Yeah, well, it's like this, see.....

I had a good weekend.

Wouldn't know it to look at what I can cross off on the latest list. The only thing I really accomplished this weekend was purging the filing cabinet and going through 2 huge stacks of old bills and crap that needed to be filed or scuttled elsewhere. I hit the bottom drawer on Saturday and did the top drawer on Sunday. It's all I did this weekend, but it's a big step toward household organization. Took me so long because there was so much of it, and because a lot of the stuff needed to be worked on before I could throw it out. We don't own a shredder, so I had to Sharpie through personal info in the trash in the hopes of preventing identity theft. What a lovely world we live in.

Now I've just gotta keep it that way.

This week, in addition to organizing my fundraising for the Avon Walk, I'll be laying out that budget I keep talking about, projecting how the heck we can actually move in April without landlords laughing at us when we go to rent a place.

Hopefully some other stuff too.

Another weekend, another fresh start

This week was a wash, thanks to the arrival of Kylie Johnson-Burnett, my new niece. We were in SC from Monday night til Thursday morning, when we left at the crack and I went straight to work upon arrival back in Jax. Worked til 8, hit the sack on time, and here we are at Friday again already.

So how about taking last week's list and changing or expanding upon it:
1. Pass papasan chair onto ruthee.
2. Dig into boxes in dining area.
3. Purge filing cabinet.
4. Reorganize VHS shelves.
5. Call Comp USA about recycling the old computers.
6. Call dry cleaners and price preserving wedding dress.
7. Get a little sun.

Les looked into recycling the computers online, but found that a) it's probably more trouble than it's worth to ship them anywhere, in addition to being expensive, b) it's sort of illegal to just throw them out (considered hazardous material). Yeah, I know, like who's going to notice, but still worth factoring into the equation. I'm going to call the local CompUSA right down the street from us and see if they have any kind of program. Also, I think that list is plenty, so I'll save the walk-in closet box reorganization idea from last week for during the next week in the evenings. Give me something to do when I'm bored with knitting or reading.

The brain is such a fickle thing. Watching Kara give birth this week had me thinking I'd rather have my first kid here in Jax, because I have the most awesome OB/GYN on the planet and the hospital in SC offered more than one instance of practices that I'd frown upon in my own childbirthing. The doc bum-rushed her by breaking her water as he was telling her he was going to do it, so he could place a probe on the baby's head (hey doc, tell me what you're going to do BEFORE my legs are spread, whydoncha?!) and they put Oxycontin in her saline without even telling her. Now granted, this is a girl with chronic pain issues from fibromyalgia and a seriously low pain tolerance, but still...Anyway, came to my senses this morning and reminded myself that a) we're moving to Columbia, not Aiken; likely better medical facilities, b) I'm hoping to go all natural, which will certainly be communicated to all staff related to my sitch before I hit stirrups, c) it's all still academic since we won't be trying to get me pregnant for at least another 5 months, and d) I FRICKIN' HATE JACKSONVILLE!!! So I think allowances can be made regardless of my condition, once April rolls around, provided we're actually prepared to move.

So let's add to this weekend's list a budget and projection for now til the end of the year, highlighting the serious bills that have to be remedied before we can lay down an application for rental anywhere else, and looking over Les's SS disability paperwork for him. The damn doc is about to go on sabbatical, so it's imperative we duke it out with his office for his records before then.

The best laid plans...

You know, this tracking progress blog thing is only going to work if I actually like, print the lists I make for myself. Or log on on the weekend.

I got lots of rest this past weekend and started a fresh knitting project with the White Buffalo, in a desperate attempt to get myself out of the doldrums that my other UFOs are creating for some reason...I needed the rest after last week's hormonal blast, plus my body's adjusting to a new med.

However, I did not dig into the dining area and filing cabinet, reorganize a box, reorganize the VHS bookcase, or get the papasan chair to ruthee. And the only sun I got was in the Wal-Mart parking lot before and after our eye appointments.

But in keeping with the "Things not to do" list, I won't get down on myself; I'll just keep moving forward. The good news is this new med is increasing my energy and metabolism, and making me need less sleep. The bad news is I won't be able to take advantage of it in our apartment this week til at least Thursday. We're scheduled to become aunts and uncles sometime Tuesday or Wednesday, so we're heading up to SC this evening for a quickie 2-day trip to visit family. This week's a wash, and I'll accept it with patience. I'm thinking of somehow stuffing the papasan into my car to take to knitting bitches this week and transfer to ruthee from there. The rest will have to wait.

