Incommunicado...

My computer and router are not on speaking terms at the moment.  I can browse and do most everything I want on my Kindle, but I don't like to type on it.  That means blogging and commenting are probably out for awhile. 

Hope I'll be back soon.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Call the Midwife by Jennifer Worth

I saw two episodes or so of this program on our public television station and really enjoyed it, but then couldn't seem to find it again.  So when I came across the book in the superstore, I picked it up.  Then, of course, the program became available again. 

The program is very true to the book, and I'm enjoying comparing each to the other.

(And because I haven't come across anyone local who watches Downton Abbey [it comes on right after Call the Midwife here], can I just ask if anyone else was as devastated as I was by the season 3 finale?  Oh, oh, ooooooh...heartbreaking.  Is that too much of a spoiler?)


 

Must you adage to my poundage...

"You're as young as you feel.  Love, Dove"

Well, thank you, Dove, ever so much.  Right now I feel about 78.  That would probably go down if I laid off the chocolates, huh?

Presidents' Day...

photo credit: Dean Franklin

Today was Presidents' Day.  In Februaries of old, we used to have a Lincoln's Birthday and a George Washington's Birthday.  But the powers-that-be made them meet somewhere in the middle, renamed it Presidents' Day, and gave us a work holiday.

So that gave me a a four-day weekend this week.  I had intentions of...  Who am I kidding.  I didn't make a list until late last night, so obviously my intent was to relax and chill...which I did...I definitely did.  I never even left the house.

Today I got lots of things scratched off of my last-minute to-do list though, including one LONG dreaded and much put-off chore.  Whew!

News updates...

photo credit: Miss Amy

So the kids and kidlets went skiing for the long weekend.  Kasey texted me when they arrived safely, and except for Facebook updates, I figured I wouldn't hear again till they make it back home.  You know...no news is good news.

So I am lounging around the house this weekend...reading...napping...watching TV...and late this afternoon my cell phone rings.  Incoming call from grandson's phone.  A moment of concern till he says, 'Hi, Grandma.  Chloe wanted to talk to you,' and he puts his little sister on the phone.  She just wanted to tell me what she was doing, then she passed the phone to Caitlyn, who talked for awhile and then gave it back to Bobby.

No news IS good news, but kidlet just-because news is the sweetest news of all.

Camera phone fun...

I love my phone.  Yesterday I took a photo of me, to wish the other Kathleen a happy birthday today, and I texted it to her first things this morning.

Today I took a weird photo of my nail clippings...and texted it to a friend that is repulsed by nail clippings.  Good, clean fun, I say.  (A few years ago, I bought an inexpensive set of fake nails just so I could constantly leave nail clippings in strange places to creep her out.  LOL)

Sadly, I didn't have my phone with me Sunday when visiting Beau and Kasey.  When  Caitlyn was entertaining us by standing on her head on the ottoman, the rest of the family all chimed in that they had tried to mimic her without success.  I said that I was sure Carey could do it.  So he tried.  And he DID it!  Well, then everybody had to try again.  (Being outdone by a 7 year old is one thing, but by Papa?)  Why, oh WHY did I pick that day to leave my phone at home?!  

I was slow on the camera-phone bandwagon.  But now I'm on it for keeps.

Hearth and home...

I had planned to wash the car today, but it was rainy and cool.  I don't mind putting it off again.  For today it was nice to come home to a fire in the fireplace.

Sunday matinee...

I've been looking forward to this movie's opening since we saw the trailer a couple of months ago.  We went to see it today, and it didn't disappoint.  I thought it was very funny.  

I've long been a Jason Bateman fan...so adorable and seems to be an all around nice guy.  If anyone knows anything to the contrary, please don't burst my bubble.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

No Time For Goodbye by Linwood Barclay

This author got a great review by Carolyn today, so I immediately went to Amazon.com and looked through his titles, and purchased this one.

Lately I've been reading a few pages of books, then laying them aside...just not engaging.  I am really looking forward to a good thriller.

In fact, I think I'll go start it right now.

Two wrongs...

My office is in a busy shopping center.  So busy that it can be hard to concentrate because of the noise right outside my plate glass window...the boom boom boom of radios' bass...sirens going to the hospital in the next block or Life Flight helicopters landing and taking off...car horns honking.

