One of the things I've discovered

having packed a total of 10 boxes is that I don't have room to really pack or store boxes. So, I'm going to see what I can downsize or move to storage, like some of the holiday decorations that never made it back in the walk-in closet, but rather are out in boxes of their own. I'm going to try to do that today, but I need to work on the game notes first, now that I'm about halfway through my list. I can always run the other things over tomorrow morning before the game, after all.

Tomorrow I pack

Well, begin packing, anyway. It's going to take awhile. I went by U-Haul and got a bundle of 25 boxes (for 73 cents each!) and some box tape. The plan is to begin in the living room, to pack the books that I want to keep, and then I'll be able to pack up the ones to be donated after that, in different types of boxes for now. The U-Haul boxes will be uniform and easier to store. I may eventually need to get some for the donated ones, but for now, I'm going to focus on what to keep, so I can start taking them over to the storage unit. The art will all go, too, although there's one triptych with two of the paintings that are too big for my car, I believe, so they may have to go last. And then there's YKWIA's self-portrait, which is on a larger canvas. But I think all the others will fit in my car. Then there are furniture/major items.

To keep:

• The kitchen island
• The microwave stand
• All of the bookshelves that come apart and fold up
• The bookshelf with glass doors
• The bookshelf that matches my computer desk
• The bookshelf my dad built
• The computer desk and maybe the printer stand, if I still have the triangular piece that goes with them, along with the desk's hutch
• The steamer trunk
• My aquarium
• The table (which comes apart)
• The curio cabinet
• The CD/DVD stand
• The boards and blocks the plants usually stand on
• The queen mattress and box springs
• Ma Craig's hourglass table (it has sand and works)

Not going:

• The cherry end tables
• The loveseat, which was 'found' by the Dumpster fourteen years ago, so it gave its all
• The entertainment center
• The tall Sauder bookshelf
• The short pressboard bookshelf
• The bed [it has a broken cross rail that cannot be repaired, after 30 years of service]

Maybe keep/maybe go:

• The dresser
• The two chest-of-drawers
• Two occasional tables
• The two steel shelving units in the closet
• The table I'm using as a TV stand [Brenda might be able to use it as a potting stand]

Taking with me to the house:

• The laptop and accessories
• My printer
• My floor speaker that is Bluetooth
• (Perhaps) one folding bookcase
• Two bins, one for clean clothes, one for dirty ones, to go in the closet
• Two small trash cans, one for trash, one for recyclables
• (Maybe) the TV and DVD player
• The plants!

I'm going to see if Brenda can take the fish. If not, maybe I can get Animal House or another pet store to take them. There are three pretty goldfish and a Chinese algae eater. Of course, some small things will go, like some clothes, my CPAP, etc. But most of the small things will either go to storage or Goodwill. That's all I can think of at the moment, anyway. But tomorrow starts all the decisions of what to keep and what to purge.

It's been a very wet Fourth so far

so I don't know if there will be fireworks tonight. I got up by 8:15 (but it was lovely to sleep in that much), and while I've been moving slowly, I have paid my bills through the first third of this month, except for two that come out automatically, and I've added that in my cheque register. I'm still coughing and snotty, but I feel better. I'm going to go over to YKWIA's in a couple of hours and we'll do something together. I haven't taken the trash out because the rain has been pouring, although I think it has eased up a little. So I think my next thing to do is work on the book review that's due tomorrow. It's a text on managing electronic resources, so hopefully, it will be a good read. I also need to check the Kentucky library job list--I think there's a job closing tomorrow with the state. I'm going to try to work on the books after spending some time with my friend.

Hope you're having a great and happy Fourth of July.

In truth, I've gotten a little done this evening, but not much

I did work in the bedroom, true excavation, for about 45 minutes and took care of that. I'm feeling stressed now, mainly because the house is not in the shape I'd like it to be, and I'm still too sick to really do what I want with it, and I've run out of time for the most part. I think I'm going to have to just let that go, and do the few things I can before tomorrow morning. I may just go to bed early tonight, because I'm not feeling energetic in the least, and I'm having some trouble breathing. Rehab might be interesting tomorrow. I'll try though. The worst I can do is be sent home as too sick to do the exercises, I guess. I was debating on getting up early and doing the laundry and some work here, and really that's just the anxiety talking. I should just focus on going to the review tomorrow, trying to do rehab, and then I can come back and do laundry in the afternoon after that. I'm also going to see about getting my allergy shots tomorrow; I didn't feel up to it at the end of last week, and so I didn't get them at all, although I will say both arms itched the entire week from the week before, so apparently we're up to a fairly high concentration. :)

I think I'll just go on to bed, even though it's only 10 pm, and get up early, and see if tomorrow is a brand new day after all.

