Yesterday was a challenging day for me. I had actual work to do, for which I got up early to get to. I then folded some of the laundry that my husband had so graciously (ahhhhemmm) started. I said that with a little bit of two things on my mind: 1. I was happy to be getting some laundry done, and 2. I really didn’t have time for this as I had 100 things to do yesterday and I was not sure how I was going to get them all done and we were heading to our Mountain House that day and that takes time and I needed to get the cat into the cage to be able to bring her up with us because we have been leaving her home lately and, and, and! No Time! Just No Time!
But then I calmed myself and realized that it was all going to be fine. I ended up taking the dog on a shorter walk than usual (which saved a good half an hour). He is getting older now and can’t deal with the Georgia heat very well, so if I don’t head out early, the walk has to be shorter so I don’t actually kill him. He is such a trooper and just LOVES to walk, but when work calls first thing in the morning, well, work calls. Our dog Benton is also quite patient in the morning – he can sometimes wait until 10 AM to head out for his first walk of the day. We have a great backyard but he rarely goes out of the Back Door. No, our dog goes out the Front Door! My friend nicknamed him a few weeks ago “King Benton” – he really likes the royal treatment!
The “King” sitting in the leaves last fall at our Mountain Home.
I then showered and headed out to Ikea. Oh, Ikea!. (sigh) I have a love/hate relationship with this place. It is so massive, it is a maze to walk through. But this day I had a mission and I actually knew where the items were in the Marketplace. For those of you who have not been, the upper deck is for inspiration and ideas, and features all of their products where you write the item numbers down (or take a pic with your phone – I find this much easier!) and then go find your products later before you check out. The bottom deck is for the “Marketplace” where you can find things from plates to wineglasses to bedding to window dressings to fake plants to art… you get the idea. This is another winding road that can be overwhelming sometimes too. But, again, I was on a mission and I thought I could bang it out pretty quickly. This turned out not to be totally true. I did fairly well, but I def. spent more time there than I had anticipated.
I got hung up on the cute wall art…. We have been re-modeling and re-working all of the bedrooms in our Mountain House, and after quite a lot of thought and walking around the Art Section, I found the cutest furry pink comic cat, and two green ferns to go on either side. The Cat was $4, and the other two prints $5.50. Bargain! I think the frames were around $12. Ikea with all it pathways to the abyss of decorative pillows or lighting, has GREAT prices and is always worth the trip – EVEN if you don’t have time. Ikea makes you find the time.
Here is the Ikea art – in their frames!
As I am driving away from Ikea I have to hit the grocery store, and I was close to my beloved Publix so I popped in quickly and then headed home. Once I arrived there, I got Amy’s (our cat) cage all set up in my car. If she see’s or knows she is about to head out in a car, she freaks out and runs under our guest bed and it is VERY hard to get her out. Our cat is a bit of, can I say, a bitch?!?! She really is – she is sweet with my husband and I, but not with any other humans. And we, even, can push her to her edge sometimes. She is gorgeous! But she also can be quite nasty and hiss and scratch when pushed. BUT, I had confidence that yesterday was the day I was going to get her up to the cabin! It has been WEEKS since she made the trip and I continuously felt awful leaving her alone for the weekend.
I grabbed a bite to eat and packed up the food from the fridge in our traveling cooler bags, packed a few things for me to wear over the weekend and I thought I had Amy fooled! She was on the pillow in the guest room and I thought I was golden. I made a few trips to the car and came back in and she was gone – under the bed! UGH! It’s Always Something.
There she is, Amy Girl with her “tude” and all…
I got everything packed up and then went in to try and get her out. I set the iRobot vacuum to go after her under the bed and she didn’t budge. She just didn’t care. I was close enough to touch her but getting her by the scruff was going to be tricky – and dangerous for my hand! I was up and down from the floor reaching under the bed a bunch of times, then sweat is building up and dripping from my brow as I have the house back door open for a swift escape after apprehending her. More sweat. No cat. She did not budge. I got a broom and moved her a whole bunch around under the bed but she still wouldn’t come out! Then there was hissing, crazy angry hissing! And MORE sweat!!! My head is soaked at this point, and then it hit me, what was I doing???? I was torturing us both!!! It needed to stop, and so it did. I gave up. I filled her bowls with food, emptied the litter box and filled the water bowl and headed to the car.
When at the car, I had to take the cage out that I had so perfectly set up in the car for Amy, and I had my glasses case in my hand and a water for the ride, so I put the water in the cup holder which was very crafty working around the cage, and then I just put the glasses case on top of the car, no problem, I would grab it in a minute. I got the cage out, locked up the house, the car was packed and, finally, I was off!!!
Here they both are – always nearby and wanted whatever it is I am eating!
As I turned left out of the driveway, within a few hundred yards, you guessed it, the glasses case holding a few cherished items; my “readers”, a bracelet a dear friend gave me for my birthday and a pair of earrings that I love all went flying off the car. And I heard it go. So, I went through the light and turned around and parked and looked for the glasses. All of this is happening as I know that traffic to our Mountain Home is building up and I can feel the frustration of both the loss of my glasses and the mountain traffic building, the stress is palpable even in my hands!!! I am so mad at myself. Those readers I have had for about 10 years and were still the perfect fit and script for working on the computer – which I do A LOT!!! Never-mind losing the lovely bracelet and earrings.
Miraculously I found the glasses first! Then the case – broken, but the case was there – in the bushes. The bushes were my clue that I then I knew it was a lost hope for the bracelet and the earrings. Somewhere in the plush green sidewalks of Atlanta lay some beloved pieces of my jewelry. It’s always something.
I then headed north and hit traffic worse than I usually do, due to all the delays of un-intended self-infliction during the day. I arrived at the cabin where my husband had gone earlier in the day with the Dog, and I get there in time to get us both some food, put some Ikea pictures and night stands together (well, Joe did the nightstands), have a glass of wine and finally sit and relax.
There in the fray of life lies the good and the bad. I am so fortunate that I was able to go shopping, get what I wanted, get food, try to help a cat that doesn’t want any help, and find spectacles that enable me to work, but we can’t have everything!
The beautiful view from our deck at our Mountain Home.
The Mountains are a great place to gain perspective and realize that we have more than we don’t and so do our animals. Getting out of the city and away from all the goings on within, is a gift in and of itself. I love to go back when the weekend is done, for the energy, the lovely home we have there too, and, of course, to see our precious Amy.
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