Friday, May 15, 2015

100 Weeks of Thankfuls

This is big, people! This week marks the 100th week of Ten Things of Thankful. 

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My thankful list this week leans toward the domestic. For starters, I'm in a purging mood, and I plan to be ruthless, especially with other people's stuff. I plan for many, many bags of trash to leave this house, along with many, many boxes of items for donation. Here's my list:

1. On Sunday, I took the electric mattress pad off the bed. This means I really believe warm weather is here to stay! Bring on summer!

2. As I've mentioned before, I live in an old house that lacks closets, among other things, like a garage. We have no linen closet, so we use an old armoire as a surrogate linen closet, and it's stuffed to the gills. I pulled the non-electric mattress pad out, but when I laid it on the bed, it was obvious it wasn't big enough. Somehow, I had my son's full sized mattress pad in my armoire/linen closet. I looked in his pigsty room to see if mine was in there, but to no avail. It wasn't in the basement laundry area, either. or anywhere ELSE in the basement, and I was out of options for a place big enough for it to have hidden all winter. HOW DOES SOMEONE LOSE A QUEEN SIZED MATTRESS PAD? I went ahead and made up the bed without a pad, resigned to the fact that I would just have to buy a new one.

A few days later, in preparation for the College Boy coming home for summer vacation, I waded into the Superfund Site he calls a room to trade out HIS electric mattress pad with the regular one and change the sheets on his bed before he came home. When I pulled the electric pad off, however, I found his regular mattress pad was still on the bed UNDER it, so guess what that means? The mattress pad in my armoire WAS MY MATTRESS PAD THE WHOLE TIME. It just LOOKED too small, because it had been scrunched up in the filled-to-bursting armoire all winter AND because it's quilted and stretchy - duh! Mystery solved!

3. I'm thankful I found my mattress pad, because only a crazy person loses a queen sized mattress pad in her own home, AND I'M NOT CRAZY.

4. I made the much-needed purchase of a new vacuum cleaner this week, and I LOVE IT! It's a Shark Navigator Lift-Away, and it has already changed my life in magical ways! We have all hardwood floors with area rugs, and keeping ahead of the cat hair is a miserable job. My old vacuum cleaner (PSA - never, never, ever buy a Panasonic vacuum cleaner) weighed a ton, fell over and cracked me across the back or head or shoulders whenever I tried to use the entirely too short hose to clean under furniture, etc., and was less than efficient at picking up what a vacuum cleaner is SUPPOSED to pick up, although excellent at grabbing curtains and cat toys and sucking them up quicker than I could react and turn off the power. My new Shark Navigator is SO AMAZING that my husband came to witness it for himself, and I had a total Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence moment when HE started vacuuming the rugs, just so he could see how well it picked up. Oh, and the Lift Away part of it means you can detach it from the base and carry it to the stairs to vacuum them or reach up to clean cobwebs (not that I have any of THOSE *cough cough*). If you need a new vacuum cleaner, GO BUY ONE OF THESE!




5. I bought a new shower head for the shower in my bathroom, installed it myself, and NO DRIPS OR LEAKS. Added bonus, it feels absolutely divine! The perfect amount of pressure without feeling as though needles of water are being driven into my skin.

6. The weather has remained cool enough most nights that we have been able to sleep without bedroom windows open (our room only; the rest of the windows in the house are sealed shut with 90 years of paint layers). Last night, the temperatures dipped down into the 40s, which is unseasonably cool.  I woke up about 3 a.m. and really needed to go to the bathroom, but I was also FREEZING (and very UN-thankful at that point that I had removed the electric mattress pad only days earlier). I didn't want to get out of my cold bed into an even colder room to go to the bathroom, but my bladder finally settled the argument by INSISTING I get up and go, and when I did, I realized it was not only raining, it was raining IN the windows. Thank you, bladder, for your moment of weakness!

7. I keep a blanket folded up on my side of the foot of our bed even in the summer, because occasionally, I get cold in the night with the air conditioning, but more importantly, because the cats like it. Most nights, the blanket is a revolving door of cats coming and going (seldom can more than one share it without a fight), but after washing the blanket with the rest of my bedding when I removed the electric mattress pad, it was still in a laundry basket on the floor near my bed. When I came back from my (freezing) bathroom trip, I plucked the blanket out of the basket and spread it on my side of the bed, where not one, but TWO cats joined me, making me the filling of a kitty sandwich. I was warm WITHOUT the benefit of my electric mattress pad!