I actually read last night, and finished a book

that I'd just been on chapter three when I started. It's The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg, and it was an excellent light read, and exactly what I needed while recovering from this crud. This afternoon I went to the library and picked up the other two in the series. A little while ago, out of curiosity, I looked to see how much they were on Amazon, and while the paperbacks are quite inexpensive, the Kindle series (all three books) was only $4.05. So I got them on that, because I decided it would be better to hoard electronic books rather than paper ones. :) But really, I want to read the next one, The Glass Magician tonight. I'll read the physical book, as it brings me a bit more pleasure to turn the pages, then take the others back to the library so someone else can enjoy them, and finish up the series on the Kindle with The Master Magician.

I took A to work early this morning, after calling him to wake him up (but he went back to bed), but we got there just in time. That was 8 am. Then I got home and proceeded to sleep until about 11:30 am, and YKWIA called (he'd just gotten up again, too), to see if I could run to the store for a couple of things, that turned into a fairly good-sized grocery run, involving two stores (why are pearl onions suddenly impossible to find?) Then I got back and we watched a couple of episodes of 'Trial & Error' on Hulu (which is hilarious, and expiring, so while he's seen them all, we've got about half left for me to watch in about 11 days. But they're short.)

I came home, rested for about an hour (I didn't actually go to sleep, and I'm only tired because of the crud, but I took some medicine and listened to some music for awhile). I finally started to drift off, but the music was rather peppy, so I got up and excavated approximately half of the bedroom this evening. I have three tubs on the bed--recyclables, dirty clothes, clothes that are clean but need pressing, and then I've folded some of the cold-weather stuff I haven't been wearing that need to be put away and they're piled between the tubs. I also have a pile of bedding (there are a lot of pillows and a very warm comforter that came with my 'bed in a bag', and I can't sleep with all of them on the bed at night time).

I have a few other things to go through, some books stacked, a couple of loose piles of things, and such, but I made quite a bit of progress. Tomorrow I can launder the dirty clothes. I can press the ones that need it, and hang up the ones in the hang up pile. The cold-weather things are going to be put away into some easy-open tubs I have, and stored in the bottom of one of the bedroom closets. A few things need to be put away in the chest-of-drawers. The last couple of things I should do tonight, and move the tubs off the bed, and then I'll be able to sleep. I'm not finished in there tonight, yet. I just got overly hot and had to sit under the fans for a bit. I hate how tired I feel, and how winded I get whenever I try to do anything. I still cough a lot.

When I got home, I watered the outside plants and deadheaded the spent blooms. They're growing nicely. I also watered everything inside as well. I was supposed to do that yesterday, and didn't. Just like today or yesterday I should have done a water change for the fish tank of about 10-15% of the water. I'll try to do that tomorrow. The fish seem happy, at least, and I have done it weekly for a couple of weeks since everything was set back to full-functionality.

It's almost dark. I can't really celebrate mother's day, but I thought I'd light a candle for my mom tonight and let it burn for awhile. I'm thinking of her, anyway. I miss her. We didn't always have the best of relationships, and once upon a time we were too close, really, but I miss her nonetheless.

Okay, I guess it's back to work on the bedroom. I'll have to switch Pandora back to the bedroom TV. Good night.

I've gotten a lot of rest today

broken up by terrible bouts of coughing. I tried to do some simple things like rearrange the TV table in the living room, and it got hard to breathe through the mucous (yeah, isn't that lovely) and I had to sit down. So today I'll just rest. I've got the Bastille station (although, really, it's played a lot more Mumford and Sons in the last hour than anything else) on Pandora on right now. I may watch something later, but really, I think I'll read. I still need to finish The Paper Magician and I have five days left on the loan. I am really enjoying it, it's just I only now have a good light (I put an LED bulb in) over by the couch, and if I read in bed, I tend to fall asleep. :) I think my doctor would definitely say it's time to rest today, and I can work at other things as I feel better.

