Murphy's Law......

Who is this Murphy? He must have led a less than charmed life to have the law of "whatever can go wrong will" to be named for him. I feel like Murphy lately. The pool is closed and you would think that would make my life a little easier, not having to deal with swimmers. It is, but fall is as busy as spring with outdoor chores. I get to stay out and play in the dirt that I so love.


I tend to get a little ambitious with my projects and then find it hard to find a stopping point. This makes for sore muscles and sleepless nights. The sleepless nights makes for a clumsier me....... and that is why I titled this post. It has been a Murphy's Law weekend for me. It all started when I moved my desk chair while relaying a list of items needed to he who was on a shopping mission. I had just prepared for my bleary-eyed self a nice tall iced coffee. You all see where this is going, don't you? I knocked the coffee over on my desk. I am thankful that my computer was not on that desk. But...........the registration book was. I said some words to he who was not at fault and scooped most of the mess into the floor. The puddle narrowly missed my camera............


I decided to try to turn this into a positive and go ahead and mop the store a day early. I drink my coffee black. My hot coffee, that is. I like to add a squirt of vanilla syrup and half and half to my iced coffee, though; so the mess was sticky. I was drinking this because my head was pounding and a bartender once told me that the best thing for a headache is aspirin, sugar and caffeine (Excedrin?). I find that it does work well, but still was wishing that it had been black coffee I spilled as I wiped up the sticky mess and laid out the sheets of the reservation book to dry. Fortunately, it is all still legible.


While the floor and the paper dried I decided to throw a load of laundry on. The living quarters of the building housed a private laundry room and I did have a washer and dryer when I moved here. But....she who likes to move walls took over that space to make a new kitchen. The washer and dryer were moved to the utility room that houses all things related to water and electric. The washer died, as washers will do. He who tinkers said he would fix it and she who is reasonable said it was not a priority, since we do have a coin-op laundry here. But, it has been 5 years, and she who was reasonable has become less than reasonable. I have another washer and it works, but he who tinkers did not hook the washer up to drain into the sewer line. Instead, he has it emptying into a large barrel in our back yard. It is true that this is a good idea to recycle this water for watering purposes. The detergent in the water keeps bugs out of the grass and it makes an amazing looking lawn. But our backyard tends to get soggy wet when it rains and it takes some time to drain. So, this means that the only time I would want to wash clothes in that washer would be during a drought. We are not having a drought. This means I have to schlep said dirty clothes to the laundry room and feed quarters into the machines and take the detergent out there and bring it back. I made the mistake of leaving my Gain out there once and someone used it.....all of it. One advantage is that I can two loads at the same time, but if someone in the park is using the facilities I have to wait. I use powdered detergent because I am cheap and he who wears clean clothes likes the fresh smell of Gain. I am getting there, hang on. So, I put the clothes in the washer and put the coins in, shut the lid to let it start filling and went back to get the Gain. I took the scoop and went out to the laundry room while answering the phone and put the powder in the wrong washer, the empty washer, not the one filling with water. Great. I really don't have anything else to wash and how does one retrieve the powder out of the washer? My other option was to pull the wet clothes out of the other machine and put them in with the detergent.


I know you are all wondering why I just didn't leave the Gain in the washer and put more in the other washer. I did just put more in the other washer and then washed some rugs that really didn't need it. I was afraid to leave the detergent in the washer, lest someone put in clothes and add more detergent. This would bubble up out of the floor drain and create a huge mess, that I would have to clean up. Anticipating a crisis is what I am good at. Sort of. Which leads me to wonder why I thought it was a good idea last week to carry in my arms a load of dirty laundry topped with two scoops of detergent balanced precariously on top. I bumped into the door and spilled the detergent. I went into my t-shirt and bra. I shook out what my sweat did not grab. I can report that I did smell good all day in spite of the sweat.


Today has progressed much like the weekend began and I have been harvesting the abundance of apples while pruning the trees and cleaning up the area around them. So far I have managed to break the set of clippers, trip numerous times on the mound of apples, hit myself in the face and head with branches and just removed a tick from my arm. That is why I have decide to take a break and sit here reading in the land of blog while nursing all my injuries. I need a vacation, Murphy!