![\"Rain,](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/El-Nino-150x150.png\")
<\/a>Rain, rain Go AWAY!<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Those of us on the west coast had an odd experience this past week – wet stuff fell from the sky<\/strong>.\u00a0 In buckets.\u00a0 It would be foolish and terribly inappropriate of me to complain about the “El Nino effect” but for me, this lousy weather came at a most inopportune time.\u00a0 As of last month, I became officially unemployed<\/strong>.\u00a0 Each Wednesday for the past 13 years I have tottered off to the local yarn store to sell yarn, provide help and teach classes.\u00a0 I loved my job and learned quite a bit over\u00a0the years – a bit about knitting and a lot<\/em> about people.\u00a0 But the owner, who is 78, decided that she’d had enough of worrying about the business and decided to toss in the towel.\u00a0 Now, you’re probably thinking, “Wow, 78!\u00a0 No wonder she didn’t want to work anymore.”\u00a0 But you would be wrong.\u00a0 For the past 10 years (inspired by a happenstance viewing of “Dancing with the Stars”) she has been involved in ballroom dancing.\u00a0 And not just slow-paced Viennese waltzes.\u00a0 She goes for the Latin dances<\/strong> and participates in competitions all over the Western U.S.\u00a0 So it wasn’t a lack of energy that caused her to close the store.\u00a0 Regardless, I now have a day of the week that I have to fill.\u00a0 This “extra” day, along with all of the rain this week that washed out my golf games, caused me to stay inside and finally face my demons: my unfinished projects.<\/p>\n Each spring I make a list of everything I want to accomplish over the summer when our weather is akin to a microwave oven<\/strong>.\u00a0 Some of those projects roll over from year to year.\u00a0 Okay, some roll over for a lot of years. Organizing thousands of photos, for instance.\u00a0\u00a0But other items on the list are much more manageable.\u00a0 So this week, trapped inside by Mr. Nino<\/strong>, I decided to tackle them.<\/p>\n Monday<\/strong>:\u00a0 It hasn’t rained like this in ages!\u00a0 At last I will get some “inside” work done.\u00a0 I\u00a0pull together all of our home improvement receipts for the past 15 years, put them into an Excel spreadsheet and figure out the cost basis of our home.\u00a0 You subscribers who know me and have followed all of our major re-do’s on the house can appreciate just how daunting a task that was.\u00a0 I finalize all of the paperwork for our tax return and file everything away.\u00a0\u00a0At last I\u00a0can check these items off the list.\u00a0 I love this weather!<\/strong><\/p>\n Is “1-2-3-4” too obvious?<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Tuesday<\/strong>:\u00a0 Today I vow to finally clean up the piece of scratch paper containing all of my passwords.\u00a0 I’d like to use the same password for everything because, frankly,\u00a0 these days I only retain water.\u00a0\u00a0 Unfortunately, every company requires something just a bit different – consequently, my piece of scratch paper has become my memory.\u00a0\u00a0Finally I organize it all and have it in a secure location even Dick Cheney would have trouble locating.\u00a0 That was my morning.\u00a0 I look out the window and it’s still sprinkling.\u00a0 So I clean the house with a vengeance.\u00a0 This weather is sure good<\/strong> for getting things done.<\/p>\n Wednesday<\/strong>:\u00a0 I meet a friend for coffee and get home just as it starts to rain.\u00a0 Dash the Wonder Dog, who will not set his princely foot on a wet surface, is now wondering what in the hell happened to our morning walks.\u00a0 And just why am I home on a Wednesday?\u00a0 How is a dog supposed to get any sleep, for cryin’ out loud?\u00a0 Undaunted,\u00a0I tackle my next “to do” – writing a piece for a class I’m teaching next week at the knitting guild.\u00a0 This exercise actually has a dual purpose: I can use up all of the ink in my printer.\u00a0 Last week I bought a new one but then realized that the old printer had a lot of ink left in it.\u00a0 Ink cartridges, as we all know, are the modern-day equivalent to the old cell phone scam when they’d give you a phone for free but then charge you a month’s wage for the service.\u00a0 So I wrote my piece, printed out 50 copies,\u00a0and installed the new printer.\u00a0 I am truly ready for the rain to stop.<\/p>\n W comes after V, right?<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n Thursday<\/strong>:\u00a0 I awake to what is now a familiar sound\u00a0– rain battering against my bedroom window.\u00a0 This is the rainiest day of all.\u00a0 My dear husband suggests that we go to a movie, but then it is raining so hard we’re afraid the washes on the roads will fill and we won’t be able to get back home. Yes, living is Scottsdale is sometimes like living in the backwater of Montana.\u00a0 So…what to do?\u00a0 I finally hang a couple of pictures in my den bathroom that have been sitting there for four months.\u00a0 I decide to play Candy Crush on my iPad. Three hours later I rouse from my stupor.\u00a0 I saunter into the kitchen and\u00a0re-alphabetize my already alphabetized spice rack down to the third letter.\u00a0 My normally pleasing personality is turning just the slightest bit sociopathic.\u00a0\u00a0If this rain doesn’t stop soon someone is going to get hurt.\u00a0 I think it’s me.<\/p>\n Friday<\/strong>:\u00a0 Have I mentioned that my husband is home all day with me?\u00a0 Every. Single. Day.\u00a0 He did go out earlier in the week to get me Starbucks, which gained him about a million husband points.\u00a0 But still.\u00a0 It’s a lot of togetherness.\u00a0\u00a0He is spending his days watching You Tube videos of road trips we have taken or want to take.\u00a0I am in my pajamas contemplating just how much Vicodin I have saved up over the years.\u00a0 I HATE this rain<\/strong>!<\/p>\n Finally, finally, it dries out and once again we see the sun.\u00a0 The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration<\/b> just declared that El Nino has peaked and the worst is over.\u00a0 Thank God…I’ve run out of\u00a0projects and patience . And Vicodin.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Those of us on the west coast had an odd experience this past week – wet stuff fell from the sky.\u00a0 In buckets.\u00a0 It would be foolish and terribly inappropriate of me to complain about the … read more![\"Is](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/passwords-150x150.jpg\")
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