So here's my week ahead:

1. Tonight. Read. Listen to music. Relax. Pick up A from his job at 1 am and deliver him to his house. Give my (now bimonthly) libation, as I'm doing so at dark of the moon and at times I have my period. This one is the latter. It sucks to be on your period and sick, let me tell you.
2. Sunday: Request my benefits check. Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. Maybe do laundry over at YKWIA's. I need to, as I didn't last week. If not, I may do it over here at the complex, as I have detergent and softener here. It's just a matter of getting quarters from somewhere on a Sunday. A lot of places get a bit stingy on that front. If I'm feeling up to it, I should work on the bedroom while I'm at it and do a bit of excavation of most of the horizontal surfaces. The bath and kitchen are in good shape; I just need to do a few dishes and touch up the bathroom. The bedroom is the worst room in the apartment. Light a candle for my mother.
3. Monday: Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. Send back the extra computer, as they got the return labels to me. They're crediting me $15 with Amazon for my trouble. I need to work on the apartment, especially straightening up in the dining room, living room, and anything else in the bedroom. Try to rearrange the plants in front of the living room window so they won't get crushed if they try to open the windows--they open fine, but I always have to move a plant or two, with the orchids blooming, and the freesia bulb pots are on the sills. If I move things around, and they open them, as I think they're required to check, then I can minimise any damage. The African violets in the bedroom are never a problem, as they're pretty low to the pot.
4. Tuesday: Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. My eligibility review with the unemployment office, a class related to that, my pulmonary rehab, and of course the walk-through/inspection is that day. Go through my life insurance portability and AFLAC paperwork and send them in.
5. Wednesday: Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. Do some more de-cluttering and de-hoarding. I've got two boxes of books ready to go from the entertainment centre that is between the living area and dining room; I need to finish the rest, find a room for the books I'll keep, break down the centre, take it to the Dumpster area, and then move one of the other two shelving units over so that the one is back to back with the other and the space between the two areas is more open. Right now, the space has the centre on one side (going towards the hall), with two shelving units back to back with it, dividing it completely. I want to change that. I also need to take a friend in for a blood draw.
6. Thursday: Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. Pulmonary rehab, and I may be taking a friend to an event. I can't remember if he said he wasn't going after all, or if he's checking on it. It's where a mah-jong group takes over a local restaurant and plays for about four hours. :) He's been playing at the library and learning the game. It sounds very complicated.
7. Friday: Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. Take a friend for a shot. Work on the game notes.
8. Saturday: Check for jobs to apply for, and apply if I fit the requirements. Take a another friend to work at an ungodly hour (for a Saturday) for the first of two jobs, then pick him up at 1 am that night.

I dropped my friend off at his appointment

and came home to wait for the UPS guy (or gal) some more, and a UPS truck was coming down the street as I was going up it. At first I thought I missed the delivery, but there was no note when I got home. So now I'm waiting, eating soft pretzels (always remember the salt goes on before you heat them up, I don't know what was going on in my head). I had thought to get my allergy shots today, but I thought waiting for the package might be better. Besides, I'm still itching from last time, which I think was Tuesday of last week, maybe Wednesday. The build is on the last level before going to maintenance. I'll get it tomorrow after rehab instead.

I haven't just been waiting around. I went through and got two boxes of books ready to go off the entertainment centre, found a disc I needed, lost it within five minutes, found it again, and I've done my pulmonary exercises. It is a little warm here, as I thought it would be cooler, and we're already in the 80s, and I didn't call in the air conditioner. I'll do that tomorrow and use the morning to pull things out of the closet so it's ready for them and they don't have to do it.

I had the windows open earlier, though, and it was pretty pleasant, and I did enjoy getting my last electric bill, which was less than $40. That's a plus. I've got fans, two in the living room (one is a small desk fan) and one in the bedroom. So I'm not suffering or anything. I would open the windows, but I probably won't be home too long, as my friend is across the street practically at the doctor, and while our family doctor does often take awhile, and afternoon appointments can drag, it's better than it used to be. If I lived on the upper floor, I'd probably just leave my windows up much of the time and sleep with them open. Alas, I am on the ground floor, but on the other hand, I don't have to do much in the way of stairs, just a few out to the parking lot.

I had a little caffeine and am not quite so sleepy, although the afternoon sun coming through the living room windows is very pleasant. The plants look happy, and the fish have been doing well over on the other side of the apartment with the water change I did the other day. I need to test the tank today and see how it's doing. But (knock on wood) they're all alive for now, even the algae eater. I did discover the other day that my heater wasn't actually on, which was good when the water level went down, but it was pretty chilly (we had a frost advisory, after all) and the water was cool, which is fine for the goldfish, probably. Now it's on 72 degrees, which is in the range for both types of fish, and everyone's much more active.

Tonight I need to go over some insurance paperwork and prepare things so I can send response out tomorrow. One has to do with porting my life insurance I had through work (I cannot convert it to whole life, as it's an insane price for that), and the other has to do with AFLAC.

