This morning has not gone quite like I had planned. I was going to get up at 6 am, clean the shower, while taking a shower, and prep for a morning of super cleaning the Master Bath. You know if you’ve ever painted a bathroom that this one room probably has more nooks and crannies than any other in your home to attract dirt. I’ll admit, it’s been neglected on the cleaning front. But hey, I’m still between jobs, and so room by room, I’m doing super cleans. Today’s super clean project was to be the Master Bath. I say was because the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, according to Robert Burns. How right he was.
At 4 am, I was wide awake and had been since about 2:45. So I made the sleep-deprived (and often not best) decision to change my wake time to 7 am. When the alarm went off at 7 am, I hit snooze. When the alarm went off at 7:09, I hit snooze. I just wasn’t quite ready to get up. At 7:18, I woke Matt up and snoozed for 9 more minutes. It delayed the start of my day, but it felt great. I was ready to tackle the bathroom after I took care of the pups. I was recharged and eager. That’s where it all went off the rails.
I smelled it before I saw it and for just a second, paused on the stairs to turn around and go back to bed. But, that’s not fair to The Hubs, so on down I went, dreading with every step the confirmation of what I was about to find. Yup. There it was. Coal, aka Spoiled Dog 1, had thrown up in his crate overnight. My sweet boy is not a barker. He will not bark until I come see what’s wrong. Last night, like all the other times, he quietly suffered through trying to get comfortable in his mess. I hate this as I would’ve been down in a heartbeat and cleaned it up right away. I don’t like my babies uncomfortable and in distress. But no, he just suffered in silence.
However, this greatly changed today’s plans. While I was planning on maybe taking dog crates and the platform that they sit on outside and hosing them down on Sunday, it appears Fate decided that it needed to be done today. And if the crates are outside, that’s a great time to clean the floor of the breakfast nook & kitchen. Sigh. So that has now become today’s major clean project. But that’s not all. See, every project inspires a list of things that need to be done before that initial project can begin. I call it Murphy’s Snowball Effect of Best Laid Plans or Why I Never Get Anything Truly Accomplished.
When one of the spoiled dogs gets sick, we usually feed them chicken and rice until tummies are better. It’s the canine version of the BRAT diet – bananas, rice, applesauce, toast – that doctors recommend when humans have had a tummy bug. I purchased a whole chicken at the store earlier this week because the SDs were doing their anti-food performance again, and chicken usually inspires them to eat. I hadn’t cooked it yet. However, now it was more pressing. I had to get it in the oven so that it would be cool enough to de-bone and shred before their dinner time. But to rinse and prep it, that meant emptying the sink of dirty dishes. Which meant emptying the dishwasher. I regretted my laziness from the night before. This project train has now not only derailed, it’s rolled down the hill and started down a meandering forest path with a completely different destination in mind. While The Hubs was outside rinsing off crates, which I’m thankful for because that’s one less thing to do, I emptied the dishwasher. Then loaded it. Then I had to find my roasting pan and rack, which were where I thought they were, but without coffee, completely overlooked. Once that assembly was located, I then rinsed and patted dry the chicken. A chicken, mind you, that was supposed to have the neck and giblets, but did not. Not really a big deal, but I was hoping when I ran the chicken meat through the food processor, that I’d be able to add ground giblets for flavor. I guess HEB had other ideas. And I still have to boil rice. 
That leads to another project stemming from the Overnight Urp catastrophe. Coal now needs a bath. He let me wipe him down with baby wipes, but that’s just the basic get the worst of the stink off plan. He needs a bath, with shampoo and scrubbing. I’m somewhat grateful that I’ve been a bad mom and did not bathe him earlier this week, like I’d hoped to. However, bathing him means that Spoiled Dog 2, aka Annie, also needs a bath because whatever SD1 gets, SD2 must have, too. Bathing them is not at all even remotely my favorite thing to do with them. These guys tolerate their baths, but they don’t really like them. SD1 likes the part where I clean his boy junk, and when he gets rubbed down with a towel to get him dry. Now that I think about it, SD2 likes it when I clean her girly parts. Damn. My dogs are little perverts! But this means that both dogs will get a bath today. After consulting with The Hubs, it looks like I’m on my own for the fun water activity that lies ahead as he has to mow the yard and grill steaks. I can’t ask him to help me take the SDs to the Pooch Parlor, where it’s infinitely easier to bathe them. And I can’t do that on my own. So into the guest bath they will go. Guess I’ll be cleaning that bathroom today instead. 

And, in between, I have to deal with laundry that stems from all of this. I also noticed that the sofa table their crates sit under needs a thorough cleaning and dusting.  So does the back of the couch those crates sit up against.  The snowball just keeps getting bigger. 

Anyway, if I get to the super clean on the Master Bath today, it will be a minor miracle. If I don’t, that’s ok, too.  As Scarlett O’Hara said, “After all, tomorrow is another day.” Now I just have to figure out what tomorrow’s project was so that I can move it to Saturday. Yes, Robert Burns, you were indeed correct when you said that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. I need to go back to work!