New Mornings

My days used to start like this: Beeeep!!! Shmuttle Shmuttle murmer grumble (goes the alarm clock and the radio alarm tuned to NPR). Stretch, Yaaaaaawn..o..no.....not a weekday...ANYTHING but a weekday-maybe I forgot to turn off the alarm and it's really Saturday...wait...that's the morning stock report...crap I'm so late! Now my days start the following way: Streeetc-OW! oww oOW!! Yaaaawn-cough splutter-"What!?! IS THAT IN MY MOUTH!!! WHY DO I HURT!?!?!!" and the eventual realization that my mouth isn't under attack from some giant glob of dried glue but instead am biting down on my new mouth guard assigned to arrest the nightly attempts at grinding my teeth to pulp. Then grudgingly allowing that I most likely wasn't beaten in the night by some strong guy with a large stick, but in fact am ridiculously sore from whatever small task I foolishly thought I was in good enough shape for the day before. I stumble out toward the kitchen spitting my nightguard into the bathroom as I pass and blindly grope for the coffee pot. In some households people go through the nightly ritual of making sure the house is locked up, cars put safely away, and people question each other to make sure everything is secure before they drift off. In my family however, the main question...well really the only question asked before people go to bed is..."Is the coffee ready for tomorrow?" Usually my first actual complete thought in the morning is a feeling of gratitude for this remarkable foresight. There is no sleepy grinding, pouring or measuring..no! This is all done in the evening when the mind is sharp and focused, not left to the caffeine deprived state of Morning. It's a beautiful system.

My days now are passed in attacking what has become labeled "Moze's Mighty List" which is a wish list of sorts, compiled of everything large and small that could be accomplished on a 5 acre parcel of land. Most of the tasks are in the small range, although I suspect if my Dad was given access to it things like "Plant Vineyard and establish New Winery customer list" may surreptitiously appear on it. The thing about this list is that it's very sneaky indeed. It grows in the night! I wake up in the morning and peruse it only to find that the evening before (when I must have have fallen victim to too much sun...or wine...or both) I adventurously added new tasks willy nilly!! Clearly not taking into account the man with the big stick who MUST beat me in the night making me so sore upon waking. What's great however is the ability to look out at not a stack of signed and dated time cards as was the case a few weeks ago, but at actual progress- physical THINGS that have gotten done. Small...and really not that earth shattering tasks, but visible nonetheless (or at least untill the advancing Spring grows in and covers it all up...which probably happened during the time it took to write this blog). And being able to see that...is great. Hopefully I'll have some pictures soon so YOU can see it too..but for now you'll have to trust me and that guy with the stick.

Off at full tilt!

If this isn't a story straight out of Monty Python...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/7981904.stm

Week 2 Limbo lifestyle - Roughing it urban style

I have a problem- no it's really more of an addiction that I just can't seem to kick. So subtle, so pervasive was this problem that untill my source was yanked out from under me, I didn't even realize I was dependent! I got my fix sometimes mutliple times a day without batting an eye! Wasn't even claiming I could quit whenever I wanted. My dirty little secret? Promise you won't judge... I Love to shower! Yes it's true. Even further, I love HOT showers. I've been the butt of more than one joke pointed at my love of hot, slightly longer than normal showers. Which is why, on day 1 of week 2 in my limbo lifestyle, I found myself entirely befuddled at 6:30am staring at the ice cold water spewing out of the shower head in the apartment I was "sitting". Now as much as I love hot water, (and believe me, I could write Odes to it) I hate cold showers. I have been known to end my shower on cold from time to time, but that was only after cranking the heat up to skin scalding levels that made the switch to cold bearable. After staring at the shower and watching icicles form (only slightly exaggerating) I dumbly trudged into the OTHER shower - "Surely the problem is localized" I thought, ignoring my construction site upbringing and shusshing the memories of making plumbing house calls with my father. Amazingly not only was the water cold in shower number two, but out of all of the faucets in the house as well! What are the odds! By the time I had established this fact in my still sleepy, yet oh so scientific way it was nearing 7 and my window for both making it on time-ish to work and not looking like a porqupine on speed was narrowing. I showered and I'm pretty sure I set a record for the fastest one ever taken. That night, with a help desk call put in to my aformentioned "He-can-fix/build-anything" Dad. I scoured the building, creeping into dark and webby places looking for the water heater that I might ether then fix or kick (I hadn't decided). Unfortunately niether was to be, and I embarked on what could be called an Urban Adventure! While my dear friend Chelsea was home, I soaked up the hot water at her house. I found myself prowling the streets in my brave little Jetta, peering up into peoples warm-lit houses at night...."bet they have hot water"...I'd mumble before puttering off into the night. Chelsea however, was forced off to Orlando on business, and this week I have taken to the gym showers with something less than gusto. Maybe it's the fact that I dont like other peoples shower water running in from their stalls and pooling around my feet in inches of soapy-post workout mystery, maybe its the fact that I can't seem to remember everything I need and that Shampoo ALWAYS falls to the wayside so I end up using the gym shampoo that makes my hair feel like I washed it with a bar of Dial. Who can say? What I do know is that if, after a week of twice a day workouts, I don't start looking like a super model, and I mean SERIOUSLY (the hair, skin and full makeup crew included) I'm going to be extremely disgruntled! ....which now that I think about it, is pretty much par for the course...so maybe not that different after all.