Catching up
Doing a little each day can actually make a difference. This is not a new concept, but one that I am actualizing for the first time in a while (unless you count playing Super Paper Mario in doses... then again, maybe that was the practice I needed to remember that it all adds up in the end).
I went on two business trips in the course of a month, which is a lot more than I'm used to. The main area of our house is cleaner than usual, thanks to a weekend dedicated to cleaning and organizing back in September. Hopefully we can keep it that way. It's at least in a condition that can be fairly quickly tidied up in case we have company. It helps that we're not cleaning up any "presents" from a sick cat anymore... that was exhausting, especially when you consider the mental exhaustion associated with trips to vet that cost more than we were expecting. But all the cats are healthy now and we can sleep through the night.
We did run very low on food for a little while and definitely ate out more often this past month. Ben is happy to make dinner for us, but he usually needs me to decide what to make... so I'm the main grocery shopper. Clearly, that one's a difficult job while you're out of town. I did some basic grocery shopping on Sunday (there are a couple grocery stores that aren't open on Sunday, but Albertson's is open) and went to Sam's Club last night to bulk up on the necessities: a huge box of brownie mix, canned fruit, pumpkin puree, toilet paper, detergent, etc. I also bought a huge bag of Halloween candy that Ben offered to hide in a special place (his tummy), but I told him was for trick-or-treaters and he could eat the leftovers on November 1. Yeah, we'll see how that goes.
Before Sam's Club (Costco is too far away, otherwise I'd have a membership there), I stopped into JoAnn's to buy a bigger basket bed for Phoebe. Her body still fits in the little one that she's used for the last three months, but her head has to be tucked in a way that can't be comfortable if it is to stay in the basket. Well, they didn't have any baskets I liked and I was talking to Liz on the phone and she told me not to buy one that I didn't like, so I didn't. I bought a "fall wreath" for my front door instead, which probably won't provide the necessary distraction from our woefully neglected front garden. Colorful dead leaves on the door are better than really dead leaves and plants, right?
I also picked up a pair of devil horn barrettes. What the hell are those, you ask? They're an ingenious way to wear devil horns that don't require a stupid headband!
This image is basically what they look like... just bits of stuffed fabric that are sewn onto basic red snap barrettes. Craftzine.com blogged about someone named Cat Morley who wrote a tutorial on how to make the cute devil horn barrettes, but the link isn't working. So just go to JoAnn's (or probably Target, Michael's, etc.) and buy them for a couple bucks. I don't really know how I'm going to dress up for Halloween, but I'm going to start wearing my horns to work before then.
On a somewhat related note, I watched an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess last night that involved Xena traveling to the Underworld (what wasn't much spookier than Super Paper Mario level 7-1) and fixing corruption that led to the evildoers taking over the Elysian Fields and the innocents and good people being forced into Tartarus. This resulted in some weird dreams last night about the Greek Underworld, Hades, etc. When I first learned about Tartarus, I was grossed out because I related the word to the tartar that can collect on teeth. That was the ultimate sin in my household, with my mom as my dentist!