For the weekend...

Done:
1. Took 3 bags of excrement to Goodwill.
2. Found a home for the papasan chair.
3. Made more room in the dining area.

For this weekend:
1. Pass papasan chair onto ruthee.
2. Dig into dining area boxes and filing cabinet.
3. Reorganize VHS shelves.
4. Call CompUSA about the old computers.
5. Take one box out of closet and go through it.
6. Call dry cleaners and price preserving wedding dress.
7. Get a little sun.

Things NOT to do this weekend:
1. Try and do too much.
2. Go anywhere near the closet that holds the ironing board. You're just not ready for it yet.
3. Deal with the walk-in closet beyond that one box mentioned above.
4. Get too much sun.
5. Beat up on yourself for not doing enough.

Fairly realistic, I think.

It's the little things

It's just hard to go through boxes during the week. I know I'll need to step it up eventually, but between doctor's appointments and the tail end of hormonal enslavement this week, I have all the energy of Spanish moss by the time I get home from work...and that's with them letting us go early again this week!

Les filed his paperwork for a duplicate Social Security card this week (original got lost ages ago), so he should be able to look for work soon without any identity hangups.

One of the things to touch on when I'm projecting this move is what happens if I get pregnant between now and April. No, we're not trying per se yet, but I'm in the process of getting my ducks in a row healthwise, making sure all parts are fully functional, eating healthier, exercising, adjusting my meds. Much as I can't stand this city, I have a really delightful OB/GYN so I'd probably elect to stick around Jax til after birth, should the need arise. That would bring up a host of issues, like whether we stay in our current pit and deal with a significant rent increase (as my complex is under renovation and will hit market value sometime next year), or deal with the royal inconvenience of a short-term move in town. Easier to just stay put, but not worth the money...

Moved the wood coffee table into the bedroom, where it takes up quite a bit of space, but allows me an area to put my feet up when sitting on the Terra chair, as well as a workspace for books, knitting, etc. Les slid the dining table more into the dining area, which opens up more space and allows him a clear shot to throw things at the cat when she goes into the vertical blinds.

Reorganizing

sloth brought to you by http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1805540029/photo/248343

After a solid weekend of slothdom brought on by raging hormonal enslavement, my headaches ceased and my energy level buoyed enough for me to rearrange the dining room yesterday. I moved the computer to the worktable, and moved the dining room table out so that we could actually, like, eat on it now. Or set up the sewing machine on it. Or do any number of things on it like a normal family would. My Kitchenaid mixer makes a lovely centerpiece.

Yes, I know, normal is overrated. Still, even though it eats a bit of space in the general living area, it adds a bit of space to the dining room area proper, so that I can spread out just a little as I go through boxes and throw things out. In my moving yesterday, I discovered a box of bank stuff that is ancient, can probably all be shredded, burned, etc. Also, we have a tiny computer graveyard in the dining area: two monitors, two CPUs, and a dot-matrix printer from the stone age...going to look up CompUSA™ online or call them to see if they can recycle any of it, and if not, it's hitting the dumpster (unless there's a techhie in town who's dying for some antiques; I mean, one of the CPUs has a 5¼" floppy drive!)

I'll probably deal with boxes this week and hit the movie poster corner on the weekend. I don't know what to do about those. There's probably nothing actually stopping me legally from selling 'em on eBay or something, but that just seems like more trouble than it's worth. Cross that bridge as we get closer to it...actually, I oughta donate some to the PPD rummage sale. Hmmm....

Papasan's going to a good home next weekend. Couch slipcovering on back burner indefinitely as we try to keep up with bills instead of letting 'em slide too out of control.

Free to a good home...

graphic courtesy of http://www.pier1.com
Man, cutting the cord on this baby has been hard. Even though it becomes a catch-all for laundry more often than it's used as a chair, even though we have absolutely no room for it now, even though it probably gasps a little now when my big bod is in it, it's still the first piece of furniture I purchased after moving out of my folks' house. It has history. It's a symbol of independence for me. Or something.

