Newspapers and Toilets and Gummy Bears, Oh My!

It’s 3:13 a.m., do you know where your newspaper’s at?

I do. Mine slammed up against the front storm door, scaring the dog into barking.

 

The girls had been outside earlier in the night growling at something in the alley too. Luckily, Unfortunately, I was already awake from the earlier barking incident. Hubby already resigned himself to the Lazy-Boy in the den for the rest of the night.

 

I had been laying awake for quite some time trying to determine what was making the annoying noise I was hearing. Finally I got up and opened Hubby’s bathroom door. The water in the toilet tank was running. I had to remove the tank lid and stick my hand down in there to shut the water off. That’s what you want to be doing at 2:30 in the morning, isn’t it?

 

Next I watched an episode of Chopped. It’s a show on the Food Network that pits chefs against each other. They have to come up with tasty dishes using mystery ingredients they pull out of a basket. The dessert round had them using blackberries, kiwi, wonton wrappers, and gummy bears. They always throw some odd item in there to see how creative the chefs can be.

 

It was after the gummy bear round, when I was trying to go back to sleep, that the daily news arrived and rattled the whole house. It reminded me of when my house makes contact with the baseball of the teenage boys next door. Over the eight foot fence we built on that side of the house!

 

Have I ever told you that one of the boys next door doesn’t have any legs? Every now and then I catch a glimpse of him running across my front lawn. That would be running on his hands. I swear I do a double take every time, it’s so unexpected and it’s usually seen just out of the corner of my eye. It’s only a blur because he can run so dang fast! Isn’t it amazing what some people can do? Like those paralyzed folks who can paint by holding a brush in their mouth. Or look at Stephen Hawking; he’s incredible. We humans have an awesome ability to adapt.

 

I’ve always heard that if one sense is weak, another sense is stronger. Is that an old wives’ tale? Or is it true?

 

My eyesight is bad, I wear glasses. Also I don’t hear so great, but boy my sense of smell is strong. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. On one hand, I usually can tell when something in the oven is done just by smelling it from the other room. Also I think if there were a fire, I would detect the smoke before the flames. On the other hand, I about gag when somebody with too much perfume on walks past me in a store.

 

Hubby and I have an ongoing battle about household cleaners. Here he is being fantastic and cleaning some area of the house, and I’m in the other room opening windows and turning on fans. I actually get choked up and start coughing. Plus, it’s not uncommon for me to get a headache too. When he’s done, I throw any offending cleaning products in the trash. When he goes to the store, he buys more cleaning supplies. It’s a vicious cycle.

 

(If you know of any non-smelly cleaning products, let me know.)

 

I finally fall back asleep just after remembering that I closed the lid to the toilet seat. I was thinking I should probably get up and open it in case Hubby doesn’t turn on the light.

 

I’m awake when Hubby does come back through the bedroom. I tell him about operating on his commode in the middle of the night.

 

OS: “It about drove me crazy trying to figure out what that noise was.”
Hubby: “That must have been a short trip.”

Comments

[nola]

I hate middle of the night disruptions, it's almost impossible for me to rest after being disturbed.
I never thought about the senses compensating one another, but you know, as my eyesight gets weaker, my sense of smell gets better, too!

[Brenda Kula]

The way you are about smells, I am about noise. I can't bear to hear a clock ticking for example. Imagine me in my house now. My fridge has toppled over the edge now into utter insanity. The beeping is ceaseless, the cadence of it rises and falls. Loud, then louder. Fast, then slow. I fear I will topple over to the other side now soon also. There's nothing to do but save for a new fridge. As for the boy running across the lawn. I wonder if dogs chase him? I would worry about that. I don't say this to sound mean. It's just that when something is running low to the ground, dogs typically think it's prey. Know what I mean? Perhaps I have already broken with reality...
Brenda

[Staci]

Guess what I heard about on the radio this morning? The horse dentistry issue!

I'm having a giveaway over at my place - please come over and join in!

[Lynn]

There used to be a cleaner named Simple Green. I haven't used it in a while and I don't know if it's still around. It didn't exactly smell good but it didn't smell as strong as most cleaners.