So much for going on to bed

But I did get the fish tanks filled,  so that's one task for tomorrow that's already finished.  Of course,  I may have overdone it.  I'm using a five pound dry weight bucket and the first trip I didn't have a chair ready and lifted it from the floor,  which is not good for someone with neck issues and little upper body strength.  If I keep that up I'll be back in PT before I know it.  Let's not do that.

Good night for real,  this time.

Meanwhile

This is happening at home.  It bloomed at the holidays and is having another go.  Beautiful,  yes?

Oooh

I am excited because at work an orchid that a coworker gave me two years ago that was ailing,  and which is now green and healthy and well-rooted,  is about to bloom.  She thinks it was yellow.  I have never gotten an orchid to bloom before,  although all of them (I have four)  are healthy and several have long aerial roots. The woman that gave it to me and a security guard who loves plants are watching with me. I'll keep you posted.

Not a bad two hours' work

The plants are watered, I've done the dishwasher dishes, and I've moved a table over by the door and set up a landing point for mail, along with the sorting box and an 'out' divider. I've also found a spot for the shredder that was on the table. I'd offered to shred some cheque books for a friend, so I wanted to make sure I had easy access to it. I moved the old lamp A gave me over by the computer, too, so I have light by that desk as well.

It's right after midnight. I'm listening to Of Monsters and Men's 'Slow and Steady'. I'm not really sleepy (I have had quite a bit of caffeine today), but I should close the windows and go on to bed, as I need to do some things in the morning and then take my laundry over to my friends' house and help them with Sunday chores.

By the way, I was sorry to hear that Harper Lee died the other day. I had just gotten Go Set a Watchman out of the library a couple of days before. I love To Kill a Mockingbird. It is probably my favourite book I ever had to read for school. The movie is excellent, too, of course.

Okay, I'm going to skip to my favourite song on this album, 'Your Bones', listen to it, and then shut everything up and prepare for bed. I think it got up to 70 today, and it's still warm outside, but alas, I live on the first floor and no longer have a dog, so no sleeping overnight with the windows open. I'm trying to enjoy the weather while I can; it starts raining tonight and into tomorrow, and then midweek we could have snow again and it will be colder.

Good night. Hope you're having a good weekend so far.

By the way

I sent off my taxes today. Yes, it will take awhile to get my refund compared to electronic filing, but it took less time than the frustrating day I had with TurboTax and they don't get $106 of it. Yay!

Nesting and purging

So, all the going in and out this winter has left my house a bit of a wreck, and although I went through a good period of keeping it neat, now there’s stuff everywhere, getting slowly worse over the winter. And so I am planning to do some spring cleaning/purging, inspired by today’s lovely weather, although it will continue when wintry weather returns. Tonight the windows are open to let in some fresh air and I'm listening to peppy music to get going.

So here is the plan:

Great House Purge/Spring Cleaning 2016
Normal cleaning --Tonight
1. Gather trash and recyclables.
2. Load dish washer and do a cycle.
3. Excavate loveseat.
4. Reverse grey boxes, dining room end table.
5. Water and rearrange plants.
6. Straighten up living room.
Normal cleaning--Sunday
1. Put water in fish tanks.
2. Wash plastic dishes.
3. Gather dirty laundry.
4. Take trash out.
5. Take recyclables out.
6. Do laundry over at my friends’ while helping them with their house.
Normal cleaning--This week (2/22-2/28)
1. Clean bathroom.
2. Straighten up kitchen.
3. Fold old clean laundry.
4. Put away laundry.
5. Straighten up dining room.
6. Vacuum living and dining areas.
7. Excavate bedroom floor.
8. Return things to closets.
9. Straighten up bedroom.
10. Vacuum bedroom.
Purging Begins--Next week (2/29-2-3/6)
1. Clean out grey totes that will now be in dining room.
2. Weed clothes.
3. Give away old clothes.
Purging Continues--Next two weeks after that (3/7-3/20)
1. Rearrange computer desk and go through papers on its shelf.
2. Weed and rearrange books a shelving unit at a time.
3. Catalogue books.
4. Run any weeded books by YKWIA in case he wants them.
5. Give rejects to the library.
6. Clean out entertainment center.
Purging Continues--Week of 3/21-2/27
1. Rearrange cabinets in kitchen and give away anything not wanted to a food bank.
2. Clean out linen/bathroom closet.
Purging Continues--Week of 3/28-4/3
1. Clean out walk-in closet and give away anything not wanted.
Purging Continues--Weeks of 4/4-4/17
1. Clean out bedroom closets and give away anything not wanted.
2. Take any electronic cords, items, not wanted to be recycled at the Lexington Reycling Centre.
3. Set up window boxes (which right now have two-year-old geraniums).