8. We moved the College Boy home for the summer!


They are trying to take the back off the recliner that my son took to college with him.
My job was to hold the seat of the chair down, and I think it was an insult, but
at least I didn't get my fingers pinched, although they almost pitched me
into the desk head first.


9. Every single thing the College Boy had in his dorm all year is now in my living room, but he SWEARS he is going to use a backhoe and clean up his room and get rid of many pounds of junk and old clothes and very large but worn out shoes over the next two days. I am thankful for his optimism.


This is only part of it.


10. This one's for YOU, dear reader. I am going to quit talking about electric mattress pads now. Until fall, that is, when I put it back on the bed and take delight in its warmth on the first cool, fall nights. Unless I lose it, for as much as I'd like to say that won't happen, well, yeah.

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47 comments:

  1. frist yay -because I am home this afternoon -

    congrats to 100 purging and cleaning is awesome - I will be doing some of it tomorrow and next weekend, then setting up the yard and switching out the clothes

    blah, blah blah - i' dreading it but once its done i'm free again...

    you are not a crazy person - one year i lost my favorite table runner between halloween and new year's because each holiday something else went on the table.. it was found whew! have a great weekend! :)

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Frist for you, Marisa! Tomorrow morning, the first load is going to Goodwill. I already did the clothes switcheroo.
      Thank you for confirming my sanity.

      Delete
  2. I was hoping for a double Frist, but I have to wait to link up and it looks like I got beat on the comments too.

    If you want to talk crazy....

    My mom takes advantage of her empty nest extra bedrooms by having her own bed. She's a light sleeper and always too hot. My dad is a heavy sleeper who snores and always too cold. He's so cold that he has an electric mattress pad and electric blanket making their headboard look like it could launch a shuttle.

    One year, my mom got so frustrated trying to untangle the cords she took a pair of scissors and cut them all.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Aww, bummer! Marisa beat you. THIS time.

      Your mom wins.

      MY mom bought herself an electric mattress pad after I raved about it (I do love mine so!) and got rid of it because she said it was like "sleeping on a clothesline."

      Delete
    2. I'd like an electric mattress pad but only for my feet. The rest of me is usually too hot. I never had the nerve to ask what my dad said when he realized she had cut the cords!

      Delete
  3. Hahahaha! Mattress pad stories! You overwhelm me with them. Here's to the college boy's optimism and may it yield results sooner rather than later.

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    1. I really do love that electric mattress pad! Only way I survive winter nights in a drafty, old house that I share with the thermostat nazi.
      I will say the College Boy has been working pretty steadily for several hours now. I'm cautiously optimistic that he might actually accomplish something in there.

      Delete
  4. You are welcome to come to my house and ruthlessly purge. My college boy should talk to yours--he moved all his stuff home in a hatch-back Chevy Aveo. Or maybe my college boy should just talk to me!

    Good, working vacuum cleaners are a great source of joy! May the newness never wear off, and your Tom Sawyer moments continue!

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    1. I am especially ruthless with other people's things. Just ask my Person, Terri! I helped her pack for a huge move and we threw away tons of stuff she would have moved for no reason.
      My college boy needed a cargo van and a mini van, and he lived in a tiny dorm room!
      The college boy just had a Tom Sawyer moment. This vacuum cleaner truly is going to change my life in magical ways!

      Delete
  5. I only have one closet in this whole place as well. Drives me nuts cuz I think it makes me lose things easier even though logic says its in the damn closet! No ruby pic this week!?

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    1. I'm thinking my short attention span is why I can't find anything.
      Ruby did not contribute in any way to the mattress pad roulette. She is, however, interested in helping the college boy.

      Delete
  6. Our bedroom is the only room with openable windows, too. But we can't open them, thanks to Bryan's allergies. I would really, REALLY like to be able to open the windows of the room the three teen boys share. It is starting to stink like teenage boys. Ugh.
    Yay purging! I love purging. I do it constantly.
    Happy 100!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Boys - ugh! They lose that puppy smell too early. My husband refers to the teen boy smell as warthog musk.
      I'm trying to light a fire under my husband, so he will purge willingly. So far, only a tiny spark, but it's something.

      Delete
  7. LOVE it!! Oh my gosh that last pic of you is HILARIOUS!! And what's with the mattress pad girl? That is just SO something I would do...

    I have an electric blanket... and I use it in the summer too.

    Weird.

    I know...

