Confessions of a One-Track Mind

I haven't gotten a lot done since GK's departure, since the heat has returned with a vengeance and I'm mostly useless above 85F. Still, I consolidated a system for recycing cans---a Good Thing, since I keep finding them as I move other things around.

The middle room, which is the room everything seems to land in is earmarked to be my office/library, but GK says better I should stuff stuff in there and actually be able to use my living and dining room to their fullest. I'm not sure about how I feel about that, especially since that's my Career square on the feng shui grid. Deadweight is the last thing it needs.

Changed my bedding this afternoon, and since I can now circumnavigate my bed, I managed to spin the mattress around. (Not flipped, just a horizontal 180.)

I love the new striped curtains over my big living room window. Yes, they're darker than the old off-white ones in terms of letting in light, but they're also a lot fuller, which adds a note of luxury to the room. (Width of window is 105", plus the sidtance on either side to the brackets. The tab curtains are four panels of 42" each.) Now, if I can just get the old area rug up and the "new" one down....

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GK got back from Savannah around 8, and we ended up staying awake til 3 AM cleaning. The results are nothing less than astonishing. Not quite "Having Martha Stewart to tea" level awesome, but if she weren't flying out this afternoon, it would be there by Monday for sure! I'm psyched!

I'd spent a couple hours trying to deal with the pile on the far side of the bed. I do not exagerated when I say it was nearly up to the level of the mattress (which is on a platform bed and is literally hip-high). Now it's completely cleared and swept and I have hopes of getting the mattress turned beforeshe leaves.

We paused for sustenence around 10PM. Descended upon Taco Bell and wolved down dinner, then over to WalMart for more trashbags and a fresh pillow for GK. She got sucked into the orbit of Discount Fabric and got a bunch, including 4 yards for me to make new bedroom curtains with. It's a cute print of yellow-gold leaves on an aqua background.

Back home, we worked on the living room, then the pantry, because it bothered her that I had cans and boxes and stuff all over the living room.

Today calls for recycling cans and canned goods---not at the same place!---within the next three hours. Finally, last thing before we turned in, we got the curtains up. They made the room smaller, but cozy.

More later!

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ETA: The cans brought in $18.50 (at 50 cents a pound, which gives you anidea of how over-run I'vebeen!), we donated a trunkful of canned goods and pantry items to the Sharing Center, and got padlocks on my gates. She departed about ten minutes ago, saying she was going to need a vacation from her vacation---I know the feeling! I only caught about three hours sleep last night---something tells me I'm gonna be zonked this afternoon!

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Got a couple things done today. Three FULL cans of trash at the curb for tomorrow's pickup, the stove and counter mostly cleared. Baby steps.

Mb called around 6:30, wanting company for a WalMart run. Okay, I said, as long as I'm home by nine.
Picked up a few things, light bulbs and trash bags and raspberry Hershy's kisses. Also made Mb laugh her ass off when I wandered toward an aisle full of brightly colored packages murmuring, "Ooooh, snacky things!" only to discover that they were pet treats. I turned to her and said solemnly, "Have I mentioned that I'm waiting for new glasses?" Yes, it IS that bad....

Being ten years older than Mb, we occasionally don't have the same frame of reference. I mentioned Mr. Magoo to her, and asked if she knew who had voiced him, thinking of course she would, but no. Jim Backus, the actor who was Thurston Howell III on Gilligan's Island was also the hapless Magoo. But why am I surprised? J, who's the same age as Mb, hadn't known the FDR is on dimes because of the March of Dimes...which I knew, but then again, I have that bent for epidemics, and read up on the history of polio. But I digress.

Movie night at church tomorrow, hooray!

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This evening, I took that tropical print bedspread from Saturday's yard sale and covered my loveseat-couch with it. It doesn't go with anything else in the room, alas, but it's a nice change from the fish.

Of course, that first meant clearing off the mattress and folding it up---it's been open in the middle of the living room since the morning of the royal wedding, when I wanted to watch the big TV and needed to stretch out. (5'10" canNOT stretch out on a loveseat.) That's the lethargy I've been operating under. But we've had a couple days of quasi-reasonable temps, IE, the low 80s rather than the 90s, which has helped.

