Friday and Up Earlier

For some strange reason I was up at 4:00AM this morning. I had gone to bed at my usual 9:00PM but woke up at 4:00AM and just couldn't get back to sleep. So I got up. I had a cake to bake, ice and freeze for Tuesday for the First Christian Church in Independence anyhow.  So I dressed, got myself ready for the day and had my breakfast and the rest of the strawberries from yesterday's game day. Everyone sure enjoyed those strawberries and the shortcake and whipped cream.

Then I baked the cake. It is cooling now.  After it cools I will ice it, then I will freeze it.

When I opened the front door this morning two hungry cats were waiting for me to feed them. One was mama cat the other the yellow tom cat. It is raining so they had to brave the rain to come to breakfast. I usually turn on the foyer light to fill their bowls but when I did that, it blew the bulb. Now I have three bulbs out. The one in the garage door opener is out and has been for some time...at least a month and one of the ones in the den is out too.

I dread this winter. I fear it will be a wild one with lots of snow and ice. The cat and her kittens will have to live under that deserted house on the corner from me on State Street. That's where mama cat lived last winter when I moved in here.  Later in the spring, she had her litter of kittens.

I am doing laundry now and have it in the dryer now. I also have to dust today. I got the bare floors and the carpet done yesterday. I brought the mum plant in yesterday. It sits on a plate on the little kitchen stool in the den by the back door. It may need water today. I will check in a bit. I want to plant it later and hope it lives through the winter.

More later...

I ran out of 2X2 gauze for my toe bandages yesterday evening and so I went out to Dollar General to  buy some more. Trouble was, they were out of it too. So I made a fast trip to Independence to their Walmart to buy some and while I was there I bought two more cake pans and a get well card for Cheyenne. She fell getting out of the tub last week and broke her leg. That can't be fun for a six year old. Come to think of it, it wouldn't be any fun for me either at 83. I thought perhaps a cute card would cheer her up. I sent it from the congregation.

I stopped on the way out and bought a blizzard at their Dairy Queen to "reward" myself for getting those things done. :)

Now I am about to read the Reporter and do the crossword puzzle.

I got that done. And I put out some more cat food too. The little creatures had been here while I was gone.

I never did get the dusting done. I got to looking at that kitchen stove and decided to tackle it.  I have never used the top of it since I moved in here. I have only used the oven for my cakes and coffeecake. And I usually just have microwaved food and use my own microwave.

But  I took the burners out and took a good look at the trays under them. Someone, probably the last tenant, had boiled something over onto the trays beneath the burners and then left it to burn over and over again. Suzanne had told me she paid a woman $100.00 to clean the apartment after the last tenant moved out and then spent several hours cleaning it over herself. It looked pretty good when I moved in. But this afternoon, I used a soap pad and scraped and scraped on those burner trays and could not get that burnt stuff off. Finally I got out a paring knife and scraped it off with that. It took me the better part of an hour to get those stove top trays clean. It looks pretty good now but I went through a dozen paper towels and that paring knife was the only thing that could get that burnt stuff off. 

I have only one complaint besides the stove. Every time I vacuum, every Thursday, I get a lot of dirt in my vacuum. And I usually leave my shoes at the door on a small rug. The carpet looks pretty clean but when I vacuum, I get a wad of dirt about two/two and a half inches in diameter that I dump into the trash. I wash the filters whenever I use it. All this is probably just wear and tear from the years of different people living here. I hope when I am gone, Suzanne finds it left cleaner then after the past tenants.

So now it is 2:45PM and  I am really tired. I guess I will read awhile. Maybe I'll get to the dusting later.

More later...

It's going on 4:00PM now and I have rested some.  I will try to get the dusting done tomorrow. I am just too tired right now. I just had the rest of my strawberry smoothie. That will hold me for the day.

More later...

I watched a couple of episodes of "Murder She Wrote" and now it's my bedtime. I had my bath shortly before 7:00PM.

Now I am going to bed!