About the noise

   Dear Neighbors,
 
   Some of us don't need to get up at 4am. Or 4:30am. Really, We don't. Our day starts a little later than that, say around 7am. Or at least we would like it to start around that time. We go to bed early enough to wake up refreshed with our alarm each morning, but somehow it just doesn't work out that way.

   Take this morning. You were evidently sharing a ride to work this morning, but when your ride got there, you were not ready to go, so they blew the horn. And blew the horn. And blew the horn. Gotta admit, that is a pretty effective alarm clock. More effective than the dog, who barks for 20 minutes after he goes out to do his business while  shower is running in his household. I know, dogs bark and I get that. And there are mice that run alongside the fence and the garage and he likes to chase them and bark at them. Every morning. But I was finally sleeping through this morning ritual. The horn was new. And unwelcome.

   Especially after last night's firework display. Apparently the show truck down the street with the loud muffler and smokestacks that shoot fire won a car show or something, because at 11:30pm, they woke me up putting off a firework display and revving their engines in celebration of something. It was short lived, but I was awake and struggled to go back to sleep. And I did, for awhile.

   Bu then there was the slamming of a car door and an argument. I don't even have the window's open! Haven't for some time. Someone works nights and gets home at 2am, has a cigarette and talks loudly on the cell phone. Sometimes they play the music in their car with the door open before going in and heading off to bed. This time it is a slamming door and an argument over the phone that I can hear through closed windows. I admit, I don't just close the windows due to the noise, we also have a broken skunk in the area whose scent is stuck in the on position and seems to have a fondness for taking a pass down our block. I actually woke up gagging one night. Too bad the passes can't be timed for around 2am ish....

   It was once suggested that I move to the country, where I could enjoy peace and quiet to my heart's delight. But I am not a farmer and not entirely sure what we would do for work. I have always been a city kid and a heavy sleeper, but lately it has been to little avail. And I live in the suburbs for crying out loud! I would never dream of mowing my lawn at 5:30am, or working on the roof at 6am, or revving my motorcycle for fifteen minutes on the corner before the sun dared to shine. Heck, what am I talking about? I can't even get some decent sleep lately, let alone dream.

   Perhaps you don't realize how much your voice carries. You might talk quieter if you knew just how much of your intimate conversation I could repeat, word for word. Honestly. Maybe you are angry and getting even with the neighbors down the block who decided to have their trees taken out last Saturday and Sunday starting at 6am each morning on your precious days off when you get to sleep in. Maybe you never considered bonding with your dog in the morning for a few fulfilling minutes and letting him back in the house before you shower. And I get that it is not every day you have something worth celebrating.

   As I struggle through this Monday morning with my coffee in hand all I ask is that you think about others as your go through your daily routine. And please try to keep it down tomorrow morning. I don't have a particularly good sense of humor in the morning.

 
 

The Dishwasher! Oh how I love thee....

   I love my dishwasher. It is such a great invention! Dishes go in and magically come out clean - well, most of the time. It uses less water than I do. It takes less of my time and energy, and can work even when I am in bed or not home. And usually there is not a sink full of dirty dishes!

And look how tidy everything looks!

Everyone who knows me knows that I am big on tidy! 

All the untidy is inside, see?

   It is not just the dirty dishes filling in the sink that make me nuts, I can't stand strainers and dishes waiting to be put away. It's like some kind of glaring beacon that shines out every time I enter the kitchen that says "YOU STILL HAVE ONE MORE THING TO DO!"

   When there were seven people living in my house, I gave thanks to God two to three times a day for such a modern marvel in my own home. On holidays and birthdays, I often gave thanks four times a day - that was how often the dishwasher was running! Without this blessing (which was one of those innovative Birthday-Anniversary gifts from my family,) I would have nothing more than raisin like nubs at the end of my hands. As I mentioned before, my dishwasher is far more efficient than I am with water and soap usage. It doesn't get distracted by the phone or the doorbell or shiny objects out the window. Should I mention that it often does a better job than I do?  I dislike scalding hot water that is needed to get scum off plates and silverware, I have to pee every time I turn on the water and my sink only has one basin, making the whole rinse thing a royal pain in the butt!  If I ever win the publishers clearing house and remodel the kitchen, I will have a dual basin sink, if only to admire the maid cleaning the pots that just won't fit in the dishwasher after all the dishes from the meal have been loaded in!

