I just spent nearly two hours cutting up what was left of my dry fruit and mixing it with bird seed for the parrot. I’m sure I didn’t have to go all out like that, but for some reason, I guess the sound of the seeds swirling around (and the nutcracker crunching on the harder nuts in one of the bags) is more meditative and soothing than I expected.

I bought a bunch of stuff for my pets today, some of which I was sure I needed until I looked at an area of my dining room where I had some pet store bags. And whatdya know, I had plenty of bags of bird food, for my parrot and my parakeets.

I was planning on mixing some more parakeet food in the bucket to thin out the mix they’ve been eating. There was too many of those colored shaped pellets that I think they ignore in favor of the seeds (and I had some of those nutrition pellets they always recommend birds should have as the staple–not the seeds. I just took them, put them in my coffee grinder, and sprinkled it all in so no matter what, the birds will get some of those nutrition pellets.

None of my birds like them. They want seeds, but with the parakeets I can be a bit sneaky and it won’t come back to bite me.

Or rather, THEY won’t bite me. The amazon is a different story…sometimes.

In my desire to take care of my pets, I wanted to try to feed that stubborn parrot more fruits and good stuff that wasn’t just nuts. More of what he needs. The fruit he’ll eat sometimes; it’s just finding the right combo. I was in a hurry last time I mixed some seed, and not enough fruit went into it. Not enough sunflower seed to appease the sulky one, either. And in the tropical blend I’ve started using to supplement the regular seed he likes, I’ve gotta basically shell peanuts and crack open the really tough ones and get the seed out. Going through the bag a little at a time looking for those brazil nuts, pecans, and the like takes time.

I just didn’t think it would take nearly two hours!

Sheesh.

At least they’re in good shape food-wise for quite some time. Probably won’t have to buy any for at least three months. Can’t use the bottom of my fridge for anything else now.

Great.

I just find it bizarre how I’ll spend all this time, cutting up fruit and nuts and mixing seeds for the feathered ones, but I won’t go to the stove and cook myself something healthy because it’s “too much of a hassle.”

Dunno where this mindset’s come from. I’m sure it’s a dash of tired laziness to start. The other thing might be my need to turn things into projects. I just finished two projects: great amazon parrot seed and fruit mix and parakeet mix. But I can’t seem to get the idea that cooking something good for myself could be a project, too.

Or to finish actually folding the damn laundry.

More than that, I need to view taking care of the house as my next project–my big project–for the rest of this weekend. I bought too much bird seed because I neglected to put things away for far too long. I wonder how many weeks those bags were sitting on my rarely-used dining room table, waiting for me to put them in the right cabinet. Well, now it’s all in small buckets in the fridge while the extras are in their proper storage space.

Amazing how much garbage I cleared out getting rid of all those bags, and the counter space is cleaner.

I should’ve been doing lots of other things tonight. Instead, I just let myself focus on this one thing and go all out on it. Granted, it was somewhat necessary, but it could have waited til tomorrow. I should’ve been going through the house figuring out how much of a mess I needed to take care of all around.

Now, I’m half asleep and just itching to go to bed. The dogs were tired of waiting for me to finish and they’re on the couch passed out (didn’t help that I stopped giving them some of the peanuts or papaya I was cutting up about an hour into it).

Guess this weekend is the perfect summer-cleaning weekend for me. I had no plans to leave the house (except maybe get more gas for the mowers and emergency tank… but that can wait til after Monday). I hate holiday weekends because things just get too crazy, and with this covid thing, I know tons of people are gonna be heading out and about for last-minute supplies.

No, time to focus on me. Though what Tyler Durden says is crazy true–

–the doggies and fishies and birdies aren’t gonna get very far without me here to take care of them. And on and on it goes.

Well, I might get some of this chores list written out after all if I take the time to just relax and let it flow so I don’t wake up later thinking about it instead of sleeping. I hate that the most: my brain won’t let me sleep as long as there’s something I really need or want to do out there within reach.

It’s no wonder I gravitate toward the odd things on the list rather than what should be done first and right in front of me.

At least I’ve got a whole weekend to figure it out. And maybe the pets will take it easy on me.

(sigh) Yeah, right.