I have my eligibility review plus a class at the career centre (unemployment office) next Tuesday morning. I have a notebook with my applications and the sheet that tallies everything, so I think it'll go well. I have to remember to request my next benefits cheque on Sunday. It doesn't open till 10 am on Sundays and I go over to YKWIA's at 11 am, so sometimes it's hard to remember. Last time I did it on Monday. I'm not sure if it was delayed in any way--it was in my account by Wednesday. That's pretty decent. I heard about a job with the University of Kentucky the other day that I applied for sometime last fall or early winter, I think. But the others have been referred and are in process. Here's hoping.

Okay, I think I'll go work some more on the house. Have a great afternoon!

I got up early this morning

for an appointment with, ironically enough, my sleep doctor, who was on the elevator with me as we rode up to his office. He's pleased with how much I use my CPAP and ordered more supplies.

I got gas (I was on my light again), came home and took my medication and ate breakfast, and then went over to YKWIA's, as he was going to go to a library programme, but he had a lot to do at home, so he decided not to. Instead I came home and worked on a job application, this time for a non-library job at the hospital across the street, a patient access job I was pretty well qualified for that is full-time from 3:30 pm to midnight. So I got that in, after having to go through a math and vocabulary test, and so I can tick that off. I just got the mail, and one of the things I received was the mandatory eligibility time, which is next Tuesday at 9 am over at the career centre. I have a notebook full of my job applications, so I'll take that with me.

I also got my AFLAC continuation papers and a duplicate card for UnitedHealthcare. So it was productive mail today, with just one advertisement, from Spectrum (Time Warner Cable).

A is going to call me in a little while for a ride. I think this afternoon I'll work on the entertainment centre, which my counselor and I agreed on as the next step in the de-hoarding process. I'll be able to break that down and get rid of it; it's about 30 years old. :)

I don't think it actually got to the mid-30s last night, but I covered the window boxes with Hefty bags, and so I took them off this morning after my appointment.

Okay, I guess I'll listen to some music and check with A on his schedule. I'll write later, hopefully.

I had four goals tonight

1. Finish the game notes, even though it meant reliving the loss of the character. [Check]
2. Get the living room in serviceable shape so I can sit on the loveseat and actually watch something if I'd like. [Check]
3. Get the dining room in enough shape that I could get a bucket from the bathroom to the aquarium (which is in the dining room). [Check]
4. Fill up the aquarium and then vacuum it as thoroughly as I can. [Check}

I'm hoping the one remaining goldfish (which is the biggest, prettiest one I had) will not die, with this major influx and change of water. But I'd let the aquarium languish, to the point where it was too low to keep the pump on, and there was a lot of Java moss, too, which tends to choke the remaining water. I have most likely the dirtiest aquarium known to man, mainly because I can't get those stupid 'self-starting' vacuums to work, and I've gotten enough knowledge of aquariums and infection control that I didn't want to do the old 'suck on the hose until it starts' that we did in the old days. I have three vacuums, two large, one small, all 'self-starting'. The small one is actually for the three-gallon betta tank that is currently not set up.

Well, I took an old Tidy Cat five-gallon bucket (not a liquid five gallons, but you get the idea), and filled up the bucket three times with water, and put it in the aquarium, which brought it up to the right height. I also changed the foam and activated charcoal in the filter (but not the anti-ammonia pellets--you should always keep some of the medium so that good bacteria that eat nitrates and therefore keep down algae blooms spread throughout the filter). I then plugged in the filter and discovered, to my dismay, that the heater had been plugged up all this time, in not so much water, which I don't know what that does. I think it shut itself off, at least. I cleared out some of the Java moss and then I let the filter run for a couple of hours, till the milm was settled on the floor of the aquarium and the water was clear.

Enter the turkey baster. Years ago, a former friend had given it to me as a gag gift, which had nothing to do with eating, as I don't eat poultry. It was still in the original plastic, some time ago, because of course I rarely throw anything away. I had used it once before to start the suction on the vacuum, and tried again. But the large vacuums have very long hoses, and I am too short to properly get the water and detritus into the container from my height, with the hose on the bottom floor of the aquarium and the container on the floor of the apartment. I decided to try the smaller vacuum, with a shorter hose, used the turkey baster to get the suction going, and then vacuumed two two-litres and a gallon milk jug's worth of gunk and water, which I capped and saved to water the plants with, as it's good fertilizer.

