Gross Things-Volume 1

For those of you who think I might keep a perfect house-it is now time for me to inform you that you are sadly mistaken. Over the next few days, I am going to get really real about what goes on in the Potholes and Pantyhose homestead.
Today, I am about to show you something that is rather embarrassing.

We have two very wonderful, but very furry kitties. I love the fur on their bodies. I don’t love it all over everything in my house. It’s gross.
But since they do super cute things like this, they are easily forgiven and doted over.

 

Change the scene to my sleeping habits. In typical girl fashion, I sleep under two extra blankets to Bicep’s one. Today was the day to wash aforementioned blankets.
I pulled what you see pictured here from my lint trap after blanket number one went through the dryer.

 

This is from one blanket. This is not built up over time. I clean out the lint trap with each load-I am totally anal about this.

 

This is disgusting. This is what I’ve been sleeping under.

 

This is pure fur.
The cats have managed to make a blanket for themselves out of their own fur.
It’s almost beautifully poetic, except that it is completely gross.

I almost didn’t show you this, for fear of judgement. But, it’s just too amazing though to keep to myself. I hope you enjoyed today’s “Gross Things-Volume 1”.

Don’t worry-there will be more Gross Things very soon.

Mary Magda-kitty.

I can’t believe the cuteness that I am surrounded by on an daily basis. Between Biceps, Maxwell and Bianca, there is no end to me oohing and ahhing in our house.

And, here is proof.

Seriously. How am I supposed to get any work done when this is happening right under my nose?

The answer: I don’t. I just have to give in to the cuteness, and not try to fight it.

Everyone is happier that way.

All by myself, don’t wanna be….

Since Thanksgiving, our house has been full of company in one way or another. It started off small, with my mother-in-law coming back with us from our trip up north. I got quite used to seeing her each and every day as we ate lunch together or watched movies while Bicep’s was hard at work.
And then, right before Christmas-my mother-in-law was joined by the remainder of the family.

It was glorious, wonderful, family bliss (after I got over the stress of planning everything-let’s be real).

 

Dinners were loud, desserts were consumed without regard and the dishwasher ran around the clock.

 

Bicep’s family transitioned to the their respective homes shortly after Christmas-and my family transitioned into our home days later.
We visited a winery, ate more desserts, played the DIY Family Board Game that Bicep’s and I created, and drank lots of coffee.

 

We sat around for hours with the fireplace roaring, chatting into the wee hours of the night. Maxwell became so used to Dakota-my parent’s pooch-that snuggling became commonplace between the two.
The house was full of life, noise, and people.

 

And as my parent’s pulled out of the driveway, we waved back and forth until we couldn’t see one another any longer, with tears falling down our cheeks.
While I take down the Christmas ornaments, the tree, the lights, and the decor, I am surrounded-for the first time in a long time-by silence. I box it all up, cart it up to the attic-the whole while-silent.
Thick, lonely silence.
Some of you may dream of such silence. But silence day after day isn’t so fun anymore.

I sweep, mop, scrub toilets, change out the laundry-more silence.
Sure-I can put on music, and I did. But, there’s not a body here to chat with.
And, it’s weird.

I’m not sure what to do other than make light of the situation and sing, “All by myself, don’t wanna be, all by myself…” just like Bridget Jones did.
Which is even weirder when you are belting that tune out into your broom handle and the mailman catches you as he drops off your daily dose of junk mail.
Sorry about that, Mr. Mailman. Just write it off as a weird, lonely housewife.
I’m sure you’ve seen it all before…

Pruning and Growth-Ouch.

Dear Readers:
Have you ever had everything pruned from your life all at the same time and totally out of the blue, causing you to wonder, “What the heck just happened?!”.
(If so, I would love to hear about it. I think it’s encouraging sometimes to know that you are not alone in the stage of life you are in.)
However, one thing that I have learned-just like in the world of gardening-pruning creates growth.
And, I want to grow.
But sometimes, I don’t enjoy the growing pains. There’s a reason they’re called “pains“.

The first major change in my life this year was losing this guy-Cowboy.

It may be just a cat to the rest of the world, but he was my buddy for eight years. Cowboy rode on my shoulder as I: did the dishes, folded laundry or talked on the phone. He looked for me and would make ewok sounds if he couldn’t find me. He slept on top of me most nights and lept into my lap as soon as I allowed. He passed away too early.
I really didn’t think I could miss an animal this much, but I do.

 

This is not our old church-it’s some Catholic church somewhere..
After attending our church for the last ten years, Biceps and I knew it was time to leave. That meant, the end to him drumming every Sunday morning, the end to us teaching the youth, the end to mowing the lawn and caring for the church’s general overall cuteness factor.
And it also meant the end to our relationships with our pastors and many of our friends.
It was weird to quietly fade into the night. We are presently living in the “Bible belt” so finding another church isn’t a problem. We just want to be at the right one. There are a lot of weird ones out there.

 

Biceps has pretty much quit doing this (kicking butt on stage) for over fifteen years. I have been to thousands of his shows, toured for years with him and his bands, sold merch, drove the bus, did the accounting, wrote the thank-you notes and ate the crappy food.
This life as the band wife has been wonderful and exhausting.

 

But presently, he has started doing this.
No, not serving chili…being a fireman and serving chili at the Firemen’s Chili Feed.
I know, he looks good doing both things, really.

 

And then lastly-my lovely Iweb site crashed earlier this year-leaving me stranded for months without the ability to blog. I lost contact with almost all my blogging buddies, missed out on fantastic link parties and had to rebuild my readership/friends/followers. (Won’t you be my friend, please?)
The Iweb pruning caused some major growth within me.
And while I watched my friend’s blogs grow and grow, I was forced to sit back and save my pennies, waiting to hire someone to rebuild my site in a better platform. This new site is much better, but I am still dealing with the repercussions of being out of the blogging community for almost 8 months.
Unexpectedly, the world didn’t end without my blog up and running.

With each passing year, I gain the growth from pruning-along with a few gray hairs. But isn’t that why gray hairs are referred to as wisdom?
But each trial, each pruning session, has brought me closer to the fact that I know nothing, and reconfirmed that everything I own could blow up and I’d still be ok.
So, with the pruning there are the “pains“.
But, I suppose what I’m saying is that I can survive the pains.