Our story tonight is called Dogs and Dust Mops, and it’s a story about some spring cleaning on a warm afternoon. It’s also about an orange kitty in the window, the sound of the vacuum running upstairs, fresh sheets, scrabbling paws on the deck, and the way your heart swells when you wrap your arms around someone you love. We give to a different charity each week, and we are giving to BeHeard Movement this week. BeHeard offers essential services to unhoused individuals, including private showers, access to clean and fresh laundry services, haircuts, and more. AquaTru water purifier: Click here and get 20% OFF with code NOTHINGMUCH. Beam Dream Powder: Click here for up to 40% off with code NOTHINGMUCH. BIOptimizers’ Sleep Breakthrough: Click here and use code NOTHINGMUCH for 10% off any order! Cymbiotika products: Click here for 20% off and free shipping! Moonbird, the world’s first handheld breathing coach: Click here and save 20%! NMH merch, autographed books, and more! Pay it forward subscription Subscribe for ad-free, bonus, and extra long episodes now, as well as ad-free and early episodes of Stories from the Village of Nothing Much! Search for the NMH Premium channel on Apple Podcasts or follow this link. Listen to our daytime show, Stories from the Village of Nothing Much, on your favorite podcast app. Join us tomorrow morning for a meditation.
Chapter 1: What is the purpose of the podcast 'Dogs & Dust Mops'?
Chapter 2: How does perimenopause affect sleep and what solutions are available?
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Welcome to Bedtime Stories for Everyone, in which nothing much happens. You feel good, and then you fall asleep. I'm Katherine Nicolai. I create everything you hear, and nothing much happens. Audio Engineering is by Bob Wittersheim.
We give to a different charity each week, and this week we are giving to Be Heard Movement. Be Heard offers a range of essential services, unhoused individuals, including private showers, access to clean and fresh laundry services, haircuts, and more. You can learn more in our show notes.
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Chapter 3: What charitable work does the podcast support?
And of course, you can subscribe to our premium version, which is ad-free and overflowing with bonus episodes for a very affordable 10 cents a day. But did you know that if you can't swing that and could really use some extra nothing much, we have a pay-it-forward fund set up. Your fellow listeners donate, and then you can ask to receive a subscription for free.
Chapter 4: How can listeners get the premium version of the podcast?
There's no need to explain your situation. Just tell us you'd like the gift of a membership, and we'll do the rest. If you'd like to learn more, or to donate to the fund, visit the Pay It Forward link in our notes.
Now, I'm about to tell you a bedtime story. It's simple, and not much happens in it. And that is the idea. The story is a soft place to rest your mind.
A simple and pleasant way to occupy it, so that it doesn't wander away and keep you up. All you need to do is listen.
In a relaxed way, just follow along with the sound of my voice and the simple details of the story. And soon, very soon, you'll be deeply asleep. I'll tell the story twice, and I'll go a little slower the second time through. If you wake in the middle of the night, you could listen again,
Or just think your way back through any part of the story that you can remember.
We're training your brain to settle and rest. And the more you do this, the better your sleep will get.
Our story tonight is called Dogs and Dust Mops, and it's a story about some spring cleaning on a warm afternoon. It's also about an orange kitty in the window, the sound of the vacuum running upstairs, fresh sheets, scrabbling paws on the deck.
and the way your heart swells when you wrap your arms around someone you love. So turn off your light, snuggle your body down into your sheets, and get as comfortable as you can. Take a moment to just feel how good it is to be in bed, to be about to sleep.
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Chapter 5: What is the story behind the cat Marmalade?
Let's take a deep breath in through the nose and out through the mouth. Nice. Let's do that again. Breathe in and out.
dogs, and dust mops. We were doing a bit of spring cleaning.
We had all the windows open with fresh air moving through the house and the sound of lawnmowers and talking neighbors echoing from a few doors down. Marmalade, my regal orange cat, was wedged into one of the open windows, her round body pressed against the screen, and her silky fur sticking through the mesh.
Her green eyes were closed, and her head swayed a bit on her neck. Not dozing, but catching scents on the wind. Their whiskers twitched when the breeze blew.
And I knew if I lay a hand on her back, she would start to purr almost instantly. She was an indoor cat who, every year, had a few carefully chaperoned visits into the back garden. A few bike rides buckled into her cat trailer, and a few impromptu walks to the mailbox tucked into my arms.
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Chapter 6: How do the pets interact with each other during spring cleaning?
It suited her.
I'd found her out in the snow a few years back, just a kitten leaving tiny paw prints in the flakes. And I'd wondered, when she'd first stepped into my house, if it would be difficult to keep her in, if she'd want out again. If she were some kind of ramblin' rolling stone, I wouldn't want to settle down.
But those fears were quickly allayed.
As soon as she'd discovered the delights of a crackling fire, an ear rubs on the sofa, She'd been happy to leave the outside outside.
Still, in the spring, when we open everything up, she loves to get close. A squirrel dashed across the yard, and her eyes sprang open, sensing him.
her lazy, docile attitude suddenly shifted. She sat up, pressed her nose to the screen, watching as the squirrel teased her by running closer, flapping his fluffy tail, and generally acting unbothered. If this were a cartoon, he would have pulled out an emery board and begun filing his nails. Marmee began chattering and clicking at him.
An empty threat, for sure, but one she felt compelled to issue. I'd been running the dust mop along the floorboards watching this drama unfold and rolled my eyes as I fished a brown dust bunny from far back under the sofa. If it were a little bigger, I might have expected it to start barking and jumping It was clearly made of crumb fur.
Our scruffy, small pooch, who had more energy than the rest of us put together, was shedding in the warm weather. It reminded me to make an appointment with the groomer. And as he came around the corner, racing through my dustpile, I told him so. Haircut next week, Mr. Crumbles, I said. He didn't seem to care or notice. Instead, he jumped his front paws up beside Marmalade.
and began barking at the squirrel.
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Chapter 7: Why is Bird the gentlest pet in the family?
I wasn't sure how she would do with a little brother, but I shouldn't have worried. While she occasionally feigned being too cool for dogs, the truth was that she adored him, not in the same way that he adored her. He came with wild love, The bull you overtype.
She came with gentle love. The lick your face at the end of the day type. He was a bit her baby when she watched over him. Reassured him when the thunder crashed. meowed at him when he got late-night zoomies, told him to go to sleep. Upstairs, I heard the click of greyhound toenails on the floors, and I chuckled, imagining what was happening.
I was on floor duty downstairs, and their dad was on bedroom duty upstairs, and I was pretty sure he'd just gotten to changing the sheets. bird, our rescued hound, the sleepiest boy you've ever met, had just been evicted from the bed.
I was still laughing under my breath as I went through the hall to the foot of the stairs and called out to him. Birdie, did Dad make you get up? Come on down here, and you can sleep on the porch. It's sunny. A pointed gray face emerged at the top step. Sweet Birdie's deep black eyes blinked at me. He shuffled down the stairs and pressed his body against my leg.
Bird is probably the gentlest of all of us, humans included.
He was calm and thoughtful, stood back while Crumb tore his toys to bits. or marmy strutted through the kitchen.
I leaned down and held him, his soft body wrapped in my arms. I could feel his heart beating and the light touch of his breath on my shoulder.
I love my family so much, Each of these souls, so much, had sometimes brought tears to my eyes. I wiped them away, reminding myself that while there was nothing wrong with the tenderness it had brought up, they were here with me now,
They weren't a memory. I should enjoy them now. I think Bird understood how I felt. He stood very still, letting me take some deep breaths. When I stood up, I patted him on the back and led him out to the porch.
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