The house hasn't completely regressed to where it was in January/February, but it's not good. It was SO (comparatively) tidy when GK showed up, and then my kitchen exploded, and I haven't even begin to get all that squared away. Gah, I have terrible follow-through.

I need to
figure out where the pots and small appliances are going to live.
find a place for the two bins of foodstuffs that were evicted from the kitchen.
clean and organize the fridge and freezer, both of which are completely crammed with stuff.
do dishes, because I'm out of plates, except for paper, and flatware is at a premium.
give my plants a good watering and move then outside, IF they're still alive.
decide what to do with the wrought-iron stand that used to be where the wooden storage unit is now---because it can't stay in the kitchen.
shred a couple boxes worth of stuff, which will really open up the space between the living and dining rooms.
get a grip, get a clue get a life, get a job.

Not necessarily in that order.
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I have laundry going in circles, had an ample lunch of The Stuff (with Rice), and sprayed the kitchen counter for ants. Never mind vinegar as a green remedy, it doesn't freaking work. Give me chemicals, damn it!

If I really get ambitious, I may put on clothes and go down to the mailbox. It's getting* toward the end of the month, my subscription to Country Living might be there.

Today's been up around 88---less balmy than yesterday, but not oh-good-I-can't-MOVE hot. Just a few more weeks, and hopefully 80 will be a high and not a low.

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* May I highly recommend signing up for Coke Rewards? If you're any kind of Coke drinker at all, you can earn enough points to keep yourself in 'zines, at least.


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I ended up doing a number on my bathroom. I still need to apply hot soapy water and elbow grease, but it's improved by the subtraction of a lot of grey cardboard cylinders and enough hair to knit a small golden retriever.

Today got off to a good start with an encouraging e-mail from karaokegal. I spent an hour industriously pecking away at Known and Unknown. Had brunch (1 PM is stretching it a bit to be considered brunch, but when it's fried eggs...), clearing several science projects out of the fridge in the process, and revised a section of Nature vs. Nurture.

Carrying on my attempts to Do Something Around This Place, I swiped down the windowsill over the sink, which led to waxing the sink (It's a light colored enamel, so intermittant coasts of Turtle Wax are an attempt to repel stains.), and cleaning the last two feet.

The last two feet of what, you may ask. To the right of my sink, there is a two foot wide expanse---I use the word ironically---of countertop, which is where I keep my folding wooden dishrack. This is where most of my dishes tend to live, as there's nowhere near enough cabinet space. I tend to ignore it, except when I'm shuffling dishes around. The space UNDER it attracts stuff, in this case, receipts, twist-ties, plastic storage containers, dead bugs and other random ickiness. Not any more!

I still have a number of things to rinse off and find places for, but so far I feel I've accomplished quite a bit!

Free meals: Four, if you include hospitality after church (salmon salad, sweet'n'sour meatballs, Chinese buffet, bourbon salmon).

Loads of laundry done: Three---delicates and knits, darks and denim, towels and bedding.

Loads put away: Two. (Towels and bedding are still in the dryer.)

Found: Black half-slip, favorite/only black leggings, plum satin vest.

Dishes done: Most of them. Including what I ate lunch and dinner from. Still searching out flatware in my room, but the situation is vastly improved.

I was pleased to discover a brand-new scrubby sponge, still in the package, which I used on the countertop and stove. For the first time in Quite A While, the stove, countertop and sinks are ALL EMPTY.

Damn, now I'm really not going to want to go back to work tomorrow. I wish I'd done all this Monday so I could've enjoyed it for a while. Not only do I have to go back to work, I have to go in an hour and a half early for training (Tasteful Lady). Meaning I get out at 10...my first thought is, of course, "Well, there goes SPN"...except that now I've got DVR, which is made of awesome. Especially when the new season starts.

I need to decide tonight what I'm going to wear tomorrow and shower and wash my hair. I grabbed a shower this afternoon because I was over-heated and ripening, but my scalp doesn't know that.