A Somewhat Productive Day

Today was a go, go kind of day. My house doesn't show the proof of it, because I was kept busy doing other, more important, things. I cut hair for Drew, Owen and David. I've been threatening the boys with haircuts for a while now (to them it's a threat). We usually try to bribe the kids to sit still for the haircut. Last time we must have bribed Drew with a ride in the Camaro because the other day when I told him I wanted to cut his hair he said, "I'm not going in the Camaro. At all."

Today I cut Owen's hair first. He is less prone to tantrums than Drew so I thought if Drew could see Owen getting his hair cut without any crying or problems, Drew would not mind sitting still for his own hair cut. I let Owen play with a squirt bottle while I cut his hair, but I started to wish I hadn't when I looked up from cutting to see Samantha standing next to Owen soaking wet (at least she wasn't mad about it. She was probably just glad to have Owen pay attention to her).

When it was Drew's turn, I somehow came up with the brilliant idea of snipping off a few rows of stickers from our sticker book. He sat really still and put stickers on his pants, on the chair, and on Samantha while I cut his hair. I also showed him how to blow the hair off of his arms and belly after it fell from the scissors, so he didn't freak out and end up wiping hair all over his face. It worked! I got his hair cut with no incident. It was like a pre-Thanksgiving miracle.

Here are some before and after photos of Drew (Owen is not cooperating for a photo at this time):

This is the pile of hair that came off Drew's head. The comb is for scale.

I spent most of my afternoon cleaning the Pocatello Business Park and Storage. PBP&S is a group of five buildings--a few businesses and a few storage sheds. David and I have friends who have a Realty and Property Management business. I don't know if they own PBP&S or just manage it, but in any case they hired me to clean up the grounds. The grounds look like your basic storage unit place; lots of pavement and grey buildings. I spent about two hours just sweeping/raking leaves and picking up trash, and I only got to about 1/3 of the property.

I found a lot of stuff in front of the businesses. M & D Auto Detail had a ton of litter on the ground in front of the door that looked like it'd been there for a long time. Here's a run-down of my loot:

• 27 cents (17 pennies and one dime).


• A Saint Anthony pendant (Made from sterling silver. It's been scratched up and the carving is smooshed and unrecognizable. Around the edges I can just barely make out the inscription. It's interesting to me that I found a pendant of the patron saint of lost articles, though it would probably mean more to me if I were Catholic.)


• A token for some batting cages. (If I'm ever in Salem, Oregon, I'll be sure to redeem it; I do love batting cages. I need to find out if Pocatello has any.)


• A token for an arcade at MGM
  
• A flattened penny with a tree imprint that says, "BOISE" under it.


• 5 fat earth worms. (I found them under big, damp piles of leaves on the pavement. I put them in some nearby grass, hoping that they would burrow underground before they die, also hoping that not throwing them in the trash bag with the leaves would offset the damage done moments before when I threw an aluminum can in the trash rather than saving it to recycle later. Always conscious of my carbon footprint.)

I probably could have gotten more work done if I had just scooped everything into the trash rather than take the time to pick the stuff up, examine it, wonder over it, et cetera. But it was back-breaking work and I was grateful for the chance to stand up straight for a few seconds here and there while I admired my finds. Besides, in this economy, who am I to throw away money, even if it is covered in months worth of mud and grime?