Resolutions

 A new year looms large in our future. While I am not excited about the prospects for peace, the date will change whether I am ready or not.

Christmas was very quiet this year. The oven situation is still not resolved. Not to worry. HeWho is NOT the master of gift giving bought a new appliance for me. He has never been one to choose an appropriate gift. He does try, bless his heart.

He has been a giver of strange gifts throughout the last 50 years. He has gifted me trashcans and clothespins (I asked for them, I needed them, and we spent all of our budget on the kids when they were little). He once presented me with 40 lbs of compost manure for Mother's Day. In his defense, I had said I needed to fertilize my garden beds, but he could have included a nice plant. I have learned that I should not make statements or hint at what I might want. Now I will be very specific about things I want. I got into the habit of buying myself a gift, wrapping it and putting his name on it as the giver. The kids got wise to my shenanigans long before he did. Anyhoo, he bought a countertop oven that also air fries and has a rotisserie attachment.

It works well enough, but on a small scale. I made cornbread and crescent rolls. But mass baking of cookies is out of the question.

Resolutions for me include organizing my many storage buildings and my house. To facilitate this, I thought it would be best to start with a clean house. I have been cleaning for the past three days. One day was devoted to the RV. You could eat from the floor; it is so clean! That same day HeWho helped clean Dora's habitat. Dora is our turtle that started out the size of a bottle cap. She is now the size of my hand. Not just my palm, but my whole hand.

 As she grows, she eats more; and as a result of that she poops more. And as a result of that, her habitat gets cleaned more often. This is a lengthy affair that starts with pumping the water into a bucket and delivering that turtle poop water to the garden. Then the habitat goes outside to be cleaned with the hose.

In warm weather, this is an occasion for Dora to go outside with it and enjoy the sunshine and a walk in the grass. I know turtles are supposed to be slow, but she could enter a race as she tries to avoid capture by me before she tumbles down the ravine. Cold weather finds her impatiently waiting in the bathtub for her habitat to be ready for her. She loves a clean habitat. She has recently started eating two worms a day. She likes her floating food sticks, but she is wild about dried shrimp. Of course that is the more expensive option. Dora, the diva.

I continued cleaning this morning. My washing machine has been going non-stop, and I am exhausted. For the past couple of weeks, I have been unable to open any of my favorite blogs. This has proved to be extremely annoying. The only way I can read them is to open them from Facebook and if I comment, it signs me up as anonymous. I have an appointment with a tech on the 6th. By then I will be disabled from all this cleaning and should be able to devote my time to catching up with all of you.

My self-appointed break is over. Time to reload the washer and dryer and then bathe the boy dogs. I should probably think about supper ..... take-out sounds good!