"Rosie the Riveter" is felled

Parts of living by myself are awesome - parts are not!

Here’s one thing that falls into both categories - when something goes wrong, I have to fix it. That can be exhausting, but it can also give a strong sense of Girl Power. My toilet handle broke off, so away I went to Home Depot, where I found the part & came home & installed it. Talk about power trip. I did that SEVERAL months ago, and I’m still on a high! And then my front headlight went out. Now, I’m all about playing the game padiddle when I‘m on a long car trip, but I’m not into being the car that has one, so I went to VIP Auto, got the replacement bulb, and changed it myself.

I’ve also had to catch my share of mice, because I live in the country, and The Cuteness is much better at chasing them than at catching them. "Mom," she says, "Its much more exciting to careen all over the house, following a squeaking rodent, then to carry it around in one’s mouth." The gifts that she bestowed on me this weekend were in the form of rodents... IN MY BED! Early Saturday morning I woke up to The Cuteness running pell-mell through my bedroom. Then I heard the squeaking. I leapt out of bed, at the same time that she picked up the mouse & threw it onto my bed. Sadly, it escaped and made another appearance that night... 2:30 in the morning I woke up to The Cuteness standing next to my head. As I awoke, I heard the dreaded squeaking again. I’d been sleeping on my stomach, so I reared back, just as she released the horrific creature where my head had been. We finally caught that one and let it go outside.

Well, this last week I came across something that I just couldn’t handle. I got home work, and couldn’t get into my house. "Was it locked?" you might ask. "No," I would say. There was a giant spider guarding the door. It was glossy black with yellow spots & about five inches…. Ok, so it was only about an inch, but it was awful. I went next door to my neighbors (the senior pastor of our church & his family) and said, "I’m sorry. I try not to be girly, but I can’t get into my house because of a spider." The Pastor’s wife graciously came over with a snow shovel (see, we’re resourceful here in NH - we don’t just use shovels for our eighty feet of snow each winter) and killed the dreaded beast. If I were a pioneer woman, I’d want June on the homestead next to me!