24 Hours of Madness

This weekend, my husband was gone for 24 hours. So, for all intents and purposes, I had 24 hours to get in as much trouble as possible. 

To be honest, my idea of trouble varies. And this weekend, “trouble” really is all about trying to do as much as I can -- things I can’t always get done with him around.

So, here’s the plan:

Hour, by hour, I’m going to do a little of something else. Things, I haven’t been able to get to in a while, since, as this was a holiday weekend, I’ll have the time. I hope.

Here’s the list:

• Finish the baby blanket for a friend’s shower next weekend
• Go through the winter and summer clothes -- pack away the summer stuff and put out the winter stuff (and get rid of things I’m never going to wear again)
• Finish up projects I started for Christmas and Birthdays (a lot more knitting, but some jewelry making)
• Watch my programs -- I have a lot of TV to catch up on. Weekends are usually my time, but we’ve been off and running for several weeks now. I have A LOT of shows I haven’t seen.
• Get some exercise.
• Most importantly: Writing. I have several …. let’s call them projects... that need finishing. and without my darling dearest, it gives me a good chance

Shall I share with you the results of my insanity?
---
What really happened:
Sunday: 

12:35 PM - Dropped MDD at the airport, kissed him good-bye and drove home. After stopping at Costco for gas, I got home around 1 PM, in time to eat lunch.

1:30 PM - Lunch eaten, I sat down to watch NCIS and get my head around ideas... and to work on that baby blanket.

2:15 PM  - On to Elementary. I have a real love for police procedurals, and it’ll -- I hope -- really help with this thing I’m working on. We’ll see. Making progress with baby blanket, but slower now. Genn came online and we started chatting a little. I explained a twitter post about causing trouble for the next 24 hours and together we decided this sounded like a good post.... We shall see... ;)

3:00 PM - Another episode of Elementary. Started working on this post.

3:30 PM - Gave in to a strong pull to my “special-treat” cookies in the cupboard. Paused Elementary.

3:42 PM  - Remembered why I haven’t been eating the Hobnobs in the cupboard and after attempting to pry just one cookie ended in a crumbled disaster, pulled out the meat cleaver to get the rest of the one cookie off along with another. As I looked at the mess on the cutting board, I realized why MDD hates it when I get “creative” in the kitchen. It looks like I had a fight with the cookie monster. Blocked off the disaster area with a small, mental reminder that I would have to clean that up before he gets home. Turned lights on, getting shadowy in here. Started up Elementary again.

4:00 PM  - Finally finished watching the second elementary episode. I now have a headache, not sure why. Debated playing an episode of something else. Grimm, maybe.

4:11 PM - Grimm it is. Although, perhaps an ibuprofen and a stomach med before I get watching anything else.

4:30 PM - Apparently paused Grimm too long and had to replay it again. From the beginning. Not sure I’m interested anymore.

4:40 PM - Paused Grimm again, although letting it run would have been smarter, since NBC seems to have fast forward turned off of their on-demand selections and I hadn’t even made it to the last stopping point. While in the bathroom, it turned itself off again, leading to a need for another restart. Definitely not that interested in Grimm, seeing as my headache still hasn’t improved and I’m wondering if last night’s congestion might be to blame. Or sitting up part of the night to cough. In addition, I seem to have a problem with the downstairs toilet. Will not be using that again until I get a plummer. (I told him we needed to have someone look at it!)

4:44 PM - Brainbox HURRRRTS. Apparently ibuprofen and tea have not helped. Maybe dinner might, except that lunch gave me heartburn. Note to self: no more stew, leftover, fresh restaurant or otherwise that looks like it came out of a Dinty Moore can. At least I know what happened with last night’s heartburn.

4:47 PM  - Nothing in the fridge looks like anything other than heartburn to me, including the cheeses I was planning to make dinner with. 

5:04 PM  - After spending several minutes screwing around on twitter looking -- in vain -- for a LBD update post, decided dinner was a good plan. Head still hurts, but I need to eat something... maybe Chicken Out delivers...?

5:11 PM - Might help if I put in the correct town in the online delivery ordering service, wouldn’t it?

5:16 PM  - Chicken Out says they don’t deliver. Went to carryout.com. Not really interested in spending the $6 fee to have food delivered, especially when there’s a $25 minimum (not inclusive). After debating a bit, I think it might just be easier for me to go out and get something myself. Now where?

