Often folks ask me what do I do all day. Yesterday was a particularly interesting day for a couple of reasons, one mon mari is out of town, and two, my old cat won't use her litter box. Well I almost always start with looking at the flower boxes outside my bedroom terrace, and walk through the garden. My day starts around 8 a.m. and ends no later than midnight, but I am usually up briefly around 3 and 6 because of the cat.
So about today, well, in our house we have the same daily issues as everyone else, depending on what appliances or set up you have. In this case it was carpet cleaning and hot tub cleaning.
So when my neighbor cancelled his english lesson, it was off to Darty for me, to buy the necessary supplies.
Having a hot tub is not something that I would ever choose, but it came with the house. When I threaten to unplug it, Pat says, "oh, don't do it." So it was time to change the water, and clean it. Thank goodness Dad taught me how to make a siphon! Now time for scrubbing the drained tub, but first lunch.
Lunch was a slice of terrine de lapin, on really great bread, and slices of an apple. Check the email, watch a little news, and back to work.
Also on the schedule today, I wanted to shampoo the carpet in an upstairs closet. How does one say carpet shampooer in french? I tried to rent one, but I never did figure that out. So, I bought what looked like a shampooer, alas, it was really a steamer. It works, and with a lot of effort, I think I have successfully cleaned the inside of that closet.
IS that hot tub full yet?
Throughout all of this, I check the email constantly to see if any work has come along, and do whatever shows up as I find it.
So now the fan is blowing in the closet, the hot tub is nearly full, and I have sent some work out. It's now about 5:30 and home, is just about halfway through their day. I have cleaned up Chi Chi's third mess of the day, and done a couple of loads of laundry, and keep thinking what about dinner?
The hot tub is full, so now I need to turn on the jets. Hmm. Why won't they come on? The instructions, thank goodness they are in english just say maybe there is air in the line. Where would one find the bleeder valve? How about the pump union. If my Dad were here, he would know. I took the front off the tub, and that didn't look hopeful. Now I am really hungry, how about stopping for the day. What's that another report has arrived for review....
So now it's 8 pm and I climb on my fabulous cruiser bike, and head into town for dinner. I arrived at the crepe place -- and asked for a table for one. Well that's a topic for conversation -- but no one can ask "where is your husband tonight?"
The waiters wanted to show off their english, so we traded phrases back and forth. And, the waiters were quick to make dinner recommendations. We decided on asperge vinegerette, crepe with potatoes, ground beef and a light kind of cream cheese, and for dessert -- crepe caramelle - fabulous. Perfect for heading home on the velo, and for a reasonably quiet night's sleep.
Just so you know, I did find the instructions for fixing the hot tub on the Internet, this morning, and after a lot of fiddling, it is running smoothly. The closet smells a lot better, and today, I put some mollies in the floor where the screws keep coming out of the carpet strip. I am starting some new bedroom drapes and remembering I have some phone calls to make early this evening (in the middle of your day). These last two days were particularly productive with respect to house chores, but usually there is a lot more professional work taking most of the afternoon.
So that's a sample of a couple of days. Bon journée, au revoir.
