How to....

get rid of yard waste if you live in the country.

Around here, if you live in the country, the city will pick up your trash, but you're not supposed to put yard waste in your container, and you can't put garbage bags outside the container either - they won't pick it up.

Paul and I burn ours or take it to the dump (the dump that takes yard waste has really inconvenient hours) or bag it and put it in our container anyway(shhh!).

Today, I discovered a new option.

Take your leaves or grass clippings and load them onto a flat bed trailer. Don't put it in yard waste bags - why spend the money on those bags? Don't cover it with a tarp - that defeats the purpose. Hook up the trailer to your truck. You have a truck if you live in the country.

Now - start driving. Drive slow so that it appears that you are trying not to lose anything out of your trailer. As you drive, all the stuff will blow out of the trailer, and you'll be sharing a little of your yard waste with everyone. That's how I saw it done today. I hope I didn't miss a step.

Darn it, we don't have a trailer.

By the way, I got over 3/4 of the yard work done today. We have our yard waste bagged and intend to take it to the dump where they will burn it.

Outdoor Work

Today was warm enough (t-shirt and shorts) to work outside in the flower beds. There may have been one other day (a short one) in the past 30 days that was nice, but I didn't take advantage of it.
Today, I raked leaves out of flower beds and picked up sticks and swept the sidewalks. I raked the side crevices of the sidewalks and then had to sweep again. I trimmed back 12 patches of monkey grass. I picked up most of the clippings and twigs and leaves that I accumulated, but there are still a few piles left in the yard.
I started at one side of the house (the side with the garage doors) and I did most of the fenced area of the backyard, and I did a little less than half of the front yard.
My point in all this is that I thought I'd get it all done today. But I didn't.
Although it would have gone quicker with a helper (especially an adult one), I still thought I could do it all myself. Abbie was at an all day play date so I had no distractions, no one to make lunch for. I had all the equipment I needed with me so there were not a bunch of trips to the garage - back and forth.
So I'm wondering - do I have too many flower beds? or am I too slow? or something? Technically, I prefer to trim back the monkey grass in the fall, but I have procrastinated the last two years. I guess that was my downfall.
However, picking up twigs could be a full time job around here.

Homework Hassles

We've started a new homework routine b/c what we were doing was not working. I read a book about "Taking the Hassle out of Homework" or something like that. Anyway, I think it was harder on me to make the change than it was on Abbie.

She now has her own desk in her room, and she does all her homework in there. The other day, I discovered that she had made a sign for her door - two sided. I was impressed that she had really taken in all the info I had given her about our new routine. Notice she even included the ABC's of our new procedure:

A = all by myself (meaning mom does not ask about homework, there are no distractions such as cats being in the room, etc)

B = back off (meaning mom does not hover while she does her homework nor does mom or dad check it unless she asks us to)

C = call it quits at a reasonable time (meaning she has to have it done (if she chooses to do it) by 7:30 pm, no exceptions

Well, the first two weeks were excruciating b/c I wasn't supposed to even ask if she had homework or say, "shouldn't you be doing your homework?" I need to get BACK OFF tatooed on my arm.

But I did devise a plan that worked. When we get home from school, I say, "I'm going to start dinner, what are you going to do?" And she usually says homework all on her own. But if she doesn't then I don't sweat it anymore. It's her choice.

The other night, she got the bright idea that we should all sit in the living room with the fire going and read. We all thought that was a great idea, but she hadn't finished her homework. I told her that she could sit with us and read and that she didn't have to do her homework - it was her choice. She chose to finish her homework!

I have also told her that if she gets her homework done on Monday nights and Wednesday nights (instead of stretching it with some to do every night) then she have more play time with the cats and she and I are going to start volunteering at the animal shelter on Thursday. She is stoked! We filled out our volunteer paperwork yesterday. But we only volunteer is her homework is done - it's her choice.

I think this is going to work out.

Freedom

I finally feel like I have a fire lit under me, and I am really getting the house in order to sell. I deep cleaned the master bedroom yesterday and today. Today's job was to finish wiping all the closets doors, walls, baseboards, etc with the magic eraser. Unfortunately, I think our bedroom is going to have to be painted. And I cleaned the light fixture and ceiling fan.

The next big job was to go through both closets and get rid of all the clothes that we don't wear anymore and send them to Goodwill.

It was very freeing to finally be able to get rid of some clothes that I've been hanging onto for a long time. I donate clothes every year, but there are some items that I always can't bear to part with, and they remain in the closet unworn.

Now the guest room closet has a huge empty spot - the giveaway pile is gigantic (in my opinion). I actually wish I could bring myself to comb through it all one more time and get rid of more.

We've also cleaned out numerous boxes in the garage. We've created a pile of trash, a pile for Goodwill, and a pile of books for Mr. K's.

It is very freeing to finally, finally whittle down all this stuff!

Too Much BSG?

BSG = Battlestar Galactica

Could I be too "into" BSG? Is that possible?

The other night, as we were driving home and as I was looking up at the night sky (which I do regularly), I noticed an odd light in the clouds. This phenomenon is not unusual - I see strange, unexplainable lights all the time - they aren't stars or planets or cell phone towers. Let's say the strange lights are space stations or satelites - yeah, let's say that!

One time, Paul and I had a bet going. He was seeing the same strange light that I was, and he said it was a cell phone tower light. So we drove towards it and tried to locate the cell phone tower - they dot the countryside. But the closer we/he thought we were getting to it, the more obvious it became that the light was higher than he originally thought, and we realized that it wasn't a cell phone tower - I didn't think it was.

Anyway, the other night, I saw a strange light. It was there and then it wasn't. It was like it would peep out of the clouds and then hide again. I knew right away that it wasn't a star b/c it was odd shaped. So I kept staring, but then we got on the on ramp for the interstate, and I worried that I had lost my place in the sky. I'm sure I was staring a hole in the windshield. But I saw it again - peeping in and out - the shape of it intriging me more and more. During the last peep, I could have sworn that it was a cylon raider! Seriously! In the nanosecond that I was preparing to say, "PAUL, LOOK AT THAT!" the peepshow ended (the clouds finally moved on) and there was a perfect "Cheshire Cat smile" of a moon. It was so pretty and cool. So cool!

There are only 3 episodes left of BSG, and I am so excited!