Saturday started as Saturday usually does… up at the same ungodly hour as always, well before dawn kisses the horizon in misty, autumnal splendour. Which is a bit unfair really as I had doggedly turned off the alarm clocks and given myself a stern talking-to before falling asleep about the benefits of sleeping late. I’d even read later than usual. But no, the inner clock said it was time to wake.
Now, I could have stayed in bed regardless, but the moment I wake there is heavy breathing under the bedroom door. It sounds like the snorting of a small horse, but is, in fact, the small dog who has been laying in wait for the sound of my eyelids opening. She snorts so that I know she knows I’m awake and because I now know she knows that I know she knows, I feel obliged to get up immediately and throw the ball that has been carefully placed dead centre of the doorway where even my bleary eyes cannot miss it and, if they do, my feet cannot fail to connect in the desired manner.
Open garden door, throw ball. Make coffee, throw ball. Feed dog… she won’t eat until I’ve thrown the ball again, it is a ritual. I haven’t quite worked it out yet, but I feel it is a control thing… she will not eat at my bidding, but I must obey her whims. This may be why she is in charge most of the time. Watch sunrise from dew-soaked seat while drinking coffee and throwing ball.
By this time and with all the dew, fresh air and a sunrise, I am wide awake. No chance of curling up somewhere and grabbing an extra hour. The dog, however, is curled up and snoring. Make second coffee. Switch on computer and start the day’s work. At this point I have about an hour before I have to get organised and leave for work… except, today, I have all day. And all tomorrow. And then a few more unexpectedly free days as my boss does not require my habitual services unless anything crops up or there are any last-minute changes of plan. Which sort of means I am on holiday.
I made an unusual third coffee and took it out into the garden, still in my dressing gown. Because I could. I mentally went through the list of all the jobs that need doing around the house and in the garden. Lined up a whole host of computer-based tasks I can be getting on with. Thought about all the projects I have been putting off until I have the time. With everything else I have to do, I still won’t have the time to fit them all in, not even if I stick to my usual eighteen hour day. The alternative, of doing the barest minimum, doing nothing I do not want to do and generally lazing about for a few days is not one that would occur to me.
Which is why that is precisely what I plan on doing.
I have been at my own beck and call for far too long.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Time for some Me Time. Ani will no doubt share.
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She shares everything else 😉
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“…the sound of my eyelids opening”. For years I’ve wondered how my dog knew I was awake and thus time for a series of social sneezes accompanied by increasingly fortissimo doggie toenails dancing against the wood floors. Mystery solved.
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It’s all it can be, Barb… I only have to open them and she’s there…
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And then by the time she’s gotten me up, been out to the garden (twice), fetched her ball (lots), eaten her breakfast, offered to help me eat my breakfast, and done The Dance of Dentastick Supplication, she’s absolutely exhausted and heads back to bed. Often before the sun even rises. It’s a dog’s life.
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We are ruled by similar beings. Of course, you don’t get to go back to sleep at this point… that is an instant signal for them to wake up…
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Oh, my. Ani has you so well trained ! ☺ I love the line about the vacuum…I heartily agree. Vacuums do indeed suck. 💖 Enjoy your holiday weekend, Sue.
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She does… and I then wonder why she choosees to disobey me a lot… 😉
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Enjoy your time off the treadmill. I call these “jammie days” – and I try to remain in my pjs to remind myself that work must wait.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMore dot com)
– ADD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder –
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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That can’t happen with a dog who needs walking… I wouldn’t object, but the rest of the village might 😉
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Depends on what you sleep in! And a full-length weather weight coat can be employed if your pj bottoms don’t have cute designs that SCREAM “I don’t dress.”
xx, mgh
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Let’s just say that my sleepwear is minimalist, though I do a nice line in fluffy dressing gowns and kaftans 😉
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lol – now that I’m on the ground floor in an apartment building with slatted blinds in a walking nabe, I don’t feel comfortable with “minimalist” sleepwear anymore. It was nice, back in the day, but I suppose that day has come and gone.
