an end to solitude
June 08, 2013, 10:33 A.M.

Well, my week by myself is drawing to a close, and I have to say... it was not the laziest laid-back, peaceful week I have ever spent. I kept pretty busy, and got a lot done�which wasn�t supposed to be the plan, but oh, well!

I have reached one conclusion. At the end of the week, my house was very nearly as clean and tidy as it was when I finished cleaning it last weekend. Therefore: I am not the slob in this house. The dog is not the slob in this house. The problem, it seems, is SPOUSE. :)

I haven't been resting on my laurels, however. Between everything I got done yesterday afternoon and evening and everything I've gotten done since I got up at 5 o'clock this morning, it is looking pretty good around here. Laundry is caught up (and Spouse says he's bringing his home already done up. YAY!), house is clean and in perfect order. And I even swept all the walks, the porch, and the driveway yesterday so it looks pretty decent outside as well, except for the grass being a bit long.

Since my house had stayed so nice all week, most of the cleaning was pretty simple and straightforward this morning, leaving me time to get in some extra work--of the sort that doesn't get done very often. I got out my stool, climbed up, and cleaned the area over my kitchen sink. Washed the wall tiles, cleaned the woodwork, washed the window, laundered the curtains. Wiped everything down nice and tidy, and even gave my hanging vegetable basket a good wash. And since I was in a window-washing, curtain-laundering mood: I did the back door as well. I'm almost embarrassed to mention how much god-damned better it looks and how much brighter it is in my kitchen now!

Work is not done by a long shot though. Spouse will be home later today after he picks up P and E at the airport and brings them home. Since it is supposed to rain again tomorrow (groan!), we will need to get any yard work done in the brief time between when he gets home and when we have to get ready to go to dinner. (He got a bug up his butt about going out to Wildfire, all the way down in Lincolnshire, and the only reservations I could get was for the unfashionable hour of 5:15.)

Plus there is still a ton of stuff that needs to be done to the pool but we will do that rain or shine, because it simply must be done.

Because it rained on Memorial Day, we did not get out to the cemetery to decorate Papa's niche. We were hoping to do that tomorrow because Monday would have been his birthday, but we will have to see what the weather has in store.

I figured I would fire this post off before I get busy again, and I know this week will be brutal at work, so this may be my only chance.