How did this come to be here?

You are probably asking yourself how this sofa came to be out on the curb.  Allow me to explain.

I took my son to the hardware store to get supplies to make a bottle garden.  He got a book from school about making one and was excited about the prospect.  (you get a wide-mouthed bottle.  We used a fish bowl.  Put an inch of gravel in the bottom.  Place a half inch of crushed charcoal on top of that.  Then add four inches of potting soil.  Plant in some small plants. Place in a sunny place.  We didn't cover it as the plants we selected were too tall for a cover.  It was fun. )

On our way home, after about 45 minutes being out and about, I spotted a sofa and love seat on the curb in front of a neighbor's house with a sign stating they were free.  I'm fascinated by the idea of free-ganing.  That's a lifestyle where one gets as many things for free as possible.  It involves dumpster diving and trolling Craigslist.  Grocery stores take our their trash right before closing, this is supposed to be the best time to check their receptacles.  Apartment dumpsters at the end of the month are rumored to be good, since people are tossing stuff as they move out and in.  Find out when the local area's are scheduled for large item pick up days and cruise for big things.  Go to garage sales late in the afternoon and offer to take stuff off their hands.  There are rumored to be 1000 free-gans in Manhattan.  They use some of the things they find and they sell other things.  I find this very interesting. 


We've been needing a new sofa for some time.  The one we had was cheap to begin with and we've been hard on it for seven years.  I'd recovered the seat cushions and made new pillows but it was getting sad.

After getting my boy child into the house and sending him to wake up his father, I ran up the street to claim them.  They were in really good shape.  Obviously they'd been sat on, but they were very clean.  They'd fit in our living room!  They were light brown!  That goes with everything!  It didn't even need to be Febreezed!

I started to push the love seat down the street towards my house, five houses down.  Thanks be to the deity of your choice that it was downhill.  I can lift big urns of coffee but cardio isn't exactly my forte.  I pushed with my legs and after much huffing and puffing I got it in front of our house.

I ran back for the sofa.  It was bigger.  Shit.  I pushed it for one driveway to pass by and stopped to rest.  At this point, my excellent next door neighbors were driving up the street and stopped to help me out.  Again, thanks be to the deity of your choice.  The three of us got the two pieces of furniture into the house, totally blocking the front door.  I hoped there wouldn't be a spontaneous fire.  Then I remembered we have a back door and a garage door and forgot about it.

I started to shove furniture around.  The amount of debris under the couch was ridiculous, as usual.  Empty Capri-Suns, dust bunnies, Legos, a butter wrapper, you get the idea.  After a bunch of Tetris-ing I was able to get the old couch to the front door.  I kept the throw pillows so I could take out the batting and make new pillows for the new/used stuff.

I then shoved the old couch outside and flipped it over.  The amount of debris that fell out of the thing was also ridiculous.  Tweezers, a couple of table knives, playing cards, a pair of underpants belonging to my son and a lot of crumbs. Again, you get the idea. 

Once the old sofa was at the curb, I stuck a sign on it letting anyone who came by know it was free.

Then I spent an hour and a half sweeping, mopping and moving the new/used furniture around until it was arranged to my satisfaction.

Small problem.  I have two big chairs that I need to figure out what to do with.  I think they'll go up in the playroom, the big room upstairs in the front of the house.  The kids can jump around on them as much as they like.

My daughter came home from the sleepover she'd been to the night before and immediately called dibs on the love seat.  Then my son said she couldn't call dibs on it because he'd already called dibs on it.  I broke it up saying it belonged to the whole family, their dad would probably end up sitting there and besides, I'd already piled a bunch of clean laundry on it.

As The Husband watched me shove and sweep and huff and puff he raised his eyebrows.  After he was out of the shower and off to work, he said "Okay, if you decide to bring anymore garbage in the house ask me first."

But I'm refusing to sneeze.  New/used furniture!  Yay!  I'm sitting on one right now. 

The old couch is still out in front of my house with it's sign.  I've also listed it on Craigslist saying it's free.

Here's to free!

Amanda's beauty tip of the day:  Coconut oil makes a great addition to your routine.  It can be used for a deep conditioner and a moisturizer. 

After half a year I whine and beg for attention.

I'm really depressed today.

I mean, life isn't BAD. The Husband and I are reconciling and it's going very well, better than I ever would have anticipated.  I like my job at the big, corporate, coffee company.  I even like my co-workers.   I have a trip out of town to look forward to. I'll be getting together with a bunch of other whackos to spend the night in a house where a bunch of people were killed and the place is supposed to be haunted.  (I'm wondering if we need to start a pool listing who will nope the hell outta there and after how many hours.  Could be big money!) 

Anyway, life isn't bad.  However, I'm the only one in the fam who is not sick right now.  The Daughter came down with it first.  Cough, fever, congestion, standard fare.  We though it was cedar fever.  (Allow me to explain.  Here in central Texas, there are a LOT of allergens.  We have so many allergens that the news gives an allergy report.  This time of year is cedar season.  If you have a response to cedar stuff that makes you sneeze and cough and stuff, it's called Cedar Fever.) 

But then her brother came down with it.  I was sitting on the couch with him watching the boob tube when he said "Mama?"

I turned to him to see what he was going to say.  Instead of speaking, he coughed in my face.  *sigh* 

Then I came down with it, but I only had it for two days.  On both of those days I went to work.  If I can't get someone to cover my shift, I have to work. 

Then The Husband was knocked flat by the great bug that shall not be named. He's dealing with fever, sniffles and coughing.  When he's feeling well enough he's continuing to go into work where, prior to getting sick, he's been putting in 12 hours a day, six days a week trying to get a project completed on time.  He's just one of the pieces of the puzzle, but every piece counts. 

The Daughter has had residual cough for a week.  Doc says it's a virus and drip is causing her cough, just have to ride it out.  The Son's asthma is acting up, he's coughing. 

I'm trying to take care of everyone.  And while I"m doing this, I'm looking at the disaster that is known as my house looking back at me.  Stacks of laundry that need to be done or folded.  Some of the clean stuff has gotten knocked out of the baskets onto the floor and is now dirty laundry again.  There are the dishes that have been stacked up and there's no way one load of dishes a day can keep up.  The drifts of dog hair along the base boards.  The dust all over everything.  The Christmas tree is still up. The backyard is still looking like a junkyard.  There is trash on the floor, including used tissues that have missed the wastepaperbasket  but have been left where they land.  And that's just downstairs.

Both kids were supposed to go back to school this week, but one or both of them were at home every day this week.  If they're home they need things.  Water. Crackers. Noodles. Over-the-counter remedies.  The remote.  Blankets.  Tissues.  Tea.  Oh no, they don't like tea but they forgot.

I've managed to list some stuff on ebay that no one is interested in.

I'm totally overwhelmed and I have no idea what to do.  I just want to be by myself.  I want to be somewhere where no one is coughing.  I want to be somewhere where no one is asking me for anything, where there aren't any chores that need to be done staring me in the face, reminding me of how I'm failing at this whole "making the house a home" thing.  I sit and try to chill out but then I beat myself up for not interacting with the kids enough. 

This has been going on for going on 8 days.  It sounds really fucking selfish, whining and complain-y, but I'm wondering when my energy is going to give out.  I'm emotionally wrung out.  I'm physically tired.  And now I've logged on to my blog for the first time in six months so I can bitch and beg for attention.

I'm a winner Corny.

Amanda's beauty tip of the day:  I can't think of one right now, my brain won't bend that way today.