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    1. I risked smashing my face into the desk taking that picture! The clips that hold the back in place were very stubborn.
      The mattress pad is lying in a heap near me right now, mocking me (I haven't been in the mood to un-make the bed and put it on - maybe tomorrow)

      Delete
  8. That rotating cat thing is exactly what my Rotten Cats do with me all night. Sometimes I have all three squeezed in around me. I have a lot of cats.
    I am thankful to you for getting me involved with the TToT in the first place. I love it. I love you. And I love that it saved my life.
    Oh and I lose shit in my own house all the time. You're not crazy. Neither am I.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. It's exhausting when they do the rotating cat thing! Plus, I never know who I'm kicking.
      I am thankful to Mama Kat, because I wouldn't have met you otherwise. Love you back, my friend!
      I lose stuff two seconds after I set it down. How could I be expected to keep track of a mattress pad for 7 months?!

      Delete
  9. Got such a kick out of your descriptions of College Boy's room. And all that stuff he brought home. In your purge and organize efforts, how long is that stuff staying in the living room? My basement, which at one time was filled with years of preschool stuff, also contains my daughter's college stuff, that she intends to bring to her first place (when she finally moves out - soon I hope). The Shark looks like a fine machine. We have central vac which has its pros and cons.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. He's making progress on the room, I'll give him that! He IS guilty of taking some of the stuff and putting it in MY room, however.
      I have preschool stuff in the basement, plus all the other basement stuff. It's getting cleaned out this summer, sooner rather than later. I still have a few items that belong to other people from the tornado, and that's been 4 years!
      I'm loving the Shark. I've heard central vacs have their good points and bad.

      Delete
  10. Your new vacuum cleaner looks cool, and your story of the mattress is hilarious.

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    1. You seem like such a practical person, Romi, that I bet you have never lost an entire mattress pad in your own home, have you?

      Delete
  11. Purging is such a good thing. What good timing that you made room just in time for college boy to return with all of his stuff! Have a great week!

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    1. I dropped off four trash bags and 6 pillow cases stuffed with donations. It felt great, and I'm not done yet!
      He has one week to get all that crap out of my living room....

      Delete
  12. Love it! Congrats on installing the shower head, I've got so much to learn from you!!! Happy 100!

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    1. Thanks, Natalia! I hate to admit how easy the shower head installation was. I think I'll let people keep thinking I am quite the plumber!

      Delete
  13. Any vacuum cleaner that makes a gratitude list must be a fine piece of machinery. I will keep that Shark in mind when I make my next (overdue) vacuum purchase!

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    1. It swivels, Jen! And it has this thing where it never loses suction, and from what I can tell, that means it takes off across the rug like a self-propelled lawnmower.

      Delete
  14. Once again we are living parellel lives in parallel states. New shower head in the kids bathroom just two days ago! Scary how our minds work as a single unit! lol
    May@Achieving Clarity

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    1. Corn-fed, Midwestern girls from neighboring states think alike!

      Delete
  15. HA! but you DID manage to make it engaging. And I'm glad you found your mattress pad. And I'm SUPER pleased you have a good vacuum cleaner. That makes so much difference. I have an AMAZING one called Henry, and I LOVE IT!

    Glad you shut the rain out and weren't cold.

    GLAD YOU'RE HERE! Here's to the next 100, my Dyannedelion <3

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I might need to name my new vacuum cleaner. Hmmm.
      I'm glad I'm here, too! Thank you for inviting me to be a co-host so long ago!
      You know I LOVE being your Dyannedelion! <3 <3 <3

      Delete
  16. naturally I was totally captivated by your vacuum cleaner item! (no! serially! I was/am/are! actually hair on the house has always been an issue here (although dog hair instead of cat hair)…. we had a wonderful vacuum cleaner (forget the name)… it always got the hair in the rugs. But it burnt up or out…. so Phyllis decided to try one of those Dyson or Tyson whatever … it's the cleaning appliance equivalent of apple computers (and other products)…. it's not a very good vacuum cleaner.
    Good that you found the 4x8 quilted cloth with elasticy bands on the corners item!! I know how easy it can be to lose bedding that weighs 3 or 4 pounds… (ha ha… I was too lazy to do the italic or this would have been a hilarious Comment!

    hey thanks for your co-hostationing these past 100 Posts...

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    1. I know people rave about Dyson's, but your comparison to an Apple computer is spot on. Plus, the vacuum cleaner repair shop told me they break constantly. (By the way, Tyson is chicken.) Tell Phyllis to go out RIGHT NOW and get a Shark Navigator. $159 at Dillard's, available at many retail stores.

      It wasn't REALLY lost; it was a case of mistaken identity...