I then planted the plants back in, righted the tree branch and gargoyle, and found the little cave the fish like to go into. I replaced the lost water with six two-litres full of clean treated water and got some of the algae off the glass top. I certainly didn't get all the sediment, but I didn't want to shock the fish's system any more than I had done already. I then put away everything, scrubbed my arms down with soap and water, and I'm going to wait and see what it's going to look like when everything settles, then wait a week or two, and vacuum again. If I can get it looking halfway decent, I'll check the water (my chlorine, ammonia, and chloramines are always fine, the pH is hard, given that we're sitting atop lots of limestone, and my nitrates (but not my nitrates) are always very high, which is why I've had feeder goldfish in the tank for years. Of course, goldfish are very 'dirty' fish. They poop a lot, which causes the milm to build up, and the nitrates. Maybe if I can get things under control, I can go back to other fish, like livebearers and plecostomuses, while keeping the goldfish. You are probably thinking, just set the three-gallon up and put the goldfish in there. The problem with that is that goldfish actually need quite a bit of room, and goldfish bowls actually stress them out, and they die quickly. And while they usually prefer colder water than livebearers, mine's use to warmer water. So there's that. We'll see how it goes. I've had trouble with this set-up since I put the aquarium back together years ago. It never matured correctly, even with adding nitrate-eating bacteria and letting it 'cure' before putting fish in. I never had that trouble before, and the aquarium has been up most of the last thirty years, and the only thing I've really changed is the type of filter (better than the old undergravel ones) and that worked for years, and I've put an LED light in rather than flourescent, which provides more natural and long-lasting light. So I don't know. I did fine for over twenty years. Maybe it's somehow how the aquarium has aged. The gravel is the same gravel, albeit having been washed with water (not soap or anything) between set-ups. In the meantime, I'll cut the long hoses down to a better length. Anyway, here's hoping that everything's going to get better, and I get to be a better 'fish mom', not letting stress make me ignore the poor fish and the tank.

Okay

I'm going to YKWIA's at 6 pm. That gives me time to:

1. Do all the plastic dishes.
2. Do the other dishes in the dishwasher.
3. Wipe down the kitchen counters and stove.
4. Cut up a pineapple and see if it's still good. (I was hopeful, but it isn't).
5. Clean out the refrigerator. (My crisper does not keep things crisp at all).
6. Make bread.
7. Clean the bathroom.
8. Hang a new shower liner I've had for awhile.
9. Take out the trash.
10. Take out the recyclables.
11. Work on the boxes that line the hallway.

If I can do that, then at least we're good for workmen and Terminix to come in tomorrow. I'll see what else I can do today and Friday. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment, pulmonary rehab, and an allergist appointment, so I doubt that I'll get much done tomorrow at home.

So far today

I have:

• Gotten up and ready
• Gotten gas with the $10 of quarters I'd taken out for laundry at the apartment complex (but I did my laundry at YKWIA's)
• Gotten breakfast at McDonald's (two egg and cheese biscuits)
• Gotten something with caffeine (with my last couple of dollars)
• Spoken with a former co-worker who'd also been laid off I'd run into at Kroger and checked on how she's doing
• Gotten my allergy shots (the first on the highest build, red, and there was quite a bit of local itching right after)
• Eaten breakfast
• Enrolled in COBRA
• Put Ed Sheeran's album on Bluetooth playing from my phone to my speaker in the living room

I do feel better today. Last night I gave a libation of an entire bottle of wine, some honey, some lavender flowers--both dried and fresh--and prayed about the whole situation that's causing me stress. That really helped. I'm glad it happened to be dark of the moon. :)

Now there's the rest of the day to plan out. I think I'll call YKWIA and find out when he wants to get together, so I can plan around that and get some things done at the house. I'd like to put the windows up and just start clearing some things out, plus working on some of the areas I haven't gotten to. With all the stuff I brought from my desk and everything else, it's kind of hard to get around here. None of that has been put away, really. It's just a disaster, really. So today (and maybe Friday), I'm going to work on it and see what I can do.

Okay, let me go make that phone call.

An early start to my morning

I am trying to keep a normal business schedule in terms of getting up and starting my day, but I'm afraid things were so busy last week I only managed to get up at 9 am on most days. Today I was awake by 7:45 or so, up by 8. I took a shower, did all that sort of stuff, then moved the car over by the recycling containers and tossed in all the issues of The Journal of the Medical Library Association and MLA News I had in the trunk of my car. Before you go totally aghast let me explain that:

1. I had issues going back to when it was The Bulletin of the Medical Library Association.
2. They are actually (at least the JMLA and Bulletin) available freely online through PubMed Central.
3. They were one of only two things I couldn't find a home for (the other being our hospital newsletters).
4. I don't have the room to store them.
5. I already have too much stuff that I'm trying to unclutter.