I try to do this about once a year. The plan starts with normal cleaning and getting things back to being livable. Then over time I will go through and clean out closets and cabinets and giving away what isn’t needed. This year I have an ambitious goal: weeding books. I have about fourteen bookshelves in an apartment that has about 780 square feet. I need to rearrange them. Everything’s on shelves, and about half are in order, but I’d like to get them in good order and catalogued. YKWIA gets first stab at any of the rejects; after that they’ll go to the library (I could try to sell them to Half-Price Books, but I learned a long time that you get squat for ANYTHING (books, CDs, etc.) there.

Okay, if this is going to work, I need to get to work. I’ve been doing a lot of other stuff today and the night is almost gone. But I do want to get the dishes done and the fish and plants taken care of tonight. That won’t take too long. Plus, there’s some general straightening up to do, and the living room should be in good shape. We’re not playing the game again yet, so I have some time tomorrow morning and then I’ll go over to YKWIA and A’s and help them with their house, do my laundry, watch ‘Lucifer’ with them, and then A and I plan on coming over here and working out at the complex gym. Wish us luck.

This is a sad commentary on our society

Endangered baby dolphin dies after swimmers pass it around for selfies

Video footage of last week’s incident shows the animal being scooped up by a man and quickly surrounded by a curious mob eager to touch the animal.

The miniature dolphin, no more than a few feet long, is eventually left to die in the mud, where it can be seen lying motionless.

At no point in the footage does it appear that anyone in the crowd intervened or attempted to return the animal to the water.

These people should be ashamed. Granted, separated from its mother, it might not have survived if it had been put back in the sea, but at least it would have had a better chance than being manhandled by a mob who thought only of themselves and how cool the whole thing was rather than the welfare of a baby animal and left it to die in the mud.

Feeling better today

Happy and having a good day, but not too high and weird. I went to the pharmacy after work and got some medicine for a friend, and then another friend paid for us to have a meal at Long John Silver's. We watched the movie My Babysitter's a Vampire, which explained the backstory to the series. It'a a fun Canadian kids show that mocks Twilight mercilessly. :) Then I went to Kroger and got a few things, along with some creamer, and talked to a nice Jewish man and his father who was buying pomelos and the strange spiky melon we once tried at the game that was so weird. Now I'm home and listening to Jesus Christ, Superstar again (it's the movie soundtrack), and I'm early into the recording, at 'Everything's Alright'. I paid a slew of bills today, and I'm trying to make every dollar stretch as much as I can so I'm not hungry again, while working in my budget.

Tomorrow there's work, which should be fairly light. I may do some cataloguing and try to get my pile of new books down since I'm about to start back in scheduling. Then my friend has an evening appointment, and then there's 'Grimm', I'm assuming. So far, I don't have any weekend plans. I don't know if we're playing the game this weekend yet. Saturday there will be the grocery run with A. I also may stop by Tire Discounters and have them check my battery cables, as every once in awhile my car cranks slowly, but then if I get it a little rest, it starts right up. The battery's just two months old. I'm hoping it's as simple as a loose connexion, and not something like the starter or alternator.

I think I'm going to get comfy, go into the bedroom, and do some reading, while finishing with the album. Good night. Oooh. We're up to 'This Jesus Must Die'; I love Caiphas' low voice, and his and Annas' voices play off each other, as Annas is a high tenor.

3 am and I'm wide awake

And not sleepy or tired.  I think I'm definitely hypomanic,  triggered by my menstrual cycle.  I was depressed for days prior to my menses and especially during,  and as it almost finished I felt almost euphoric in comparison,  with every detail seeming to matter suddenly,  no need for sleep,  talking quickly,  thoughts racing, feeling sensual and hyperaware.  Yep,  classic symptoms.  I'm in my third day of that. Perimenopause is going to be great and yes,  I'm being a bit sarcastic. If my hormones shifts are going to cause mood swings,  and they have at the very least caused dysphoria during menses most of my life,  then I'm in for an interesting monthly ride.

I wonder

If the hormone changes I've had over the past month have tipped me into a mild bipolar cycle.  First I was blah and lifeless,  now I have all this energy,  and YKWIA was saying the other day that I was talking a mile a minute,  which could be push of speech.  That could explain the lack of appetite,  too. Hmm... Maybe I have something to bring up to my doctor next time see him. My meds may need some adjusting.