hi/high

Sittin' on the couch at the river with a huge glass of wine and Punk next to me and I'm so very happy.

Life is busy, but life is so, so good. 

I have everything I ever wanted, and I'm enjoying every second of it.

FG got laid off last week but to be honest his job was getting so toxic and I am certain that this is one of those blessings in disguise. Manifesting a job with a better work life balance and lots of money. :)

In the meantime, he has lots of free time to hang out with me, and he's in a much better mood now that he's not carrying so much work stress. Plus I've got a to-do list a mile long with his name on it and he's checking things off every day.

It's also made it easier to spend more time at the river. In fact, we brought Punk here a while ago and we haven't spent enough time at "home" to justify bringing her back so she's been kickin' it at the river with us. I love having her here instead of sitting alone in an empty house. She's done lots of exploring but isn't a huge fan of the water and keeps her distance.

Did I mention that I pinch myself every day that I wake up, pour myself a cup of coffee, and sit outside on the swing watching the sun rise with the breeze and the birds chirping and the fish jumping out of the water, and the hummingbirds buzzing around? Because it's truly a dream. 

I know life is full of ups and downs, and right now this is clearly a high point. Let's see how long we can stay here, shall we?

whew

Today I think I will make a 3rd cup of coffee (decaf bc I like myself) and enjoy it with a cupcake.

I have been very into small indulgences lately. Taking the moments of peace where I can get them. A nice stretch, a mud mask, a tiny nap... etc.

This summer flew by in a blur of juggling work and houses. It was so damn hot and we worked really hard, and now much of the work is done and I'm looking forward to a little bit of calm. 

I keep using that phrase.

The hummingbirds have arrived! I counted 6 this morning. They are so much fun to watch.

We are about to go on vacation to Mexico and I'm SO ready for it. There is a walmart near the resort so I can get a few groceries. I'm still not ready to trust the restaurants after the last glutening.

When we come back I suppose it will be time to switch into fall mode. I believe I heard that pumpkin spice is here, but it's so hard to get into the mood when it's still hot outside. Give me that first cool morning and then I'll be happily busting out the scarecrows.

On a slightly deeper note, here's something I've noticed: I've gotten very good at choosing what to care about. I'm not sure if this is due to years of cultivating my own thoughts, or age = acceptance, or simply lacking energy and brain power to devote to dumb shit.

This is especially noted when it comes to self-consciousness. I simply have stopped caring what other people think of me, and it's AWESOME. I have let go of hating certain parts of my body, I rarely worry if people like me, and I'm just ME. My body is what it is, my personality is what it is, and there is no point in stressing over it. 

I guess I got tired of going through life worried that someone won't like my outfit or will critique my big crooked tooth, or will think that my jokes aren't funny, etc. 

Instead of devoting brain waves to those types of thoughts, I've found myself focusing on the nicer things that come with everyday experiences. And it's really easy. I'm so happy that I got to this point in my life.

The secret to cleaning glass shower doors

I found it. 

The secret to cleaning glass shower doors aka the 2nd most annoying chore in the world.

Glass shower doors suck. Not only do they always leak, but cleaning them is a nightmare. 

I hate HATE trying to clean hard water deposits off of glass shower doors. To the point where when I had them, I would clean them, then shower in the other bathroom so they wouldn't get dirty again. To the point where it was a deal breaker when we were looking at vacation houses. I have tried (almost) every product out there to clean glass shower doors and was never very happy with the results.

Tell me why I wound up with glass shower doors and VERY hard well water with this house. (Ironically, this house is full of deal-breakers but I do love it)

I remember when we first looked at the house, I noted how clean the shower doors were and wondered... HOW? 

When we moved in, I found something curious: the previous owner left a box of these sitting under the bathroom sink. I wondered why he had such a heavy-duty product in the bathroom, but the guy did some weird stuff so I tucked the information into the back of my brain, ignored them, and left them there.

After we moved in I procrastinated cleaning the shower doors for about a month and by then they looked so bad that I had to do something. So I tried a bunch of stuff that I knew wouldn't work, just to get the majority of the scum off. 

Fast forward to a couple weeks later and the shower doors were, again, disgusting. At that point I was so fed up. I remembered the curious box under the sink and decided to give them a try. I was afraid they would scratch the glass so I did not scrub, just lightly wiped them over the wet doors. 

Y'ALL. Y'ALL! 

These are it! I didn't even scrub and they took the majority of those blasted hard water spots. I couldn't believe that after YEARS and trying SO MANY PRODUCTS that these humble little pads did the trick. My life is CHANGED.

I can't wait to try these little miracles to clean other things.