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Momentary Thought
It just figures that now that my doctor has specifically told me *not* to exercise until after I get my test results back, I'm now blessed with the urge to get up in the morning and jog. Such is my life.
High/Low
High: We can now see the floor in the garage.
Low: Another airplane crash in New York. What an incredibly demoralizing couple of months it has been.
Current Obsession
Finding a second job. Off to submit more applications at lunch today.
Grin Source
I downloaded the entire soundtrack *and* the entire episode of BtVS's "Once More, With Feeling" off of Morpheus this weekend.
Singing
If I was your girl
Oh, the things I’d do to you
I’d make you call out my name
I’d ask who it belongs to
Janet Jackson - "If"
A Year Ago
More or less
I was having a bad Monday.
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But this isn't going to be one of those entries. The title is quite literal, actually.
Calvin and I (or well, I'm instigating, Calvin's being drafted) have been on an organizing kick for the past couple of weekends. It started two Saturdays ago with Calvin complaining he was bored. So I hauled him to Home Depot and we bought shelf makings to reorganize the kitchen pantry. The pantry started its life as a laundry closet, in the kitchen, with just enough space to fit the washer and dryer side-by-side, with a shelf above, behind bi-fold doors. I mentioned to Calvin, one day while in the midst of the HIPFH(tm), that I would like to be able to move the laundry area out into the garage, so that we could use that space as a pantry for the kitchen. So, doll that he is, he dragged the washer and dryer out into the garage next to the water heater. He re-arranged the hoses and pipes and whatnot so the water was going to the new location.
Then we kind of shut the doors on the whole pantry thing. So to speak. We still stored a bunch of cleaning things on the shelf, but we just sort of stacked oversized pots, paper towels, flats of soda, brooms, mops, buckets, and whatnot, on the floor. The ferret loved it in there. Lots of things to chew, tip over, crawl into, and clang around amongst. And it's that very clanging about that prompted me to finally get going on those shelves.
That'll teach Calvin to admit he's bored. I inherited the ability from Grammy to "find you something to do".
He made short work of it all, and within a couple of hours I had two new shelves, a hanger thingy for the mops and brooms, a mounted Dust Buster, and even a hook for the dust pan and fly swatter. I spent a happy hour rearranging things in the pantry and already-existing closet, and now everything from lobster pots to coffee grinder is neat, tidy, easily accessible, and up off the floor.
I'm sure the ferret was devastated the first time she squirmed under the door into the pantry.
I admit to being a total dork about it. After I was done, and for several days thereafter, I would open the doors to the pantry and grin at all the neatness staring back at me. I'd ask Calvin to give me an excuse to get into the pantry - "Need any paper plates? How about freshly ground coffee?" He rolled his eyes at me a lot, but I could tell he thought it was cute that such a little thing made me happy.
So happy, in fact, that I didn't stop with the pantry.
Last Saturday Calvin and I were digging (literally) through the piles in the garage, and getting all the cardboard boxes together to make a dump run. In the midst of doing that, I re-discovered the cupboard that we'd pulled from the kitchen during the HIPFH(tm), and saved for a "just in case" kind of thing. That should tell you right there the state our garage was in - we *lost* a cupboard. I looked at it speculatively, and said to Calvin, "Could we mount this above the washer and dryer so I can have a place to put the laundry stuff?" He got a "here we go again" look on his face, but he hauled out the drill. And in fifteen minutes, I had another area to organize.
We came across a *lot* of my books while digging through the garage. The majority of them were in boxes, but quite a few were loose (new acquisitions that were piled up will-he nill-he). Calvin reinforced some shelves that were kicking around, and helped me load the boxes of books up onto them. Six very large boxes.
He went off to have a beer and play some shoot-em-up video game on the computer. He had indeed learned from his experience the weekend prior. But I? I'd gotten the organizing bug. And there was no stopping me.
I listened to the 80's station while tackling the garage. For three sweaty, blissful hours I applied my energy and organizational skills at what looked, at first, to be an insurmountable task. Painting equipment and supplies were *everywhere*. Camping gear was scattered throughout. Junk was stacked on top of more junk, which was stacked on top of more junk. But I conquered. Indeed, I kicked ass, and also took names.
We have more painting stuff than should be allowed someone outside the profession. A dozen paint cans (at least), a few five gallon buckets, brushes, rollers, drywall stuff, etc. etc. ad nauseum. I stacked all the cans on a bottom shelf, and piled all the rest into one big box.
I found five, count them, five motorcycle helmets. There are only four of us.
We have more camping gear than a family really ought to. Three big duffel bags full, plus four five-gallon water jugs, plus the tent and sleeping bags and portable picnic table and and and...
The Christmas decorations, thank God, were all put into one GIANT box after last year's festivities, and so were all together.
A suitcase plus a big garbage bag full of ski clothes. Our ski boots, now neatly lined up on a shelf next to our roller blades.
Every spare nut (heh), socket, wrench, hammer, nail, screw (heh), and utility knife that I found on the floor or wandering around loose I put into one big plastic plant potter (say that five times fast). Heaven help me when Calvin is looking for something specific. But hey, He Who Goes Off To Play Video Games must content himself with how things are organized in His Absence.
All the tires on all four of the bicycles are flat. But I found the tire pump!!!
I found, and threw away, three flattened footballs.
And the Twister game? That we couldn't find for Marie's party and so had to buy a new one? Found it. So now we have two. Woo!
And we were recently bemoaning the fact that we had to hire a landscaper to maintain our yard, since we had no landscaping maintenance type tools. Well, guess what? Yep - trimmers, shears, shovels, hoes, and rakes, all buried. I really, seriously am not kidding about how bad the condition of the garage was. We'd taken to naming it the "Black Hole", because we'd just shut our eyes and shove miscellaneous items into it that were homeless.
Well, It Shall Be No More! I Doth Proclaim It!
And seeing how I was the worst instigator of the clutter ("Oh, another cardboard box? Just toss it in the garage."), I can pretty much control this Proclamation.
As of right now, I'm just gleeful that we can once again see the floor. And are able to walk a straight line from the kitchen door to the driveway.
And Calvin's Baby (aka the motorcycle) now has feet and feet of space, instead of being snuggled up against towers of clutter threatening to fall. And Scratch! His Poor! Baby! Well, it's safe now.
Next purchase, a garage door opener. We won't be able to fit the truck in the garage (because it's too big, not because there's too much clutter! The novelty!), but it would be nice to be able to walk a direct line to the kitchen when carrying groceries.
Stay tuned! Next weekend, I organize the stair closet!!! Readers: "Be still our hearts." Laura: "Hush, you."