The one that sends me absolutely around the bend, and happens more than you might imagine, is when someone decides to camp outside the window and carry on a long phone conversation at top volume.  Seriously?  If you have to yell, get back in your car with the windows up and scream into your phone to your heart's content.  But no such luck.  Apparently the sidewalk two feet away from my desk is the only spot in the vicinity to get good phone reception.

I'm not proud of this, but when my patience has run out, I reach into my purse, take out my keys, and press the car alarm button.  When I'm lucky, the alarm blaring nearby encourages the conversationalist to move away from the noise polluted air space.  Sometimes it just gives me the giggles.

A very productive weekend..

A five minute post, and yet another closet.  Though the Christmas decorations have been down for a month or so, I didn't want to pack them all away in the same haphazard way they were when I took them all out, so they've been sitting waiting for some organizing.

The new tree purchased a couple of years ago didn't fit in the nice, permanent storage box that the previous one did.  So for now this tree is still in its over-sized cardboard box.  Which meant that all the storage boxes that worked before didn't any longer.

I had been wanting to separate and pack more carefully anyway, and get rid of a lot of the unused decorations and  cardboard boxes in the process, so after measuring and planning, I bought multiples of stackable plastic storage boxes this afternoon.  All blown glass ornaments in one, all handmade felt ornaments in another.  The Christmas village and the creche are on the tippy-top shelf not seen in the photo.  

The shelving seen on the right side of the photo now has a season's decorations on each shelf: Easter, summer, Halloween, and Autumn/Thanksgiving.

It's not perfect, but it's much better than it was.  And I am THRILLED with all the projects completed, the chores that got scratched off the old To-Do list, and the CARLOAD of donations that were taken out of the house this weekend!

Out of the closet...

When we were house shopping, and toured this house, the closets scared me.  This is my closet.  Carey's is exactly like it, and right across from it.  Each of the other two bedrooms have a single closet which is slightly smaller, but with the same tall shelf and hanging rod arrangement.

What's so scary you say?  If you were to combine Carey's closet and my closet, together they would be about one-third the size of the closet we shared in our previous house.  I figured I could adjust, so it wasn't a deal breaker.  But it is rather...close.  The width is 5 foot 8 inches (173 centimeters), the depth is 4 feet (122 centimeters).  

The small shelves were ones I used in my craft room at the old house, but couldn't use them in the same way here, so I tried them in the closet, and they fit to within a fraction of an inch.

Today I found myself with no appointments, no obligations, and no excuses not to get busy around the house!  So I decided to work on what has been bothering me every time I open the closet door.

You must have guessed by now that I had some kind of nightmare to show you, so here it is.  It's not really, REALLY horrible, but there is quite a bit of stuff that doesn't belong that had found its way in there.  And my shoe storage definitely was not working for me.  Plus there was just too many clothes crammed in there.

Just for fun, here's a peek at Carey's closet.  Sometimes I hate him.  But to be fair (to me) his work clothes stay at work.  And to be really fair (to him), I have to admit that if he brought them home, he would still have room to spare.

Meanwhile, across the way I set about emptying my whole closet out.  I took out every stitch of clothing and every pair of shoes.  I moved the linens to the linen closet which, truth be told, needs a makeover of its own.  

I moved a decorative hanging shelf that had been taking up space in there for FAR too long.  And there were some other decorative items that had been stored there 'temporarily' that needed to find new homes.  There were some curtain panels (still in their packages) on the shelves, and some curtain rods standing in one corner.  

I took out this hanging sweater stack.  This is the second and last one of these that I'll invest in.  They just don't work for me.  They always just seem to collect messy piles of junk.

Everything was placed either on my bed, or hung on a portable laundry rack.  Finally it was as empty as the very first time I saw it, and I vacuumed and dusted.

I sorted out, and filled two big boxes for Goodwill.  I threw away anything with a hole in it.  I tossed packaging and cheap plastic hangers that things had come home from the store on.  Then I put everything worth keeping back in.  

For comparison, here's the 'BEFORE' again.

And now the 'AFTER.'

Ahhhh...  SO much better.  All work clothing on the right, and everything else on the left.

And look at all the empty hangers!

I'm seriously considering getting rid of all my work outfits and buying five white tanks, five blank tanks, and five pair of black slacks.  Then only keeping/purchasing jackets that can be worn over them.  It would surely simplify storage, laundry, and outfit selection.