Work stuff

I planned to spend today at the office. I wanted to walk the dog, then get ready for work. Except I decided I should probably do a little light cleaning before I left. Really quickly.

After dusting, cleaning glass, and starting on the bathrooms, I decided my floors could really use some work. So I took rugs out back, then started on the tile floors in the bathrooms. Swept, then mopped, then mopped again (because I missed some spots the first time).

Then I started to vacuum. I got done, but it didn’t seem clean enough. So I went around the edges with my broom, then the attachment. Then I vacuumed again.

I stood in my living room, resisting the lure of the laptop, but hesitant to shower and get ready to leave. So I frowned at my table – the one that holds my laptop, cell phone, speakers for the iPod, miscellaneous mail – messes congregate there. I should really fix that.

But no, it was time to get ready. I made it four steps before turning to look at the table again. If I moved table A to that location, there would be baskets available to hold all the vital items. A place for the remotes! And room for the cords to hang neatly! I knew where I’d put my speakers, could see where the iPod would rest neatly until I took it somewhere.

But table A belongs next to the loveseat, not the couch. So I’d move furniture too! Switch the couch and loveseat (hurt myself doing that), and move table A to the perfect location.

Well then the carpet behind the furniture really needed some work. And if I was going to vacuum again, I should probably just scrub the carpet since I hadn’t done it since I moved in. Then I decided that the furniture should probably be vacuumed too, but I’d already filled up my last bag.

The shop-vac! A Christmas gift that works not only for the car, but for the living room! So I finished the carpet, then all the furniture. I did a load of laundry for all the blankets that rest on my now-clean couch, loveseat and chair. Which necessitated folding and moving the laundry I’d already started.

Well, then I had to organize the stuff that was already in the baskets of table A, which lead to organizing some piles of paper that were in my office (because some of the table A items should have been filed with office papers). Leaving my office, I noticed the picture frames I’d picked up but hadn’t used. So the old pictures of Grandma and Grandpa that hang in my hall were carefully reframed and hung again. That made me think of those postcards I bought but never framed.

In looking for them, I discovered the baskets on my baker’s rack in the kitchen entryway were terribly messy. So I looked through all of that stuff, threw some away, and put the rest in neater order. I realized I hadn’t put away the big Mary and Joseph figurines from Christmas, so a trip to the guest room was in order. It was only logical to make sure the boxes I’d packed up in early January were done properly at that point, right?

Upon my return to the baker’s rack, I found the postcards, then a frame in the bedroom, and, after cleaning the glass, I put that together. Wandered around wondering where to put it. Decided to hang it near the front door. Organized my junk drawer when I put the tiny container of nails back.

Oh, and moving the couch and loveseat resulted in finding about 10 books, so I decided to implement my half-formed plan of reorganizing some bookshelves. There’s a small pine tree plant on the white ladder shelf that needed water, so I took care of that after ordering books in a more appropriate way.

Then it’s hardly fair to ignore the other plants, so I gave them water too. And picked off dead leaves. And dusted them. Moved them around a little just for a change.

The last plant hangs in my master bathroom, so some dead leaves fell in my garden tub as I was picking at the huge leafy mess. The tub looked out of place – being all dusty and dirty in an otherwise spotless bathroom. There was no choice but to scrub at that for awhile.

Since the master closet connects to the master bath, it seemed important to go through all the clothes in there. My church is collecting things for a rummage sale, and so it honestly would have been selfish not to make my way through some items to see if I had donations to make. Then organizing shoes and accessories just sort of happened. I don’t really remember deciding to do it.

I was about to put the shop-vac away when I realized I’d never worked on those carpeted steps leading to my unfinished attic. So I did that, then came back to the table that table A had displaced. It didn’t go anywhere anymore. So I took it up to the attic (hurt self yet again – it was heavy), and may have spent some time just making sure I knew what was up there.

Then the dog walked in covered with grass! She does that sometimes – rolls around in the freaking yard. I usually take her out front and brush her off while explaining that I don’t like dead grass everywhere. So I was brushing her off, picking up little pieces that had already fallen to the floor, and realized it’d been awhile since she’d had a bath.

She has allergies and I think the season is coming. So I found her shampoo (already organized the bathroom cabinets, so it was easy) and coaxed her into the tub. So she’s all shiny, soft and clean now.

I’m a little jealous, so I plan to exfoliate head to toe this evening, and use the special deep cleaning shampoo that organizing the master bathroom cabinets unearthed. First I have to finish the kitchen though – it’s swept but not mopped. And there are a few dishes that should be done.

Work stuff? Oh. Well, Dryden responded to an email I sent that was full of rage and profanity and told me to try to laugh at this guy I hate. I must have gone too easy on the swearing. I’m skeptical, but I’ll give it a shot. If he’s wrong, I can always come back to the half-formed plot of vengeance. It’s nice to have a back-up plan, right?

Then there’s more animal stuff I’m going to write about yet again.

Oh! And I decided to cheer myself up by doing 2 cool things – gifts, really. The first is a sweet, small gesture, and the second could make me the coolest, most extravagant person ever! I’m excited about telling you about both of them, but honestly, I need to get back to my kitchen.