But our apartment has officially reached its maximum where furniture is concerned, and it's all furniture we like more than the papasan. Even if I was to decide to Goodwill the chair we just got from Terra, I still wouldn't consider keeping the papasan, because I could instead move the small couch to the bedroom and move more of our chairs and coffee tables into the living room proper. We don't want to spend the money on a storage space, and we do want to keep all our other furniture. We have 4 dining room chairs that get shuffled periodically, because the dining room table is our computer desk, and 2 extra coffee tables thanks to dumpster diving (1 glass, 1 solid oak) that're too nice to toss back. So allowances are made.

So I posted a plea to my Knitting Bitches to see if any of them want to take it off my hands, sans the cushion because my cats have whizzed or horked on it at least once a piece. If there are no takers, I'll either donate it to the Pagan Pride Day rummage sale next weekend or take it to the Hubbard House thrift store.

I started making a to-do list last night, things like sorting through my movie poster collection, our VHS tapes, and unpacking and repacking old boxes. My movie poster collection is obscenely large and made up mostly of stuff that'll never go on my walls, so if it's not an absolute fave or a collector's item, I'll be giving 'em away to friends. I'd love to sell 'em on eBay, but I'm afraid of copyright infringement or something, since they were all procured when I worked at the theater.

It's little stuff, sure, but it'll go a long way toward organizing us. I'll start making an inventory of what's in boxes, and create an identification system (stickers? large labels?), since I've got boxes that probably date back to my NC move, so needless to say, there's a lot of crap already written on them and I'd rather not have something broken because of mislabeling. I'm also going to purge my filing cabinet this weekend, because it's getting impossible to put anything new in there. What's the rule: keep bills for 3 years, bank stuff for 5?

What have you done today?

My bitches aren't going to like this blog, but it can't be helped. As much as I treasure the friendships I've gained through my Knitting Bitches of Jacksonville, the compass of my life points elsewhere and demands attention.

For the last couple of years, I've talked about moving north. My husband and I want to live somewhere that isn't quite so hot, that's a little closer to his folks, in a city or town that isn't known for its murder rate. We want to feel safe walking to the car at night and sending our future kids to public school (if that becomes absolutely necessary—personally, I'm hoping to shell the dough for a Waldorf school). We've been in Jacksonville for going on 9 years, and we're ready for a change. We're thinking of Columbia, SC, for a start, because it's far enough from his folks where we can have our own lives, but close enough where we'll be raising small people near nurturing grandparents. Not saying my folks aren't nurturing, but that's a story for another time.

But Husby has pain management and dental issues that've made it challenging for him to look for work for a couple of years now, so year after year goes by with me talking and us not making it north because we're barely making ends meet as it is.

I've been talking it up much more of late, making some plans and lists, trying to get organized, motivated by a friend who just moved across the country. Husby and I are a couple of packrats, dumpster divers too, so our little apartment is fairly stuffed to the gills with furniture, books, clothes, and the detritus of 8 years in the same house. There's a helluva lot of stuff in that place that goes under the heading of "when we have a real house," never mind the stuff you unearth in a process like this and think, "wait, have I worn this since high school?" And we're both a little lazy, naturally fearful of change, and have a little trouble with the whole "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" mentality of adulthood.

So we've got our work cut out for us.

I keep in touch with a friend I've known since the 4th grade. This amazingly intelligent and creative lady sent me an email the other day with the subject line: Moving. My first thought was that maybe she was moving from her latest niche in New England; then I opened the email. One sentence:

—What have you done today to get yourself closer to moving out of Florida?

What, indeed? Let's see, I whined more than once in my head about how boring work was, but I didn't make any lists on the side while I was working, to better organize myself. I slacked on dinner, heated leftovers, and zoned in front of a TV that had next to nothing on its 60+ channels, when I could've been digging into the mess that is our dining room or pulling down a box that's been closed since we moved in and gone through its contents to ensure everything in it was worth keeping. I could've brought the papasan chair to the dumpster. I could've...

What a shot in the arm it was! What a simple concept! It made me really look at the apartment and mentally cut apron strings on furniture, cull through the videotapes, think about more areas that could be packed now or rearranged. It's not going to happen overnight, but one day at a time will get us into a moving van 9 months from now with a little diligence and a lot of hard work. It's going to mean plenty of sacrifice, like no more eating out or buying yarn ::pause to breathe into paper bag::, but it'll be so worth it when we're finally starting a new life in the Carolinas.

So this blog's to keep me on track for next April, and for anyone else who's curious about a packrat trying to simplify her life. Let's pare it down together!