What a Day!!

A day for the record books..indeed!
.......

My Cowboy came home this afternoon and couldn't decide

if he had made a wrong turn somehow and was lost?

...or if he had acquired himself a new wife,
 and just couldn't remember when!!

.

It all began at about 7 am..... .
.

I was quietly minding my own business,
as I certainly have no one else's business I could get into ....
.
...just staring out into the bleak winter scape...

when I had this urge! 
.. 

No! not to pee...
.

The urge to do something productive today!
I've not had any urges to speak of, for quite some time.
.
It came like a bolt of lightning striking me!
.
I need to get busy on "The Project"
 that our soon to be daughter-in-law requested...
several months back!
.
Seeing as how it has taken Chad far too long to find "The Right" gal,
I don't want to jeopardize that relationship by not fulfilling my promise to her.
.
(Nor do I want her to think badly of me....so soon!)
.
I have about 50 days to complete and get mailed off,
for her to get it framed...
....before he returns from his deployment in the mid-east!
.
.
So........
.

I gulped down my 2nd cup of coffee, which I NEVER do;

I threw on my duds and walked into my drawing room.
 .

Danged!
.
@!*>~* 
(actually...I said Shit!)
.

What a mess!
.

I can't work in here when everything is in such disarray!
Heck, I can't even see my table,
 let alone sit in my chair! 
.

I gathered my wits....
I tidied it up, organized my different elements,
and stashed some unnecessary items.....
.


...almost clean enough to see

 .
.

Next thing I knew~

I was cleaning one of the spare bedrooms
 just to stash~ my stash!
.

Once having completed that mess,
I found that I desperately needed to burn some papers.
(why?  I asked myself should I trudge out to the burn barrel,
when I can burn in the fireplace?)
.
But first....
I decided it was essential that I clean one of the fireplaces.
(Only one needed to be cleaned,  as I only burn candles in the other!)
.
.

I don't know when I cleaned this last...
certainly not this past year and half...
.
Goodness! Gracious! Great Balls of Fire!
.
T'was full of ashes, creosoted glass doors....
...and let me affirm...
Yes... still hot with embers!
.
.

Ok....no problemo....we have a steel wheelbarrow!
.
Grrrr....(and a few more @!*>~* words were blurted out)
.I had forged outdoors, mind you into a season I detest,
only to discover, it had a flat tire!
.
Ok...It's Ok...I hushed myself...
.
Not to worry...
just use one of the boxes I took from the spare room.
.
Which I did.
. 
I worked quickly...
.
"Hurry! Hurry!" I kept telling my stupid self.
.

(Even though I had lined it with foil, it was quite hot...
as I dragged it out the back door...

Hoping it would not catch on fire before I got there
and then hoping it would rain....

or
Cowboy would get home to move it before it caught the house on fire!)
.

All is gooooooood.
.
I did not need to call 911.
.
Except...that in my rush to not set me or the house on fire...

I made a HUGE mess in front of the fireplace,
I'm covered in soot....
and so is everything in the room!
.

"Better change my duds....."
.
I say to self...
.
" and you may as well do the laundry while you are at it!"
"You just put on your last pair of clean jeans!"
.
(7! yes SEVEN loads...and I have a heavy duty oversize machine..
...and there is only 2 of us! What does that tell ya??)
.
.
Ok...Get back to what you were doing...
You can multi-task like a champion,
so get at it!
Daylight is a burnin'
.

.

After having swept and mopped up the soot, the ash residue...

I stood there, stretching the muscles that have been languishing far too long,

I could not help but notice that the picture hanging on the brick wall,

 sure could use a good cleaning!

.

Now the glass shines!

.

.

And that one!
.
.
That one too!

Look! No more dust!

And another!
 And another...
.

Upon realizing that I was making a bigger mess around the house as I went,

I had to have a chat with myself,
.
"Why don't you just plum clean the whole danged house?"
.
And in the midst of dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing,
cobweb hunting, and laundering~
.
of course there was the dust bunny round up too!....
(Oh...did I mention how surprised my hubby was when he sat down to watch TV tonight?
 He hollers "Hey Honey....my eyes got better today!!"

......I had another revelation!
.

Why not bake a cake?
. 
I haven't made a cake in a bazillion years!
.


Is that obvious by the date?

. (it just so happens to be the only box I had in the cupboard
and I was NOT into making one from scratch today...
I had too many other things to do!)
.

So, Chocolate it shall be!
.
..(which doesn't hurt my feelings, as I believe nothing is more worthy for dessert than anything chocolate!)

I do not care for frosting, so I sprinkled with powdered sugar

.
.
I say to myself ...
as the cake enters the oven...
.
"Yo Barb! since you are already making a mess in the kitchen,
why don't you make a royal mess?"

"A royal dinner!"
. 

"Lasagna!"

"And make two pans while you are at it....

so you can fool the hubby some other day...

he will think you worked this hard again!"

.

I haven't made Lasagna in~~ who knows how long!

.

Note the date!

BUT...
.
.
.

Ta Dah!

.

One's in the freezer for fooling the hubby at a later date...

and this one is for tonight!

.

Don't always be too fooled by dates on products either!

 I'm not one to throw things out,

and both Lasagna and Chocolate cake were perfecto!

.

.

.

We actually sat at the dining room table tonight,

with a real dinner before us!

It was nice!

If a stranger whould have appeared,

they might have thought this was a special occasion...

.

and for me..

.

it

.

was!

.

Today.... I was ME!

. 

(These past two+ years, dinner consists mainly of sitting at the bar,

eating a quick, unplanned, concoction thrown together...

ones I could not replicate if my life depended on it!)

.

.

....and then....

.

I happened to glance up and what did I see?

" @!*>~*  "

 I had forgotten the ceiling fan!

.

Oh well.....I wasn't going to let a dusty ol' ceiling fan ruin my day!

.

There is always next time.

And hopefully, next time comes along sooner than it did this time!

.

.

.

Now....

.

 

After a very, very productive day,

not at all what I had set out to accomplish 11 hours prior....

.

It's time to plunk this W.O.W.'s butt down....

.

.

.

See? I even have sox on tonight!

.

.

.

 

It is time to relax

 (maybe that should say recuperate..)

.
.


and say "Hoorah!" "I did it!"

.


.
But....instead....

 

I'm going to say

 

SYRAH!!

.

.

and another....

SYRAH!

 Cowboy Wife

BRRRrrrr.........

-ave.....that is!

Brave to take that first step everyone talks about...

Brave to open the doors again to the world around me...

Brave to be ME again.....

So here I am....

Being  BRrrrrrAVE!

Taking that 1st~~albeit left...

 (as I am entitled since I'm a lefty...oh, reminds me of something I read...will post another day)



...step

...or is that just plain STU....pidity!

(actually thought about 'painting' my toenails before this shot...green...

but I'm not THAT stupid!)

Cowboy Wife

Reality Check...

Thanks TW for the note the other day...

It 'woke' me up.
It made me realize "Life goes on".

Now I just need to figure out where to start!


Cowboy Wife