The one exception is that somewhere in my house there is one where I wrote a book review; I'll keep it. But the others, should I need to refer to the information they have in them, have been digitised and posted freely on the National Library of Medicine's PubMed Central site. So I felt pretty decent about letting them go.

Then I took the hand truck and took four boxes of books that I weeded from my personal collection the other day and put them in the trunk of my car. YKWIA gets first pick, and this way he can just look through them and anything left can go to the public library, either for their collection or most likely their Friends' sales. I'm cool with that.

After that I checked the job boards and the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives' job list site for anything new.

All that in an hour.

Now I've revived a rather hard, previously frozen French baguette (microwaves will make them softer, if you do just a few seconds on a piece), eaten it, had some water, and I'm preparing for my day.

So last night I cleaned up the kitchen and bath of various stuff that was lying around, loaded the dishwasher, ran a load, etc.

What I want to do (I'm going to try to get as much done today as possible, as I'm fairly free today, and Tuesday and Thursday are particularly busy, but if I don't, I'll just keep plugging through the list this week).

[In no particular order:]
1. Take out the trash and recyclables [which includes the discarded plants that were diseased or infested with mealybugs, when I made room for the others, so it's heavy].
2. Wipe down the sink area of the bathroom and clean the toilet.
3. Clean all the horizontal surfaces in the kitchen (island, counters, stove).
4. Unload the dishwasher and do the plastic dishes.
5. Sweep and mop the kitchen and bathroom.
6. Fold and put away laundry.
7. Collect dirty laundry to take to YKWIA's and wash.
8. Start unpacking boxes from my desk, etc.
9. Find a place for the boxes of holiday decorations that are still sitting out.
10. Take a bag of donations to out to the car so I can take them to Goodwill (and anything else I find to donate in the meantime).
11. Excavate the dining room table and couch.
12. Straighten the dining room and living room.
13. Fill up the fish tank.
14. Hang up my interview suit and the dress I wore to the funeral in the closet (they've been hanging up elsewhere).
15. Take the three boxes of books I weeded in the bedroom out to the car for YKWIA to look at/donate to the library.
16. Get with John if he can come up today and get the family photos from him.
17. Call my human resources representative regarding continuing AFLAC.
18. Reschedule my counseling appointment that's tomorrow, as it conflicts with the pulmonary rehabilitation.

I'll probably get A from work tonight and get something from the pharmacy for YKWIA, either this evening or tomorrow morning. We'll see. But I'm going to try to stick around today and get things done at home for the most part, and in case John can come up with those photos.

Okay, I guess I'd better get going. First, the trash and recyclables, as there are a lot of them, and they're often heavy. I think I'm going to put on my Bluetooth headphones (yes, they look like they're from the 70s, but you can move well in them) and listen to music while I work. That usually helps.

So today I

1. won a contest at our apartment complex, a $25 Visa gift card, which I promptly used for gas and groceries, as I was in need of both.
2. opened the windows (it's a nice day) and put on my headphones so I could listen to music as I worked.
3. moved a bookshelf and weeded four copy-paper boxes' worth of books, to be taken to YKWIA for first dibs and then donated to the public library.
4. worked on the area around my computer desk and the living room, getting things ready for working there a lot in my job search.
5. hooked the laptop back up to the monitor and the rest of the computer cables.
6. upgraded to Chrome 64-bit. I've had a lot of restarts and freezing, and when I used the task killer earlier, I realised I had the 32-bit version on a 64-bit machine--which may be part of the problem. Apparently to get it, you have to go download it rather than have it pushed out to you.
7. watered all the plants and discovered my Christmas cactus from work is shedding whole branches, so I put them in some growing medium (I hesitate to call it soil) that I had, and hopefully they will root. I usually have good luck with that.

To be done for the rest of the day:

1. Stop by YKWIA's for something.
2. Pick A up from work and take him to the grocery.
3. Take him to a meeting.
4. Come back, take out the trash and recyclables that I've gathered.
5. Work on the kitchen and bathroom, which are both disasters at the moment.
6. Work on job search.

