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sparks and fires

Several years ago one of the settings on our dryer quit working. I called a repairman who spent quite a bit of time checking out things, only to tell me there was nothing wrong. Uh-huh..yeah right. Fours year later and only one setting that semi-works, Bobby got tired of me complaining (or else finally realized it was taking 60-90 minutes to dry a load of clothes), and we gulped at the prices and bought a new dryer. It was delivered today. Whoohoo!

But any time you build a nice cozy fire, these little things called sparks shoot out. I had to put up the ironing board and move all these gadgets stashed between the dryer and freezer before they came so they could get the old one out. And I discovered that the floor AND the baseboard behind the ironing board and the dryer was absolutely filthy. So instead of taking down Christmas decorations as planned today, I scrubbed 3/4 of one baseboard and a floor.

So about the time I start getting ready to clean and organize the guest room (one of those rooms I chuck stuff in and close the door when I'm cleaning in a hurry), my mother-in-law called. They're emptying out Bobby's grandmother house since the estate is finally being settled, and she wanted to know if I wanted to go along. (Most of it was cleaned out when she went to the nursing home, but I had never seen anything but the kitchen and living room so was curious.) I came home with some baskets, one of those wooden crate/shelve things for putting potatoes and onions in, a small footstool that needs recovering (we found 2 old slipcovers underneath the top layer!) and some extra kitchen chairs. I was excited.

But since I needed to clean all those items and put them in their proper place so I could get to the rest of my kitchen, that means the dishes are STILL not done. more sparks...

Meanwhile, January is steadily ticking on. Hopefully tomorrow will be what I've scheduled and planned and not shooting sparks (although I will admit today's sparks have been nice ones).

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