It's A Dirty Job

 Growing up the only girl on a big ranch had its downsides.  There was no one to play with, which apparently started my obsession with stuffed animals.  Dolls were not acceptable ... too girly!!  I went for the stuffed cows, bears and critters.  My entire bed was covered with them.  

Eventually they all disappeared, so when I would find something weird, like a life-sized owl puppet, I would buy it.  Anteaters, skunks, opossums ... anything that was not the norm.  I still have a couple here and there, but I was surprised when Jim noticed the big critter sitting on the couch.  

Meet GRIZZ.  I found him while driving around Alaska the summer of 2012.  I seat belted him in to the passenger seat so he could be my navigator.  I've tried to find a home for him on a couple of occasions, but alas ... he now resides on the whorehouse couch and still keeps me company.

Time to get back to work.  With my back not bothering me much at all in the mornings, I took to a dirty job.  Cleaning is not my forte, as you well know.  I'm pretty sure this shelf hasn't been dusted since I got here.  Not that I had any inclination to dust, but both shelves were packed to the gills with cookbooks.  Weird for someone who doesn't cook any more.  

Some people read novels, I read cookbooks.  Or at least I used to when I cooked experimental stuff most every day.  It's crazy that I have this many because 14 years ago I had the stash down to ten.  Look at it now!!

All that work brought about hunger pains for something delicious ... and different.  This is a grilled cheese sandwich with corned beef on homemade bread.  YUM!!  I have to admit, that bread beats anything from the store!!

MORE dirty jobs ensued.  I spent two hours cleaning out the deep recesses of my spare bedroom closet.  It's the perfect dumping ground.  No pictures, since I doubt you want to see piles of comforters and decorator pillows.   I don't know where THAT obsession came from!  Apparently I thought I would change out the "look" every season.  Now it only gets changed if I have company.

I can't believe my back is still feeling happy as a clam.  I got down on the floor to do a couple exercises the Doc gave me.  Boy was THAT a mistake.  When you get close, you can see all the spiders and bugs.  I suppose the spiders are good, because all the bugs were dead under an inch thick layer of dirt.  

No vacuum was going to fix this.  I got a wet rag and came up with my OWN exercises ... wiping down the windowsills and scrubbing the floor, which quite frankly were the same stretching exercises as the Doc had given me.  At least it will look somewhat better when the carpet is replaced.  I've been wanting to do that for the 14 years I've been living here.

I finished up just in time to feel a little sore coming back in that rib.  I thought I might be feeling a little rough around the edges this morning, but surprise ... I'm just fine.  Not that I'm going to go lift any boxes or anything!!

About 2:00 I got a call from my realtor.  FINALLY!!!  Some good news.  Remember the house leveler guy who said there were NO tie downs under the house, causing panic in my realtor and myself?  She wanted to hire an Engineer immediately.  That would have happened anyway, since all lenders require that inspection.

I paid $300 for the guy to come out and see if there were any tie downs.  I even had an estimate of $2000-3000 to have them installed.  Well guess what.  It HAS tie downs and passed inspection with an A+.  Had I known this is what they looked like, I would have known I HAD them.  Woohoo!

Next up ... that request to replace the galvanized water pipes.  Their inspector said the galvanized pipe outside the house was fine and water pressure was perfect.  Later in the report he stated that galvanized pipe should be replaced because water pressure will eventually decrease.  He even said they should BUDGET for it.  

I took that to mean the pipes are just fine NOW.  I'm not going to pay to have them all replaced for something that may or may NOT happen in the future.  

I declined their request.  So now we shall see what happens from here.  I'm on pins and needles.  Waiting goes right along with cleaning ... it's not my strong suit.

The weather guessers have predicted rain today, so I guess I have to go move all that stuff I stacked outside the back door.  Anything waterproof ... stays!!!