My daughter and I returned from my mom’s place, which was big and empty and clean and clutter-free, this morning.
Apparently the girl child texted her dad when we were on our way as I was driving, so when we got to the front door, which was locked, we were surprised. Were the menfolk still sleeping? It was just past 9 am…at least the non-teenager would be up. Wouldn’t he?
She started banging and kicking the door, but no one came to open it.
“Do you have a key,” she asked me and yes, I did, but it was in the bag and I had my hands full with all the stuff, and it was 50gazillion degrees and I just wanted to get inside and so I said no.
We banged on the door again, then wandered down the long driveway to the back of the house to enter from the back door.
That door was open. So we stepped inside, and were immediately greeted by a lovely waft of air-conditioning. Ahhh.
“Sorry I didn’t unlock the door,” the husband said standing by the now unlocked front door. I guess he was sitting out back and didn’t hear the noise we made when we arrived…
Anyway, I made coffee before unloading the car, because I only had two so far and wanted my final, third cup for the day. 😛
Then, I looked around the small space we call the main living area (open concept) and had a minor conniption.
The comparison between mom’s place and mine is phenomenal. As in, yes, she has more space which is nice, but there is no reason why MY space needs to look this way. And by this way I mean full of stuff.
And clutter.
And dirt.
And dust.
Anyway, I’m cleaning. The man went downstairs to do the same in his basement office, leaving me to tackle things up here after I unloaded the car (with his help, which was nice).
But I’m overwhelmed. So here are some random photos from recent days for your entertainment value. Because I don’t have time to get into it with words and all that. I need to keep my momentum going and clean this place up before it buries me.
Photos from the nuthouse
It takes work, not to mention dedication, to keep my Mom Bod a mom bod. 😵 Hence…baking.
The view in the next picture is what mom’s front garden looks like. Isn’t it pretty with the filtered light? I sit there for morning coffee and watch the woodpecker momma show her baby where the peanut thingy is located.
I don’t understand children. She was outside (yesterday at mom’s) and had a hot peppermint tea. Why she drank it outside when the current heat wave is borderline Arizona-ish, I don’t know. Anyway she came inside to the “pretty room” where I was having a tea myself and positioned herself like this yelling “I’M SOOOO HOOOOTTTT”.
She took out my childhood Sasha dolls at one point which mom stores for me, and played with them. The girl doll is called Sasha and she is twice as old as the boy doll, called Roger. Roger was purchased/manufactured in the 70s, Sasha was handed to me by my great-aunt who played with it in her childhood. I’m sure the doll is very valuable these days…
The Sasha doll has more shoes than I do. Note to self: must go shoe shopping immediately. 😛
And so we’re back home for a few days. The men immediately asked me if I could make something with the defrosted meat in the fridge so I set out to make stew. Not that it’s stew weather right now but if we stay indoors to ride out the heatwave, we can manage to eat a warm meal like that. (Or not, whatever, they can eat it, I’ll probably have a salad.)
Not sure how much writing I’m going to get done over the next few days as I really need to purge the crap out of this house before I lose my mind forever. 🙂
Cheers!
Writer of Words etc 
Kids’ ideas of a comfortable sitting position never ceases to amaze me. The other day I walked in on the twins, who were quietly watching TV… while standing on their heads.
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Lol
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Hahahahahaha your daughter. 😀
Ugh…it’s hot and humid here in Arkansas and forecast to only get hotter! Grateful for AC.
We have woodpeckers at our feeder all the time but I have never seen a baby woodpecker!!!
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38 C is 100 F. Yesterday it was around 32 I think but with the humidex it measured 41. Anyway it was stupid hot. 😛
I tried to capture the mom and baby woodpecker at the feeder together but the shots are blurry… 😊
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I also had conflicts with order in my things, I guess I was at the border compulsive obsession (Maybe?). A book came into my hands and I began to look at the order more calmly. “Messy: The Power of Disorder to Transform Our Lives” by Tim Harford. I lost the fear of disorder. I didn’t get messy, but I learned to sail in the stormy sea of disorder without getting angry.
Greeting
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Oh! Sounds intriguing. Thank you for the recommendation, I will check it out.
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Doll shoes! 🙂
I am googling Toronto summer to have an idea of what you call a heatwave. Surely you can’t mean 50 degrees C? That would be hotter (or on par) with central Australia, which is hellish. My neck of the woods nudges those temps in a bad summer. OK, Google just told me mid-20s. Excuse me smirking resentfully….although we don’t get humidity which does make it feel hotter! Tell your daughter our summers average over 30 degrees. Many days are over 35C 🙂
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Mid 20s? Pfff…Google is about as accurate as its translation app. Lol
The humidity is really high here in summer. Yesterday the temp was 32ish and with the humidex 41. Really not pleasant.
July and Aug are often high 20s to low 30s which I would love a lot more without that icky wet humidex. 😬😛
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Love the photos of your daughter.
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Have you considered swapping homes with your mom?
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No. Work, school, other logistics. We live in different towns. I’m in western Toronto. She’s in a suburb. Too far for him to drive if/when the college reopens.
She’s happy where she is.
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Oh well. It seemed too tidy a solution.
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Ahhhh…I think you should hide out at your moms place for the foreseeable future
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The plan is to go 2-3 days a week.
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Or five or six….
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It’s not that simple. I don’t divulge everything on the blog.
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I know. I was just vicariously thinking about having someplace else to go
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It’s hot everywhere except the Pacific Northwest apparently. I get jealous every time I talk to my parents and they tell me about how it’s cloudy and cool and 65.
Flip that 6 upside down and you’ll get our temperatures as of late.
Which makes me want to flop on the floor dramatically and declare, ““I’M SOOOO HOOOOTTTT!” Let’s just say I get where your daughter is coming from.
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My family in YVR are complaining too about cool and rainy.
As far as the kid’s gymnastics to cool down
… I don’t think it’s working. 😜
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It is crazy hot. Congrats on submitting your writing piece!
No chance your mom would swap houses? LOL (I am just kidding – hope that’s not an insensitive thing to say!)
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I know, the swap would make so much sense except for school work friends… 🙂
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As soon as you said you were going away for a few days, the first thought that went through my head was “imagine what the house will be like when you get back though” 🙂
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Well in their defense there was no “new” mess. The old mess was still there however… Silly me to think it would have been magically taken care of. 😉
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Every time I walk into the kitchen, the sink has re-filled with dirty cups, plates, and glasses. It’s RIGHT NEXT TO THE DISHWASHER.
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It’s an amazing skill isn’t it. I’m still using the same glass from 6 hours ago. Just keep refilling it. It’s not rocket science. Also, the dishwasher is usually OPEN. Can’t make it much easier…😬
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50 gazillion degrees? Is gazillion a metric temperature measurement? Here in the states, it is trazillion, and in Florida it is incalculable, so we just say “shit hot”.
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K. Shit hot works in Canadian. 😃
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It’s always good to be home, but not if you have to immediately start cleaning. Ugh. Stay away longer next time and make the men folk pitch in.
😉
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He’s purging stuff in the basement, a place I rarely venture into. 😬 And selling it on kijiji. 😀
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That’s my dream come true right there. Sadly, with my husband a dream is all it will ever be.
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Only took 19 years here… 🙂
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Yeah. I’m still waiting..
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