xx,
mgh
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I too on on the ground floor, but with only cows behind the house, I do not feel that unease. Unless I look in the mirror by accident 😉
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Boy do I get that one – unless I see my reflection I forget I’m not still in my 30’s (when I looked pretty darned good!)
xx,
mgh
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I still feel the way I always have… just more comfortably so… but gravity says otherwise 😉
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Gravity: arch enemy of taut skin and perky boobs and bottoms. I care less about things like that these days, but not a less as I would like! 🙂
xx, mgh
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I don’t mind for myself either. Growing older is a privilege. x
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A privilege and a challenge! xx, mgh
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I’m okay with that x
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Workin’ on it, myself! xx, mgh
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🙂 x
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Sue, just thought I’d tell you that Jean sometimes brings me round our block in her jim-jams. Nobody gives a toss and it suits me cos it means we get out quicker. Love Stan. (P.S. Give Ani a nuzzle from me.)
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When we go out, Stan, it is always into the fields.I don’t suppose the wild things would mind either, but she’s funny ’bout going out in the dressing gown 😉 x
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They all have their foibles, I suppose – maybe I should say we all have. Enjoy today. Love Stanny.
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Hoping it isn’t going to rain again today, Stan…she’s due for a really long walk 😉 x
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Enjoy your mini-break.
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May not be all that mini if things go according to plan… I have the workshop next week too 🙂
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I have this strange habit of getting when the sun hasn’t risen yet. My body would tell me that it needs more rest but my mind is always up for something otherwise. Ugh.
And well, you just reminded me of my ball of fur too. He is so similar to your pet. 🙂
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I’m ususally up by dawn… the habit sticks after a while. 🙂
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Yes. 🙂
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I laughed through this entire post. Other than throwing the ball – which I don’t think you will be able to opt out of – have a wonderful lazy day.
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I haven’t been able to avoid the ball, except for a short snuggle on the sofa where madam deigned to leave the ball out of the equation…
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Ha ha. Snuggling with a slimy dog-saliva ball sounds…so…slimy. I’m glad she opted to leave it on the floor for the cuddles. 🙂
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Oh no, it stays in her mouth at such times. Just in case… 😉
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We have stereo snorting. And then, pounding and thumping as two wild dogs fling themselves against the hallway gate … in case the snorting isn’t enough to get us moving to the kitchen. Where the biscuits are. So they can run in circles, snorting with an occasional yip. Our arising is the biggest event EVER and will be until sometime in the afternoon when dinner is prepared. Then, IT will be the biggest event. EVER.
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Sometimes I am thankful I only have the one these days… though two is always better.
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Love the humour, especially the line,’laying in wait for the sound of my eyelids opening’.
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I’m sure she does, you know… either that or she is psychic 😉
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I sure she does too! My dog used to come back and fore to sniff under the door to flex her knowing senses.
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Ani does… though she does really sound like a horse. 🙂
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Ani is psychic, of course. She reads your every thought – lol!
Thankfully, my spouse is the early riser and dog walker. I only do it when he can’t. 😉 However, I am trained to get up at 5 to silence the caterwauling, aged feline that insists on being fed at that hour, but then at least I get to go back to bed.
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Ah… slavery to a feline…They know how to get their servants to obey 😉
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You know what they say, “Dogs have owners, cats have staff.” 😉
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Ani is falling about laughing at that one and trying to miaou 😉
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Well, there’s a lot to be said for taking it easy once in a while. Taking a break from the million and one tasks you ordinarily do will give you more time to throw a ball for Ani. 🙂
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She appears to have noticed that early on 😉
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This is super
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Thanks, Rajiv 🙂
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Well, Sue, I am sure Ani will report all that did not get done on your mini-break. After all isn’t she what your mini-break is all about? I’m sure Ani thinks so.
Enjoy your time.
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She is currently keepingme pretty fully occupied, that’s for sure 🙂
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Time out … with the bovines, and the small dog, and a cuppa … truly wonderful. 😀
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And tonight, with the bats 🙂
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