weekend...

So here I am on a late early train. Meaning that, I showed up for my usual train and people were crowding the platform waiting for the EARLIER train, which was late. It showed up just as I was getting out of my car, so I think I'll get to the city earlier than usual.

The weekend was occupied with hardcore cleaning. Friday, the wife and I tackled the upstairs landing, which doesn't seem like it should take a whole day given that it isn't even exactly a ROOM, but it's a large area... more an L shaped hallway than a "landing" really.... that's just what we call it, and it tends to accumulate piles of stuff that are destined to make the trip downstairs or have been tossed up the stairs. Add to that the piles of crap ON the stairs, and you have a good 4 hours of cleaning for two people.

The kids had a half-day of school, so when they got home, we piled into the van and headed to Ikea. (We need a new reclinerish seating piece for the living room.) Didn't like any of their chairs, so we got off easy... just $104, which for us in Ikea is NOTHING. We got some funky panel curtains for the sliding glass doors, nothing else too exciting.

Saturday, we told the kids we would tackle their rooms. Spent the whole day... the wife in the girl's room and me in the boy's, and barely made a dent. Spent the whole day Sunday getting them CLEAN clean. Tossed out two lawn-sized trash bags full of trash and junk-toys, pulled out another full of stuffed animals (68!) to donate, and piled 3 boxes full of stuff in a pile to hand-down, craigslist, or pack away for posterity. The kids are both STUNNED at how BIG their rooms are. Amazing how seeing-the-floor creates that perception, huh?

The wife's parents are coming in a week and a half or so, so we are attempting to get the house visitor-ready by tackling the low-traffic areas first, given that a cleaned living room or kitchen only lasts 24-48 hours. I think the plan is to do our bedroom tonight while watching the mediocre-Monday-comedies, then maybe hit the basement tomorrow, since everyone is off for the Rosh Hashanah.

Other than this sort of activity, there isn't much to blog about. Oh, we did poison the dog... those of you who keep up with the Twittter have heard. (Those of you who don't.... it's really where all the minute-by-minute action takes place anymore.) I mean... the dog poisoned HERSELF, but it was kind of our fault that the boy's Albuterol for his nebulizer was sitting on the stairs, where the dog isn't supposed to go, but she DID, and she seems to have mostly eaten the contents of 2 vials of it. My wife called the vet who was closed and told her to call the emergency vet who told her to call the ASPCA poison hotline who told us to give them $65 before they would even talk to us. So we decided just to keep an eye on her. She seemed fine, although at one point I measured her pulse and it was 188. Not that I knew what her resting pulse rate is, but for a medium breed puppy, I think 120 is normal, MAYBE 150. So I'm reading up on side effects of Albuterol and tachycardia in dogs and whatnot, and decided she would probably be fine. Which she was.

So, one day of work, one day "off", and then October hits the fan. Committee meetings start, then the month of Art & Science events that I am to a large extent responsible for. The calendar is insanely full until the first week of November, when I have to go to a conference in Providence for 3 days. After that, things should let up. Until then, don't expect too much from me.