That will be a fair day's work, I think. Tomorrow I start my pulmonary class and take a friend to a doctor's appointment. The morning will be for job searching and tweaking my application materials as needed. I need to get ink for my printer as soon as I get that last pay cheque from the hospital. Okay, I think it's time to change clothes and get ready to go. Oh, and I guess I need to close the windows. :( There's a good chance of storms out tonight--we're under a tornado watch, actually. Hope the electricity holds. I finally got around to setting the clock on the microwave, so there's a good chance we'll lose power at least momentarily. On a happier note, the radio-controlled clock that I got for my ten-year anniversary at Shriners has caught up and adjusted for Daylight Savings Time (it changed at a different time, then, and it is programmed and can't be changed). That's good. I moved it over by the peace lily so I can see it better. The plants were occluding it on the hour glass, and that wasn't good. Also, the yellow orchid will probably open in a day or two, at least for the first bloom. Yay!

Well, the closet so far is a success

There were gaming and older books from the early- to mid-twentieth century in there.  Roughly two-thirds of them are now in an overflowing box to be taken to YKWIA's and,  if he's not interested in them,  to the Lexington Public Library.  That leaves some comics to go through and a shelf of collectible cards,  including a complete set of 'X-Files' cards from 1996 that can be sold to a collectibles store or put on eBay. All in all,  I think it was successful.  The gaming books were the hardest to part with,  but I was brutal,  and really asked myself which I might ever really need.  The other books were easier....Will I ever read The Five Little Peppers?  I kept a few, like Black Beauty,  which I adore and might read again happily.  But Nancy Drew and the Boxcar Children went.

The idea is to,  after the closet books are taken care of, begin weeding other shelves to make room for those books.  The shelves in the closets,  which are metal, can then be taken out  and either be put to better use or gotten rid of.  I may use them for plants in the living room,  if I can put them so they don't actually block the windows. Or they may go in the walk-in closet for small items that can survive if the ceiling,  where the air conditioner pan is,  leaks. We'll see.

So I've read,  listened to music,  relaxed,  made bread,  and worked on the books.  I've also been online a bit,  blogging and going on Facebook and Habitica.  I'm going to try to contribute in Habitica by answering questions and the like for newer folks. I've joined guilds for people interested in contributing to the site.

Okay,  I think I'll do a little more reading--lighter stuff this time. I am also charging my tablet after finally finding the cord during an intensive search.  :)  One of these days my house will be as organised for myself as much as I organise other people's collections.

I had a rare sleep-in today

It's turned very cold, just in the 40s, and I did get up early this morning and turn the heat on, although I must say, my little apartment stays pretty warm, as it hasn't kicked on yet. It's hard to believe that yesterday was sandals and open windows.

YKWIA is supposed to e-mail me if he needs me for anything (he can't call, it's Sabbath), and so I slept-in, then listened to some music in the bedroom, and now I'm up making lunch (farfalle and Italian tomato sauce), and baking my last loaf of bread, this time oatmeal bread. That'll take a couple of hours at the most. I'm thinking about going to the library and doing some research from their system to make sure I understand all their databases, etc., in case I get called about one of the positions I applied for. I also need to go return a book, and maybe take a few others back.

Other things I'd like to do today:

1. Work on the game notes and get them out of the way.
2. Work on the closet.
3. Read.

That's it. That and the library. I'll also need to pick A up tonight at 1 am, and maybe after Sabbath (after sunset) I'll hear from YKWIA, so my plan is to do those during the day. At least the sun is breaking form the clouds, so maybe there will be more light in here to work by and I won't have to turn lights on all over the place.

Mission accomplished!

I got all the clean clothes either folded and put in the chest-of-drawers or dresser, or hung up in the closet. The dirty clothes are all in a hamper in the bathroom. That's the first time that's happened in, well, months, and I think the first time clothes have hung in the closet since I got here twelve and a half years ago. Really. And I got A from work, got some gas, took him to Kroger for ice cream, and came home and finally got to take the muscle relaxants. I'm going to finish getting ready for bed, take my medicine, and go on to bed.

So that leaves some minor things in the bedroom to straighten up, a little in the living room, and some boxes stacked up in the dining room. But I can walk freely through the house. After I get those taken care of, I'm going to try to work on that other closet. Then we'll try to conquer the books when I'm feeling better (if ever--I'm beginning to doubt that, it's been at least a few weeks now). But I do have physical therapy tomorrow, so that should help.

Oh, and I did find a few more clothes to give away. I'm going to check with YKWIA if he wants any of the t-shirts, as they're his size. Otherwise, it'll be time to go back to Goodwill.

I nearly freaked out getting A tonight because something shifted in my trunk several times. The first time I thought I'd hit something. The second and third times I was beginning to think my car was about to fall apart. I think it was a coffee maker that I'd planned to take to the electronics recycling centre for YKWIA.