   Personally I would rather have a dishwasher than a stove. Fear not, no one would starve, there are dishwasher recipes out there that practically renders the stove obsolete. Don't believe me, take a look at Dishwasher Recipes. And that is just for starters. There are images, cookbooks and articles galore on the joys of cooking in your dishwasher!

   The only thing standing in the way of ousting the stove out of our kitchen is the fact that the dishwasher is usually full. Just no room in there for food. Sometimes it is full of dirty dishes awaiting the press of a button, and sometimes it is full of clean dishes eagerly looking forward to their much anticipated journey home to the cabinets. Although I cannot stand a strainer full of clean dishes, I am pretty good at ignoring the little green light that tells me "All is clean inside, okay to unload." It is just a little green light, unobtrusive and quiet.

   I have made everything about emptying the dishwasher easy as it can be. The cabinets where the dishes get put away is directly above the dishwasher. The silverware drawer is in easy arms reach of the modern marvel. You hardly have to move at all to unload. Yet there the dishes sit in the quiet darkness of stainless steel, dry and expectant.

    Quite frankly, I would rather clean all the bathrooms in the house three times a week. Mow my grass in a rainstorm. Carry heavy loads of laundry up and down the stairs every day of the week. Reorganize all the closets in my house (okay, most of them). Put a new roof on the house and paint the siding. Anything but empty the dishwasher.

  You might ask  "What is the big deal with unloading a load of dishes and putting them away?" Now that there are only three of us living here, it doesn't even need to be done all that often, maybe one every day or two. The set up is simple, right? Not tired out from having to scrub the scum off all of them, I should have the energy to empty it, right?

   Maybe I like the thought that someone else could perform this task just as well as I can. Anyone can empty the dishwasher. Maybe I am a procrastinator.

 Maybe I just like that little green light. 

Feast of the Guardian Angels

   Yesterday was the Feast of the Guardian Angels. Considering how much work those angels do in our family, I supposed we should have had a celebration for them.

In this household, they get a pretty good workout! Just look at some of the crisis they have handled in the past two years.

There was a guardian angel with my husband when he dropped a heavy crate on his head and was not wearing his hard hat. The angel probably gave him more sympathy than I did.

Ouch!

And I definitely think there was one watching over my daughter when she fell off her swing set and had a bad, scary landing.

Can you believe an hour later she was hopping around the ER?

Hey look, another ER visit, this time with dad. Hmmm, starting to see a trend.

Dad

Same hospital, different family member. I recognize the doctors. I know where to find the good free coffee here. Incidentally, they don't provide alcohol for family members. Or calming drugs.

Brother

We can't even take a vacation without action. Fortunately we were spared the tornados and made it out before the flash flooding. We were blessed that the flooding stopped before it swamped our camper.

That's a lot of flashing lights.

Our Camper is the one on the right.

Instant swimming pool.

Then there was this. Really, not as bad as it looked, and no one was hurt.

I met a wasp on vacation. No ER this time, YAY!

 

I might have been upset if I knew there was a tornado in the vicinity. Again, angels watching out for us.

And this was just coming home from gathering at relatives house!

   After seeing all these photos, I am reminded just how blessed our family is. 

   I decided to look up ways to celebrate the Feast of the Guardian Angels (I know, a day late) and found a cute web site geared toward families with kids that had all kinds of craft projects (and I mean ones you can actually do with kids and have the results come out looking like the pictures), cookies (these looked do-able too) and activities you could do with your children to celebrate. I thought this was pretty neat. We could read books, do crafts, bake or sing....well okay, maybe not sing. My daughter discourages my singing. I think we will celebrate today (better late than never) by baking cookies. Perhaps our guardian angels would like that. They sure could use a break. I imagine that they celebrate too.

   I think ours might be out having a drink or two.