5:30 PM  - Personal Dinner Debate interrupted by a call from MDD. We chatted a bit. I left out the bit about the plumbing, but discussed the more savory topic of dinner. He agrees. Chicken Out. Now what am I going to have.....

6:14 PM - How much tip do you apply to a dinner that won’t be delivered and won’t be served...?

6:21 PM - Order is placed. Time to head out and get grub. Still chuckling that their ordering portion of the website has “gimmegrub” as part of the weblink.

6:28 PM - On my way out the door, I realize that I probably need to add “put away Halloween decorations” to my to-dos.

7:01 PM - Hurray! Food! I returned home with my order, a few extra grey hairs, and some treats from a nearby patisserie to compensate. Note to the woman who got out of her car at the intersection: just because your lane is stopped doesn't mean other lanes are not stopped. Do not play fire drill or chicken with traffic. In the dark. Wearing dark clothes. Not everyone wants to have to deal with what comes next from mowing you down because we didn't see you and you happened to decide that you needed something from the duffle in the back seat. I realize that i may only have an hour and a half left of personal functionality, bed times having averaged around 8:30 the last couple of days (!!).

7:33 PM - Full, no headache, almost sleepy. Must be time to get started on writing FICTION! :) Maybe I’ll watch a little Haven while I’m at it....

8:24 PM - No words, but no headache. A little sleepy. Fixed and cleaned the broken toilet. Realized I need to add another couple of small things to my list... Crap. Why am I not a night owl? Okay, me, notepad, shower, bed.

9:00 PM - zzzzzzz

Monday: 

4:30 AM - Huh? Mr. Cat? Food time? K... remind me to clean the kitchen in the morning...

7:30 AM - Can’t sleep any more, not really feeling like getting out of bed. Time to watch more TV.... for the next three hours. Cat enjoys the cuddle time in bed, I think.

10:30 AM - Finally decide to go downstairs... to watch more TV and have breakfast... seriously, I don’t think I’ve watched this much TV in years. Or ever. Although the blanket is really coming along. I might have it done today...

12:26 PM - I should probably find food. It’s been a while since I had a croissant and tea. Cheese sounds good. And the last of the Dakota bread. Maybe something else, too. Kitchen is a little cleaner.... I guess....

1:11 PM - Grimm is done. I need to really get out of my pjs. What a wasted day! Maybe one more....

2:20 PM - With about 2 hours left of daylight, I finally break the siren call of the TV -- having finished all programs I could glut. Time to run out to do errands.

3:30 PM - Return home with cat food and buttons. Now, what else did I need to do today?

3:45 PM - Talked to MDD. He’ll be back by 7:30. Err... I need to do some cleaning, methinks.

4:20 PM - Dinner time!

4:30 PM - Distracted from soup by the baby blanket. Got it done while chatting with Genn. Sweeeeet. 

5:00 PM - Got my buttons on two other projects.

5:20PM - Mom called. I spend the next hour getting on and off the phone with mom, sorting my summer clothes and talking to Genn when mom hops off the phone. I tell you, my mom can’t be on the phone longer than 5 minutes at a time. Still in an hour of on-off, I manage to get a story about her near accident this weekend and get a large pile of things to put away for the winter. I may need to get more blouses.

6 PM - Twitter war with Genn. This goes on for some time and there are casualties in both dignity and grace. There may have been others dragged in to our sordid discussion.

7 PM - Oh Crap. MDD will be home soon!!


7:10 PM - Gathered my shizzat and headed for the door! I’m late! Driving to the airport, I pass no less than 8 cop cars in various locations and 10 cars pulled over for no apparent reason along the stretch of a mile on the road into the airport. Isn't there a cellphone waiting area?

7:37 PM - Picked MDD up at the airport. When asked how my day went, I answered “Just fine.” 

… 8:50 PM - Remembered that today was indeed Monday and this -- THIS -- is my Monday post. Ooops. Posted.

So, I finished the first four items on my list. I never did get my exercise in or my story writing so it looks like I'll be paying a penalty to my fellow bloggers. All-in-all, still, not a bad day! What say you?

Tune in on Wednesday for Jenny's Cupcake and hopefully there will be a few surprises along the way.

Happy Veterans' Day!