Okay, time for bed. Good night.

UPDATE: The sound was definitely not good. Not stuff shifting in the trunk. I'll update when I know more.

But first

Okay,  I decided to put the heating pad on for about 30 minutes before tackling the clothes.  If I can't take meds for the spasms,  then some heat should help.  I must work on the clothes though,  as I almost fell badly when I closed the blinds.  So for now I'm listening to Mumford & Sons and not putting on the CPAP in the hopes that I won't fall asleep.

Well

Between a friend's appointments,  we stopped by Goodwill and they unloaded the entire back seat,  which was full,  as I'd added things since I took the picture.  I feel pretty good about getting it all out of the house,  along with a bag of recyclables and two of trash.  It'll be nice to go home tonight and find the dishes done,  the fish happy,  etc.  I still have to work on getting the clothes folded or hung up.  If I can do that,  then I can (temporarily)  move to the other closet and deal with the cables and small electronics in there.  My therapist didn't want me hurting myself by tackling the books,  just yet,  which YKWIA had predicted.  The main thing is to progress some each time.  I'm seeing the therapist every two weeks.  That gives me time to work on things,  since as a hoarder I tend to procrastinate that.

I also need to work on a cover letter and apply for a job that closes Friday.  Our plans for tonight have changed,  so I may do that.  I also want to retrieve one of my monitors from YKWIA,  plug that and my keyboard into the laptop,  and set it so I can run it closed.  I think that will be ergonomically better for me at home.  At work things are set up much better. At home I hunch over the laptop even though it is on the computer desk.  That's not good at all.

Okay,  I think I'll close for now.  His appointment will go for awhile longer,  but I think I'll close my eyes and just relax for a bit.

Here's what's going to Goodwill

Not bad for my first foray into getting rid of things under therapy. I've gotten the game notes finished and need to fold the clothes that are on the bed and put them in the chest of drawers or hang them up in the half of the closet that's free before A calls about 12:40 am.

Closet before

An hour and a half of diligent effort. My plan originally was to start with the books. When I was over at YKWIA's earlier he pointed out that since I had been in intense pain for several days, this would be stuipid, and my therapist would understand if I didn't do repetitive lifting of anything heavy. He has a point. Instead I concentrated on the clothes, stuffed animals, bags, and various stuff. I filled up a 13-gallon bag with clothes, filled three boxes with shoes, toys, stuffed animals, belts, etc., threw away some things that were just not something you give away (dying underwear, old CPAP masques, etc.) There was a small bag of medication I missed for the Med Toss, but most of it was stuff they couldn't take, like nasal sprays. I just went ahead and threw those in the trash bag with the other things. I want them out of the house. I went through the rest of the clothes and purses and decided what to keep, all of which is in good repair except for one dress, which needs some attention, but is quite lovely and I wasn't going to part with it just yet, as it's totally fixable. I left my Sandman and Mummy shirts out of the pile to go, because I want to see if YKWIA wants them. I seem to recall taking them over before and he didn't, but they are his size, so I want to be sure.

So right now the top of the closet is completely taken care of. The bookshelf had some things that went, that weren't heavy, such as ankle braces, etc. Yes, the camel with the fez went, too. The stuffed animals are actually the hardest. Some things, not so much--the Rainbrow Brite horse is okay, because I didn't bond with it in childhood and actually when I got it the horse was part of some things set out, and I had no idea what it was till someone told me, as I never watched the show. But I managed to give a large elephant and several smaller stuffed animals away. Now I just have to load the trunk of my car with everything. The boxes are purposefully light. I'm not sure I want to actually take them to Goodwill right now, though--YKWIA pressed on my shoulders and back, causing me much pain but releasing a lot of the tension being held there. He suggested taking one of my muscle relaxants (I'm supposed to take three at night, so it was only 4 mg), when I got home, as it would wear off by the time I have to get A tonight, as I was worried about that. I then took a nap with the heating pad on and woke up feeling much better. I don't feel groggy or anything from the medicine and I've been working steadily without feeling sleepy.

On the other hand, I still need to do something with the clothes that are the bed. Some can be hung up, and I've cleared the chest of drawers, too. But I have to also work on the game notes, which shouldn't take too long, as we didn't play for very long because of Brenda's son's work schedule--maybe three hours, and it was down time. Still, I'm supposed to finish it by midnight on Saturday so I don't stay up till all hours. On the other hand, I'll be up till about 1:30 am anyway, getting A. But I think I'll work on the notes for awhile and then go back to the clothes, as I won't be able to sleep otherwise (most are on the bed).