Ten on Tuesday

1. What was left of Hurricane Ike blew through our neck of the woods Sunday afternoon and knocked out our power.

2. I was surprised that we lost power. In Florida, it takes a lot more than a little wind and rain to put us in the dark. Summer storms in Florida can be pretty violent. And while it was very windy, I would not call it anywhere near violent. We (Brandon and I) have noticed that "severe weather" means something completely different up here than it did back in Florida.

3. I've also noticed that television stations here don't really mention hurricanes until they are fairly close to landfall. Thinking about TV coverage made me wonder: is the amount of television coverage of the hurricane damaged areas been the same for hurricane-prone Florida as it has for less-prepared areas of the country? (That was a mouthful, huh?) Since moving here, Florida hasn't has a major hurricane and we were actually living there for all hurricanes before that, so I haven't been able to see coverage of a hurricane that makes landfall in Florida.

4. I really hope everyone can understand what I'm getting at in #3.

5. Spike is on the mend. He's still wearing a turtleneck, but we are planning to take him back to have his staples removed on Wednesday. Hopefully the wound will have healed acceptably, or it will be another two weeks with sutures. I'm just glad that he's done with the antibiotics, since sticking my hand down his throat is not my favorite way to start off the day...or end it.

6. One of Spike's pills is lost somewhere in our kitchen. Brandon dropped them and thought that he'd picked them all up, but we ended up one short. And no, they didn't shortchange us one from the start. I counted them when we first got them home. I'm...detailed...like that.

7. I spent some time spackling holes in our walls yesterday. I think the people who lived here before us were under the impression that you couldn't hang something on the wall without using a very large molly. Holes galore. Very large ones. Yes, most of them I filled before, but some of them needed a little extra help.

8. If you don't know us and are wondering if we've recently moved, the answer is no. We've lived here for over a year and I'm just now getting to re-painting. I just know that once I get the house looking nice and decorated that way I want, we'll move. Plus, it's hard to make time for these messy things when you have a two-year-old whirlwind.

9. I spent a significant amount of time yesterday doing the weekly home blessing "hour" (my quotes) which takes WAY more than an hour in my house. This is my major effort to get back on my FlyLady track. I tried something new and attempted to do most of the cleaning while Anna was awake. I'm not sure if having her get in the way while I'm trying to clean balances out the not cleaning during her entire nap. She's not much help. On the other hand, her "help" keeps me from being overly-perfectionistic in my cleaning. As the FlyLady says, "Housework done incorrectly will still bless your family."

10. My goal for today is to get the bathrooms done--top to bottom. Yippee.