the end of an era for me. Today I said goodbye to Slow Hand and canceled my Massage Envy membership. I'm sad about it at some levels, because it was a very healthy habit I kept for over a decade, and it made me happy. But belt-tightening has to happen this year, and between membership, paying for the extra half hour each time, and tip, it was running me around $125, and that is even factoring in the tiny military discount we had been getting. I was ready to let it go. I'll be relying on Epsom salts and that little massage gun I got for Christmas for the time being.

Since our weekends are dedicated to babysitting, I have watched very little football. CU's season was dreadful, so I didn't miss it much. Next year looks to be very different, so those kids will have to be watching their Disney on the iPad while grandma watches our revitalized team. I also missed out on most of the NFL season. I think I saw a combined total of about 1 3/4 games. This morning, we got texted a picture of our neighbor and his baby, both dressed in Chiefs jammies. He said it was playoffs day, and kickoff was at 2:30. I promised we would be over, as long as we could bring over the kids. 

Valerie used to be super shy around our neighbor, once she started walking and realized how tall he is. She is mostly over that now, but she did spend a lot of time snuggling with me and coloring rather than interacting. She had a quiet kind of day, and needed extra hugs, which I was more than happy to provide. Dmitri was being very charming, except for one brief cry while staring at our neighbor. We don't know why he seemed scary for those five minutes. Once he started holding Dmitri, all was good. The neighbors were astounded by how solid that boy is, compared to their dainty two-month old daughter. We made a lot of brick, tank, and offensive lineman comments. Dmitri smiled through it all. He also studied the ice in grandpa's drink, but not matter how hard he tried to grab at it, he never got to bring that one to his mouth.

Pandelerium

Inspirational song: Teach Your Children (Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

It took all of about 20 minutes for this house to descend into anarchy once the babies got here. They had all of the energy, and they had all of the needs. Grandpa missed the bus back from CU, and was an hour later than we expected him. By then Dmitri had finished a bottle and a short nap and Valerie was doing laps around the pile of pillows on my bed, refusing to slow down. Her nap never materialized. They were playing on the bed actively when he got here, finally allowing me to tap out and make some food. I needed a fresh boost of calories to survive the silliness. 

I don't have any real stories from the day. They're growing rapidly, in all ways, which must mean between us we are doing the right things. Time to rest up and do it all over tomorrow.

Whole Lot of Nope

Inspirational song: Hold the Line (Toto)

My hands are super dry and my fingerprints feel smooth. I have trouble unlocking devices when my hands are like this, but it's unlikely I'll stop getting in this condition. It comes from doing a lot of repotting, getting my hands sanded down in coarse, soilless potting mixes. I took care of some major tasks that I've been hyperfocused on for weeks, and fixed up a couple new things. It required handling a lot of things like lava rock and succulent mixes. Was worth it, though.

Where I sit most of the time I'm home, I have a lot of opportunity to stare at problematic plant situations. I had a yucca cane I bought a year and a half ago that was dropped into a pot way too big, and it has been tipped over like the Tower of Pisa ever since. Next to it was an aglaonema I've had since my great-aunt's funeral (or my grandfather's, I keep changing my mind where I think it came from), and it has been in the same pot for at least 12 years. I decided over a month ago I would swap the pots, and today was the day. I found a foam cushion thing (hard to describe) in the aglaonema soil that was cutting off root access to the bottom third of what was there, so I ripped that off and threw it away. I downsized the yucca into an old nursery pot, so it was in an even smaller container, and set it inside the one the aglaonema just vacated. I am very happy with my work. While I was at it, I put that new little snake plant into terracotta, and sank one of the succulents into a dish garden.

I'm just about giving up on the big box garden centers until it's fully spring around here. They just aren't getting shipments of anything. I went to Home Depot, in my long quest to find orchid bark. They had nothing. Bupkis. I tempted fate and went back to the Flower Bin, knowing they had just received a large shipment that included orchid bark a couple days ago, and by finding the same store employee I talked to Tuesday, I was able to acquire it. 

While at the Flower Bin, I finally got to behold the plant I have been dying for for weeks. They had two hanging pots of hoya linearis. They were as beautiful in person as I had hoped. I petted the soft needles, and it was as great as I'd heard. And the price? Well. I took pictures to show you. And then I put the pot back on the rack. $70 for one plant is a little rich for my blood at this point.

Game On

Inspirational song: I Missed Again (Phil Collins)

Snowmageddon this was not. Yes, we got a solid five inches of snow, but we had more than a slight promise of double that. In the morning, fuddy-duddies like Mr Teacher Man were grumpy that they canceled school. But as I sat here and watched the snow stick around past lunch, with lots of strong gusty winds reducing visibility, I was actually pretty glad fewer people, including busloads of kids and teachers were out on the streets. It still came out to be one of the biggest storms in January in decades. The really snowy months (on average) are yet to come.

I can't pinpoint a specific cause for me to be so tired today, other than (waves vaguely at my whole self) the usual. I couldn't find much get up and go. I figure that's fine, since I had no place to go anyway. 

It was D&D night, remotely again. I declined to join into the web conference while sitting in the same room as the laptop Mr S-P was running it from, plus the phone aimed at the map. The echo from having a third device running 8 feet away would have made me twitchy. So I was off-camera the whole time, with a cat in my lap, working on a pink macrame plant hanger. It all went smoothly, except for the times Harvey tried to eat the snakes next to him as they moved. The quickest way to stop him was to pull out the camera. There's never proof, is there.

Scout

Inspirational song: The Rainbow Connection (Kermit the Frog)

Phase two of the Plant Gift Caper is complete. My daughter and granddaughter met me at my house after Rotary, and we went to the Flower Bin to look for the good stuff. I saw a whole row of really interesting Hoyas that I photographed for my friend, and I spent more than a little time in the succulent section for me. I saw a few that I would love as a housewarming gift if I were the one getting it at this phase of my life. However, the recipient is more than 20 years younger than I, and into a whole different world of aesthetics than I am. So rather than just buying the lovely, full carnosa krimson princess I saw, or the bushy wyetii, or heart-shaped kerrii and just handing it to my friend, we are going to go together to see whether they interest her more in person, or does a whole different vibe appeal to her. So yeah. Going back next week.

While in the succulent section, I bought a couple super tiny things for me (the little 2 inch pots). One is a type of Echeveria with deep pink on the points of its leaves that I absolutely fell in love with. The other is a Crassula obvallata, a type of jade with really big leaves. I'm not sure whether it is the thing I have been searching for or not, but it's the closest I've found thus far.

Valerie had a great time watching the huge koi fish in the pond and being allowed to run at full speed through the mostly empty greenhouse. Usually she is confined to a cart in stores, so the Flower Bin in winter is her current favorite shopping experience. At least this time, she didn't get herself soaked by sticking her hands in the fountain like last time. (Last time, just as I saw her coming at me sopping wet, I heard, "Go hug grandma!") It was better that she didn't get wet this time. The weather was really turning while we were at the store. Local weather guys are saying this is supposed to be the worst January storm in 30 years. Man, I sure hope so. I've waited for my snowpocalypse for years. School is already canceled, so tomorrow's plan is grandpa taking Valerie sledding. I hope that kid understands some day how lucky she is.