      Delete
  17. You ARE just plain fun! I do have to say that I thought heated mattress pads were a myth. It never gets cold enough here so we just have regular old mattress pads. I was almost in the market for a new vacuum cleaner this week but my husband fixed mine. My mom has the one you bought and swears by it....good choice. I'm glad your son is home, mess and all. I know you love it!

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    1. Aw, shucks, thanks! If I never NEEDED a heated mattress pad, I'd be okay, too, but since I live in a weather armpit, then I can't imagine NOT having one. The last straw with my big, heavy vacuum was when the foot pedal that lowers the entire top part of the vacuum broke off. Ever tried to vacuum without lowering the top of the vacuum? Can't be done, and not fixable. Besides, it kept burning up belts, so it was a multitude of things that led to its demise. And yes, I'm glad to have him home, although the mess has one week to reside in my living room or I'll throw it all on his bed.

      Delete
  18. Oh, one more thing....after your done purging at your house could you come to mine? Pretty please.

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  19. Oh man! You sound scary Dyanne! You know, in that "purging" mode lol. But I know what you mean. Doesn't it feel so much better when things are less. And more tidy. And organized. Even if it only lasts a short time :)
    Can't believe College Boy has 1 year under his belt. Time is a flyin' !
    I've had both cats and dogs and yes! They can keep a body warm. Appreciated more in the winter of course!

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    1. In a few weeks, it won't look like I got rid of one thing, but it still feels so good to clean out!
      TWO years, believe it or not. He's halfway through!
      Why, why, WHY do animals want to snuggle when you're already hot and sticky?

      Delete
  20. Loved this post because it sounded a lot like my old house. We also had the painted-shut windows and the lack of closet space. And no matter where we go we definitely have the ability to inexplicably lose large items (possibly because we now have a basement where the big kids live, and where I rarely venture). My college kid was home for only a week before venturing off to a summer internship, so he never bothered to move his stuff to his room. It just sat in the hallway but he's loading it all into his car as I type. :-(

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    1. The basement is a hell hole. That's going to be my summer project. It's just a basement, not finished or anything.
      My college boy is off already for a week of bachelor party and rehearsal dinner and wedding of a friend. Then he's home with no job for the summer. He's supposed to be job shadowing and getting his volunteer hour quota for his scholarship. I see a lot of asking what's for dinner and fighting with his sister in my future, but I'll miss him when he goes back in the fall.

      Delete
  21. I don't really know what an electric mattress pad is, but yours sounds nice and warm anyway. There are electric blankets here, but don't sound quite the same. (I'm usually too warm in bed so don't bother with them.)
    Your cats are spoiled (or lucky to have you) - ours have to stay in the living room overnight because otherwise they wake us up too often. Though recently one of them (not the Ruby look-alike) has sometimes slept on my daughter's bed. A few times he's stayed all night and other times he's come for a visit at 5 am.
    I am very impressed that you managed to change the shower head by yourself and that it didn't leak.

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    1. An electric mattress pad is much like an electric blanket, only you sleep ON it instead of UNDER it. Way better. There are more coils at the feet and less as you get towards the head and I do love it so!
      My cats are completely spoiled. When I was growing up, our cat had to sleep in the garage :( The cat my parents got while I was in college got to sleep wherever he wanted (and he wanted to sleep at my dad's feet).
      It was ridiculously easy to change the shower head. I found one that didn't require plumber's tape or putty on purpose.

      Delete
  22. Next fall, I am going to find an electric pad and I want that Shark vacuum too. In the meantime, sign up with Amazon and create links so you can make money. ;)

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    1. I should look into that money making thing. My husband would like that! And you definitely need an electric mattress pad if you get cold at night. It feels soooo good to slip your feet into a warm bed at night in the winter! And the Shark is FABULOUS! You'll have to let me know if you get either one!

      Delete
  23. I just bought THE SAME VACUUM and have considered writing it a love letter because I am so enamored with it. I wish you lived closer so we could have a vacuuming party. Vacuum nerds unite!

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  24. Electric mattress pads sound wonderful, for now, hubby will have to deal with a pair of icy-cold feet shoved under his legs every once in a while. But I, too, have a blanket next to the bed, should I get cold at night, now that my personal heater (aka Calvin) is sleeping in his own bed :-(

    How wonderful you have your lad home for the summer, but I feel your pain regarding the pigsty. While Violet is VERY good at picking up, Lily's room is a mess. Plan for the weekend: Set up a cleaning plan that works for her. I'm sick of seeing the mess every day :-)

    I hope you have the most wonderful week, Dyanne!!

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